Jere. 26:8-11 - When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, "You must die!" Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD saying, 'This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant'…. Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, "A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing."  NASU 
​

• Obedience To God's Will Can Sometimes Be Painful 

I'm not quite sure where the teaching came from that says once you become a servant of God everything in your life was going to be a piece of cake, all of your prayers would be answered the way you wanted, and tough times would now be a thing of the past.
 
I can say without a doubt that Jeremiah was a man of God and he discovered that serving God brought with it some very painful situations.
 
He was a Prophet of God, called to be a prophet before he was even born. Jere. 1:4-5 -Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." NASU
 
I can guarantee you that he didn't believe his life was a piece of cake because he was a servant of God. 

• Obedience To God Can Be Confusing 

Having read the book of Jeremiah the constant thought that crossed my mind was this, "I would not want to be a prophet of God." This was one of the most thankless jobs on the face of the earth. 
 
You obey God and the end result is suffering for you. This is what happened in Jeremiah's life.
 
The very people Jeremiah was sent to help were the ones that wanted him dead.
 
The people the prophets were sent to help would be the ones who either made their life very miserable or they killed them.
 
Here is a conversation Jesus had with the scribes and Pharisees about killing the prophets sent by God - (Mt 23:30-31 - 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' "So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets." NASU)
 
Jeremiah was obedient to God, and it caused him a lot of grief.
 
You may be a servant of God today and have lots of grief. If you do, don't let your thoughts get you to doubt your calling. Don't be led down the path that God must not care about you or He certainly would not allow this suffering in your life.
 
He called Jeremiah and told him exactly what to preach and who to preach this message too. Jeremiah did exactly as he was told and he was hated by the priests and the false prophets. Their hatred was so great they wanted him to be killed. 

• Do You Have Any Enemies? 

Now I don't mean people who won't talk to you any more, or won't invite you to their parties.
 
I mean do you have any enemies like Jeremiah? They want you dead and have a plan to end your life. The answer to that question for most of us would be "No".
 
When I read what Jeremiah was going through I laugh now at what I had to endure in the ministry. I had people lie about me, misquote me, and God forbid the false accusations about my motives.
 
Hello!
 
Could you imagine me sitting down with Jeremiah and telling him how hard my ministry was?
 
I can actually see this person who I visualize as Jeremiah rolling on the ground laughing. When he stops laughing he says to me, "Really, that is all that was done to you? They didn't try to kill you at anytime?
 
Jere. 38:10 - Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies." NASU
 
They were literally trying to kill this man of God. Why? He was doing what God had asked him to do. 

• Life Lesson 

If you're suffering in life and it is because you are doing what God's Word has asked you to do accept your suffering as graciously as possible?
 
You may not receive any rewards here on earth, but the rewards God promises us in heaven will make us forget about all the suffering we have endured while here on earth.
 
Think On This:
 
As long as your conscience is your friend, don't be concerned about your enemies.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word

​Judges 7:2 - The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’ 

• What God Wants

God informs Gideon that if he went into battle against the Midianites with 22,000 men that the Israelite's victory would be dangerous. Their victory would fill them with pride. They would start to believe they were victorious because of their strength. God wanted Israel as He wants us to trust in Him.

Are we walking each day in faith so that no matter what enemy we encounter we can defeat it with God?
 
What prideful enemy are you facing today?

We have an enemy who is constantly trying to get us to believe that what we have accomplished we have done on our own. God wants us to trust Him and believe He is helping us daily. 

• What The Devil Wants

In 1 John 2:16, we are told that the three ways we will be tempted are through the Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life. You will be able to place sin under one of these three categories. The devil has been very successful in getting God's children to sin.
 
Sin has conquered all people except Jesus Christ.  
 
Adam and Eve's sin in the garden, David's sin when he numbered Israel or Samson's sin of using his strength incorrectly, all three of these sins come under the Pride of Life.

I am sure if we will look at the sin that has conquered us we will find that it falls under either the Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, or the Pride of Life. 

Are you going to be able to defeat these temptations by yourself?
 
The answer is "NO". We are going to need to trust the Lord to help us overcome the temptations the devil will use. Remember the devil is not omniscient (all-knowing).
 
Only God is omniscient.

So how does the devil always seem to know what temptations to confront us with that succeed?
 
The devil is very observant. He knows that to defeat his opponent he has to know their behavior. He has studied the behavior of God's creation and he has discovered how to get us to sin.
He has beaten everyone but ONE, Jesus Christ.

We, humans, are not too hard to defeat. Simply use one of the three ways mentioned above and he succeeds every time.

When tempting our Lord and Savior look at his plan.
 
He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread." He tried to get Jesus to doubt Himself and because Jesus had been fasting he slips in a Lust of the Flesh temptation. Turn the bread into stones if You are the Son of God. You have to be hungry. Your flesh has to be craving something to eat.

