Feb | 10 | Deficiencies, dismay and deliverance

SAFETY

Deficiencies, dismay and deliverance

Jeremiah 1:17-19
"Therefore prepare yourself and arise, And and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day A a fortified city and an iron pillar, And and bronze walls against the whole land — Against against the kings of Judah, Against against its princes, Against against its priests, And and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you," says the Lord, "to deliver you." NKJV Deficiencies, dismay and deliverance

God has long planned for and personally prepared Jeremiah, His prophet to the nations. God has placed Jeremiah in a strange position for now though and maybe Jeremiah has been feeling it in his spirit? . He is curled up, coiled up, bent over, looking up. Yes, he is found crouching like an elastic tiger in the starting blocks of his calling and God is about to fire His pistol. It is the 13th year of King Josiah, BANG! And the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Now, he’s up off and away. Or at least he should be.

The Word of the Lord came a second time to Jeremaih Jeremiah in this chapter, this time demanding less argument and more movement from His man. : v17 “Prepare yourself and arise.” Now then, I have no doubt that some of you reading this tonight have to have a little less argument and much more movement in your calling and life. So listen up.

God says much in this chapter about the difficulties Jeremiah will have in the pursuit of God’s commands and of course, also of the great power that God will give to him to fulfill the word of the Lord. This powerful provision, coupled with the personal and perilous predicament of the pursuance of God’s call upon his life, will put Jeremiah in great peril and will leave him on two left wheels, straining like a rally car, speeding around the corner of a single track road, all wet with clouds, way up in the high Andes of Bolivia. Such influential, dangerous and extreme prophetic driving conditions, if you will, means that God has to issue His much ‘deficient in himself’ prophet, with both a warning and a promise. A warning of dismay and a promise of deliverance.

 “Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest lest I dismay you before them.” Jeremiah 1:17-19

All Jeremiahs deficiencies would be more than compensated for by the re-shaping power of God, for through this enablement, Jeremiah would become as strong as a fortified city, as upright and immovable as an iron pillar, and as fixed and firm, and as unyielding and unbreakable as a big bronze wall. Make no mistake about it dear reader, God's strength to withstand attack would be well needed though, because all the people, especially the presently powerful, would both vehemently and violently oppose Jeremiah's message. Therefore Jeremiah must appear before them with unshakable confidence, and with a defining firmness. Look now! There is to be no presence of self- questioning, no hint of pathetic prophetic abnegation, no lip quivering before queens or kings, no smell of any depressive discouragement, no sign of any mental confusion, no shadows of ‘mights,’ no ghosts of ‘maybes’, just the solid and certain presence of the declarations of God in the mouth and man of Jeremiah His herald.

The verbal stems of the two words: ‘dismay’ and ‘dismayed’, (a play on words mind you), are reflexive in one and causative in the other. In other words, God is very strongly saying to Jeremiah here: “If you dare proclaim My words out of a broken spirit which is terrorized by your own self- protection and personal anxiety, then I will throw you into a whole sea of anguish and break you in pieces upon the rocks of your own cowardice!” Hard words. Indeed, Matthew Henry comments on this, saying: “Those that consult their own credit, ease, and safety, more than their work and duty, are justly left of God to themselves, and to bring upon themselves the shame of their own cowardliness.” The modern church seems to have lost all understanding of the coupled privilege and authority given in the declaration of God’s holy wordWord. There is no power in our pulpits and consequently there is not imparted power in our people. There are salesmen in the pulpits and so there is silliness in our people. Cowards deliver the Word and therefore cripples leave our buildings and in the end, our land is left to us desolate and doomed for destruction. Slander. Bitterness. Anger. Bullying. Wrongful arrest and imprisonment, Loneliness. Loathing. Looking. Longing. Waiting. Wondering. All these and many more terrible things besides shall be the daily bread of the prophet of the Lord. Even so, though they all would fight against Jeremiah, God assured him that they would not overcome him. God would deliver him. Yes, God would be to Jeremiah his very personal snatch squad for God would come and steal Jeremiah away from death, doom and destruction.

The greatness of any task makes us greatly aware of our own great deficiencies. No doubt, you like Jeremiah are aware of your own personal deficiencies tonight. No matter. For if God has called you and commanded you to do something. , Do do it. ! Remember, that your only real protection in the end, indeed, even the fulfillment of all God’s promises to you, will only be found in the middle of the fulfillment of God’s commands. Be sure to be found right there then. Mark this now: Those who are with God, have God with them, and therefore need not fear anyone or anything that comes against them! Do you believe this? If you do believe this, then press on with confidence. If you do not, then stay off the battlefield.

Listen:- Thus the Lord said to me: "Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; and say to them, 'Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.’…” Jeremiah 17:19-20NKJV

Pray: -  Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. Indeed they say to me, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!" As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; It was right there before You. Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom. Let them be ashamed who persecute me, But but do not let me be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, But but do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom, And and destroy them with double destruction! Jeremiah 17:14-18 NKJV

If this Everyday Bible Insight has helped you - then do please share it! 
Also, why not go to your devices iTunes store (or other) and write us a great review - 5 Stars if course!

Did you know that we are preaching from each of the 66 Books of the Holy Bible in the 66 Most Influential Cities of the 250 Nations of the World? That's 16,500 cities which will hear a solid prophetic message from each book of the Bible over the next 25 years! Do you want to be part of this? Then please go to www.66Cities.TV to find out how.