“For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the LORD’s declaration—
”plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11

When John Wesley was traveling around and preaching the gospel, he came to one village, where he asked if he could preach in the service on Sunday. The minister of the church refused because he, along with many others of the day, believed Wesley to be a heretic. So Wesley went to the cemetery, and stood on one of the tombstones, and preached to the crowd that gathered to hear him - the largest congregation the town had ever seen.

He did this night after night, preaching also at several of the surrounding villages. Many people were saved, and lives were changed. Some of their angry neighbors seized an entire wagon-load of these new heretics and took them before a magistrate. When the magistrate asked what they had done, there was a deep silence, because no one had thought about that. Finally, someone said, “They pretended to be better than other people,” while another said, “They prayed from morning to night.” One man said, “They have converted my wife. Till she went among them she had such a tongue, and now she is quiet as a lamb!”

When the magistrate heard this, he proclaimed, “Take them back! Take them back, and let them convert the entire town!”

Why are we afraid of what God would do if He got hold of our lives? Why can we not see the goodness of the changes a spiritual awakening would bring to our families? Is it because we suspect the goodness of God? Have we confused Jesus with someone else? Jesus told us in John 10:10, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness (NLT). God’s plan is a good plan and we can trust Him because He loves us more than we love ourselves.

Today’s Scripture Reading: 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21

Today’s Prayer Guidance: Father, help me not to fear Your work in my life. Grant me the courage to embrace the changes You will bring to my life as good things. Enable me to see all the good revival can mean to me.