Scripture:

2 Kings 25:27-29

27  In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.

A Seat at the Table

Today is a wow day.   As you read the text, you have to understand that Jehoiachin was a guy who repeated the mistakes of his father and did evil in the sight of the Lord, turned away from God, and because of it spent 37 years in prison.   But here, after the death of King Nebuchadnezzar, King Awel-Marduk becomes king, and he releases him from prison, speaks kindly to him, and gives him a seat at the table- not only a seat, but one of honor even higher than those at the table.    Isn't this the picture of the Gospel, isn't it our story in some measure?

Listen to the word:

• Set Free
• Spoke Kind Words Over
• A Place Forever at the King's Table

Application:

Our God-Shot today:

This is our story: we were enemies of God, deserving of punishment, but God in His great mercy sent His Son to die for you and I and because He did, we can be free from our prison through Him. Because of His grace and mercy, we have a seat at the table; He speaks kindly over us, not harshly, nor does He deal with us that way.   It is not because we are good, or we have earned our way; it is because of His sacrifice, His GRACE we have a seat at the table.

Lord, thank you for the gift of salvation. In your power, you redeemed me from the pit, through your Son Jesus Christ, and I have been set free from the bonds of sin and death.    Thank you for the grace giving me what I don't deserve (kindness), and not giving me what I do deserve. I praise you as I read today's portion in Jesus' name, Amen! 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 38:8-10

8 Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, 9 “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.” 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

Jeremiah 1:19

 19 They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Not Overcome

I was reminded of this truth recently: many of the strongest people have scars, and often people celebrate their strength, but they have no idea of the depth of the things that got them to that place of strength- the trials, the hurt, the brokenness.   I often tell people it is the things that I have been through that have made me who I am today.    And when I look back, I can see that I was not alone, that the Lord had been with me, pursuing me, helping me, strengthening me, redeeming me.   

Today in our portion we are reminded of something  that the Lord told Jeremiah in the beginning of his journey: "They will fight against you."   This is a reminder, maybe even a warning that the Christian life is going to be full of battles, personal ones, public ones, there is an enemy who never rests, who is always seeking to kill, steal and destroy God's people.   But... the good news is the story doesn't end there, because the Lord says "but will not overcome you."   That is a promise you and I can cling to, even greater is the promise that He gave Jeremiah, "for I am with you and will rescue you."   God is with us, He is battling on our behalf and He will rescue us.

Today our God-Shot is from Jeremiah 1:19.   This is for everyone who is walking with the Lord, pursuing the things of the Kingdom.

• There is a battle to be won      (The enemy will fight against you and the plans of God)
• A Victory to be Had  (He will rescue us from the hand of the enemy and he will not prevail)
• A Plan to Walk Out (The Lord has created each of us with purpose and because He is with us we will be able to walk it out.)

Father I pray for those who are still in the battle, maybe they are in their own cistern today, I pray that you would send help, redeem them from their situation, be with them, do not let the enemy prevail, we stand on this, I pray in the matchless name of Jesus, Amen!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 35:1-2,6-9

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2 “Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.” 6 But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab[a] son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. 7 Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’ 8 We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters

The Committed 

The Lord is looking for committed people (2 Chron 16:9); in fact, the word says He looks throughout the world for those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.   Here in today's portion, we see something on the surface that seems peculiar: the Lord tells Jeremiah to go and get the Rekabite family and invite them into the house of the Lord and give them wine.   You have to ask yourself: "Did not the Lord know they do not drink wine?"   Of course He did!   

The Lord Tests Our Commitment

Jeremiah 17:10: "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways

There will be times when your faith, your commitment, and your heart after the Lord will be tested.   But this family, the Rekabites family, passed the test; they stayed faithful to their father's word, and because of it, the Lord established a place for them in His presence. 

Today our God-Shot is to stay faithful, committed even when the opportunity to do the wrong thing comes; remember what you have been taught; this will be your saving; it was their obedience to their father that stood out to the Lord, and because of it they had a place forever in His presence; it says before Him.  If God is looking for fully committed people, be one. When you are tempted, remember what you've been told; hold fast to it; in the end, your commitment will be the blessing that lasts.

Lord, even when we are tested, I pray that we would pass the test, that our hearts would always stay committed to you, your way, that we would seek you with all that is within us, staying true to you and that we would have a place before you always. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 33:3

3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Resourcing Heaven 

As a parent, you want the best for your children, even when they are at their worst, even when you are so frustrated with them because they are doing what you told them not to do; even then, you want the best for them.  This is where we find God in this verse: a people, His children who have been just wickedly bad; they have not kept His commandments, not followed His way, yet we find the Lord pointing us to the good that He wants to do in our lives. 

See, this is a loving Father telling His children: "Call to me."   See, your greatest resource is Him, the Lord; He has the power to accomplish anything.   But here I don't simply see the opportunity to get something, but rather the opportunity to give something, my life, to recognize that I need Him in every movement of my life.   I "Call to Him" because I need Him, I trust Him, He has everything I need to live, to overcome, to succeed.

Three things: 

• An Invitation to Pray: The Lord invites us to talk to Him openly.   Bring Him everything.
• A Promise to Answer: God promises that He hears the prayer and will reply
• Greater Things:  God has greater things, greater wisdom, greater plans than we could ever have imagined.

