Archive for February, 2010

Read Jeremiah 43

I’d like to think that if I lived in Jeremiah’s day that I would have listened to him.

I’d like to think that if I heard him declare that God was going to do something, I would have believed him.

I’d like to think that if I had been given the chance to be on the receiving end of one of his prophecies, that I would have not wanted to kill him.

I’d like to think that I would have believed him every single time.

I’d like to think all of these things and more, but I can’t help but think I might have simply blended into the crowd.

After all, the crowd is often quite persuasive. For one thing, there’s more of them, and that gives them a certain attractiveness.

But even though the voices in the crowd are often persuasive, at the same time, the crowd is often wrong.

For instance, Joseph’s brothers were wrong when they decided to sell him into slavery. The Israelites were wrong when they decided to create and worship a golden calf. And the people of Jeremiah’s day were wrong when they decided to ignore Jeremiah’s prophecy and go to Egypt anyway. (If you don’t believe me, just keep reading…you’ll see!)

So, don’t just blend in with the crowd, deciding to do whatever they’re influencing you to do.

Instead, listen to the Lord. Read His Word. And do what He wants you to do!

Read Jeremiah 32:7

As I was reading the Scriptures today, out of all the chapters I looked at, one solitary verse jumped off the pages at me.

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”

Notice that God both makes a statement and asks a question.

And the statement actually answers the question.

Because the LORD is God, He can absolutely do anything. Nothing is to hard for Him.

Nothing!

Read Jeremiah 11:14-15

God is not a big fan of hypocrisy.

If history is any indicator, He will not kind to those who go through the motions on Sundays, but live in rebellion the rest of the week.

He clearly hated the hypocrisy of the people of Judah, and in fact, He even tells Jeremiah that there is no use even praying for them, because He’s not happy with them.

And this makes me wonder whether or not He’s happy with those of us who follow Him in this generation.

I can’t help but wonder how many of us are better known as hypocrites than Christians.

I’d like to think that I’m not guilty of being a hypocrite, but don’t we all have our moments?

But after reading this passage today, I’m can’t help but think that this is a path I do not want to go down.

Because it’s obvious that God is not a big fan of hypocrisy.

Read Jeremiah 1:4-19

God knows what He’s doing. He’s actually pretty good at being God.

So when God nudges us, prompts us, speaks clearly to us, we need to listen.

But more than that, we need to obey.

No matter what.

Even when we’re feeling as hesitant as Jeremiah was.

Now I know some of you might be thinking, “But the word of the Lord has never come to me”

If that’s you, maybe you need to stop waiting for the Word to come to you, and start opening up the Word and seeing what God has for you there.

And when you open up His book, don’t be surprised when He asks you to do something, when He asks you to be His voice in the world around you.

Just a thought.

Read Isaiah 58

Evidently, fasting is not simply just going without food.

In our minds, it typically has something to do with food, but Isaiah lets the reader know that it has more to do with us and how our Heavenly Father changes us through the habit of fasting.

If you read closely, it’s almost like God says, “This is not about food. Who cares that you skipped a meal…big deal! What you really need to do is focus on me!”

And that’s what true fasting does.

True fasting focuses on God.

And I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this or not, but almost every major biblical character fasted. Moses was fasting when he received the Ten Commandments. Nehemiah fasted before he rebuilt the walls. The apostle Paul was fasting after his Damascus road experience. Esther fasted when she thought her entire people would be annihilated. Simon Peter was fasting when he realized Christianity was not just a Jewish thing.

But each of them didn’t just go without food.

They also were very careful to obey the Lord as they fasted and especially after they fasted.

And if we’re going to fast (and I believe we should unless we have a medical reason not to), then we should also do more than go without food.

We should ask God to change us as we deny our fleshly appetites.

And if we do, “The LORD will guide us always.”

Read Isaiah 44:6-23

It’s amazing to me the things we put our trust in.

It’s true that we may not trust in wooden idols like the Israelites, but is putting our confidence in anything but the Lord much better?

It’s true that we’re not dumb enough to carve something out of wood one day and worship it the next, but at the same time, aren’t we guilty of putting our trust in almost everything but God sometimes?

For instance, we put our trust in our job. We put our trust in our parents. We put our trust in our retirement fund.

Those are all good things and I’m thankful for each of them.

But, as so many of us have learned, jobs, parents, and retirement funds can be taken away from us in a moment. All it takes is a downsizing, death, or drop in the stock market, and we see that it was foolish to put all our hopes and dreams into those things that are here one minute and gone the next.

I’m not trying to depress you today, but I do want you to ask yourself who or what you’re putting your trust in.

Because that’s what Israel never stopped to do.

And it cost them big time.

So, put your trust in the Lord.

All of it.

And when you do, you won’t be sorry!

Read Isaiah 40:28-31

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but our God is amazing.

He is the Creator of all there is. Everything. He created the sun, moon, and stars. He created butterflies, bumblebees and babies. He created you and me and this moment we find ourselves in.

He never gets tired. He doesn’t even blink. He is constantly aware of anything and everything that is happening in and around us. He doesn’t miss anything.

If you had access to the extent of His wisdom and knowledge, it would blow your mind. The end of man’s wisdom is just the beginning of His.

And He gives strength to those who need it. And with His strength, we can do so much more than we could ever do in our own strength.

I don’t if you’ve heard, but our God is amazing!

Read Isaiah 25:1

Today, I want to encourage you to join me in repeating Isaiah’s prayer.

In fact, wherever you are right now, I want to encourage you to read this out loud and say it to our awesome Heavenly Father.

O Lord, I will honor and praise your name,
for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them. (NLT)

Now, follow up Isaiah’s prayer with one of your own, and feel free to include that prayer in the comment’s section today.

Read Isaiah 1:1-20

Rituals are not wrong in and of themselves.

But when they lose their meaning, when they lose their purpose, they also lose their power.

In fact, there’s nothing more pointless than an empty ritual.

If it doesn’t mean anything, why go through the motions?

And yet, that is what the Israelites were guilty of…going through the motions.

Now, I don’t know if you noticed how strongly God feels about empty rituals, but in case you missed it, let me just point out one verse from our passage today. In verse 13, the LORD says, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies.”

Even though the Israelites were doing the things they were supposed to do, they weren’t doing them with any sort of conviction, any sort of feeling, or any sort of emotion.

And God wasn’t happy.

And He won’t be happy if we do the same either.

So give joyfully. Serve graciously. Forgive easily. Love deeply.

Read Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

You need help.

You may not think you need help, but trust me, you do.

And here’s why.

The New Living Translation of our passage puts it this way, “Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one- they get a better return for their labor. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help.. But people how are alone when they fall are in real trouble.”

The truth is, we’re better together.

We is better than me.

And while, you may think it’s noble to pursue your dreams individually, to follow Christ individually, the reality is, you need help.

So, my question is simple.

Who’s helping you?