The work of God makes progress when God’s people move forward together. Salvation, service, personal faith, life among God’s people - God has much to teach us. Moses sins (Exodus 2:12). God graciously forgives (Micah 7:18-19) - this is salvation. His sin forgiven, Moses is called to service. He is called by the eternal God, …
Category: Jeremiah
The Word of God is like a fire.
Jeremiah 4:10-5:31; Philippians 3:1-4:1; Psalm 116:1-11 The Word of God is like a fire, burning up the sin of man (Jeremiah 5:14). The purpose of this fire is not, however, destructive. God’s purpose is to burn up the pride which “puts confidence in the flesh”, to burn away the “legalistic righteousness.” All of that is …
Satan can do no more than God allows.
“One marvels at the grace God shows even in His wrath to wicked men. Captivity is ordained for Zedekiah, yet God wills to restrain the Babylonian conqueror, and will not allow Zedekiah to be killed. We need to remember that Satan takes orders from God - he can do no more than God allows.” (Rev …
Every spiritual blessing – in Christ: Come to Him and receive His blessing.
'I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against Me... Then this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and honour before all nations on earth...'(Jeremiah 33:7-9). What great blessing lay ahead of God’s people! …
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God’s love, God’s Son, God’s command, God’s purpose
Easter Sunday Morning: Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10 God’s love, God’s Son, God’s command, God’s purpose ‘When the Holy Spirit comes on you... you will be My witnesses... to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). This great advance of the Gospel …
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Everlasting Love
"I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). God loves us. This isn’t for some perfect people who’ve never fallen into sin. There’s nobody who’s like that. All of us have made a mess of things – but God still says to us, “I love you.” He says, “My Son, Jesus, died for …
Belonging to the Lord
“The days are coming”: These words introduce a prophecy concerning the land (Jeremiah 30:3). The greatest blessing is not being in the land. It is belonging to the Lord. This is the blessing, spoken of by Jeremiah. When, speaking God’s Word, he writes, “You will be My people, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah …
Jeremiah – God’s Man For Difficult Times
Jeremiah 1:4-10 How old was Jeremiah when he was called to be a prophet of God? We don't know. We do know that this was the great turning-point of his life. This was the day that he discovered the meaning, purpose and direction of his life. This was revealed to him by God. This call …
Building on the Rock
The Lord is our Rock - the Rock of our salvation. We do not build on shifting sand. We build on eternal love. This love has come to us in Christ. This love gives us confidence that we can commit our eternal future into the hands of the Lord. "He loves us with an everlasting …
A Call To Listen To The Word Of The Lord
Jeremiah’s ministry was a call from God to the people - a call to “listen to the Word of the Lord” (Jeremiah 44:24). Listening to what the Lord has to say to us will mean being ready to revise our own ideas. Our thoughts, without the guiding Word from the Lord, will be very different …
Praying Through God’s Word: Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1:1-19 Serving You, Lord, doesn’t begin with our choice. It begins with Your call. The initiative is Yours – not ours. Thank You, Lord, that You love us so much. Thank You for saving us – and calling us to be Your servants. Jeremiah 2:1-19 They had turned away from the Lord. They had chosen …
We Need More Than Rules And Regulations.
"The Rechabites had remained faithful to the voice of a man, yet Judah, spoken to by God Himself, had been neglectful of His Word. It is much easier to follow the rules of men than to live by God's Word. That is why so many Christians are attracted to 'regulation' Christianity, for it still leaves …
Jeremiah
JEREMIAH 1:1-19 - To understand Jeremiah’s story, we must look ‘behind the scenes’: ‘The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations”’ (4-5). To understand our own story, …
This is what God says.
"This is what I think." This is what God says. What a difference there is between these two statements. The first - "This is what I think" - tells us that it's all about human opinion. It tells us that human opinion is all that we have - nothing more than human opinion. The second …
Lord, when You call us to obedience, we’re not to say, ‘I’ll think about that later.’
