A FIRE AND A ROCK

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 23

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

Looking from the area on the south side of the Temple Mount you can look across the Kidron Valley and see the Mount of Olives with thousands of graves along the western slope.

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

Key Verse: Jeremiah 23:29

“Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord,

“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”

The word “oracle” is repeated eight times in today’s reading. Obviously many were claiming to be prophets of God, but they were proven to be false prophets. The dictionary defines an oracle as one who gives “a message that is typically ambiguous or obscure.” That’s quite the opposite to the message given by Jeremiah! “A hammer” and “a fire” are strong and powerful words. Here is a prayer chorus sung in some gatherings: “Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me. Break me! Melt me! Mould me and use me!” The Word of God, as we read it in our daily two-year blog journey through the Bible, should have that effect on us. The idea of an “oracle” was so misused by so-called prophets that God said, “Do not say, oracle of the Lord.” Why? “You have perverted the words of the living God” (Jeremiah 23:36).

The other misused word featured in Jeremiah 23 is “shepherd.” The title “pastor” denotes a shepherd in our time. For an inspiring look at what God considers that a true shepherd should be, let’s read again Psalm 23 and John 10:11-18.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I’m praying the words of the chorus I mentioned above. By the hammer and the fire of Your Word, I ask You to do whatever is necessary in me to make me all You want me to be. In and through the Person and work of Jesus Christ (Messiah) I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I have often stood on one side or the other of the valley pictured above and meditated on the fact that a huge number of people are buried with their feet pointed toward the Eastern Gate in the wall of Jerusalem, the gate through which it is prophesied that the Messiah will enter into a rebuilt Temple. Most of these people expect to be given resurrected bodies, which will enable them to stand up facing the Messiah as He enters through the gate. Modern science shows that all that is needed to recreate one’s entire being is one microscopic speck of DNA dust. It’s all there! My Bible is still open to John 10 as mentioned above, and my eyes have just moved across to the opposite page where I see John 11:24-45. Jesus, the Prophet and the Son of God, spoke words that had the impact of a “Hammer” and a “Fire” when “He cried with a loud voice, ‘LAZARUS COME FORTH!’ And he who had died came out!” I don’t understand how all this happened, but years ago I made a lifetime decision to believe with childlike faith. I’ve not parked my brain! I read, ponder, and wonder. But at the same time I believe! I’m currently reading a book by a nuclear physicist who believes that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity shows that time is not locked into our perception of a 24-hour day. God is outside of time (the basis of true prophecy about the future), and therefore we should not be thrown for a loop by the modern development called “quantum physics.” Well, that’s another subject.

Yours for keeping the faith and also giving it away to the whole world!

David

HORSE SENSE AND GROUNDHOGS

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 22

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

A view looking east over the Old City of Jerusalem towards the Mount of Olives.

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

Key Verses: Jeremiah 22:25

…and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear — the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans.

Notice the number of sentences in the Bible that start with the conjunction “and.” Would an English teacher let us away with that today? Not! (as I’ve heard some teens say). People who’ve decided to believe in the verbal (word by word) inspiration of the Bible, might ask, “Why the ‘and’?” It may be that God is never really finished His work until He puts the final period on the last sentence of human history here on this earth as it is in the present.

Our key verse indicates that the time comes when God has been rejected so totally that He can do no other than shift from mercy to judgment. He did not force the Babylonians to conquer Jerusalem, but He knew that He was not wanted by the religious, political, and social elites who were in power, and with great regret He withdrew His presence and, thus, His protection. Three times in this chapter God speaks through Jeremiah of those who “sit on the throne of David.” The last of King David’s descendants, through Solomon, is about to be deposed and taken to Babylon where he will die. BUT a descendent of King David through David’s son, Nathan, is yet to come. Although King Jeconiah and King Zerubbabel are listed in the genealogy of Joseph, Jesus’ foster father, Jesus did not come from Joseph (Matthew 1:6-12); He came as a human Person through the Virgin Mary (Luke 3:31). Legally, Jesus was linked to Joseph, but His DNA was all God and Mary!!! What about that?

