Hope and Judgment
On the morning of July 14, 2016, I decided to read from a Bible I hadn’t used in over a month and it opened right up to Jeremiah 18. Spooky right? Not really! I attribute this occurrence mostly to a series of sticky notes I had on this page. For this very reason, I almost looked for something else to read but refrained after sensing a strong urge to look at this specific scripture.
Jeremiah 18, opens with him going on a field trip to “The Potter’s House.” My adolescent years were filled with these outings and I loved it! Although it was more about having fun then, the purpose of these trips is to learn, explore, and gain first-hand experience.
Who would expect God to use a field trip to teach this prophet something?
“In Love With Grey” | Flickr/Big Grey Mare | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Yet He did and through this Jeremiah gained valuable insight into God’s heart.
Then this message from the Lord came to me: “Family of Israel, you know that I can do the same thing with you. You are like the clay in the potter’s hands, and I am the potter.” This message is from the Lord. “There may come a time when I will speak about a nation or a kingdom that I will pull up by its roots or tear down and destroy it. But if the people of that nation change their hearts and lives and stop doing evil things, I will change my mind and not bring on them the disaster I planned. There may come another time when I speak about a nation that I will build up or plant. But if I see that nation doing evil things and not obeying me, I will think again about the good I had planned to do for them.
Jeremiah 18:5-10 ERV
“America” | Flickr//mdghty | CC BY-SA 2.0
This is what the Father is presently speaking for America:
I can change the tide because I control the tide. I can shift the wind because the winds obey me. I haven’t set my face to destroy America, this is not my heart. Cry out to me and I will show you, your faults–not the faults of others, but I will show you your faults, so that I can help you, so that I may heal you, so that I may restore you to the beauty of your youth.
10:18AM | July 14, 2016
A Call for Repentance
Reflecting back to the scripture, God was basically saying He was flexible and the fate of those He spoke to was conditional, meaning it was based on their response.
God desires to help His people, not harm them.
During corporate prayer on Wednesday, July 13th, I sensed an urgency to ask God for forgiveness and I even felt compelled to ask Him to place this same burden on the hearts of His people. Following my silent request, two open petitions were given that specifically pointed to repentance, which is also the underlying tone of this portion of scripture.
Some may say, I don’t need to ask God for forgiveness. My response is this, that’s between you and Him, but I did and for things we are all often negligent of. Let me explain this with two dreams I recently had that showed me I wasn’t completely surrendered to God.
Dream One
I was trading my current vehicle in for another and was super stoked over my decision. The vehicle I was buying was much larger than the other and it cost less, but after close examination, I noticed things I wasn’t exactly happy about.
This vehicle had a lot of extra features, but there were things that were lacking or weren’t working. For example, the keyless entry didn’t work so I had to open the doors manually. Also, the trunk had to be opened and closed by hand, this may not seem like much but the vehicle I traded had automatic everything! I freaked out and frantically sought a way to reverse the trade.
Dream Two
In the next dream, my leader walked into a brightly lit room smiling and full of energy. She sat down and asked if myself, along with another, would be coming with her, presumably to a ministry engagement. I immediately responded “no,” to avoid going and having to do something contrary to what I was comfortable with.
The Meaning of Both
I had both of these dreams within the past two weeks and only days apart, though they are different, the theme is the same and it required my repentance.
The simple interpretation of my dream is this, I have to be willing to completely submit to God in every way and all the time. I can’t pull back, because of laziness, comfort or even fear. Those that commit to a job and turn back aren’t fit for it (Luke 9:62).
If God has expanded my influence [the larger vehicle] and more work is required [losing the nice automatic features], then my stewardship over previous responsibilities has proved me faithful to handle it.
A Time of Wailing
In the OT, time and time again God sent representatives to Israel, pleading, and begging them to turn from their own desires, to recognize His love, and ultimately accept His perfect plans for them. Why did God speak so profusely to Israel and NOT other nations?
“Praying Hands” | Flickr/wsilver | CC BY 2.0
Does this mean God doesn’t care about people that don’t personally know Him? No, it does not. Naturally, God deals with His people first, because of the nature of the relationship.
Here’s an example, let’s say you’re in a relationship with someone and they start acting differently. Your first response is to deal directly with the person you’re in a relationship with and not talk to your neighbors about it. This pattern is the same for God and with the present day church.
In “A Release of Divine Order,” I wrote about an experience I had with God on August 12, 2015. He actually awakened from my sleep and said, “The church is waiting on the world to repent, but the church needs to repent.” I went on to write, “Repentance is coming, but to the church first. Godly sorrow must lead to repentance for us before reaching anyone else (2 Corinthians 7:10)!” See full post here.
The Looking Glass
I find it interesting that when God spoke to me, He specifically said, “cry out to Me and I will show you, your faults–not the faults of others.”
“You” | Flickr/ gfairchild | CC BY 2.0
We should desire more for America, more for the people of our nation, and God’s best for the world, but we [the Church] must never neglect to hear God first for ourselves. Also, we can’t expect the world to uphold His standards because they truly don’t have that ability yet (Romans 8:7, 1 Corinthians 2:14).
What we can do is allow the plank to be removed from our eye so that we can see well enough to show them the way (Matthew 7:5).
Plank Eye Disease |Copyright All rights reserved by ericekidwell
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE
Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man viewing his natural face in a mirror. He views himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in his deeds.
JAMES 1:22-25 MEV
And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 AMP
This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned. But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally, ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].”
JOHN 3:19-21 AMP
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