Jeremiah 11:1-23 Lord, You speak Your Word to us. You call us to obedience. You say to us, ‘Obey My voice.’ Often, Lord, the story of our life is summed up in the words: ‘They did not listen or pay attention. They did not obey’ (Jeremiah 11:7-8). Your Word is not just ‘something to think about.’ When You call us to obedience, …
Some Meditations on God’s Word
Receiving Strength from the Lord (Daniel 10:1-11:13) Daniel came to God in great weakness- ‘I am helpless… My strength is gone…’(16-17). From the Lord, Daniel received great strength- ‘The One who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength… When He spoke to me, I was strengthened…’. Daniel’s strength came from the love of …
Out of depression and defeat, into vigour and victory
Jeremiah’s message had been ignored. His faith was sorely tested. Despite all of this, he was able to say, “Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord!” (Jeremiah 20:13). This was not his constant theme. In the very next verse, he says, “Cursed is the day that I was born.” We are pulled this way and …
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We thank You, Lord, that You will lead us to the ‘place’ of obedience and blessing.
Jeremiah 32:26-44 ‘I will bring them back to this place’ (Jeremiah 32:37). Lord, You're bringing us into Your ‘place.’ You're bringing us close to Yourself: ‘They will be My people, and I will be their God’ (Jeremiah 32:38). You're bringing us into the ‘place’ of obedience: ‘I will inspire them to fear Me, so that …
Continue reading We thank You, Lord, that You will lead us to the ‘place’ of obedience and blessing.
What a wonder-working God is ours!
"This points forward to the coming of Israel's King, Christ. What a wonder-working God is ours! He gives the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Jeremiah 33:11). And if He can do this for a whole people, will He stumble at our individual needs? Look to Him. …
What People Want To Hear? or What They Need To Hear?
Jeremiah was not a popular prophet. He didn’t tell the people what they wanted to hear. He wasn’t concerned with gaining their approval. He was determined to keep on speaking God’s Word – whatever the people thought about him, said about him or did to him. The first priority is faithfulness. We must not make …
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We may never set foot in the country known as ‘Egypt’ – but the spirit of ‘Egypt’ may be in our hearts.
Jeremiah 42:7-43:7 ‘Do not go to Egypt’ (Jeremiah 42:19). We may never set foot in the country known as ‘Egypt’ - but the spirit of ‘Egypt’ may be in our hearts: ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him...?’ (Exodus 5:2). ‘Egypt’ is an attitude of the heart. It is an attitude of rebellion …
Learning from Romans (21): Lord, when we feel like there’s no hope, show us that You are “the God of hope.”
Lord, when we feel like there’s no hope, show us that You are “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). This is why we believe that “there is hope” (Jeremiah 31:17). Our hope is in You – the God of great faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23). With You as our God, how can we ever feel that we’re …
Real praise continues after we leave the place of worship.
Jeremiah 31:7-14 “Sing with joy” (Jeremiah 31:7,12-13). This is to be our response to the Gospel. It’s more than a singalong. It’s “praise.” This praise continues after we leave the place of worship. “Shout” - “I am not ashamed” (Romans 1:16). “Proclaim” - Make the message known: “for the Good News” (Romans 1:1,5-6). This for …
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If, Lord, we are growing in our fellowship with You, we will want others to know what they’re missing.
Jeremiah 51:1-33 ‘Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations!’ (Jeremiah 51:27). Lord, You call us to be Your witnesses. If we are growing in our fellowship with You, we will want others to know what they’re missing. We will want them to know how much blessing they could know …
Truth in our teaching, truth in our living
"Lord, Your eyes look for the truth" (Jeremiah 5:3). God is looking for more than truth in our teaching. He's looking for truth in our living.
Problems – from outside of ourselves, problems – from within our own hearts
Jeremiah 15:1-21 Lord, some of our problems come from outside of ourselves. Other people cause problems for us – ‘This people will fight against you’ (Jeremiah 15:20). Some of our problems come from within our own hearts. Our own sins cause problems for us. There are ‘fightings and fears within’. We are ‘tossed about with many …
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Memory, Experience, Expectation
Memory brings back the past to us. We remember the things that have already happened. Some of our memories are good memories. Some of our memories are bad memories. Expectation is our way of looking forward to what may happen in the future. We have hopes - and we have. We hope that our future …
Help us, Lord, to see clearly that, even when we’ve been ‘brought up in the Church’, we still need to open our hearts to Christ.
Jeremiah 9:1-26 We read, Lord, about those who are ‘circumcised only in the flesh.’ They remain ‘uncircumcised in the heart’ (Jeremiah 9:25-26). Teach us, Lord, that salvation is not a matter of outward conformity to religious rituals. What we need is ‘circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit’ (Romans 2:28-29). Help us to remember Jesus’ words: ‘You must be …
Help us, Lord, to do what You want us to do – not what other people want us to do.
