Perfect Purposes Isaiah 46:8-10 Isaiah 14:24 Isaiah 14:27 Jeremiah 32:17-19 Jeremiah 29:11-13 Acts 2:22-23 Romans 8:28-30 2 Timothy 1:8-9 Philippians 2:12-13 Philippians 2:1-4 04.10.20

PERFECT PURPOSES

BREAD

⁸ “Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. ⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. ¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”  Isaiah 46:8-10 (NIV)

²⁴ The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.”  Isaiah 14:24 (NIV)

²⁷ For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?  His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?   Isaiah 14:27 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸ You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them.  O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, ¹⁹ great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.”   Jeremiah 32:17-19 (NIV)

¹¹ “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. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV)

²² “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”  Acts 2:22-23 (NIV)

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.   Romans 8:28-30 (NIV)

⁸ So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, ⁹ who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.  2 Timothy 1:8-9 (NIV)

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)

¹ If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Nothing happened to our Lord Jesus that did not come within the boundaries of the Father’s purposes.  And as Ephesians teaches us, our lives are planned in the same way.  The one thing that matters is how we meet what happens.  Limitations and frustrations can’t cast the smallest handful of dust on the glory of God…for His way is perfect.”   Amy Carmichael

“No one can dissuade God from His purposes; nothing can turn Him aside from His plans.”   A.W. Tozer

“Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans.  Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.”   Oswald Chambers 

“When we are in a dark place we are not to despair rather look for patches of God-light for they are most assuredly there.  He is supremely close to His children as they walk through their Valley of Baca’s (tears) taking them from strength to strength.  His Presence is continually with us and even more so in our darkest hours.  Further, He has purpose in each circumstance He allows in the lives of His heirs of mercy.  He can be fully trusted.”  BHY   

“In believing prayer, we learn to connect our present troubles to the good and perfect will of God.  We refuse to believe that chance rules our lives.  We withstand the temptation to imagine that God is capricious or malicious.  We know he has a higher purpose and that he is not dealing with us as our sins deserve.  As we bring our troubles to Jesus in prayer—asking his will to be done—we approve the will of our Father in heaven. We see our sufferings in the greater reality of his good, acceptable, and perfect will.  In prayer we “turn crisis to Christ.”  Our heart becomes tuned to his heart and we sing the song of grace.”   Ancient Prayer, John F. Smed 

“The purposes of God are His concealed promises; the promises, His revealed purposes.”   Philip Henry

“Somehow in the wonder-working providence of God, our worst problems become our best pulpits. God turns our tragedies into testimonies and our emergencies into evangelism. Our testimonies are forged and crafted in the trials of life, our pain has an evangelistic purpose, our problems become His pulpits, and the things that happen to us turn out for the furtherance of the gospel.”  Robert J. Morgan

“If you wish to know God, you must know his Word.  If you wish to perceive His power,
you must see how He works by his Word. If you wish to know His purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it by His Word.”  C.H. Spurgeon

“We will never put God in a nice little convenient proverbial box of our own makings and imaginations.  He is so totally other – His thoughts are not our thoughts neither His ways our ways.  His paths for us are always perfect and pleasing and have our best interest at heart though most often unimaginatively hard.  His ways may not lead us into comfort and painlessness.  Indeed, His children should not expect to be carried into heaven on a bed of down though He can do so if He so desires.  More often than not, His ways lead us into circumstances ‘far beyond our ability to endure’ to demonstrate to the unbelieving world (and to ourselves for that matter) His power in our lives whether it be by miraculously changing our circumstances or just as  miraculously (or even more so), by changing our hearts through the circumstances. His good ways will always lead us on paths of conformation to the fullness of His precious Son – that’s the purpose.  He wants us to be like Jesus – whatever it takes - and we want that too.  That is the abundant life.”   BHY

HEART SAVOR

• ·         God’s plans and purposes, as His will, are always good and pleasing and perfect and prosperous.
• ·         His purposes will stand.
• ·         God works in us to will and to act according to His good purposes.