Joy in God's Word...

Welcome to the first installment of Ministry Manna. Actually, it began years ago when I was first starting to teach God’s Word through Women’s Aglow Fellowship in the early 1980’s.  I was serving on the Area Board for Southeastern Wisconsin in the position of overseeing the ministries in the Aglow chapters throughout our area.  To help establish unity among the local Ministry Chairmen throughout our area, I was led to start a monthly newsletter called Ministry Manna.  It served also as a means of equipping and encouraging them through small teachings from God’s Word.
 
Many years have passed since those foundational years of ministry through Women’s Aglow, and many seasons of growth and service have allowed me to be strengthened and established in God’s Word.  It has indeed become the joy and rejoicing of my heart, and I pray that this blog--Ministry Manna--will serve to strengthen you and every reader in God’s Word and equip you further for the work of the ministry in your God-given sphere of influence.  How fitting it is--for such a time as this--to begin with the prophet Jeremiah…
 
“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart:
 for I am called by Thy name, O LORD God of Hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).
 
The people of Israel were in a backslidden condition.  They were no longer walking in the ways of the LORD, nor would they hearken unto Him (Jeremiah 6:16-17). The Hebrew word for hearken used in this verse means to listen with the intent of obeying. They may have heard God’s word through the lips of Jeremiah, but they had no intention of being obedient to His commands.  In other words, they had ears that would not hear.
 
Called to declare God’s Word of warning and rebuke to his own people, the prophet Jeremiah had a difficult “row to hoe” and faced rebuke and even imprisonment for his obedience to God’s call.  But in the midst of the rejection, suffering, and Israel’s refusal to return to God, Jeremiah declared that he had gained strength and even joy through the Word of his God.  How? It was through eating and digesting every word that was spoken to him by God.  Instead of having ears that would not hear, Jeremiah cultivated a heart desiring to feast upon God’s every Word. In addition to this, Jeremiah allowed it to be deposited into his heart and then became an obedient doer of whatever God told him to do. Why? Because the prophet knew for a certainty that he was called by the name of the LORD God of Hosts. He understood the sovereignty of Yahweh, the Creator of all things, and the Holy One of Israel.  Despite the unending tears he shed on behalf of the rebellious House of Israel, as Jeremiah deposited God’s Word in his heart, he experienced much joy and rejoicing that strengthened him to press on in the call of God upon his life.
 
The same can be true for you and for me in these uncertain times.  For it is the Word of God--which is alive and active--that will equip you and strengthen you to remain faithful to serve the Lord no matter the circumstances or the rejection that may come your way.  It is God who watches over His Word to perform it, and it is God who strengthens and equips you for the call He places upon your life.  May His Word truly become unto you the joy and rejoicing of your heart!
 
Until next time, be greatly blessed of the Lord!
Dr. Kathy