For I am persuaded that [nothing] . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Recommended Reading

1 John 4:8-16

When current Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin, was sworn into office, he told an assembled crowd, “If we truly love one another . . . if we have each other’s back . . . then the greatest days of the commonwealth of Kentucky are indeed yet to come.” That sentiment echoes what lovers have told each other for centuries: “Love is all we need.”

While love may not be a bullet-proof shield for politicians or lovers, it definitely is for members of God’s family. If we lose all else in this world we will never lose the love of God. Therefore, we never will lose God, for God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). When he was suffering, the apostle Paul wrote that God’s grace was sufficient for him (2 Corinthians 12:9). He is the same apostle who lost everything in his service for Christ through shipwrecks, imprisonments, beatings, hunger, stoning, and more (2 Corinthians 6:4-10; 11:23-28). He lost everything he didn’t need and kept everything he did need. Most important, he kept the love of God in Christ Jesus.

The same is true for you. Nothing can separate you from God and His love through Christ. He is everything we need.

A piece of bread with God’s love is angels’ food.

Thomas Watson, Puritan

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Ezekiel 41 – 43

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

Psalm 139:16b

Recommended Reading

Genesis 22:8-14

If a vacationer can afford it, concierge-type travel services can plan and provide for every day—actually, every hour—of an itinerary. From the moment you are picked up at your door until the moment you return, your trip has been planned and executed in detail. For some, eliminating the serendipitous, unplanned moments from a trip removes all the fun. For others, security and not worrying about details is worth the price.

Life as a child of God provides that kind of security. Psalm 139:16 says that God has written down all the days created for us before a single day has come to pass. And Philippians 4:19 says that “my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” That covers the big picture and the details of our trip to heaven. God has arranged the itinerary—the order of our days—and has planned to meet all our needs along the way. So what is there to fear about the future?

Do you know what the future holds? Do you have everything today that you will need in the future? “No” to both questions. But God has already answered “Yes” to both in His Word. We must have faith and courage.

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

Corrie ten Boom

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Ezekiel 39 – 40

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

Recommended Reading

Proverbs 1:7; 9:10

There’s a principle parents sometimes use with their children: “If you can do the hardest thing (ride a bike) then you can do the not-hardest thing (learn to roller skate).” And it’s a good principle for adults as well. Once we conquer the highest mountain, we know we can conquer the not-highest mountain.

We can reverse the principle and apply it spiritually: If we are not afraid of the most powerful “thing,” we shouldn’t be afraid of lesser “things.” When Jesus sent the 12 disciples out to minister, He gave them lengthy instructions (Matthew 10). There was the possibility of persecution and rejection, but Jesus used the greater-lesser principle: As long as you fear God, there is no need to fear man (Matthew 10:28). After all, God can do the worst—He can send “soul and body” to hell. What can any man do that is as fearful? Nothing! So fearing God (respecting Him, honoring Him) is our greatest defense against all other fears.

Is there something you are afraid of? Take it to God. After all, there is nothing that can separate us from His love in Christ (Romans 8:35-39).

I fear not the tyranny of man, neither yet what the devil can invent against me.

John Knox

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Ezekiel 36 – 38

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

Psalm 119:9

In his autobiography, Just As I Am, Billy Graham recalls growing up on a North Carolina dairy farm. “Our barns had tin roofs,” he wrote. “On rainy days, I liked to sneak away into the hay barn and lie on a sweet-smelling and slippery pile of straw, listening to the raindrops hit that tin roof and dreaming. It was a sanctuary that helped shape my character. Whenever I visit a bustling city anywhere in the world now, I like to retreat from noisy boulevards into an open church building and just meditate in the cool, dim quietness. At our home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, my favorite spot is a little path above the house where I walk alone and talk with God.”1

Recommended Reading: Psalm 119:1-9

As our children return to school this fall, let’s remember that God’s schoolroom is called meditation. It’s not enough just to read the Bible, or even simply to study it. We need to find quiet times to mull over its words, meditate on its verses, and ponder its truths. That’s what shapes our character. If you can’t find a barn with a tin roof, any quiet spot will do. Settle down, quiet yourself, be still, contemplate the Lord and His Word, and know that He is God.

