God Said, If I, Then I

The Lord gave a word to Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house in order to receive His message to him.

Jeremiah 18:3,4
So I went down to the potter's house and I 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.

While Jeremiah watched the potter reshape the pot, the word of the Lord came to him.

Jeremiah 18: 6-8
6. "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in My hand, O hours of Israel.
7. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,
8. and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

The Lord can at will be forgiving to a people who are willing to repent and denounce their evil practices.

Jeremiah 9,10
9. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,
10. and if it does evil in My sight and does not obey Me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

So does this mean that God is unjust? Paul says in the book of Romans 9:14,15 ...."Not at all!
15. For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion of whom I have compassion."

Pauls says, Romans 9:16, It does not, therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

Romans 9:18 Therfore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.

Paul ask the question,
Romans 9:22 What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the objects of His wrath -- prepared for destruction?
Paul further asks,
Romans 9:23,24 What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory --
24. even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Paul has already previously informed us of our status as more than conquerors.

Romans 8:28-30
28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
29. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be comformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firsborn among many brothers.
30. And those He predestined, He also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

And so, Paul ask this question,
Romans 8:31,32 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32. He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all -- how will He not also along with Him, graciously give us all things?

However, God requires something of us. God imposes an "IF" on mankind to be the catalyst for His "THEN."

2 Chronicles 7:14
If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

If today you and I want to receive God's "then", we need to follow His word, do what it says and if we show ourselves to be worthy of His blessings, then He will.

Young people sometimes need practical help as Christian workers. The needs of young Christian workers are best fulfilled by their attending young people meetings at the church of their choice.
For those times when getting to the meeting proves difficult or as a supporting strength to meetings attended, we provide an online young people meeting to furnish helps for different kinds of Christian works.

Which Way Are You Looking?

Young people, you can experience two kinds of blindness, spiritual blindness or physical blindness.
Isaiah said, Isa 59:10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes....
Isaiah was describing spiritual blindness.
In the book of Acts, we find Saul on his way to Damascus when he encounters a sudden light from Heaven that causes him to fall to the ground.
The Word says, Acts 9:8,9 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
Saul who would become Paul experienced physical blindness.

Which way are you looking? Are you looking through the eyes of spiritual blindness or through the eyes of physical blindness?
There is a danger in the misuse of vision.
Go before the Lord and pray your strength in Him to; Ps 119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; renew my life according to Your word.
You are cautioned in Ps 4:25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

What kind of person must you be to avoid the misuse of your vision?
Isaiah suggested that you should be someone who; Isa 33:15 .... who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain form extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against contemplating evil--

Matthew would have us to eliminate the ability to misuse our vision by removing the offending receptor. {Not in fact literally} Mt 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Here, we find the need to seriously and honestly search our selves and destroy the negative vision that is impacting on our spirituality and causing us to sin, by gouging our soul free from this destructive vision and rebuking it in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.