7 Things - Jeremiah 15:19-21

Jer. 15:19 Therefore thus says the Lord:

“If you return,
 Then I will bring you back; 
You shall stand before Me; 
If you take out the precious from the vile,
 You shall be as My mouth.
 Let them return to you,
 But you must not return to them.

20 And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall;
 And they will fight against you,
 But they shall not prevail against you;
 For I am with you to save you
 And deliver you,” says the Lord.

21 “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
 And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”

Jeremiah had been complaining to the Lord – he felt that God had not helped him when he really needed Him to. Jeremiah was angry, hurt and afraid. I love the Lord’s response here – He makes 7 promises to Jeremiah. These same 7 promises will come to us when we run back to the Lord, stop speaking worthless things before Him and look for all that is precious in the midst of the vile and abhorrent things in our hearts:

1.    The Lord will restore and bring us back into fellowship with Him

2.    The Lord will cause us to stand before His presence

3.    The Lord will use us as His mouthpiece in the world

4.    The Lord will make us strong like a steel wall

5.    The Lord will be with us to save us

6.    The Lord will deliver us from all wickedness

7.    The Lord will redeem us from the grip of every terrible thing

How awesome is that??!!

God is raising up an army in these days who are made stronger because of the victories they have won over the wicked things in their hearts. In fact, the Lord calls to us like he did to Jeremiah: Look for the treasures and precious things that can be mined out of the darkest parts of your hearts. What the enemy has wanted to use to destroy you, the Lord will use to bring great victories over sin and every vile thing. He will cause jewels and treasures to replace evil. In fact, He will use you as His mouthpiece to proclaim to generations and nations the glory of the Lord. He will do all of this right in the place where the enemy thought he had defeated you.

All we have to do is:

1.    Return to the Lord.

2.    Stand before the Lord - this is a place of complete surrender. Worship Him.

3.   Take out the precious things from the place of evil - look for God's beauty to replace the lies and taunts of the enemy - sometimes the precious things of God can be found in unusual and unexpected places. It will take courage and faith to do this work. There is a great temptation to wallow in self-hatred and self-pity. That is totally a tactic of the enemy. Let us put those things aside and allow the Redeemer to call us all back into alignment with His destiny!

4.    Yield our mouths to the Lord so we can be His mouthpiece

5.    Refuse to go back to the place of our weakness and sin

 The rewards are great if we will surrender to the Lord. Jeremiah didn't have to do very much in order to come into great favor and restoration with the Lord.

Just think...God did all of this for Jeremiah - in a day before there was atonement - before Jesus had made a way for us to be made right with God through his suffering and death. If Jeremiah could have this restoration...how much more can we find complete wholeness in Christ!

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