Today our God-Shot is that we would turn back to Him, even when we have been so distant that we would CALL out to Him, to trust Him with our lives, with our obedience, that we would TURN back to Him, to recognize like David: "Better is one day in His house, than a thousand elsewhere."   Better to be with Him than anywhere else.   

Lord, help us to lean into you, to trust you when we are near, and in the days we have messed up and are distant, let our hearts always be surrendered to you, to know that you have the unsearchable things, great and wondrous things; you have the answer to all that we need and could ever need. Teach us to rely on you every day and in every way in Jesus' name, Amen! 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 31:33:34

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their [a]hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Matters of the Heart

It has always been a heart condition: our decisions to either follow or stray from the Lord.  We decide in our heart whether we will follow the Lord or not; our thoughts become the influencers, but it is a heart decision.   Even now our salvation rests in this truth: Romans 10:9  "Declare with your mouth, believe in your heart."  So, here is the promise for you and I, the promise of the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you and I can have a new heart, a new life; through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Word is written on our hearts. 

We need:

Internal transformation: God changes people from the inside out by placing His law in minds and hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Personal relationship: By our giving ourselves over to the work of the Holy Spirit and surrendering to Christ, we enter into a personal relationship, where the Holy Spirit reminds us of the works of Christ, and that brings us into relationship.

Our God-Shot today is that all of us need heart transformation, that we need the work of the Holy Spirit to give us a new heart, one where the word of the Lord resides, a heart given over to Him, a life surrendered to His leading; we need internal transformation and personal relationship.

So, what are you surrendering to the work of the Lord in your heart, in your life this week?

Lord, I pray that we would surrender our whole hearts to be fully devoted to your work in our lives. It is not a mystery that we can be hard-headed, rebellious people, but your promise here is that you would give us a new heart, one that holds your word that is a dwelling for your inward work. Help us to surrender to the process in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 18:4

4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

In His Hands

I think all of us have areas of our lives that we would change, do differently, make better.   We carry with us the broken pieces of our past: abandonment, physical/emotional hurt, loss, disappointments, betrayals, lies; the list goes on.   They are the marred pieces of our life.    But, in the hands of the LORD, the master potter, we can be remade, formed into His purpose.   I often tell people that the things I have been through, the things which the Lord has brought me through, my scars, they have made me who I am today; some of them made me greater, stronger, but all of them, in the hands of the Lord, have transformed my life, this vessel into something useful for the Master.

Today our God-Shot is that no matter how broken your vessel is today, in the Hands of the Master Potter, in His hands, the LORD's hands, you can be reshaped, reformed, resurrected from your brokenness; in His hands, you can become all that you are meant to be.  Beauty for Ashes.  Allow Him into the depths of your life; allow His hand to remake your broken pieces, your marred clay.

Father, thank you for the works you have done in our lives, reshaping the broken pieces into something we could not have imagined. The work you are doing even today, as we surrender these areas to you, I know that you will do great work. We give our lives over to you. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

And whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Our Connection 

Notice Jeremiah's words: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord."  What does trusting the Lord look like?  

• Waiting on Him: You stop trying to force doors open or manipulate people and circumstances to get your way.
• Releasing anxiety: You bring your heavy thoughts and fears to prayer, leaving them with Him instead of picking them back up.
• Accepting closed doors: You trust that a delayed or denied request is a form of protection or redirection from a loving Father.
• Listening More:  Leaning on His understanding, not our own.
• Obedience: Going where He directs.

The benefits of trusting Him:

• Unmovable "Like a tree planted by the water"
• Sustained: All your needs are met.
• Protected: "And will not fear when heat comes;  And will not be anxious in the year of drought,  "

Today our God-Shot is that a life invested in Him, where we completely trust Him even when we don't understand, that we stand on the solid ground that what He has is always better, His decisions, His direction is always better for my life.   

Challenge for you this week:  

What do you have to TRUST the Lord for? What is it that you need to SURRENDER?

Lord, we place our trust in you. We know that your way is better, your plans are better, and the purposes you have in our lives are perfect. Lead us in them; let us not stray from them; let our whole life be invested, fully committed to you and your way in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 11:4-5

4 which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ 5 that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ”

When we read that Obedience over Sacrifice, maybe on the surface we don't see it.  Our obedience to His word tells the Lord that we love and trust Him; our obedience becomes worship; it becomes our sacrifice of praise.   It is the picture of having a loving father and not wanting to disappoint Him, so even when He is not around, we keep His wisdom, and we do what He has told us.   Here in today's portion, the Lord reminds His children how He brought them out of great oppression (the iron furnace), telling them, Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God.'   But notice that the blessing of obedience is that we step into His promise of "Abundant Life."

Today our God-Shot is that it is our obedience that leads us into the promises of God; it is our following Christ, doing what He says, that leads us into a life and it more abundantly.  See, when He has your heart, He has your obedience; you walk with Him, you follow His ways because you LOVE Him.   We have in our world made obedience a bad word, but obedience is staying the road that leads to a blessed life and avoiding the things that don't belong in our lives; it is avoiding the pitfalls, because His way is BETTER.

Lord, thank you that your way is better, and when I step into your plan, my life gets better, my world gets better, I get better. Thank you that you desire that I walk in them and reap the full blessing that comes from that. I pray that we will not stray from it to the left or the right in Jesus' name, Amen!