John 13 Feet Washing

Jesus is nearing the end of His life. He is keenly aware of it and very burdened by it. He wants to give His disciples everything they need to succeed in His work. They, on the other hand do not seem to realize what an important time this is. They seem to sense that something is coming. Yet, even though Jesus had told them plainly that He must die, they do not seem to grasp the full reality. In this situation, Jesus institutes an ordinance of the church that is still literally practiced by true Christians today: feet washing. Jesus, as a symbol of being a servant, washed His disciples feet. This was a menial task often performed by a slave. Earlier the disciples had been arguing who would do this. They were all too proud to stoop and become humble enough to do it. Yet, Jesus, the Lord of the Universe, was willing to do it. After, He was finished, He told them that they should do the same to one another to show there submission and humility to each other. What a blessing! As we do this today, we can feel the brotherly love flowing as we each submit to each other and the blessing of God rests on His people as they obey this command that Jesus gave 2,000 years ago.

Vital Truth for Victorious Living

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/3884.mp3

John 12 We Would See Jesus

There is much in this chapter that we could consider, but I'd like to focus on the Greeks who came to worship at the Passover. They were not part of the Jewish nation and so could not participate fully in the temple worship. Yet, they still came to Jerusalem for the Passover. They seem to be more dedicated than even some of the Jews were. They also were more perceptive of the truth. They realized that Jesus was fulfilling all the Old Testament and He was even more important than this Passover Feast. So, they sought for Jesus. They wanted to see Him and speak with Him. They wanted to learn more about Him and His work.

 
 

How are we doing today? Are we seeking Jesus? Do we want to learn all we can about Him? Are we learning everything we can? Are we giving time to Bible study and prayer? Lord, help us to seek Jesus every day of our lives.

John 11, The Resurrection of Lazarus

In John 11, we have a very touching story that shows the tender, loving heart of Jesus. He had been in the area where John had baptized because the Jewish leaders were trying to kill Him. While he was there, He got the news that His friend, Lazarus, was sick. When He heard that, He stayed there two more days. At the end of two days, He told His disciples that Lazarus had died. He said that He was glad He had not been there to heal Lazarus because now more glory could be brought to God. He then said to His disciples, "Let us go unto him." The disciples tried to convince Jesus not to go because they knew that He could be killed by the Jews because they were seeking His life. But, Jesus boldly followed where duty called, and when He arrived, Martha met him outside the village. She told Him that if He had been there her brother would not have died. Then, Jesus explained to her that He was the resurrection and the life and her brother would rise again. It was a stretch of her faith, but she believed. Jesus then went to the sepulcher and asked them to roll away the stone. When they had done so, he called Lazarus in a loud voice, and the dead man arose and walked out of the sepulcher. What an amazing miracle! This man, who had been dead for four days, was walking out of his tomb. What happiness, what rejoicing! Jesus again displayed His power over death.

 
 

Jesus still has that power today. He has power over life-dominating sin. He controls life and death. Every detail of our lives is in His care and control, and He, through the Holy Spirit, lives within us if we allow Him to. We can experience that same power in our lives. We only need to have faith like Martha. We must believe like she did. We must obey and roll away the stone when Jesus asks us to. Praise the Lord for His awesome power that delivers us from sin and eternal death!

John 10 Jesus, the Good Shepherd

I apologize for missing my post for the last two days. I'll try to do better.

 
 

In the beginning John 10, Jesus talks about being the Good Shepherd. There are many false shepherds who climb over the wall into the sheep fold and try to get the sheep to follow him. But, only the True Shepherd enters by the door. The sheep (us) follow Him and He provides for them. There are many thieves and robbers that would like to steal the sheep out of the fold. We must be very careful not to listen to them, lest we be deceived. Sometimes they can be very convincing. Sometimes, what they say is mostly true. Sometimes, they may be famous evangelists. Sometimes, many people follow them, but if there words do not agree with the Bible in every way, we must disregard them and look to Jesus for the Truth. The True Shepherd also laid down His life to save us. Any false shepherd is not willing to do that . When he sees danger coming, he runs to save his own life. Some false shepherds even lead their flock straight into the mouth of danger.

