Isaiah 42, 43: I know it sounds crazy, but the Old Testament characters are like old friends to me. I have read their stories so often that it is as though I know them. Isaiah is one of those that you can just hear the pleading in his voice for his people to return to the God of their Fathers. He longed for obedience yet knew that the only way they would return would be by divine miracle. Listen to what he wrote
Isaiah 43:18 “Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild beasts will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.”
Oh how we need to face this truth as well. We can’t do it our old way. We must stop, turn back to Him and walk right in His paths. We too need that way in the wilderness and that river in the desert. We too need to turn before it is too late. I am not speaking of the nation at large, but the church, those of us who know and have experienced His power. May we all draw hear to Him with a whole heart and realize that friendship with the world (lustful desires) makes us at odds with God. Its time for a self evaluation and a drawing near to God. May we all pray for revival in our local church and community.

Isaiah 40, 41: I am just blown away with how awesome God is. I taught yesterday that one of the reasons we can trust God is because of who He is. These were not the verses I used, but oh how they could have been.
Isaiah 40:12 “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?a measure:
13Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?his…: Heb. man of his counsel
14With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”
Do you see the picture of what He has said. He measures all of the waters that cover the earth in the hollow of His hands. WOW! He takes His hand and the distance between his pinkie finger and this thumb is the distance of the heavens. He weighs the mountains on a scale. He has all wisdom and knowledge He needs no counselor and no one is even qualified to give Him advice. All the nations are a drop in a bucket to Him. We serve a huge God and yet He loves us and cares for us. Oh friend, I hope you are as overwhelmed with God as I am this morning, and the sweetest thing of all is He allows us to worship Him. I praise Him. My tongue cannot speak enough words of thanksgiving for all He has done for me.

Isaiah 37–39: I am so thankful God includes stories like Hezekiah’s story in the Bible. It is so easy to get overwhelmed when the enemy you face is so much bigger and stronger than you. It is so tempting to turn to what we can see and control for answers instead of trusting God. It is a much greater show of our faith when we know there are other options and yet we stop and follow what God is saying. Hezekiah shows us how to handle our struggles. He checked out the problem and heard the terms of the enemy. He was taunted by the enemy and yet he did not allow fear to take over. He took the enemy demands directly to God. Literally he laid out the letter with the demands and prayed over them. I believe there are just some times in our lives where we need to lay the bill on the table or the computer with the hurtful letter or comment. We need to lay it out before the Lord and say, “God I want to do your will. This is the situation, now show me what to do and I will trust you.” Then listen and wait on the Lord. Ugh I hate the waiting, but I know how important it is to allowing God to work. God wanted to give not just Hezekiah but also the Children of Israel victory in a way that not only they but the nations around could see that it was the hand of God. When God killed 185,000 in one day and what was left fled, Israel had not had to lift a hand. God may not want you to do anything but wait and see Him move. His purpose is your best and most of all to draw others to Him. So His way is the best way. It is easy for me to see and write this when I am not in the middle of the struggle. It is still truth and the plan even when I am in the middle and the challenges are great. I am praying for all of you who are reading this and just feel overwhelmed right now. The same God that worked on behalf of Hezekiah is the same God who is waiting to work on your behalf as well. Stand firm my friend.

Isaiah 34–36: Do people think your crazy sometimes because of your faith? Do they belittle you when you trust God and not the things our culture turns to. Isaiah 36 tells us about the Assyrian army that had come to conquer Jerusalem. Hezekiah the king had put his trust in God. He had led his people to do the same. When the enemy officer came to “discuss” their terms of giving up Hezekiah’s officers were told how crazy they were for trusting God. 36: 7 “But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ”
The Assyrian did not know that the altars that had been removed were for foreign gods. Hezekiah wanted his people to worship the One True God. Just has he had led them before Hezekiah led them to trust God in battle as well. The Assyrian promised war horses. Again in that day that was the measure of strength, but God can defeat any foe on horse or on foot. in our reading tomorrow we will get to see the power of God. I don’t want to ruin it for you, but we serve a GREAT God!!! Just as He will come through for Jerusalem and the Children of Israel, He will come through for you too. Don’t trust in your own strength or in what you can manipulate or control. Trust God who says to each of us, I’ve got this. We just need to trust.

