Winning Words 3/22/12
“I know the plans I have for you.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Predestination is a word that has been the topic of many religious discussions. Has God pre-planned our life?..and picked out our destination…heaven or hell? Today’s quote is God saying to Jeremiah and to all of us, “I love you and care for you. I want the best for you.” Jeremiah tried to live according to that plan and was blessed. God has a plan for us, too. ;-) Jack

FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: I don't think God has planned out our lives. Else why bother praying? Or is that part of His plan too?////FROM JACK: I don't see prayer as a ploy to get God to change his mind. Rather, i think that it allows communication with God, a way for us to express what is on our mind. His feedback is in a kind of "language" that can be described only in spiritual terms. Bottom line: Prayer is God/people talk.

FROM RG IN ARIZONA: I'm not sure I would call it predestination; but Jonah, Saul, Moses, and others who were "knocked off their horse" because they were not following God's plan might think so. In our lives, we assign our plans upon those for whom we care. Quite often, they don't necessarily follow the plans we have for them either. I don't think it was God's "plan" for Adam to succumb to temptation; but it would be God's plan to have us decide (Liberty) freely what course of action we will take. I would add that it is God's plan for each of us to become full manifestations of that which He created each one of us to be in the very beginning. The most difficult part is knowing what that is from moment to moment. So, as children of the Light, let us walk in the Light and find our way... ////FROM JACK: My problem with predestination is that it devalues free-will. Many of the biblical stories are meant to "show" us how to use our free-will in the best way. To focus on the stories in a literal way sometimes causes us to miss the meaning/reason of the story.

FROM LG IN MICHIGAN: This is my favorite scripture, Jack! It was Jeremiah 29:10 that sustained me through the period when our son was in the death-grip of addiction...that was a very, very dark and terrifying time. I actually felt like we were in a tug-of-war with satan for our son's spirit and sanity! "'For I know the plans I have for you' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'" Those words were exactly what I wanted and needed to believe--that God was on our side of that tug-of-war! We needed to know that His plan for our son was for GOOD and not disaster! (One translation I read said--for good and not CALAMITY! I love that!!) I clung to His promise of a future for our son! These words in Jeremiah WERE life and hope for me during that time! It was our faith in these promises that gave my husband and I the courage to send our son to a rehab in PA that our only knowledge of was reading about it in a book and a couple conversations with an intake coordinator. We could never have taken the steps recommended to us by treatment pros there in PA or thereafter back in MI if not for our faith in the promises in Jeremiah 29:10-14... And the Lord rewarded our faith abundantly! Which, of course, increased our faith in all of the Word and all of His promises! I never could have imagined then how trusting the Lord's word in even the smallest way could abate the fear, calm the mind, and cure the indecisiveness and self-doubt that plagued me prior to the day we surrendered our will for our son to the Lord. It changed my life in EVERY way! So, Jack, reading Jeremiah 29 for the first time planted the seed of my faith! I was a "believer" before that time, but I never knew what faith was until then! My scripture of the day yesterday was Jeremiah 17:7-8. Such a beautiful, peaceful image for me...a tall, strong tree on the shore of a lake or stream... Thanks for your continued commitment to your continued Winning Words mission... I look forward to it every day!////FROM JACK: The Book of Jeremiah is one of my Bible favorites. When I was ordained as a pastor, our class chose Jeremiah 1:7 to "our" verse. Yes, God is involved with us and our lives.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: This has been both comforting and puzzling to me. If God has it all planned out for me...if I pray, will He change His mind about up-coming life events? How does free-will effect God's plans for my life? Something to ponder.////FROM JACK: God is our friend, and when we are with a friend, that is a comfort. We don't have to worry about puzzles.

FROM PRJM IN MICHIGAN: I don't read Hebrew so I don't know if this quote is for Jeremiah (singular) or for the people (plural). If the latter, as I have most often thought of it, God had already revealed many times the plans for the nation -- to be the cradle of the messiah -- starting with Adam and Eve. As for my Lutheran self, I believe God has given us a giant measure of free will and waits to see what decisions we'll make. We have been told plainly what the results of one decision will be -- that is, the rejection of the Holy Spirit. As for the rest, from infant vs. believer's baptism, to the existence of hell for humans after life, to homosexuality as a status, to nuclear weaponry, etc., we have some general guidelines in the Commandments and in the gospels, but nothing hard and fast for making these decisions of the 20th and 21st centuries in the Western World. So "free will" doesn't always feel "freeing" because it carries with it a lot of responsibility for our decisions. Thank goodness, I say, God is not the Great Puppeteer and we are not puppets. Thank you, not only for the interesting quotes but more for the thought-provoking commentary on them!////FROM JACK: I often wonder, as I sit at the keyboard in the morning, if the messages are more than clickety-click and SEND. Thanks for pressing REPLY and offering feedback. If, in the end, I find out that I am really a puppet with God's hand in my body, I'll be satisfied with that. I won't complain to Him/Her.

FROM CL IN MICHIGAN: Amen. It is interesting how the word predestination upsets and affects some people.////FROM JACK: There are other words, too, which upset and affect some people. Predestination seems to be one that isn't high on today's agenda.

FROM BLAZING OAKS: We are given the privilege of choices...that what Love is, the freedom to choose, so probably God doesn't always get what God wants, since he allows us to opt, or reject...I like the way Rob Bell discusses this in his book LOVE WINS, in his chapter "Does God get what God wants?' Bell seems to think that at some point down the line, people do finally accept God's love and respond to it. Interesting book No ETERNAL punishment. I like that! What a blessed life, if we do try to live out God's plan for us...who knows us better?!////FROM JACK: As Iris DeMent sings: "I think I'll just let the mystery be."