Bible In One Year-Day 154 (Tuesday, June 3, 2014)

Commentary: Jer49-52. The judgment of God on all nations was further declared over these chapters. Babylon happened to be the instrument for executing this judgment. However, Babylon was not spared because she was also guilty of the sins of the other nations; idolatry. God is a righteous God and He is no respecter of persons. He only takes delight in whoever is prepared to obey Him. Jeremiah described this God thus in;

Jeremiah 51:15 “He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.”

When He judges or forgives, it stands unchanged by any one, whether they go by it or not. This is why He is call “HIS MAJESTY”; i.e. no one can query His actions.

Babylon received the most terrifying judgment because she was guilty of the sins of those nations God judged. Jesus said in the book of Luke;

Luke 13:4 “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Whatever we see around us is always a message. The man of God should therefore be careful in his doings because preaching against sin on the pulpit should firstly be applied to his personal life otherwise, if not the devil, God Himself could judge him. Every Christian should consider his or her ways before judging others;

Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”

James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Nebuchadnezzar had the grace to be God’s instrument of judgment but, unfortunately, he took pride in it which eventually led him to sin against God.

Whatever gift you have must be used in obedience to God’s instructions, humility of heart and in righteousness. The gift you have is not the yardstick to heaven, but how much it works in your heart and life. King Saul got the wonderful gifts that would make him function very well in his capacity as a king from God after Samuel anointed him but he did not humble himself in them. He takes decisions without consulting God. Lack of humility can make one to lose any spiritual gift. It could even make one to be a shame. It could lead to untimely death.

2 Chronicles 34:27 “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.”

God hears and attends to a humble heart faster than you could ever imagine. What God wanted to achieve in Israel was done through the hand of the Babylonian king. Humility would be found in them as the prophecy says;

Jeremiah 50:4-5 “In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”

In all we go through, God’s goal is for humility to be found in us. Gentleness is not humility. These are two different things. Gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, i.e. nature of the Holy Spirit which HE exhibits through you. But humility is the state of your own spirit, i.e. your submission to the help of the Holy Spirit to work on you and how you regard another person, not considering yourself better than another; counting grace as an undeserved gift of God, not by works. When you are humble, it means PRIDE is hidden from you.

Job 33:17 “That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.”

Humility is total yield to the directives of the Holy Spirit; you can’t vindicate yourself, but allowing God to do it for you. It is absolutely the opposite of pride. In the school of God, this is a very important and paramount course or subject. Joseph took this course in the prison and that was why he was friendly to other prisoners and warders. His gifts, he attributed the praise to God. That was not the case with King Saul. King Saul was honored without going through this school, unfortunately, he couldn’t defend that certificate of honor; he was stripped of the garment of honor. We need the School of humility where many subjects are taught for you to manage the next level; the subject of poverty for you to manage wealth, subject of persecution and name calling for you to manage praise, the subject of humiliation for you to manage honor, etc. When God takes you through this process, it means He has something great inside of you which He wants to activate after graduation from His school. Some adversities are not demonic but enrolment in the school of God Almighty towards a purpose or goal. Remember Joseph. No one really gets honored by God without graduating from the School of Humility.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is 1Chronicles1-3. Keep the fire burning and alive

Proverbs 15:33 “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”

Proverbs 22:4 “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.”

1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

Bible In One Year-Day 153 (Monday, June 2, 2014)

Commentary: Jer46-48. The reading of these chapters clearly shows why God gave the warning to the remnant of Judah not to go to Egypt and other nations but to submit to the King of Babylon. Recall from previous readings;

Jeremiah 27:6 “And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.”

Jeremiah 27:8 “And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.”

The hand of Nebuchadnezzar was ordained and anointed for special assignment. The assignment was that God’s judgment was going to be executed through the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. The warnings given to the remnant of Judah against their running to Egypt was because Egypt was already judged and for this reason God told Jeremiah not to pray them out of submitting to Nebuchadnezzar for their good;

Jeremiah 14:11 “Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.” The remnant thought submitting to Nebuchadnezzar would be too oppressive, insulting, and that running to Egypt would be a succor. Little did they know that all nations had been judged and the only place of security and peace was Babylon. Beloved, our difficult and seemingly oppressive moments could be the best for us, especially if you are the praying type. Haggai was told to go back to Sarah while she was running away from Sarah. As at the time she was with Sarah, though oppressive, she still had her conveniences taken care of. But on fleeing, it was more difficult to live to the point that she abandoned her son to die.

