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Stay Focused

They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. Jeremiah 32:33 (ESV)   To learn, you need to position yourself to listen. The prideful will not listen. The angry do not listen. The arrogant do not listen.   Listening does not mean you agree or disagree. It means that you are paying attention to what someone else is saying. Paying attention to what someone else is saying means you are actually trying to understand what they are saying. After one listens, one can respond, and hopefully respond correctly.   The academic atmosphere today seems to be one continual debate, rather than the exchange and consideration of ideas. If we know that something is right, no matter how a person debates the issue, they remain right. Those who want to debate every idea someone has, and every word they say, are wearisome and, eventually, will have no one to debate, for they have worn out all those...
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My goal is to abide in Him.

"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27 (ESV)   What is it that we worry about? Why? What value does worry possess? If the God of the universe, the only God, the all-powerful God, loves you and is guiding your footsteps, worry makes no sense.   Yet, we find it easy to worry. I worry when God is not guiding me. I worry because I knowingly ignore the leading of the Holy Spirit, disobey the revealed Word of God, and actually worry that God will do what He said He would do, while hoping He makes His first exception.   Worry is a waste of time and robs us of the ability to enjoy today. Today's investments often determine tomorrow's activities, and worry is not an investment strategy, but it is a withdrawal "strategy." If we know that nothing is too hard for God and that He is our Father, then we need to go to Him and leave our "worries" with Him. He knows what to do, how to do it, and, in the end, will ...
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Jeremiah 32:16-19 (ESV)

"After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: 'Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.'" Jeremiah 32:16-19 (ESV) https://www.podbean.com/relate365
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God knows our hearts and our ways.

For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!' "Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small. Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them. Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God." Jeremiah 30:17-22 (ESV)   God k...
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Today, I have choices to make.

"For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you." Jeremiah 30:12-15 (ESV)   Those who love God grieve, but not as those who have no hope. To those who love God, there will be an end to suffering. To those who love self, there is no hope for the future, and the suffering in this life will just be multiplied in the next. We are all terminal, yet the end is not yet determined. Indeed, God knows the end, yet His knowing it and it being determined are two different ideas.   Today, I have choices to make, and my choices mat...
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We need to know who speaks for God.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:8-13 (ESV)   We need to know who speaks for God and who speaks about God for personal gain. The New Testament books of Jude and 2 Peter help us identify false teachers. False teachers use God; real teachers love God and speak of Him in that context. https://www.podbean.com/r...
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One needs to be careful.

Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: "Go, tell Hananiah, 'Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.'" And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.'" Jeremiah 28:12-16 (ESV)   One needs to be careful as to from what they break free. Being free from listening to God enslaves us to ourselves. Being free from ...
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