God Will Build Up His Church (Oct 14)

Verses for the day

• Jer 24:6-7 I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them hearts that recognize me as the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.

Thoughts:

I wonder if this is what God feels about my home church right now? As I thought about what God allowed / did with His physical asset (the temple) in his pursuit of the hearts of his people, I was sobered. To think that God was willing to allow the most spectacular piece of real estate in Israel to be demolished and destroyed twice, for the sake of bringing repentance in the hearts of his people. Wow! Not that I am expecting God to destroy the building, but what challenged me was God is much more concerned about our hearts than He is the physical assets.

• I don’t know what God is doing with my home church, or what He is going to do, but just like Israel, I do know and believe, that God desires these same things for my church:
  • He is and will continue to watch over and care for them. He desires to bring them back to the place He can use them.
  • God desires to build them up and not tear them down.
  • God desires to plant them and not uproot them.
  • He longs to give them hearts that recognize me as the LORD and that will return to him wholeheartedly.

Prayer:

This is my prayer for my church this morning. I pray that He will continue to watch over and care for His church. I pray that He will bring them back to a place where He can use them. That He will build them back up when this is all over. I pray that they will bloom where they have been planted. That they will once again be a place where people are drawn to God. I pray that they will wholeheartedly seek to follow God. That they will give God his hearts desire, “that they recognize and seek after Him.”