by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Isaiah 65-66
A new heaven and a new earth. A new day, in which God’s people will be called by a new name. A day in which every nation and every tongue will come to Him.
Those are the hints which the Lord is bringing in the last two chapters of Isaiah – hints of the coming of Messiah and the new dispensation which will come with it.
Do you remember that we said earlier that the “Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed?” Well, these chapters are a perfect example of that adage.
All throughout the Old Testament, the covenant people of God were Jews – and Jews only. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were God’s chosen people, and that was that.
Now He is laying down hints for the Jews to see, but the traditions of men block their vision.
Of course, there is much that will happen before that day anyway. Jerusalem will be raided and burned. These children of Abraham will have to go into captivity in Babylon and stay there for 70 years. Then some will return to rebuild the ruins (Most will decide to stay in Babylon). Then more than three hundred years will pass before the fulfilling of this Word from God.
God has plenty of time. He speaks a word – and it will come to pass – eventually.
Now in our day, God’s prophets are still speaking. They are speaking a “now” word from God – a word for us to listen to and heed.
So what are they saying? They are saying that there is going to be a great divide. There are going to be some who seek the darkness and they are going to seek it with greater diligence. But there are going to be some who want God and they will run to Him with everything that is within them.
As a result, there is going to be a harvest of souls for God’s kingdom which will surpass every awakening which has gone before. Millions will run to Jesus.
This time, God’s word also says that the time is short. Very soon we will see a revival in our midst.
I so want that – and I want to be a part of it!
I Timothy 2
We are quick to talk about our leaders. (And I have to agree that often there is a lot to talk about). But do we pray for them?
When we see a man or woman in government who is totally away from God, do we spend time holding them up in prayer for their salvation? Or do we gossip about them with our like-minded friends.
Paul instructs us to pray for those in authority. He says that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men – for kings and all that are in authority. (V.1)
I have to say: that word pricks my conscience. I pray some for them, but I can’t honestly say that I believe God is going to change anything in their lives.
What if there were a visitation of the Holy Spirit when our congress was assembled? What if those who mock God now had a dream which turned them around? It could happen. What if some of the university professors who are now so hardened would have an encounter with the one true God? That could happen also.
Just the thought makes me want to be more diligent in my prayers. When we think about a great awakening – as we mentioned while reading Isaiah, eyes would be opened to the Lord in all spheres of society. What a difference that would make in our world!
I hope that you will join with me in praying for our leaders. Pray for their salvation. Pray for their wisdom to govern. Pray for truth to prevail in our land.
I want to see God move across this land, don’t you?
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Isaiah 62-64
Do you pray a lot? I mean, do you find yourself praying for others and not just your family? Do you pray for the condition of the church? Do you pray for the condition of our nation? Our world?
Our Father is looking for people to pray for His will to be done in the earth.
He says, “You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent. And give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (62:6-7)
Now we know that Jerusalem is the physical city on one level – and the spiritual City of God on the other. In other words, the universal church. He wants us to pray for the church to rise up to be a praise in the earth – all across the earth.
So why doesn’t He just do it? Remember, He set up the world to have men as managers. Adam was to take dominion of the earth and be a manager under God’s authority. Of course, Adam allowed the devil to usurp the authority, and man lost his role, but eventually Jesus would bring it back in fullness.
Now our Father wants us to cooperate with Him to bring His glory and His purpose to the earth in fullness. We can’t do it on our own, but working with Him, we do our part. We do it by speaking into the atmosphere the Words of our God. Decreeing His purposes into the earth.
Our part is to pray and decree what our God says. He says that salvation has come for all who will receive it. He says healing and deliverance are here for us now. He says that prosperity is here for us now. He says that as we pray, He will open the eyes of many to believe and receive Him.
What do you say? Do you say, “Woe is me?” Or do you agree with your Father and say what He says?
Our Father is looking for those who will speak His Words into the earth, and He will bring them to pass.
Count me in, Lord. What about you?
I Timothy 1
Paul had a tremendous respect for Timothy, a young man who was called of God as a fellow minister. In these next two letters, the older apostle gave instruction which any of us could take to heart. He gave godly counsel on attitudes and behaviors which would make Timothy fruitful for God.
