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365 Devotionals: Tears For God’s People

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22 AMP

The Seeds of Promise Devotional Series

How Do You Know?

“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 AMP

Bible Basis

August	Book	Read From	Read To	Devotional
27^th	Jeremiah	Chapter 45	Chapter 48	How Do You Know?

Key People

Here is a list of key people – the who’s who of overcomers, found in today’s reading (in order of appearance) with bios from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jeremiah. Also called the “weeping prophet”. One of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, the Books of Kings and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple.

Baruch. Served as Jeremiah’s faithful friend and scribe, and he carefully recorded the prophecies given to Jeremiah by God. He was from a prominent family and his grandfather Maaseiah had been governor of Jerusalem in the days of King Josiah (2 Chr 34:8).

Today’s Devotional Reading: Jeremiah 45 – 48

Jeremiah 45 Amplified Version (AMP)
Jeremiah 46 Amplified Version (AMP)
Jeremiah 47 Amplified Version (AMP)
Jeremiah 48 Amplified Version (AMP)

Reflection

From the Amplified Bible Footnotes on Jeremiah 46:26

God, through His prophets, accurately foretold the future of the prominent nations of Old Testament times, often specifying the fate of particular rulers and major cities as well. The fulfillment of these prophecies is usually indicated in the textual references or the notes. The prophecies are specific; what was said of Babylon, for instance, would not have been applicable to Egypt or Ammon or Sidon.

History records their fulfillment. If there was no other evidence that there is a God and that the Bible is inspired by Him, the fulfillment of prophecy in history should be sufficient proof for anyone capable of thinking it through. Nor are the prophecies against some nations recorded by only one writer, but a number of them, widely separated by time and circumstances.

Many times in the Bible, God says that after He does this or that, the people His trying to reach will know without a doubt that He is the Lord their God. This was usually followed by some miracle that would cause even the most sceptical observer to believe. So, after seeing some mighty feat, many people ceased from doubting.

How Do You Know That God Is Real? Have you ever experienced a miracle (that you recognized as such)? I had a friend who lost his entire arm up to the shoulder in a bus accident where his arm got caught in the accordian doors. For years I tried to tell him that his life was a miracle. He actually did not see it that way. (After about a year I wore on him and he changed his mind.) Have you ever seen a prophecy fulfilled?

I feel a strong unction that I just need to share a bit of my testimony right now. Personally, I have seen many miracles and even had a prophetess once tell me what I did every night – crying out to the Lord in my distress as a depressed teenager (I didn’t know anything about mental illness back then) while showing a smile to everyone in my community.

I know that God is real because I laid on my face before Him for several days until He spoke to me in an audible voice, asking “What do you want me to do.” At that time I was a struggling teenager obsessed with pageants (but refused to wear a bikini on stage). There was finally a contest that I could enter because it was sponsored by a church and was focused on spirituality (no swimsuit contest).

I told God that I wanted to be a Queen. (In the eighties, I competed in the America’s Kids and Teens pageant and was voted, “Most Potential.” But somehow I got stuck in rut that lasted thirty years – just about until 2019 after a breakdown following the passing of my dad.)

I was the first in 1996 and am still only contestant from my region to ever have won that pageant. I promised that if I won I would be a living testimony. I still talk about this every chance I get because I truly learned the power of fasting and prayer at that time. 30 years later, I am still trying to live up to my younger self – she was a true witness, a real Jesus Freak – and not afraid to let you know it. The event program for the pageant read, “God’s Queen of His Glory.”

I know that God is real because He did not let me commit suicide when I was depressed and anorexic as a young woman – although I wanted to when I was post-divorce, post-college, post-partum, and going postal. (O.K., that’s enough posts. Now, back to the post…)

I know that God is real because I carried a baby for nine months with the umbilical cord around his neck, then had to have an emergency cesarean surgery to deliver him because the monitors could no longer sense his heartbeat as he was in danger of being strangled at birth. Today, he is 11 years old.

I know that God is real because he didn’t let me die in a car crash when I was eighteen and fell asleep at the wheel after 18 hours of non-stop stick-shift driving, when my car spun out of control and went down the embankment and slammed backwards into a tree.

I know that God is real because I sat a row from a young lady in a revival service and watched her pull off her glasses and proclaim that she could see perfectly – and now hasn’t had a nearsighted day in 30 years.

I know that God is real because he allowed me take my son to see my father for the first time in nine years, not knowing that he would pass from cancer just 4 months later. Had I not been moved (by divine order) and blessed to visit my father when I did, my son would never have gotten to meet him before he passed in 2019.

I definitely know that God is real because He has delivered me out of the psych ward when I felt that I would go down to the pit of hell – more than once, in a depression so deep that I didn’t even know my own name. He brought me back from the brink of death. As of last Sunday, I am just 10 months evolved from my most recent near-death experience.

I know that God is real because after He brought me out of the hospital in last year, He inspired me to try to get a job – after being underemployed with mental illness for TEN YEARS and just being released from a psych ward! Then, after just 2 months of recovery, I got my first normal job in a decade of poverty. Can He top that? Yes, He can. Now, less than a year from walking into an emergency room where I couldn’t even sign my name, I am now going back to school to make a career change. In less than two years, I will be working my dream job that I thought I couldn’t do.

Many have not survived the things that I have been through – and many have survived, by grace. Without the experiences of my past, I am not sure where I would be in my thinking about God. The past is a matter of perspective. You could take another person who was cynical and put them through the same wringer that I went through, and they might not have such flowery words to say about their maker. From my perspective, all glory and honor belongs to God.

So, I ask again, How do you know? Because you have to be convinced of this thing called faith.

But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 AMP

References

« The Amplified Bible
« The King James Bible

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Image Source: 365 Seeds of Promise by Shenica R. Graham.