“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
Each year, when fall comes along, it tells us something. We see it when the leaves begin to change color. We feel it when the temperature starts to cool down. We experience it when our routines change. Fall tells us that things can change. But what it also tells us is that we can change for the better.
There will be times when God asks us to rest. There will be times when God asks us to grow. There will be times when God asks us to let go of things. And there will be times when God asks us to start over. It’s a good time of year to ask God what needs a do-over in our lives.
This is a verse that many of us know. We use this verse to encourage ourselves and others that God has a plan for our lives. But we need to know what this verse was written about. When God gave this message to Jeremiah, it was being given to the Jewish people who were exiled in Babylon. They didn’t have a choice about where they were and most likely didn’t understand why they were there. Things in their lives were different from the way they used to be. Everything they knew had been taken from them, and the future they saw was most likely nothing like they expected.
But God said to them, “I know the plans I have for you.”
What that meant was that God wasn’t done with them just because of what they were currently experiencing. They weren’t stuck where they were at that point in time.
Sometimes we look at where we are and think that we’ll always be where we are, whether it’s because of something we failed at or something that happened in our lives. Maybe it’s something we experienced that left us feeling like we can’t move on. But God is in the business of starting over.
One thing that we do when we are constantly moving forward is forget to ask if we’re moving in the right direction. We stay busy. Churches stay busy. Families stay busy. We, as individuals, stay busy. There are many good things we can put on our calendars and still not be doing what God wants us to do.
Fall can allow us to take stock of where we are. Where are we as far as our walk with God? How is our prayer life? Are we reading God’s Word? Are we worshiping, or are we just going through the motions? Are we serving? Are we building one another up? Are we allowing others into our lives who need Jesus? And, most importantly, are we willing to change what God wants us to change?
You can’t start over if you don’t know where you are.
Not only do we need to ask ourselves these questions, but we also need to ask them as a church. Churches go through seasons. Some seasons are amazing. There are times when your church will experience great growth. There will be times when your church will be stagnant, maybe going through rough times or just treading water.
We can’t always rely on what God did the day before yesterday. We can praise God for what He has done in the past, but we can’t be trapped in that. We can rejoice in what God has done but not rest on those good things.
So I believe this is the season for our church to ask, “What does God want to do?” Not what do we want to do. Not what has always been done. Not what will make us comfortable. But, “Lord, what do You want us to do?”
That could change everything about our church.
Maybe God wants us to pray more. Maybe He wants us to reach out to our community more. Maybe He wants us to focus more on our young people. Maybe He wants us to help people with their marriages and families. Maybe He wants us to reach the broken. Maybe He wants us to step up and serve in areas where we haven’t served before. Or maybe He just wants us to be more faithful in what He has already asked of us.
Whatever it is, we need to be open to it.
Fall is a great time to evaluate where we are. What about your prayer life? Maybe your relationship with God has become routine. Maybe you’ve been disappointed so many times that you don’t believe God will ever do anything for you again. Maybe there is something you failed at that you think God will never let you do again. Maybe you’ve become complacent.
There are things you may need to let go of.
Starting over doesn’t mean everything is going to be easy. It means that we are focusing on God again. Some of us just need to tell God that we are ready to change what needs to be changed. And we may not like everything that God shows us.
When we grow, we have to change, and when we change, we have to let go of things.
Look at the trees in the fall. They let go of their leaves. There is something beautiful about that. We want God to give us something new, but we won’t let go of something old. We want to grow in our faith, but we won’t change our ways. We want our church to grow, but we won’t change our mindset. We want closer relationships with others, but we won’t open up. We want God to use us, but we won’t step out of our comfort zone.
Sometimes, to move forward in what God wants for us, we have to let go of what we had in the past. It could be a mindset. A bad habit. Something you’re afraid of. Holding onto someone or something that’s not good for you. An old disappointment. Something that we’ve been doing that isn’t working anymore.
Or maybe it’s believing that we’ll never be able to move past something.
Sometimes we need to let go of some things to start over.
Just because Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has plans for you doesn’t mean that it will happen tomorrow. In fact, the people God was talking to were told that they had to live out their lives until the time when He would show them what He had planned.
That’s something we need to remember.
We live in a world that wants instant gratification. But God doesn’t always work that way. There will be times when we have to wait on Him. Waiting to see what God has for us can take time. Whether it’s your life, your church, or your walk with God, don’t think that you aren’t moving forward just because you can’t see it yet.
God can be doing something in your life that you are not aware of.
Instead of asking how fast we can get to where God wants us to be, we should be asking if we are doing what He wants us to do to get there.
If we believe that God has a plan for us, we can’t sit on the sidelines and wait for Him to do everything. We have to live with hope. And that means we have to take action.
Maybe this fall we need to pray more. Serve more. Worship more. Love more. Forgive more. Give more.
Invite someone to church.
Reach out to someone who hasn’t been to church in a while.
Serve where there is a need.
Open your home.
Encourage someone who needs it.
Read your Bible more.
Make prayer a priority.
Do what God is asking of you.
We don’t have to know what every step is going to look like. Just take the next step that God puts in front of you.
So, fall is here. Maybe it’s time for us to change as well.
We don’t have to change because of something we did wrong. Maybe God is just trying to get us ready for what’s to come.
So, let’s embrace this fall and start over.
Let go of what we need to let go of.
Rebuild what we need to rebuild.
Grow where God wants us to grow.
And know that He has a future for us.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord…. “to give you hope and a future.”
Maybe this fall is that time.
In Christ,
James