Tag: everlasting love
Week 5–Day 1–God Calls; We Must Respond
Scripture reading for January 26: Jeremiah 1:4-6 “Now the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I (Jeremiah) said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
I remember knowing a call from God when I was barely five years old. I announced to my Dad and Mom that I was going to be a preacher when I was old enough. My Mom was a believer and had prayed over me many times and taught me God’s Word, even at that young an age. My Dad was not a believer and he stated plainly, “No way! That’s the lowest occupation on earth!” Mom didn’t argue, but hid the statement I made in her heart and continued to instruct me and pray. God had already called me as a young child! I had responded as best I knew at five years of age!
In today’s passage of Scripture, we observe that before Jeremiah was even formed by God in the womb, God knew him! Our existence goes beyond our conception or our birthday. God forms each person and give them their genetic makeup and giftings. Billions of chromosomes come together from mother and father but are knit together by God Himself. (Psalm 139:13-16) Before birth, God’s appointed plans are designated by Him for the individual. He knows us intimately and personally and thinks about us with love and affection. (Jeremiah 31:3)
But does this mean that we have no free will? Each person is sovereign and must choose to willingly love and serve God and seek out His will and plan. This sometimes happens early in life, while others go their own way for a time resisting God’s call. Sometimes, like Jeremiah and many others, we have shortcomings we think disqualifies us to follow God’s plan. But through relationship and humble trust and yielding to God we make progress! Instead of excuses, we should ask God to supply whatever we lack.
Prayer: Father God, I am in awe that You personally have taken time to design my life, even from before conception and birth! Thank You for life and Your plans for my life. I willingly respond to Your call to serve and offer my mind, body and spirit to You to do Your will. Amen.
God is good and loves eternally!
Scripture reading for April 22: 2nd Chronicles 1-5
Two great truths about God are voiced in this simple song that was sung when the priests and Solomon moved the Ark of the Covenant into the completed temple of the Lord. These truths are so simple and obvious that one would think everyone should know them and had experienced them. But Satan is a liar, always questioning God’s goodness and His enduring love!
God is good! God is good in all His ways and character. His goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives. (Psalm 23:6) He is good in His creation through which He has provided for all creatures food and drink to sustain them. Everything we eat ultimately comes from His hands. He is good to both the evil and the good. He shows mercy by his goodness in sending rain and bringing forth crops and food for all, no matter how they might treat Him! God is good in His character as well. He is pure and holy and righteous in every way. (Revelation 15:3-4) His perfection and holiness causes the hosts of heaven to adore Him, crying: “Holy, Holy, Holy!” ( Revelation 4:8) Ultimately all nations will come and worship Him for His goodness, justice and truth!
The second truth declared by those who moved the Ark into the Temple was that God’s love endures forever. God is love. (1st John 4:16) His nature is good because He is love that is eternal. God is from everlasting to everlasting! (Psalm 90:2) He pours out His love on those He has made in His image and likeness! “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) is one of the most quoted verses of the Bible. God’s love moved Him to send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to seek out lost men and save them. (Luke 19:10) His love heals the sick, cleanses the defiled, and restores broken lives to trophies of love!
Today, try singing this simple song as you go through your day. Look for all the ways that God is good to you and thank Him as you are reminded of His goodness! Tell Him that you love Him today and appreciate his eternal love! As you do, remember that you now bear His presence and glory as a living stone in his temple! You join Solomon and the hosts of heaven as they worship eternally!
Great and unsearchable things!
Scripture reading for August 10th: Jeremiah 30-33
“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3
“While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the Word of the Lord came to him a second time: “This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it–The Lord is His name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ “ Jeremiah 33:2-3
God loved His people! He drew His people to Him with cords of loving-kindness from the enticements of the world. God’s love ransomed them from the hand of the enemy. (Jeremiah 31:11) His Love would cause them to take up the tambourine and dance with the joyful! (Jeremiah 31:4, 13)
God spoke to Jeremiah of a time when He would make a new covenant with Israel. This covenant would be different than the old one made with those who came out of Egypt. This covenant would include God writing His law on the human heart and mind. God would personally be their God and each person would personally know God. He would forgive their sin and remember it no more! (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
The visions of restoration came to Jeremiah at a most unlikely time in Israel’s history. The nation was surrounded by the Babylonians and Jeremiah was confined to the courtyard of the guard under house arrest. But in the midst of the troubling time, God’s word brought hope and encouragement to Jeremiah and His people. God would allow the destruction of the Temple and city and send the people into captivity but He promised restoration and the New Covenant!
