But they shall not prevail!

Jeremiah 1:19 “They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

Opening Prayer

Brief History & Relevance of Jeremiah

Prophetic literature

Term comes from the Greek word “prophetes” (forsee)

Israel’s prophets spoke - future, present and referenced the past

Intermediaries:

Express dichotomy of their existence/reality

Jeremiah (about)

Chosen by God at the age of 12 (according to most scholars)

He was born into a priestly family

Prophet during one of the darkest, most chaotic times in Israel’s history

Ministered for over 40 years, during the final days of the southern kingdom of Judah

The people were living in Rebellion

The political system was corrupt

Religious leaders were lying

And Injustice was everywhere

Sound familiar?

Jeremiah (the call)

Called to be God’s voice in a nation on the brink of collapse

Jeremiah was called by God to speak to the people of Judah when their nation was falling apart because of sin and disobedience.

They had turned away from God, and Jeremiah had to warn them that destruction was coming if they didn’t change.

Even though most people didn’t listen and even attacked him, Jeremiah kept speaking God’s truth.

His job was to help the people see their wrong and remind them that God still wanted to restore them.

He spoke God’s words of warning, judgment, and hope.

He was tasked with confronting kings, priests, and people about their sins and calling them to repentance.

He called out sin even when it was unpopular

His job was to proclaim judgement yes, but also hope and restoration

Jeremiah (the pain)

Felt the weight of what he preached

Wasnt distant from the choas - he was in it

He was right in the middle of it - emotionally, spiritually, and physically

Jeremiah (examples)

Mocked and ridiculed for speaking the truth

Rejected by his own people

Beaten and thrown into prison

Threatened with death

Betrayed by his own family

He felt completely alone, even while obeying God!

Jeremiah was a man in trauma!

TRACK WITH ME HERE

Trauma (defined)

A deeply distressed or disturbing experience that overwhelms a person’s coping mechanisms and causes significant emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical harm

Affects:

Ambuguity and confusion in relation to faith

Life becomes unsafe, long term effects

Intense and overwhelming

Has a profound impact on our capacity to trust God, others and ourselves

Overwhelms the human processes making it difficult to cope

When you think you’ve moved past it, a song, a smell, a sight can trigger a reaction

Beautiful words are not enough

The pain is “unsayable” and “unspeakable”

Jeremiah certainly knew something about Trauma.

Jeremiah (’s cries)

In his own words, Jeremiah cries out to God in what we now call the “Confessions of Jeremiah”

These were raw, unfiltered, unpolished prayers

“Why do the wicked prosper” (Jeremiah 12:1)

“Cursed be the day I was born” (Jeremiah 20:14)

“You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived” (Jeremiah 20:7)

“Let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause” (Jeremiah 20: 12)

If that is not the language of trauma - I don’t know what is!

He was a prophet in pain

A priest in conflict

A truth teller in a time of lies

This is what makes Jeremiah so powerful!

He gives us permission to feel what we feel without loosing faith

To weep and still worship

To be honest with God -and still be held by God!

But God...

And yet, even with all the opposition

all the betrayal

all the pressure

God had a word for him, and it’s the same word for us today!

They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail!!!

Here is the truth we don’t always say out loud in church

You can be called and still be crushed

You can be faithful and still feel forgotten

You can be chosen - and still experience trauma

The woman and her dream job

First Gen college grad

Landed dream job

Posted pic in front of building on social media

Caption “God did it!”

What she didn’t post 3 months later

Isolation

Subtle comments

Micro-aggressions

She started feeling like she didn’t belong

She was experiencing this.....

Not because she wasn’t gifted

Not because she didn’t belong

But because the fight showed up after the favor!

And isn’t that how it goes?!

Sometimes it feels like the moment you step into purpose, opposition steps in too

You say yes to God....and the storm starts!

That’s not coincidence ..… it’s confirmation

Mercer story...

This is exactly where we find Jeremiah....

But before he ever prophesied a word, God gave him the heads up

“They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail”

Translation: “Jeremiah, this is going to cost you. It wont be easy. But I will be with you and they wont win.”

What can we learn from Jeremiah

How do we reconcile the abuse from people with the word of God

How is it that we have these promises in scripture but they seem at times to contradict our experience in life

Why does it seem that “Weapons formed against us...do in fact prosper”?

You feel shade at work and you pray against the termination...but then you get fired

You pray for that relationship to work out...but it still ends in divorce

You pray … example

WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

The difference between weapons formed, and weapons prospering

Weapons will be formed, attacks or hard times will come.

But they won’t prosper—that is, they won’t ultimately succeed in destroying God’s people or derailing His purpose for their lives.

From the root צ-ל-ח (tzalach), which often means to succeed, to thrive, or to accomplish.

In context, it means the weapon will not achieve what it was created to do.

Prospering doesn’t mean immediate comfort—it means eventual/eternal victory.

There is a big picture at stake here!

Lets look at the Bible

When you examine the text, you see that God was with Jeremiah the whole time

Jeremiah’s Concerns and Gods Replies

The hardness of people’s hearts

Concern: Jeremiah grieved over people’s refusal to repent despite God’s discipline

Reply: God reassured Jeremiah that he would bring judgement on the unrepentant

The Betrayal by his own family

Concern: Jeremiah felt the sting of betrayal from his own family

Reply: God acknowledged the betrayal and promised to punish those who harmed Jeremiah

Persecution and Rejection

Concern: Jeremiah faced physical abuse and threats

Reply: God said do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you

I’ll admit..Jeremiah is a real life extreme example of the abuses we can face when serving the Lord

I’m not telling you to expect to be subjected to such extreme backlash

But Jeremiah’s story is analagous to the experience of many believers.

