Lonely and Longing

Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 6:06 a.m. – When I woke this morning, the song, “When You’re Lonely,” was playing in my mind. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Then, I read Isaiah 31-33. When I got to chapter 33, the Holy Spirit of God immediately began to speak to my heart on this subject of “when you’re lonely.” I believe the Lord would have me to break up the passage into sections and then to make practical application to each section.

Isaiah 33:1-2, 5-6:

Distress and Help
1 Woe to you, O destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, O traitor,
you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying,
you will be destroyed;
when you stop betraying,
you will be betrayed.
2 O LORD, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress.

5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

Application: Most all of us, if we live long enough, will have experienced being betrayed or having betrayed someone we love – breaking of vows, contracts, covenants, and/or agreements between or among people. Betrayal destroys trust in relationships. And, trust takes time to be restored. Forgiveness can be immediate, but trust is something that must be rebuilt over time. Forgiveness affords that opportunity for the restoring of relationships and that rebuilding of trust. Yet, we can never place our absolute 100% trust in other human beings, because we are all sinners and are thus subject to failure. So, we place our trust in the Lord and we place those failed relationships in his hands, as well, and trust him to work in all of our hearts. We can long for human relationships, thinking they will satisfy our needs and desires, but humans will fail us at some time or another, and we will fail those who place their trust in us, too, because we are sinners. So, that is why our ultimate faith, hope and trust must be placed in the One who will never fail us – Jesus Christ.

We need to long for Jesus Christ, for he will be gracious to us in our time of need. He will be our daily strength that we need in order to endure whatever life may throw at us, and he will be the one who delivers (saves) us out of giving into feelings of fear and distress, as we place our confidence in him to work out everything in our lives for his purposes and his glory. God is absolutely sovereign over everything that goes on in our lives, and nothing comes into our lives but what he allows it, and that he allows it for a purpose - to grow us, to mature us, to strengthen us in the faith, and to make us holy. He is our sure foundation always, but especially we can know and can rely upon that sure foundation when everything else around us is crumbling or is falling apart by the seams. We can come to him in the fear of (awe, respect, humble obedience to, submission and surrender to) the Lord, and he will give us this treasure of salvation, wisdom and knowledge for eternity and for living out our daily lives in peace and security in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Isaiah 33:13-16:

13 You who are far away, hear what I have done;
you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless:
“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
15 He who walks righteously
and speaks what is right,
who rejects gain from extortion
and keeps his hand from accepting bribes,
who stops his ears against plots of murder
and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil—
16 this is the man who will dwell on the heights,
whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
His bread will be supplied,
and water will not fail him.

Application: As we know, God is a loving parent and we are his children. A loving parent understands that correction and discipline are just as much a part of loving a child as is spending time, nurturing, feeding, cuddling, reading, and playing, et al, with our children. So, when God sees us going astray and we don’t respond to his gentle whispers, there comes a time when he will allow us to go through difficulties as his loving discipline and correction in our lives in order to bring us back into a right relationship with him. This does not mean that all difficulties are God’s punishment for sin in our lives, for even the righteous go through hard times, but it does mean that God allows hardships to draw us to himself.

Those who can endure these times of loving discipline are those who walk righteously and who do and speak what is right, who reject sin and sinful behaviors, and who shut our ears and eyes to what is sinful, i.e. not taking into our ears and eyes the sinful behaviors of others by choice, such as not listening to gossip or hateful speech, or not watching TV or movies that glorify sin to where, by our watching, we are giving approval to the sin, especially if we are being entertained by it. This is the person who will find his security in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom he or she will find refuge in times of personal storms or in need, and it is there, in relationship with Jesus Christ, that our needs will be supplied.

Isaiah 33:17-24:

17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.
18 In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:
“Where is that chief officer?
Where is the one who took the revenue?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?”
19 You will see those arrogant people no more,
those people of an obscure speech,
with their strange, incomprehensible tongue.

20 Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals;
your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes broken.
21 There the LORD will be our Mighty One.
It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
No galley with oars will ride them,
no mighty ship will sail them.
22 For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
it is he who will save us.

23 Your rigging hangs loose:
The mast is not held secure,
the sail is not spread.
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided
and even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”;
and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.

Application: I think of the story here of Peter walking on the water to come to Jesus. As long as his eyes were on Jesus, instead of on the wind and waves, he was able to walk above the circumstances of his life, but as soon as he got his eyes off of Jesus and onto the waves, he began to drown. That is what happens to us, too, when we take our eyes off of our King in his beauty, majesty, power and dominion, and we begin to focus on our circumstances that are all around us, and then they begin to consume us and we begin to drown in them, which brings on feelings of loneliness, sadness, hopelessness and despair.

