Jeremiah 26:12-15

"Then Jeremiah said to all of the officials and all the people: `The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. Now reform your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has planned against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.'"

What amazes me so much about this passage is that even though Jeremiah knew that they would probably kill him after he gave his prophesy...1. He was not discouraged from proclaiming exactly what God had told him to say and 2. He never tried to justify himself before the people and argue why he did not deserve death. He simply stated the prophesy, warned them that it was from the LORD and that the LORD had sent him there to give it to them, and then left it up to them to decide what they were going to do with him without any fight. His focus never strayed from God and what God had given him to do; he didn't think about his own life, his own comfort, or his own reputation. This immediately reminded me of 1 Peter...

1 Peter 2:19

"For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is the conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

`He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.'

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."

As followers of Christ, this is what we need to be doing. We can't be worried about our reputation or comfort and should not expect justice on earth. Instead our hearts need to be fully devoted to Christ and set on wholeheartedly serving Him; everyday taking up our cross and laying down our life for our LORD and Savior. We should never let our focus veer from Christ and to ourselves and justifying ourselves before men. We need to entrust ourselves to The One who judges justly for our hope is in the LORD; he is our strength and our fortress. No matter what is thrown us we can stand firm in the truth because God is the one we look to and seek to glorify. In him and only in him is our joy found!

Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD God Almighty

Last night as I was sitting by the window watching some pretty intense storms roll through I randomly opened up my bible and landed on this Psalm...

Psalm 77:13-19

Your ways, O God, are holy.

What god is so great as our God?

You are the God who performs miracles;

you display your power among the people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw you, O God,

the waters saw you and writhed;

the very depths were convulsed.

The clouds poured down water,

the skies resounded with thunder;

your arrows flashed back and forth.

Your thunder was heard in a whirlwind,

your lightning lit up the world;

the earth trembled and quaked.

Your path led through the sea,

your way through the mighty waters,

though your footprints were not seen.

It was pretty powerful and humbling to be reading this psalm while being almost constantly surrounded by lightning and thunder. Our God is a Holy God and an All Powerful God! He controls even the fiercest of storms; he places each lightning bolt in the sky. I feel like if we truly understood how big, powerful, and holy God was we would have absolutely no problem completely trusting in him and serving him with absolutely everything we have. If God literally was standing before us, we would be on our faces, and we wouldn't be able to think of anything beside him. We wouldn't be struggling to make him the center of our thoughts; he would inevitably consume our entire minds. Looking out into the storm reminded me of this and I was compelled to just sit there in awe of God and to, in my heart, worship him, praise him, and exalt him as King over all the Universe.

Then I turned to Revelation 4:5-11...

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

And THAT is just a taste of what worship is like in heaven! My mind can't even begin comprehend what it is going to be like!

Romans 12:1

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will."

We often labor over why God isn’t making his will clear to us, but we have to ask ourselves…How much time are we spending with him? What are we filling our minds with? Do we expect to have a revelation from God regarding his will for our lives when we are spending most of our time watching movies or tv shows that are full of the very things that are absolutely detestable to God? Do we think that by filling our minds with the world’s perspective we will gain insight into God’s perspective?

Paul tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, to not conform to this world, and be transformed by the renewing of our minds…and THEN, we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.

So instead of playing this mind game trying to figure out what God wants us to do, we need to start actually looking to God. Interesting concept, huh? We need to start serving God and living for him, and filling our minds with his word; transforming our minds so that we are seeing things more and more from an eternal perspective. Let us not look to the world for advice and direction, instead let’s look to the God of the universe and the creator of all things. Let’s allow His words consume our minds and dictate our thoughts. If, on a moment by moment basis, we are surrendering our lives to God, doing whatever he has placed on our hearts to do, and doing it with the strength that he provides and saying everything with the words that he gives us, then we can rest in peace knowing that God will direct our paths and lead us to where he wants us. We need to be taking simple steps of obedience, and as we do so, God will make himself clear in our lives.