The amazing promises given to Jeremiah included the promise of the righteous “Branch” that would sprout from David’s line. (Jeremiah 33:14-16) This “Branch” would bring salvation to Judah and peace and safety to Jerusalem. His name would be “The Lord our Righteousness”. This “Branch” was none other than Jesus Christ! He brought the “New Covenant” in His own blood that would enable eternal forgiveness of sins and the law written on hearts. He was the embodiment of the everlasting love of God in human flesh! These are great and unsearchable things revealed to all who call on Him! Call out in faith today!
The New Covenant
Scripture reading for August 12th: Jeremiah 30-33
Out of all the gloom and doom of Jeremiah’s messages come words of hope and a glorious future! Their God would not abandon His people forever, but would have pity on them. He would be their God and they would be His people. (Jeremiah 31:1-2) Those who survived the siege would find favor in the desert and God would come to them.
“The Lord appeared to us in the past saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and dance with the joyful.” (Jeremiah 31:3-4) God’s love is not fickle. His love is everlasting and His tender mercies draw His people back to find comfort and hope. God would build them again in their land and restore their joy.
Now God promises restoration and a gathering of His people from the lands where they were scattered. This writing of Jeremiah mirrors Isaiah 35 where the redeemed of the Lord come back with singing to Zion. “Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness instead of sorrow. I will satisfy the priests with abundance and my people will be filled with My bounty,” declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:13-14)
“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. . . ” “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34) This new covenant promised writing of the law on hearts and minds instead of on stone. It promised personal relationship with God for each person. Best of all it promised forgiveness of sins and a blotting out of any memory of those by God. Restoration would be something new and better! Praise the Lord.
Great and unsearchable things!
Scripture reading for August 12th: Jeremiah 30-33
“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3
“While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the Word of the Lord came to him a second time: “This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it–The Lord is His name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ ” Jeremiah 33:2-3
God loves His people! He always has and always will love them! He draws His people to enter into a love relationship with Him by cords of loving-kindness. He knows that love must be freely given by His people and that they must be drawn back to Him from the world and it’s enticements. God’s love will ransom them from the hand of the enemy. (Jeremiah 31:11) He will cause them to take up the tambourine and dance with the joyful! (Jeremiah 31:4, 13)
God then speaks to Jeremiah of a time that is coming when He will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah. This covenant will be different than the old one made with those who came out of Egypt. This covenant would include God writing His law on the human heart and mind. God would personally be their God and each person would personally know God. His forgiveness of sin would be experienced by all and God Himself would remember it no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
These visions of restoration came to Jeremiah at a most unlikely time in the history of the nation. The nation was surrounded by the Babylonians and Jeremiah was confined to the courtyard of the guard under house arrest. In the natural, it did not look good. But in the midst of the troubling time, God’s word brought hope and encouragement to Jeremiah and His people. God would allow the destruction of the Temple and city and send the people into captivity but He promised restoration and the coming time of the New Covenant.
The condition for great revelation is calling on God in faith in the midst of trial and trouble! The amazing promises of great things given to Jeremiah included the promise of the righteous “Branch” that would sprout from David’s line. (Jeremiah 33:14-16) This “Branch” would bring salvation to Judah and peace and safety to Jerusalem. His name would be “The Lord our Righteousness”. This “Branch” is none other than Jesus Christ! He is the salvation of His people, and their righteousness! He brought the “New Covenant” in His own blood that would enable eternal forgiveness of sins and the law written on hearts. He was the embodiment of the everlasting love of God in human flesh and draws us with His loving-kindness! These are great and unsearchable things revealed to those who call on Him! What a wonderful promise!