The Service of Passionate Devotion—I Beg of You To Consider Your Ways!

Oswald Chambers Devotion for today is a very important piece that anyone who calls himself or herself a Christian should look into with great humility of the heart and a willingness to change as per the leading of the Spirit.

First off, Oswald seems to be unsympathetic to the discipleship and service process. At times, he even sounds harsh when he said things like “Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way.”

But, the reality is that Oswald is right. Unless you learn to love Him first, unless you make sure that your life is led by the spirit and unless you become the very fragrance of the crucified Christ, then you will be devoted to the service instead of Him.

What I mean by becoming the fragrance of the crucified one is that you have been walking with Him so much that you have been transformed internally and on the inside, He is having His way so much in you, like the Potter and the clay. You become shaped in your mind, your spiritual eyes opened; your heart is wholly devoted to Him, His way and His will, that you become saturated. This is not a vague idea that I am sharing here. Think about it. You find people who drink so much that you can smell the booze from their skin, even when they are not drunk. While this seems like a basic example, but God’s idea of Salvation and Christ’s idea of being a servant and a disciple at the same time, all hinges on the same idea. The strange thing is, the idea that I am sharing permeates the Bible and Christ was a perfect picture of what I just said.

When we learn to be true clay in His hands, we abide until we merge and become one with Him and until we learn to cultivate the childlike mind we miss out on the whole idea of the Christian life. While Oswald might sound harsh, but the reality is, when you know God intimately, He changes the priorities as they are set in your mind and suddenly you realize it is not about anything or anyone else unless it is about Him. Suddenly, going to make disciples of the nations take a backseat. This does not mean it is not a priority or that you do not care, but you have your priorities shaped spirituality, by Him.

Here is the beauty of it all, when Christ comes first, through a passionate and devoted heart to His person, you are on cloud 9 to begin with, knowing how His power can do so much for these people and any time He wants to. You stop seeing yourself so important like if you do not go, there is no one else. So, yes, the need is pressing and it is overwhelming. Souls are perishing and the harvest is ripe. But none of it matters if He does not come first. None of it matters if He is not leading according to His plan. We undermine God, we belittle Him, we play down His power and we underestimate His plan for these people too.

As you learn to see the God of the universe for who He is, then everything falls into place as He is given the honor and the proper place in what we do and how we do it. If God has ever given you a peak behind the veil so that you can see people out there building empires in His name, yet they themselves are saved by the skin of their teeth. In the meantime, a simple Joe walking according to His will have a bigger impact, with people around him or her. Furthermore, when you die, this simple Joe will occupy a much bigger place than this big mogul Christian who seems to hit all the right notes. If you could see that, you would make His priority your number one priority. Because, dear brothers and sisters, it is not about pleasing people, it is not about the numbers, it is not even about going overseas to get involved in missions but it is about becoming more than a fan of His.

You know what is sad in all this? There are way too many so called Christians out there, devoted to His cause and what’s in it for them, yet they do not have a clue that’s where they are at, because they are spiritually blind. Like this extended family member that I shared about three days ago. This person is so educated, so involved in mission and community justice like Christ was, you would compare both of us and put me out in the trash while giving a humanitarian award to this person. Unless you are a spiritually minded Christian, you cannot know or see the difference with the eyes of your heart. Too many of us are praying for a gift that benefits us instead of praying the spirit to open up the eyes of our hearts so that can be more compliant people.

 At the end of the day, all the Church attendance, Bible verses we memorized, the Bible study that we have been attending for years and years, while never knowing what it means to grow spiritually, and all the sentimentality we hold dear in our hearts will not help us. It is about learning to ACCEPT Him His way, and on His terms. I beg of you to consider your ways and consider all the hoopla you are doing in His name. Can you truly say you have engaged the heart of this gigantic God? Are you truly one with Him? Are you walking in the Spirit? Are you abiding until He is merges with you as one? Are these things elusive to you after years of Christianity under your belt?  I beg of you, consider your ways!

