Read the Bible in a Year (19AUG19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, August 19’s Bible reading is Jeremiah 26-29.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, August 20’s Bible reading is Jeremiah 30-31. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

JEREMIAH MOMENT – (19AUG19) “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard in front of the Temple of the Lord, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word. Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will change my mind about the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins” (Jeremiah 26:2-3). Jeremiah was given a word from the Lord to be proclaimed in front of the priests, prophets, and people. The Lord wanted them to listen to His true prophets and not the false ones who were conjuring up lies in the Lord’s name. Destruction was coming to them, but the false prophets were speaking of peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, the people did not receive Jeremiah’s words of warning, and they grabbed him right in the Lord’s house, so that they could kill him. The priests and prophets told the officials that Jeremiah needed to die because he prophesied against their city. Instead of leading the people out in repentance, they were the leaders of rebellion. The Lord did not, however, allow Jeremiah to die that day at their hands. Ahikam son of Shaphan who had been in King Josiah’s service stood in support of Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to die.

Speaking the truth when there are so many false voices is not an easy thing for the servants of God to do, and yet, it must be done. Many people want to hear of better days ahead, but when that is not a Word from the Lord, the people of God often reject it and label the messenger as being false and a doom and gloomer. They reject truth and where they could receive knowledge regarding how to thrive during times of judgment, they reject the message and messenger altogether. Jesus was faced with a similar situation during the beginning of His ministry.

Jesus had gone to the temple and read a section of the scroll of Isaiah in their presence that prophesied His coming. The Bible says, then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:20-21). The people looked at each other puzzled because they did not understand what He meant. In their eyes, Jesus was only the son of Joseph and Mary, but He was letting them know that He was the long-awaited Messiah who had come to take away the sins of the world. Jesus also told them that no prophet was accepted in his hometown. To help them understand His statement, He spoke of Elijah and the widow in Zarephath he helped. Although there were other widows in the city, she was the only one that received a blessing. Why was that? The other widows, although poor, possibly did not have enough faith and believed that he could help them too. Then Jesus spoke of Elisha healing Naaman from leprosy, and although there were others with the skin disease as well, they did not come to him for healing. The people, after hearing this, tried to kill Jesus, but He disappeared into the crowd. They were angry because Jesus spoke the truth regarding their unbelief. As one can see from the scriptures, speaking the truth does not always make friends, but it can surely guarantee enemies. Nevertheless, we are to stay true to the Word of God just as Jeremiah did, and heed the warnings of the Lord’s true prophets who stand in His presence, and be of the mindset of yes and amen. Something to ponder….  

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (19AUG19) Who are you to believe when there are so many prophetic voices in the world? How do you know what is truly a Word from the Lord and what is not? These are a couple of questions that many people are asking themselves because of the conflicting words that are on the airwaves, internet, televisions, and in the pulpits. This pastor says one thing, while this prophet is prophesying something else, and the church is in a ball of confusion. Someone is not hearing from the Lord, so how can you know? The Bible speaks of Hananiah who was giving the people of Jerusalem a word that was contrary to Jeremiah’s messages. He too declared that his words came from the Lord. The Bible says, “One day in late summer of that same year—the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah—Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said, “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will remove the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks. Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon. And I will bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put on your necks. I, the Lord, have spoken!’” (Jeremiah 28:1-3). What an uplifting word! This was a word that the people wanted to hear. Instead of the seventy-year captivity that Jeremiah was speaking of, and the articles of the Lord’s temple that had been taken out being allowed to stay in Babylon during the duration of their captivity, their judgment would be brief and over before they knew it. Everything they lost would be returned – or would it? Yes, this was the word that they wanted to hear, but the Lord came to Jeremiah and told him that Hananiah’s word was NOT from him and that he would die. In fulfillment of the Lord’s word, Hananiah died that same year, and Israel carried out their seventy-year captivity.

So, how can you know which voices are true? The Bible says, “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice” (John 10:3-5). Jesus is the Gatekeeper of our souls. Therefore, for those who stay in His presence, they will recognize His voice and will not follow that of a wolf. Being in the Word of God, prayer, and fasting, will help the believer to know the voice of God, so that anyone or anything that does not align itself with the Word will sound strange. The Holy Spirit who resides on the inside of you will let you know that something does not agree with what you have studied and know about God. One must be ever so close to the Lord so that you will not be deceived. There are many Ishmaels of the Word today who are only replicas of what’s real, and then there is Isaac, the Word of Promise. The true prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, and apostles’ words will come from The WORD itself, and will not be twisted to suit their personal agendas just as Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the other prophets of the Bible did. Something to ponder….

JEREMIAH MOMENT—(19AUG19) “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:4-7). Despite the Lord having allowed His people to go into captivity to teach them a lesson, He still wanted the best for them and had plans to prosper them in Babylon. He wanted them to build homes, get married, have children, and continue to thrive because they were there to stay for the long haul until their seventy-year sentence was over. God did not want them to decrease in number, but He was still staying true to the promises that He had made to their ancestor Abraham in which, his seed would be blessed. Therefore, Jeremiah had a letter sent to the exiles in Babylon to give them the Lord’s message, but it was met with opposition from the false prophets who wanted to give false hopes. The Lord, however, told the people not to listen to them, and to carry out what He had said, for they were going to experience death through famine, plague, and the sword.

There is a time where the Lord judges and punishes those who are defiant against Him. Nevertheless, His purpose for doing so is to restore us unto Himself. He desires that we repent and turn from our wicked ways. He has no intentions of harm, but to love us with an everlasting love. Unfortunately, so many people reject Him and force His hand in receiving judgments. Many Christians do not like to talk about hell, but the truth of the matter is that hell is a real place where the wicked will go just like Heaven is a real place where the righteous will go. The choice to which place one goes to it totally up to that individual. God desires that we choose life, but many are choosing death by their own doings. Let us do what we can to help win souls for Christ, so that there is one less soul condemned to the lake of fire. Something to ponder….