120 Jeremiah 32 Seeing Beyond the Immediate

JMD Devotional 120 Jeremiah 32 Seeing Beyond the Immediate

Sometimes it seems like God asks contradictory things of us. We are called to live in the present moment, and not worry about tomorrow; but we are also told to be diligent and make plans and set aside resources to make provision for future needs. There is really not a contradiction here; the core issue is more a question of where is our faith placed, and who is in charge of our lives?
After having Jeremiah pronounce certain doom on Jerusalem, God has Jeremiah purchase some local land at top dollar as a witness to the community that what God destroys He will be faithful to rebuild. Some people look at the uncertain future, the economy, the strife of nations and the deterioration of human morality and question whether they should have more children, buy a house, start a business, or put down roots in such a foreboding scene; but faith in a sovereign, caring and all-powerful God should enable us to see past the immediate and believe that He will come through for us in all of this. He has never revoked our mandate, "Be fruitful and multiply"...and ..."subdue all the Earth."

Jeremiah 32:24-27 See the siege mounds [of earth which the foe has heaped against the walls]; they have come up to the city to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because [the people are overcome] by the sword and the famine and the pestilence. What You have spoken has come to pass, and behold, You see it. Yet, O Lord God, You said to me, Buy the field with money and get witnesses, even though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?

Dear God,
Please help me to live in the here and now; and supplement my limited vision with extraordinary faith in your plans for my life. May your people not throw in the towel at this critical juncture of human civilization; may we be faithful and shine as your witnesses in every endeavor we undertake. Evil men may rant and demons rage but in the end these things will be but a memory, brief noise, all vanquished foes; but your kingdom will stand forever. Bless our lives because we trust in 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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119 Proverbs 4:18-27 Garden of the Soul

JMD Devotional 119 Proverbs 4:18-27 Garden of the Soul

18But the path of the [uncompromisingly] just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day [to be prepared].
19The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

If our only source of 'truth' is our own mind, then we have no defense against deception, and no help with our blind spots and no critical review of false information. We need trusted sources of guidance and mentoring and leadership outside of ourselves to keep us in check.

20My son (daughter), attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.

All truth is God's truth. From good parental advice to select pithy sayings from Plato and Buddha, if it resonates with the natural world's inherent truth then it is good material. We should fill our minds with good stuff, to include the literary classics. Obviously, the Bible is at the top of the stack; but just because a keen observation or a friend's advice isn't packaged in King James English do not dismiss it.

23Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

All actions begin with a thought. Behind our thoughts are impressions and feelings: we are emotional beings. Our internal mental dialog; how we interpret and file our daily experiences can be so unconscious and distorted without applying some mental discipline. We each need to take responsibility for our thoughts, filtering out and rejecting all but the truth. We need to be deliberately POSITIVE. You are what you think and believe. Don't let something so important be random and uncultivated: tend the garden of your heart and mind, pull out the weeds!

24Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you.
25Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you.
26Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright.
27Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil.

Be genuine, focused, thoughtful, a child of God without duplicity, committed to righteousness.

Dear God,
Your Word is rich! Help me to respond well to constructive criticism and correction; please give me the humility to accept it from any messenger You elect to deliver it. May the garden of my heart and mind produce the fruit of Your Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, goodness, steadfastness, truth, mercy, compassion. You are the well-spring of every kind of goodness, may I drink deeply and refresh my soul in 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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118 Luke 24:25-32 The Faith You Had (is Worthless!)

JMD Devotional 118 Luke 24:25-32 The Faith You Had (is Worthless!)

Easter evening two male disciples walked in utter dejection on the road to Emmaus. Though the Resurrection was earnestly attested to by several trusted and highly committed women disciples, these men were unbelieving and heartbroken. They 'had' faith, but they left it behind. Then a 'cloaked' Jesus joins them...

And [Jesus] said to them, O foolish ones [sluggish in mind, dull of perception] and slow of heart to believe (adhere to and trust in and rely on) everything that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary and essentially fitting that the Christ (the Messiah) should suffer all these things before entering into His glory (His majesty and splendor)? Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the Prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself. Then they drew near the village to which they were going, and He acted as if He would go further.

Note that He didn't comfort them or empathetically say, "I feel your pain." He earnestly chastised them for leaving their faith behind! But they received the loving rebuke and wanted more because the sensed the truth of it!

