The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2 So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
4 And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”
7 “But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
8 Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
My Understanding: The very first thing on my heart was to ask the Lord Jesus to show me where I need to be revived in my own heart, to convict me of any sin that I may have overlooked, to point out to me where I may have offended anyone needlessly by my own careless words, and in general just to reveal to my heart and to speak to me about any areas of my life that may not be pleasing to the Lord Jesus and where I need to make necessary adjustments to how I live, love, walk, serve, speak, etc. I cannot speak to others about revival if there is anything in my own life hindering my relationship with Jesus Christ.
I’ve been reading the book of Jeremiah for several weeks now. All of the prophets, major and minor, gave the same messages over and over again. So, when I write out my quiet times from my reading in the prophets, the messages will seem to be repetitious. They are. The message has not changed since the days when the prophets of old wrote what they did. Man is still sinful. He is still bent toward sin. Believers in Jesus Christ are not exempt from sin, though they are forgiven the ultimate penalty of sin, which is eternal punishment in hell and eternal separation from God Almighty, because Jesus Christ paid the price of his life on the cross so that we could go free. He also died that we might be free from bondage to and the control of sin over our day-to-day lives, yet many believers in Jesus Christ seem to have missed that part of the gospel message. And, so they continue to flounder in their sin.
I believe that a big part of the problem here is that the church itself does not stand out in stark contrast to the world, but has rather embraced it, and so believers in Jesus Christ are being desensitized to sin and oftentimes do not even recognize when they are sinning against God and are doing what is displeasing to him. Another problem is what is being taught in many of the churches by preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are telling people that all they have to do is to pray a prayer and they have their ticket to heaven. They are telling them that God is pleased with them no matter what they do and that repentance (turning from sin) and obedience to God are not necessary for salvation. So, they leave the people in their sins and without hope of being truly saved and freed from the control of sin over their lives. Thus, the people have been given a false sense of security that does not encourage them to turn from their sins or to walk in obedience to the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:14 & 16 says this regarding these false teachers:
“They commit adultery and live a lie.Yet, God was saying to them then, and he is still saying to us now:
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his wickedness.”
“Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you;
they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds,
not from the mouth of the LORD.
17 They keep saying to those who despise me,
‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts
they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’”
• “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices”
• “Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them”
• “Do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made”
He told the people then that they needed to repent, and I believe very much so that he is saying the same things to the church here in America today: ~I have given you my words. I gave my Son to die on the cross for your sins so that you could go free. I have been calling and calling you to repent of your sins, to turn from them, and to walk humbly in obedience before me. Yet, you are not listening. You are not paying attention to what I am saying to you. You are continuing in your sins and you are continuing in your idolatry and spiritual adultery against me and my Son, Jesus Christ, who died for you so you could go free from sin. You are bringing harm to yourselves and you are bringing judgment upon yourselves by your refusal to listen, to repent and to obey me and my words to you found in the Bible.~
So, God will punish such disobedience and refusal to listen, to repent and to obey. Yet, he is still calling out for us to turn from our sin, to obey him, to come into pure fellowship with him, to hear him speak to our hearts each day, to follow him wherever he leads us, to do what he wants us to do, and to be who he desires us to be. He is a jealous God and he wants to be the only God in our lives. May we listen to his voice speaking today and obey.
Send a Revival / An Original Work / June 25, 2011
Send a revival to this nation, Lord, I pray.
Bring us to our knees, Lord, humbly today.
Teach us to daily walk in your footsteps.
Guide us in your truth, and may we find rest.
Send a revival to this nation, Lord, I pray.
Bring us to our knees, Lord, humbly today.
Be our desire and our hearts’ pure devotion, Lord.
Make us a people who walk close to you.
Change our hearts to conform to your likeness.
May we love others who are in distress.
Be our desire and our hearts’ pure devotion, Lord.
Make us a people who walk close to you.
Teach us to be an example of your love, Lord.
May we serve others as though serving you.
Keep us in fellowship with you, I pray.
May we obey you in all things today.
Teach us to be an example of your love, Lord.
May we serve others as though serving you.
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