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, Your servant, Jeremiah, urges people to “weep bitterly for him who goes away.” I pray for as much of Your great heart of compassion as You know I can handle. You are infinite in Your capacity to grieve, and I’m so very small and finite. Thank You, Lord, for being willing to share a little bit of the heavy burdens You bear with me. In the Name of the One who went into prayer early every morning, bearing our sorrows and griefs (Isaiah 53:3-5). Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

There’s the word “woe” in Jeremiah 22:13! One farmer from my childhood, when they still used horses for just about everything (before most of them had tractors), said that the word “woe (whoa)” to a horse meant “STOP!” That’s horse sense! Horses know enough to stop what they are doing when they hear “woe.” I’ve just checked the dictionary for “Whoa!” It still means stop or slow down. When God says something that sounds like “whoa,” let’s pay attention!

The Lord, through Jeremiah, reminded King Jehoiakim about his dad, King Josiah, whom God said did what was right. Josiah was just and righteous. “He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well!!!” (Jeremiah 22:15-16).

Yours for a “Horse Sense” commitment, something which is all too uncommon…just doing something because it is the right thing to do,

David

P.S. Jeremiah’s detailed prophecies have come true. They are now history. Peter describes the Bible Prophets as giving “the prophetic word made more sure” (2 Peter 1:19a). Today is “Groundhog Day” across North America. It is said that when a groundhog comes out of his underground burrow February 2nd and does not see his shadow, it is a “prophetic” word indicating an early Spring. If this is true it will be chance. Only God knows the future, and He told Jeremiah the “Word made more sure!” Of course, the groundhog folklore is just for fun. God’s prophets were dead serious!

An artistic rendering of the core of Jerusalem created in 1660 AD (from the Library of Christ Church in Jerusalem).

FIRE IN MY BONES

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 20-21

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

Underneath the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, pilgrims can visit stone pavings which are believed to be the “Pavement,” “Gabbatha,” (Lithostrotos). Nearby, Pilate had his judgment seat (John 19:13). This place is considered the second station of the Via Dolorosa (the path that Jesus took while carrying His cross on His way to be crucified). The Roman soldiers’ game in Lithostrotos pavement can still be seen as shown in the picture. Markings in the paving stones indicate a dice game known as, “The King’s Game.” It may be that this was where Jesus was mocked by the placing of a crown of thorns on His head, the old robe of royal purple, and the words, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (John 19:2-3).

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

Key Verse: Jeremiah 20:9

Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,

Nor speak anymore in His name.”

But His word was in my heart like a burning fire

Shut up in my bones;

I was weary of holding it back,

And I could not.

Jeremiah considered being “politically correct” and keeping quiet about God’s Word of judgment which the people were bringing upon themselves. However, regardless of the pressure to be silent, he continued to shout God’s message of warning, calling for repentance! Is it possible that we could be so consumed by the fire of God’s Spirit that holding back makes us “weary,” and we open our hearts and out of our mouths comes God’s Word to our generation? What does Jeremiah’s level of commitment look like in the lives of the first generation of those who followed Jesus? Read of the example of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:1-11. Paul wrote, “O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open!” Jesus describes a good man as recorded in Luke 6:45. He says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good…out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks!” This blog’s main purpose is to make sure that our hearts are full of God’s Word daily! Amen! So be it!!!

