KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Tuesday, August 08, 2017
Chapters: Jeremiah 4-6
Message: For The Love Of Christ
Hello My Friend,
While there are all forms of love, none is more prominent than the love that God has toward His creation. Many people question God’s love when there are so many bad things in the world, but they fail to realize, God did not do things things, we do them ourselves. I know, there are some things out of our control like death, but even God has a reason for that. To love God means to fear Him, to be pleased with Him, to stick by Him, no matter what we are faced with. To love God is to love Christ, who showed the most love of all when He sacrificed His life for all of us, regardless if we believe in Him or not. God shows His love for us because we love His Son, who first loved us. “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” – Proverbs 8:17,33-36.
God never places judgment upon anyone without giving them ample warning of the consequences they will face if they do not turn from their sin. Do not think that you did not have fair warning of something that happened to you at the result of a sinful act, we are all accountable for our actions, and had ample warnings before we did it. Through Jeremiah, God explains this further, along with one last plea to repent before the judgment took place.
“If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.” – Jeremiah 4:1-4,17-18,27.
“Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee;” We have no one to blame for the evils in the world, but ourselves. While God can and does intervene more than we realize, there does come a time where repentance is the only option, and if it is not taken than there will be no mercy. And although the land will be desolate, God will not make an end to it until the very last soul to receive His Son is taken out of it. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” – II Peter 3:9
Let me tell you, God does not want to bring judgment upon any nation, if He can find one soul that loves Him in it than He will spare it. Look and Sodom and Gomorrah, He waited until the very last saved soul was out of it before He destroyed it. I truly believe that had Israel repented the very last second that God would have spared the nation from judgment, but no matter how many warnings they got they rejected Him. And while God did not change His mind of the judgment He placed upon Judah, He did say He would not destroy it completely.
“Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’S. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.” – Jeremiah 5:1-2,9-13,18.
“and I will pardon it.” God does not want to see the earth destroyed, and He certainly does not want a single soul that He created to end up in hell, but that choice is up to each individual. If you ever wondered why entire nations are not destroyed right now, it is because someone in them loves Jesus. Let me tell you, the days in which God will not find any that seek Jesus are coming fast, more and more people are rejecting Christ over the world every year, and even worse, many claiming to love and know Him are doing it falsely. You cannot love the Lord and love the world, it will always lead to destruction. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” – Matthew 6:24.
The Christian life, when we first get saved it is amazing, we literally get transformed into someone new, and Christ shows from the inside out. As time goes by, many burdens we carried before we got saved still haunt us, on top of that we get new ones, all of a sudden the Christian life is not so exciting anymore. What do we do? While some people stick it out, trusting Christ and they learn that He will see them through, many bail, they jump ship, and Christ is no longer a part of their lives, in some cases they become worse than they were before they knew Christ. Now, we all sin, and we can fall tremendously if we are not walking with Christ daily, but a life with Jesus is a changed life, one that shows we are not of the world, but are of Him. We are not to be like the world, if we are than we are falsely representing Christ, and there will be judgment for that. Through Jeremiah, God expresses His anger toward the saved who live sinful lives, and are not ashamed of it.
“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.” – Jeremiah 6:15-20.
“your burnt offerings are not acceptable,” There are so many men and women of God proclaiming Christ, living extravagant, wicked, and immoral lives, and they do not even see that what they are doing is wrong. The problem is, while we ought to be counting every one of our blessings, we are crying about what we do not have, lusting over what the world and even some Christians have and that is why Christianity itself has declined tremendously. Some of the most truly blessed Christians are the most ungrateful people you will ever see, which is why God does not accept their offerings. We cannot always have everything we want, and let me tell you, we rarely get what we want, but if we learn to be grateful for what we do have, God will bless us with more, much more than what we want. “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:11-13,19. Praise God!
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” – Jeremiah 4:2.
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for reminding me of just how much You love me and how blessed I am to be one of Your children. At times I know I let the cares of life alter my thinking, I begin to doubt Your presence and even that things will ever get better. Then You show up and remind me that You are still here, and everything is in Your control. Lord, renew my thinking, give me a new way of seeing the blessings I have and what You have waiting for me as I endure my troubles with You guiding me. Help me to never forget that You are always with me and will help me get through every burden that I have. I love You Lord and ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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