Ignorance of our Own Idols

DEVOTION

Read Jeremiah 2:5

 "This is what the LORD says: "What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves." 

God is grieving because over and over from generation to generation the Israelites have chosen their idols over Him. They replaced Him with empty and worthless things and they refused to get back to Him. They preferred their idols guidance over God's. They had even taken their idols' characters. Their rejection of Him and lack of gratefulness caused Him grief. 

 Most of us today exude idols in our lives. Often, we lack an understanding to see what we have substituted for today's idols. Sometimes sheer ignorance is the cause of not identifying the legion of idols we keep in our hearts and lives. Whatever reason we have for not recognizing idols in our lives the result is bondage to Satan. Understand something, the fact that we are busy serving God or that we ooze with zeal for Him does not mean we value God more than the idols in our lives. Often, it is difficult to talk to people who are over zealous for God, to make them understand they are running on empty and left God behind a long time ago. Often it starts so subtlety and before we know it we are driven by pride and satisfaction that we get from our ministry. Sometimes our idols come from the fame and admiration we get from the people we are serving. Other times it is the perks and prestige that comes with our ministry. the bottom line is that we get to the point where we forget that it is not about us but Him. So we move forward with our mission or ministry without God. 

For us that are lower in the food chain, idols could be as simple as our love for television, or our need to be constantly surrounded by our friends. While these things look simple and often I hear people say come on, how can my friends get in the way?  Sometimes they would conveniently list it under fellowship so they could ease their conscience. But think about it. If you choose to watch television and the next morning you cannot wake up early enough to be with God, then you are forced to rush out to work without your devotion time with God, it does not matter what you call it but by God's standards it is an idol. A one time deal is not a big deal but when this becomes a lifestyle then I assure you that you are in the same basket as the Israelites and their love for idols. If you find yourself constantly in need of spending time with friends just to pass time, or because you are bored with life, etc., you can call it fellowship this does not mean you fooled God with it. 

 The Word of God tells us that it is not enough to start well, but we have to finish well too, We finish well only through perseverance, endurance, faithfulness and dedication.

 Can you imagine at judgement time when God ask you to tell Him what exactly He did to you that caused you to walk away from Him? What would be your answer?

PRAY: Lord help us not to walk with iniquity in our hearts. May we learn to appreciate who you are, what you have done for us and who we are in you. Savior I pray we would be people after your heart instead of walking after vanity and vain gods!

In His Agape Love & Service, 
M. J. Andre

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Prayer is a Way of Life

DEVOTION

Read Jeremiah 14: 10-12

 "This is what the Lord says about this people:“They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.” Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

 The Jews loved the fact that they were God's chosen ones but they treated Him as if He was the one who needed them. They never quite grasp the magnitude of being chosen by God. There was never an indication of being grateful for having been chosen. If they understood what they had in Him, they would have acted differently and stop doing things that were displeasing to Him. God had enough of their lack of reverence, their wickedness, their ungrateful hearts, and their love for new idols with no self-control. Jeremiah knew the only way to root out his people harden hearts and their callous consciences was through prayers, yet he was told by God to stop praying for them. There was nothing that God wanted from them anymore. This time was different He wanted to hold their sins against them. He wanted to remember how much they did not want Him.‒ Imagine the pain of our God's heart, His heart was grieving!

 Most of us do not realize God's attitude with the Jews has not changed with us Christians. We go on with God with our defiant attitude, we sin left, right and centre because we take Him for granted and expect Him to forgive us. A lot of us corner Him by taking our salvation for granted and thinking that God cannot lie so basically there is nothing He can do to us. We are so self-righteous, full of unbelief we ignore His Words and we are filled with hypocrisy. We entertain unforgiving spirits, we give more importance to the things of this world than we attached to God. We give Him lip service during worship time and we feel He should be satisfied with those bread crumbs we hand Him. Some of us would not even consider examining ourselves. We choose lifestyle pleasing to us, and as for idols we have them coming out of our ears. Most of these things that I mentioned are attitudes and motives of the heart. Yet, the Bible is full or verses where we are warned about hindrances to our prayers and verses that tells us who God listen to. Two of them on the top of my head would be Proverbs 28:9 it says: "one who turns away his ears from hearing the law, even his prayers is an abomination" and Proverbs 15:29 says: "The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous".

 My dear brothers and sisters, prayer is not something we do when all else fails. You see, prayer is a way of life. Would you consider asking God to teach you how to cultivate a righteous life with Him. A life where He is the Master and you walk according to His leading alone. A life where the pain of brokenness is of no importance if at the end of it you find His heart. Keep your heart open, get rid of all your reservations about Him because if you do not want all of Him by any means and any road He leads, it simply means you are not in love with Him enough and you are not desperate to find Him. Go to Him, know for sure that at the end of it, you will find the pearl of great price which is the heart of God the father. I have been through it, and it is painful, but I would do it all over again because of the treasure I found in the triune God.

