{"id":72493,"date":"2019-09-11T04:55:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T09:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prayingpint.com\/?p=72493"},"modified":"2019-09-09T14:39:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T19:39:08","slug":"3-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/11\/3-j\/","title":{"rendered":"3.j.  \u2018Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">Ezra 1:1<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"verseid:24.29.10\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Jeremiah 29:10<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u201cFor thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"verseid:24.33.7\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Jeremiah 33:7-13<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first.\u00a0\u00a0I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.\u00a0\u00a0And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThus says the LORD: In this place of which you say, \u2018It is a waste without man or beast,\u2019 in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again\u00a0\u00a0the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD: \u201c\u2018Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!\u2019 For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThus says the LORD of hosts: In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks.\u00a0\u00a0In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">The prophecy of Jeremiah spoke the word of God and I doubt there were many remaining in Babylon from Jerusalem who remembered or were alive at the time of capture.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Those who did listen and knew the outcome of God\u2019s wrath upon them, and believed what Jeremiah said had to have their heartbroken.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They were able to witness this first hand and more than likely die before seeing the restoration of Jerusalem.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Some of these parents certainly spoke of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy to their children to give them hope, strength, and courage.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>And to those who believed in what God had said, and were alive at the time of this proclamation from Cyrus, this had to be a very glorious blessing to hear and see the hand of God at work.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Can you imagine hearing this and knowing it was foretold to you.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>All you had to do was believe it your eyes would be open to seeing God at work.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Obviously, there were those who did not believe and because of this did not see this as God\u2019s doing but rather because of chance and good fortune.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When we read God\u2019s word there are many both blessings and warnings given to us.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Promises of His hand of protection, leading, and peace.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Likewise, there are words of wrath, anger, and judgment.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Just because we might choose to not believe them does not make them less truthful.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>How would our lives change if we spent time in His word and believed what we read?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would our thoughts and actions be different?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would we see God\u2019s hand at work more clearly?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would we have a more thankful heart and mind?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would things in this world have less influence?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would our eyes remain focused on honoring Him?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would we consider living in light of Him?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would we be more grateful?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would we seek and desire to hear and see Him?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">If we spend more time in His word we will certainly be starting at the right place every day.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>If we seek to be led by His word we will be starting at the right place every day. It is a personal, intentional, daily choice.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We should not take this commitment lightly or the benefits from it without a grateful and thankful heart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Oh God, open our eyes to Your word and lead us on paths that glorify and honor You.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ezra 1:1\u00a0 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: \u201cThus says Cyrus &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/11\/3-j\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;3.j.  \u2018Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!\u2019&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10466,11038,11487,11489,11484,2243,9059,2223,343,3995,2351,530,171,1781,180,539,4936,11473,6202,198,8233,340,11485,59,11344,3053,1003,5785,421,11488,10965,120,511,11486,11490],"class_list":["post-72493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-babylon","tag-bring-you-back","tag-charged-me-to-build","tag-cleanse-them","tag-cyrus","tag-earth","tag-ezra","tag-forever","tag-forgive","tag-fulfill","tag-give-thanks","tag-glory","tag-good","tag-guilt","tag-hear","tag-heard","tag-israel","tag-jeremiah","tag-jerusalem","tag-joy","tag-judah","tag-kingdom","tag-persia","tag-praise","tag-proclamation","tag-promise","tag-prosperity","tag-provide","tag-rebellion","tag-restore-fortunes","tag-servants-forever","tag-sin","tag-steadfast-love","tag-stirred-up-the-spirit","tag-waste"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72493"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72497,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72493\/revisions\/72497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}