Jeremiah 7 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Jeremiah 7.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/jer/7/1/s_752001

Meditate on what God said in verse 23.

 

“Obey My voice, and I will be your God,

 and you will be My people;

and you will walk in all the way which I command you,

 that it may be well with you.”

 

God prepared Jeremiah to be a preacher from the time he was in his mother’s womb. His first recorded sermon was at the gate of the LORD’s house (Jeremiah 1:5-9; 7:2).

The people worshipped in the beautiful temple built by King Solomon, and they were proud of it.  They thought going to the temple freed them to spend the rest of their week stealing, murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely, walking after other gods, and even sacrificing their own children (vs. 8-10, 31-32).

Jeremiah’s sermon was one of warning with an opportunity to repent before it was too late.  God would destroy the temple and pour out His wrath on the people and the land unless they changed their behavior.

Examine your life.  Do you justify behaviors that are detestable to the LORD?  Who and what are you sacrificing to get ahead?  Are you proud of the church you attend, but ignore Jesus who is the Head of your church?

Pray Jeremiah 7:23-24 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, help _________ and me obey Your voice.

We want You to be our God;

we want to be Your people.

May we walk in the way You command us,

that it may be well with us.

Help us to obey and incline our ear to You. 

Do not let us walk in our own counsels

and in the stubbornness of an evil heart. 

May we stop going backward! 

Let us go forward with You, LORD!

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL 2 ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

Jeremiah 6 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Jeremiah 6.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/jer/6/1/s_751001

Meditate on this phrase from verse 15.

 

They were not even ashamed at all;

they did not even know how to blush.

 

God prepared war and great destruction against Jerusalem for refusing to walk in His ways.  The LORD condemned the people for their abominations. Some of His indictments included:

 

            *They kept their wickedness fresh (v. 7).

            *Everyone dealt falsely (v. 13).

            *They had no shame (v. 15).

            *They did not even know how to blush (v. 15).

            *They refused to walk in the good path (v. 16).

            *They refused to listen to God’s Words (v. 19).

            *They were stubbornly rebellious (v. 28).

 

There were preachers among the people who healed their brokenness superficially instead of teaching how to walk with God deeply, in holiness (13-14).  God appointed Jeremiah as His messenger of truth.  His sermons were not superficial; they were God’s Words that truly heal brokenness.

God’s Words spoken 2,600 years ago are still fresh today.  Examine your life by His Word.  Does “stubbornly rebellious” describe you? Is there fresh wickedness in your family?  Hear and heed God’s Word and pray it over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

Pray Jeremiah 6:16.

 

“LORD, _________ and I are standing by the ways,

looking and asking for the ancient paths where Your good way is. 

We want to walk in it.  As we do, let us find rest for our souls.

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL 2 ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Jeremiah 5 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Jeremiah 5.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/jer/5/1/s_750001

Meditate on verse 24a.

 

They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the LORD our God.”

 

Refusing to fear the LORD, the people used God’s name in vain and lied about Him. Their homes were filled with deceit. They were wealthy, so they thought their relationship with God was just fine. Instead of speaking God’s Word, their preachers preached falsely, and their priests ruled by their own authority, and the people loved it (vs. 2-4, 12, 24, 27, 31).

God warned Judah of His coming judgment because of such arrogant rebellion. Even the waves of the sea obey God and stay within the boundaries He sets for them, yet the people defied God’s ways and refused to tremble in His presence (v. 22).

Hear and heed the Word of the LORD! Who do you fear people or God? Do your preachers and teachers speak the truth of God’s Word, or do they teach lies?

At the end of Jeremiah 5, God asks a question, “What will you do at the end of it?” How will you answer Him?

Pray Jeremiah 5:22-23 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, You have established

 boundaries for __________ and me;

do not let us cross them. 

You have issued eternal decrees;

do not allow us to prevail against them. 

May we fear You and tremble in Your presence, LORD. 

Remove our stubborn and rebellious heart. 

Do not let us turn aside and depart from You.

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL 2 ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Jeremiah 4 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Jeremiah 4.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/jer/4/1/s_749001

Meditate on verse 14.

 

Wash your heart from evil, O

 Jerusalem, that you may be saved. 

How long will your wicked

thoughts lodge within you?

 

The people of Judah had heart issues.  Bitter evil touched their hearts; the wicked thoughts lodged within them made their hearts evil (vs. 14, 18).  God told them to “remove the foreskins” of their sin hardened hearts (v. 4).  His approaching judgment would make the heart of the king and the princes fail (v. 9).

When God told Jeremiah of the coming devastation because of the people’s rebellious ways, his soul was in anguish.  Jeremiah cried out, “Oh, my heart! My heart is pounding in me” (v. 19).

The Word of the LORD caused Jeremiah’s heart to pound.  His heart was tender towards God.  His Word so affected Jeremiah he spent 53 years of his life not keeping silent but proclaiming the Word of God.

How does God’s Word impact you?  Is your heart hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, or is it circumcised by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:13; Colossians 2:11)?

Pray Jeremiah 4:19 and 22 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, may _______ and my heart pound

 when we hear Your Word.

Let us not keep silent about what we hear.

Do not let us be foolish people.

Let us know You, LORD.

Stop us from being stupid children

who have no understanding.

Do not let us be shrewd to do evil.

Teach us how to do good.

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL 2 ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

 

Jeremiah 3 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Jeremiah 3.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/jer/3/1/s_748001

Meditate on verse 22a.

 

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

 

God allegorized the history of Israel in Jeremiah 3.  God compared Himself to a husband; Israel was His wife.  Because of idol worship, 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” (v. 7).

The Assyrians destroyed Israel in 722 BC.  Her “sister” Judah watched the destruction, yet she, too, refused God’s undeserved invitation to return to Him with all her heart, which resulted in her destruction by the Babylonians beginning in 605 BC.

God recorded this story because He wants you to be wiser than Israel and Judah, and He desires you to accept His invitation to come to Him.

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, and not obeyed Your voice.

Make us shepherds after Your own heart.

Let us 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~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL 2 ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Jeremiah 2 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Jeremiah 2.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/jer/2/1/s_747001

Meditate on 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 which God put into Jeremiah’s mouth (Jeremiah 1:9).  Jeremiah spoke the Words, and his scribe, Baruch, recorded them (Jeremiah 36:4).  2,600 years later, you have the privilege of holding God’s Words in your hand and reading them.  Amazing!

God issued a timeless command, “O generation, heed the Word of the LORD” (v. 31). Your current generation is commanded by God to heed, observe carefully, and give attention to His Word.

Do you hear and heed God’s Word, or do you give your attention to things that offend God?  The Israelites were so deluded by sin they thought they were innocent (v. 35).  God judged them severely for their wickedness, but He first had Jeremiah proclaim, “Thus says the LORD ...” (v. 2).

God is talking to you.  Hear and heed what He says as you read His Words in Jeremiah.

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~”

 

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL 2 ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Jeremiah 1 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Jeremiah 1.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/jer/1/1/s_746001

Meditate on verse 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.”

 

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 His Word. God put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth and told him to speak everything He commanded him to say (vs. 9, 17). The people would fight against Jeremiah, but he was not to be dismayed; God would deliver him.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a calling from God. He expects you to obey His plan for your life. Do not be dismayed! The LORD promises to always be with you (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~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL 2 ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell