Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

6 August 2024

Reading From Jeremiah 1-3

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

–Jeremiah 1:4-10

     When God formed Adam from the earth, He worked as a sculptor fashioning the first man of clay.  Then He breathed into him and Adam became a living being.  To me, this poetically reveals that life comes from God; the very breath of God made him alive.  When Adam and Eve were created, they were physically alive and spiritually alive in perfect standing and fellowship with Elohim, but sin brings death.  When they disobeyed, they died inside. 

     Sin and death came through the first Adam, righteousness and life came through the second Adam, Jesus.  Every generation since the fall of mankind has been born spiritually dead, in need of the life-giving breath of God.  Spiritual life comes to us only when we reach out to Him in faith and are cleansed by the Spirit in the blood of Jesus.  After He paid for our sins on the cross and conquered death at the tomb, He breathed into His disciples new, spiritual life. 

     God knew us before we were born in that He knows everything past, present and future.  Every human is His creation.  He forms each of us in our mother’s womb and blesses us with intellect and emotion.[1]  I would call this body and soul.  But only those who surrender to His authority in their lives as Lord and Savior are His children. 

When we are born again, He breathes new life into us.  This life comes from our Father and we are united to each other and to Him by His Spirit.  Breath in ancient Greek is pneuma, the same word for Spirit.  We are made alive in body, soul and spirit with the culmination of this renewal being our resurrection at the Second Coming.

     For Jeremiah, he was known and set apart in the mind of God long before he was born, but for our lives in the New Covenant, this knowledge is deeper as the spiritual life we have, God the Holy Spirit, comes directly from God the Father.  John 15:26 says, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”[2]  He takes up residence in our hearts and we become His temples.  Joined together we form one mighty Temple that He dwells in by His Spirit.  In Christ we go from death to life.

     In this opening passage from the Prophet Jeremiah, God encourages him to not allow anyone to look down on him because he is young.  This is an affirmation that Paul echoes to Timothy in the New Testament.  “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”[3] 

The Lord sovereignly anoints His servants regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background.  We need to not only be open to Him using us to do His will, but also be willing to accept His Word communicated through any source He chooses.  This requires humility, introspection and openness to the Spirit. Nothing is too difficult for God.

     Moses was slow to speak.  Perhaps this was a speech impediment.  With Jeremiah, the apprehension appears to come from the inexperience of his youth.  He did not believe that he could speak well.  Our self-perceived limitations are no match for the power of God at work within us and through us.  When we yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to flow through us into the lives of others, His power is on display and our Father in Heaven is honored and glorified. 

“God, we owe our lives to You physically and spiritually.  If it were not for Your sustaining power, we would surely perish.  In You we not only exist, we thrive!  You have anointed us as prophets, priests, and kings in that we are to speak Your Word, minister Your message of reconciliation, and function in Your authority.  Show us how to do this faithfully.  Give us fresh vision for the future and the eternal perspective we need to have peace.  Put Your Word in our hearts and in our mouths that we would share Your love and message with others as Your priests and priestesses.  Equip us Lord for the work of Your ministry upon the Earth.  May we honor and glorify You.  Amen.”

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

–Psalm 139:13-14

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

–Romans 8:6-11

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[1] Psalm 139:13-16

[2] John 14:26, 15:26

[3] I Timothy 4:12