True Hope

Once the people understood that Jeremiah had been telling the truth they realized there was as much hope as doom and gloom in it. Jeremiah 29:10-14 gives us a foundation of hope for the future.

God’s Word – (We have the Bible to guide us)

This is what the LORD says:

Completion of exile (God forgives but there are always consequences from sin)

When seventy years are completed for Babylon,

God’s promise (Future hope = Present hope)

I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.

God’s plan (God is in control)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,

God has our future in mind (He wants good things for His children)

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Our response to God’s goodness (We must react to His goodness and love)

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Cause and Effect (We must seek God with all we have)

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Godly outcome (He holds the future)

I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Be wise today and always – apply God’s promises to your life.

False Hope

In the midst of our trials and struggles it is good to hear someone say, “It’s going to be okay.” The problem is that we think that “being okay” is the way it used to be. So many times when we come out of trials in life normal isn’t normal any more. Being all right doesn’t look like it used too.

This “false hope” is as old as time itself, and can cause a lot of damage. This happened in Jerusalem after the Babylonians had taken over, and removed people and valuables to Babylon. A false prophet named Hannaniah told the people left what they wanted to hear. “In less than two years everything will return to normal”.  Meanwhile God had the true prophet, Jeremiah wearing a wooden animal yoke to show the bondage.

Look what happens in Jeremiah 28:12-17, ¹² After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. ¹⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.’” ¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. ¹⁶ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’” ¹⁷ In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

What false prophets do we hear from today, and how can you recognize them?

Be wise today and always – live by the truth.

 

Answers

Today we are starting a new series at my church called "God Questions". I believe that we'll learn a lot from God's Word about tough questions that we all have. The Bible has always been a wonderful source of answers, and we're promised if we seek God we will find Him. I think that goes the same for finding answers.

David gives great advise to his son, Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28:9, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

All wisdom and hope comes from him. We just need to be listening.

Be wise today and always - seek God and you will find Him.

Come to Your Senses

There comes a time in all of our lives when we need to "come to our senses" in Christ. It usually happens after some sort of rebellion or doubting. We see this in the story of the Prodigal Son.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! - Luke 15:17 He knew that he must return to his Father and ask for forgiveness.

Our story is much the same. We must return to Father God and ask His forgiveness as well.
 
Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. - 1Corinthians 15:34

and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. - 1 Timothy 2:26

What do you need to "come to your senses" about today?

Father God is waiting.

Be wise today and always - return to where your help comes from.

Pray and Believe

Do you ever pray for something, but deep inside you are skeptical about it coming true? Let's be honest - we've all been there. We be the outcome on our prayer based on our intellect, traditions, or experiences. But God is so much bigger than that.

Peter was in prison and more likely he was going to be beheaded the next day. The church didn't know what else to do, so they prayed for him in Acts 12.

⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. ⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
¹² When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

When in doubt always pray, but believe God does have the power to do things that you never thought possible!

Be wise today and always - pray and believe.

Hope for the Hopeless

I love this story from Luke 4. Jesus shares what His ministry is all about, and who it is for: me and you (the whole world). See if you find yourself in His words.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

Life is hard, but hope springs anew. Jesus came for the brokenhearted, poor, afflicted, hurting, in bondage, prisoners, blind, and the oppressed. He came to give us freedom, forgiveness, and hope.

 

Have you accepted it?

 

Be wise today and always - praise God for giving us hope and a future.

Hold On

We all know this passage from Luke 23. It has been used through-out the ages as an example that there is always hope, and it's never too late to accept Christ.
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. ³³ When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
³⁶ The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
³⁸ There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The thief who repented is promised salvation and eternity with Christ. Good news right? Did you notice what didn't happen? His misery on the cross continued. He watched Jesus die, and then had his legs broken before he died. We skip over this to focus on eternity but the redeemed man still suffered.

Many times people think that a Christian life is filled with only good things and happiness. It is not Scriptural. I heard someone say that the thief still suffered but his "quality of life" was so much better! As you go through life there will be pain and suffering. Facing it with Christ will bring you through.

Be wise today and always - hold on to Christ through the suffering.