You Have a Future

It occurs to me that there are so many people living as though they have no place to go.  There are so many who do not understand all that God has promised and desires for them.  I want to declare today that YOU HAVE A FUTURE!


One of my life verses is 


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 hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)


It is interesting that this verse was declared by the prophet Jeremiah while the people of God were in exiled captivity to the Babylonians.  They had lost family.  They had lost property.  They had lost homes.  They had lost their very identity.  Yet God spoke to them that He had plans to give His people hope and a future.  


Doesn't this seem so separated from reality?  How is it that God can declare or promise hope and future when reality says all hope is lost?  Is God out of touch with reality?  Or, is God ahead of where we are and preparing us for where He is taking us?  Jesus said something very similar to what the prophet Jeremiah declared.  


The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). John 10:10 (Amplified Bible)


How many find themselves in a situation similar to the exiled children of Israel; being held captive by the enemy and his lies?  Consider what Jesus says the thief (the devil) comes to do.

1. He comes to steal.  This is his attempt to erase your past and take away all the good that has been done in and for your life.  This is spiritual identity theft.  If he can steal away where you have been and what has happened to you then he can steal away who you are.  I imagine when the children of Israel were taken into captivity they felt that all they had worked for and seen happen throughout their lives was suddenly stolen away.  They had nothing left.  The enemy wants to steal from you and make you feel that you have nothing left.  
2. He comes to kill.  This is his attempt to erase your present by erasing you.  Death happens the moment life ceases.  I am sure that many of the Israelites would have preferred to just die rather than be in exile.  The enemy wants you to view your present and see no reason to want to live.  Seldom does this develop to the point of physical death, because so many have allowed the enemy to kill their spirits to the point of having no life remaining in them.  
3. He comes to destroy.  This is his attempt to erase your future.  If he can steal your past and kill your present he can definitely destroy your future.    It is a dangerous place to be to feel you have nothing to go back to and nothing to look forward to.  This is a place the enemy longs to bring you. This is the place the Israelites surely found themselves in.  

But, that is not the end of the story.  Just like through the prophet Jeremiah, God promised hope and a future; here through Jesus we are promised ABUNDANT LIFE.  Jesus steps into the picture to restore back what has been stolen, to revive what has been killed, and to destroy the works of the devil.  

The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.  1 John 3:8

This means YOU HAVE A FUTURE.  You do not have to be held captive by the lies and works of the enemy.  God has spoken life and that settles it.  Reality and facts around you may say one thing, but the TRUTH speaks of life, of hope and of a future.  In their song, "The Voice of Truth", Casting Crowns makes this powerful declaration:

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Let us always listen to the voice of Truth and not allow the lies of the enemy or our view of circumstances to steal, kill or destroy.