you will call on me and come and pray to me, I will listen, ” God tells  us in Jeremiah 29. “When you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me.”

The big IF.  The big WHEN.  This is the part where you and I have to commit.   This is our part of the deal.  God guarantees that he will listen.  God promises that we will find him.  IF I call on him. IF you call on him.  WHEN we seek him.

The verse right before this is very well-known.  It is a promise of God that we desperately hold on to when our lives are crumbling around us.  We often recite it in our prayers for our children and families.

God tells us that his plans for us are to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future.

Amen!  Bring it on, God!

But we miss it if we don’t read on to the next verses.  This is where he tells us HOW he is going to do this.  He promises to respond and prosper us  IF we call on him.  WHEN we seek him, he will be found and he will be able to do what he has promised.  He wants to give us a hope.  He has a beautiful future planned for us.

IF.  WHEN.

Am I calling on him?  Am I seeking him?  What about you?  I can’t claim this promise unless I’m doing these things.

I am calling and seeking right now, Abba Father.