10/02/12

Pleasant or unpleasant we will listen, Lord

Jeremiah 42:6 - "Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."


In today's message these words were of the people who many a times spoke to this very Man of God Jeremiah saying 'speak smooth words to us'. They were rebuked by the Lord through Jeremiah because they were worshiping the Queen of Heaven and were spiritually fornicating with the bones of their dead rulers. Even after they spoke these words their ways had not changed. Christians today also do the very same thing which the Israelites did at that time.

Many a times I have people coming to me and advising me not to complicate the Gospel, or give such strong messages but to give words of encouragement. I liked to ask them if they understood what the word 'Gospel' means?

Gospel starts with knowing God and having fear of Him for what He is and what we are. This fear causes repentance and brings the person to take refuge in the only hope Jesus Christ. It calls for the believer to surrender to the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit of God to take charge of one's life so that by the works of the Holy Spirit the person can receive the reward of entering Heaven and being one with one's Creator.

There are numerous people who send sweet so called 'gospels' which do not really change people. They do send words of encouragement but these words also encourage the person to keep continuing in the desires of the flesh and not overcome them. Their message of hope is without the fear of God, self realization and repentance. They dip people not immerse them in the Gospel.

When I started my Daily Devotions site, I started with 150 persons in my list and within 2 years this list grew to two thousand plus people. During that time my messages were sweet and I used to get good feedback from people but then I realized, neither these people's faith nor their spiritual level changed over the years and they were struggling in the same place. Today I do not find more people adding themselves but the Lord is adding them through others in unthinkable ways. My messages go to more than 50 to 70 thousand people everyday not because people added themselves but the Lord added them to me.

We love gathering audience for the Lord and not believers or disciples for Him. People hate the Truth and love only pleasing words which do not hurt their fleshy way of life.

The Lord is telling us in today's message His Word is not a fairytale; it is His Word and Truth which causes life to change and be saved. God's Word not only lifts the valleys but also levels the mountains (our own understandings). We should not be hoping to hear only pleasing words but even words of corrections. If one feels their life does not need change then God's Word is not for that person nor does that person need God. It is only when we are ready to allow the Lord to work in us by bringing down the illegal constructions we have in our hearts, will we really grow in spirit and in relationship with the Lord.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, let me not be like the people who learned through bitter experience to surrender to You. We thank You for not taking us through those experience due to the grace of Jesus Christ in whom we are baptized. Lord, lift in our valleys and bring our mountains down and bring us in level to your Word which is the Truth. Lord, what is not of your Kingdom remove from us and fill us in our areas of lacking...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Jeremiah 42:1-6
1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
3 That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 7:17-19
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

Jeremiah 8:1-3
1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)