KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Chapters: Jeremiah 32-34
Message: Living Free In Jesus
Hello My Friend,
God, and I am quoting Jeremiah, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,” – Jeremiah 32:17-18. This is Jeremiah’s prayer while he was sitting in prison, persecuted because he warned the people of God’s judgment upon them and they did not want to hear it. The Great, the Mighty God, is His name, nothing is too hard for Him, and yet as Christians we live so much of our lives in captivity to our circumstances rather than our liberty in Christ. Everything is not always going to be perfect when we follow Christ, but we do not have to live in bondage to the messes in life, we just need to trust Jesus and live free in Him. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” – Galatians 5:1.
Jeremiah prophesies that both the city and the court shall fall into the hands of the king of Babylon. For this he gets arrested, and while in jail God calls him to buy a piece of land. He prays to God for some understanding in all this, and discovers the purpose of the land, God’s wrath against the present generation, and of His grace.
“For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD. For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.” – Jeremiah 32:30-31,36-28,41-42.
“so will I bring upon them all the good” When we choose Christ to be our Saviour God does not promise that the rest of our lives will be pain free, but He does promise that good will come out of it all. We may never see an end to suffering in our lifetime here on earth, but there will be an end to it all when we see Jesus. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” – Revelation 21:3-4.
The biggest test and sometimes challenge of our relationship with God is loving Him in spite of the circumstances we are in, it is easy to love Him when things are going well, but once they start falling apart it gets harder. We may not realize it, but our present circumstances often reveal who we really are deep inside, they can rob us of any bit of hope and joy we have. As Jeremiah sits in a jail cell while many of the Jews had already been carried into Babylon, God sends word to him, He assures him that He has not forsaken Israel, has not forgotten His covenant with them, and they will not only return to Israel, but will find joy and healing.
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.” – Jeremiah 33:14-17,22,25-26.
“If my covenant be not with day and night,” The second we accept Christ as our Saviour we enter a covenant with God, He promises to never leave nor forsake us. Since God never goes back on His promises that means no matter how many times we mess up the covenant remains in tact, unbreakable, and everlasting. Will we face pain and sorrow for our messes? Of course, but nothing or no one can take us from the hand of Jesus once we receive Him as our Saviour. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” – John 10:28-29.
In the midst of our crazy world, even Christians, are caught up in a mess of trouble, they know their only option is God, but because their sin is more important than God they will fight Him to the core. With a few Jews left in Jerusalem trying to salvage what was left and get God to repent of the judgment, you can imagine what was going on. No, they were not turning to God, in the one instance that they did pretend to repent they were found out to be lying, trying to get the judgment lifted. This was in regards to the law of a servant paying off a debt, the law stated that anyone owing a debt paid it off working for them for six years as a servant, after seven years they would be free. However, many were not set free, when told about this they let the servants go, only to force them to return after things started easing up for them. God is furious and confronts them about this.
“Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.” – Jeremiah 34:13-17.
“I proclaim a liberty for you,” God against God and He will give you liberty all right, He will let you die in your sins. Jesus can set the vilest sinner free, and truly set us free from the guilt and shame of our sins, but He cannot do that if we have no intention of turning from our sinful ways. Unless we admit we are sinners, Jesus cannot help us. You think the people before Christ gave His life for man were saved by their good works? Think again, they had to confess and repent also. No sin goes unpunished, even if we convince ourselves that we have not sinned, we will still face the consequences for our actions, but everything is easier when we just go to Jesus. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” – I John 1:8-10.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.” – Jeremiah 32:8.
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for sending Your Son to make the ultimate sacrifice for us, with His sinless sacrifice You not only gave us a way to be saved from death and hell, You accept us and make us one of Your own. Only by believing in and trusting Jesus as our Saviour are we saved, and not by any works that we do. Lord, I know that I am only saved by Your grace, but I want to live my life in obedience to Your Word so that I can be the example and testimony that You need to bring others to Your Son. Lead me and guide me, show me the way You want me to walk, reveal to me any sin that hinders my walk with You, give me Your strength, to repent of it, let me not get caught up in the bondage of my circumstances, but trust only You to see me through. I love You Lord and ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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