 
 

Let's be sure that we are only listening to the True Shepherd and the shepherds who follow Him completely. If anyone tries to discredit any part of the Bible in any way, we should not follow them. We WILL be mislead. Let's keep our focus on Jesus and listen to what He has to say to us.

 
 

Thanks for reading. If you like what I do, please leave me comments. If you don't like it or have suggestions, please leave comments. I'd love to hear from you.

John 9 Blindness: Physical & Spiritual

As Jesus was walking, He came upon a beggar. He had been blind since birth and our compassionate Lord took mercy on Him. He spit on the ground and made clay and daubed it on the man's eyes. Then he told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. When the man did so, his sight was restored. What a wonderful miracle! But, of course some were offended. Jesus had done this miracle on the Sabbath. Someone told the Pharisees about this and the man was brought for trial. What had he done? He had violated a new law that they had made against Jesus. They had decreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Messiah would be cast out of the synagogue. During the trial, this man boldly showed them that he had been healed and that anyone who could heal a man born blind must be of God. In their own desire to remain spiritually blind and not see the light, they cast him out of the synagogue. When Jesus heard about it, He went to the man and offered him salvation.

 
 

What a wonderful Savior is Jesus! He takes away our blindness and gives us sight. He teaches us how to leave the darkness and sin and see new light in Him. Praise the Lord!

John 8

Here we have the story of the woman taken in adultery. The Pharisees brought this woman to Christ to see what His verdict would be. She had been taken in the act of adultery and the Law commanded her to be put to death. They wanted to see what Jesus would say. This was not an honest interest in the teachings of Jesus, but an attempt to trap Him in His words and find fault with His teachings. Jesus did not immediately answer them, but rather stooped down and wrote in the dust. We are not told what it was that He wrote. Then he told them that any of them who were free from sin, should cast the first stone. Then He wrote on the ground again (possibly a list of their sins). When He stood up, all the Pharisees were gone and only the woman was there. And, He, who was sinless and could have justly condemned her, said, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more."

What amazing forgiveness! What a relief this poor, penitent sinner! I see here to lessons for us. First, we need to inspect our own lives before we accuse others. It is so easy to see sin and weakness in another person and so hard to see it in ourselves. And, it is often weaknesses that we ourselves have that are the most glaring in others. Second, Jesus has great mercy and forgiveness for all those that repent. This is not a license for us to sin freely. Jesus tells this woman to go and sin no more. Jesus' mercy to not last forever and does not apply to the wanton sinner. It only applies to His people who, when they fail, repent and turn from their sin. Let's always thank the Lord for His great mercy and love to us, poor mortals.

The World and I and the Cross of Jesus Christ

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/3575.mp3

John 7

In the beginning of John 7, Jesus is in Galilee with His family, it appears. They urged Him to go with them to the Feast of Tabernacles. They taunted Him that if He was the great Person that He claimed to be, He should show Himself at Jerusalem, but He told them that they should go without Him. Later, however, He went alone and did not show Himself to the people until about the middle of the Feast, when He began to teach in the temple. This brought a mixed response. Some believed and some did not. The Pharisees sent some of their officers to arrest Him, but they returned without Him because they were so amazed by His teachings that they could not take Him. On the last day of the Feast, Jesus stood up and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

 
 

What an amazing offer! Jesus provides living water to quench all the needs and desires of the human heart. This is a free offer. If only we believe, we can not only have our own needs supplied, but also, we can be a fountain that flows out and blesses the lives of others. Let's always take advantage of the streams of living water that God provides.

