“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?” (Jeremiah 12:5, ESV).
When Jeremiah began to prophesy about the apostasy of Judah and its future captivity, he received death threats from the people in his hometown of Anathoth. Jeremiah complained to God about this persecution and this verse is the beginning of God’s response to Jeremiah.
“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17, HCSB).
One of the recurring themes in my book, The Kingdom Order: Living for the Future in the Present, is that we should live our life in the present as though it is preparation for eternity. We must allow our hope for an eternal future to impact the way we live in our present reality.
“However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ….As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4: 7,16, NLT).
These verses are the opening and closing of a section in which the Apostle Paul describes the spiritual giftings or specialties God bestows “to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ” (vs. 12).
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever” (Ephesians 3:20-21, ESV).
A superhero is a person who has extraordinary or superhuman powers and is dedicated to protecting the world from evil.
“You lived in this world without God and without hope” (Ephesians 2:12, NLT).
In these verses the Apostle Paul explained that God’s grace was given to the Gentiles (non-Jews), bringing them into His family, and uniting them with Jews in a new community—the body of Christ.
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“God–His way is perfect…He makes my way perfect.” (2 Samuel 22:31,33, HCSB).
Do you ever wonder if you are doing the right thing? If you are accomplishing God’s will in your life?
2 Samuel 22 is a song of thanksgiving composed by King David. It is very similar to Psalm 18. So these two verses are also found in Psalm 18:30,32.
There is a quality of life that Christians enjoy that results from being a believer and follower of Jesus. Jesus referred to it as abundant life: “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10, HCSB).
The Apostle Paul expounds on the spiritual blessings that God supplies His people in the opening chapter and verses of the book of Ephesians.
“This is what the Lord says: Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16, NLT).
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, chided the people of Israel and Judah to repent and warned them of the terrible consequences that awaited them if they refused. He admonished them to follow the tried and true ways of God’s laws, which would lead to rest for their souls.
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15-16, ESV).
The Apostle Paul says the cross that crucified Christ has also crucified the world to him as a result of his faith in Christ.
“So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can” (Jeremiah 3: 5, NLT).
At the time of Jeremiah’s ministry, the northern kingdom of Israel had been captured and exiled by the Assyrians, and now over 100 years later, the southern kingdom, Judah, was about to be conquered by the Babylonians.
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