According To His Purpose – Page 2

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Chapters: Jeremiah 18-21
Message: According To His Purpose

Hello My Friend,

In reading the chapters for today, this parable that Jesus spoke comes to mind, [Matthew 21:33-39,43 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: 34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.]

The householder is God, the vineyard is the Kingdom of God, and the husbandman are the religious leaders. God first sent prophets to tell of the judgment upon man, and how we can avoid it and live in His Kingdom, but the religious leaders killed the prophets in an attempt to take the Kingdom for themselves. Then God sent His own Son to tell of the judgment upon man, and we can avoid it by accepting Him, and live in His Kingdom, but they killed Him also in an attempt to take the kingdom for themselves. Religion appears to have God on their side, but He is not, He is actually against them, and they can try to kill every person who comes to them with the truth, they will never get into the Kingdom of God without Christ, [John 14:6-7 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.]

You see, the religious are well aware of God, they want His blessings upon their lives, and of course, to go to heaven when they die, the problem is, they do not want to follow God’s rules. Let me tell you, God never forces Himself on anyone, if you do not want Him in your life, then so be it. That does not exempt you from judgment, but it is your choice, and you will have to deal with Jesus when you see Him. And should you choose Him, He expects you to follow His rules on how to get to Him. We cannot have other gods before us, we cannot have idols, and we cannot make up our own version of Him and expect Him to accept us. This is exactly what Judah was doing, God sent Jeremiah to warn Judah that what happened to the rest of Israel was going to happen to them, that is unless they repent, put away the idols, and return to Him completely, but that was unacceptable.

[Jeremiah 18:11-12,15-18 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. 12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. 15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; 16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. 18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.]

[and let us devise devices against Jeremiah;] This is exactly what religion does, they do not want to turn from their own evil imaginations, and yet they still want God’s blessings. People love to put false doctrine in God’s mouth, and the sad thing is so many believe their lies over the truth. I believe that the one thing that infuriates God the most is not the unbeliever, but the believer that creates Him in their own image, the one who proclaims His name, and yet is the complete opposite of everything He stands for. Every soul is precious to God, He would not have created any of us if He did not believe that, we are so precious to Him that the only option to save us from our sin is redemption, and since He values every life He chose to give Himself as a sacrifice, and we know that to be through His Son, [John 10:28-30 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.]

After years of quandaries from God similar to what Jeremiah was expressing I have come to the conclusion that if you work for God you literally become an enemy to the world, and you will face many hardships. However, great blessings do come in spite of those who try to bring us down. Jeremiah, after illustrating the broken pot to the elders got arrested, he wondered why he was even born, and yet knew that God planned it all out.

[Jeremiah 20:7-11 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. 8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. 9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. 10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. 11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.]

[But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one:] Jeremiah knew that even though he was suffering right now, it will come to an end, but the wicked will get what is coming to them, and that will be their end, [I Peter 4:14-16 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.]

Let me tell you, persecution is often one of the elements that God uses to mold and shape us, He does not do it to punish us, but to define us. While our body might be tempted and tried, our soul cannot be touched, so while we may suffer in this life, those who reject Christ have face much more suffering, both in body and soul. God assures Judah that while they will be judged, if they do as He says they will be safe.

[Jeremiah 21:2-5,8-10 Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us. 3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: 4 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. 5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. 8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. 9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. 10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.]

[He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword,] We have two choices, follow Christ and live or follow religion and die. We may not understand God’s ways, we may not understand why we struggle trying to live a decent and moral life, we may not understand why we are hated and made to suffer for others sins, we can understand that God always has a reason for what He allows and His way always leads to life. In our lifetime on earth, God molds, shapes, flattens, and makes us into the image of His Son, it is the trials that we go through that form us. We need not fear anything man can do to us because no matter what happens we will be with Christ, [Romans 8:26-28 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.]

Today’s Prayer: God, I realize that all the suffering I go through is not always punishment, simply You molding and shaping me into the image of Your Son. I know that there is no way I will ever be perfect, but I have Your perfect Son in me to help mold me into something resembling Your Son. Lord, give me Your power, mercy, and grace to endure the struggles I face, Your strength to stand with You through them all, mold me and shape me so I can be used of You for whatever purpose You need me, and keep me faithful as I allow Him to work in and through me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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