I will bless you with a future filled with hope–a future of success, not of suffering. – Jeremiah 29:11 (Contemporary English Version)

If you study the Old Testament, you’ll see that no matter how often man disobeyed God, God would still develop a plan to bless them. Starting with Adam and Eve, God placed them in a garden with all kinds of blessing and good things, and, He gave them dominion over the earth and everything in it. God’s plan was for man to rule the earth.

27So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. 28God gave them his blessing and said:

Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.

29I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. – Genesis 1:27-29 (Contemporary English Version)

Even after Adam and Eve (they both ate of the fruit) disobeyed God and became disconnected from the original plan, God had a replacement plan ready to go. He decided to give His only Son (Jesus) to deal with Satan and everything that he has stolen from man.

15 I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants
will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel.” – Genesis 3:15 (New Century Version)

Whatever you’re going through right now or whatever you’ve been through, rest assured that God has a good plan for you. He created you to do good things and live up to the potential that He put inside of you. Even if you’ve intentionally walked off of the path that He prepared in advance for you, He will create new plan that will put you on an intercept course to do what is best for you and to receive His Blessing.

“10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” – Ephesians 2:10 (New Living Translation). All of us were created to be God’s masterpiece. He has a good plan for each of us, if we choose to accept His will for our lives and follow the path that he has determined in advance for us to follow. If you’re ready to find out what God’s good plan is for your life, the first step is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you’ve never done that before, find out how to receive salvation.

If you have already received Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life but are not walking in the plan that He has for you, there’s great news. It’s never too late to connect to God and His plan for your life. If you have sin in your life, turn away from it and ask God for forgiveness. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” – 1 John 1:9 (New Living Translation).

What’s the Next Step?

Once you’ve made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior and have received forgiveness of your sins, it’s time to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. I’ll explore this subject in greater detail in the next article.

Note: This article was inspired by Gloria Copeland’s book, God’s Master Plan for Your Life. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to tap into God’s plan.

You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
—Psalm 65:11 NIV

Don’t look at what the world is experiencing. The Lord has already crowned this year with bounty! Remember He is the Ancient of Days. He knows all things and holds time in His hand. Everything He created was called good. In order to experience the Blessing all year long, we need to remind ourselves daily of Psalm 118:24 which says, “This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!” That’s 365 blessed days and it equals a year crowned with bounty!

In the beginning God created. What did He create—time, days and seasons for people to enjoy. And, He said it was all good. Genesis 1:31 recounts, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” So regardless of what the media, politicians or your co workers are saying, THIS YEAR IS GOOD AND WILL BE GOOD BECAUSE GOD CREATED IT. Furthermore, His reason for making it good was and still is for His children to enjoy.

A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
—Deuteronomy 11:12

His eyes are upon you if you are in covenant with Him. This is included in our Blessing. The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made (Psalm 145:6). And we have biblical proof that anything God makes is bountiful, blessed and flowing with abundance. This should be our experience no matter what year it is or the economic status of our country. As a matter of fact, I believe when the world has lean times, it is a better opportunity for God to show off in our lives. People will want to know why and how our days and years continue to prosper.

Finally I’d also like you to meditate on God ending things the same way He began. Creating. Revelation gives us a glimpse. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal (Revelation 21:1-2, 10-11). This sounds like bounty to me! If none of the other verses convinced you, just focus on these. They will remind you of how the Lord is living and His expectations for you this year and every year until His return. He created it, crowned it and blessed it and He expects you to have a blessed year from beginning to end.

Be blessed friends and have the perfect day everyday!
Psalm 138:8
—Shontta

Throughout the Bible human beings were always fascinated with the experience of seeing God. This may have been one of the reasons for manmade gods. I suppose that the people who made these idols wanted to be able to see and touch the beings they worshiped. When all along, God Almighty had given man a picture of Himself—man was the image of God. All that needed to be done to see God was to see a human being. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Despite this fact being rehearsed through generations, Jesus disciples still wanted to see the Lord.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

—John 14:6-11

OK, so how can you not love this passage of Scripture! Focus on the way Jesus spoke. The surety of His words is so powerful. He had no doubt about who He was or what He was saying. We are supposed to behave the same way. The first blessing God ever gave us was to create us in His image! Why? So we could do the same works and greater! I am excited as I write this—it’s a true revelation. Jesus told the disciples that by seeing Him they had seen the Father. And as a part of the Acts generation, not only are we made in the image of God, we also have the Christ in us! Are you feeling me?! This is why I can say that everyday I see the Lord. Jesus lives in me and my physical body is in the likeness of the Father.

This is another reason why we cannot focus on what we see on the outside of people. No matter what they may be doing with their bodies, they were not originally created for or by evil. Psalm 100:3 tells us, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” And in Psalm 139:13-16 David continues, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

People were created by God. So whenever we look at someone, we should be looking through the eyes of God. By giving you and me His image, He was able to give us His power. The Blessing can flow through us because we’ve been made the righteousness of God in Christ. We were made a little lower than Elohim! You have to get this. Let’s close with Hebrews.

“You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

—Hebrews 2:7-11 NIV

You look just like your Father. You have His eyes and you possess His power. You’ve been blessed in His image. Don’t go around wishing you could see God or touch Him. As you read His word and pray, you will see more of Him in you and all around you. You will be just as confident as Jesus was when He told the disciples that they had seen the Father by seeing Him. When you witness and work for the Lord you will be able to tell others, “When you look at me, you are looking at the Lord.”

Be blessed friends, and have the perfect day everyday!

Psalm 138:8

—Shontta