Branch of Christ Outreach Ministry (BCOM): Prophet Jeremiah, Wholly Committed To God

 

By Gloria Zuurveen, D. Min., Minister
Branch of Christ Outreach Ministry (BCOM)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him here below.

Reading the book of Jeremiah, the prophet, I was moved by the Holy Ghost to write these words. They are as fire shut up in my bones.

They are words of warning for such a time as today when it seems that everyone has gone astray and many are not doing what God say. So as it was in that day, so it is today. According to the New Scofield Study Bible in the Book of Jeremiah who is sometimes referred to as the “weeping prophet” and  a devoted patriot who was wholly committed to God and God’s holiness and yet, he was persecuted by his own people for his bold proclamation of the unwelcome truth he prophesied about.

What have we today but a season of not wanting to hear the unwelcomed truth? There is nothing new under the sun said Solomon. Reading the book of Jeremiah is always, for me, an eye opener when it comes to getting an understanding about the trials we face. It always goes back to in the beginning.  This book is a beginning whereby the prophet Jeremiah hears from God as he is called and commissioned to stand his ground even though it caused people to frown when he came around. They frowned because Jeremiah was called and commission  to warn the people in this Jerusalem town. But they didn’t listen and in the end they were taken captives and led away.

They were led away because of all the wickedness and unrighteousness were on display in Jeremiah’s day. So God commissioned and gave him a mission to speak in the streets. But before Jeremiah went God affirmed and confirmed Jeremiah’s identity before he was sent to tell the people of Jerusalem that they must repent. God said, “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou cameth forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” This message was then spoken to Jeremiah, but today we have the same power because just like Jerusalem, who went into captivity we have Jesus Christ who came to set the captives free with the message of liberty. Liberty and freedom from sin and shame, yes today we have Christ’s claim to fame because we who believe, should have received, the Holy Ghost endued from on high and like Jeremiah in his day, Jesus led the way and he set the example to have faith in God wholly and committed for there is no other way. So like Jeremiah, the word is for you and for me to stand in the gap and have our say and speak the truth as called and commissioned men, women and children of God so that the words can take root. Listen at the conversation with Jeremiah and God. Jeremiah said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak; for I am child.” God responded to Jeremiah, “Say not , I am a child; for thou shall go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee, said the Lord.”

This wholly committed commissioned man of God was confirmed by God to do the work he was called to do and he took his job, as a prophet of God, seriously. Jeremiah uttered during the last years of Jerusalem warnings to repent of their sins or their city would be destroyed. This prophecy came to path. But God,  according to the B part of verse 9 of Chapter 1, said to Jeremiah, “Behold I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out,  and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant.” Ah, the faithfulness of God to those who trust in him. Where God guides, he will provide and he will hasten his word to  perform it. He did. He performed all that he told Jeremiah he would do to Jerusalem due to their wickedness. He said, “I will utter my judgements against them touching all their wickedness, who have foresaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.” After God pronounce this judgment, he then told Jeremiah to gird up his loins, arise and speak unto them and to not be dismayed at their faces because he had made Jeremiah a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against the priests, and against all the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, said, the Lord, to deliver thee. Wow! Amazing grace and glory! Here you have Jeremiah in the hand of God, willing to follow and  to be led not with an army, a legion of men, but only alone and by himself, the only one. Sometimes we go looking for the gang to help us do our thang. But God in this message confirms his plans to reward the wholly committed man with victory over all alone by faith in a living God who today still reign. Amen.

Branch of Christ Outreach Ministry (BCOM) is a ministry with a mission to help others BCOM like Christ.