John 6

This chapter contains the wonderful story of the feeding of the 5,000. What an amazing miracle! Jesus fed 5,000 men, besides women and children, from one boy's lunch, but Jesus wasn't only interested in feeding people's physical hunger. He wanted to quench the spiritual hunger in them. He told them that they should not follow Him only to be fed with loaves and fishes. He wanted them to understand deep spiritual truths. So, the next day, He told them that they should feed on Him and they would never hunger again. As He lives within us, we can experience constant filling and never be hungry for inner satisfaction and fulfillment again. Christ fills our lives and lives within us providing strength for the duties He has called us to.

 
 

What are you feeding on today? Is it the husks of the world like the prodigal son, or are you feeding on our Lord Jesus Christ and His Words? Are you satisfied or do you have a constant hunger that can never be fulfilled? Are you feeding on the Living Bread?

John 5

Jesus, here continues His miracles. He came to the Pool of Bethesda where miracles were already happening daily. An angel would come down and trouble the waters and the first person to dip their feet into the water was healed. However, there was a lame man who had been there for 38 years, but he could never step into the water in time. Someone always got there first. So Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed and he simply told Jesus his sorry plight: someone always gets to the water before I do. So, Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk. Of course, the Jews, always eager to find fault, told this man that he should not be carrying his bed on the Sabbath day. He told them that the Person who had healed him was the one who told him to carry his bed. When they found out that it was Jesus, they sought to kill him.

 
 

What an amazing miracle. This man had patiently tried for 38 years to get to the pool, but, being lame, he could never get there first. Jesus had compassion on this man and healed him. Then, the Jews put a sad note on the end of this story. How are we doing? Are we rejoicing with people who have victories or are we criticizing and finding fault? Let's build people up and encourage them , not tear them down and discourage them.

John 4

Jesus was journeying back to Galilee from Jerusalem. The custom of His time was to make a detour around Samaria, the country of the hated Samaritans. They were half-Jews and had their own worship system, but Jesus is no respecter of persons. Long before anti-discrimination and affirmative action laws were in place, Jesus treated everyone fairly. He showed the same love for the lost Samaritans as He did for His fellow Jews. He was not bigoted as most Jews were. And , as He was resting on a well, He even asked a Samaritan women for a drink. She was amazed that a Jew was asking her for a drink. This developed into a conversation about salvation and eventually she was saved along with many people from that city. Jesus stayed there for two days teaching them.

 
 

We may say that discrimination has been virtually eliminated in the country and that is largely true. But, how do we treat people that are financially less well off, or what about the homeless person on the street. They, too, have a soul that Jesus cares about. We may say, "Well, they are just lazy and could have a home and job if they wanted to." That may be true, but they have an eternal soul that will live in heaven or hell someday, and Jesus has called us to reach out to them and share the good news of salvation with them. How am I doing? How are you doing? Do we judge people by the way they look or their financial status. Do we share the Gospel with the hardened sinner and the homeless person alike? What will God say to us on the judgment day when he looks at what is written about our life?

John 3 Nicodemus comes to Christ

We don't know much about the man Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews and he was very interested in Christ. He admitted that Jesus had come from God. How else could He do all these miracles. Yet, he was afraid to identify with Christ openly. He was evidently a member of the Sanhedrin and he was a part of the sect of the Pharisees (the strictest sect of Jews). He realized that being a disciple of Jesus could cost him his position as a leader. So, he came to Jesus at night. It seems he was very sincere and wanted to learn as much as possible. However, he was very timid. He wanted to learn more. Yet, his understanding was very basic, even though he was a teacher of the law. So, Jesus began explaining to him that everyone must be "born again" in order to be saved. Nicodemus had a hard time understanding what this meant, but Jesus patiently explained that in order to be saved, one must become a new person. Our desires and motivations must be totally remade. The Spirit of God must indwell us and be our guide throughout every area of our life. It is something that none of us can understand fully. Jesus said that the Spirit is like the wind. We can see the effects of it, but we cannot see it or fully understand it. Then, Jesus spoke the golden text of the Bible. It speaks of Jesus' amazing sacrifice in order to save all who believe on Him. His sacrifice on the cross has made it possible for everyone to have eternal life in heaven if they only believe and obey Him. What an awesome sacrifice! What a sobering responsibility! We can choose our eternal destiny. We can live in heaver forever it we take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. If we miss this opportunity, we will suffer for it forever. Let's waste no time in availing ourselves of this wonderful provision.