Jeremiah’s prophecy about King Zedekiah was 100% accurate. Read 2 Kings 25:6-11 and 2 Chronicles 36:11-21. How tragic it was that the leadership of Israel failed to act on the message of Jeremiah 21:8, “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death.'” Moses said, centuries before when he presented the same challenge to Israel, “THEREFORE, CHOOSE LIFE!!!” (Deuteronomy 30:14-20).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I choose life! I pray that I will never falter in that choice, giving in to the pressures of political correctness. You, O Lord, are the Judge, not me. I know that my job is to speak Your Word to those with whom I come into contact. Holy Spirit, I pray that Your breath will blow on the embers of my heart daily, causing fire, as Jeremiah experienced, to burn in my bones so that I feel helpless to contain Your Word for my own benefit only. I ask You for the boldness of Peter and John who said, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I’ve stood several times on the “Pavement” pictured above and tried to explain how the Roman soldiers would use the game engraved on the stone to mock their prisoners. During my first visit in 1968, a Roman Catholic Nun took us down to the level of the ancient street below her convent and explained what happened. She was quite distant, lacking any passion when she explained the place. The next time I visited, the same sister took us downstairs. This time she passionately described how Jesus’ claims to be King were mocked, and then she began to sing, “He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the dead and He is Lord! Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!” I said to her, “Sister, the last time we were here you just gave us cold facts. Something has changed. What has happened?” She answered, “O, I know Him now!” In further conversation I discovered that she had begun attending a charismatic prayer group’s meetings in the Old City of Jerusalem, and she had come into the assurance of her salvation, and been baptized with the Holy Spirit according to Acts 2:4!

I ask my readers, “Do you know Him?” If you have any doubt about this and would like an introduction to Jesus in Person, please, please call 1-866-273-4444 toll free and ask one of our prayer partners to introduce you to Jesus Himself. They, like the Nun in Jerusalem, “KNOW HIM NOW!” The person who will answer the phone is filled with God’s Spirit. They are non-judgmental, loving, caring friends of Jesus! Go ahead, call as soon as possible. It’s available 24/7! If you get a busy signal, please don’t give up! Try until you get through.

Yours for “Knowing Him!”

David

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

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!

THE HUMAN HEART

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 16-17

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

The Arch of Titus in Rome was constructed in 82 AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus’ victory in the Sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD (note the extra photo below of the inside of the Arch). The Arch of Titus has provided the general model for many of the triumphal arches erected since the 16th century, including the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. In the P.S. today is the description of the destruction of Jerusalem according to the Jewish historian, Josephus. The Roman historian, Tacitus, also covers this massacre of Jewish people and the rape of the Temple. It’s not unlike what must have happened to Jerusalem when it was destroyed by the Babylonians hundreds of years earlier as prophesied by Jeremiah.

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

Key Verses: Jeremiah 17:9, 14

The heart is deceitful above all things,

And desperately wicked;

Who can know it?

…Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved, for You are my praise!

Heart disease is our #1 killer physically. Same thing spiritually! Many of us have done “The Daniel Plan,” which will help heal and strengthen that blood pump inside (click here for information), and for spiritual healing there is this blog! “He sent His Word and healed them” (Psalm 107:20a). There’s healing both for the body as well as the soul and spirit in daily, daily, daily reading and meditating on God’s Word!!! For potential new 100words.ca readers, you can start any time and finish in two years (compared to one-year plans, this plan has shorter readings and extra time for meditating). Soak in God’s Word and experience physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing!!!

Jeremiah diagnosed the human heart as deceitful and desperately wicked. Is there a guaranteed healing prescription? Can this terminal heart condition be healed?

The ultimate heart healing treatment is this…Romans 10:8-10. The word “heart” is repeated three times in that passage. It’s an oral medication. You take it by mouth! Speak these words out loud or even whisper them. That gets God’s Word down into our hearts. Healing and wholeness follows. Now, having ingested God’s healing medicine, let’s do as the last words of our key verses instruct us: “You [Almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ] are my [our] praise!”

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, Your Word declares that You “inhabit the praises of [Your people!] Israel!” (Psalm 22:3b). I pray that I will learn more and more to use Scripture in my praise of You! As I do this, I know that I am inhabiting the realm of Your Presence! I’m singing now the glorious hymn of praise, “I Will Praise Him!” (click here for the Messianic Jewish family — believers in Jesus — The Isaacs singing this hymn). Let us praise God together!!! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

It can be discouraging to read Jeremiah because of his prophecies of woe. I heard a preacher on the local Christian radio station say, “When God says, ‘Woe,’ it means, Whoa!” That’s horse language for STOP!!!” Good advice?