Having had the eyes of my heart opened by Him a few years ago, I can tell you there is pain to get to the place where we can see the riches of His glory which is also our inheritance. But, it is not that simple.  It goes beyond, to a place where you too you experience His resurrection and you can see His glory through His eyes. But, you can’t experience the glory of His resurrection without experiencing His death in your soul. But it’s so worth it.  

Ephesians 1:18 “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,”

I love you all

M. J

OSWALD CHAMBERS JUNE 19 DEVOTIONAL

What Does It Mean To Be God's Example Of His Message?

 To put this post in context, please read Oswald Chambers devotion message for today March 10  RIGHT HERE
  

Today’s devotion in My Utmost For His Highest book is sweet. It is a short one, but there is so much in there. I learned that if we truly learn to live out this life God has for us and if we truly live in oneness, love, faith, obedience and His will alone, then the Holy Spirit is delighted to show us how we are slowly becoming like Him. This part of Salvation is so sweet because you KNOW it is nothing that you are doing except living your average Joe life on earth. Yet you can see how you are changing like Him on the inside. You are becoming this person as Christ’s character is being worked within and right before your eyes you are becoming “THE GOSPEL MESSAGE”

This goes beyond living a holy life because even after you are made holy and living out the holy life, you find that God is still crushing you into submission. It is hard for me to explain it without going into a much lengthy post. But for lack of better words I could tell you that it is the difference between taking your regular cup of coffee or tea with one tablespoon of sugar vs two spoons. You want more sugar because it is sweeter. It is a different submission from the one when you were broken so that your will can become His will while you stop acting like a wild horse.  It is no longer about making you holy either because He would have already worked that within, through great pain. But it is more like weaving His Holiness through you like dough when you mix it up with the leaven you are watching it changing as the leaven is mixed up with every part of the dough. It is also the type of submission where He is making sure you look the part on the outside, because this life on the inside is spilling out big time. Yet it is amazing how this life can be so subtle.

I notice, every time I meet someone from the old Church, of course I always talk to them about God, and almost every single time they would say something like “you should be a preacher.” I guess because the minute we start talking about God, I am no longer hungry or tired and suddenly time no longer matters to me. I talk with conviction, passion and with hand and body language gestures. But, what they do not realize is that God has not called me to be a preacher. What they see, is me becoming slowly, God’s message. Yes, I have a long way to go and I need to live at least ten more years in the faith and complete oneness to even come close to someone like Oswald in terms of knowledge of God. But, it is the reality of a walk completely immersed in God living out the true Christian life according to God’s will and plan for all of us Christians.  

My point is, God taught me that the process was lengthy and tedious, although sometimes very intense, but this work goes beyond the basic in Christianity. When I say basic, even the work of holiness is also part of the basic package before God can take us to what really matters and the real goal of the gospel. Anyone who has been made holy knows what I mean. After holiness sets in, you feel as if you are starting the Christian life all over again. I was annoyed that there was not something like continuity. I was also tempted to start living my holiness in my own strength. But, after we are made holy, which comes after brokenness, what seems to be a second regeneration and so on, all these things are lumped together to build the base or the foundation of God’s Masterpiece. On a side note, I found out this is why one can build a whole Christian life on sinking sand and not aware of it. When we say that the foundation is Christ, then He must be allowed to build it up within us. If He is not allowed to build it in us, then, we are doing the work as a substitute for the real thing.

I shared with you in one of my posts how God showed me how Salvation was like making a cake and on the table every single ingredient, molds, utensils and so on, needed to proceed and make the cake are right there for us and nothing is missing. All was provided and God is the one mixing up the ingredients to put the cake together and He alone knows what the cake will look like once finish. My role was to stir up once in a while with His help. Yet He was so generous, He showed me a picture of the most beautiful cake that I have ever seen. I remember when I saw the finished cake, in my mind I thought “Wow! God is the best chef that I know” – I have no idea if because at that time I was like this child by His side or why this idea of Him being a chef came to mind. Nevertheless, the past few months, I am learning that it is true, it feels like you are starting over after holiness, but it is because He is using the basic which is like the cake has been baked, pull out of the oven and cool off. Now, He is creating a chef-d’oeuvre. This piece of art is you becoming like Christ and it is you becoming the message.

