Jeremiah 31:31-33 – “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³ “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart, I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, the thoughts of rejection and restoration occupied my consciousness. God is long-suffering beyond anything humans can fathom, but it has limits.  Israel tested the limits of God’s patience.

Jeremiah issued a divorce decree nullifying their covenant promises.  Think of that: the nation chosen to house and carry the SEED (Messiah) had pushed God to the limit.   We tend to think that we will somehow escape or be excused in our rebellion and rejection of His purposes and character. Remember, He has no favorites. He is eternally Just, Pure, and Holy.   Do we really want to risk pushing God too far?  Are our pleasure and selfishness that valuable to us?

In Jeremiah, God’s unconditional love illuminated their world and ours.   In Jeremiah 31:31-33, He announced the New Covenant!   Without this covenant, no one would have salvation. That is why understanding Covenant is so vital.  It unlocks the door to revelation and releases the power to enter the Kingdom and live the Kingdom life!

In Jeremiah 32:17-25, the prophet prays Solomon’s temple prayer, which we refer to in 2 Chronicles 7:14. In vv. 26-35, God answers his prayer as He did for Solomon and for all who pray this prayer of acknowledgment and petition.

In Jeremiah 33:2-3, we have an invitation to prayer and relationship. 

1. I Am the LORD!
2.  The Invitation CALL – Pray, Ask, Petition, Inquire, Search, and Seek.
   PROMISE – I Will Answer and go beyond through revelatory knowledge.

WHY?   Dare we ask that?  Why are we invited into God’s Throne Room? What are we promised: answers and revelation? The New Covenant (Redemption and Restoration).   The invitation and provision are never about us! They always equip and enable us to bring the message of Hope to others.

How much is that a moving compulsion? As much as it is valuable to us personally!  What we believe about God, Eternal Judgment, Eternal Life (now & then), and the power of an indwelt life determines the value of salvation and compulsion to share and warn others; it is the extent to which we are driven to share. Are we able to live unaffected lives of silence?

Jesus said to the Pharisee, “The one who is forgiven little loves little, and the one forgiven much loves much.” The key is our awareness of our forgiveness! Our consciousness of our condition before!

Let the redeemed say so! We possess nothing more powerful and impactful than our own experience and testimony. A changed life changes lives!  How real is Jesus, and how destructive is sin to us? Who do we say He is? Who do we live as He is? (How we live testifies who He really is to us).

Lord, help us to live Redemption and see Restoration in us and others.

I want to be said of me and to say of myself as Paul said, “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith! Finally, the crown of righteousness is reserved for me…”   The words I long to hear here and there are, “Well Done!”   I have no greater thought or desire than seeing a crowd of people I influenced for God rejoicing before the Throne in Heaven!

Lord, help us to value Your sacrifice and our forgiveness so much that we are compelled and propelled into action!

Isaiah 28:24-25 – “Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?  Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?  ²⁵ Does he not level its surface and sow dill and scatter cummin and plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place and rye within its area?”

Isaiah 30:15 – “For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.”  But you were not willing.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, the Christian Life became my focus.  Something interesting gripped my thoughts as I read Isaiah 28:24-25. The prophet asked some challenging yet straightforward questions that address a condition that is both prevalent and relevant.   

Farmers prepare to plant, then plant.  They do not keep preparing to plant. Some prepare for what they want God to do but never get around to doing it.  They are continually preparing, clearing the land, leveling the soil, repenting, turning over a new leaf.  Continual preparation is action’s greatest enemy.

The five-fold ministry is charged with equipping the believers for ministry. There comes a time when development transforms into implementation! Yes, we keep growing and addressing recurring issues, but if we are always a field under preparation, what is our purpose?

Isaiah 30:15 is a powerful response or pathway to implementation!  Repent, then wait patiently on the LORD.  Repentance is step one; total trust expressed in patient waiting is the key! Calm trust provides the strength, courage, and determination to stand and to do!

Galatians 5:24-25 sheds liberating light.  If we trust Jesus for our salvation (which requires making Him LORD), then we HAVE not WILL crucified the flesh. One way of saying that is, “We will stop plowing the field, trying to get ready to plant; we will plant in the prepared field of our hearts.”

