Today’s spiritual meal comes out of a conversation I had with a young man a few months ago that had fallen away from God for a few years and was given the impression by other Christians that he had attended church with, that he was just lost. It’s at times like these that Christianity gets a black eye. I got him back on the right path and repenting for falling away and gave him a chance to keep an open dialogue with me. Here comes a Word from scripture for us all. I ask that wherever the Lord mentions Israel, substitute where you are in its place.
Today’s Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, remind us that bitterness and hopelessness are not just emotions, but rather choices that we make. Help us each day to count our blessings and to give You thanks, for we can always “choose” our attitude. Help us to choose to walk each day with You, so that we can find an inner joy and the “peace of God which surpasses all understanding.” In Your Holy name we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Hope for the Wayward
Jeremiah 3:11-22
Then the Lord said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord, have spoken! “Return home, you wayward children,” says the Lord, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel—one from this town and two from that family— from wherever you are scattered. And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding. “And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the Lord, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the Lord.’ All nations will come there to honor the Lord. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave their ancestors as an inheritance forever. “I thought to myself, ‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’ I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land— the finest possession in the world. I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’ and I wanted you never to turn from me. But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people. For they have chosen crooked paths and have forgotten the Lord their God.
“My wayward children,” says the Lord, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”
“Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply, “for you are the Lord our God.
Quote of the Day
Since the days of Pentecost, has the whole church ever put aside every other work and waited upon Him for ten days, that the spirit’s power might be manifested? We give too much attention to method and machinery and resources, and too little to the source of power. ~Jeremy Taylor~