The Book of Jeremiah is a tough one to get through the
first time. Once having read it, I was
left with the feeling, “Okay God, that was rough. I’m glad that’s done and over with.” No wonder Jeremiah was called the weeping
prophet. Can you imagine having to be
the one to live his life and have his job?
He was constantly being called to prophesy to God’s people, not to
unbelievers, the ones who should have known Him well. He was directed by the power of the Holy
Spirit to tell them the word of the Lord saying, “Thus saith the Lord.” Time and again, he told the people what God
expected of them. More often than not,
they would respond by doing just the opposite, as if God was a stranger and
unknown to them. You would think that,
after being brought out of Egypt
As a mortal and imperfect parent, I know that if I give
birth to a child, it requires a commitment on my part to provide food,
clothing, shelter, discipline, love, guidance, counsel, protection from harm,
and hopefully to do my best to raise him up in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord, just to name a few of the basics.
If I truly love my child, I must do all that I can to see that he is
taught and learns to live within certain boundaries and guidelines, to enable
him to prosper and grow to be a healthy and productive person. It should be my goal to equip him with knowledge
and skills that would eventually give him the ability to step out and live
successfully on his own. While he lives
under my care and authority, I should teach him to ‘fear’ me, which is to obey
me, respect me and acknowledge me as his parent who has the right to have
authority over him until he is grown. For things to go well for him, it is
imperative that he learns to submit his will to mine, not insisting on having
or going his own way. If he is
rebellious to my authority, then I should do what it takes as a parent to bring
judgment down upon him in order to curb his rebellious ways, which can only
bring harm to him. Judgment is meant to be for his good, not his harm. The purpose of judgment is to help him see
the error of his ways, and direct him that he may choose not to stay on the
wrong path, but turn around and away from his rebelliousness, and get back on
the right path. Hopefully, as he grows and matures, he will come to understand
that obedience, and staying within the limits and boundaries that have been set
forth by love, is for his own protection and good. Eventually, he should no longer need my
authority, but will choose to be self disciplined to follow the tried and true
guidelines that have now become a part of his own nature. Hopefully, all of this will have been done
through the overall guidance of the Lord our God. This is an example that we can understand
even from the perspective of our imperfect ability to parent out children whom
we love.
If we can understand the reasonableness of this
parent/child relationship, why is it so hard for us to understand the
importance of the fear of the Lord in shaping our own lives? Why do we choose to look on the word of God
as a bunch of tyrannical rules and regulations, do’s and don’ts, instead of as the Owner’s [God’s] manual
which demonstrate God’s love for us? He
has provided a plan book for His authority over us, giving us a set of
instructions and corrections to follow whereby we can live, and He will keep us
from harm in a dangerous world that is going to have lots of challenges-
“trials and tribulations.” Along with
this book of instructions, He gives to each believer his very own special
tutor, the Holy Spirit, to teach, guide, correct, and open the eyes of our
understanding. You see God’s plan book,
the Bible, is not like any other book. It is not just words to be understood
through the use of man’s intellect alone.
This word is of the Spirit so it can only be understood by the spirit of
man through man’s dependence upon the Holy Spirit to teach him. It’s a mutual cooperation
thing – man’s intellect and born again spirit yielded and submitted to the will
of God and led by the Holy Spirit. For
this relationship to work properly, we must desire to seek the Lord. When we
actively seek Him, He has promised that we will find Him. Remember, the Holy Spirit is God in you. The Holy Spirit has many jobs. He is your Comforter for one thing, and He is
the Peace of God within you, not as the world gives,
but the “peace that passes understanding.”
Being your teacher is one of His most important jobs. Along with the Holy Spirit, God has also sent
teacher’s aides such as pastors, teachers, and other Holy Spirit filled
believers who He has equipped with special gifts to teach and preach, etc. But take a word of caution here. You and I must never depend entirely upon
these special teacher’s aids, for sometimes they can prove to be false
teachers, not adhering to the true word of God.
That’s why God’s plan book warns us to test the spirits, be not deceived,
and never neglect our own responsibility to “study [the word] to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.”(II Tim. 2:15) We can not
delegate our responsibility to study and learn of the Lord for ourselves. Otherwise, we can expect an “open mind” to be
one that is an open sepulcher, ready to receive any and all trash which is able to contaminate the roots of the
true Word, chocking it and keeping it from forming healthy permanent roots that
would eventually enable the tree to blossom and produce good fruit.
