- Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. Jeremiah 28:3 – Imagine with me two churches. One church gives the message that God is all love, you never have to change anything about your life to be with God, and you can come to Him however you feel works best for you. The other church though shares the message of scripture that teaches yes God is loving, but our sin needs to be ended in our life and only through Jesus can we come to the Father. Which church do you feel would have more of a draw from the world? Likely church number one that said you don’t have to change anything about your life, do you and do life how you want. That message is far more appealing, and so was the message from the false prophet Hananiah. He prophesied peace to the people, a message that the hurting people of Judah would have loved to have heard, but it wasn’t the truth. Some messages we’ll hear from Christians and churches will be like the one in our verse above. The messages will be so pleasing to our ears, they will be the very words we’ve been longing to hear, but they won’t be true. We then must make the choice, do we want to live by pleasing sounding yet untrue words, or do we want to live by the true words of the Lord that are difficult to hear sometimes. For God’s word does call us to change our ways. His words will call us to surrender to Him and obey His will rather than our will. No, these words are not as appealing as “do whatever you want whenever you want”, but the result of choosing to follow the Lord’s words over the lies is far greater than anything you’ll find pursuing words that are false. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3258
- For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field. Jeremiah 28:14 – There may be no real connection between these two scriptures, but I couldn’t help but see a unique foreshadowing here. God is saying that He has established Nebuchadnezzar, even giving to him the beasts of the field. Then later on in Neb’s story, it was when he was out of his mind, in the field acting as a beast that he looked up and realized it was God who established him. God wants you to realize it’s been Him all along establishing your path. Not your power or mind or effort. It’s been Him. Let’s take the necessary moments in our day to stop and thank God for how He has blessed and established our story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 947
- Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. Jeremiah 28:10 – As an example of what sort of burden was to be placed on God’s people for not submitting to His ways, Jeremiah literally wore a wooden yoke around his neck. He took his calling very seriously and took the proclamation of God’s message just as serious. What we see in this passage is this other prophet came in, shared a completely different message, and broke the yoke around Jeremiah’s neck to counter the words of Jeremiah. This is the harsh reality you’ll be stepping into as you take seriously your call. People will pushback. They will counter what you have to say and seek to break your efforts of getting God’s word out. When this pushback comes, don’t be surprised for every generation of the church has had pushback just like this. Remember that the message you are standing up for and seeking to get out is not your own, but one that God has given us through His holy scriptures. It’s also a message of life and love for those who are willing to listen to it. Keep sharing then what God has called you to share about Him. Yes, expect pushback, but let the thrill of seeing more people in Heaven with us someday push you through the pushback. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2160
Daily DEVO 