"A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash" (Prov. 15:14, NLT).
"The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger" (Prov. 24:5, NLT).
"Knowledge is power."--Sir Francis Bacon
"...' My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose'" (Isa. 46:10, ESV).
"[F]or I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jer. 29:11, ESV).
Many Bible teachers point to the famed Bible verse, Jer. 29:11, as indicated to God's eternal plan for believers. To deny that God has a purpose for our lives and a plan is to deny the eternal decrees of God--Psalm 139:16 denotes God's intricate detailing of our lives. Stoic philosophy went so far as to not only posit God having a plan but that it is our chief good and aim to accept it without reservation in a sort of grin and bear it philosophy.
Antithetical to adhering to God having a plan for us is the humanistic view that we are the master of our fate and the captain of our soul per Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Our duty is not to believe in a dogma of a "stiff upper lip" nor to merely grin and bear in time, but to work out our salvation with fear and trembling per Philippians 2:13 and to make good on our destiny, noting that this is not blind fate or kismet (Islam version), but a personal dealing with God whereby we cooperate in His grace on our behalf. It is never too late to accomplish God's best for us, if we are yielded to Him and willing to do His will wholeheartedly (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9).
According to 2 Cor. 1:20, all the promises are fulfilled and amen in Christ Jesus. When God gave a promise specifically to Abraham, it has immediate consequences for him as well as long term, but there are also mediate applications for the believer who is the legitimate "son of Abraham," the father of the faithful. Sometimes we have to realize a symbolic or indirect fulfillment of a promise, but it's still inherent in God's Word, which cannot come back void but will be fulfilled.
In other words, all promises apply in some sense or degree. This verse is aimed at Israel and its future as God's people, and so they seem to think that you cannot interpret it for personal application. It is wrong to say, "This verse means this to me, regardless of what it means at face value." That is to become mystical and close to believing the Bible becomes the Word of God upon having an existential experience or encounter with it. You must interpret Scripture with Scripture, and according to this principle, God does have a plan for us to have a more abundant life in Christ, according to John 10:10.
God even has a plan for the wicked and a purpose for them in the day of evil (cf. Prov. 16:4). Job 23:14, NLT, says quite plainly, without any play on words, in the plain sense that God had a plan for Job and a destiny to fulfill ("For he will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny"). The error arises when we think that God wants to always prosper us in the material sense, thinking that spirituality is the means to financial gain--an idea opposed by Paul in 1 Timothy 6. We must learn to be content with what we have and enjoy the blessing God gives us--this is how we find God's calling to use the blessing bestowed and His provision granted by grace. We are to be faithful to what God has given us in due measure, and not to have gift envy or to think God is being unfair.
Jer. 29:11 says God has no evil in mind for us, and our trials are meant to increase our faith and to give us character through adversity, not to harm us! Indeed, Paul was right on when he mentioned in Rom. 8:28 that God works all things together for our good, but sometimes we don't' realize it till much later. The original issue is whether we can apply texts to ourselves that are not directly addressed to us, especially promises.
"The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger" (Prov. 24:5, NLT).
"Knowledge is power."--Sir Francis Bacon
"...' My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose'" (Isa. 46:10, ESV).
"[F]or I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jer. 29:11, ESV).
Many Bible teachers point to the famed Bible verse, Jer. 29:11, as indicated to God's eternal plan for believers. To deny that God has a purpose for our lives and a plan is to deny the eternal decrees of God--Psalm 139:16 denotes God's intricate detailing of our lives. Stoic philosophy went so far as to not only posit God having a plan but that it is our chief good and aim to accept it without reservation in a sort of grin and bear it philosophy.
Antithetical to adhering to God having a plan for us is the humanistic view that we are the master of our fate and the captain of our soul per Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Our duty is not to believe in a dogma of a "stiff upper lip" nor to merely grin and bear in time, but to work out our salvation with fear and trembling per Philippians 2:13 and to make good on our destiny, noting that this is not blind fate or kismet (Islam version), but a personal dealing with God whereby we cooperate in His grace on our behalf. It is never too late to accomplish God's best for us, if we are yielded to Him and willing to do His will wholeheartedly (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9).
According to 2 Cor. 1:20, all the promises are fulfilled and amen in Christ Jesus. When God gave a promise specifically to Abraham, it has immediate consequences for him as well as long term, but there are also mediate applications for the believer who is the legitimate "son of Abraham," the father of the faithful. Sometimes we have to realize a symbolic or indirect fulfillment of a promise, but it's still inherent in God's Word, which cannot come back void but will be fulfilled.
In other words, all promises apply in some sense or degree. This verse is aimed at Israel and its future as God's people, and so they seem to think that you cannot interpret it for personal application. It is wrong to say, "This verse means this to me, regardless of what it means at face value." That is to become mystical and close to believing the Bible becomes the Word of God upon having an existential experience or encounter with it. You must interpret Scripture with Scripture, and according to this principle, God does have a plan for us to have a more abundant life in Christ, according to John 10:10.
God even has a plan for the wicked and a purpose for them in the day of evil (cf. Prov. 16:4). Job 23:14, NLT, says quite plainly, without any play on words, in the plain sense that God had a plan for Job and a destiny to fulfill ("For he will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny"). The error arises when we think that God wants to always prosper us in the material sense, thinking that spirituality is the means to financial gain--an idea opposed by Paul in 1 Timothy 6. We must learn to be content with what we have and enjoy the blessing God gives us--this is how we find God's calling to use the blessing bestowed and His provision granted by grace. We are to be faithful to what God has given us in due measure, and not to have gift envy or to think God is being unfair.
Jer. 29:11 says God has no evil in mind for us, and our trials are meant to increase our faith and to give us character through adversity, not to harm us! Indeed, Paul was right on when he mentioned in Rom. 8:28 that God works all things together for our good, but sometimes we don't' realize it till much later. The original issue is whether we can apply texts to ourselves that are not directly addressed to us, especially promises.
The point to note is that we ought to look for general principles of God's character that are immutable and that might apply to us in particular. In one sense, Christians are God's people now and God has cast aside Israel till the Day of the Lord in the last days, and it is true that we are the seed of Abraham according to Gal. 3:29. One of the privileges of being the seed of Abraham is to share in his blessings and to claim promises of God in Christ's name.
We are not capable of frustrating or thwarting God's plan; even the episode of temptation in the Garden of Eden was going according to plan and didn't take God by surprise--He's planned our redemption from eternity. "...' As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand" (Isa. 14:24, ESV). Again: "For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?" (Isa. 14:27, ESV).
Indeed, as Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) wrote that this is "the best of all possible worlds," and just as Wycliffe's tenet similarly says, "Everything comes to pass of necessity" so there's no Plan B: God cannot fail and doesn't need a backup, because He's taken every contingency and exigency into consideration and cannot be thwarted! Soli Deo Gloria!
We are not capable of frustrating or thwarting God's plan; even the episode of temptation in the Garden of Eden was going according to plan and didn't take God by surprise--He's planned our redemption from eternity. "...' As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand" (Isa. 14:24, ESV). Again: "For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?" (Isa. 14:27, ESV).
Indeed, as Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) wrote that this is "the best of all possible worlds," and just as Wycliffe's tenet similarly says, "Everything comes to pass of necessity" so there's no Plan B: God cannot fail and doesn't need a backup, because He's taken every contingency and exigency into consideration and cannot be thwarted! Soli Deo Gloria!
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