John 2, Jesus comes out from obscurity

Jesus had lived most of His life so far as an obsure carpenter. The Bible doesn't say much at all about His life since He was 12 years old. But, here the narrative commences again. He, His mother and His disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana, near His home town. We don't even know whose wedding it was. We only have recorded the miracle that Jesus performed (this was His first). During the course of the feast, they ran out of wine. We don't know why. Maybe there was poor planning. Maybe the people were not wealthy enough to buy sufficient wine. At any rate, the servants wondered what to do. When Mary, Jesus' mother, heard their predicament, she told Jesus about it, and she told the servants to do whatever He told them. Jesus told them to fill the waterpots with water and take it to the governor of the feast. Obediently, they filled them up to the brim. When the governor tasted the wine, he said that it was very good.

Are we like those servants? When Jesus spoke, they obeyed. They filled the pots to the brim. How often does God want to bless us, but we only fill our pots half full and miss half of the blessing? God wants to abundantly supply our needs. The only limiting factors are we. Maybe we're too lazy or maybe we can't see why we should be working so hard. But when God says, "Jump," we should say, "How high?" God will bless us for complete and full obedience just as he did these servants who filled their pots to the brim.

The Power of the Resurrection

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/3874.mp3

John 1

We will be going through the book of John chapter by chapter. This is a wonderful book with many deep truths. Chapter 1 begins with a description of Jesus coming into the world. Jesus is called the "Word." Just as a man's words are a manifestation of what he is. So, Jesus was displaying what God is. But, sadly, he was rejected by the people He came to save. The Light of the World was among them, and they didn't even know it. How terrible! The God of the Universe was made flesh and walked on this earth and they refused to even listen to Him. It then goes on to speak about John the Baptist who was sent to prepare a way for Jesus. He preached. He baptized, and he pointed people to Jesus. He refused to take honor for himself. He pointed everyone to Jesus.

God has made a wonderful provision of salvation for us. Are we accepting this great miracle or do we, like the people in Jesus' day, reject this grand provision? Are we, like John, giving God all the glory for everything in our lives, or are we taking the glory ourselves and robbing God of His rightful dues?

Lamentations 5 The Results of Disobedience

Jeremiah pleads to the Lord to remember the awful state that they are in. They don't own the land that they live on. They have given away everything they have in exchange for food, water and wood to cook with. The servants of others are their masters. Even getting food puts their lives in danger. Their princes have been hanged. All this has happened because their fathers had sinned.

What a severe reminder this is! We have a huge responsibility to the rising generation. Of course, everyone can make their own decisions, but the people who come after us will have to live with the consequences of many choices that we have made. We can make it easy or hard for our posterity to do what is right. We can set a good example or leave them with a history of bad choices and good intentions. How are we leaving this world for those who come after us?

Lamentations 4 The Awful Fate of Those Who Forsake God

Jerusalem was once a city of great wealth and beauty. God's temple was covered with gold and was a place for people from all over the world to come and worship. The royal palace was a wonder to behold. Even more importantly, the people in the city were upright and holy, models of service to God. Now, Jeremiah laments because all this has changed. The gold of the temple was lost among the rubble. Those who had plenty to eat now go hungry. They do not even have any food to give their starving babies. Even the holy men of God are gaunt from lack of food. Thus many of the people died a slow torturous death of hunger. Jeremiah laments that they were not given a speedy merciful death as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. That would have been easier to endure. But, God is just and He brought upon Jerusalem a much worse judgment because they had sinned willfully despite all the warnings He had given them.

In the last half of the chapter, he explains why all this evil had come upon Jerusalem. The priests and prophets, who should have instructing the people in the ways of God, were instead persecuting the righteous people. They were shedding the blood of innocent children to sacrifice to Moloch and the blood of the righteous because they condemned their evil lives. They thought that they had hope of another nation helping them, but they were disappointed. Those who put there trust in man instead of God will certainly be disappointed many times.

