Mon.’s Devo - God’s Answer

Read: Jeremiah 42:1-44:23; 2 Timothy 2:1-21; Psalm 92:1-93:5; Proverbs 26:3-5 Johanan, who had moved his military army against Ishmael and saved the remnant of Judah from his takeover, went to Jeremiah to ask him to pray for them and ask God what they should do. They promised that whatever the Lord said, they would follow even if it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. *** Jeremiah prayed and 10 days later, God answered. He told them to stay in their land and he would cause the Babylonians to have favor on them. God would protect them and bless them. If they went to Egypt the Babylonians would come there and do to Egypt what they had done to Judah and they would die or be taken captive. *** The remnant turned on Jeremiah and told them that they wouldn’t obey his words but they would continue to worship their foreign gods who they believed caused them to prosper and they would go to Egypt where they could worship their gods. Jeremiah told them he knew they were not telling the truth when they said they would obey the Lord. They would be left to their own doom. God had tried to give them another chance to repent and turn to him but they had not taken it. Only a handful of them would survive all that was coming. *** Paul urged Timothy not to get tangled up in the matters of the world. There were false teachers who were leading some astray. Instead of worrying about all that, Paul encouraged them to keep their minds on things that are true and godly. *** We cannot control what others do, but we can control what we do. We are citizens of another kingdom - God’s kingdom - and we need to live accordingly. *** Paul gave him this mantra: If we die with him, we also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.” *** God’s Word is our foundation stone and anything other than it is useless. If we want to be the most useful to the Kingdom then we will keep ourselves pure from evil. *** Lord, help us to keep your Kingdom in mind when we make all our decisions. Thank you for your Word. May we hide it in our hearts that we won’t sin against you.