Jeremiah 20

9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. .............................. ........................................................................................................................................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,........Its even beyond simply being obedient. God's words are so true to him that he has no choice but to share them no matter the consequences to himself. I'm so far from this it doesn't even seem in the relm of possiblities, but I do pray that I take steps in the direction of Jeremiah in my convictions to share my faith. have a great weekend! knut

Jeremiah 19

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,...14 Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says......................................................................................................................my browser is still messed up so to create spacing I am using these periods. Today's chapter hit me as one about being obedient. God told Jeremiah where to go, what to say and do and he did it. Can you imagine going to the front entrance of a popular mall in Detroit and proclaiming God's message? I can't. He didn't appear to be concerned with what they might think, he just knew he had been given a job by God and he was going to do it. I struggle to share my faith with one person I think might reject it let alone hundreds. knut

Jeremiah 18

6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,Israel. ..........................................................................................................................I'm taking the easy way out today but this verse really does say a lot. He can take me in any broken form that I come to him and change me and make me right again. He can transform a mess of a life into a beautiful peace of work. We have direct and personal access to the one who made the entire universe--when I write those words it sure doesn't make me think I believe it. If I did why would I worry about the things I do or for that matter do the things I do? Why don't I go to him in prayer more often, not just for my wants but just in praise of him. He's right here with me as I type these words. I pray I recognize that today and also I pray that he shapes me and my life to make fine pottery for his glory...today. knut

Jeremiah 17

10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” God looks beyond what I do or show on the outside and checks my heart and my mind. So it doesn't matter if I put on a good front to someone at work or church, if its not authentic He knows it. So I need to be real all the time which I really try to do but I know there are times I fail at this. But really it is a blessing that he knows my thoughts and my heart, i should be able to go to Him anytime with any concern--he already knows it anyway. So why not just be open and stop carrying that weight myself and work through everything on my mind and in my heart with him? seems easy enough. knut

Jeremiah 16

‘It is because your ancestors forsook me

forsook?.......hmmmm.  That one made me laugh

¹⁶ “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.

I wonder if this is a direct reference to Jesus being called the "fisher of men?"  Or perhaps how many of the disciples were fisherman?......could be?  I'm reaching here.  I'm finding it hard to pull anything new out of these chapters.  They all seem to read exactly the same.  I may do a little research over the weekend on Jeremiah as an entire book.  I feel like theres a great message in there, that God wants me to understand.  But, I'm missing it.  I will let ya know if I find anything of interest.

have a great weekend.
tp

Jeremiah 15

It is matter of comfort that we have a God, to whose knowledge of all things we may appeal. Jeremiah pleads with God for mercy and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers. It will be a comfort to God's ministers, when men despise them, if they have the testimony of their own consciences. But he complains, that he found little pleasure in his work. Some good people lose much of the pleasantness of religion by the fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which they indulge. The Lord called the prophet to cease from his distrust, and to return to his work. If he attended thereto, he might be assured the Lord would deliver him from his enemies. Those who are with God, and faithful to him, he will deliver from trouble or carry through it. Many things appear frightful, which do not at all hurt a real believer in Christ

I found this commentary on the latter portion of the chapter this morning.  It means just slightly more to me than reading the actual chapter.  I'm finding these to be like groundhogs day.....and looking at what we have in front of us....we have a long ways to slog.

I hope you had some sort of epiphany with this reading

Jeremiah 14

I don't have a good take today.
Just an observation that when God isn't on your side.....things aren't good.

¹⁰ Then God said of these people:

“Since they loved to wander this way and that,
never giving a thought to where they were going,
I will now have nothing more to do with them—
except to note their guilt and punish their sins.”

 

I seem to lack some of the discipline that it takes to be consistently living a life for God.  This verse is a not-so-subtle reminder that its not an option.  Life is so much better with him, than it can be if he's against you.

 

Jeremiah 13

Let your lives glow bright before God
before he turns out the lights,
Before you trip and fall
on the dark mountain paths.
The light you always took for granted will go out
and the world will turn black.

I don't have a great take today.  I just really liked this.  In the context of what we wrote about last week.  I think its important to let our lights shine brightly before God, and don't worry about what the world see or even thinks.
tp

Jeremiah 12

5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble[a] in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by[b] the Jordan?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord. ................................................................................................................ My web browser is causing this to post funny so I forces some spacing in. These two verses hit me, some days the rat race has me worn out probably because I try to run it on my own without his help. Countries all over the world are not listening to Him, including the USA, he is clear the end result.................................................................... no great takes today, but the words of 2500 years ago are still so relevent today which is always inspiring to me during my morning read. knut

Jeremiah 11

18 Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. There wasn't much that struck me in this chapter other than its clear we should obey God or suffer the consequences. I did take note of this versus, because Jeremiah has something I want which is such a tight connection to God that he reveals what is going on around me. Not in the sense that there are plots against me that I want revealed to me, but just that God would reveal for me things going on in and around my life that he wants me to know and take action on. We are going to begin a study on prayer with our small group, and as a part of that I hope I learn how to talk with God in a way that draws me closer to him and that he would be able to get through my thick skull and share with me the things he wants to reveal to me. knut

Jeremiah 10

It’s your very nature to be worshiped!
This one caught my eye.  Especially as we have been talking lately about how we tend to stray, and its hard for us to stay on point with our mission.   While it is a daily decision we make to put God first.....its in his nature to be worshiped.  I almost can't wrap my head around that!  That's how good he is.  AMAZAING!