Finally, in the last two verses, we have some comfort. He tells Edom to continue rejoicing that they have been spared because their destruction in coming. He also promises the Jews that there punishment will be accomplished and they will return to their home country. What a merciful God we have!

Lamentations 3 - Does God Use Us for Target Practice?

Jeremiah now begins to feel sorry for himself and for all that he has been through. He feels that the Lord is against him. God had used him for target practice. He had been like a bear or a lion lying in wait for Jeremiah, and Jeremiah was discouraged. He felt as though he was in a tomb and could not get out. It was a living death. But, then he remembered that all this affliction is what made him humble and he began to thank the Lord for his mercies and for not consuming him. It seems that he begins to realize that God does want the best for us and our afflictions are helps from God to keep us humble and on the right path. We need to patiently bear whatever trials come our way. God does not afflict us without cause. He also has compassion on us. Then it seems that Jeremiah again remembers all that his enemies have done against him. He asks the Lord to avenge them for what they have done.

Do you feel discouraged? Does it feel like God is using you for target practice? Does it seem that God doesn't hear your prayers? If so, remember all the things that God has done for you. Think of how God might be using these difficult times to build your character. He always has a reason for what he does even if we cannot understand it. Sometimes we bring difficulties on ourselves when we refuse to obey Him. Other times, God wants to strengthen our faith or cause us to depend on Him. So, whatever you are facing right now, thank God for the fact that we are not consumed because of His great mercy.

Lamentations 2 When People Go Wrong

In Chapter 2, Jeremiah continues to sorrow for his people. After all, this is Lamentations. However, I find it amazing that he does sorrow. These are the people who persecuted him. They put him in jail. They threw him into the bottom of an empty well. They disobeyed his word. They refused to believe him. Yet, he tirelessly preached God's judgments. He could have rejoiced over their destruction. He could have said, "See, I told you so." He could have been like Jonah when he preached the destruction on Ninevah. He just couldn't wait to see it destroyed and then he pouted when the people repented. Not Jeremiah, he truly wanted the people to repent. He sorrowed greatly after the fall of Jerusalem. He portrays the pain and suffering in graphic terms. He had a heart like God's heart. He cared about his people.

We may sometimes be in a similar situation to Jeremiah. We may warn people or tell them what they should do. Then, how do we respond when they suffer for not listening to us? It's the easiest thing to gloat and tell them that they should have listened to us, but that's no way to win friends or win people to Jesus. If we show true love and compassion, we will have a much better chance of winning them

Lamentations 1

The book of Lamentations is a continuation of Jeremiah. It is Jeremiah's lamentation over the captivity of Judah. While in some ways it seems very negative and repetitive, there are things we can learn and there are glimmers of hope. In chapter 1 Jeremiah is weeping over the captivity of Judah of how far they fell. He speaks of their former glory and of their current state. He mentions how they had formerly ruled an empire, but not they were subjected to another evil empire. They were once a center of worship. Now no one observed the holy days. Once it was a city of rejoicing. Now is was only mourning. Once God blessed them abundantly, but now God had turned against them.

Why had all this happened? Had God failed in His promises? Had the tide of fate simply turned against them? Did their military commanders make poor choices? Had commerce hit a depression? No, it was all their fault! God had blessed them, but they became self-sufficient and stopped serving God as they should have. The kings of Judah lead most of the people into idolatry and awful wickedness. The forsook the very one who had given them all these blessings. Yet, it seems that they couldn't understand why God wasn't blessing them anymore. How are we living our lives. Have all God's blessings distracted us from serving Him? Or, are we using His blessings to bless the lives of others around us.

