SHALOM 🙏
Blessed to be a Blessing to the Blessed People 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

“THE LORD SAID: IF YOU RETURN”
(📖 Jeremiah 4:1-4)

One of the most powerful and important yet a smallest two letter word IF (when it activates) will surely bring forth God’s blessing in our midst . For the Lord said , “You will be blessed and will be a blessing to other (Jer 4:2 ; Gen 12:2).

In 2Chronicles 7:14 , the Lord said , ” IF my people , who are called by my name , will humble themselves … then I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN ..” 💫

In today’s reading portion the word IF is quoted three times in verse 1 & 2 through which the Lord instructs his people to put it in action:
🔖 IF you will return to me ..
🔖 IF you will put your detestable idols out of my sight ..
🔖 IF you swear in Truth, Justice and Righteousness ..
💫 The Lord will bless them and they will be a blessing to other (v 2)

Jeremiah 4:2 is the only place in OT where Truth , Justice and Righteousness are mentioned in one sentence. Long time the Lord had promised that IF Abraham would walk with justice and Righteousness before Him , he would be a blessing to all nations (Gen 17:1-4 ; 22:17-18). But Israel as a nation had rebelled against the Lord. God’s Word came to Jeremiah a number of times to address His people:
✅ “Return, faithless Israel” (3:11b)
✅ “Return, faithless people ” (3:14, 22)
✅ “Return to me ” (4:1)

As a proof of their RETURN (repentance) the Lord urged his people to follow a new path – threefold instructions:
📌 BREAK UP the unplowed ground (a spiritual turnabout from sinful and wasteful lives) . Hosea used this phrase before Jeremiah (10:12) . The people must start all over again , like farmers breaking the ground and sowing the seeds.
📌 Remove the thorns. Do not sow among the thorns is the guidelines.

💫 Jesus , in the Parable of the Sower , warn the consequences of sowing seeds among the thorns , because the worries of this life , the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word (seeds) making it unfruitful .
📌 Circumcise your heart (Inner transformation) .
The people have been deaf and unreceptive to what God has been telling them . They share the physical sign of the Covenant (Circumcision) but they lack the inward counterpart (openness and responsiveness) to God.

✅ The obedience will lead them to be a blessing to others (v 2)
✅ If the people of Judah do not change their ways , the wrath of God will burn like fire that no one could extinguish (v 4)

💞 Beloved Church , God , therefore, calls us to repent and turn to Him so that we can serve Him faithfully. A true repentance involves moral determination to live for God . Our hearts must be changed and sensitized .

Glory to God 🙌
✍🏽 Mark Boje, ArP 🇮🇳

THEREFORE I WILL REFINE THEM, AND TRY THEM

Jeremiah 9: 6, 7. The Lord of hosts says, your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit. ( making to believe what is not true) . Through deceit they refuse to know Me ( the word of God) Therefore l will refine them and try them.

1. Refining and trying is the painful paths we have to pass through. When we refine a metal, it will loose it’s nature, texture, temperature and appearence. In the same way God will lead us through the paths of sufferings, sorrows, diseases and difficult situations and He will try us.This will help us to remove all our impurities or evil nature and purify us to obtain the image of Christ.
2. The reason for refining and trying is that through deceit, we refuse to know Him.Because our dwelling place is in the midst of deceit.That means we live among the people who will make us to believe what is not true. Therefore through deceit, we refuse to know God. Knowing God and His son Jesus Christ is the eternal life and we were not knowing Him. John 17:3. Or we lack in the knowledge of the word of God.

Therefore God is refining and trying us. Let us pray, Lord help us to refine and try us so that we will become holy, and obtain the image of Christ, our Saviour. Help us to know Your Word of God. Let us praise God, who gave us strength to bear all these trials so far.Also let us ask our Lord, to deliver us from these trials . Amen. Hallelujah.

Dr.Padmini Selvyn.