I encourage even pushed people through showing the urgency of going forward with Him because I KNOW that I KNOW what I KNOW. As God showed me how crucial it is to let Him do the work in 2009, I wanted to go with an offer that I had received to participate in Church planting. People had great plans for me, I felt like I was letting them down. I was so exited and I wanted to serve Him this way. God knew I wanted to serve Him with all my heart and the stumbling block that was put in front of me was because of what I had learned from men made Christianity’s idea. Since I was in bondage to the wrong things that I had learned in the Church, He showed me how the first work that will decide our rewards in heaven has nothing to do with building up churches or mega television ministry “FOR HIM.” This is not to say they are not good. But, the work of our Salvation and the work of our faith is first and foremost the work that we have allowed Him to work within each of us. The whole life, plans, goals, desires, spiritual agenda, wishes, motivation, attitude and everything we are able to think of, all of it flows through the work being done within us as we slowly become “THE MESSAGE.”

He showed me if I can walk with Him in oneness as He leads, then someone who has built a mega television ministry has nothing on me. He made it clear to me that this does not mean He is not going to use these people to bring some of His sheep home. But He uses them through His sovereignty because He can use even Satan to get through those that are His own. But, when He uses us, in spite of us, not because we are living out His will for our lives, then, we lose the reward that would have come to us for all our deeds.

So, brothers and sisters, work out your salvation with fear in trembling, because there will be a day where all masks are taken off. Unlike Adam and Eve, who were able to hide from God when they first found out they were naked, after they sinned, we will not have this option to hide. Judgement day is not like God is going to humiliate us in front of everyone to show who we truly are. The problem will be “FACING GOD.” Facing God when you know you have not been living up to par in accordance with His word is one thing. But, facing Him when at the same time you have the naked truth in front of you and you cannot escape it, is more than horrible.

There will be a drastic difference in facing God because it will be according to what we have allowed God to become in our lives. We need to go through that phase of salvation where God ceases to be just our Saviour because salvation is about us. We need to grab onto Him as sons and daughters of the most High through faith, humility, obedience, love and dependence and oneness. Until we know such a life in the reality of our consciousness because it has been worked out in us, then we will face God with a master and slave mentality. The beauty of facing God as His heirs, is different because you have let your daddy down and hurt Him. It will no longer be about guilt, but love. The love of a master and a daddy is different. So, is He your daddy through head knowledge only according to what you have been reading or is He your daddy because you have allowed Him to take you there? – There is a big difference and you would be wise to find it out before you die.

John 6:63 “The word that I speak to you are spirit and they are life” – How is this working for you?

Make the decision to surrender once and for all. Not the type of surrender through lip service, but one where you are willing to accept any pain and inconvenience that comes your way.—That is the only way. —Allow Him to work out His life through you. Let Him flood your inner spirit and saturate your soul with His waters. Allow Him to refine you and mold you as you welcome those characteristics in Him that will give you this meek and lowly heart that you need to walk this walk. CHOOSE LIFE!

The Call For Service

On the 10 of January, 2013 I mentioned in my post that “we are living in a time where anyone can be a pastor or teacher, because they feel like it or they want to work for God.” This post will shed some lights on my comments. A short time after I entered the wilderness with God, I heard the call like Isaiah did. Strangely, God called me at a time where I was dealing with one of the biggest crisis in my life. It was also amazing to see how my crisis did not matter. This personal call from Him brought pure joy and ecstasy to the soul. When the vision and visitation stopped, I was back to myself, I not only had the joy of what I experienced, but I also had a burning and passionate desire and need to get involved in evangelism and saved souls.

