Back From Captivity

JEREMIAH 29:11-14

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. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity;
I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

I will bring you back from captivity is a promise from God to His people. What is this captivity, and where are we being brought back from? And then we read in verse 14 that I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, and then I will bring you to a place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. Does our Lord drive us to places only to bring us back?

The answer it seems is a definitive ‘yes! Reading a little further, we discover that we should Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. It seems that The Lord takes us to an undesirable place for the express purpose of bringing us back from it. This seems strange to say the least. It all seems to go against everything we think that we know about Him.

And yet we know that Our Lord is all in all. He knows all things. The places where I have driven you are the places where I have become an outcast from His presence. Why? Because He knows where my heart lies at times. He sends me away from Himself just as a magnet repels another magnet. In my case I can often believe that I shall survive without Him — it becomes all about self. How can I get myself out of trouble, when the reality is that I cannot.

Only when I turn and re-turn to Him can He help. He will cause me to be carried away captive from that place of iniquity, but captive to His compassion and mercy, instead of my own foolishness. We must keep in mind that He understands our ways better than we do ourselves.

MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS…

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore He says:
“When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
EPHESIANS 4:7-8

MY SHACKLES ARE GONE — David Harmer

PRAYER requires POWER

IN WORK FOR God never look at flesh and blood causes; meet every arrangement for the day in the power of the Holy Ghost. It makes no difference what your work is, or what your circumstances are; if you are praying in the Holy Ghost, He will produce an atmosphere round about you, and all these things will redound to the glory of God.
[from ‘If Ye Shall Ask’ by Oswald Chambers]

LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION HERE…⤵️

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