I became a Christian in the mid-1970s during the closing years of the Jesus Movement and the

beginning of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. At that time I had not been taught

about the Holy Spirit in any consistent or meaningful way. I had encountered God, but most of

those encounters happened quietly at home and on my own.

When I attended a Women’s Aglow meeting I was still very new to experiencing the movement of

the Holy Spirit in a corporate gathering. It was there that I encountered travail in the Spirit for

the first time. I wept and wept with such aching pain in my stomach that the only comparison I

could make was to labor contractions. I had given birth to my daughter in 1982, but I was

completely unfamiliar with spiritual labor, or what many refer to as travail.

When someone asked why I was weeping, what I was sensing, all I could say through my tears

was how much God loves us, so deeply, and yet His love is so often unrequited.

A woman nearby suddenly exclaimed, “We have another Jeremiah here.”

I was mortified by the attention, yet I could not have stopped praying even if I had wanted to.

My life and internal world have been carved with these encounters with the Lord’s compassion.

Coming to know His heart in intercession has molded me into a reflection of that heart. How I

long for us all to return to Him and walk in His ways.

Now, fourty years later, I do not believe there is a book of the Bible more relevant to the present

condition of both the world and the church than the book of the life and oracles of Jeremiah.

I am still arrested by our Lord’s sorrow and grief whenever I read it. It’s been a part of my daily

readings the last couple of weeks and I feel compelled to share some of that here.

There is no time for exegesis in this format. I am simply offering a walk through the Word with

a friend. I will point to signposts along the path where something impacted me with its

application to the realities we are facing today.

Romans 15:4  “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that

through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

1 Corinthians 10:6 “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil

as they did.”

Jeremiah was the son of a Levitical priest, and he himself was serving as a priest when God

called him into prophetic ministry at an early age. His ministry stretched across the reigns of five

kings and covered approximately fourty years, from around 626 B.C. to 587 B.C.

Jeremiah 1:9 “Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

It is not difficult to imagine how overwhelming such a commissioning must have been for a

young man like Jeremiah. He immediately protested that he was too immature for such a

calling. Yet only a few verses later, the Lord informed him that he would be sent to confront his

own religious leaders. This would include his own father, the priests, the prophets, and the

people who had given themselves over to idolatry.

The leaders were held to greater accountability because they had led the people astray.

Jeremiah was called to confront and warn of impending judgment. This confrontation was not

to be done privately behind closed doors like so many suggest as appropriate today.

Jeremiah’s messages and those of the false prophets were pronounced and debated in public!

Yet God assured Jeremiah that He would make the young prophet stronger and more resolute

than those he was sent to confront. He would give Jeremiah a forehead like flint.

In Jeremiah chapter two, the prophet delivers his first prophetic message.

Jeremiah 2:11 “Has a nation changed gods, when they were not gods? But My people have exchanged their glory for that which is of no benefit.”12  “Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder, be very desolate,” declares the Lord 13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, to carve out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water.”

Years spent learning the practice of intercession have made me familiar with the ache in the

Lord’s voice that runs through these words. Do we understand how deeply God longs for His

people? Again and again throughout Jeremiah, God alternately pleads, warns, and promises

restoration. He unwaveringly proclaims His desire to prosper them in the land if they would only

return to Him!

This was not the voice of a cold and distant God demanding obedience to harsh commands.

The voice speaking through Jeremiah holds the same tone as that of the Father that I hear in the

teachings of Jesus who rebuked the religious leaders of that day as well!

Jeremiah’s first prophetic word was directed toward the shepherds, priests, and prophets who

had not only failed to restrain the people from sin but had actually encouraged them in it.

They became false prophets, prophets of Baal, and God declared plainly they had brought no

benefit to the people whatsoever!

This is where Jeremiah’s prophetic warning becomes painfully relevant to our own generation.

In Jeremiah’s day, the false prophets proclaimed that Jeremiah’s warnings were not from God.

They assured the people everything would be just fine no need to worry.

Nothing bad would happen and they could continue the lifestyles that left God out of the picture

without fear. God’s only desire was to bless! Sound familiar?

We live in a time when countless voices claim to speak for God. They report dreams, visions,

declarations, and predictions regardless of the actual condition of people’s hearts and lives. “It

is all under the blood,” they cry. Their messages often revolve around favor, success, and

blessing. The word sin is never used, the cross rarely mentioned and even Jesus is strangely

absent from the pronouncements.

Words that promise peace and safety yet comfort rebellion do not align with Scripture.

God’s promises and blessings are rooted in covenant relationship and obedience.

The people in Jeremiah’s day were not helped by such voices, and neither are we.

God already knew many would refuse to listen, and He told Jeremiah so from the very

beginning. Yet how many opportunities would they receive? Not merely one or two warnings,

but years of them, decades, in fact.

God is patient far beyond our comprehension. He gives room for repentance. He warns

repeatedly, waiting for hearts to soften. But His patience should not be mistaken for permission

or approval. Psalm 50: 16-21 talks about leaders who consider God’s silence about their sin to be

permission to continue in that sin with impunity.

Scripture stretches across thousands of years, yet we often attempt to judge God by the narrow

span of our own lifetime and within the constraints of our own insta-culture.

“What have You done for me lately?” we cry to the sky.

And yet refuse to read His book.

Part of the reason it is necessary to study people like Jeremiah is because the world around us

often appears dark and filled with suffering. Where is God and what is He thinking?

In such times, it can become difficult to understand how a loving God could still be sovereign.

That is why reading the Bible from cover to cover is essential in forming our understanding of

God and His creation. No single person, and no single era within Scripture, contains the

complete revelation of God. The Bible must be received as a whole, with each book and verse

understood within the context of the entire story. This is what is referred to as the progressive

revelation of God. The God who judges in Jeremiah is the God who saves us in the gospels.

We cry out for justice but do not understand a God who judges sin. We fail to understand judgment

to be an act of mercy.

A theology forged on favourite passages, the ones with which we agree or even claim to

understand is spiritually reckless.

It makes for a foundation for our faith that can crumble under the storms of life.

The story began well, and it will end well.

Yet the story unfolds over the span of thousands of generations because of God’s extraordinary

patience.

A common phrase comes to mind when people speak about important choices. We often say we

want to make an informed decision and need to ‘do our research.’

The question is this, though.

Have we truly informed our minds before concluding God of the Bible irrelevant?

Like Jeremiah, I feel the intensity of a burden for God’s people to return to Him.

It seems our current concept of prophetic ministry is platform and performance but the bible says if

there is prophet among you let him pray. Let him be like the weeping Jeremiah, yes, and also like

the One prophesied in Isaiah. We are invited to partner with Him in His sufferings.

Isaiah 53:11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

True prophetic ministry is so much more than having visions, dreams or taking spiritual dictation.

It involves getting close enough to God to have His heart imparted to you.

It is not warming ourselves by a fire and lovey- dovey feelings but stepping into that fire.

It’s eating the scroll and having it become a fire in the belly that purifies our motives.

This is about becoming a friend of God. Friends do not monopolize conversations, they let you talk.

And friends listen to more than your words, they listen to your heart.

Do you share the secrets of your heart with people who only want to talk about their life and

thoughts?

Yet God invites us into friendship. And that is the basis of true prophetic ministry.

Words are inadequate to encapsulate the depth of the love of God I see reflected in Jeremiah’s life.

I am not sure yet how many posts I will dedicate to his message. I hope you stay with me.

Below you will find a video of an overview of the book of Jeremiah.

I so appreciate the work of the Bible Project and hope you watch. Cartoons are not just for kids!

All the love my friends.