By holy meditation the soul doth, as it were, breakfast with God every morning.

Thomas Watson, Puritan

Read-Thru-the-Bible: Ezekiel 31 – 35

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Romans 8:18

Recommended Reading

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Compare these two verses—the one above, and 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

In both verses, the Lord gives the same assurance. Our present momentary suffering and afflictions aren’t as important as we think, when compared to the eternal glory awaiting us in the future.

Imagine you won a contest that awarded you a new automobile—a new Lexus. But on your way to pick it up, you hit a pothole and damage your flat tire. There’s nothing fun about that, but you can put up with the aggravation of a flat tire on your old car because soon you’ll be driving your new Lexus.

When we hit life’s potholes it helps to keep things in perspective. God’s blessings in our lives supersede our earthly trials, and our glory in the future exceeds any problems we face today. If you’re in a tough spot, remember Romans 8:18 and 2 Corinthians 4:17.

These sufferings are but for a moment; but the glory shall be eternal. These will soon pass away; but that glory shall never become dim or diminished…

Albert Barnes, in his commentary on Romans 8:18

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Ezekiel 28 – 30

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

Recommended Reading

Psalm 23

Many children fight sleep, begging to stay up just a little longer, while many adults eagerly count the hours until bedtime. When sleep does not come to the tired, the simple advice of counting sheep may keep our minds occupied from worrying, but counting fluffy creatures does not always lead to sleep. Sleep is relaxing, resting, and letting go. We pause our doing and become still. God in His grace has created us to need sleep and it can draw us closer to Him. Our need for sleep, along with our need for food and water, reminds us of our frailty and His strength.

God never sleeps (Psalm 121:4). He is limitless and has no need of sleep. He delights in drawing close to us and giving us more of Himself and His peace. Whether you sleep through the night or struggle to sleep, God is with you. Tonight, when you lay down to sleep, take a moment to prayerfully give your burdens to God, thanking Him for sleep and the tangible reminder that we can let go and trust Him.

They slumber sweetly whom faith rocks to sleep. No pillow so soft as a promise; no coverlet so warm as an assured interest in Christ.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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Ezekiel 23 – 24

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered.

Job 36:26

Recommended Reading

Numbers 13:25-33

Our minds jump into overdrive when we encounter obstacles, tension or conflict: We frantically search for a solution by getting as much information as we can. We consider our resources and weigh our options as we scurry toward a solution.

When the twelve spies entered the Promised Land their mission was simple: discover what they could about the land God had promised to give them. But somewhere during their excursion, they forgot. They stopped looking through the lens of God’s power and focusing on their own. When the ten spies declared that they could not take the land, they were partially right. In their own strength they did not stand a chance. Only Joshua and Caleb began with God’s power in mind. They remembered God’s faithfulness and made decisions from this starting point. God had parted deep waters before them, provided food from the sky, and guided them by a pillar of light at night and a supernatural cloud at day.

While we may not be conquering a land, we have the same choice when faced with problems and obstacles. Will we start with God’s faithfulness and power in mind?

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

Martin Luther

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Ezekiel 21 – 22

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Romans 4:7

Recommended Reading

Romans 4:1-8

Ramona grew up in a troubled home. Her mother was a Christian, but her father was an abusive alcoholic. As a young adult, Ramona made many unwise choices, married multiple times, and descended into drug and alcohol abuse. One night at the Pagoda Hotel in Hawaii, she saw a Gideon Bible in one of the drawers and she took it home with her. About two years later, she started reading it. “After reading a while,” she said, “it was like the words on the pages came to life and opened my eyes. God cleansed me of the anger and resentfulness. He set me free.” Her life changed so dramatically that she forgave her father, cared for him in his latter days, and had the joy of leading him to Christ before his death.1

The grace of God is a shaft of light that can penetrate any darkness, illumine any heart, and brighten any life. God’s arms are open to receive us always—regardless of where we’ve been or what we’ve done.

How blessed we are to find and receive the forgiveness of God!

Believe in God’s instant forgiveness. How long does it take you to forgive your child? Time is not considered in forgiveness. The estrangement of a lifetime may be forgiven in the twinkling of an eye.

1. B. Meyer, in Steps Into the Blessed Life

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Ezekiel 5 – 8

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Recommended Reading

Jeremiah 29:1-11

Poor Donald Pugh. He was very upset over the unflattering photograph of him released by the Lima, Ohio, police. He appeared overweight and puffy. Pugh was so unhappy he sent them a much better picture of himself—which led to his arrest. It reminds us of the line by poet Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.”

Our schemes often go awry. God’s never do. Look back over the course of your life. If you’re a child of God, you’ll undoubtedly see how God opened doors, closed doors, directed and redirected, ruled and overruled, and led in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

In Jeremiah 29, the Lord told the exiles in Babylonian refugee camps to trust the Lord, for His plans for them were good and He would give them a future and a hope. The plans we make for ourselves are far exceeded by God’s plan for us. So trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths (see Proverbs 3:5-6).

When we want to know God’s will there are three things which always concur: the inward impulse, the Word of God, and the trend of circumstances.

1. B. Meyer

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Ezekiel 1 – 4

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word.

Psalm 148:7-8

Recommended Reading

Psalm 148

Author Jack London wrote a tragic short story called “To Build a Fire” about a man who froze to death on the Yukon Trail because he couldn’t get his fire lit or keep it burning. It’s an illustration of a world that has forgotten to worship.

A lot of churches are like big stacks of waterlogged firewood that will never catch fire on their own. The big backlog of church membership has grown cold and the coals have nearly gone out. The fire in many churches is burning low. God is looking for men and women to serve as kindling wood; and if He can set them on fire, He can bring about revival to the church and set the world on fire with the Gospel. He is looking for true worshipers.

Kindle a fire of worship in your heart and let the Holy Spirit fan it to flames. God cannot be brought down to us; we can only direct our hearts of worship upward to Him. Let’s join the writer of Psalm 148 saying, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him from the heights!”

Yes, friends, love God extravagantly. Thank Him profusely. Worship Him lavishly.

Vernon M. Whaley in “Called to Worship”

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Lamentations 3 – 5

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

Revelation 21:1

Christians often ask, Where is heaven? Heaven is mentioned more than 500 times in Scripture, but the only location suggested is “up.” The apostles of Jesus stood “gazing up into heaven” as Jesus ascended (Acts 1:11). The apostle Paul was “caught up” into a “third heaven”—but he doesn’t say any more than “up” about location (2 Corinthians 12:2).

Recommended Reading: 2 Peter 3:10-13

Given the lack of specificity about heaven’s location, Christians by default think it is somewhere overhead, somewhere in the “heavens.” But Scripture seems to suggest that heaven will be on earth, not in the sky. When the apostle John saw the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven,” it came to the earth (Revelation 21:2). And Peter described the present heavens and earth being “burned up” and “dissolved” (2 Peter 3:10-11), replaced by “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (verse 13). So it seems that God will renovate and restore His original creation by creating heaven on earth.

You may love where you live now, but you will love your heaven-on-earth home that is coming much more!

Heaven will chiefly consist in the enjoyment of God.

William S. Plummer

Read-Thru-the-Bible: Jeremiah 50 – 52

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Titus 2:14, KJV

Recommended Reading

Titus 2:11-15

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world,” wrote George Bernard Shaw. “The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”1

Christians are, in a sense, unreasonable people. We are nonconformists and counter culturists. We don’t love the world or the things in the world. We’re citizens of another kingdom, and we don’t adapt well to this one. We do our best to get along, to love our neighbor, to do all the good we can, and to be wise and winsome. But the older translations called us “peculiar.”

