"Need-to-Know"

Jerimiah 29:11-13
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.
13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

I'm so glad I was finally able to add a picture of my Concrete Dove to this blog. Even more significant, I'm so happy it's there for me to pass over every day. It reminds me the He is lifting me up each day. It's reinforcement of God's presence in my life.

I've always wondered what His plan was for me. Since reading my Bible has become a habit, I've come across special passages over and over. They are special because they seem to speak to me, to what I need to know at that specific moment in time. When He shows me a special verse I underline it and write the date, and perhaps short note, in the margin next to the verse.  I do this each every time because there are so many special ones that I haven't committed them all to memory yet. Sometimes I find verses that have several dates next to them. 

I was listening to In Touch Ministry last Sunday, as I like to do on Sunday mornings, and the subject was Dr. Stanley's Life principle #10, "God will show you His will." When I listen to Dr. Stanley, I approach it as if it were a bible study. I use my new Life Principles Bible because it contains commentary by Dr. Stanley. It's like a built in study guide. During that lesson, he noted Jeremiah 29:11-13, which is all about God having a plan for each of us.

After breakfast, I went to church and the sermon topic was "How do I respond to God?" The speaker discussed ways one can know and understand God's plan for us, and what we're supposed to do about it. Again, Jerimiah 29:11-13 came up. Only this time when I referred it in my bible, my first bible, the one with all the notes written over the last 10 years, I notice that I had read, underlined, dated, and made notes by these verses on four other occasions. The first time was in April of 2000, when I first purchased the Bible. I guess he wanted me to know He had a plan, so He showed me that special verse. The second time was in 2007 when I was struggling to understand where He was and what He wanted me to do; twice in 2009, when I was fervently studying His Word, and finally last Sunday.

Later on that evening, I took out my bibles, both of them.  That's when I noticed that, in the Life Principles Bible, Jerimiah 29:11 is highlighted as one of God's promises. I guess I must have "needed-to-know", again, that God has a plan for me. He's confirmed it for me year after year and then again on three separate occasions all in the same day. Do you think He's trying to tell me something? Maybe He's saying "Stay the course." At least that is what I'm hearing.

One of the most important ways we can discover God's plan for us is to read His word daily, then we have to pray for spiritual understanding. The Bible is His instruction manual, only sometimes He doesn't give us all the instructions at the same time, just what we can handle. I guess one would say that we're on a "need-to-know" basis with Him. He reveals what we need to know, when we need to know it. Just have faith and stick to the plan- -He will bless you for it.