What has all of this got to do with God blessing America America
“So great is my veneration
for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident
will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and
respectable members of society.”- John Quincy Adams; “That book, sir is the
rock on which our republic rests.”- Andrew Jackson; “It is the duty of nations
as well as men to recognize the truth announced in Holy Scripture and proven by
all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”-
Abraham Lincoln. The Bible itself supports the validity of
this belief. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people He
has chosen for His inheritance.” (Psalm 33:12)
These are but a few remarks that have pointed out the necessity for
endeavoring to elect believers to serve in positions of power and authority
within our government. Yet, in today’s
atmosphere of political correctness that promotes a greater and greater degree
of marginalization for Christ and the Bible, we have become increasingly secularized
as a nation, choosing to forget God and His statutes and commandments. We have chosen to turn our backs on God,
dispensing with His book of instructions and corrections, and following manmade
rules and laws that have less and less to do with God and His ways.
How
can we, in all honesty, have the arrogance and audacity to ask God to bless our
country? Have we truly turned our hearts
to Him to listen to Him, obey Him, and worship Him? No, for we have become a
nation of spoiled rotten brats, with our greedy hands outstretched as we shout
with snarling and ungrateful voices, "Give me; I want; I need; I have to
have!" Always expecting our Father to dole out to us, while we refuse to
listen, obey and fear (respect) Him? We grab from Him and return not one ounce
of praise, respect, worship or obedience that is rightfully due Him. Instead, we take
and give no thanks back in word or deed.
We choose to act as if He owes us allegiance instead of just the
opposite. Then, when He turns His back
and a deaf ear to us, do we come to our knees and humble ourselves before Him,
and sincerely ask His forgiveness, and truly show by our actions (and not just
empty words) that we have made a commitment to Him and changed our ways? Oh, far be it!
In continued rebellion, we stomp away with a scowl on our face, and
shout, if not literally in words then by the hardness of our heart,
"Forget you God! I’m doing just fine without you?" And then, while all is falling apart around
us and families are full of self centered loud voices, somehow we stand in
amazement, scratch our heads, and ask "How can a loving God allow this to
happen?" If we refuse to recognize
and acknowledge our sinfulness, how can we expect to see His hand which is still outstretched towards us in mercy and grace? We bring our own destruction down upon
ourselves. Don't blame God! Who is to blame? Look in the mirror. There's no one
there but you and me.
The society that is involved in the practice of
marginalizing and editing the Word of God, will be one that becomes
increasingly secularized until, eventually, it forgets God altogether and
becomes increasingly wicked and lawless.
At one time, the phrase, "In God we trust" meant something to
most Americans. However, in recent years, it has had little or no meaning and
there are many who would have it erased entirely. Remove belief and trust in the one true God
and, by doing so, we remove God's hedge of protection around our nation, making
us increasingly subject to judgment from The Lord. If we choose to be obedient,
then we will receive God’s favor and blessings.
If we choose to ignore and disobey Him, we have brought His judgment
upon ourselves. Do we not understand that it is our own choices that bring ruin
and destruction upon ourselves? It is
not God's desire for us, for He desires only that which is for our good. We will suffer the consequences of our own
actions as individuals and as a nation.
Only repentance and the choice to turn our heart back to God can save us
from the consequences of choosing to be a disobedient, stiff necked and rebellious
people. Apart from God , America
Our churches today are filled with hypocrisy- we give the
appearance of religion without any personal commitment to The Lord. Does this description fit you and me? If so,
how and where do we begin to change it?
I have an idea, let each of us start with the one person we can change.
Who is that? You start with you, and I
will start with me! America
As I read Jeremiah, I hear the voice of God continually
beckoning to His people, urging them to turn back to Him before they completely
destroy themselves as individuals and as a nation. For me, it paints a picture of what is
happening to our nation today. It’s like
reading a present day newspaper, with one difference, this newspaper, the
Bible, tells only truth and not lies and deception. For those who have “ears to
hear,” let us listen to these words of the Lord. Jeremiah is speaking these words to us with
as much reality, truth and relevance as he did to the Israelites in ancient
times, proving that God and His word are the same yesterday, today, and
forever. His truth is established in
Heaven.