Exodus 19:5 says if we obey His voice and keep His covenant, we’ll be His “peculiar treasure.” Deuteronomy 14:2 says God has chosen us to be a “peculiar people unto himself.” First Peter 2:9 says we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.”2 The essence of who we are matters, for we belong to Almighty God and we’re His peculiar treasure.

Our business today is to be New Testament Christians, proclaim New Testament Christianity, and build New Testament churches. That seems simple enough … but just try it in dead-earnest and see what happens!

Vance Havner

1George Bernard Shaw, Men and Superman (Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903), 124.

2References quoted from the King James Version.

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Jeremiah 49

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

James 5:11

Recommended Reading

James 5:9-12

Different translations give us different insights. The New International Version renders James 5:11 like this: “You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.”

Notice that word “finally.” Finally, after waves of attacks, after months of suffering, after hours of conversations, after countless tears. Finally, after loss of life, loss of property, loss of health. Finally, after feckless friends and miserable comforters. Finally, after endless pain and ceaseless prayers. Finally … in His timing … in His will … for His reasons. Finally, God brought it all around for good.

James was writing to Christians who were facing pressures that made them feel like Job, but he told them to persevere. He advised them to work through it to see what the Lord would finally bring about.

God gives us insights during our trials to help us along our journey, and He often weaves them into the simplest words of the Bible such as finally. If you’re facing adversity today, persevere. Wait to see what the Lord will finally bring about.

I’m grateful for those little insights God gives us, aren’t you? I don’t think we’d get through the furnace if He didn’t break through our consciousness and say, “Now wait a minute. I’m here. I’m in this place with you. I’m in the midst of this trial with you.”

David Jeremiah

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Jeremiah 47 – 48

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

John 13:7

Recommended Reading

John 13:1-7

Maxwell Cornelius left his family’s farm in Pennsylvania to become a brick mason in Pittsburgh, but tragedy struck when he was a young man. He lost his leg when the wall of a house collapsed. Leaving the construction trade, he went into the ministry. His wife battled disability, forcing them to leave their church and move to California for the climate. There he led another congregation into a building program, but the economy failed. Despite all his hardships and setbacks, Cornelius maintained a positive attitude and later wrote a hymn, which was quite popular in its day. The words are timeless: “Not now, but in the coming years, / It may be in the better land, / We’ll read the meaning of our tears, / And there, some time, we’ll understand.”

We won’t understand life completely on earth, but one day we’ll be with the One who does. As Pastor Adrian Rogers said, “In the storms of our lives, we never see the full picture. But one day we will see it all; one day the circle will be complete.”1

God knows the way, He holds the key, / He guides us with unerring hand; / Some time with tearless eyes we’ll see; / Yes, there, up there, we’ll understand.

Maxwell Cornelius, from the hymn “Sometime We’ll Understand”

1Adrian Rogers, Unveiling the End Times (Nashville: B&H, 2013), 77.

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Jeremiah 44 – 46

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.

Philippians 3:10

Recommended Reading

Philippians 3:1-11

In The King and I, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a toe-tapping little song for Anna to sing about striking up a friendship with the King of Siam and his family. “Haven’t you noticed,” sang Anna, “suddenly I’m bright and breezy? Because of all the beautiful and new things I’m learning about you.” The chorus keeps repeating the thought: “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.”

If that’s true about the King of Siam, it’s much truer about the King of Kings!

As we mature in our walk with the Lord, we’ll learn more about His goodness with every step we take. Our Christian faith isn’t a religion but a relationship. Prayer and Bible study aren’t simply rituals, but conversations. Our God isn’t just a distant force; He’s an ever-present friend. The focus of our faith is getting to know Him better.

The Amplified Bible Classic Edition renders Philippians 3:10 like this: “[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly].”

Does not every child of God long… to know just as much about his heavenly Father as he can learn?

1. I. Packer, in Knowing God

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Jeremiah 40 – 43

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/