3. “AND YE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD”        Special New Year Message: Rt.Rev.Dr.V.Devadass

I express my loving New Year greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to all my beloved Shalom prayer partners and all those who are going through this mag.

 Let us praise the Lord for having given the grace to enter into this new year.  May He bless us His people abundantly in this new year!  While I was praying for the blessing of the new year,  the Lord granted me a blessed promise.  You shall be my people and I will be your God – this is that promise.  When we go through  the 30th and 31st chapters of the prophetic book of Jeremiah, we can meditate on the blessings  that the Lord commands, when He accepts us as His people.

 1.      I will break his yoke from off from thy neck.

What a great blessing it is , once God accepts us as His people!  First, God breaks the yoke from off his people.  Read Jeremiah 30:8.  “In that day… I will break his yoke from off thy neck”, so the Lord of Hosts says.  Hereafter no strangers would overcome him.    In order to make us His people, He breaks the yoke

that is around their necks.  He saves the Israelites and gives them Canaan.  When God landed on Mount Horeb and met Moses, He told him that first he would deliver them from Egyptian slavery.  According to that, God  commanded a great salvation on the night when the pass-over lamb was slain.  In the New Testament,  in order to deliver us from the yoke of sins and curses, God granted us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ as a lamb with blemish.

By means of that act, He accepted all of us as His own people.  “ But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”(John 1:12).  First of all, only when we confess our sins and receive Jesus as our personal savior,  do we become His children.  Only when God breaks the yoke of sins and curses  that is round our necks , does he accept us as His people so that none might call us slaves.  He never does so because we are born in a Christian family.  And He never does so because we go to the church regularly.  The Bhil adivasi people stole things from others and robbed them of their possessions, using bows and arrows.  They brew arrack and drank it cheerfully.  But, once they became aware of Jesus, they confessed their sins  and came forward to chuck up their old unwanted habits.  As a result, God broke the yoke that was around their necks.  He promised  them that  they would be His people and has been receiving many people to his side so that He might be their God.  Yea, what a great joy it is – to Him, and to us- to be His people in the name of Jesus!

2.      He restores health and heals the wound

Read Jeremiah 30:17.  “For I will restore health unto thee,  and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying , This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.”  When God loves us as His own people, the blessing that the Lord gives is that He heals the wound , restoring health.  After having been redeemed by God,  the Israelites arrived at Marah where they began to murmur since bitter water was available for drinking, but God makes it sweet.  He gave the people of God a promise.   “I am the Lord that healeth thee”(Ex.15:26)  God promises them that He would not allow any disease to them that He did so to the Egyptians.  Most of our Bhil believers-before they accepted Lord Jesus-  approached wastefully physicians and magicians so that their sicknesses and diseases might go.  They spent  a lot of money on hens, goats , arrack etc.  By the by,  last week, when I attended  a Sunday service in a church, a believer witnessed with great joy that she had not at all suffered from any disease after she had been saved.  No money had she spent on account of disease.   What a pleasant surprise!  Bible says that God so loved His people that He gave up  His only begotten Son on the cross as sacrifice.

 Isaiah says thus.  “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon  him; and with his stripes we were healed”   When God makes us  His people, He commands divine healing.  But what should we do as His people?  Read Exodus 15:26.  “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt to that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”  Since we are His own people and He is our God, let us obey.  Let us inherit the promise,  “I will put none of these diseases upon thee” (Ex. 23:25)

 3.      He fills up all the souls.

 Let us read Jeremiah 31:25.  “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished e very sorrowful soul”.  The greatest blessing that God gives His people is the spiritual blessing.  He redeems them from sins and curses, cures them of their illnesses, heals their wounds,  but also fills them up with spiritual benefits.  The Lord does not leave us with that. …” I will give them one heart , and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for  the good of them, and of their children after  them”  (Jer.32:39)

 He gives His people new heart. He   gives them the Word and every day He feeds their soul. Not only that He fills us with His spirit. “…I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:” (Joel.2:28). The Lords wants up to receive the spirit Baptism, spiritual gifts and the heavenly experiences of fellowshipping with him. In these last days, these are sublime blessings that the Lord has kept for us. Because we are His people, He is our God. In this New Year, let in pray cheerfully for the enjoyment of spiritual experiences. Let us receive the sublime blessing that He gives in the New Year. Let the rain of grace be showered on the churches. Let us ready ourselves for His Coming. For that let us live out a witnessing life, strengthened by the heavenly power of the Holy Spirit.

  4.      The good thing God gives to His people.

 God fills His people not only with spiritual blessings but  also with worldly blessings . “And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness”. (Jer.31:14).  “…so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them”. (Jer.32:42) “And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all nation of the earth, which hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.” (Jer.33:9).

 Definitely not only the children of God but even the non-Christian see the good things that God gives His people who are called by His name. My beloveds, “And ye shall be my people and I will be your God “. Catch hold of His promise and  pray together as a family. Then the Lord will bless you with all economic benefits, our home, vehicle, fruit of the womb etc. He will take care of the studies of your children and matrimonial necessities. He will command an improvement in the business we do and in jobs he given us.

 Children of God will be exalted in the nation and they will be a blessing. Holy Spirit has promised that in this way he would bless the Bhil believers. Beloved brothers and sisters, our Lord is ready to fill us, the children of God with such good things. So let us dedicate ourselves to live as His people, acknowledging Him as our God.

 Rt.Rev.Dr.V.Devadass,

Sharing Love Mission, Gujarat.

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