When that doesn't work he tries the Lust of the Eyes when he tells Him I will give you all these kingdoms if You will worship me.
 
Lastly, he tries the Pride of Life temptation when he says, Go ahead and jump from the pinnacle of the temple angels will save You. God will send His Angelic Air Force to swoop in and make sure Your landing is a safe one.

• What Do You Want?

It really comes down to this: What is it we want? Hopefully, we will all want to trust in God and not allow are accomplishments to lead us into sin.

Think on These:

Pride hides a man's faults to himself, and magnifies them to everyone else.

When success turns a man's head, it leaves him looking in the wrong direction.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word

1 Samuel 29:6-9 - Then Achish called David and said to him, "As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight; for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the lords. "Now therefore return and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines."
 
David said to Achish, "But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" But Achish replied to David, "I know that you are pleasing in my sight, like an angel of God; nevertheless the commanders of the Philistines have said, 'He must not go up with us to the battle.'    NASU
 

• David Wanted To Fight 

David had been living with the Philistines because King Saul had been trying to kill him. Therefore, David went to live with them because he knew Saul would never come down there looking for him.
 
The Philistines were about to go to war with King Saul and David was going with Achish, the King of Gath, but the Philistine lords didn't trust David as Achish did. Achish had no choice but to dismiss David.
 
David wanted to go and fight with Achish against the Israelites, but he wasn't permitted to do so. Would David have actually fought against Saul and the Israelites? This question will never be answered because he was dismissed and sent back home. 

• David's Blessing 

 When David and his guerilla fighters return to their home in Ziklag, they find the Amalekites had raided Ziklag and had taken captive all their wives and children.
 
Can you see what I see?
 
If David and his men would have been allowed to stay and fight with Achish what a disastrous outcome this would have been for their families. The real blessing was David being told they could not fight with the Philistines and they must leave.
 
When they arrive home they discover their families really need them to come and save them from the Amalekites.
 
David and 400 of his men pursue the Amalekites, they overtake them and rescue all of their family members and everything that was taken was recovered. 

• When You Don't Get What You Want 

David didn't get what he wanted but he did receive what he vitally needed.
 
When you and I don't get what we want the best thing we can do is give our LORD time to show us what He will give us is more important than what we want.
David didn't get to fight with Achish, but he did get to fight with his men and during this fight, they saved all of their families.
 
It is really easy to see which fight David and his men needed to be involved with at this time. You and I might want to be going in one direction but the LORD wants us to go another way.
 
We must always remember God is the One who is omniscient and we are not.
 
Think About This:
 
Always remember that a man is not rewarded for having brains, but for using them.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word
​

​2 Kings 20:4-6 - Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, " I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.  "I will add fifteen years to your life,…"  NASU 

• Hezekiah Was Given 15 More Years 

This story starts out with the prophet Isaiah informing King Hezekiah he needs to put his house in order because God says he is going to die. Hezekiah immediately goes to the Lord in prayer and asks for his life to be spared.
 
Isaiah had not even gotten out of the middle court when God says to go back and tell Hezekiah I have heard his prayer and seen his tears and here is my answer, "I will heal you. …I will add 15 years to your life…" 

• He Now Knows 

Hezekiah now knows he is going to die in 15 years.
 
How would you manage your life if you knew you only had 15 years to live? Would you consider that knowledge a blessing or a curse?
 
How would you manage your life with that knowledge?
 
Hezekiah knows he only has 15 years.
 
Would you break your time remaining down into segments? Would you have your life broken into five segments of 3 years each or 3 segments of 5 years each or would it be 15 segments of 1 year each? 

• Was It A Blessing Or A Curse? 

Hezekiah asked to be healed. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to go to Abraham's bosom. My understanding of Abraham's bosom at this time it would have been better for Hezekiah to die and go there.
 
Luke 16:25 - But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here,...'
 
Abraham's bosom was a place where your spirit went after you died during the Old Testament dispensation. We don't know a lot about this place but we know this much you would not suffer there. It was better to go there than to go to the lower part of Hades where the rich man went and was in torment.
 
I would imagine as time runs on and Hezekiah grows ever closer to his 15th year he woke up every day like we do, is today going to be the day we die?
 
My advice would be as you grow older and every day closer to departing and being with Christ just let it happen. Instead of praying for God to spare your life pray for God's Will to be done with you.
 
If He gives you more years to live then make them count for Him and His Kingdom. If He doesn't give you more time and He calls your spirit home I really don't believe you will complain about being in heaven.
 
Here is what the apostle Paul had to say about going to heaven: "But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.  (Philippians 1:23-24)
 
Your being here on earth may be beneficial for others but going to Heaven will surely be the greatest blessing you will ever receive.
 
Think About This:
 
What Heaven Is Going To Be Like:
 
Revel. 22:5 - And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. 

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago
 
Minister of God's Word