Many of us run away from places that seemed unbearable for another place that seemed good without asking God for divine direction. Not all that glitter is gold, as the saying goes. Three nations were mentioned so far in these three chapters; Egypt, Philistines and Moab. Egypt was a nation thought to be very strong in security and warfare not knowing that as far as heaven was concerned it was powerless;

Jeremiah 46:17 “They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.”

Philistines was looked upon as a place of recreation and strong military attainment, but a flood of destruction has been prepared as a standard against her ability;

Jeremiah 47:3 “At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;”

Moab was unusually peaceful and lacked no food. Moab was praise before nations to the point she arrogated her achievement to her intelligence. But as far as heaven was concern, a garment of shame and ridicule was already prepared for her. Her pride was taken away and her praise withdrawn (Jer48:2, 7, 11, 13 and 29 ). Her shame would be so resounding that people who hear would wonder;

Jeremiah 48:42 “And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.”

The difficult times we go through does not mean that God will not visit us, but from what we have read, it is to shake some things that would have harmed us and which we hold tightly onto out of our hands. He has His ways of humbling us. The sin of all this nations was idolatry and this was why He dealt with them in favor of Israel initially but they also turned out to be culprits.

Leviticus 18:24-26 “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:”

It is good for us to learn from these chapters. There are yokes that are convenient; these are God’s yokes.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

God’s yoke and burden are the only inconveniences that lead to rest and comfort. Jeremiah’s ministry was very painful but that was the only thing he could do on earth that would give him a good end. He asked God some questions because he never thought he had to suffer if he was doing the will of God;

Jeremiah 15:17-18 “I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?”

You cannot escape painful experiences whilst bearing Christ’s cross; you only need to stay focused and not be distracted. The convenience in it is that His grace will sustain you; what could have ordinarily killed a person becomes a means of pruning and preparing for another level of glory to be revealed.

Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

If you are going through some difficult times, it is better for you to prayerfully seek the Lord’s face to know the source of it; if it is demonic attack or your personal mistake due to ignorance, cry for the Finger of God to rescue you from its grip and torment. But if the yoke is God’s, count it all joy because the end of it is always glorious; that is an approved enemy. It is not kill you but to prepare you for the next level.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

Not every pain we have to pray to be removed. Jesus also concluded after much travail in prayer that the cup before Him was the will of His Father and therefore had to drink it; the end was glorious. Every glorious destiny has its convenient yoke that drags it to the glorious rest. Apostle Paul’s approved enemy was the thorn in the flesh. Any yoke that keeps you on your knees praying to God or that keeps you closer to God is a good yoke. The one that is making you to prefer holiness and righteousness to sinning is a good one. However, whichever is dragging you further and further from God towards destruction is not of God but demonic and must be broken for your total deliverance. Joseph had his approved enemy at every stage of his life until he got to the seat of fulfillment.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. May the Lord give us the grace to overcome our weaknesses in the name of Jesus. Our reading for today is Jer49-52. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Bible In One Year-Day 152 (Sunday, June 1, 2014)

Commentary: Jer43-45. Each time you see Jeremiah do some prophetic action, it means that the matter was concluded in the spirit realm and the words that follows such actions were the judgment established in heaven, Jer43:9-13. The Bible tagged the leadership of the people as proud and wherever you see pride, disobedience is there;

Jeremiah 43:2 “Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:”

Pride is a sign that Satan has taken over just as humility is a token of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The nature of the Holy Spirit is gentleness and humility but that of Satan is pride. Pride made him to disobey the God in heaven, Isaiah14:12-15.

Isaiah 14:12-15 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

Pride is a thing of the heart with selfish notations as “I”. Pride makes one to pervert God’s word. Satan carried the word of God to Adam and Eve with the intention to deceive them, he did it to Jesus also. Satan is still doing it. In Jer42, they sent Jeremiah to God and with a promise that they would do whatever God said. Again they wanted God to say what they had in mind. They despised God’s counsel which Jeremiah was not comfortable with;

Jeremiah 42:20 “For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.”

They rejected God’s counsel and carried every one of them along to Egypt, including Jeremiah. For this reason, God instructed Jeremiah to carry out the prophetic action as a sign of God’s judgment. Nebuchadnezzar was an instrument of divine judgment in the hand of God. Egypt as a nation was not an issue to God as at this very time but the disobedience of the remnant of Judah to God’s counsel caused the unfavorable judgment. They trusted in Egypt instead of God. Though they changed their position (i.e. from Jerusalem to Egypt), their orientation was not changed (burning incense to the queen of heaven). What they did in Jerusalem was what they embarked on in Egypt;

Jeremiah 44:16-17 “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.”