Yet, when we look to Jesus and we keep our eyes focused on him, then we can still see our circumstances, only we now see them through our Jesus filter, i.e. we will realize that God is in control of all things, that nothing in our lives has escaped his notice and that he is able to handle anything in our lives if we just surrender to him (the fear of the Lord) and humbly admit our need of him. We will look through eyes with eternity’s values in view, looking to our future hope of glory with God forever; looking unto our salvation and our relationship with Jesus Christ, knowing that we have a dwelling place with God that cannot be moved. Its stakes will never be pulled up and its ropes will never be broken, i.e. God will never break his covenant with us, he will always be faithful and truthful, and we can depend upon him always to be who he says he is and to do what he says he will do. He is our King who saves us and who forgives all our sins when we put our trust in him and we honor him as the holy God that he is by turning from our sins and by following him in obedience.

When You’re Lonely / An Original Work / May 14, 2011

When you’re lonely, needing a friend,
His love will comfort you; give peace within;
Providing His grace; keep you from sin;
Jesus, our Savior, Master and friend.

If you call Him to meet your need,
He will be there to bring understanding;
Offering His love and compassion,
As we seek Jesus, turning from sin.

He wants your heart and devotion
Committed to Him in full obedience.
Give Him your whole life, a sacrifice,
Forsaking the world; live to please God.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

My Prayer

My Prayer / An Original Work / May 30, 2011

“Fill me with Your Spirit; help me to love others;
Let me know Your power; be an overcomer.
Show me how to follow Jesus Christ, my Savior;
Be His faithful servant to obey Him always.

“Lead me with Your presence; help me know the right way;
Teach me love and kindness, generous compassion.
Give me grace and courage to be Jesus’ witness,
Teaching His salvation to a world who needs Him.”

Won’t you come and follow Jesus Christ, your Savior?
He died so you’d be free of control of your sin;
Free to follow His ways in complete surrender;
Living sacrifices – let His grace transform you.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Songs

A Loving Parent

Monday, May 30, 2011, 7:09 a.m. – When I woke this morning, the song, “A Sure Foundation,” was playing in my mind. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, to my heart your words that you would want me to hear from you today. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” I had read Isaiah 30:1-18 for my quiet time with the Lord yesterday, so I began reading with verse 19 today. Quoting Isaiah 30:8-11, 19-26:

Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!”

…O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

My Understanding: I am a mother of four children, ages 30, 32, 34 & 36, and I am a grandmother of ten, ages 1 month old to 12 years old (5 girls and 5 boys). So, I am well experienced on the subject of being a parent (and grandparent) of small children. God is our Father. He calls us his children – those who are in Christ Jesus through faith in him. In the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, God frequently gives us a picture of our relationship with him as that of a parent with children. A loving parent will not only provide for his or her children their basic needs, he or she will play with, nurture, protect, guide, direct, teach, give counsel and correction, and will discipline and punish children, where necessary, in order to help train them to live rightly for their own safety and protection, and for their own peace and security. A loving parent will also give reassurance of love and affection and restoration once the discipline is finished. God is a loving parent.

I Corinthians 11:32 says:

When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Hebrews 12:5-7 says:

And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

In Isaiah 30 we have a picture of obstinate, deceitful and rebellious children (spiritual children) who carry out their own plans, that are not God’s plans, and without consulting God. They are unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They don’t want to hear messages about holy living. They want to hear messages that make them feel good about themselves, i.e. that are pleasing to their ears and that appeal to their fleshly appetites; messages that give them a free license to sin and to live however they want, yet promising them hope of heaven. They don’t want to be confronted with the truths of God’s word that teach holy living, repentance and obedience to God’s commands.

These rebellious children form alliances (friendships, business partnerships, and memberships in organizations, etc.) that are not from God and that are, most often, contrary to God’s will and to the teachings of scripture. By doing so, they heap (pile high) sin upon sin. They look to man to give them protection and refuge instead of looking to the Lord, yet man’s help will be to their shame, because man will fail us and man may lead us in the wrong direction. Times haven’t changed too much since then. This could well be a description of today’s church, in general.

God said then, and I believe he is still saying (the New Testament gives witness to this) that because they (the spiritually rebellious) have rejected God’s messages (his word), he will bring judgment (loving parental) discipline upon them. Yet, he is counseling them that they will find his grace and salvation through repentance and through placing their trust in him (not in man) to save them. He longs to be gracious and to show compassion, just like a loving parent. He gets no pleasure out of having to discipline us, yet he will if we continue in stubbornness and rebellion and we refuse to listen to him and to follow his ways and we continue going our own way and doing our own thing, because he is a God of justice. The Lord will do this to purify his bride and to make her holy, made ready for her King and husband.