But they urged and insisted, saying to Him, Remain with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. So He went in to stay with them. And it occurred that as He reclined at table with them, He took [a loaf of] bread and praised [God] and gave thanks and asked a blessing, and then broke it and was giving it to them when their eyes were [instantly] opened and they [clearly] recognized Him, and He vanished (departed invisibly). And they said to one another, Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and as He opened and explained to us [the sense of] the Scriptures?

Jesus did not (visibly) hang around because faith is the hallmark of this age, and the faith object must remain unseen. The faith you leave behind is as worthless as a forgotten life jacket when your boat sinks. God has no grandchildren, so your parent's faith won't save you. God doesn't fill His kingdom with 'used-to-be's or 'want-to-be's; He fills His kingdom with BELIEVERS. Those who trust-in, cling-to and rely-on Jesus Christ for salvation. I floated around for half an hour, my strength totally spent in the currents of a murky river. It would not have been enough to believe in my life jacket without acting on that belief and putting it on. Call that a 'work' if you must; but the Apostle James would cite that as a valid evidence of my faith. In this 'Age of Grace' the only defining thing that separates the sheep from the goats is this kind of faith.

The faith you HAD is worthless! The faith you HAVE is the only faith that counts.

Dear God,
I am so glad I didn't purchase the cheapest life-vest, but I got the body-hugging, five strap adjustable vest, Coast Guard-approved protection that kept me afloat when I needed it! Thank you for giving me the presence of mind to wear it all the time when I'm in the water's domain, because life is unpredictable. Preachers shouldn't sell 'greasy grace', or 'one-stop at the altar' life insurance; may your people not settle for less than the full Gospel. Reveal to us what we were saved from and what we have been saved for, that our lives might match our calling; and that we might please You evermore.
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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117 James 1:19-24 Magic Mirror

JMD Devotional 117 James 1:19-24 Magic Mirror

Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry. For man's anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires]. So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls. But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

Imagine a high-tech vanity mirror that is really a flat screen monitor and a camera, that would doctor your image, and touch up your blemishes and would display just what you want to look like rather than your actual appearance. There are people who would pay good money for that! Such a 'mirror' would result in, of course, people walking around oblivious to the smeared makeup on their faces, messy hair, crusty eyes, etc. Clever technology that appeals to our vanity; but would such a 'mirror' really be doing anyone a service?

The Word of God shows us how we really are. Such naked truth is often hard to bear; but it brings humility and repentance; it prompts cleansing and attention to detail. Our responsibility is to gaze intently into it. We have to, because our memory is short, our flesh fights redemption, in the absence of God's guidance we are prone to deception from within and without. Unless the Word is fixed before our eyes our mind returns to its old ruts of futile thinking and behavior.

I have forgotten what the mirror of God's word has said of me...
>when I cuss and swear in traffic
>when I hate someone for being rude
>when I judge another's weakness
>when I spoil my witness with froward (vulgar) conversation
>when pride takes control
>when my rights matter more than the needs of others

Dear God,
Help me to remain conscious of my true condition without You so that I continue to abide in Christ. I acknowledge that apart from You I can do nothing; that in my flesh is no good thing; apart from you is a man of utter depravity. I praise You for the difference You make in this person. Please keep my mind sober and focused on our relationship. May I not sin by living independently of the Truth, your Holy Spirit or my godly accountability.
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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116 Jeremiah 23:23,24 Spiritual Potential

JMD Devotional 116 Jeremiah 23:23,24 Spiritual Potential

GODISNOWHERE

Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.

What did you first see in the phrase GODISNOWHERE with the letters all run together? Most people see ‘GOD IS NO WHERE’ rather than ‘GOD IS NOW HERE’. God is, of course, ever present; but we must exercise our faith to acknowledge that truth and to make it real for where we are. The implications are:

>when I feel like God is far away, He is really close; I need to reel in my feelings and stand on the authority of the Scriptures and cling to a rational faith in a caring, accessible and personal Father.

>when I fear a dark presence is threatening; I need to assert that God is greater, and that light extinguishes darkness!

>when I am overwhelmed by difficulty; I need to remind myself that He will never fail nor forsake me, especially at my moment of need!

In my first job as an Electronic Technician, I went on a field trip with my boss. He had to change the bulb on the top of a radio tower, and I had to install some equipment in the radio shack at its base. We each wore a wireless headset transceiver that was voice-activated (VOX) to keep us in touch. After thirty minutes he was startled to hear me say “DAMN!” followed by a few other expletives. I had pinched my thumb between an iron bar and piece of equipment; and I forgot the VOX was on. How might our speech and actions improve were we to remember that our VOX with God is always on?

