What are God’s plans for you in 2018?

By Jim Boesch

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.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

                                                                             ––Jeremiah 29:11-13

January is the month of resolutions. 

Here we begin to discern what we need to start doing, what we need to stop doing and what we should continue to do to be successful in 2018.

Too often people find their planning doesn’t work the way they had hoped. Some will then give up these hopes and dreams. Others will seek alternate ways to achieve what they think they want.

Sometimes these failed attempts lead people to curse God because He did not show up to help them succeed in their preferred manner and timeframe. Others have no God who has any involvement in their lives; they rely solely on their own strength to succeed.

But, if you believe God’s message above delivered through the prophet Jeremiah, He does have a plan for you. 

When we respond to His loving call, our lives will look different and our planning will not be in our power, but in His.

God wants us to prosper, and not to be harmed. 

Many people think God is an angry and judgmental God who does whatever He wants even if it hurts us. This passage says that isn’t true. God does not want to harm us.  God wants us to come to Him.

God says when we pray to Him, He will listen and when we seek Him, we will find Him.

We all are seeking something in our lives; why not have it be God? 

Jim Boesch, deployed staff

General Commission on UM Men

jimboesch68@gmail.com