Wednesday, January 31, 2018

THE POTTER’S HOUSE

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 18-19

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

In Pella, Greece, at the Archaeological Museum, pottery vessels from ancient times are on display. In today’s reading, Israel is likened to “clay…in the potter’s hand.”

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verses: Jeremiah 18:2 &11b

Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words…Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.”

 

Jeremiah heard God’s Words and proclaimed them to the people of his time and ours too! God’s invitation, which we can accept or reject, is conditional. If we RETURN, REPENT, and decide to DO WHAT IS RIGHT, the vessel of our lives and our land will be made by the Divine Potter into a new creation of God, “As it seemed good for the Potter to make!!!” (18:4b). See Romans 9:20-23 as a New Testament example of the Divine Potter and we who are to be the clay which is molded by His hands.

What horror and evil the people brought upon themselves. During the siege by the Babylonians, people turned into cannibals. The same happened, according to the historian who wrote on the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, following the rejection of the Messiah Jesus by the political and religious leadership. There were many exceptions to this extreme evil. In Jeremiah’s day, there were young men like Daniel and the three Hebrew children who lived righteous lives (Daniel 3:10-30). The same courage was shown by many during and following the Roman destruction. As was the case with the Babylonian destruction prophesied by Jeremiah, so the Romans, according to Josephus’ “Jewish Wars,” took 700 prisoners back to Rome, paraded them in chains behind Titus’ chariot through the streets, and then sold them as slaves to Roman households. Some were believers in Jesus. Some were even part of the Royal household of the Caesar (Philippians 4:20-23). God continues to mold human clay into vessels which He can fill and employ in His good purpose.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

O, Potter of my life, I yield myself in wholehearted willing surrender to Your hands. I pray that I will be “as the clay is in the Potter’s hand!” I’m aware that the fire is necessary to complete my vessel in order that I may be useful to carry the Water of Life to others. May I be poured out, filled again and again, and poured out often for Your purposes, Lord God! In the Name of the One whose very life was poured out for the entire world, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

It was 1992, in Seville, Spain, at the great World Expo attended by at least 40 million people from all over the world where Crossroads built “La Pabillion de la Promessa” (The Pavilion of Promise). During the months of the Expo, over 53,000 people made first-time decisions to receive Jesus, not as a religion, but as personal Saviour and Lord! The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seville wept as he said, “My people, my people need this message!” However, my memory backs up 500 years to the Spanish Inquisition, the persecution and martyrdom of many, not by the common people, but by religious and political leaders, as it was at the time of Christ. Two Seville priests had made their way to England where they translated the Bible into Spanish for the first time. In Seville, each morning as I walked from our apartment to the Expo grounds, I would walk through the square where at least 1,500 were burnt at the stake for their contention that the only Words of salvation were in the Bible, which they had recently acquired from those two priests. Crossroads had run out of money to pay our bills and human reason said, “Pack it in, stop construction, and head home.” However, I believe I heard that still small Voice saying to me, “Look down at the ancient dust packed beneath and around the cobblestones under your feet. There are minute particles of the ashes left from the bodies of those who simply wanted to cherish the Scriptures and its message of eternal life, and their blood cries out to Me from the ashes of their sacrifice!” These priests and people believed that salvation was theirs, not by a religious ceremony, but by faith through grace according to the Scriptures (Ephesians 2:1-9). I think it was 1959 when Pope John XXIII proclaimed that all Roman Catholics were to get a Bible of their own and read it!!!

Yours for being molded in the hands of the Divine Potter according to the Scriptures,

David

P.S. For a fuller story of Expo ’92 and Crossroads’ mission, please get my book, find the pictures of our pavilions in four World Expos, and then turn to page 138. Click here to order your own copy of This Far By Faith!

A close-up view of the ancient pottery on display at the Archaeological Museum. They come in all sizes and shapes, just like us, and there is a special purpose for each vessel!

14 thoughts on “Wednesday, January 31, 2018

  1. Lord God, please make us into vessels fit for your use. You are the treaure in these poor clay vessels. As David prayed, please fill us with you living water and use us again & again to bring You to others. In Jesus’s wonderful name, amen

  2. I often ask Him to make me what He wants me to be.

    Flows From ‘Neath

    When you feel the love of God you cry,
    For this is when your ‘cup overfloweth’,
    When you feel His Spirit and know why,
    There are no words but still you ‘knoweth’.

    You know a fire burns but can’t be held;
    Thus,His love is bigger than your cup,
    For you are but His vessel to meld
    And His is the love to lift you up.

    He only enters if He’s invited,
    For freedom is the wind and sails,
    So let your spirit be ignited
    And feel the Love that never fails.

    You can not hold a river flowing,
    Nor stop the rain falling down
    And so the love that He is showing,
    Flows from ‘neath His thorny Crown.
    G W(Bill) Marshall / 13 March, 2014

    Search Me

    Search me,oh Lord,I’m your’s,
    Remove the cobwebs that hide,
    Find out what my heart stores,
    Then put the wrong far to one side.

    Search again,oh Lord,for light,
    Let not darkness cloud my mind,
    That I may freely do what’s right,
    For I want a heart clean and kind.

    Search my soul,Oh Lord,for me;
    Don’t let me be vain and phony,
    For such get lost and can’t see,
    Then become the devil’s crony.

    Search my heart,oh Lord again,
    Leave no trace of greed within,
    Then I can show,without pain,
    The love betrayed by my sin.
    G W Marshall / 08-Nov-013

  3. What a blessing and soul winner in every place it was presented. A great ministry in the Lord through 100Huntly Street!!!

    “He is the Potter and we are the clay” ” Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me; melt me and mold me, fill me, use me, Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me!!” A song of years past.

  4. I have an urgent prayer request….please pray that the Lord will change the gal at the pool, initials JL, she is a bully and the staff can’t quit see it….. please pray the Lord will enter into the heart of JL and change from the inside out..that she will be a kinder, caring person and speak nicely to others…..In Jesus Name we Pray amen

  5. I can’t find Thursday’s blog… I read the next 3 chapters in Jeremiah, and am praying that God helps us to to follow him, and do good to others. Help us, dear Lord God, to bring your precious nature to bear in all the situations we are in. Please strengthen us by your Holy Spirit, open the doors for your gospel to go out to all the world, and bless all your workers today. And please send out more! May You be magnified and exalted throughout this world today! In Jesus’s most precious name, amen

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