Timothy had been given by God a call – and prophecies to go along with the call. (V. 18). He was now operating in the gifts God had given to Him, but Paul knew from experience that there was warfare which went with the call.
What do I mean? The devil is not going to sit by and let someone operate in the gifts without trying to talk them out of it. At times he would send people across Timothy’s path to ridicule him and mock him. At other times he would bring persecution and anger from those in authority.
What God loves, the devil hates! He will do all within his power to stop the move of God in Timothy’s life (or yours, or mine).
So how does Timothy stand firm? He wages a good warfare by the words which have been spoken to him. He speaks those words into the atmosphere, and reminds the devil of them. He takes the word of God in the Bible and speaks those also.
Do you remember when Jesus was in the wilderness being tested of the devil? What did He do? He spoke the Word of God back to the devil.
It is written. It is written. It is written.
We follow after His example. When we are tempted of the devil to give up our call (and we are all called to do something), we say “It is written…”
When we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, he has to flee from us. He has no choice.
Some have not done this and have suffered shipwreck, according to Paul.(V.19). Yet Paul reminds Timothy of the importance of waging a war with the Words of God.
That’s a good reminder for us also.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Isaiah 59-61
Why did Jesus come? It’s all right here.
Man in his own “righteousness” was totally corrupt. Hands defiled with blood, lips speaking lies, tongues muttering perversity. No one pleading for justice or truth. (59:3-4) There was no hope for man in this state.
So God was going to send the hope: the Messiah. There was no one to intercede for man, so His own right arm brought salvation to them. The Redeemer was to come to Zion and to all those who turn to Him in Jacob. (59:30)
“Arise, shine for your light has come.” (60:1) There’s a new day on the horizon. No longer will the people have to remain in darkness; they can now come to the light.
And God will be the glory of His people. No longer will the sun be the light by day, but the Lord will be the light. They will be the work of His hands, and they will be glorified with Him.
Chapter 61 is the chapter Jesus quoted in His own hometown to introduce Himself as the Messiah. The local parishioners knew that these words spoke of the Messiah, for they had heard them read many times. But on this day, Jesus announced that “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21).
“Blasphemy!” They screamed and tried to throw Him off the cliff. They had liked this young man up until this point, but He was calling Himself the Messiah, and they couldn’t take it!
There is more in the chapter for us to understand. We are there also. Those of us who believe in Jesus, and let Him lead us, will rebuild the old ruins and raise up desolations of many generations. We shall be named the priests of the Lord – and we shall be blessed beyond measure. With riches and honor. With garments of salvation. With robes of righteousness.
Let’s spend some time meditating on these scriptures today. His plan is awesome! If we’ll just partake.
II Thessalonians 3
Everyone should work. That’s Paul’s command to the Thessalonians, because there were some who were idling away their time, and becoming “busybodies.”
This concept can be a hard one to “get right.” Of course, when people have hard times, we want to be compassionate and share with them. Paul is not coming against true charity.
However, people were designed by God to be productive. There is greater satisfaction in a life lived with energy and drive than in a life lived in idleness. And further, everyone is expected by God to “do his part.” All working together for the good of all.
Laziness is not a godly attribute.
This is something to think about as we observe our modern customs.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Isaiah 56-58
Within the words of the prophets, we find God’s plan foretold. If people are deaf to His words, they don’t hear what He is saying. Their ears have to be open to His voice and His ideas in order to understand.
It would be a few hundred years before these words would come to pass, but they would come to pass. That’s the way it is with God’s Word. It will all come to pass – eventually.
The Lord is introducing the concept of the gospel being sent to all nations. “The sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord and be His servants … even them I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer….For My house shall be called a house of many nations…I will gather to Him others besides those who are gathered to Him.” (56:6-8).
These words are there for the Pharisees to read and understand many generations in the future. However, their ears were closed to God’s truth. They wanted to keep themselves as a special people, and so they did – with pride and arrogance against all others. Not God’s plan.
This should be a lesson for all of us. We have all assumed certain things and been taught certain things, but those things might not be from God.
