Jeremiah 30:10 “‘So fear no more, Jacob, dear servant. Don’t despair, Israel. Look up! I’ll save you out of faraway places, I’ll bring your children back from exile. Jacob will come back and find life good, safe, and secure.” Today's episode reassures us that we don't have to fear and we don't have to despair. God hears our prayers, He hears our cries, and He feels our pain. He never leaves us alone and He answers our prayer, just in his time, not ours. It also reassures us that He will bring our children back from exile. That is not our job. We can pray for them and let God do all the heavy lifting. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Have No Fear, Don't Despair
Jeremiah 30:10 “‘So fear no more, Jacob, dear servant. Don’t despair, Israel. Look up! I’ll save you out of faraway places, I’ll bring your children back from exile. Jacob will come back and find life good, safe, and secure.”
There are several things I like about this verse. Do you remember a while back when I talked about how you can personalize scripture? You can put your name in Scripture verses so you can see that God is talking to you, too! When I was first taught this, I was told whenever you see the word “Jacob” or “Israel,” you can replace it with your name. Today’s verse has both of these words right at the beginning. I love this because it helps make it more personal when we substitute our name. Let’s try that with the first two lines of today’s verse.
“So fear no more, Catherine, dear servant. Don’t despair, Catherine.” Now you try it.
“So fear no more, Joanie, dear servant. Don’t despair, Peggy.”
“So fear no more, Jo, dear servant. Don’t despair, Nancy.”
“So fear no more, (insert your name), dear servant. Don’t despair (insert your name).”
Did that make it more personal for you when you put your own name in? I know it always does for me. How many of us really needed the Lord to give us that personal message today? How many of us needed the Lord to tell us not to fear anymore? How many of us needed the Lord to tell us not to despair?
The holidays are such a happy time for so many people. They are a time to celebrate and a time to be grateful for all that we have. It is a time to see our loved ones and hug them tight. It is a time to eat too much food and share presents. It is a time for decorating Christmas trees and watching Hallmark movies. It is a time to celebrate the amazing miracle of God sending His only son down to earth to save us. The birth of Christ is something to celebrate for sure. There is so much good this time of year. People are generally filled with the giving spirit and you will see a lot more acts of kindness if you are on the lookout.
The holidays are also a really sad time for a lot of people. I have a friend whose daughter just died from cancer a week or two before Thanksgiving. She was in her 30’s with two small children. I can’t imagine the sadness these holidays will bring for her. My nephew’s dad is in the hospital and may have brain damage; they won’t know until he wakes up. I can’t imagine the sadness they will have this holiday season as they wait to find out if their dad will be home to celebrate with them. If their dad will ever be the same again. What about all those on the streets? All those who don’t have family or don’t see their families.
As happy of a time as it is for some of us, those lucky enough to have friends or family to celebrate with or a warm home to celebrate in. It will be just as sad for so many others. I am not sure why the Lord put that so strongly in my heart this morning. I guess because the verse was telling us to fear not and to not despair. If you are someone who is having a really difficult time this holiday season for whatever reason, I hope you know the Lord is talking to you, too! Fear not; do not despair. He is there with you. He knows this is a really difficult time for you. He is right there in the hard times with you.
I was looking through all the words of prophecy that my prayer group received in the month of August this morning, and this one just came to mind. I think the Lord wants me to share it with you. “I hear your cries, my children. Come to me, come to me in your brokenness. Do not be afraid to come. I will help you. But in my time. Wait patiently, and I will show you a way out. Know that all is possible when you trust and believe. I am here. Do not doubt it. I do hear your cries. I do feel your pain. Continue to trust, continue to believe, and I will help you.” God hears your cries, and he feels your pain. Don’t ever doubt that. There is always hope with the Lord. We just need to wait on His timing, which I know is really hard. You can do it, though, because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
I also love the end of this verse, and I don’t want to leave you today without discussing it. The verse goes on to say, “Look up! I’ll save you out of faraway places; I’ll bring your children back from exile. Jacob will come back and find life good, safe, and secure.” The first two words are so important. “Look up!” Are we doing that? Are we looking up, or are we looking all around, trying to find the solution ourselves? Are we too busy looking at how big our problem is, or too busy looking down in shame to look up and see where our help comes from? God is our answer; He is our help. He always has been so stop looking around, stop looking down, and just look up!!
Next, it says, “I’ll save you from faraway places; I’ll bring your children back from exile.” Yes, please, to both of these. Sometimes, I feel so far away from the Lord. This promise to bring me back from those faraway places is such a source of comfort to me. I hope it is comforting to you, too! I hope you know that the Lord will bring you back, no matter how far away you go. All you have to do is ask, and He will come and get you. No matter how far you feel, no matter how deep a pit you think you are in, God will come and get you out of it. He will bring you home every single time you stray.
Probably my favorite part of this verse is one that I bet you really like, too. I’ll bring your children back from exile. How many hours, days, months, and years have you been praying for this exact thing? How many times have you been on your knees begging the Lord to bring your children back from exile? Back from the crazy things they have gotten themselves into. Back into the church. Back to the Lord. Back to your family. Back to your loving arms. Back to loving themselves. Right here in this scripture verse we have a promise from the Lord that He will bring our children back from exile. It doesn’t say that one day you will bring your children back from exile. It says that God will bring them back.
This is what we often forget. We forget that we are not the savior. It is not our job to bring our children home. It is our job to pray for them. God tells us in prayer groups all the time that we can pray our loved ones into heaven. So, yes, continue to pray for your children, always. However, you don’t have to fear, and you don’t have to despair that they are never coming home. God promises us that He will bring them home. However, He also told us in the word of prophecy from my prayer group that It will be in His time and that we need to wait patiently.
Yes, I know how hard it is to wait patiently. I was praying for God to work miracles in my family for over 15 years, and it was a long wait. It was heartbreaking for so long. As hard as I tried, I could not fix the problems in our family. It was a God job. He needed to work on all of our hearts. He needed to fix all the places we had been hurt so we could figure out how to love better. He needed to teach us so much before we were ready for all He had in store for us. He worked miracles I could never have imagined, never expected, and I am so grateful. He will do the same for you. He will bring your children home from exile. Have no fear; do not despair. Know all is possible when you believe and then wait patiently for God’s timing. I promise you, He hears your cries, He feels your pain. Continue to trust, continue to believe, and He will help you!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we are so grateful to you for bringing our children home whenever you decide to do so. Lord, we ask you to be with all those who are really struggling this holiday season. We ask you to fill them with the peace of Christ, which surpasses all our understanding. We ask you to comfort them at a time when they don’t even know what comfort they need. Lord, you know each of our needs, and you meet them perfectly. We thank you for that. We love you, Lord! You are amazing, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus! I’m sorry there was no episode on Tuesday. I was very sick and did not get out of bed unless I had to. I am better now. I also had to cancel mentoring that night, so if you were hoping to join in this month, you haven’t missed anything yet. I hope you will consider joining us this upcoming Tuesday night at 8 P. M EST. you can find the link on my social media page, Catherine Duggan, or you can email me at Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com. I hope to see you there! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in June 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, I hear the whisperings of your heart. I hear the moanings of your heart. They are precious to me. I hear them, and I attend to them.” Isn’t it amazing how the Lord works? I did not know this was the word for today and yet it is the Lord confirming the message above that He hears our cries and He answers them. God is so good!