Isaiah 31–33, Psalm 20:7 Some trust in horses and some in chariots but I trust in the Name of the Lord my God.”  In Bible days people expressed their security in their nation by how many horses and chariots they had. Horses and Chariots were weapons of war and the country that had many were considered the strongest. There was a real temptation to trust in the weapons of war rather than God. Isaiah said it like this, 31:1 “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!”
Today we don’t trust in weapons like horses or chariots, but we do trust in money, our own strength and ability, who we know or how we can control. When it boils down to it we trust what we think we can control.
The second thing that stands out to me, is that it is the Name of God that we must trust in. His Name is His character. God says I am the great I AM. He is whatever we need. He is our Healer,Provider, Sustainer and so much more. Oh my friend, I don’t know what you need God to be for you today, but as you Trust Him He Will Be There for You!

Proverbs 23:19-35: Oh how I wish the Bible said, “Thou shall not drink alcohol.” It doesn’t, but it does have plenty to say about it. Today’s verses from Proverbs speak for themselves.
Proverbs 23:29 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.
34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.
35 “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink.”
As a person who has suffered the death of loved ones due to the affects of alcohol I am definitely biased, but I have never seen alcohol misused by someone who never chose to drink.

Luke 22:39-46: I have read the story of Jesus’ preparation for crucifixion hundreds of times. I can quote some of it as Jesus prayed “Not my will but Thine be done.” I knew that the disciples fell asleep as He prayed, but I never noticed until this morning why the Bible says they were sleeping. Luke 22:5 “And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,” Did you see that? They were sleeping because of sorrow. Oh friend, if you have ever faced a huge discouraging future you too may have just wanted to fall asleep and not face it. As humans we are just overwhelmed sometimes and since we don’t know how to respond we just close our eyes. I can understand the disciples not wanting to face what Jesus said would happen. Yet Jesus instructed the disciples to pray not sleep. The time for rest would come, but the time for action had come. For many you who are facing very hard life challenges, I pray you too will know God’s strength even when you are so overwhelmed. May He be your companion as you walk this journey. May you know He is listening as you pray and is there to answer.

I had an opportunity to listen to my brother preach last evening. He used the most amazing illustration that was a huge encouragement to me from the most odd passage. It came from Isaiah where he was talking about the trunk of tree that had been cut down and the desolation of Israel. Chip said he had gone out to see a church member recently and the church member had cut three of his trees down to the stump and the stump was about 3 or 4 feet tall. He asked the man why. The church member said the trees had gotten too big and he had cut them back to bring forth new growth. That is exactly what God was doing with Israel. He had cut them back not because of overgrowth, but because of disobedience, but the trunk was still good and there was still a remnant of Israel that God was going to use. I thought about this and how in our lives sometimes God does a major pruning so that we too can grow again with healthy growth. I pray my heart will be receptive to what God is doing even when the pruning is so great that I have nothing but a stump left.

Proverbs 19:1-14 “Haste makes waste”. That is one of many saying my mom used to say. I can see her now, a mother of `5 scurrying to try to get everything done and without fail something fell through and she would say, “Haste makes waste.” I used to think that was just another of those old saying repeated often that made a lot of sense, but today in Proverbs this verse jumped out at me. 19:2 “Desire without knowledge is not good,
and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.” We can run so fast that we get ahead of God’s plan. We can also run so fast that things and even people can slip through our fingers. Maybe we also need to be reminded to “slow down and smell the flowers.” Much of life happens as we are rushing around and creating sometimes more chaos than there needs to be. Don’t miss what God is trying to say and show you. See the people, nature, and even yes the beautiful flowers that are in your path. Listen to those who are hurting, look in their eyes. The pay off will be great and if you don’t get quite at much done…. well that which you will get done will be done with excellence because you took the time to do it right.

Isaiah 1, 2: Is God sickened by your worship? In Isaiah God is sickened by His people’s worship. They were going through the rituals, but their hearts weren’t in it. They were just doing what they needed to do to get by. There was an outer shell of worship but the inside was empty. Here is what God said through Isaiah 1:16“Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves.
Remove your evil deeds from My sight.
Stop doing evil.
17″Learn to do what is good.
Seek justice.
Aid the oppressed
Defend the rights of the fatherless.
Plead the widow’s cause.
18 ‘Come, let us discuss this,’ says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are as red as crimson,
they will be like wool.”

It really is about our hearts and our actions. We must understand that a life devoted to the Father begins with the heart that overflows to everything we do. Oh friends, we are all red like crimson in our sin. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We all need forgiveness. BUT we all can choose daily to walk by the spirit and carry our His plan in our lives. We can care for the hurting, defend those without family, care for those who have lost spouses. As we do these things we please our Father. Yes we need to be in church, yes we need to give regularly, but we need to live daily as a Child of the King! I am thanking God this day for His gift of forgiveness and for choosing me to be about His work. Please join me.