📖 Jeremiah 29:1-23
Jeremiah sent his letter to the exiles in Babylon (v 4-23) which was addressed to the surviving elders, the priests, the prophets and other people (v 1-3).

📌 The letter was a Comfort and an Encouragement (v 5-6) :
✅ Build houses and settle down .
✅ Plant gardens for themselves .
✅ Marry and have children. Increase in number .

📌 The letter was a Surprise (v 7) :
💫 Seek the peace and prosperity of their new city – Babylon
💫 Pray for its prosperity.

📌 The letter contains a Warning (v 8-9):
🧨 Do not listen to the false prophets and diviners .
🧨 Do not listen to the promising lies and dreams.

📌 The letter was endorsed with Hope and Security (v 10- 14) :
🌈 God has a plan for everyone – plan to prosper and plan to give security for the future.
🌈 People will find God when they seek Him with humility and in sincerity
🌈 God will bring them back from captivity to Zion.
In God’s perspective two things are important for the exiles :
(1) Seeking Peace and Prosperity of the city.
(2) Praying for the king, his administrators and other functionaries.

📌 For if the city prospers, the exiles will prosper .

💞 Beloved Church, as “aliens and strangers” – we as Christians are called to “Seek first God’s kingdom” by bettering our own communities (1Pet 2:11-12). Then we are to seek and pray for the peace, prosperity and security of the Community , City and Country. Seeking the welfare for the Place and the People implies that we should avoid in anti-national activities.

We too are instructed to “build and to plant” (Jer 1:10 ; 29:5) because we are engraved in God’s long – range plan for our lives(v 11).

The Bible repeatedly tells us to submit to the governing authorities (Rom 13:1-2; Titus 3:1; 1Peter 2:13-14, 17)

BE A GOD FEARING and A DISCIPLINE CITIZEN.

Glory to God 🙌
✍🏻 Mark Boje
Arunachal Pradesh, India 🇮🇳

Hopeful Future

Jer 29:11 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 a hope and a future.

Jeremiah sends a letter to the Babylonian exiles. Jeremiah exhorts the people to settle in the land and move ahead with their lives. He doesnot guarantee a speedy release like some of the false prophets but he does gives them hope. After 70 years God will return His people to their homeland 29:10.

He gives words of comfort, confidence, words that offer hope not only to the captives but also to us today God knows the future and wants us to trust Him for the journey ahead. When we feel like the abandoned captives, He promises His presence, His strength. No matter how bleak our circumstances are, God promises hope and a future.

Lord plans for us, surpass anything we can dream of. He doesnot plan to wreck our life but to lead us to a good place

Cynthia Sathiaraj
Chennai