Dear God,
Paul was right on target when he asserted that You were not out of reach; but that in You ‘we live and move and have our being.’ Help me to grasp the significance of your presence in my daily life. Please make ‘mundane’ idiomatic and ‘routine’ significant because You are in everything and thus everything is potentially spiritual.
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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115 Jeremiah 29 In or Out of God's Program

JMD Devotional 115 Jeremiah 29 In or Out of God's Program

In the book of Jeremiah, there are two 'camps' of God's people; they all are facing punishment from the consequence of national rebellion, via the instrument of God's choosing, the Babylonians. God repeatedly told His people, the Jews, to submit to exile as a purification, and that He would after a time bring them back home and restore their prosperity and spiritual life. But to those who would not accept His discipline, who stubbornly resisted being moved, He warned them that they would perish.

18,19 And I will pursue them with the sword, famine, and pestilence and will give them up to be tossed to and fro and to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, an astonishment, and a terror, a hissing and a reproach among all the nations to which I have driven them, Because they have not listened to and heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them persistently by My servants the prophets; but you [exiles] would not listen [either], says the Lord.

A breath away from God's pronouncement of doom, He breaths peace to the obedient refugees:

10-14 For thus says the Lord, When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you, causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will release you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.

Why do things have to be so bad and why is life so severe? My theory is that your life is exactly what it has to be to redeem and reform your character. If you resist the tools that God has chosen to reshape you; He'll apply a bigger hammer. Bill Gothard uses the example of a child with unresolved issues of accepting authority. The first hammer is the parent, the next is the college professor, then next is their boss and so forth. If you keep running away from the correction, and refuse to take the test, the stakes keep increasing until you accept the process or it breaks you. When it comes to sin, we are like drug addicts who resist treatment; who have to be forced into a treatment program for our own good. Life is God's TOUGH LOVE.

Dear God,
Help me to have the intestinal fortitude to refrain from running away, from dropping out, from wiggling out from under the pressures that you are applying to reshape my character. Help me to recognize your hand in my daily experiences, and not to pull back or retreat from You. Help me to cooperate with Your program of redemption. I acknowledge that You are the expert, You are Sovereign; I submit to your care, blessed be your will and your chosen methods of reforming in my life.
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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114 Jeremiah 23:33-36 'Burden' of the Lord

JMD Devotional 114 Jeremiah 23:33-36 'Burden' of the Lord

And when these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, What is the burden of the Lord [the thing to be lifted up now]? then you shall say to them, What burden [indeed]! [You are the burden!] And I will disburden Myself of you and I will cast you off, says the Lord.

And as for the prophet, the priest, or [any of these] the people, whoever [in mockery calls the word of the Lord a burden and] says, The burden of the Lord, I will even visit in wrath and punish that man and his house. [For the future, in speaking of the utterances of the Lord] thus shall you say every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother: What has the Lord answered? or, What has the Lord spoken? But the burden of the Lord you must mention no more, for every man's burden is his own response and word [for as they mockingly call all prophecies burdens, whether good or bad, so will it prove to be to them; God will take them at their own word]; for you pervert the words [not of a lifeless idol, but] of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God!

When I was eighteen, I bolted out from under my father's roof, not for wanderlust or adventure; but because I was made to feel like I was a burden. What a sad reduction of all the riches that God conceals in a human being to reduce that person to an expense, an inconvenience, a bother. I have also been guilty of being so absorbed in my own things to react poorly when interrupted. That poor reaction exposes how off-center my life is at the time; how far from being a Christ-like husband and father, from being the friend someone needs, from being approachable, caring and authentic. How many times I've growled at or scolded a tender heart who just wanted a few moments of my undivided attention! God forgive me!

Would we have the audacity to treat the blessings of divine revelation, of the Holy Spirit intersecting our life, or a divine appointment as a 'burden'? If not God, then what are our lives about?

Dear God,
My attitudes and misunderstandings are so often the battleground in which I am so outgunned! Bring me back to the basics; help me to focus on my relationships with You and my family. Impart a gracious spirit that cherishes each word from God and help me to love my neighbor. Help me to slow down for people, to be accessible, to share their burdens; and to not consider them a 'burden'. Please break through my agenda, please interrupt me, please 'barge in' 'uninvited'; remind me that it is all about You, and that You are wonderful!
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)

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
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