The Purpose of the Cross

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/3872.mp3

Jeremiah 52 Judgment on a Country that Forsakes God

This last chapter of Jeremiah is a sad summary of what happened to God's people. It begins with a flashback to the siege that happened when Zedekiah was king. It went on for a year and a half and it finally ended because the walls were penetrated. The captain of the guard was determined to destroy the city. He broke down all the walls all the way around the city. He took all the gold silver and brass that was in the city and burned the beautiful temple, the palace and all the houses of the great men. Solomon's beautiful temple was completely destroyed. It was looted and burned to the ground. The whole city which was one of a kind and mostly built by Solomon was now in ruin. Where was the glory of the capital city of the empire God had built for his people? It was lost. God's people had forsaken Him. He was patient with them. He warned them many times. Yet, finally His judgment fell.
How long can our country disobey His laws and ignore His warnings before we suffer the same fate? God is very merciful and longsuffering, but he "will not always strive with man." He is just and someday our country will suffer a similar fate if we do not change our ways.

Jeremiah 51 God is in Control

The song "God is in Control" by Amy Grant is a long-time favorite of mine and I think it illustrates this chapter of the Bible very well.

This chapter continues the judgment pronounced on Babylon. The city Babylon was a great city with walls that seemed invincible. The city was covered six square miles and spanned the Euphrates River. It was surrounded by high double walls. In the time of Jeremiah it was a very beautiful proud city. Nebuchadnezzar had beautified it in many ways. It was also a center of paganism and idolatry. It probably seemed very foolish to prophesy its downfall. Yet, years later, the Medes and the Persians captured the city. They did so by diverting the river and sneaking in through the dry riverbed at night. They then killed the gatekeepers and flung open the gates for their entire army to enter the city. In this was the mighty Babylon was defeated. The city did not immediately become deserted. It was the capital of the Persian empire until it was taken over by Alexander the Great, who planned to make it his capital. However, his successor decided to make a different city his capital and it eventually lost its significance. Today it is 30 miles from Bagdad and is nothing more than an archeological site.

God has spoken many prophecies and promises through his people. Many of them seem unlikely if not impossible. But, God is all-knowing and all-powerful. So, if He says something, it will happen. We must trust God completely, knowing that He wants the best for us. What an amazing God we serve!

Jeremiah 50 God Punishes Babylon

Jeremiah has been declaring judgment on all the surrounding nations, but now he turns to Babylon, the great empire that conquered all these other nations. He tells the Chaldeans that they too will be destroyed. A country will come from the North and take them off the map. Their land would become a barren wilderness. No one will live there forever. The reason? They had touched God's people. Even though their capture of Judea was a just reward for their sins, God still cared about His people and punished Babylon for taking them captive.

God still cares about us that much. As we live for Him, we are His people and he protects us too. He may choose to allow circumstances that we do not enjoy, but He always has our good in mind. He may chasten us when we do wrong, but it is for our good. So, remember that whatever you may be facing right now. God is still looking out for you.

Jeremiah 49 - Put Your Trust in God

I apologize for failing to post yesterday. I took my computer to work and forgot to bring it home again.


In chapter 49, God continues his pronouncement of judgment on sinful nations. He mentions two nations that were powerful and felt very secure: Edom and Assyria. God said that no matter how they felt they were safe, they would be destroyed. Edom was built in the mountains and was thought to be invincible, but when God says something will happen, mountains cannot stop him. He made the mountains! Damascus, the capital of Assyria was also a very strong city, but God said that it would be destroyed also.

We may feel secure today for a variety of reasons: insurance, retirement plan, good job, healthy income, family, or church. But, God wants us to get our security from Him. If we are getting our security else ware, we can be sure that we will be disappointed. Insurance rates go up, retirement investments go bad, jobs get downsized, accidents happen, income stops, families die, churches fail, but God is always constant. If we serve Him, He will always be there for us. His Word never fails. There is nothing that gets out of control for Him. He has absolute power and unlimited knowledge. What a great God to serve!