  

PRAYER: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

In His Agape Love & Service, 

M. J. Andre

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New Book Release: Apprehended & Apprehending Explains the True Meaning of Salvation by Grace

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Believing the Truth Does Not Make It True

Time To Put A Context To It

To put my writing into context one must understand what my ministry is about. Prior to entering in the wilderness with God, I heard the call of God and He wanted to send me. God calls us in different ways. But, there is another call by God that is so personal and beautiful that it puts you for a while in a state of awe and you feel you are living life kind of suspended for a while.  After I heard my call, my heart could not come down to earth and all I could sing is this song by Daniel O'Donnell of 2004 and the title of the song is "here I am Lord."  At the end of this post, I will provide the lyrics for you. I was not sure what to do with the call and I was one of those people, God restrained me right away. So, even if I wanted to move ahead on my own, I would not have been able to. 2 years have passed I enrolled in an evangelism training. Through it, God overwhelmed my heart with the darkness that existed right there in a small corner of Toronto. Because I was spending weeks amongst people involved in Evangelism, I thought it was a great opportunity to tell them about my calling. Needless to say that most people were surprised that I did not set sail and "go."  While I was urged to be obedient to the call, I was so torn inside, the wilderness was raging on in my life, and everything was falling apart. Meanwhile, God was restricting me from making what would have been the biggest mistake of my life with Him. 

Surprisingly, while I felt there was a call to go and evangelize the world, mainly the South Asia, God was at work in me working in the background and preparing me to be 'His'  first and foremost before I could go. Through the process of preparation that lasted years I found out so much more. Yes, I needed to learn evangelism, I needed to learn God's Word, I needed to learn to be broken by Him, so that my will would be His first before handing it back to me. While there is a whole list that I needed to learn from Him, most of all, I needed to understand His standards. Through the wilderness, the vision took shape and my identity and spiritual life in Him have catapulted to an unimaginable level. It turns out God was raising me to be a prayer warrior. A real one. But the true vision did not take shape until 2012. More than seven years after I heard the call. 

While my spiritual maturity in Him, and the knowledge and boldness I have received from being with Him could be beneficial to anyone with a heart set on living for Him, my true calling is to reach those who do not understand that believing the truth does not make it true, Satan believes the truth as well. Most of these people are very active in the Church and a lot of them are in leadership positions. These people are so hard to reach and they make it their mission to resist any changes you call them to. They have accumulated just enough Christianity to become Satan's personal favorites. Beside the stubbornness of their hearts two major things they  also have in common is that they do not want to go to Christ to be changed and they are all carnal. They are the perfect picture of the reverse of John 6:65 meaning they have no willingness to go to Him to be transformed. There is lots of frustration in this ministry, the only thing that keeps you going is knowing who God is and He is able to do the impossible. So you keep praying and keep calling for changes.

 Through my training, and also my daily walk with Him, God has given me wisdom and discernment to unmask these Christians no matter how many masks they are wearing, their gender, rank etc. Make no mistake this is hard ministry. God has to teach you humility which is painful to learn from Him. I am not sure how to explain the other major component of this ministry. It is something you possess in your heart, where you automatically know certain insights you have on someone has to remain confidential. It is funny, because God does not have to tell you not to say anything about it. The other thing I find out is that God keeps you on a need to know basis. 

PRAY: Father God I pray that my brothers and sisters would learn to serve you wherever they are.  I pray you would pour out Your Spirit Lord on those sitting in the pews that are blind, my heart's  desire is for them to see you. I pray hearts would be softened and people would respond to your invitation to  "come to me!" 

Here is the lyric of the song I mentioned in the post

Here I Am Lord

I, the Lord of sea and sky

I have heard my people cry

All who dwell in dark and sin

My hand will save.

I who made the stars and night

I will make the darkness bright

Who will bear my light to them

Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord

Is it I Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go Lord

If you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart.

I the Lord of snow and rain

I have borne my people's pain

I have wept for love of them

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone

Fill their hearts with love alone

I will speak my word to them

Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord

Is it I Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go Lord

If you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart.

I will hold your people in my heart...

False Religion According to God’s Standards

DEVOTION

Read Jeremiah 7: 1-5

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:  “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord.  This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.  Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”

As I was reading Jeremiah 7 today, my heart was breaking because while this story is the Israelites story, specifically, in these verses Judah was targeted by God and it happened thousands of years ago, it is still us today. Things have not changed that much. We still go on with a vain confidence in mainstream Christianity. We find pride in our buildings, our achievements, the eloquence of our pastors, in our head knowledge, our plans, our standards, our denominations etc. We have compartmentalized Christianity, to us Salvation has become what we feel it should be. We bring God down so low, that His standards do not matter to us anymore. Our hearts are so callous, so much arrogance and pride in the Church and among Christians. Most of us in the pews along with our pastors have no idea what it means to be broken by God and the list goes on. Yet, we come and stand in His presence with no fear whatsoever. The Israelites felt they found protection too when they came into the temple. They too had compartmentalized their lives and expected God to honor His Word as if He could not see their hearts were not in it. We do not pay enough attention to the fact that God wants us to do things according to His Way and His standards.