²¹ It’s because our leaders are stupid.
They never asked God for counsel,
And so nothing worked right.
This one scares me a LOT!  I feel this is happening to our society, little by little.  Taking prayer out of school, getting "In God we trust" off of our money.  Dad was telling me that they are going to have to take the cross down off the hill beside the river in Grand Haven.  The satanists are arguing that the cross can stay, but they want their symbol to sit on the hill right beside the cross.  They have decided that rather than that....they will take the cross down.
Its so sad.  The more we take God out of our society, the more things will fail.  I'm completely convinced of it.  This is something I think about with our kids.  What will the rules and regulations be in the society for them.....and what struggles will they have because of it?

Monday morning quick one!

Jeremiah 9

23 This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, 24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. All the things we have like this nice warm two story home I'm sitting in typing on a laptop computer with my tablet sitting next to me, the Acadia in the garage, next to my 69 Camaro which is carried in a nice enclosed trailer pulled by a motorhome are all fruits of my labor. While maybe I'm not boasting about these posessions, certainly I put a lot of value in having for me and my family. But they are meaningless. Understanding and KNOWING our God and creator is the only thing he wants us to care about. He has given us this book to let us know who he is, he sent us Son to save us from ourselves and with the Holy Spirit in our hearts we will truly know him. I really want to focus on knowing him so I truly have something worth boasting about. knut

Jeremiah 8

I think the thing that makes these chapter hard for me to gather insights from, is the fact that they are all very similar.  The themes are basically the same.
After my post yesterday, I think I could repost the same thing.

this portion did catch my attention
“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?
When someone turns away, do they not return?
⁵ Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.
⁶ I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent of their wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course
like a horse charging into battle.
⁷ Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.

On the outside, I laugh....saying how could these people not see it.  And on the inside.  This paragraph perfectly describes me.  If left to my own devices, without any accountability partners, or people that depend on me.....this is me.  At my core.
I laugh at them, and do the exact same thing.
Like Paul says, "I really don't understand myself at all......."

Its a daily decision for me.  I've realized more lately than ever, the simple fact that I need to acknowledge this daily, and ask for God's forgiveness and to plead with him to help me with this.  "Today again.....Help me to put myself aside and understand that I need you"

sheesh!  Why can't this lesson stick?!   

Jeremiah 7

¹⁹ “But is it me they’re hurting?” God’s Decree! “Aren’t they just hurting themselves? Exposing themselves shamefully? Making themselves ridiculous?

When we run a-muck, we are only hurting ourselves. 
We have a guy that comes and preaches on Sunday mornings when our lead pastor isn't there.  His name is Eric Moore.  He's probably my favorite pastor that I've ever heard.  I really seem to connect with his words.  Here is one of his stories, that this story reminded me of.

He starts out the story by saying.......those of you with children, will probably know the ending to this story before I even get close to telling it.  Because we've all been there, and we've all seen it.  Let's say your toddler is in the other room playing and you can hear the sound of toys crunching and the crazy sounds that kids make.......and all of the sudden you realize there hasn't been a sound in a couple of minutes.  So, you walk into the room......where's the kid?.......he's hiding behind the ficus tree.  And what is he doing?......yup, you guessed it.  He's filling his pants.  But the funny part is what happens next.  You say,  helllooooo......where are you?  And the kid hides.  He doesn't want to be found out, when in reality the only person in the world that can clean him up, is looking for him.  Its just like that with us and God.  We try to hide from him, and he's the only one that can clean us up.  If we don't, we start to get a bad rash.  Just like there verse says above.  We are only hurting ourselves by turning away from God.

tp

Jeremiah 6

I came up empty today so I turned to Tom's post and as usual he didn't disappoint.  I just took a class with my boss and his staff last week and a big part of the class was about listening and having good conversation.  The instructor said "relationship is a series of conversations...think about your last five conversations with the people most important to you then ask yourself what kind of relationship you have?"  Well it can be a little humbling and concerning.  Then today, I read what Tom wrote and when he said prayer is a dialogue it made me think--what kind of relationship do I have with God?  I don't think I do a good job of listening at all which brings into question the quality of my relationship.

knut


Tom's post---
It’s hopeless. Their ears are stuffed with wax — deaf as a post, blind as a bat. It’s hopeless! They’ve tuned out God. Jeremiah 6:10b-11a (MSG)

I have hearing problems. It is not a fun thing to have your hearing diminished. It aggravates life in a myriad of ways. It’s amazing how much you miss, and in converstions you frequently find yourself having to decide if you are going to admit you didn’t hear and inquire about what was just said or of you just let it go. Wendy’s gotten sharp at knowing the blank expression of my face as I try to process what she just said. I feel awful asking people to repeat themselves all the time. Not only is it humbling but it’s an annoyance for all parties involved.
It’s no wonder that these lines from today’s chapter jumped off the page at me. I may struggle with hearing, but I never want to be deaf to God. Like any other conversation in any other relationship, I’ve found that you have to consciously listen for what God is saying. You have to tune your spiritual ears. You have to concentrate and pay attention. Prayer is not just about talking to God, it’s also about listening to God. It’s not a monologue, it’s a dialogue.
Today, I’m trying to remember to do a better job of listening.