Jeremiah 47 - 48 Destruction of Evil Nations

In chapter 47, Jeremiah moves on to the Philistines. God is no respecter of persons. As he had punished the Jews for their wickedness, so he would do to the Egyptians and the Philistines. God is merciful, but He is also just. And, there comes a point where he no longer waits for people to repent. We never know when that time will come. So, we do well to be prepared to meet Him anytime. We must be living for every moment of our lives.
Chapter 48: Now Jeremiah addressed Moab. They are a very strong nation. They had much wealth. Their cities were well fortified. Yet, if God said they would be destroyed, then there were no two ways about it: they would be destroyed. Because God is so merciful today, many people do not think that God means what He says. God's plans will always be carried out. Many times we cannot understand what God is doing, but He always has a plan and it cannot be defeated. God's plans are just so much higher than ours that we can't see them. We often could not understand them even if we could see them. What a great God we serve!

Jeremiah 45 - 46

Chapter 45: It seems that here Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe was becoming discouraged. He was looking for a reward for his faithfulness to God, but none came. Things continually got worse. He had served God and Jeremiah through thick and thin and he was getting tired of it. It seemed that he deserved a reward. Yet God, through Jeremiah, told him that he was not to look for a reward. Things would get even worse. The whole land would be destroyed. However, God did promise Baruch that he would not die in the destruction of Judea.
Sometimes we may feel like Baruch. We have served God for most of our life. We feel discouraged and wonder if it's really worth serving God. "What do I get out of it," we wonder, and then God comes to us and tells us not to be discouraged. He may even tell us that things will get worse. But, we must always remember that the reward is not at the beginning of life or the middle but at the end. So, let's remain faithful and not give us until we reach our goal.

Chapter 46: Jeremiah now turns from speaking to the Jews: he warns the Egyptians that they cannot escape Babylon either. The Babylonians will come and destroy the land and take everyone captive. He also warned them not to be confident in themselves because it would not work. He warned that their mighty men would be killed in battle and the women would be taken captive. It seems that God was using this as a punishment to them for worshipping false gods.
God is all-powerful. His ways are far above ours, and when He decided how things will be, we cannot fight against it. It is useless for us to even try. However, if we trust God and obey Him, we can be assured that God will watch over us here in life and reward us with heaven after death.

Prepare the Way of the Lord

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/3871.mp3

Jeremiah 44 The Stubborn Jews

The Jews that God had preserved and allowed to live in Judah had now fled into Egypt directly going against God's instructions to them. Now Jeremiah was warning them that they must serve the true God and stop worshipping the queen of heaven or they would be destroyed. Yet, these stubborn people did not even make a pretense of obeying God's Word. They boldly announced that the would not obey God, but the would persist in serving other false gods. Jeremiah told them that if they persisted, God would destroy all of them except a small remnant that would return to Judea.

Are we sometimes as stubborn as these Jews? How does it look to God when we continually disregard His clear instructions in the Bible. Let's always serve Him faithfully and never be guilty of acting like the Jews in Jeremiah's day.

Jeremiah 42 - 43 Obeying God's Will

Finally the people of Judah had rest from their captors. The few that were left in Judah could live normal lives, or so they thought. However, after their governor was killed, they feared that Nebuchadnezzar would come back and retaliate. So, they made plans to go to Egypt, but first they did the right thing! They asked Jeremiah to inquire of God whether or not they should flee to Egypt. They even promised that they would obey whatever Jeremiah said. After 10 days, Jeremiah came back with the Lord's verdict: they were not to go to Egypt. If they stayed in Judea, they would be safe from Nebuchadnezzar. If they went to Egypt, the would be killed by famine, sword and pestilence.
Despite all the promises they had made about obeying God, the disobeyed. They claimed that Jeremiah was just deceiving them and Baruch had put the idea in his head just so that Nebuchadnezzar could capture the rest of them.
Are we like that today? Do we pray for God's Will and then balk and complain when He answers our prayers and we don't like the answer? Human nature has not changed in the last 4,000 years. We tend to be much like they were. Let's remember that when we pray to God, we need to be ready for the answer he will give. Let's be willing to accept God's will for our lives without questioning