I debated whether or not to quote the Jewish historian Josephus in his description of the next destruction of Jerusalem after the one prophesied by Jeremiah. There are probably similarities in both destructions of the city which the religious and political leaders brought on themselves. When God is not wanted and when He withdraws as a result, all hell breaks loose. This quote is from 70 A.D., after thousands of Christian Jews had left Jerusalem, as they were warned in a prophecy to escape. In case you don’t want to read of such horror, I’ll put it in a post script.

Yours for ingesting God’s Word and inhabiting, as God does, the PRAISE SPACE!!!

David

P.S. Josephus, a Jew, was in Jerusalem under the protection of the future Roman Emperor Titus when he wrote, “You would have thought the hill on which the Temple stood was boiling from the bottom upwards, that everywhere was a mass of flames, that here lay a sea of blood deeper than the fire, that there were more killed than killers. You could not see a single piece of ground anywhere because it was so thickly covered with bodies, forcing the soldiers to climb over them in order to reach further victims.”

Inside the Arch of Titus in Rome, one side depicts the Roman soldiers removing the menorah, table of showbread and silver trumpets from the Temple as it was destroyed in AD 70.

TERRIBLE

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 14-15

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

Here is a modern building in the Old City of Jerusalem made with the same type of stone that the ancients used to build Jerusalem. This is the Aish Hatorah World Centre, built by the Dan family of Canada. On top of this building, encased in glass, is a replica model of the Temple that once sat upon the Temple Mount. The history of Jerusalem is “terrible.” It has been destroyed and rebuilt more times than any other city on earth.

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

Key Verse: Jeremiah 15:21b

I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.

The word “terrible” refers to that which causes TERROR! We’re all familiar with that word and with the Satan-inspired evil of terrorism. Jerusalem suffered from lack of rain and from attacks by its enemies in the years prior to its total destruction by the Babylonian (Iraq) army. The people were terrorized and yet they did not turn with all their hearts to the true and living God. Jeremiah refused to cease his prayers of intercession for his people. He prayed, “Are You not He, O Lord our God? Therefore, we will wait for You!” In spite of what Jeremiah calls, “the grip of the terrible,” he adamantly refuses to give up on God!

Chapter 14 tells us of those claiming to be prophets who speak lies using God’s Name. Contrast this with Jeremiah, God’s true spokesperson. God’s person, when God’s Word is read, “eats the book!” (Jeremiah 15:16). The man or woman of God inwardly digests God’s book! We are doing this daily here in this blog. The result is, as Jeremiah experienced, “Joy and rejoicing of my heart!”

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, just as Jeremiah refused to give up his preaching of Your Word, so I pray that I will never give up sharing Your Word in every possible way. Teach me, O Lord, to be more effective in intercessory prayer, waiting in faith for Your deliverance from “the grip of the terrible!” I pray this in the Name of the greatest Intercessor, Jesus Christ, Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I’ve just read the intercessory prayer of Jesus (John 17:1-26). Jesus, in His life and death on the Cross, experienced the greatest and most “terrible” disaster possible, and He accomplished redemption. The word “mortgage” means “death” (mort) “grip” (gage). According to the dictionary, the word “redemption” means “the act of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment.” The word “redemption” comes to us in the English language from Latin and literally means “buy back.” Ever heard of Ivan the Terrible, Czar of Russia? He built St. Bazil’s Cathedral to celebrate his victory over the Muslim Tartars (picture below). He made England’s Henry VIII look good. Ivan was excommunicated by the Orthodox Church, but he was so “religious” (like many in Jeremiah’s day) that he made a hole in the wall of the church and would stand outside in below zero weather for two hours each Sunday morning, so he could still observe the service inside. His wife and children were only allowed to sit in the balcony.