Yet, when we cry to him for help, he will be gracious and he will answer. Then, our ears will hear his voice giving us instruction, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Sometimes we need our ears and eyes opened. Then, when we have repented, we will discard our idols (whatever takes the place of God in our hearts) and we will throw them away like trash. Then, the Lord will restore us and he will bless us with spiritual blessings. He will bind up the bruises and he will heal the wounds he inflicted upon us, just like a loving parent would give reassurance to his or her children of his or her love following a time of discipline.

God is calling out to us, his church, to listen to his voice, to obey his teachings, to not close our ears or our eyes to the truths of his word, but to walk with him in faith and obedience. If we do not, a time will come when he will discipline us, because he loves us, and because he desires to bring us back into a right relationship with him for our good and for his glory. Yet, whatever discipline he brings upon us, it will be the discipline of a loving parent, and following the time of correction, he will take us in his arms and he will comfort us again with his love, because his motivation is love and his goal in discipline is to make us holy. I pray that we will all listen to God’s voice speaking to us today and that we will pay attention to what he is saying and that we will walk in the way of the Lord.

A Sure Foundation / An Original Work / May 27, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 28:5, 6, 16, 23 & 26

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See I lay a stone in Zion,
A precious cornerstone,
A sure foundation;
The one who trusts will ne’er be dismayed.”

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Listen and hear my voice speaking;
Hear what I say to you;
Please pay attention;
Your God instructs, teaches the right way.”

In that day the Lord Almighty
Will be a glorious crown for
The remnant, His people;
He’s the source of strength to
Who stands against evil; turns from sin.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

Your Salvation

This song is based off of Isaiah 30:1-18, which talks about our relationship with the Lord and about our salvation. Our salvation is by grace through faith, and faith equals repentance and obedience to God's commands. We are not to place our trust in man, who cannot save us, and we are not to try to run our own lives, but we are to put our trust in Jesus Christ and let him be Lord of our hearts.

Your Salvation / An Original Work / May 29, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 30

In repentance is your salvation.
In quietness and trust is your strength.
The Lord longs to be gracious to you.
Blessed are all who wait for Him.

Pharaoh’s protection will be your shame.
Egypt’s shade will bring you to disgrace.
Ev’ryone will be put to their shame,
Because they trusted in man.

Woe to those who carry out their plans
Without consulting God their Savior.
God’s calling out for you to listen
And obey all He commands.

In repentance is your salvation.
In quietness and trust is your strength.
The Lord longs to be gracious to you.
Blessed are all who wait for Him.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

Out of Gloom and Darkness

Saturday, May 28, 2011, 6:04 a.m. – I woke this morning with the song, “In That Day,” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 29 (quoting vv 13-24):

The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men.
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
“He did not make me”?
Can the pot say of the potter,
“He knows nothing”?

17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field
and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD;
the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 The ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21 those who with a word make a man out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court
and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.

22 Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will their faces grow pale.
23 When they see among them their children,
the work of my hands,
they will keep my name holy;
they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;
those who complain will accept instruction.”

My Understanding: This is a prophecy of judgment against “David’s city,” i.e. against Jerusalem. God said he would come against her and he would lay siege to her. The city and the people would be brought low and would be humbled before God. Yet, God would then turn against his divine instruments of judgment he had used against his people, which were the enemies of his people. Suddenly, in an instant, with thunder, an earthquake, a windstorm, and with fire, God would judge Israel’s enemies whom he had used to judge his people.

The passage then moves from judgment to a description of the spiritual blindness of many of the people in Jerusalem, and to many who would hear the words which Isaiah was given to speak by God, which is why God was prophesying judgment against them. The people were spiritually blinded to God’s truths and their hearts and minds were closed to the things of God and to his word. Many would shut their eyes, hearts and minds to God’s truths and just not want to hear what God was saying.

God described these people as those who come near to him with their mouths, but their hearts are far from him. They gave lip service only, but they were not true followers of God. They went through the motions of being religious, but it was just following rules made up and taught by men, so it had the form only of being in a right relationship with God. These were also people who felt as though they could hide their plans from God, as though God could not see them. They did their work in darkness, thinking that no one could see or know what they were really doing. They acted as though they could be gods of their own lives and as though God was there merely to serve them.

I believe this is a description of much of today’s church here in America and of America as a whole, too. And, I do believe God is warning of imminent judgment against our nation and against the church in this nation, which is following rules made up by men and following men rather than following the Lord Jesus Christ. Many in today’s church are living according to the world and by man’s rules and standards rather than by God’s standards for how we ought to conduct ourselves. Many have closed their hearts and minds to the hard teachings of scripture which teach what it means to live a crucified life and a holy lives, with us as slaves of righteousness, forsaking our sin, and they have watered down the gospel message and have reduced God Almighty to a Genie in a bottle who is here to do our bidding instead of the other way around. They do religious things and might even be considered “good people”, but in all practicality, their hearts are not surrendered to Jesus Christ. That is why God refers to them as “these people” rather than “my people.”

