A Year of Prayer: Season One Weekday DevotionalsSample

Jeremiah’s story of the word of the Lord coming to him, in this instance, required obedience, travel, and presence.

Read the following scripture and make a note for yourself of the points where he had to obey, had to travel, and had to be present:

'This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.' (Jeremiah 18:1-4 NIV )

It might surprise you, as you try that simple reflection to put yourself in Jeremiah’s shoes, that there were multiple points in that short journey that required something of him as a listener. Have you ever tried to communicate with someone in another room but couldn’t really be bothered? So what do you do?

Either you give up, forget about it, or yell across the rooms! For many of us, that unpleasant memory of being summoned or commanded from another room in the house quickly rushes to the surface!

Maybe we are chronic ‘cross-room communicators.’ The most frequent response from the person we’re trying to shout at or yell to is… ‘What!’

What, indeed. For many of us, God has been speaking for years and years, but we haven’t bothered to ‘get in the same room,’ so to speak, to listen. That isn’t to say, for the rest of us, God isn’t speaking! God constantly speaks to us; some of the believers have set up really simple practices to make their hearts open to hearing.

When the word of the Lord comes, they travel to the room to meet God. When God is speaking, they make sure to listen.

Obedience, travelling, and presence result in observance—being able to perceive what God is saying and therefore doing and knowing what God is requiring of us in turn.

'See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.' (Isaiah 43:19 NIV)

Perceive is not mere seeing or knowing. Perceive means to ‘take entirely’ into our comprehension. The root word means to seize understanding. We grasp it - we move toward it.

Jeremiah obeyed what he did understand of God’s word. ‘Go.’ This required movement - to travel from where he’d been to where God was summoning him. God commands us to ‘Go and tell,’ follow Jesus, and live like Christ. What obedient ‘Go’ do you need to follow and travel with God to a new place in prayer, spirit, ministry, or life?

When Jeremiah reached where God had told him, he looked and saw because he was fully present. He wasn’t wondering about lunch or a haircut later—he was looking to see what God was ready to show him. In allowing himself to be present, he became able to observe, perceive, and cleave to God’s word that had come to bring light to the world.

Prayer: Jesus, help me to be readied by your hand and in a position to pray to you and respond to your commands. Help me to be ready-footed, ready to travel, and find an embrace in your arms at my destination. Help me to see as I remain present in your presence. Speak to me wildly, and in a fresh wind, I pray.

Action: Look in scripture and your life every day for ‘obedience, travel, presence’ signs. What is it God is asking for you here?