Yours for God’s deliverance from dead, religious observance and for the reality of the experience described by Jeremiah, “Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16b),

David

St. Bazil’s Cathedral, Moscow, in the winter.

An artist’s depiction of Ivan the Terrible.

MY PEOPLE

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 11-13

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

Here in Nazareth Village an actor holds up a scroll in the synagogue. During Jeremiah’s time, a lost scroll, probably the book of Deuteronomy, the Covenant, was discovered and read to the people on the instructions of good King Josiah. A short-lived spiritual revival resulted.

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

Key Verses: Jeremiah 11:3-5

“…Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God, that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.’ Then I answered and said, ‘So be it Lord [Amen].'”

The discovery of the lost book of the Law (probably Deuteronomy) happened on Jeremiah’s watch (read 2 Kings 22:8-13). It taught about the curses for disobedience and the blessings for obedience to the words of the covenant. Many times Israel had said “Amen,” or “So be it Lord!” They would be blessed for a time and then break the covenant and suffer the curses they would bring upon themselves. The Lord’s “green olive tree” (spiritual Israel), which He had planted and which, from time to time, had produced “lovely and good fruit,” would now be broken down and burned. How sad and how unnecessary!

The first 6 verses of Jeremiah 12 are addressed to Anathoth, Jeremiah’s hometown. Jeremiah proclaimed his message from God with a broken heart. In today’s reading, Jeremiah asks 12 questions. Four question words are used: “What,” “Why,” “How,” and “Where.” The “When” question is conditional upon the response of the people. The final words of Jeremiah 13 are, “O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?”

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Yes, yes Lord God, I ask to be made clean and to be kept clean through the washing of the blood which Your Son and my Saviour shed on the Cross. I pray for grace to “walk in the light as He is in the light,” and then I experience 24/7 that “the blood of Jesus Christ [Messiah] cleanses us…” (1 John 1:5-10). With my faith in Jesus Christ, the final Sacrifice for sin, I trust You, Lord! AMEN!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

It was a great comfort to me to hear my Father, Rev. Dr. Roy Mainse, preach a message from 1st John on “cleansing.” My father had returned from his mission in Egypt and had taken on the responsibility of pastoring two churches. I moved back home with Dad and attended both churches, where I heard the same message twice. That particular message has stuck with me ever since. He said that the word “cleanseth” (he used old King James english) is in the present perfect tense in the original Greek language. I learned that as I asked God for cleansing (Jeremiah’s question, “Will you still not be made clean?”), I have been made clean and I am being made clean constantly in God’s sight. The Greek verb “cleanseth” means that it has happened and that it continues to happen. I had been struggling with this issue during that first year after I had made my lifetime decision to serve Christ fully. I know that in my eyes and experience I am a sinner, but God sees me through the cleansing blood of Jesus and only in Jesus am I made pure and holy.

Yours for daily shining the light of God’s Word into our personal lives!

David

P.S. I gained so much under my Dad’s ministry that year. Here’s a picture of my Father, a truly great man in my eyes.

My father, Rev. Dr. Roy Lake Mainse (1896-1972).

A FOUNTAIN OF TEARS

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 9-10

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

The desolation of one of the ancient streets of Laodicea (in present day Turkey). Today’s reading tells us of Jerusalem becoming “A heap of ruins” (Jeremiah 9:11a).

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

Key Verse: Jeremiah 9:1

Oh, that my head were waters,

And my eyes a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night

For the slain of the daughter of my people!

Jeremiah experienced the broken heart of God and he wept! “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), and He also wept over Jerusalem! Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34). The sorrow of Jeremiah is over, but the sorrow of Jesus, because He is alive and He sees all, continues to this very day. Jesus’ compassion continues in His mercy and willingness to forgive us our sins. If we have caused Him to weep over us currently, turn back to Him now. One of the most often repeated verses in the Bible is, “His mercy endures forever” (the entire 136th Psalm).

