99 Jeremiah 15:15-19 Tough Calling

JMD Devotional 99 Jeremiah 15:15-19 Tough Calling

{Jeremiah was called by God to speak to a people he knew in advance would not receive his message, nor would they repent to avoid national catastrophe, and they would even question his integrity. They branded him a traitor, a false prophet, and a mad man. The rejection, hostility and persecution even made Jeremiah (briefly) question his calling and God's character}:

[Jeremiah said] O Lord, You know and understand; [earnestly] remember me and visit me and avenge me on my persecutors. Take me not away [from joy or from life itself] in Your long-suffering [to my enemies]; know that for Your sake I suffer and bear reproach. Your words were found, and I ate them; and Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because Your [powerful] hand was upon me, for You had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail and are uncertain?

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you--not you to [the people].

I have to admit that I have often carried the childish notion that if I did what I was supposed to do before God that He'd give me an easy life free from strife in exchange. That things going well for me would imply I was "O.K." with God, and bad events signaled His displeasure. Life is a lot more complex than that; and God never promised a life free from difficulty, only that He would see us through it. Rather, the 'perks' of serving God are trials, tribulation and persecution in this life; and Heaven in the next. God will sacrifice our temporal comforts to build His kingdom and to transform our character. God delights in putting His people next to the ungodly as they go through trials so the contrast of lives with and without His influence gives Him glory. May we rise to the occasion, and be willing to sacrifice it all for our Lord. It is just when life is at its hardest to endure that we most need to be exercising our faith in God. He won't let us down!

John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Dear God,
I am so sorry that my first impulse is to doubt your goodness, care and attentiveness! Forgive me for blaming you for breaking contracts You never agreed to. Please give me a spiritual perspective that, through faith, believes in the greater good that will come through life's suffering, conflict, struggle and resistance. Transform my attitude so that it gives You glory and may it add no more to my shame.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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98 Joshua 24:14,15 Taking Sides

JMD Devotional 98 Joshua 24:14,15 Taking Sides

Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Living as a free people as we do in America, we may not naturally think of our selves "serving" anybody or of being subservient. Terms that sit better with us are: affiliation, allegiance, religion, faith, belief-system, passion, commitment, loyalty. God will not let us get away with being nominal or neutral; we are either acknowledging His Lordship with our lives or we are dethroning Him. What good is being able to intellectually parrot the Lordship of Jesus Christ when your living contradicts it?

I have discovered a triad of principles that keep me centered:
I strive to be:
>Fully committed (undivided heart, allegiance)
>Totally dependent (on God, 'vital union', abiding in the vine)
>Completely Yielded (to God's will)

2 Peter 1:10,11 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (NIV)

God's Lordship over your life should play out in your choice of companions. If the people you are trying to impress make you ashamed to be identified as a servant of Jesus Christ; your commitment and allegiance needs to be reevaluated!

Psalm 119:63 I am a companion of all those who fear, revere, and worship You, and of those who observe and give heed to Your precepts.

Dear God,
I am a Jesus Freak! I am fanatical about You! May I not be ashamed to admit that before a scoffing world so You won't be ashamed of me when I enter Heaven. help me to love the Church for which You died.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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97 Jeremiah 13:23 Natural Sinners

JMD Devotional 97 Jeremiah 13:23 Natural Sinners

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also can you do good who are accustomed and taught [even trained] to do evil.

God asks a rhetorical question that most social programs cannot answer. So much of mankind's attempts to save society at best modify outward behavior but don't address the corruption of the inner person. Thank God there is a radical solution that comprehensively transforms us into fit citizens of Heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:15-17 And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake. Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a [purely] human point of view [in terms of natural standards of value]. [No] even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a man, yet now [we have such knowledge of Him that] we know Him no longer [in terms of the flesh]. Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Dear God,
You have come to live in me and I will never be the same---halleluiah!
May your perfect work continue in my life for your praise and glory.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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96 Jeremiah 10:10-16 The Long War Against Truth

JMD Devotional 96 Jeremiah 10:10-16 The Long War Against Truth

But the Lord is the true God and the God of truth (the God Who is Truth). He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations are not able to bear His indignation. Thus shall you say to them: The gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens. God made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and by His understanding and skill stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind out from His treasuries and from His storehouses. Every man has become like a brute, irrational and stupid, without knowledge [of God]; every goldsmith is brought to shame by his graven idols; for his molten images are frauds and falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
They are devoid of worth, usefulness, or truth, a work of delusion and mockery; in their time of trial and punishment they shall [helplessly] perish. The Portion of Jacob [the true God on Whom Israel has a claim] is not like these, for He is the Fashioner and Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance--the Lord of hosts is His name.

The media is very two-faced when it comes to religion. They elevate any occult, Wiccan, New Age, pantheistic, primitive, pagan tribal practices and profess them to be equal to any other belief system yet they consistently berate any mainstream, long-established Judeo-Christian moral conviction. They won't touch the principles behind our beliefs with a ten-foot pole because they know a rational match of wits will expose their superficial stands. Our faith is not blind; it is based on six thousand years of testimony and on countless changed lives that have improved by following scriptural guidelines. There is no other religion worthy of entering the boxing ring to contend with us. They actually have no love or admiration of these other religions; it is just a veil for their hatred of the truth. The Russian saying proves true: "There is no truth in the news, and no news in the truth."

