BE PLAIN AND SINCERE IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD 1
7 AND IT HAPPENED AFTER TEN DAYS THAT THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO JEREMIAH.
9 AND SAID TO THEM, “THUS SAYS THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, TO WHOM YOU SENT ME TO PRESENT YOUR PETITION BEFORE HIM: 10 ‘IF YOU WILL STILL REMAIN IN THIS LAND, THEN I WILL BUILD YOU AND NOT PULL YOU DOWN, AND I WILL PLANT YOU AND NOT PLUCK YOU UP. FOR I RELENT CONCERNING THE DISASTER THAT I HAVE BROUGHT UPON YOU.
11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him,’ says the LORD, ‘for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand.
12 AND I WILL SHOW YOU MERCY, THAT HE MAY HAVE MERCY ON YOU AND CAUSE YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR OWN LAND.’ "
Jeremiah 42:7,9–12 (NKJV)
• If you are a believer in Christ, and you are walking with God, do with the whole of your heart. You might succeed in deceiving man or humans but you cannot deceive God.
- When you pray to God, making requests, be sincere and mean whatever you say or tell to Him. You cannot hide from Him!
- If you did not mean to, or ready to, accept whatever He tells you as an answer to your request or prayer; you should not bother to pray or ask Him to begin with.
- Some people wanted God to answer their prayers according to the imaginations of their hearts.
- Whatever God wanted to do, that He would tell you, not what you wanted to hear or happen.
- If you are not ready to accept whatever God would tell you, when you do ask for directions, you should not bother to ask Him.
• In our text, the Jews remnant told Jeremiah the Prophet to take to God their request, they wanted to know whether they should go to Egypt or remain in their land. But they did not mean it, that is, they were not ready for the truth, to receive the actual mind of God—His decision about it:
1 THEN ALL THE MILITARY LEADERS, INCLUDING JOHANAN SON OF KAREAH AND JEZANIAH SON OF HOSHAIAH, AND ALL THE PEOPLE, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST, APPROACHED 2 JEREMIAH THE PROPHET. THEY SAID, “PLEASE PRAY TO THE LORD YOUR GOD FOR US. AS YOU CAN SEE, WE ARE ONLY A TINY REMNANT COMPARED TO WHAT WE WERE BEFORE. 3 PRAY THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL SHOW US WHAT TO DO AND WHERE TO GO. 6 WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT, WE WILL OBEY THE LORD OUR GOD TO WHOM WE ARE SENDING YOU WITH OUR PLEA. FOR IF WE OBEY HIM, EVERYTHING WILL TURN OUT WELL FOR US" (Jeremiah 42:1-3,6 NLT).
- When the reply to their prayer came, they rebelled, they were not ready to accept the answer to their request which Jeremiah brought from God:
19 “LISTEN, YOU REMNANT OF JUDAH. THE LORD HAS TOLD YOU: ‘DO NOT GO TO EGYPT!’ DON'T FORGET THIS WARNING I HAVE GIVEN YOU TODAY. 20 FOR YOU WERE NOT BEING HONEST WHEN YOU SENT ME TO PRAY TO THE LORD YOUR GOD FOR YOU. YOU SAID, ‘JUST TELL US WHAT THE LORD OUR GOD SAYS, AND WE WILL DO IT!’ 21 AND TODAY I HAVE TOLD YOU EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID, BUT YOU WILL NOT OBEY THE LORD YOUR GOD ANY BETTER NOW THAN YOU HAVE IN THE PAST. 22 SO YOU CAN BE SURE THAT YOU WILL DIE FROM WAR, FAMINE, AND DISEASE IN EGYPT, WHERE YOU INSIST ON GOING" (Jeremiah 42:19-22 NLT).
READ: Jeremiah 42:9-18
• Your heart speaks louder before God than your tongue or mouth. God would answer you based on what is going on in your heart and not on what you said with your mouth.
- When you prayed to God but had other plans contrary to what you told Him, He knows. If you are serving Him with a deceit in your heart, He knows (Jeremiah 42:20).
- What gives credibility to your request or prayer is the sincerity of your heart. You can deceive a minister of God to make him or her believe that you are sincere about the request you brought before God, but God knows the state of your heart—the deceptiveness of it.
• God told Jeremiah that those who sent him with a request were not actually ready to do His Will, what He, God, would give them as an answer to their prayer (Jeremiah 42:20).
- Those who told Jeremiah and promised to do whatever God might bid them to do, answered Jeremiah thus, when the reply to their prayers came:
1 NOW IT HAPPENED, WHEN JEREMIAH HAD STOPPED SPEAKING TO ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE WORDS OF THE LORD THEIR GOD, FOR WHICH THE LORD THEIR GOD HAD SENT HIM TO THEM, ALL THESE WORDS, 2 THAT AZARIAH THE SON OF HOSHAIAH, JOHANAN THE SON OF KAREAH, AND ALL THE PROUD MEN SPOKE, SAYING TO JEREMIAH, “YOU SPEAK FALSELY! THE LORD OUR GOD HAS NOT SENT YOU TO SAY, ‘DO NOT GO TO EGYPT TO DWELL THERE.’ 3 BUT BARUCH THE SON OF NERIAH HAS SET YOU AGAINST US, TO DELIVER US INTO THE HAND OF THE CHALDEANS, THAT THEY MAY PUT US TO DEATH OR CARRY US AWAY CAPTIVE TO BABYLON" (Jeremiah 43:1-3 NKJV).
• You will not fail in Jesus' name.
- Whatever God has not planted in your life, that is working against your health, such is rebuked and rooted out in your body in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
- I declare your healing to be permanent in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Peace!
TO BE CONTINUED
STEPS TO SALVATION
• Take notice of this:
IF you are yet to take the step of salvation, that is, yet to be born-again, do it now, tomorrow might be too late (2 Corinthians 6:1,2; Hebrews 3:7,8,15).
a. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess your Sins (1 John 1:9); And ask Jesus Christ to come into your life (Revelation 3:20).
b. Confess that you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that you confess it with your mouth, Thus, you accept Him As your Lord and Saviour (Romans 10:9,10).
c. As you took the steps A and B your name is written in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:8).
- If you took the steps As highlighted above, congratulations, It means you are saved—born-again. Join a Word based church in your area and Town or city, and be part of whatever they are doing there. Peace!