Introduction: Have you ever felt like a failure? If we’re honest, we’ve all failed! Failed God; Failed others; Failed living the Spirit-filled life day by day. Yet, our failures did not take our Lord by surprise. “He knows our frame….we are but dust”! Imagine how Jeremiah the prophet felt.

* His call (Jer 1), at 20 yrs old

* His condition (Jer 2-9), at a time of wickedness

* His courage (Jer 10-19), calling Judah back to God

* His confinement (Jer 20-37), persecuted for being faithful to God

* His commitment (Jer 38-52), faithful to the finish

Today, we can take (3) steps to “Turn our Burdens into Blessings”….. and experience a “Turnaround”!

1. Do you believe that God can turn your “BURDEN into a BLESSING”….your “DARK NIGHT into a BRIGHT LIGHT”?(Jer 32:1-15)

“Then the King of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the King of Judah’s house.”

• What do you think was going through Jeremiah’s mind while in prison? Where’s God? Why Lord?
• How can we be Blessed – learn – from Jeremiah’s FAITH during a difficult time? What about today?

HE BOUGHT LAND! This was in spite of knowing Judah would be devastated.

“And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me saying, Behold Hanameel…..thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it…..And I bought the field….seventeen shekels of silver.

{The bill of purchase signed, sealed, to guarantee its legality – 2 copies and placed in a clay jar to protect from decay-
Keep in mind, he would not possess this until after 70 yrs of captivity (Jer 25:11)}

2. Do you believe that our God can take our “PAIN” of the past and bring about “GAIN” in the future? (Jer 32:16-44)

“For this saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land….I prayed…..Ah Lord God! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.”

• Israel’s Past failure – “pain” turned into Israel’s future “gain”
• Our Past failure – “pain” turned into our Lord Jesus Christ’s “gain”

{The word “difficult” paw law, means beyond one’s power}

“For thus saith the Lord; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.”

• Israel needed to look back and see what the Lord had done
• We need to look back and see what our Lord has done
• We can look forward to what our Lord will do

Conclusion: Jeremiah reminds us how the Lord turns evil (bad) into good (Jer 32:42). Also, just as Israel had a “TURNAROUND,” the power of the Holy Spirit is able to take our bad and “TURN” it around for good!

**Failures into Blessings**

However, the key to this happening is exercising FAITH (TRUST) in Lord Jesus, no matter how dark it gets….. “The DARKER the night, the BRIGHTER the light!”