God was with Jeremiah, reassuring him the entire time

But Jeremiah stayed stuck in the pain

The Human Condition

As human beings we possess an innate desire to be loved...to feel accepted

The enemy uses what we desire most to make us feel condemned

God was with him.… the people were not...the cause of his pain was people...but God had his back!

The unpopular truth

This is what we signed up for

When you decide to follow Christ, you are at war!

Its like you went down 28th street and signed up for the army recruiter and got shipped to a war zone

But this is what we must understand about our faith

The narrative of the Christian Faith is one of Trauma and grace

Think about the life of Jesus

Mary Trauma:

Her life was completely interrupted by an unexpected divine assignment.

The angel of God told her “Do not be afraid”

The shame of pregnancy outside of marriage

She was wrestling spiritually with what was happening

Mary gives birth in an animal shelter, without family or proper help

Then when Jesus was born..they tried to kill him

And within this narrative of Trauma and Grace, there will be silent times

Think about the Saturday of the Crucifixion

Jesus was crucified on Friday (I think Wed or Thursday)

But imagine how the followers of Christ felt on Saturday.… defeated

But in 1 Peter 3:18-20 and Esphesians 4:8-10.. we see his spirit was still working

But it was silent on the earth

Then Sunday he Rose!

Trauma and Grace

Notice that when Jesus rose he still bore the scars

Yes, wounds do hang around

They are now a part of your story

The new life doesnt erase the wounds of the old

The wounds are your testimony

The wounds are your witness

The Holy spirit was with us before, during, and after the trauma

But we are human and living in these bodies in this realm so how do we reconcile this without loosing our minds?

The enemy will do his job

We must do ours

Our job is to abide in Christ

Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

The best way to explain this is through the use of the natural sciences

In the natural sciences, there is a field called “Physics”

Physics: The branch of science concerned with the study of matter, energy, the fundamental forces of nature as well as how they interact with each other.

There are many types of Physics:

But I will focus on two: Newtonian and Quantum

Newtonian Physics

Explains the world in cause and affect

Explains the world as orderly and measurable

Gravity is a law of Newtonian physics...what goes up must come down

If I push a ball it will move in predicatable direction

Newtonian is predictable

Quantum Physics

Embraces mystery

Quantum physics deals with particles and forces we can’t see, yet we believe they exist because of their effects (like electrons or quantum entanglement).

Quantum theory allows for probabilities rather than fixed outcomes, suggesting space for freedom and unpredictability.

Unpredictable

In like manner, our trauma and healing can operate in two realms:

The predictable (Newtonian)

And the mysterious faith driven (Quantum)

We have a tendency to see our trauma as Newtonian...linear, predictable and unavoidable

Now that this has happened this is the result, this is my life

We want and expect healing to come through predictable steps… if I do X, then Y will happen

And yes, that happens… relationship problems, therapy can help

Money problems, obtaining a skill or going to school can help

But......

But what do we do when we see the disintegration of the systems that we have leaned on our whole life

When those Newton or predictable methods are being stripped!

Department of Education/financial aid under attack

What do we do when the very moral fiber of our nation is under attack

Musk said.....”Empathy is a fundamental weakness of Western Civilization”

But the Bible calls for us to:

Bear one anothers burdens (Gal. 6:2)

Rejoice and weep with one another (Rom. 12:15)

Jesus frequently showed empathy by being moved to compassion

Just as in Jeremiah’s day

There is a clear and convincing contradiction

between the mind of the rulers of the land

And the mind of God!

But just like God kept inviting Jeremiah into the Quantun reality of healing..Jesus has also invited us into the Quantun reality…

We must embrace the mystery of God, through faith in Jesus !

Mark 9:23 “And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.””

Ask God to help with your unbelief (v. 24...the father)

Philippians 4:6–7 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Surpasses all understanding

John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

As the pastor taught us in Bible study

Sanctify is to separate

The word is the truth that separates

In other words: The more you read and meditate on the word of God..the more you move into the peace of God

God’s peace is supernatural - It surpasses human logic

When you trust Him with your worries , His peace becomes a protective shield for your heart (emotions) and mind (thoughts)

When anxiety arises , remind yourself of God’s promises of peace

Meditate on scriptures that affirm God’s faithfulness

Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Let go of the need to “figure everything out” and trust God!

This is how I live with kidney failure under the constant pressure of racism and can keep a smile on my face!

This is how you loose a job, yet have peace and the utmost confidence that God will provide!

You lean not! To your own understanding! But in all your ways you acknowledge Him! And he will direct your path!

Closing

The Lord sent me here to tell you today..

Let not your soul be troubled by what you see going on around us

THEY SHALL NOT PREVAIL!

God sees it..God hears it..God feels it

THEY SHALL NOT PREVAIL

Using the name of the Lord, to push a demonic agenda

THEY SHALL NOT PREVAIL

The fight is real, - But so is your faith

THEY SHALL NOT PREVAIL

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all

You may go through the fire, but you will burn

You may go through the flood, but you will not drown

Your survival is prophetic!

Shout like the enemy already lost!

Dont give up...dont you quit...keep moving

keep praying

keep meditating on the word

Because in the name of Jesus Christ..

THEY. SHALL. NOT. PREVAIL.