Good morning to all on this Father's Day and a shout out to all the father's in the house!! I woke up this morning with Praise on my lips and God on my mind. Joyce Meyer often talks about the battlefield of the mind in that Satan tries to incapacitate you with negative thinking. It is so true!! So when he is attacking me I just simply start thanking Jesus for everything. Yesterday my littlest grandson Kai caught a lizard. He loves to catch things like frogs, spiders and lizards and then he puts them in this little cage his Mom bought him. He took a picture of it and insisted that I be sent the picture. He named the lizard Stephanie. He thought enough about me to name a lizard after me! What a gift! A simple gift like that can uplift anyone. These moments are proof positive of the love of God for me. His eye is on the Sparrow and I know He watches me. A shout out to Little Mama and her baby in the Bun. God's blessings on you this day!!
I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 28 verses 1-17, "In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon." Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord. He (Jeremiah) said, “Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true. Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, and he said before all the people, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way. After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “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. 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. 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. 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.’”In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died." May God add a blessing to the reading and hearing of his Word.
Wow! Talk about subtle. In the previous chapters Jeremiah foretold the bondage of the Israelites to the king of Babylon. This bondage was necessary to test the obedience of the children of Israel to the Will of God. God did not foretell of a early release because He was using this time to weed out those Jews who were going to be obedient and those who would remain in their sin. No one likes to be in bondage so Hananiah took it upon himself to predict the early release of the Israelites from the Babylonians. I am sure he became the most popular person in the congregation because he was preaching a message that everyone wanted to hear. He became the oracle of truth for a short time AND THERE-IN LIES THE LESSON!! The children of Israel were in their very predicament because of their disobedience and reliance on false gods and teachings. Instead of being obedient to God their Father, they wanted to believe in the morality of men. They began to preach that there are many paths to God and that you didn't have to be obedient to win favor with God. Sound familiar??? Satan said the same thing to Eve in the Garden when tempting her to eat of the forbidden fruit --in Genesis 3: 4-5 Satan very cunningly approaches Eve and says "You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
There are many false prophets today that will try and make you believe that a Benevolent God would create many "paths" to a relationship with Him. That being a morale person is enough or we will see Buddhists, Muslims, Jews and others in the Kingdom of Heaven. My response is always the same--yes we will see morale people in heaven as well as Buddhists, Muslims, and Jews who have ACCEPTED THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN THAT COMES THROUGH THE ACCEPTANCE OF CHRIST AS LORD. I don't care who you are and how righteous people think you are, if you have not accepted Christ as Savior and Lord you will be in the lake of fire with Satan and will not spend eternity with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. YOUR MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
There will be a lot of good and moral people in hell wondering what went wrong. Our jobs as Christians is to be bold like Jeremiah and tell the people Not what they want to hear, but to preach the Good News that Christ was conceived, was born, lived, died and .....................ROSE AGAIN because He conquered the grave for all those that accept Him as Lord. It is our job to be like Jeremiah and spread the Good News as commanded by God. Don't be deceived in these last days that there are many paths to God. There is ONLY ONE and that is Jesus the Christ.
Now may the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Stephanie
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