BE A BLESSING WHERE YOU LIVE!

BE A BLESSING WHERE YOU LIVE

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” —Jeremiah 29:4-7

The Israelites were to settle down in the cities were they were carried off into exile. The Lord told them to “build houses.” They were going to be in Babylon for 70 years and so they were to make homes there. He told them also to plant gardens and eat what they produce.” The Israelites were to be active in agriculture while they were in Babylon to provide for themselves. They were also to raise families and to “find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so they too may have sons and daughters.” They were to “increase in number there; do not decrease” they were told. In reality, they were to live as if they were in their homeland.

Not only that but they were also to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” The Israelites were to be active in the city life where the Lord exiled them. They were to seek for its “peace and prosperity” because if that city “prospers, you too will prosper.”

Well, surely this ought to be our attitude in the place where we live as well. How are we seeking for “the peace and prosperity of the city” where the Lord has us? In what ways can we be involved to encourage this where we live? Surely we have the “gospel of peace” that we could be sharing with those around us in the place where we live. How can we help our cities prosper? How can we be part of the solutions for the problems our cities are having that they would prosper? We are to be praying for where we are living. May the Lord give us wisdom in this and may we be actively involved.

Dear Father, please show me how I can be a servant that is seeking the peace and prosperity in the place You have put me. May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc

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