Pray the word with David Platt as a resource from Radical.net.

Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 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. What a command from God as his people are

going into exile. They're being taken from the Promised Land into a foreign land being taken

captive by the Babylonians. That's what is being prophesied here. And God tells his people through

Jeremiah when you go to the city where I have sent you into exile. Even that phrase is a clear

reminder of God's sovereignty over where we live and where we find ourselves. Each one of our

lives even right now. It's not an accident that we are where we are right now. That God and his

sovereignty has us in a place and to take this imagery of exiles all the way to the New Testament.

We are all exiles, aliens, strangers in this world no matter what country or city we live in.

We are looking forward to another city in another country. This city, this country is not our home.

We are exiles here. And God says pray to the Lord on behalf of the city where I have placed you

for in its welfare. You will find your welfare. It is good to seek the welfare and to pray for

specifically the welfare of the city, the country where we find ourselves living. So I would just

ask you, are you a faithful intercessor for your city? Are you seeking the welfare of the city

where you live, of the country where you live? And are you faithfully interceding praying for the

good? And are you faithfully interceding praying to the Lord on behalf of your city?

Oh God, we pray that you would help us to be faithful to do what you called your people to do here

in Jeremiah 29. Obviously, we know we are not in the same circumstance that they were in, but we

trust that you have sovereignly placed each of us where we find ourselves right now for me and

greater Washington DC. And for each person listening to this, some in the same cities, some

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