Surviving or Thriving?

We typically have our series planned out a year in advance, but the Lord has been speaking to my heart personally, and then for you all as we pray and fast for God’s perfect plans over your lives and families.

God is able.

And then Jeremy spoke on the principle of sowing and reaping and then Brother Andrew with his valley of dry bones out of Ezekiel, his words just confirmed what the Holy Spirit was already saying. What a sweet time with Jesus last weekend.

So here goes.

You every asked someone how you do…awe brother just making it. I have breath in my lungs.

There are times where we are just making it, squeaking by, and I get that and have been in times like that, where I am just holding on to my faith, barely. There are even seasons like that.

Right? Years even?

But I would say while there are times of surviving, God has also placed within us times to thrive.

Thrive – grow and develop well to proser and flourish.

Jeremiah sends this letter to exiles in Babylon sometime following the deportation from Jerusalem in 597 B.C.E. Jeremiah addresses issues faced by the exiles. His word that their stay in Babylon would be lengthy was disputed by several false prophets who were fomenting unrest among them. Jeremiah’s basic response to the exiles is to settle in for the long haul, but they should know that God has not forgotten them.

Jeremiah's message made a tremendous impression upon the Jewish exiles in Babylon. It breathed new life into them, and encouraged them, for they knew exactly what they had to do. Thus, seventy years after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the community of the faithful who returned from Exile, rebuilt the Jerusalem, exactly as Jeremiah had prophesied.

Jeremiah 29:1-14

29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have (God had allowed some things and set them into the place. You can see the principle of sowing and reaping, but even in that He is so generous and kind. I had the privilege last weekend of sitting underneath the ministry of Andrew Eastmond and all I could think over and over again is of the kindness of God. I know me. I would even fuss me. And

here is God in Babylon with people who deserve Babylon and here is what he says in verse 5) sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,[a] 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.

10 “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare[b] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

God wanted them to thrive in it.

I think of us and how we have 70ish years more or less than heaven.

There were some people that were gonna die in Babloyn, and Jeremiah wanted them to have the right mindset even in their captivity. There was a work to be done. There was a welfare of the city to be sought. There was a prayer to the Lord on someone’s behalf.

The opening section of the letter (29:5-7) has received the most attention. Given the length of the stay (some seventy years), the exiles should build houses, plant gardens, marry and have children, and even plan for marriages of their children. The assumption is that God will be present and active in their daily lives even in this foreign land and among people they could name as their enemies. Even more, the exiles are not only to be concerned about their own life, but the life of the people among whom they are living. Indeed, they are to promote the well-being of the Babylonians and even pray for them (see also Proverbs 25:21-22; Matthew 5:44)! The word commonly translated “welfare” (shalom) occurs three times (and in Jeremiah 29:11). God is concerned about the welfare of a “pagan” city, including individuals and the community as a whole. Such activities would affect their own lives in a positive way.

How do you Thrive?

There is an interesting story in the New Testament of Joseph and Mary losing Jesus. If I think of someone who thrived it would clearly have to be him. And tuck away in Luke’s gospel is this…

Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them But his mother treasured all these things in her heart “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

Thrive with His Wisdom

James 1:5-6 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

Oprah Winfey says, “Follow your instincts. That’s where true wisdom manifest itself.

She is wrong.

Filled with wise sayings, Proverbs defines wisdom as the ability to judge correctly and apply the best course of action based on knowledge and understanding. Another way to describe wisdom is the moral skill for living revealed through God's Word, which instructs us about how to act as He desires.

Knowledge is horizontal.

Wisdom is vertical, it comes down from above.

Thrive with His Stature

The expression in [Luke 2:52] is borrowed from [1 Samuel 2:26] : "And the youth Samuel grew [in stature] and favor both with YHVH and with people." (

Samuel grew under the tutelage of Eli while his own sons grew worse and worse.

To grow in stature with YHVH means : Increased Daat דַּעַת (Knowledge) of God's Dat דָּת (Law). - Increased Stature through knowledge and fair judgement of the Law (commanded in Deuteronomy 16:18) reflects one's close understanding of God's desires for His people.

There was a growth in the Lord. Yes, Jesus increased in stature, with God to guide him he was made ready only by his humble obedience and willingness to suffer, that he might be tested in all things.

Thrive with His Favor

Priscilla says in a reel that I have watched over and over again..

Favor is what makes things unfair, it gives you an unfair advantage,

Favor is what opens doors that no man can shut,

Favor is when God’s presence hangs heavy over you.

Favor is marking you so when you go in for that interview they are not sure why they are drawn to you over another person who might have more skill and talent.

Favor is when you have been in the presence of God.

And if you want to thrive, and not just survive, you will need the favor of God and man.

Jesus grew in Wisdom, Stature, and Favor with God and with Man!