Jeremiah 3 ~ Praying God's Word

Please read Jeremiah 3.

Meditate on and memorize this phrase from verse 22.

“Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness.”

God allegorized the history of Israel in Jeremiah 3.  God compared Himself to a husband, and Israel was His wife.  Because of worshipping idols, Israel was an unfaithful wife with many lovers.  God called her idolatry harlotry and reasoned with her that He should divorce her for her wickedness. Yet God in His undying love, made one of the saddest statements in the Bible, “I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me,’ but she did not return.”

Can you hear the cry of dismay in God’s voice?  “I thought you would come back to Me; I waited for you.  Why would you leave the One who loves you perfectly for lovers who can meet none of your needs?”

Because of her idolatrous adultery and rejection of God, Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC.  Her “sister” Judah watched the destruction, yet she refused to return to God “with all her heart” (Jeremiah 3:10).  Her refusal of God’s undeserved invitation to return to Him resulted in her destruction by the Babylonians beginning in 605 BC.

God recorded this story on purpose.  He knew you would be reading it today.  He wants you to be wiser than Israel and Judah and hear and heed His Words. 

Jeremiah 3 is God’s Word to you.  “I love you; I have always loved you.  There is no other who can meet ALL your needs.  I am waiting for you; return to Me.”

Pray Jeremiah 3:12-13, 15, 17, and 22 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, may ________ and I heed Your invitation to return to You.

Thank You for being gracious and not looking upon us in anger.

Thank You for not being angry forever.

We acknowledge our iniquity. 

We have transgressed against You, LORD our God.

We have scattered our favors to strangers under every green tree,

and we have not obeyed Your voice.

Make us shepherds after Your own heart. 

We want to feed on Your knowledge and understanding.  

Do not let us walk anymore after the stubbornness of our evil heart! 

LORD our God, we return to You; heal our faithlessness.

Because of Your name, Jesus~”

Jeremiah 2 ~ Praying God's Word

Please read Jeremiah 2.

Meditate on and memorize these phrases from verses 4 and 31.

Hear the Word of the LORD.

O generation, heed the Word of the LORD.

The book of Jeremiah contains the Words of the LORD.  God put His Words into Jeremiah’s mouth (Jeremiah 1:9).  Jeremiah spoke all the Words of the LORD, and his scribe, Baruch, recorded them (Jeremiah 36:4).  2600 years later, you have the privilege of holding God’s Words in your hand and reading them.   Amazing!

God issued a command in Jeremiah 2:31, “O generation, heed the Word of the LORD.”  His command is timeless because it is addressed to the generation.  Your current generation is commanded by God to heed His Word.  Heed means to give attention to and observe carefully. 

What do you pay attention to?  Is any part of your day spent hearing and heeding things that are offensive to God?  Or do you hear and heed God’s Word?  The Israelites were steeped in sin and so deluded by it they claimed to be innocent and thought they had not sinned (Jeremiah 2:35).  God would judge them severely for their wickedness, but He first had Jeremiah “go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, ‘Thus says the LORD’” (Jeremiah 2:2).

God is talking to you.  He is speaking in your ears, and He expects you to hear and heed what He says.  Reread Jeremiah 2 and ask the LORD to give you ears to hear what He is proclaiming to you.

Pray Jeremiah 2:5, 9, 13, and 31 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, help ______ and me not go far from You.

 Let us not walk after emptiness and become empty. 

LORD, we do not want You to have to contend with us or with our children’s children.  Help us to never forsake You, the fountain of living waters. 

Do not let us hew for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. 

Make us the generation that heeds Your Word, LORD.

In Your name, Jesus~”

Jeremiah 1 ~ Praying God's Word

Please read Jeremiah 1.

Meditate on and memorize this phrase from verse 9.

I have put My Words in your mouth.

For the next 52 days, you will read the book of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah was a preacher in Jerusalem for 53 years. His ministry started in 627 BC, 22 years before Judah was first conquered by the Babylonians. 

God called Jeremiah to preach to people who needed to hear and heed the Word of the LORD.  God put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth then told him to speak everything He commanded him to say (Jeremiah 1:9, 17).  The LORD warned Jeremiah that the people would fight against him, but Jeremiah was not to be dismayed; God would deliver him.  

Jeremiah thought he was too young for the task God was giving him, but God told him not to use his age as an excuse because he was to go everywhere God sent him, and he was to say everything God told him to speak.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a calling from God.  God has a plan for your life, and He expects you to obediently do what He has told you to do and say what He has told you to say.  Do not be dismayed!  The LORD promises to be with you always (Matthew 28:19-20).

Pray Jeremiah 1:7-9 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, help ________ and me stop making excuses.

Everywhere You send us, help us go.

All You command us, let us speak.

Help us not be afraid of people.

Thank You for being with us to deliver us.

Touch our mouths, LORD, and put Your Words into our mouths.

For Your name’s sake, Jesus~’

1 Samuel 12 ~ Praying Scripture

Please read 1 Samuel 12.

