Friday, March 29,
2013, 8:08 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song in mind:
Trust Him / An
Original Work / August 15, 2012
Based off Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be of courage;
Be strong and take heart today.
Do not fear when foes attack you.
Trust in God always.
He will rescue you in times
Of trouble and distress,
He’ll comfort you in all ways
As you trust Him with your life today.
Trust in Him always.
God is with you; He’ll not leave you.
You can always count on Him.
He will fulfill all He promised
Before you began.
His word teaches you
All that you need for this life.
Let Him lead you. Open your heart;
Let his truth envelope you today.
Listen and obey.
Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.
Repent of your sins today.
Make Him your Lord and your master;
Trust Him and obey.
Follow Him where’er He leads you
In His service; be His witness,
Telling others about Jesus’
Price that He did pay
For your sins always.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Jeremiah 36 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2036&version=NIV
The Scroll
God told Jeremiah to take a scroll and to “write on it all
the words” he had spoken to him “concerning Israel, Judah and all the other
nations” from the time he began speaking to him “in the reign of Josiah until”
the present (then). Can you imagine that? Then, he said to him, “Perhaps when
the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they
will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and
their sin.” God loves us so much! He is awesome!! He gently leads us, he sends
us his messages, and he encourages, rebukes, warns and promises, comforts and
heals. He wants so much for us to be faithful, like a faithful spouse, and to
enjoy the blessings of obedience.
So, Jeremiah did as the Lord instructed him and he dictated
all the words God had given him for his scribe Baruch to write down on the
scroll. That must have taken a long time. They had to write everything by hand
in ink: No word processors with spell check, backspace, easy correction, and paragraph
and/or sentence rearrangement. Everything had to be right or they had to start
over. That takes me back to my younger years before PCs.
Jeremiah was restricted as to where he could go so he sent
Baruch to go to the Lord’s temple to read the scroll to the people of Judah,
who came in from their towns. He said, “Perhaps they will bring their petition
before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and
wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.” Jeremiah cared
very much for the people. He didn’t just want to spare them judgment, but he
wanted them daily to have fruitful and productive lives in their relationships
with Almighty God, and for them to live daily in the peace and the joy of the
Lord.
So, Baruch did everything Jeremiah told him to do; “at the
Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll.” “A time of
fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and
those who had come from the towns of Judah.” A person named Micaiah told all
the officials what Baruch read from the scroll, and they sent for Baruch to
bring them the scroll. They asked him to sit down and to read it to them. So
Baruch read it to them. In fear, the officials knew they had to report the
words to the king. They asked Baruch if Jeremiah had dictated the words to him,
and he responded in the affirmative. Then, the officials told Baruch that he
and Jeremiah should hide and not let anyone know where they were.
The officials then put the scroll in the room of the
secretary and then they went and told the king. The king sent for the scroll,
and Jehudi read it “to the king and all the officials standing beside him.”
The Firepot
“Whenever Jehudi had
read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s
knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in
the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no
fear, nor did they tear their clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and
Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel
and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the
prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.”
Wow! This story is very personal to me because I have been
writing out what the Lord Jesus teaches me each day from his word and I have
been placing those writings on the internet now for the past nearly 7 years;
nearly daily. I do not do this of my own accord. This is what God called me to
do. He used several passages of scripture to let me know this was his
assignment to me, but one of them, in particular, stands out to me. It is taken
from Habakkuk 2:2-3 (NIV):
“Write down the
revelation
and
make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.
For the revelation
awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait
for it;
it will certainly come
and will not delay.”
I make no claims to be a prophet, just a follower of Christ
and one of his servants just doing the job he has assigned me to do for this
time in history. He told me to write what he gives me to write, and to make it
plain on “tablets,” which I saw as my personal computer. A herald was to run
with it, which I saw as the internet, and I do believe it speaks of the end,
because the Lord Jesus has been very much focusing on the final days before his
return and of our need to repent of our sins because a time of judgment, which was
prophesied in both the Old and New Testaments, is fast approaching.
I have printed off copies of these daily journals and I do
have them stored, so the thought of someone taking all of them (7 years’ worth
of work) and burning them all is a little disheartening to say the least. And,
it is not just because it is 7 years of labor represented in these writings,
but these represent my times with God each day, the words he spoke to my heart
and my heart response to what he said to me. They also are his personal words
to me, in many cases, so they represent my personal and intimate relationship
with my Lord. So, the thought of someone burning them all or just wiping them
off the internet entirely as though they never existed would be upsetting, yet
I know if that happened, that God is absolutely in control over all things,
that he allowed it, he permitted it for a purpose, and that he will gain the
glory through it all. I have to look at these writings as though they are not
mine to possess, so the Lord is free to give them and to take them if he so
chooses.
New Beginnings
“After the king burned
the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s
dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Take another scroll and
write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of
Judah burned up.”
Isn’t that absolutely amazing? Can you even imagine such a
thing? I can’t! Yet, what it proves is that no one can destroy God’s work. If
God wants his words to go out and one door closes, he will just open another.
So, we don’t ever have to be afraid of opposition or be dismayed or discouraged
if our work for the Lord is threatened in some way, because God will make a way
where there seems to be no way. His plans cannot be thwarted (see Job 42:2). No
matter what darts the enemy of our souls may throw our way, God can handle it,
and he already has a plan for what he will do, so we just need to trust him.
Here
is Your God! / An Original Work / July 18, 2012
Based off
Isaiah 40:9-31 NIV
You who bring good tidings to Zion,
Lift up your voice; raise with a shout,
And do not be afraid of the people.
Say, “Here is your God!”
See how the Lord God comes now with power.
His arm rules for Him; His reward with Him.
He tends His flock just like a shepherd,
His lambs in His arms.
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from beginning?
Our Lord sits enthroned above all things.
None to Him compare.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens.
Who made all of these? Who calls them by
name?
Because of His great power and strength,
All accounted for.
Why do you say, “My way is hidden
From the Lord, and my cause forgotten”?
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord, He is your God.
He will not weary. He gives us power.
Those who trust in Him will renew their
strength.
They will soar on wings just like eagles;
Walk and do faint not.
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