Jeremiah 5:10-6:8 ‘A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way’ (Jeremiah 5:31)! Sometimes, Lord, people are happy to listen to ‘prophets’ – so long as their preaching isn’t too challenging. They’re happy to attend the services conducted by ‘priests’ …
Continue reading Help us, Lord, to do what You want us to do – not what other people want us to do.
The blessing of God is not to be kept to ourselves.
Jeremiah4:1-18 – ‘If you will return, O Israel,… then the nations will be blessed…’ (1-2). We are not only to seek blessing for ourselves. We are to pray that others will be blessed also. The blessing of God is not to be kept to ourselves. It is to be shared. We are not to be small-minded people – …
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Is there a way out of the desert?
God speaks to His people about their sin - "The people of Jerusalem turned away from Me without ever returning ..." (Jeremiah 8:5). He is not pleased with them. He is calling them to return to Him - "Change the way you live ..." (Jeremiah 7:3). The life of Israel is “like the desert” (Jeremiah …
Lord, Your Word was written many centuries ago – but it still has a great deal to do with us!
‘The day has come to destroy all the Philistines... The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines... Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed’ (Jeremiah 47:4). That seems like ancient history - nothing to do with us! What about this? - ‘A curse on him who is lax in doing the …
Are You Under A Cloud Today?
"Jeremiah's horizon stretches to the heathen nations - here it is Egypt, and the outlook is dark, as it is for every God-forgetting nation. But in verses 27-28, there are promises full of comfort to God's people - “Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. I will surely save you …
Do not trust in deceptive words.
"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!”... Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 7:4,11). Jeremiah spoke to the people of …
Listen to the Lord’s Word.
"Listen to the Lord's Word, all you people of Judah who go through these gates to worship the Lord" (Jeremiah 7:2). We worship the Lord. We listen to His Word. It's His Word that inspires our worship. How can we worship the Lord truly if we're not listening to His Word attentively. We listen so …
God still loves us.
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11). I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3) Sometimes, we speak words that are superficial. We say, "It's okay. Everything will turn out fine. All your dreams will come true." Sometimes, things …
Whole-hearted dedication
Jeremiah 50:1-28 ‘The people... will go in tears to seek the Lord their God... They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten’ (Jeremiah 50:4-5). Lord, You’re calling us to come to You. You’re calling us to commit ourselves to You. We’re to come to You …
We thank You, Lord, that Jesus is ‘the Way, the True Way, the Living Way’ – our Guide and our Saviour.
Jeremiah 31:21-40 ‘Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take’ (Jeremiah 31:21). Lord, it’s so easy, for us, to take a wrong turning. We lose our sense of direction. We get confused. We're not sure which way to go. We get lost. We're getting more and …
The Upward Look And The Outward Look
God is calling us to move forward into His future. He's calling us to move forward with Him. He's calling us to move forward for Him. How are we to move forward with God? How are we to move forward for Him? If we are to move forward with God and for God, we must …
When we speak our words of fear, God speaks to us his words of power.
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too …
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God’s Word – In Increased Strength
"Vain are men's efforts to quench God's plans. Put the prophets in prison, burn the Bibles, but God's Word cannot be locked up, and out it will come, in increased strength (Jeremiah 36:32) to confound men's worst efforts against it. How God must laugh when He sees puny men thinking to put HIM in His …
Are We Learning To Turn From Sin And Turn To God?
"If people do the same in Egypt as they have done at home, the same punishment will overtake them. One marvels at the perversity of their hearts, to have learned so little from the sack of Jerusalem. But do we learn from the judgments God sends upon us? Do they make us repent, and learn …
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At the Name of Jesus
"The Lord is the true God; He is the living God, the eternal King" (Jeremiah 10:10). When all the "gods" of this world have been forgotten, the Lord remains - the true and living God, the eternal God. As I was thinking about this description of God - the true and living God, the eternal …
God can remember – but He chooses to forget!
Jeremiah 31:31-40 God forgives and forgets (Jeremiah 31:34). It’s not “God cannot remember.” It’s “God chooses not to remember.” The rebuilding of our life - we are to be “holy to the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:38-40).
God’s love for us comes before our love for Him.
Jeremiah 31:1-6 God’s everlasting love: His love for us comes before our love for Him. We’re living in a wilderness - spiritual and moral. We’re always searching, but never finding. We’re never sure which way to turn. Into this situation, comes God - from “far away” (heaven). He speaks of His love, and putting our …
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Who are we listening to?
