Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - Dec. 31, 2007
Monday, December 31, 2007
A Future and a Hope
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
—Jeremiah 29:11
I’ve heard it said that the future is an opportunity yet unmet, a path yet untraveled, a life yet unlived. How our future will be lived depends on the priorities and purposes of our lives today. The direction we take right now determines where we will end up in the future.
We might be frightened by an uncertain future, but as Christians, we don’t have to be afraid. We can welcome the New Year with an anticipation of what God will do in us and through us. Our future as Christians is as bright as the promises of God.
When the children of Israel were being held as captives in Babylon, God sent them a message of hope. Many of them felt that God had forgotten about them or that His intentions toward them were bad. They were frightened about their future, and they cried out to God for deliverance. So God raised up the prophet Jeremiah to speak to them.
If you have ever felt as though you were forgotten by God, if you have ever felt that God was against you, or if you have ever been frightened about your future, then God’s words to the Israelites apply to you as well: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11–13). Search for God. He has a future and a hope for you too.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
Copyright © 2007 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions,