Everyone around me interpreted my passion as a need to go "now"…. Act on it now… God has spoken, there is no need to wait, and you have your orders. I did not want to be disobedient to God, so I started doing the preparation to go. Something was terribly wrong inside of me as I started preparing to go. There was such a deep sense of sadness within and if I had talked to anyone else they would have told me that it was the work of Satan. I will spare you the details of what happened next. Suffice to say, the sadness I felt was my moving forward to complete the vision on my own, caused the Holy Spirit to grieve.

There were times I was so disappointed with the waiting process that I wanted to take matters into my hands. It turns out my interpretation of the call had nothing to do with God’s interpretation. If I did not wait for Him, I would have been a missionary overseas, thinking that I am doing something awesome for God. Yet, I would have been out of His will for me. God wanted me right here in North America to deal with lost souls right in the Church. At one point, I was disappointed that my calling was not for lack of a better word “a bigger deal”.  As I get to know God more and more I realize the smallest and the most menial tasks has great values in God’s eyes, if accomplished through Him.

In fact, to help me through the waiting process after years in the wilderness, God had to show me how someone working all his or her life on the mission field might not be as pleasing to Him as someone doing the most menial task. He told me point blank, “I would prefer that you work with me for three years than having you work for me for twenty years.” He showed me the impact of a lifetime spent working for Him is basically wasted away. The only nuggets that He can use, are when He uses the person like He uses Satan to reach His elects. –- Strangely, He showed me, even when He uses someone in this manner, this does not mean he or she is not saved and that was not up to me to interpret it in this manner. –- In this vision, He shared things that I could never share with any human beings, and He did not have to tell me, I knew they were meant for me alone. But keep in mind this vision did not happen until God called me a friend of His. Notice I did not say I called Him friend, because He let you know when you reach the friendship threshold. On a side note, when God really calls you a friend, it comes with that built in awareness that He is not really your “buddy” so His friendship will never cause you to lose your reverence for Him.

As I waited for Him to make me one with Him, I not only understood even though the call is not close to what I thought it would be, I delight in doing His will.  I also found out, a big chunk of the way He wants to use me is through prayer, so He trained me to become a prayer warrior. Prayer has no barriers when we walk in the Spirit and it has no borders.  I also learned, when we are set to do His will above all else, we do not have to worry about missing out on anything. If there is an emergency, if we have to go right away, on the spot, He will let us know. While we are rushing to complete what is really “just a stirring in our hearts” we rush ahead of Him with an attitude that it is our job to complete what He started, so we forge the path. In reality, in God sight, that is disobedience, lack of trust, lack of reverence and lack of walking in the Spirit.

Sadly, some of us have gone so far ahead of Him, we have spent so many years being in the wrong fields, and some have been so financially successful in a field that He really did not choose, i.e. those building their television and books empires, we cannot go back. So we lie to ourselves, and convinced ourselves that He will be happy with it…….Wrong! Just the fact that we say it is His mandate does not make it so.

I am leaving you with Oswald Chambers devotion for today which complement this post!

The Voice of the Nature of God

01

16

2013

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ —Isaiah 6:8

When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.

The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.

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Submitting To God’s Purpose

Oswald Chambers Devotional

I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some —1 Corinthians 9:22

A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “. . . Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

“I chose you . . .” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.

Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside . . . to the right or the left . . .” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is notdoing with other people. Let Him have His way.

INADEQUATE FOR THE TASK GOD CALLS YOU TO?

DEVOTION

Read Jeremiah 1:6-8

Jeremiah knew he was ill-equipped for the job he was called for. He knew his lack of boldness, authority, communication, his youth and lack of knowledge would cause him to be despised by the very people he was called to serve.

When God calls us to deal with giants, it is always scary. It is one thing to experience Him, having intimate knowledge of Him and being able to communicate so closely with Him. But, it is dreadful to know that He is expecting you to go out there and tell people of Him exactly in the way you know Him. Not only you have your inadequacy to deal with, but you also feel like a fool. You already know in the scheme of things you are such a small potato. You already know people are not interested in the guy who stands alone with a message that no one wants to hear. So, yes you dread the day when you have to take your unpopular message out there and having to say things outloud to other people.