Some say, “But I keep having the same issues and can’t overcome the flesh.” Galatians 6:9 – DON’T STOP! Keep doing what you know to do!

It really is a matter of trust! It is by Faith, not by Sight or perceived perfection or preparation, but by persistent obedience that we become! Legalism devalues grace and values works. (Galatians 2:18-21).

If you are waiting until you think you are ready, you will be like the person in Ecclesiastes 11:4: “He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who observes the clouds will not reap.” Maybe it is time to stop preparing and start doing it! “ (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Let us be doers of the Word, not just hearers. Information without application results in stagnation!

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.  ⁶ Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight.”  NET

Anxiety is an issue that every person deals with at some point in time.  I am incredibly grateful to the LORD for His wonderful Grace and Goodness.   This passage holds a special place in my heart, for it was the tool God used to bring me to Salvation.  It has been a key to understanding the various trials and tribulations of life and has resulted in an amazing victory.

Humanity needs God’s help to overcome anxiety and Worry!  Without divine intervention, the chronic worriers, followers of misplaced trust, and the confused never get relief.  Until Anxiety and Worry have been overcome, they will deal continual misery to the person tormented by them.   It has proven to be one of the devil’s most effective tools.

We can have victory over Worry!

• Worry causes a person to be Physically Sick, Depressed Mentally, and lacking spiritually.
• Worry hinders prayer and causes a person to place more trust in the arm of flesh than the hand of God.
• Worry is a deterrent to Faith and causes the loss of hope because it dwells in the natural, blind to the supernatural.
• Worrying is a Learned Trait.   No person was born worried.
• Worry can be overcome by learning to rely on God’s Word, Person, and Power.

There are two types of things we should not worry about.   Those things we cannot help or prevent.  Those things we can help or prevent.  The writer of Proverbs gives the pathway to Spiritual Victory.

1. TRUST The Lord with All our Heart.

The idea and implication are “Total Trust,” where one places their entire life in the hands of God’s providence and care.  It means living a life of expectant obedience.

We had to Trust God for Salvation.  In order to live victoriously, we have to have confidence in God’s Ability and Integrity.  We are to Trust God in Everything all the time!

1 Peter 5:7       – “Casting all your care on Him; for He cares for you.”

Isaiah 26:3 – “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in You.”

1. LEAN NOT to Your Own Understanding.

Man does not have the ability or intelligence to guide his own life successfully without God’s help.

Isaiah 55:8-9 – “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Proverbs 14:12 – “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Jeremiah 17:5-7 – “Thus says the LORD; cursed is the man that trust in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart is departed from the LORD.  Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.”

That person is like a Tree Planted by the Waters:

• We Do Not Understand All Things in the Natural.  
  • We See Only the Outward and Know Only the Circumstantial.
  • We Have No power to change people and Few Things.

1. IN ALL YOUR WAYS Acknowledge Him, and He Will Direct Your Path.

1 Timothy 4:12 – “Be an Example of the Believer.”

Psalm 37:23 – “The steps of a good man are ordered of the LORD.

Isaiah 30:21 – “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, this is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.”

God has Promised to Supply all our Need.  He has promised to be with us all the time.  He has promised to protect us.  He has promised to return for us.  Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled…” 

If we are in Christ and He is in us, there is absolutely no reason to allow worry or anxiety to prevail.

CONCLUSION:

• Worry is not a product of faith; it is a fruit of fear.
• Worry is an attack of the enemy seeking to ruin our lives and burden us unnecessarily.
• Worry is rooted in confusion and fear, and we know the author of both.

God is not worried, so why should we worry?  God is in control so that we can trust Him.   The question for each of us is, “Who Is The LORD?”   A secondary question is, “Who Is He To Us?”   A follow-up question is, “What Is It That God Cannot Do?”   His arm is not too short to save.  His power has not diminished so that He cannot heal, deliver, save, and protect.  He is The Living God!

Trust and Obey, for there are no better way to be happy in Jesus than to Trust and Obey!

Jeremiah 26:1-6 – “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word! ³ Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.’ ⁴ And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you, ⁵ to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened; ⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, the very first thing that I heard in my spirit was, “It is always a choice.”   I paused and pondered that thought. Life is a series of choices, and every choice has a consequence (good or bad).   Every choice becomes the foundation for successive choices.   Choices make choices!

