Abiding in Christ Jesus

During the invasion of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar took some of the people of Israel hostage and others he left to be vine dressers of the then ruins of Israel. His chief commander, Nebuzaradan placed Gedaliah as the Governor of the Land. But afterwards there was an insurrection by Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, which resulted in the death of Gedaliah. Ishmael took all the remnants captive and was about to take them to Baalis king of the Ammonites, when Johanan son Kareah came against him and took away all the remnants from his possession. (Summary of Jeremiah 40 and 41) Now Johanan approached the Prophet Jeremiah and said... Jeremiah 42:2 - 3

"Be good enough to listen to our plea and pray to the LORD your God for us - for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see. Let the LORD your God show us where we should go and what we should do."

This is the right approach when we are facing a difficult situation - inquiring of the LORD what must be done. Many a times most (I) have made many decisions in difficult situations that looked like the right ones at the time, and then later realize things did not go as planned. This is when we remember to go to God for help. Whereas, we should have gone to God for help from the get-go. Kudos to Johanan, right? ... let's read on, shall we? Jeremiah 42: 4 -

The Prophet Jeremiah said to them, "Very well: I am going to pray to the LORD your God as you request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you." They in turn said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the LORD your God sends us through you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."

Things are going pretty well, aren't they? They go to God for direction, and promise that whatever they hear from God, they will obey completely. I mean, what could go wrong at this point? Let's read on. Jeremiah 42: 7

At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. Then he summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, and said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him: If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been, do not be afraid of him, says the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and rescue you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil. But if you continue to say, 'we will not stay in this land', thus disobeying the voice of the LORD your God and saying , 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,' then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to settle there, then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt; and the famine that you dread shall follow close after you into Egypt; and there you shall die. All the people who have determined to go to Egypt to settle there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.

"For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my anger and wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. You shall see this place no more. The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt."

Someone is thinking, "I wish God can be just as clear in answering my prayers. While others are wondering if God will answer at all. God spoke through the Prophets at that era, but now he is speaking through His Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 

Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

Heb 1:4  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 

Even in the midst of all your circumstances, God is speaking today, but have you done the basics? God is saying right now:

1John 3: 23-24 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he as commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

Do you want to get it right, or are you satisfied with just the vibes?

When you believe in the name of Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah, you get the Holy Spirit. When you get the Holy Spirit, you are better able to walk in love - for there are some foul spirits that come to take what does not belong to them by resting on the law of love (pretending, pointing accusing fingers and placing demands) like the Gibeonites of old. May God curse their trickery! and deliver us from the repercussions in Jesus name, Amen.

Once we get the basics right, we have sown the most important seed of obedience and trust.

Let's go back to the story and see what decision Johanan and the remnant made... Jeremiah 43: 1-

When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent them, Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other insolent men said to Jeremiah, "You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, Do not go to Egypt to settle there, but Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us, to hand us over to the Chaldeans, in order that they may kills us or take us into exile in Babylon."

These remnants of Judah, who started very well, finished poorly. They ended up distrusting the prophet, Jeremiah. Now, don't be so quick to judge them. You have to understand the power of the devil to cause dissension and stop progress. I submit to you this hypothesis that in those 10 days it took Jeremiah to receive the word of the LORD concerning their prayer, someone must have badmouthed Jeremiah. Painted Jeremiah as a collaborator with Babylon the enemy, and the leaders believed it, hook, line and sinker. So, when their Word, their Solution, their Comfort... came; they rejected it (him).

Satan is still in the business of blinding the eyes of people to the things of God. He is the great deceiver, and he has many minions. That is why our favorite Apostle John said: 1John 4:1-

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone into the world.

Sidebar: Ask Jesus right now for the gift of discernment of spirits. And then pray that the foul spirits that want to keep you from your place of comfort by deceiving you or deceiving others (helpers) concerning you will dissipate, their works ruined, and they will never return to your vicinity again in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Son of the Most High God, Amen.

To Christians, the Apostle John is saying:

1John 4: 2 - 6

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming; and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore, what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.