Jeremiah paid dearly for the honor he had as God’s prophet to the nations. Imprisonments, beatings, rejection and ridicule all were parts of his life, yet we are still gleaning from his writings today.

I don’t personally know anyone who has paid such a price for God’s anointing. We seem to have a pill or remedy for any little suffering we encounter. Nevertheless, we walk in the grace and faith that God gives us and trust Him to use our lives and the experiences we have to assist others in this journey.

“ No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.”  [1 Cor. 10:13]

READ/HEAR: Jer. 34-36

God’s second message through Jeremiah was that He would repair and restore His people and their city, Jerusalem, that had been devastated. He would give them a New King, a descendant of David, Who would make everything right. That King is Jesus and the people to be repaired is us.

A restored auto has greater value than a new one. A restored life likewise has greater significance and value than an unblemished one. It’s the miracle of the new birth, the Salvation that Christ offers because of His sin sacrifice on the cross.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 33

Over 50 years ago, John Oliver introduced me to Patty Beck. She was to become my wife and the mother of our four children. I’m so grateful to John for his part in our life together.

Today John and his daughter, Angie, are spending Thanksgiving with us. It will be a chance for me to introduce John to our family which wouldn’t be in existence if he had not have made that fateful introduction.

Let’s all be grateful for the important and significant people in our lives. Tell them how much you love them. John, I love you and am thankful for your friendship all these years.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 32

God paid the ransom for His children who had been taken into exile. He brought them back to Zion. As they climbed the ascent to Jerusalem, their faces were beaming because they were returning to their home, where God’s presence was. He lavished His bounty upon them as they returned.

When the lost return to God, He has a great and bountiful supply of blessing awaiting them. His unconditional love overflows to them as they abandon their resistance and give in to God’s embrace.

“There’s a new name written down in glory … a sinner has come home.”

This is what God told the exiles through the prophet Jeremiah concerning their period of being held in captivity in Babylon. What’s more, God instructed them to make the most of their time there by having families and growing gardens etc. This message smacked against the soothing and blissful lies told by false prophets. God didn’t want to quickly remove His people from the challenge … He wanted to show them His great power while they walked THROUGH their challenge.

We have challenges today. God is with us as we navigate them. This life is the process. Heaven will be the perfection. God always knows what He’s doing. It’s for us to trust Him and cope by faith.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 28,29

Note: I’ve been using The Message by Eugene Peterson. Watch this insightful video about him: https://youtu.be/LaMgIvbXqSk

This was the essence of Jeremiah’s message to Israel; “Change the way you’re living!”

They did not have the gifts that we do … no Jesus, no grace, no Holy Spirit to guide them and convict them of their sin. The pre-incarnate Christ was there in the prophecies given about Him, and He made occasional appearances in a semi-camouflaged way, but He wasn’t walking among them or being preached every Sunday. He had not yet told them that they could come to Him and have all sinfulness washed away in an instant.

We have. We have Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. [1 John. 1:9] Therefore, it is much easier and effectively efficient to change our ways of living. He helps us. He loves us and wants to save us from ourselves.

Jesus, give me Your power to live a life that pleases You today.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 26,27

The picture Jeremiah presented was that God’s wrath was a cup to drink from … that nations and leaders who were the object of His wrath would become drunken and suffer His punishments. Nations who think they are exempt from God’s providence are temporarily fooling themselves. To think they are untouchable is an illusion. He will have the final say.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” [Ps. 33:12]

Regardless of what nation we find ourselves in, we are members of a holy nation of saints who have been washed in the Lamb’s blood and will inherit God’s promises of blessing and abundant, eternal life.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 24,25

Jesus was and is the premier example of a good shepherd. He loves and cares for His sheep. We are His sheep.

Likewise, good shepherds do the same.

It’s a mistake to rate a pastor merely on his or her ability to preach a sermon. Do they really care for the sheep? The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 21-23

Jeremiah’s message was not well received. He endured great ridicule and even beatings. God gave him an unpopular message and he was faithful to deliver it at great cost to him personally. Today, we recognize him as a great major prophet and draw much spiritual strength from his proclamations.

All is not necessarily bliss for those whom God uses. He gives them a mission and they faithfully obey Him, even at a cost to their own well-being and comfort.

If we suffer because we ourselves have messed up, we deserve it. We ask for mercy.

If we suffer doing God’s will at great personal cost, God will make it up to us. It can happen in this life or in the life to come.

Where would you rather have your benefits? Here in the “Nasty Now and Now” or in the “Sweet By and By?”

READ/HEAR: Jer. 18-20

Found in Jeremiah 17, this is a key verse forever:

Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  [Jer. 17:7-10]

We pray, “Lord, help us keep our hearts clean and pure.”

READ/HEAR: Jer. 17