I was divorced. I was married once before to a man I was seeing through rose-colored glasses. I saw an illusion; not reality. But when I took off my glasses, the roses disappeared and the reality raised up its ugly little head. And I got frustrated and depressed and cried out to God to reveal what was wrong. And He heard my cries, visited me and spoke with me, and I repented of my wicked ways and completely turned my heart over to Him. I started putting Him first in everything I did. I made a public statement in our church that I loved God more than anything or anyone, as it should be. God wants us to love Him with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our mind. My husband did not understand that he was my main man, and that I loved him more than any other man. He thought he should have all of me. After that, though, my marriage really went down hill. Some of those days are hard to remember cause depression and separation wipe out bad memories and good memories. I think he stopped talking to me. We used to go to bars together and drink; booze must've been the glue holding us together because when I got my heart right with God, I stopped drinking. Cold turkey. And since I wouldn't go with him to the bars, he found someone who would. Not long after that I filed for separation, had a nervous breakdown and got divorced.
If you didn't know any divorced people before, now you do. Nice to meet you. How do you treat people who have been divorced, when they come into your churches? Are they welcome? They should be; they are hurting on the inside even if you see only their smiles and hear their laughter. Learn to read people: look in their eyes. Pain is revealed in the eyes of the hurting. Behavior. Understanding. If you don't have the wisdom it takes to minister to the needs of God's hurting children, ask Him for it. He will give it to you. This I know, because I asked God for wisdom and discernment. And I am getting it. Even in my Bible studies. I don't understand how some preachers can say they have no sermon ideas. Lift up your head and open your eyes: there is a world of ideas to preach on. Open your Bible and ask God to reveal Himself to you every time you open it up. I do. Never go anywhere without your Bible, a lined notebook and a couple of pens.
Would I be welcome in your church? If you see me only on the surface, you will see a twice married (staying married this time) middle aged brunette with eight children (three of them are with Jesus), who is also a woman preacher that speaks boldly, for I have learned to fear God and Him only;
I am not afraid of you. You cannot hurt me. Do you step to the side to avoid touching anyone you don't approve of? Would God be welcome in your church? He's divorced, too, you know. Oh yes, even though I have read my Bible all the way through and am reading it more slowly now as I do study after study, a verse popped out and stayed in my head and my heart: Jeremiah 3:8 "And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also."
It was a message of repentance and judgment which Jeremiah had to deliver to Israel and Judah. But he didn't want to go. He was a young man and he would be speaking to the elders of the generations that were then in Israel and Jerusalem. He would be speaking to kings and priests; laborers and beggars. He would be prophesying against Israel and Judah for their backslidden ways and refusal to turn back to God and obey Him only. He would be speaking to rebellious nations who thought only of themselves, their pleasures and their desires. But God created Jeremiah for such a time as this; He put His Words in Jeremiah's mouth and Jeremiah preached against Israel's harlotry ways and against Judah's treacherous heart.
If I wasn't filled with The Holy Ghost at this time, I would be fearful of bringing this message also. But I am not afraid. God is with me; He it is that has sent me forth with this message to His people, the message He also gives in the New Testament, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. God judged Israel and Judah for their rebellious living against His Word. They turned their hearts against Him and refused to listen and obey His laws. As a nation they turned against Him; as a nation He judged them all.
She went whoring after other gods, refusing to obey her Lord and Savior God and He passed judgment on her. He called her and offered to forgive her and take her back but still generation after generation turned away from God and God had no choice but to terminate their relationship. When Jesus returns, that generation will see The Lord and know and repent of their wickedness and turn back to God.
Their backsliding days will be over for the Day of The Lord will be here. Until then, we are to continue to stand with her, pray for peace within her walls and the hearts of her people. We are to bless Israel, for God loves her still. She is His first love, after all. But we, the Gentiles, the Church, are His Bride now. We have been grafted into the New Jerusalem through Jesus Christ; we have new hearts, for our old hearts were circumcised when we repented of our wickedness and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives and our hearts.
We were not born Jewish, but we have been adopted by God through His Son Jesus Christ, through the blood that was shed at Golgotha: we are the called, the few, the chosen, the born-again. And our hearts have been washed clean of the wickedness that was in us. We have a Jewish Savior, The King of kings, The Lover of our souls, living in our hearts. But He couldn't live in the dungheaps of our lives, so He washed us clean with His redeeming blood which was shed on Calvary more than 2000 years ago. We have been baptized by water into His Name, we have been baptized into His power by The Holy Spirit, the Comforter He sent us after He went home to His Father when He resurrected from the grave. We have been given the authority to preach the Good News, the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus Christ. Foolishness to many, a lifesaver to those who truly believe.
Repent, and be baptized, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Get up off your pews, your couches, your recliners, your sofas and your butt. Get yourself down on your knees before God and repent of your rebellious ways, before God's patience wears thin towards you and you receive judgment at His hands. It is not I who brings you this message on my own behalf, but on the authority of the risen Christ I preach the Good News that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sins that you and I may be forgiven and receive a new heart in His Name.
Ask God to search your heart and remove any remnants of sin that have long lain dark within you. This is the day of your salvation. This is your day of rejoicing upon your salvation through Christ. This day has God forgiven you and caused you to become His child. The Spirit and The Bride, they say, Come. Come to the King of kings, let Him be the King of your heart and your life. come to the Living Water which is in Him and drink freely, that your thirst may be quenched. You who are hungry and thirsty for what you know not, come to the river and be fed. For Jesus is the Bread of Life and the River of Living Water.
Now is not the time to hesitate; now is the time to commit and rededicate your heart and your mind and your soul to God. Come, you thirsty.....
The whole book of Jeremiah is God's directive, spoken through Jeremiah, to Israel and Judah, who also turned her back on God and was judged and found wanting. Don't be found in that book; be found in The Book of Life, wherein are written the names of all those who believe. The names written in God's Book of Life will be the Christians who endured to the end of their race and remained faithful to God's Word and God's Will until they died. My name is written in God's Book of Life. I will hear Him say to me, "Well done, My good and faithful servant." For that is who I am now. God's servant. I am the handmaid of The Lord and I go where He wants me to go and I do what He wants me to do. I obey His Word because Christ is my Strength and I fear God. He is awesome, wonderful, mighty, fearsome and powerful. But in these characteristics He is also loving, generous, merciful, forgiving and wise.
I will serve The Lord. Who will you serve?
