Hebrews 4:16
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

It seems the Apostle Thomas sometimes spoke what the others were thinking. On one occasion, when Jesus spoke of where He was going, Thomas replied, “Lord we don’t know where You are going or how to get there” (John 14:5). To which Jesus stated, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me” (John 14:6). It was through the cross that Jesus made a way. On the cross He bore our sins and their penalty, opening a doorway, for any and all who trust in Christ, to have access to God. That access to God has two applications. First, when we die, we attain heaven. Jesus was declaring, as emphatically as possible, that heaven…

Jeremiah 8:5
“Why has this people slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit,
They refuse to return.”

Like a doctor who has carefully examined a patient and given his diagnosis, Jeremiah declares the sickness of Judah to be perpetual backsliding. Backsliding is a biblical term that refers to a follower of God who has returned to his pre-conversion lifestyle. Perpetual is a term wnich means continual, like a pendulum. The perpetual backslider is the person who makes a commitment to the Lord, falls back into sin, makes another commitment, followed by another fall, and this becomes the cycle of his life.

God designed the human brain to develop patterns. These patters can be extremely helpful. I recall my first attempts to learn chords on the guitar. It was a pain staking process, my brain would tell my fingers what to do, but they seemed incapable…

Jeremiah 7:16

“Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.”

The Bible is filled with commands from God, which place requirements upon man. Bible scholars tell us there are over 600 distinct commands in the Old Testament alone. On one occasion, Jesus was approached by a man who was seeking to list these commands in order of importance. He asked “which is the greatest commandment?” To which Jesus replied, “love God…” (Matthew 22:26—37)

Of all the commands, this one in Jeremiah has to rank among the strangest. The prophet was instructed NOT to pray for the people. It is easy to understand commands such as: have no other gods, no graven images, or do not steal. But what could be the reason God commanded his prophet not to pray?

Keep…

Hebrews 3:12-13

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

Life is dangerous and filled with pitfalls. We are constantly warned to be on the lookout for danger. We see signs warning us that the road is slippery, the coffee is hot, there is a low beam, animals may cross the highway; riptide, sharks, jellyfish and high surf face us in the ocean. Paul reminds us of a hazard that is far more dangerous because it has taken many more away than any riptide ever has. He warns us against having a hardened heart. Biblically speaking, a hard heart could be defined as being unwilling to do what God asks. This was the primary issue with the…

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.” But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

The worst hurricane in U.S. History reached landfall in Galveston Texas on September 8, 1900. With winds exceeding 145 mph and a storm surge of over 15ft this category 4 storm had a devastating affect upon the growing city and its inhabitants. Records show that over 3600 homes were destroyed and more than 8,000 people lost their lives. While technology was not what it is today, the storm did not come without warning. As it passed over Cuba, reports were wired, but those in charge chose to ignore them believing the storm would turn and head north up the Atlantic. As a result the people did…

Jeremiah 5:25
“Your iniquities have turned these things away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.”

The Bible portrays the devil as a dragon who seeks to defeat the work of God by destroying the followers of God. This fiery beast has opposed the followers of God since the beginning of time. While he is crafty and sly, he seems to revert back to the same old lie whenever he attempts to deceive us. In the garden, he convinced Eve that departing from the ways of God would make life better. She soon discoveredt that true life is not found in freeing ourselves from God, but in walking within the confines of His Word.

People in Jeremiah’s day were buying into this same old lie. In pursuit of life, they were leaving the commands of God and following their own desires. Tragically, they found sin cannot fulfills its promises…

Hebrews 2:1

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”

Sadly, we have all seen Christians fall by the wayside. People who at one time were walking with the Lord, but have fallen back into the life from which they were once delivered. We see this happen to new believers and old. We may have even been victims ourselves. How does that happen? I can think of at least four things that result in a person finding themselves away from the Lord.

First, we are warned against falling away. This is caused by giving into temptation instead of resisting it. One of the necessary elements of success in your Christian life is to deny the flesh’s desire for sin. When we let our guard down, or think we are mature enough to handle a little sin, we will fall…

Jeremiah 3:3

“Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain.”

Difficulties in life are not always the result of personal sin, but sometimes they are. Sometimes our struggles could be alleviated by getting things right with God. Haggai wrote, the people in his day were ignoring the Lord and their relationship with Him, and as a result he wrote, “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes. ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts’: “Consider your ways!'”” (Haggai 1:6&7) It is possible that the hardships you are enduring are not actually trials or even the natural results of living in a fallen world. It is possible that you are…

Hebrews 1:3

“…and upholding all things by the word of His power…

When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God supernaturally provided for their needs. Each morning, as the dew settled on the ground, a substance known simply as “manna” would appear. Manna was similar to a pastry sweetened with honey, and contained all the nutritional needs of the children of Israel, throughout their wilderness journey. When the kids arose and were hungry, they were given manna, at lunch time, manna, after school snack, manna, dinner, manna. No matter what the hunger, the answer was “manna”. For those who lost site of the miraculous nature of this “Angel Food”, this may have become somewhat monotonous.

A similar thing often happens with believers. We face a fear, struggle, temptation, disappointment, challenge, or trial, and when we seek counsel, we are told to read the Bible. We might even…

Jeremiah 2:13
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Water is a necessary element for life. Ancient cities were founded with two main concerns; first there must be an ample water source to support the people and second they must be able to defend themselves from enemies who might attack. In arid climates, it became necessary to capture any rainfall and store it for the dry season. Without the advent of poly tanks or cement, the method for creating a reservoir was to cut a pool out of a massive bolder. Imagine the amount of work it took using hand tools, to hollow out a bolder into a swimming pool. This would not be the work of days or weeks, but that of years, and perhaps a lifetime. What a tragedy…