* Who are we listening to? Where do we get our understanding of life from? There are two very different stories. There's the world's story. It's the story of life without God. There's the Lord's Story. It's the Story of His salvation. *Who are we listening to? We listen to what we want to hear. …
The joy of the Lord
"The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). "Rejoice in the Lord always, and, again, I say, rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). Our joy comes and goes. Sometimes, we're up, Sometimes, we're down. The joy of the Lord is very different. It's not joy which comes to us from our changeable circumstances. It's joy which …
We need the Holy Spirit, and we need the Holy Scriptures.
Seventh Sunday of Easter: Acts 1:15- 17, 21-26; Psalm 1 (or Jeremiah 10:1-10a); Psalm 108; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19 We need the Holy Spirit. We read, in John 7:39, that ‘the Spirit’ would not be ‘given’ until Jesus was ‘glorified’. Now, as Jesus was about to be ‘taken up... into heaven’, He tells His …
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God says to us, “I love you with an everlasting love.”
God says to us, “I love you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Through His love, we have “a happy song” to sing (Jeremiah 31:7). Through His love, we are “changed.” Our life is “turned around” (Jeremiah 31:18). The love of God for us is revealed most powerfully in His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. …
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God’s Everlasting Love
God says to us, “I love you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Through His love, we have “a happy song” to sing (Jeremiah 31:7). Through His love, we are “changed.” Our life is “turned around” (Jeremiah 31:18). The love of God for us is revealed most powerfully in His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. …
Jeremiah
JEREMIAH1:1-19 – To understand Jeremiah’s story, we must look ‘behind the scenes’: ‘The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations”’ (4-5). To understand our own story, we must go even …
Less of ourselves – and more of the Lord
Jeremiah 7:1-8:3 – ‘Stop believing these deceitful words, “We are safe! This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”’ (4). For many, the place of worship has become more important than the Person we worship. They talk a lot about ‘the Church’ – but they never …
When we feel like we’ll never get out of this wilderness
The people of Israel had been brought out of Egypt, the land of bondage - but, after that, things seemed to do from bad to worse. there were forty years of wilderness wanderings. We read, in the book of Numbers, of Israel's time in the wilderness. Reading about life in the wilderness is not encouraging. …
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Expect Great Things From God!
"When God gives dreams (Jeremiah 31:26), they come to pass. Have we faith to take (Jeremiah 31:28) Scotland in our time? The situation now is much as it was then, and God is still the same? Do we hinder God's purposes because of our inability to believe He can restore its lost glory? Expect great …
Do we really seek the Lord’s guidance?
"Notice the deceit - they pretend earnestly to seek the Lord's guidance, but at heart they simply desire God to approve a course they had already decided upon. All too often this is how we deal with God.We make up our minds, then close them to God's mind. Is it a wonder that we go …
The God Of The Impossible
"Doubts come because we feel God might not be able to do the impossible. What a blessing is here in Jeremiah 32:27 - He is the God of the impossible. Look at Jeremiah 32:40 in connection with the new covenant - 'My fear.' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and of …
Listening to what the Lord has to say to us will mean being ready to revise our own ideas.
Jeremiah’s ministry was a call from God to the people - a call to “listen to the Word of the Lord” (Jeremiah 44:24). Listening to what the Lord has to say to us will mean being ready to revise our own ideas. Our thoughts, without the guiding Word from the Lord, will be very different …
The Joy Of God’s Love
"Learn here that God's love (Jeremiah 31:3) is the source of true joy and gladness and rejoicing. If we are considered by others to be dull and over-seriously pious, it is not that we are too religious, but not religious enough. Can it be that we have missed the joy of God's love?" (Rev James …
Don’t let Satan rob you of God’s blessing.
Jeremiah 43:1-45:5; 1 Timothy 5:1-6:2; Psalm 119:65-72 Concerning Egypt, God says, “I will punish you in this place” (Jeremiah 44:29). There can be no blessing when we live in direct contradiction to His Word. What we must never forget is the existence and activity of Satan (1 Timothy 5:15). He is always there, seeking to …
Building On The Past, Building For The Future
Jeremiah 6:9-19 The Word of God is to be preached - and heard. Real hearing begins with listening. It doesn't end there. The preacher's message doesn't begin with himself. The preacher is a messenger. The message comes from God. He has sent the preacher to deliver His message. The message of Jeremiah 6:16 is not …
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Learning From God's Word 