Amos 5:10 They hate him who reproves in the [city] gate [holding him as an abomination and rejecting his rebuke], and they abhor him who speaks uprightly.

Dear God,
It is a good thing my personal power is limited; because I feel like lambasting and shaking some sense into this retched world system; but that is your domain, vengeance belongs to You. I am righteously offended by the slander, misinformation and distortions of those who hate the Truth. Please hasten the day when EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW before my Lord Jesus Christ and confess Him as THE LORD. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Please help me to contain my anger, and channel it into constructive work for your kingdom.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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95 Jeremiah 9:23-25 Do You Really Know God?

JMD Devotional 95 Jeremiah 9:23-25 Do You Really Know God?

Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise and skillful person glory and boast in his wisdom and skill; let not the mighty and powerful person glory and boast in his strength and power; let not the person who is rich [in physical gratification and earthly wealth] glory and boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] riches; But let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me [personally and practically, directly discerning and recognizing My character], that I am the Lord, Who practices loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all who though circumcised [outwardly, in the flesh] are still uncircumcised [in corresponding inward purity]---

There is the God of our imagination (the one we think we know) and there is the true God. This clay can't help but have an imperfect picture of the All-Mighty, this finite brain can't contain the Infinite One. We can distinguish ourselves from the Pantheists and New Agers when we accept that our best source of knowledge about God is what He chooses to reveal about Himself through divine revelation, i.e. the scriptures. We need to respect the whole counsel of God, even if He offends our sensibilities. We can't change the Word to be politically correct without perverting it. The Biblical pattern of learning is that obedience comes before understanding; and faith before knowledge.

John 14:21 The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]

Dear God,
I want to know You; and to commune with You in my spirit and in absolute truth. It is so hard to let go of Sunday School pictures and childish notions that I've carried my whole life that just don't do You justice. Please reveal more and more of yourself to me as I grow up in Christ Jesus. Help me to accurately share who You are to the best of my ability illuminated by your Holy Spirit.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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94 Jeremiah 9:6,7;6:27-30 Metallurgy of Misery

JMD Devotional 94 Jeremiah 9:6,7; 6:27-30 Metallurgy of Misery

9:6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit]; through deceit they refuse to know and understand Me, says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt them [by the process of affliction to remove the dross] and test them, for how else should I deal with the daughter of My people?

6:27 I [says the Lord] have set you [Jeremiah] as an assayer and a prover of ore among My people, that you may know and try their doings and be like a watchtower. They are all the worst [kind] of rebels and utter and total revolters against God, going about publishing slander. They are [not gold and silver ore, but] bronze and iron; they are all corrupters. The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain do they continue refining, for the wicked [the dross] are not removed. Men will call them reprobate and rejected silver [only dross, without good metal], because the Lord has rejected them.

We are His workmanship, and God always tests the quality of His work. We are not, though, passive in this process: we can cooperate or hinder God's work in our lives. So much of what we become depends on how we respond to the heat being applied. Does suffering make us bitter, angry and resentful or sensible, humble and cautious? Everyone goes through hardship; but only a few come out gleaming, and those only by incredible faith.

Dear God,
Please keep reminding me that the stress, heat and pressure You keep putting me through are for my ultimate good. Were You out to destroy me, it would be too easy, and I could put up no resistance; yet sometimes I wonder. Life is HARD, BUT GOD IS GOOD. Help me not to jump to foolish conclusions, to equate right standing with You with an easy road. May your sovereign purpose in the refining process prevail, for your Kingdom and Glory, and may my faith honor You.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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93 Jeremiah 4:21-23 Equilibrium of Evil

JMD Devotional 93 Jeremiah 4:21-23 Equilibrium of Evil

(Regarding the divine judgment against Israel's sins and the invading armies God used to punish
their nation.)

Jeremiah asked: [O Lord] how long must I see the flag [marking the route for flight] and hear the sound of the trumpet [urging the people to flee for refuge]?

God answered: [Their chastisement will continue until it has accomplished its purpose] for My people are stupid, says the Lord [replying to Jeremiah]; they do not know and understand Me. They are thickheaded children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge [and know not how].

[In a vision Jeremiah sees Judah laid waste by conquest and captivity.] I looked at the land, and behold, it was [as at the time of creation] waste and vacant (void); and at the heavens, and they had no light.

How long will this retched world-system that defies God continue? Jeremiah was looking at the evils of the outside world, but God answered concerning the evils inside the heart of His people. Rather than using words, God answered Jeremiah with a vision of Apocalypse and disaster. My take on this is that God will let mankind's rebellion continue until the evil outside fully exposes the evil inside man's depraved heart. Dark times are ahead; but a remnant will be saved.

Dear God,
In mercy You let an evil world continue so that some people (instead of none) will be saved. It is hard from human perspective to fathom the justice of it; but our lifetime is a blink in eternity; and the pain and suffering of this world will one day be forgotten and be replaced with rapturous joy and harmony in your presence ever more. Help us to seize the day and solemnly warn others that judgment is coming.
Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

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