Promises, Promises

​Hope and joy is so abundant in the promises of God. Even in the judgment and doom that God required Jeremiah to pronounce over Israel and Judah, there was always the promise that in the midst of the judgment brought against the nation for the sins of the political and religious leaders and their adherents and followers, God does not lose sight of individuals. He promises again and again that those who mourn for the sins of the country, who bring their offering with an humble and contrite heart to the Lord, who seek justice for the poor and needy, will receive from God not only provision for their needs but for the needs of widows and fatherless that they help.

Jeremiah 3
v.14 I will choose you -- one from a town and two from a clan -- and bring you to Zion.
v.15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.

Although His promises are inclusive and available to all people everywhere, only those whose heart are hungry for Him, those who are anxious to bring God joy, those who willingly give glad obedience to the Spirit's direction, will be able to receive the blessings of His promise.

Jeremiah 3
v.19 How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you would call me 'Father' and not turn away from following me.

God's heart feels the keen disappointment of every person who turns away from the path which leads to His offered abundance, but He expresses His great joy with each one who turns from the broad highway that so many take, in order to follow the narrow restrictions of the rough path that He beckons for us to follow.

The self-discipline that we exercise in our daily life, the focus that God grows in us to be in His Word, to be in conversation with Him, to be in obedience to the prompting and direction of the Spirit throughout the day, will cause us to make choices which are not always easy. There is only so much time in a day and to follow the spiritual training He lays out for us means there will not be time for some things we enjoy a lot.

Colossians 1
v.9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
v.10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
v.11 being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully
v.12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

When trouble comes, everyone knows where to turn. Somehow, the God that seemed so far away and not relevant during calm and steady times becomes extremely significant to people who have no other source to turn to and feel the desperate need to be rescued. For those who press in now, voluntarily, sensing the urgency that is to come, understanding the desperation that will need to be met, God has His "emergency readiness training" prepared.

Psalm 76
v.7 You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before You when You are angry?
v.8 From heaven  You pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet --
v.9 when You, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land.
v.10 Surely Your wrath against men brings You praise, and the survivors of Your wrath are restrained.

First-responders in the natural give up their weekends and time off to train and learn to be prepared while the rest of us weed our garden and read books or watch tv. If you hear the call of God, then respond early, work hard, give up the things you would like for the things many will need, and the hope and the joy and the satisfaction and the pleasure of a job well-done is promised by God.

Jeremiah 4
v.3 Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.
v.4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts,

God, You see the future, You see our hearts, You know what will be needed by whom. We report for training and know with confidence that the contents of our supplies, the gifts that You give us, the skills and desires You have planted in our hearts, will be sufficient to meet the needs we face when blessed with Your anointing Spirit. We commit our time and resources to practicing being Your hand stretched out in every day life, on the job, in the market, on the streets and highways, learning and practicing and demonstrating Your love and Your healing and Your mercy and Your grace, for those things, Father, are the things that are hardest for us to do easily. Thank You that we have received them from You so that we can share them with others.

3J04G08I