Above Rubies email devotion

Mark and I were just talking about this a couple of weeks prior to getting this devotion in our email.  Please, enjoy reading it as much as we did.....  

GOD'S PRACTICAL PLAN

Part 2

"Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters"
Jeremiah 29: 6 NASB.

We continue to look at the seven points which God commanded the Jews to do while they were in captivity.

3. Get married and have children

"Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters" verse 6. Even in captivity God wanted His people to continue the original command He gave to them in Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." This command is reiterated over and over again in the Bible and has never been rescinded.* The adverse circumstances of the captives didn't change God's command. We notice the same thing happened while the children of Israel were suffering under great affliction in Egypt. Even though the Egyptians put hard taskmasters over them and made their lives bitter with hard labor they continued to be fruitful. They had all the excuses they needed to stop having children in such difficult circumstances but "the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" Exodus 1:12.

4. Encourage your children to get married and have children

"Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters" verse 6. It's not hard to realize as we read these words that God loves weddings and babies! It's all His idea anyway! God delighted in bringing the first couple together and He delights in doing it today. Every wedding gives the hope of new life--life from God Himself!
God's judgment was to take away the joy and celebration of weddings (Jeremiah 7:34; 9:16 and 25:10). God's blessing was to restore weddings. Jeremiah 33:10-11 says, "Thus saith the Lord; again there shall be heard in this place... the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride." Weddings are the blessing of God. We should encourage our children who get married to embrace children rather than waiting a few years. In fact, if a couple is not ready to take on the responsibility of embracing children, they are not ready for marriage.

5. Do not diminish

"Multiply there and do not decrease" verse 6. God specifically commands them not to decrease! Isn't it sad that many believers in God are set on doing the opposite to His plan? They would much rather decrease than increase. They would rather follow the devils plan to eliminate life than to multiply life. Consequently, there is a whole army of God's people who are missing today!

6. Pray for your city

"Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare" verse 7. God wants us to pray for the city or area where we live. We have a responsibility to pray for God's peace to come to our city and in doing so we will reap peace. Make it a point to pray, and teach your children to pray, for your city as you gather together for Family Devotions each day.

7. Don't be deceived

"Do not let your prophets deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,' declares the Lord" verses 8-9. We must always guard against deception. Because we live in a society that is embedded in a humanistic agenda we must constantly line up our beliefs and world-view in keeping with God's eternal Word! If what we are thinking and doing does not line up with God's Word, we must walk away from it, no matter who proclaims it. We must also guard our children from being deceived by the humanistic public education system of our society. Our responsibility as parents is to watch that our children are not deceived by the society in which they live.
As we seek to obey God's plan for us, we will walk in the blessing of God. These reminders from God are all for our blessing. God continues to speak in the same message in Verse 11, "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." The majority of God's people know this Scripture and claim it for their own. What they often forget is that it comes after the seven points we have been talking about. It is these principles that will give us a blessed future and hope!
Love from NANCY CAMPBELL, ABOVE RUBIES

PRAYER:
"Dear Father, please save me from being gullible and duped by the humanistic propaganda all around me. Give me eyes to see through deceptions and to know the witness of your truth in my heart. Amen."
AFFIRMATION:
I now know the answer to having a future and a hope!