Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

A Hope and a Future

by Catherine Baker

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

As the years went by I found I wasn’t really prospering in some of the areas of my life. I found it difficult to hope, because there didn’t seem to be enough years left of my life in which to prosper. I was looking at my life from an earthly lifespan, forgetting that my life doesn’t stop when I leave earth. Eternity is a lot longer than my earthly lifespan!
Then I started to think of Sarah, when she was told she would have a child in her old age (Genesis 18:12). ‘So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”’

In one particular area of my life I’ve had difficulty in seeing how God could possibly dramatically change my circumstances. So I wanted to laugh, like Sarah, then I read God’s response to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:14 ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord’.

We update our computers with new software, and run virus scans to eliminate bad data. So I thought maybe I might need some reprogramming too. However, I sensed Father God impressing on me that I was more in need of re-parenting than reprogramming. God’s parenting is very different to even the best of our earthly parents. It’s not always easy for us to prosper, until we replace some of the beliefs we’ve had as the result of knowing the character qualities of our earthly parents with new ones, which come from knowing those of our heavenly Father.

Because time isn’t a problem to God (He’s the Alpha and the Omega), it’s amazing what He can do to help us prosper. Where the world would say “it’s impossible”, God would say “Is anything too hard for the Lord”. He gave Abraham and Sarah a child in their old age. He can help us grow up to be what He intended from the very beginning as we seek His face.

In my journey with the Lord, I’m thankful for the wonderful people He’s brought on my path, who’ve modelled God’s ways and reminded me that it’s God’s plans, not ours, that give us a hope and a future. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’ (Isaiah 55:9). I long to see everything from His perspective, and my thoughts to be in line with His.

In one of my last seeds I wrote about being chosen by God. It would appear that it’s also God’s chosen time for the changes He wants to bring into our lives. He knows when the timing’s right for the next blessing that will help us prosper.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your timing is the best, even though we sometimes have difficulty in waiting. Help us to draw on the patience and courage given by Your Holy Spirit, and to wait in trust and confidence in Your faithfulness. Re-parent us, so that the messages in our spirits are the same as Your truth. Bring us new experiences of You in the areas that need Your Fatherly touch. Show us Your great power and love, so that we may say “Yes indeed nothing is too hard for You!” For the glory of Jesus’ name. Amen.

Catherine Baker Cathy started her journey with Ellel Ministries in 2009 She is married with two children and two grandchildren. She lives in the Netherlands and has a desire to see people’s hearts connected in relationship to Father God.

 

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