For purposes of exhibiting relevance to us, believers of
today and our own country, I take the liberty of inserting the name of our
country from time to time in some scriptures to come. Even before the events of 9/11/01 ,
but especially since then, if anyone has even a smidgen of spiritual
discernment within them, we have been witnesses of a steady decline and
degradation of our country. It has
little to do with political parties, but everything to do with turning away
from God. “And it shall come to pass,
when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto
us? Then shalt thou answer them, Like as
ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve
strangers in a land that is not yours.” (Jer. 5: 19) “But this people [America America America America
Sexual and every other form
of immorality and sin have always been present within our society. It is not just the existence of sin that
destroys us, rather it is when sin is exalted and even celebrated as being good
and right, especially from within the church itself, that we are walking in
full force away from God and into the arms of the enemy. Look at just some of the perversion, that
which is contrary to the word of God, that we are welcoming into our churches
and giving it the stamp of approval: same sex marriage, homosexual preachers
and leaders, living together outside the bonds of marriage, even the shedding
of innocent blood (abortion on demand), and distortion and perversions of the
word of God. False teaching is allowed
to run wild without any checks upon it. These
are but a few infractions against the will of God and are not an exhaustive
list by any means.
Still, God does not give up on us, but continues to reach
out to call us back to Him and away from the point of no return. For those who have ears to hear, hear
this: “but this thing commanded I them
saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have
commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the
counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not
forward. Since the day that your fathers
came forth out of the land
of Egypt America
You may say, but this was written to Israel
We are the same as adopted
Jews for we have been grafted in by the blood of the Lamb of God. Our faith is in Jesus Christ who came in the
flesh through King David of the Jewish line of heritage. If they received either blessings or cursings
in their response unto the Lord, the same principles apply to us.
Did you take note of the fact that every time Jeremiah was
told to go tell the people the word of the Lord, he was also told that they
would neither listen nor obey. How that
must have saddened Jeremiah’s heart, to know in advance that God’s own people
were going to reject His word to them, and bring down
judgment upon
themselves. Remember the word of the
Lord was brought to God’s own special people, not unbelievers who would know
nothing of all the marvelous works of the one true God. It must have been so very hard for Jeremiah,
and yet he did not stop or let his voice be silenced, for it was not his job to
please the people or be intimidated by their unwillingness to listen and
obey. It was not his job to consider
whether what he was told to speak was going to be welcomed, accepted, or fit in
with the popular beliefs of the day.
Jeremiah was successful, not because anyone gave up their own way to
follow after God, but because, regardless of the response of the people, he remained
obedient unto the voice of the Lord.
I ask then, where is the voice of the church, you and I, in
standing up and speaking forth the word of the Lord in thought, word, and
deed? Every time an ungodly law is
passed, where have we seen or heard a strong pushback against it from our
pastors, leaders, or we the people, the body of Christ? Instead, we have allowed our voice to be
silenced by manipulation and intimidation.
We have not complied with the word of God that commands; “Wherefore take
unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand the evil
day, and having done all, to stand.”(Eph. 6: 13) Where are the Jeremiahs of today who are
willing to take a stand on the word of God and pushback against the evil of
today that is expanding by leaps and bounds in America America America ;” when we
should be saying, and acting upon by thought, word, and deed, “May America
“And thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might. And these words, which I command
thee this day, shall be in thine heart:” (Deut. 6: 5)
One Little Candle
It is better to
light just one little candle,
Than to stumble in the dark!
Better far that you light just one little candle,
All you need's a tiny spark!
Than to stumble in the dark!
Better far that you light just one little candle,
All you need's a tiny spark!
If we'd all say a
prayer that the world would be free,
The wonderful dawn of a new day we'll see!
And, if everyone lit just one little candle,
What a bright world this would be!
The wonderful dawn of a new day we'll see!
And, if everyone lit just one little candle,
What a bright world this would be!
Let's all light
one little candle,
Why stumble on in the dark?
When the day is dark an' dreary,
And your way is hard to find,
Don't let your heart be weary,
Just keep this thought in mind!
Why stumble on in the dark?
When the day is dark an' dreary,
And your way is hard to find,
Don't let your heart be weary,
Just keep this thought in mind!
It is better to
light just one little candle,
Than to stumble in the dark!
Better far that you light just one little candle,
All you need's a tiny spark!
Than to stumble in the dark!
Better far that you light just one little candle,
All you need's a tiny spark!
If we'd all say a
prayer that the world would be free,
The wonderful dawn of a new day we'll see!
And, if everyone lit just one little candle,
What a bright world this would be!
The wonderful dawn of a new day we'll see!
And, if everyone lit just one little candle,
What a bright world this would be!
Music by George
Mysels
with Lyrics by Joseph Maloy Roach, Published 1952)
with Lyrics by Joseph Maloy Roach, Published 1952)
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