We go through the Bible like lawyers going through documents to find loopholes. In the meantime we forget this is OUR GOD, the God of our Salvation. We offer Him sentimentality and we get caught up in our own hypes, our own deception and low standards of Christianity. But, true Christianity according to His standards demands that we live purposely for Him. Not according to what that means to us but according to His views, His Word., His standards and His plan for Salvation. When this is done according to His standards and by His grace, we are transformed on the inside. It is sad to see how we misunderstand Christianity because we do not know what it means to live under His grace and worst we have never learned to know ourselves because we have not been humbled by Him. So somehow, in the depth of our souls, we still think there is something good in us.

PRAY: Oh Lord, I pray we learn to embrace full Salvation according to your plan. I pray the eyes of our hearts would be open and we would get rid of Spiritual blindness. Take away the darkness that surrounds us Savior even though we do not deserve you, I pray that you would be glorified in all our lives.

In His Love & Service

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THE FEAR OF MAN!

DEVOTION

Read Jeremiah 1:11-19

Jeremiah has been placed as a watchdog over the nation and everything that came out of his mouth was going to be God’s judgement over the nation. He knew of the destruction awaiting Judah, and the fact that judgement was close by so there was no time to waste in finding the way back to Him in repentance. I can see his dilemma. Imagine you knew for a fact that a train is going to derail with everyone aboard, yet the people are not interested in what you know. If anything, they think there is something wrong with you. Your heart is breaking from the pain of possessing such knowledge with no power to convince the people that you know what you are talking about. As if it was not enough you have to deal with the fear of what they could do to you for disturbing the joy they found in their wickedness and idolatry.

God knew Jeremiah was terrified. His fear and his pity party in his mind and heart did not matter to God. The job had to be done and he was the chosen one. Instead God told Jeremiah “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

The fear of man is a powerful snare. It can cripple us and causes us to miss out on all that God has in store for us. In my life I found the only remedy that liberates us from the fear of man is the fear of God. Often we make decisions and side with man just to be on what seems the safe side. We let our fear take over, and our need for approval. This comes from a lack of knowing God, walking with Him and lack of fearing Him. When you fear and respect Him, the choice is always clear. This does not mean you are not trembling with fear of other people's reaction but your fear and reverence for God must come first. Just because God is not in your face, wagging His finger does not mean we get away with it when we side with man instead of Him. No matter what, we are to choose His side, no deletions, no alterations and no cutting corners to soften the blows. If you do, you will be judged by God severely. The only tool we ever need is God Himself.

PRAY: Lord I pray that I never compromise my walk with you to please men. I pray that other Christians would be willing to do the same for your Glory my Lord. That we would be people after your heart. We would be willing to give up our interest, personal agendas and wishes. Lord, may we never fail the call my Lord.  I love you daddy!

SMASHWORDS

CHOSE WISELY WHOM YOU SERVE

DEVOTION

Jeremiah 1:10

 "See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

The sole purpose of Jeremiah’s birth and the authority given to Him by God for his ministry are found in verse 10. The story of Jeremiah is astonishing. One would think that he would naturally become a priest. Instead of following in his father's footsteps, he had a much a bigger challenge presented to him at a young age. It was indeed a daunting task to try to reform his people and convince them to change their ways. In his ministry he was not to mince word because they had left behind all they had learned about God’s characters and Holiness. They had compromised so much, in their exceeding sinfulness they could not recover because their hearts became so callous and they were enjoying the ease of their new found religions. Jeremiah was given power to pull down and destroy and to remove evil among them.

There is no half way with God. He puts before us two choices “good and evil” it is up to us to choose. But we better use this freedom of the will to choose wisely. There is a price for choosing according to our will instead of His and we better be ready to pay the price tag attached to living in our own filth and our own will, because at judgement time, no stones will be left unturned.

 Sadly, in today’s church we are missing anointed ministers from the pulpits to lead the flock. We are living in time where everything is permissible and justifiable. While our ministers preach with gadgets, they tweak God’s message with their own philosophy and variety of their theology. God will be harsher with us come judgement time, because we have His revealed Word in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit to guide us to Him.

 What about you? Are you more interested in what the false prophet have to say than the Word of God? Do you find yourself enjoying the idleness and ease of religions? How can you use this message to turn around?

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for today’s passage. It is a reminder that you are a God to be feared. Please help me to seek your ways and surrender in humility, everything each day into your care.  Only in you my Lord we can find true fulfilment and joy. Please help me live by the truth and honor you with my life!

Thanks,  M. J. Andre

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