God’s judgment after this statement was very serious, and Pharaoh was seriously affected. Chapter44 was God’s judgment for their involvement in idolatry. The gift of a man is not what makes God to take delight in the man but his obedience to God’s will and instructions.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is Jer46-48. Keep the fire burning and alive.

1 Samuel 15:22 “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

Bible In One Year-Day 151 (Saturday, May 31, 2014)

Commentary: Jer40-42. The headquarter of Judah moved to Mizpah, not too far from the ruined Jerusalem. A new Governor named Gedaliah was installed. Jeremiah was now respected because his prophecies, hitherto, came to pass without leaving any stone unturned. Shortly after this new government was in place, a coup was planned against it and the Governor was assassinated. Johanan was one of the captains of the forces who had informed Gedaliah about an imminent plot to kill him but he despised the military warning. Eventually he was assassinated. Johanan wanted to kill Ishmael for the evil he did to the remnant of Judah, but Ishmael escaped. The escape of Ishmael brought fear upon them in that if the king of Babylon should hear of Gedaliah’s death, he might hold them responsible. The fear of the king of Babylon made them to want to escape to Egypt for protection. But they had a second thought to inquire of the Lord what heaven decided concerning their destiny. Unfortunately, God disapproved their going to Egypt.

There are two spirits attached to fear. The first one is the spirit of fear;

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

This spirit is not from God but from the devil to make us jealous, intimidated and lose confidence. It makes us to lose our minds. It is the greatest weapon in the hand of Satan. It is the spirit responsible for impatience which eventually pushes us to seek for alternatives with the impression that God is too slow. It is like the rod in the hand of Moses. He was holding it on the side of fear by the burning bush while giving God series of excuses. But when God told him to drop it, it became a serpent. He was asked to pick it up from the side of faith; it became the rod of signs and wonders. Before then there was no testimony recorded about the rod. Fear is a serpent whose poison kills faster than death. Faith, on the other hand, is a substance that moves the hand of God in an unusual manner. That same rod parted the Red Sea, brought water out of the rock. When you hold the rod of prayer in fear, it produces no result, but when you hold it with faith, unusual signs and wonders begin to happen. Many people pray in fear and so eventually get frustrated; their slogan is “I have prayed and fasted but nothing is happening”. Whereas, some just say few words and things happen; the difference is handling the rod of prayer on the right side – FAITH. With faith in prayer, there is power, there is love and there is sound mind (i.e. confidence). This spirit of fear is responsible for dishonesty and treachery. It is bondage. This fear pushes us to do contrary to God’s will and to cover up sin.

The second fear is found in the book of Isaiah;

Isaiah 11:2 “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;”

The Spirit is called “Spirit of the fear of the Lord” You can’t fear God actively without this spirit (i.e. the spirit of man joined with the Spirit of God), though you confess it. With this spirit, humility becomes your garment and you can’t attribute any glory to yourself. You could only be a real solution to man’s problem with this spirit. One could get this spirit only by the baptism of the Holy Spirit; everything you do afterwards is to the glory of God. By this spirit, it becomes so easy to heed and meditate God’s word. You take action based on God’s word and not on information, circumstances or situations around you. This spirit is responsible for discernment, i.e. knowing evil and good. Without this spirit one easily goes astray and into error. This type of fear helps us to do God’s will; it is a good FEAR.

There is only one fear that is allowed in our lives and that is the fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Every other fear will lead to taking actions contrary to God’s will. Other fears are weapons in the hand of the devil to lead God’s people astray.

Johanan and co were men of war but the fear of the Chaldeans made them to despise God’s warning not to go to Egypt;

Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

Fear is what makes Christians to seek for help from the world.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is Jer43-45. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Romans 8:15 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

Bible In One Year-Day 150 (Friday, May 30, 2014)

Commentary: Jer37-39. The life Zedekiah lived is the life many Christians are living now; living between two opinions;

Jeremiah 38:19 “And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.”

On one hand, he feared what the people would say or do and on the other hand, he wanted to hear God’s opinion about his life; whereas, the comfort of the Holy Spirit (revelation and visions presented in prophecies) are for the upright in heart.