Meditate on verse 23.

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me

that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you,

but I will instruct you in the good and right way.

Do you have someone in your life you feel like giving up on, someone who seems hopeless, like they will never change and do what pleases the LORD?  Samuel was serving as pastor for a nation of people who fit that description.  I love his resoluteness to not give up on the Israelites.  Not only was he going to pray for them, he was going to teach them how to please God.  He knew he would be sinning against God if he stopped praying for and teaching those who were so rebellious. 

DO NOT give up on your child, your spouse, your friend, your co-worker, your loved one…  God certainly hasn’t, and He calls you to partner with Him in their journey to Christ, which God has allowed to be part of your journey into Christlikeness.

Pray 1 Samuel 12:24-25 over those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, let _____  fear You

and serve You in truth with all their heart.

Let them consider what great things You have done for them. 

May they stop doing wickedly, so they will not be swept away.

For Your name’s sake, Jesus~”

Jude ~ Praying Scripture

Please read Jude.

Meditate on verse 3b.

Contend earnestly for the faith

which was once for all handed down to the saints.

Jude, like his brother James, was a half-brother of Jesus Christ.  He, like his brother James, made no claim to this fact in his letter, but referred to himself as a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and called Him Master and LORD.  Like James, a risen Savior turned a skeptical, scoffing brother into a faithful follower (John 7:1-9; Mark 3:20-21).

Jude wrote his letter because people in the church had to be warned.  There were mockers in church who followed after their own ungodly lusts.  They caused divisions; they were worldly-minded and devoid of the Spirit (Jude 1:18-19).  These were people in church, even partaking of the LORD’s Supper as if they were believers in Jesus Christ, yet they were doubly dead, uprooted, and the black darkness had been reserved for them forever (Jude 1:12-13).  These ungodly church-goers were grumbling, arrogant fault-finders (Jude 1:16). 

God included this letter in His Holy Scripture as a letter of warning to you.  Attending church and taking communion does not make a person a Christian.  Examine people’s behavior; examine your own behavior.  Let God’s Word cleanse you of all defilement (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Pray Jude 1:20-21 and 24-25 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, build ________ and me on our most holy faith.

Keep us praying in the Holy Spirit.

Keep us in Your love, God,

as we wait anxiously for the mercy

of our LORD Jesus Christ to eternal life.

You are able to keep us from stumbling.

Make us stand in the presence of Your

glory blameless with great joy.

To You, the only God our Savior,

through Jesus Christ our LORD,

be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority,

before all time and now and forever.

Amen.”

3 John ~ Praying Scripture

Please read 3 John.

Meditate on verse 4.

I have no greater joy than this,

to hear of my  children walking in the truth.

In all three of John’s letters, truth is a key repeated word. He wanted his readers to be walking in truth, to be fellow workers with the truth, to have a good testimony based on the truth.

The world today wages war on truth.  A secular pop singer said, “I am telling you a lie in a vicious effort to get you to repeat my lie until it becomes the truth.”  With an estimated 125 million singles sold, the lies propagated by this one singer are repeated over and over and over. 

Today, Biblical truths are changed to lies for the sake of political correctness.  People are more concerned about offending other people than they are about offending Almighty God who said, “My Word is truth” (John 17:17).

John exhorted his readers, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.  The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11).

John knew his testimony was true because he knew the Word of God (3 John 1:12).

What is your testimony?  Is it based on truth or lies?  What and who do you imitate? Would God call you evil or good?

Pray 3 John 1:2-4 over those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, I pray in all respects that ________

may prosper and be in good health just as their soul prospers.

 Let brethren come and testify to how they are walking in the truth.

 I have no greater joy than this,

to hear of my children walking in the truth.

In Your name, Jesus~”

2 John ~ Praying Scripture

Please read 2 John.

Meditate on verse 9.

Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ,

 does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching,

he has both the Father and the Son.

John wrote a second letter for the sake of the truth.  He loved the children of God and wanted to be sure they were walking in the truth.  John commanded his readers not to greet or receive into their homes people who did not abide in the teaching of Christ (2 John 1:9-10).  Greeting or joyfully receiving a deceiver is participating in his evil deeds (2 John 1:11).

God wants you to take this letter seriously.  Who and what do you receive into your home?  Think about the friends, movies, shows, music, internet sites, entertainers, magazines, and books that are in your home.  How do they compare to the truth of God?  God says do not greet or receive into your house anyone or anything contradictory to the teaching of Christ.  Remember you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Corinthians 3:16).  Do not allow deception into your mind or the minds of those God has placed in your care. You are commanded by the Father to walk in truth (2 John1:4). 

Pray 2 John 1:4 and 8 over those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, let me find  ________  walking in Your truth.

Father, help them obey Your commandment to do so.

May they watch themselves

not to lose what You have accomplished in them.

Let them receive Your full reward.

For the sake of Your Kingdom, Jesus~”