People who are truly called by Him for tasks that are completely above their capabilities—which is usually the case with God, He would not have it any other way— have one thing in common, they are always scared to go forward. The first reaction is to say no to Him, not because you want to be disobedient but simply because you feel He could find someone else to do a much better job for Him. You feel as if you would be a waste of time and He could get much more done through someone else better suited. Strangely, you are thinking in your mind that somehow He misses out on your lack of qualifications. Although when you come to your senses, all you can do is laugh about it for thinking there was something He did not know. The fear always comes from reacting in the flesh, it comes from lack of trusting Him. It also comes from the fact that you know, because you do not measure up you will be rejected, thus in your mind, you can taste the rejection, the mockery etc.

We should never let our sense of insufficiency get in the way. Once we mourn the pain of accepting the challenge, we must resolve to say yes to Him. The key here is that God is not looking for people who are capable of doing the job; instead He wants to use the weak things of the world. When we think we can do a good job for Him, than we are useless to Him because we are already too full of ourselves and there is no room for Him to manoeuvre. By contrast, when we know our worthlessness, He is able to use us because we are emptied of self, we recognize our limitations and our needs of Him as such He is allowed to move freely within us, and walk with us every step of the way to assure success of the ministry entrusted to us.  Do not ever allow your anxiety for who you are gets in the way. Know that He is sufficient for the journey ahead of you. We can always bank on His presence to lead us through.

PRAYER : Almighty father, I pray Savior that we learn to be grateful people to you in all that we are. I pray that we learn to avail ourselves to you knowing that the fruit of our obedience would glorify you. Teach us Master, how to become solely devoted to your service and teach us what we need to remain attentive to our calling. Praises and glory to You Savior. Amen!

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GOD'S CALL FOR SERVICE

DEVOTION

Read Jeremiah Chapters 1:1-5

Jeremiah was born in the city of Anathoth in the country of Benjamin and His father was Hilkiah. You will find that Hilkiah was the high priest who found the book of the Law and passed it on to King Josiah.(2 Kings 22)  As we read Jeremiah Chapter 1, it seems like we are given information at the beginning of chapter 1 that looks more like data to the average reader. But, nothing God put in the Bible is useless no matter how trivial it might appear to our non-spiritual eyes. His appointment shows that nothing takes God by surprise. While the Israelites were given to sin, saturated by idols and ultimate corruption, cruelty, rebellion, contempt of God's Word etc for years, God was preparing someone in the background in the person of Jeremiah. He was set apart before he was even born, to be this incredible prophet of his nation. He was hesitant because of the daunting task he was called to, but God reassured Him that there was no need to be scared of them because He would always be with him.

Jeremiah started at a very young age he did not have time to derail from God’s plan for him. Unfortunately not all of us can claim to be that fortunate. Sometimes, our lives start derailing right from home through parents making choices for us that are not necessarily conducive to God’s plan. Sometimes we blow it on our own, and we continue making poor choices that lead us further and further away from Him. But, God's goodness is immeasurable. He waits for us patiently, and sometimes He takes matters into His hands and for lack of a better word, He hits us with a four by four (through trials) to get our attention.

One thing that I learned from God that has never changed. Like the prophet Jeremiah, the Scriptures shows that God appoints His ministers from their mother’s wombs (Isaiah 49:1, Galatians 1:15). Not one of us is born by accident and He has a plan and purpose for each of us, which He is willing to unfold to us if only we are willing to trust Him and wait while learning to heed to His Word.

No matter what you are going through, learn to be patient. Trust that He has a plan for you and if your heart is set on Him, there is no need to go ahead of Him by fear you might have missed something. In His own time, He will divulge more to you.

PRAY: God help me to learn to wait for you and move forward with you only according to your will in my life, May I learn to remain loyal to you no matter where the road leads and may I always walk in your way!