In Jeremiah 21, they were under siege by Babylon. Jeremiah brought the prophetic word: “Make a choice.”   Obey and live.  Rebel and die.   They did not like the choice because obedience meant surrender to Babylon, and their pride prevented them from obeying.  Babylon was to be temporary, but death was permanent.

In Jeremiah 26:1-5, we are brought face-to-face with something some today reject.  The prophetic word has value. God reveals His plans to help us navigate the troubled waters of life.   We want God to speak, but then we pick and choose which part of what He says we will obey.  Jeremiah 26:4 emphasizes the need to obey God’s directive explicitly.   Again, choice rises to the forefront! Choices have consequences (good or bad).

God’s call requires a choice.  Godliness is a choice.  We have the hope of divine enablement to manifest the character and nature of Jesus, but it begins with the choice of surrender.   (Remember the reference in Jeremiah mentioned earlier?)

In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul, by the Holy Spirit, revealed that our objective is to be examples.

1. We are to be examples in how we talk.   (Both the words we use and the subject matter).

2. We are to be examples in our conduct.   (What do people see in how we act and react?)

3. We are to be examples in Love.   (Agape, as seen in 1 Corinthians 13 and in Jesus, is the goal).

4. We are to be examples in faithfulness.   (Both loyalty to our assignment, to others, to our faith, and to our commitment and word).

5. We are to be examples in purity.   (What do others see in us? We may refrain from certain words or acts, but what is in our hearts?)

As I think about choices, I think of my conversion to Christ.   Jesus came into the world to save people, and that included the worst of the worst (me). My choice to accept Him affects not only me and my eternity, but everyone I encounter.   My choice lets me be an example that points to Him.  That example is a testimony.   My testimony either magnifies Jesus or reeks of hypocrisy, based on my obedience, which is the result of choice.

So, choose wisely!   Choose to obey.   Choose to accept His grace.   Choose to live Him by dying to self.   Dying requires dying!   It does not include partial resurrections of certain things, acts, or attitudes.  It requires dying. The choice before is Life by dying to self or death by living for self.

I choose life by dying to self!

Ephesians 6:11 – “ Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, something different filled my thoughts. Being properly dressed filled my thoughts. Properly dressed or appropriately dressed. What does that mean?

Let me ask the question I heard in my spirit: “How confident would you be speaking to a group of people if you were naked? How confident would you feel if you were interviewing for a job in casual attire while the interviewers were in formal attire? How confident would you be playing basketball in formal attire when those competing were dressed for basketball? How confident would you be going into a battle wearing street clothes and carrying a notepad when your opponents were in full armor and carrying weapons of war?”

Think about those and other scenarios.  Your confidence level would likely be incredibly low.  Although the clothes themselves did not equip you, they affected your confidence, and your lack of confidence affected your ability.

Ephesians 6:10-18 reminds us of the importance of being properly dressed. (v. 11) – Tells us that we need the armor (proper attire) SO THAT we will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.   If the devil has the advantage of our lack of confidence because we are improperly or inadequately clothed, he does not have to be more powerful because we defeat ourselves.

“Clothes make the man” is a cliché, but it has some truth.   Why?   Because when we have the proper (situation-dictated) attire, we are more confident. The more confident we are, the more we trust our training and ability. We are not distracted by a feeling of inferiority.

Remember, we are not fighting spiritual battles with natural weapons. Likewise, if we wear clothing inadequate for the situation, it affects the outcome.

In (v. 13) we read, “For this reason…”   What reason?  This is a spiritual war. “Take (put on) up the full armor of God SO THAT you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.”

One benefit of being Spirit-filled is awareness of the proper attire! Please move beyond clothing in natural situations to spiritual warfare.   I know from experience the importance of proper clothing (gear) when facing a battle. I know the confidence that builds in knowing you are appropriately and adequately attired. The less the distraction, the greater the confidence.

How are we dressing for our daily battles?  Are we consciously putting on the clothing for the day?  Wearing our spiritual PJs to a battle may feel comfortable at first, but it will get us killed.  Putting on the armor (attire) requires consistent effort and determination.

Let’s get dressed for battle! What are you wearing to the war?