Now He is not going to bring us revelation which can’t be found in the word, but if we read His word with fresh eyes, asking for Him to teach us, we will see the truth – even if it hasn’t been taught us. Sometimes we may wrestle with what we see, knowing that we have been taught differently. That’s okay. In fact, it’s good for us to ponder to make sure that we are seeing correctly.
I’ll give you an example in my own life. I was brought up in church, studying the Word, and listening to teaching. Never did anyone bring up the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I knew nothing about it.
There came a time, however, when I was seeking God in a desperate way, and I received it. I started babbling in other tongues. (It was so strange to me that at first I was afraid I was losing my mind). But I wasn’t losing it; I was gaining it!
Now there are many churches which teach that this experience is no longer available to us, but it’s too late for those people to tell me that. I have received so much from having my “prayer language,” that no one could ever talk me out of it.
It’s right there in the Word, but tradition and erroneous teaching have kept many from receiving God’s best.
There are two special privileges which go with this gift. First, when you pray in the spirit, you “edify yourself.”(I Corinthians 14:4) In other words, you gain knowledge and wisdom from the Holy Spirit who is praying through you. The second privilege is that when you don’t know how to pray as you ought, He prays for you – and God’s perfect will is being prayed out in your life or in the lives of those for whom you are praying. (Romans 8:26-27).
It’s a powerful gift, which totally changed my life. Yet traditions of men have kept many from receiving it.
In the same way, there may be traditions which you have become accustomed to and you think they are true. When you encounter something in the Bible which says something different, don’t gloss over it. Let the Lord begin to teach you.
God’s Word is true! Let that be your starting point, and you will have many understandings opened to you.
II Thessalonians 2
The Thessalonians were listening to some of the wrong voices of the day. There were some who were saying that the Day of the Lord had already come. Obviously, many were afraid that they had missed out on God’s plan.
Paul makes it clear, however, that the Day of the Lord was for the future.
First there would be a great falling away from God’s truth – and that the son of perdition would arise. (The antichrist).
He would oppose the things of God and exalt himself to be God – even taking the seat in the temple of God as an imposter. Paul goes on to say that the spirit of this one is already working.
I think that we can certainly see that antichrist spirit working today. There has been a great falling away. Many have denied Jesus and many have tried to substitute their own ideas for what the Word says.
It’s really important for us to stay faithful to God’s plan – and not our own.
May we be preserved blameless spirit, soul, and body until the coming of our Lord.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Isaiah 53-55
Isaiah 53 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. It’s the chapter telling about the coming Messiah – Jesus.
If you spend some time in these verses, you will begin to understand more completely the power of the cross.
Jesus took our place. We deserved to be eternally separated from God, because of our sin nature. But our God wouldn’t stop His plan with the sin of Adam. Instead He sent His own Son to bear the penalty we should have borne – and He exchanged what we deserved for what Jesus deserved.
Our Father took our griefs, our sorrows, our transgressions, and our iniquities, and gave them all to Jesus to bear on the cross. He paid the debt we owed, and gave us His righteousness instead.
It’s such a tremendous mystery, it takes a lifetime to understand it all. Our God loves us that much! He would stop at nothing to bring us back to Him.
When we receive all that Jesus paid the price for, we receive healing – of our emotions and our physical illnesses. We also receive freedom from grief and sorrows.
Through the power of the blood of Jesus and of His Spirit living within us, we have the ability to overcome any hurts which may have come our way. Miracle after miracle are awaiting us, if we believe.
The great and the strong will be able to share in all that Jesus did. Strong in our own strength? No way! His strength comes from His Spirit abiding within us.
It’s there for us, if we will just take it!
II Thessalonians 1
Grace and peace to you! That goes for those of us who believe in this day, as well as in the days of the Thessalonians.
They were going through tremendous persecution, but God was faithful to them to encourage them in the midst of their trials.
Patience and faith were being exhibited among the people, and God was pleased with that.
One thing is for sure. Our God is a just God, and there will be great reward for those of us who remain faithful, even through hardship.
Paul prays that “they may be found worthy of the call of God upon their lives, and that God may fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power.” (V. 11)
I pray that for you also. May God fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power in your life also.
There is no tribulation or hardship in the world which can stop the flow of God’s goodness to those who truly believe Him.
May we truly believe!