In His Love & Service, 

M. J. Andre

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LEARN TO GROW SPIRITUALLY IN HIM IN SPITE OF OTHERS

DEVOTION

Jeremiah 15:10.

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

Some people call Jeremiah crying baby, I guess it is the lack of understanding what it means to be truly called by God. While He is training you there is also a call in your soul to leave the self behind. You do not leave the self behind without humiliation to your soul and the pain of standing alone. You also have to learn to wait for God on God and in God. There is desolation in the soul that is felt on the outside.

When He is having His way with your soul in order to use you as an empty vessel, you will groan under the heavy burden of carrying His Word out there so other people might be revived. You groan for the spiritual blindness of the people around you, in the Church and in the world. Even though you experience Him up close and personal but the time span He talks to you is so far in between. We have examples in the Bible, people like David we can see that at times, in his psalms, he was going on with no spiritual strength at all. The same situation with Paul, God had to send His angels on three occasions to comfort him. Therefore, it is hard to hang onto what you know for sure is His faithfulness to you, His love and grace that has been innumerable while the sorrow of your mind being tried, your heart being pierced, and you are trying to avoid Satan’s fiery darts all at the same time.

When you think about how young Jeremiah was, his lack of experience and the weight of his mission on his shoulders, it makes sense that he had a hard time. Through the process, while God was using Him to help and warn his people, He also refined this young man. The hatred Jeremiah had to endure from his people, the persecution, trials and hardships; all would take its toll on a weary soul. I have no doubt that at times, Jeremiah wished he could convince his people that he was telling the truth and he would have killed two birds with the same stone. First they would change their ways and they would stop hating him for disturbing their comfort zone. But, such is this life. When you are walking close with God, you have to come to a point where you know that you know what you know and that is sufficient to continue in spite of how other people feel about you. Whether you are able to convince others so they would join you in walking in the light is not the priority. Nor being vindicated in this life. You have to know for yourself that God already knew the outcome and using you in this manner serve a purpose that is higher that what you can comprehend.

While Jeremiah was feeling overwhelmed by what his ministry had brought his way, God kept applying pressure on Jeremiah and his people. God cares how we answer to Him when we get overwhelmed by our burden. The challenge for us is to remain in the Spirit so we do not have to be crushed in our soul because in our weakness, He is strong. So we learn to depend on Him for our need moment by moment.

PRAY

My God and my Savior, teach us to always find our strength in you and leave behind the need to please others and be accepted by them. You Yourself was misunderstood, rejected, ridiculed, tortured and killed. All of it was for our own good. So teach us to learn to live in this world and make it solely about you like You did with Your Father.

In His Love & Service, 
M. J 

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The book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah’s book is read like his own biography.  He was Born a priest, Chosen by God to be a prophet before his birth, he was called while young and commissioned by God. The message God had chosen Him to deliver was harsh, gloomy, judgmental, and brutal to hear. As such he was not accepted by his people because they did not want to hear what he had to say. Kind of like us Christians today if the message is not about what we want to hear or somewhat implies that we have to leave our comfort zone, we are ready to throw rocks at the messenger.

Jeremiah was a rejected prophet and the loneliness of his life, and the hatred he was subject to, broke his heart. More than that, Jeremiah was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief because he knew the judgment that was coming upon these people while watching them helplessly throwing away God’s mercy. All his warnings to heed to God and to return from their backsliding were useless. Everywhere you read about Jeremiah, they always talk about his feelings because he had the tender heart of a woman. The truth is, the people needed that kind of message because they had strayed so far away from God, they were degenerated, corrupted, living with harden hearts and nothing was getting through.

From his book, we see that God cares only about total obedience. He is not willing to compromise and although He loves us, He has no problem passing those harsh sentences on us. Today, Christ is also calling us back to Him as well. Would you come back to Him?

Prayer: My dear Lord, I pray that you would revive my heart and keep me always in a constant state of awe in your presence.

M. J. André