Our response to amend should be Amen

I've been studying Jeremiah for the past 2 months, and it's been quite a journey to say the least. It can take me days to get out of a single chapter mostly because the Holy Spirit continues to be generous with His revelations.

By the way, if you're unfamiliar with Jeremiah's story in the Bible, he was a prophet of God that was sent to give a warning from the LORD to Israel leading up to Judah's captivity in Babylon. He was called by God when idolatry was at an all-time high in Israel, and there were numerous kings, priests, and false prophets deceiving the people into thinking that all was well. As you might expect this got the children of Israel in big trouble with God, but the LORD in His mercy still gave them multiple chances to correct their course.

"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all of you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!' Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.'" - Jeremiah 7:2-3

The Hebrew word for amend is yāṭaḇ and part of its definition is to make well, be accepted, use aright, to be or make better. So, in other words, the LORD was telling Israel to better their ways and if they obeyed, He would allow them to continue to live in the land flowing with milk & honey that He had promised to their forefathers. Seems fair right? Of course now that I'm mature enough to understand that God doesn't struggle to be fair to people like we do. However, as someone that has had to make a few uncomfortable amendments of my own for God, I know that the temptation to manipulate His commandments to fit our wayward desires or to straight up ignore Him altogether is as real (and strong!) as my love for a cookies & cream milkshake in the dead of winter.

Still, I've been working hard to get my act together over the last few years and have experienced several blessings and breakthroughs on the other side of my obedience. Maybe that's why the LORD was kind enough to drop this in my spirit recently while reading Jeremiah 18...

Our response to amend should be Amen.

We say Amen all the time, but do you really understand what you're saying when you use it? According to the Strong's concordance, not only is Amen used in scripture at the beginning of a discourse (it's the equivalent of "verily" in the KJV), but also at the end to communicate trust or agreement - so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled. Therefore, when we respond to something with Amen, we are essentially accepting the substance of whatever was said as our own, and as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to accept the will of the LORD as that's right... our own.

So, if God says, "return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good" (Jer. 18:11), our response should be Amen.

If He tells me to lead a 9-week Bible Study with my friends, including the ones that I said I didn't want to be friends with anymore, my response should be (and thank God it was) Amen. 

If He tells you to decline that offer or opportunity that will increase your brand's awareness and make you more money, regardless of how good it looks & sounds your response should be Amen. 

Will it be hard? Maybe. Will it cost you something? Probably. But don't play yourself trying to justify disobedience and end up looking like Boo Boo the Fool out here. Remember Jesus didn't save us so that we could be praised by men, but to give us a fighting chance at living a life that is pleasing to God. 

What is the Holy Spirit prompting you to amend?