Jeremiah 1:19 "They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.” This episode talks about how the verse is telling us that we will struggle with things throughout our life. However, even though we will struggle, we will prevail because God is with us and He will deliver us. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
“I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you!”
Jeremiah 1:19 "They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
I know a lot of people who could use this promise right about now. I know a lot of people who are struggling with a lot of different things. There are some who are battling addiction, cancer, family members treating them badly, recovering from a stroke, recovering from a car accident, dealing with depression and anxiety, you name it and I probably know someone who is going through it right now. This is a great verse to keep handy and rely on when we are in a tough situation. “They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
The Lord is saying this verse to you, yes you. You can even change this verse so it is talking you specifically. This is a great way to personalize the scriptures. Here is one way you can change it. “They will fight against me; but they shall not prevail against me, for God is with me and will deliver me.” Another way to personalize it would be to add your name. “They will fight against you, Catherine; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you, Catherine.” Do you see how both of these ways help me to see more clearly that the Lord is talking directly to me?
This is a promise that the Lord is making to you. His Word is truth. Whatever you read in the Bible, you can be sure it is true. The Lord doesn’t say things lightly, and he doesn’t say things He doesn’t mean. There isn’t anything in the Bible that was put there by accident. If it is in the Bible it is because it is something God wanted us to know. I think there are two things in this verse that God wants us to know and both are equally important.
First, God wants us to know that we will encounter hard times. There will be people that will want to fight with us. We will not just skate through life without any difficulties. Some people believe that once they decide to give their life to Christ, once they decide that they will follow God and live according to His law, everything will be ok. Life will be easy and they will not encounter the difficulties they had been facing. This is not the case. God never promised us an easy life. If you look at the faithful people in the Bible they had plenty of struggles. They struggled to pay bills, to put food on the table, they struggled to conceive children and they lost people they loved. Believing in God and following His ways doesn’t mean that struggle and tragedy will no longer exist. What it means is that you will no longer be dealing with these things on your own. You will no longer be dealing with them with your human strength, you will now have the strength of the Holy Spirit within you as well.
Looking back at the people in the Bible who have struggled with something you are struggling with can be a great way to find a way through your struggle. You might read the story of how they struggled and you may find out they did something that made all the difference and you can try to do the same thing. For instance, in the story of Ruth, she lost her husband, her brother-in-law, and her father-in-law. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, wanted to move back to be with her people, the Israelites. Those were not Ruth’s people and yet Ruth went with Naomi back to her homeland. They had both lost their husbands, they had no money, no food, and Naomi was ashamed as she lost everything and was coming home with nothing. Ruth was obedient and did all that Naomi told her to do. Because of this obedience, Ruth met a man, married him, and eventually became the great-grandmother to King David. None of this would have happened if she had decided not to stay with her mother-in-law and if she had decided not to be obedient. We can learn from her example.
Obedience can be hard. Sometimes we don’t want to do what we are being asked to do. One example of this was when Tony asked me if I could help outside yesterday. I did not want to help outside, that is one of my least favorite things to do. Our flower beds really needed to be weeded along with the sand surrounding our fire pit. Weeding is not fun. We also needed to redo the railings on our porch. That is not something I really know how to do, so I was asked to do the weeding while he did the porch railing. I knew he needed the help and since we both live in the house it is not just his responsibility to do the weeding. I put in my headphones and listened to a few episodes of the Elevation Podcast. I was obedient, even though I didn’t want to, and now our flowerbeds look great!
Sometimes what we are being asked to do is really difficult. Maybe you are being asked to watch as your loved one re-learns how to walk, talk, eat, and swallow after a stroke or brain bleed. Maybe you are being asked to wait for weeks for your radiation to start. Maybe you are being asked to watch while your child struggles with mental health. Maybe you are being asked to wait for the courts to decide what they will do about your situation. Whatever it is that you are waiting for or what you have been asked to do, be obedient in the situation. If God is calling you to be patient, then try to be more patient. If God is calling you to wait, then try to wait joyfully. When we can be obedient, even when it’s hard, then amazing things will happen to us.
The second thing I believe God is trying to tell us in the verse today is that even though we will have people and things that will come against us, they will not prevail. God is there for us and he will deliver us from whatever comes against us. He will deliver you from the situation at work. He will deliver you from that cancer. He will deliver you from that struggling relationship. He will deliver you from your enemies. God did not promise us an easy life and yet He did promise to always be there with us. He promises He will protect us from evil and from all that comes against us.
This verse is telling us we won’t sink, we won’t go under. We may feel like what we are going through will get the best of us, but it won’t. God is with us, He will protect us, He will save us. He will deliver us from whatever is troubling us. "They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for always being with us. We thank you for protecting us and delivering us. Lord, you are amazing. Help us to rely on you. Help us to believe you are there with us each step of the way and that you will deliver us. Lord, we ask for strength when they come against us. Give us the strength we need Lord. We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I am so excited to announce that the retreat I am hosting is officially open for registration. CLICK HERE for more details and registration in the show notes and you can also go to walkboldlywithjesus.com and click on the link for the retreat link. The retreat will be from October 7th-9th and it will be at the Holy Cross Retreat House in Easton, MA. It will be a weekend to get filled up with God’s love. Have you ever wanted to personally experience God’s love? Yes, God loves us all. He also loves each one of us individually and He wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us. This retreat could be your first step in discovering a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. I hope you will join me! I look forward to seeing you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!