According to my son-in-law, Rev. Nizar Shaheen, who reads the Old Testament in the original languages, Jeremiah 10:11 is not in Hebrew but in the universal language of the time, Aramaic. Jeremiah wanted all nations to know that their gods would perish! It was believed that these gods controlled the heavens and the earth, but Jeremiah proclaimed that the Lord God of Israel, the sole Creator of the universe, has sovereign control of it all (read again Jeremiah 10:11-13).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God of Jeremiah, I recognize that You, and You alone, are the great Creator, and that You, and You alone, took upon Yourself my sin and wrong when You suffered on the Cross. I weep over my sin and over the sin of the world. May I, like Jeremiah, proclaim Your Truth and Your Mercy to the world around me in a way that people can understand. I pray in the Name of the Saviour Who wept over the needs of all people, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I stood in amazement on the street in front of the Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, as I heard a young priest preaching at the top of his voice that the terrible famine which had devastated the country was the result of the people turning away from God. He did this despite the risk in a country with an atheistic, communist government that had seized power and executed all male members of the family of the late Emperor Haile Selassie. This young man was fearless! He also proclaimed that if the people would turn back to God, He would have mercy on them. Crossroads raised, with matching funds from the Canadian Government, over 7 million dollars for the Ethiopian famine relief. I have no doubt that we were a part of the answer to the weeping prayers of the Ethiopian people. In fact, it was the tears of a former Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, who was seen to weep on the national Canadian news as he visited Ethiopia on his way home from the funeral of Indira Ghandi of India. There was an immediate initiative to act and give to help save lives.

“The Wailing Wall” is pictured below. Here, Jews and some non-Jews pray and sometimes weep and wail because of the destruction of Jerusalem. The word “wailing” is repeated three times in today’s reading. Several times during my life, in times of great crisis, I have experienced “wailing,” but not when anyone could hear me. After the death of loved ones in the Middle East, one can often hear the sound of wailing. The people are not ashamed of expressing their extreme grief. These people say that we who live in the west do not know how to grieve properly in order to express our pain. We do tend to keep it all inside and psychologists tell us that failure to express our deep grief is emotionally harmful.

Yours for genuine sorrow for our sins and for those things that break God’s heart!

David

Our former Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, at the “Wailing Wall” in Jerusalem.

THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 7-8

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

Among the ruins of ancient Ephesus, Turkey, are these larger than usual stone ossuaries, which were used to house people’s skeletal remains. “Bones” are mentioned five times in the first verse of Jeremiah 8.

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

Key Verses: Jeremiah 7:23

But this is what I commanded them, saying, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.”

Jeremiah 7 begins what is known as the “Temple Sermon.” God’s instructions to Jeremiah were that he was to stand at the gate of the Temple and deliver this message as the throngs of people were entering for worship. The people of Judah were still very religious outwardly, but Jeremiah’s message was that they were hypocritical. Several times Jeremiah made the point that “They did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward” (7:24). They practiced what is called “syncretism,” the amalgamation of what otherwise would be two or more distinct religions. In their case, it was an attempt to worship the God of Israel and also the god Molech. Some of them, including King Jehoiakim, who turned away from the reforms of his father, Josiah, had reverted to the practices of his grandfather, Mannaseh (2 Kings 21:3-6).

Chapter 8 predicts the coming judgment as a result of their syncretism. Their bones will bleach in the sun. There’s an old hymn which captures the essence of faithfulness to the One and only true God: “Trust and Obey!” Here’s a musical rendition of this foundational truth! (click here).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God of Israel, through Your Son and my Saviour, I pray for the grace of obedience to You, and to the worship of You and You alone! The Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed in Jeremiah’s day, rebuilt by Ezra and Herod, and then destroyed again. Your temple in this age is my body, and may I keep my body pure and in good shape for You, Lord, and may You alone live in my innermost thoughts, attitudes, intentions and actions. Amen!!! (1 Corinthians 6:12-20).