Psalms 97:11 “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”

Deep within him, it was not his intention to jail or kill Jeremiah; he only succumbed to pressures from his people. Zedekiah had no mind of his; he was being ruled by his people;

Jeremiah 38:4-5 “Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.”

This is the weakness of the King in his capacity. Three times Zedekiah went to Jeremiah to know God’s opinion but, unfortunately, he did not abide by what he heard and this is exactly the point of our discussion today. People seek for spiritual help but with a set mind. God is not found in the pride of a man’s dignity or achievement but in the humbleness of his heart. A set mind seeking a word from God simply means that such wants God to say what his flesh prefers and not the will of God. It simply means that such wants God to approve the conclusion of the flesh. One thing we need to know is that God remains the same; whatever He says remains the best. Though, for Zedekiah to go and submit to the king of Babylon looks ridiculous, yet it remained the best option for him and for his kingdom to live. All that God wanted to achieve in the life of Zedekiah was to humble him. Shedding of tears, as they say, is not a sign of weakness but simply means that the person has a compassionate heart. God will not change His word at the face of any disobedience because there is no disobedience in heaven. Disobedience was the sin that cast man out of the most beautiful garden that ever existed on earth and until now, the gate leading to that garden is yet to be re-discovered by any man in the flesh. Thank God for the Lord Jesus, the Gate to the beautiful garden.

John 10:7 “Then said Jesus to them again, Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”

Matthew 7:13 “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in by it.”

Zedekiah’s reign was a reign of absolute disobedience to God’s word;

Jeremiah 37:2 “But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.”

On the side of the followers, they tried to silence God by plotting to kill Jeremiah. On the side of the king he tried to change the mind of God by seeking His opinion again and again. This is the life of many Christians; they run from one prophet to the other seeking for the God of tomorrow when they have not obeyed the God of today. Zedekiah was seeking for the God of victory with an unacceptable mindset;

Ezekiel 14:4 “Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;”

A genuine prophet of God will never judge by what he hears from you, rather, he talks according to God’s opinion. Prophets that are called into the office of the prophet don’t walk or work by sight but by the Spirit of the living God. The Spirit judges, whatever the judgment, that is final and is right. Many people go about seeking for the prophet that will tell them what they want to hear and, by this they defect from the just course. Problems are not solved by defecting from the truth. The prophets who prophesy lies will disappear with time and you will be left with the truth. I will humbly like to say this to us, that whatever difficulty we find ourselves, God has something to tell us, and for us to see our testimony over the dark situation, we need to totally yield to God’s opinion. Zedekiah’s case was so pathetic that his sons were killed before his eyes and his eyes were put out after seeing evil;

Jeremiah 39:6-7 “Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.”

This was not God’s fault but his, because he bargained for it. When a person disobeys God, such is bargaining for the consequence of the alternative. Just before this evil befell Zedekiah, Jeremiah begged him to obey God’s word;

Jeremiah 38:19-20 “And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.”

The enemy did not kill Zedekiah but his disobedience killed him. All disobedience is death in the spirit. Adam and Eve opted for death instead of life;

Genesis 2:15-17 “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

The penalty for disobedience is still valid. It was Adam’s choice that brought death into the world today; there was no death hitherto. It was his choice that brought corruptions, sicknesses, diseases, discomfort, confusions, hatred, murder, despair and all other horrible things you could think of.

Where Zedekiah was bargaining for doom, his Eunuch fearlessly confronted the king (Jer38:7-13) concerning Jeremiah not knowing he was making a good bargain for his dear life;

Jeremiah 39:15 “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid.For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.”

Hear this very well, beloved; the race of grace is the race of last chance. We are in the last part to make eternal decisions. God will not force anybody to heaven; it is a matter of choice. The devil, on the other hand, will not force anybody to hell fire; it is a matter of choice. What is your choice today? God’s opinion or the opinion of the populace!

Jeremiah 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

Zedekiah became wise eventually but it was too late. We shall all be wise in the long run; on earth now (good decision if you repent), at the point of death (grace if the opportunity to repent comes like the thief on the cross beside Jesus’) and after death (too late). It was too late for Zedekiah. I pray it will not be too late for you.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. It is not those you think will make heaven that will make it; there shall be surprises that day. ONLY GOD’S STANDARD is the perfect condition to enter the beautiful garden, the new Jerusalem. Our reading for today is Jer40-42. Keep the fore burning and alive.

Jeremiah 21:14 “But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.”

Matthew 25:30 “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into utter darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Luke 13:28 “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”

John 10:9 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”