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

My experiences with people practicing syncretism are many. The most common being church Sunday morning and then a variety of practices common to eastern religions during the week. The most dramatic example happened in the summer of 1976. I was in Winnipeg staying in the home of the pro football player Larry Kerychuk when the phone rang. The local Roman Catholic priest was looking for a Holy Spirit-filled minister to accompany him on an exorcism. I agreed, but conditional on the content of the priest’s testimony of his personal journey with Christ. I heard a miraculous story of the power of the Holy Spirit transforming his life. We showed up at a home of recent immigrants from Brazil, where manifestations were reported (we didn’t see any) of objects moving around the rooms mysteriously without human help. We discovered that back in Brazil the husband and father had been in the practice of attending Mass Sunday mornings and voodoo ceremonies Sunday evenings. We discerned that these spirits were not filling the house but the man. He wanted to be free of these, and we took authority in Jesus’ Name, cast out these evil spirits, and he was set free. The whole family received Jesus by faith as Saviour and Lord! The last report is that never again did this occult manifestation occur.

Yours for bringing men, women, boys and girls into genuine experiences in a saving relationship with Jesus!

David

P.S. If you want a blow-by-blow account of the various destructions of Jerusalem, I recommend a book I’m currently reading by Desmond Seward called, “Jerusalem’s Traitor: Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea” (here is a listing for it on Amazon.com).

RETURNING GOD’S CALLS

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 5-6

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

Here is part of an ancient road that is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. An artist depicts what the rest of it might have looked like from the time of Jesus. How tragic that such a beautiful city should be reduced to rubble with its people either killed or taken as slaves.

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

Key Verses: Jeremiah 6:10

To whom shall I speak and give warning,

That they may hear?

Indeed their ear is uncircumcised,

And they cannot give heed.

Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them;

They have no delight in it.

Jeremiah 5:21-25 is God’s attempt to communicate with His people in Jerusalem. He says, “Hear this now!” We bring disaster upon ourselves when we fail to listen to God’s Word! It’s not His fault! It’s ours! Jeremiah and a few others heard God, but the political leadership and the majority would not listen.

In our key verse in Jeremiah 6, God seems to be giving up after many attempts to communicate. The time comes when God resigns Himself to allowing the stubborn free will of people to prevail. He’s not wanted, and He won’t force Himself on them, which would reduce His people, made in His image, to being puppets and robots who are forced to do His will. God knows when He is not wanted and He withdraws. The communications breakdown is never at God’s end of the line. People hang up on Him!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, You promised that You would answer when I call You! You said, and I quote You, “Call to Me and I will answer you!!!” (Jeremiah 33:3). I’ve heard that reference called, “God’s telephone number.” I pray that You will keep me alert to hear You and to answer when You call me! I hear You calling me now and I hear Your voice as I read Your Word to me through Jeremiah. I say, “Yes Lord, I hear You!!!” Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

For the first 15 years of Crossroads television, the Lord sent in enough money to pay all our bills to cover the costs of the 30-minute weekly Crossroads show and the 30-minute Circle Square show for children. Never did I mention money on TV. When we signed the contract for release of the daily 100 Huntley Street telecast, I was shocked to hear what I believe was the voice of God saying to me, “David, you are going to have to ask for people’s support on TV. I don’t have enough people who take the time to hear My voice to raise the necessary funds for this expansion.” I was dumfounded, but said “Yes, Lord.” One way or the other, God made sure that bills were paid and that His Name was honoured by that fact. But that’s a very small thing compared to the failure to listen to God on the part of the people of Jerusalem, who were not only failing to pay attention to God, but who had deliberately disobeyed Him after they had heard His words through Jeremiah!

Yours for listening quietly, carefully and obediently to God’s Word!!!

David

Below is a picture of the big rock in front of the Crossroads Centre. The words on the plaque (see caption) are from Jeremiah 6:16, the New International Version translation. Instead of the word “ways” inferring a crossroads as in the NKJV, it actually uses the word “crossroads” in the NIV. This is an essential message from God to each one of us.

The plaque below the big rock outside the Crossroads Centre in Burlington reads, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).