Yet, I also believe that when judgment comes, revival of the church will come, as well. Isaiah 29:18 begins, “In that day,” and then what follows is a description of revival of God’s people. Many who had previously been deaf and blind to the truths of God’s word, or perhaps only to the deeper truths of God’s word, which require submission, surrender, repentance and obedience to God, would now have their eyes and ears opened to God’s word. This would come as a result of judgment, which would get man’s attention and make him realize his spiritual blindness and deafness. The phrase “once more” denotes that their hearts would become like they once were before, i.e. this is speaking of revival. The humble and the needy (humbled and having become needy via judgment) will rejoice in the Lord. The judgment of God would remove many of the impurities out of individual lives, but also out of the corporate community of believers. The people’s hearts will be turned back to God, they will stand in awe of God, and will keep his name holy. Those who had been wayward in spirit, i.e. forsaking God in thought and deed and heart, will gain understanding and will accept instruction.

It is a shame that it will take the judgment of God on the church to get the church out of its spiritual stupor and slumber and back into a right relationship with God, but many times that is what it takes to get man’s attention and to get him to realize his need of God. I pray for revival to come to our nation and for revival to come to the church in our nation and for hearts to be turned back to serving and obeying Almighty God and Jesus Christ, our Lord, and for the church to make the Lord its strength and song instead of her following after the ways and patterns of the world. The prayer of my heart is that this could take place without God’s hand of judgment upon us, yet I know that judgment may be what is necessary to get us, as a people of God, to turn our hearts back to God and to truly make him our salvation.

In That Day / An Original Work / May 21, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 12

In that day you will say: “I will praise You, Lord.
I know You were angry; anger’s turned away.
God is my salvation; I’ll trust; not afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, my strength; the Lord, Lord, my song;
He is my salvation; Lord, my comforter.”
With joy you’ll draw water from salvation’s wells.

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on His holy name; make Him known today.
Proclaim: He’s exalted. Tell what He has done.
Sing, for He is glorious; make this known to all.
Shout aloud; sing for joy, people of Zion;
Great is the Holy One, who among us dwells.”

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

A Sure Foundation

A Sure Foundation / An Original Work / May 27, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 28:5, 6, 16, 23 & 26

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See I lay a stone in Zion,
A precious cornerstone,
A sure foundation;
The one who trusts will ne’er be dismayed.”

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Listen and hear my voice speaking;
Hear what I say to you;
Please pay attention;
Your God instructs, teaches the right way.”

In that day the Lord Almighty
Will be a glorious crown for
The remnant, His people;
He’s the source of strength to
Who stands against evil; turns from sin.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

How Beautiful

How Beautiful / An Original Work / May 27, 2011

How beautiful the feet of those
Who bring to us Good News.
Their voice has gone to all the earth,
So all the world could choose.
They tell the story of Christ’s love;
He died on Calvry’s tree.
He took our sins upon Himself,
So from sin we’d be free.

How beautiful the saints of God
Who join in holy prayer
To offer up to God requests,
To meet them in despair.
They’re burdened for their loved ones’ need
To know the Lord above;
To trust upon His saving grace,
And know His wondrous love.

How beautiful the servants of
Our Lord and Savior, King.
They sit at Jesus’ feet each day
To hear the words He brings.
They love their Lord and Master, friend.
He’s first love of their lives.
They wait for His return one day;
They’ll meet Him in the skies.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.” ~ Romans 10:14-15, 18

Our Awesome God

Our Awesome God / An Original Work / May 25, 2011

I praise and adore You, Father,
I worship and praise You, Lord.
You are such an awesome God,
Who loves us so much, You implore
Us to follow You each moment
Of the days we have on earth,
So that we might live forever
With You, ‘cause of our new birth.

I praise and adore You, Jesus.
You died on a cruel tree,
So that we might be forgiven
Of our sins; You set us free
To love and obey You only,
While we bow on bended knee,
As we humbly walk before You,
Serving freely; You to please.

I praise and adore You, Spirit,
You came in to live with me.
Jesus sent You to abide
Within us, and our comfort be.
You guide and direct and counsel
Us in all of our God’s ways,
So that we can live for Jesus,
To follow Him all our days.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

Come Out!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 6:24 a.m. – I woke this morning with the song, “Child-Like Faith,” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 17:

An oracle concerning Damascus:
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted
and left to flocks, which will lie down,
with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory of the Israelites,”
declares the LORD Almighty.

4 “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain
and harvests the grain with his arm—
as when a man gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

7 In that day men will look to their Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,
the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
and the incense altars their fingers have made.

9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.

10 You have forgotten God your Savior;
you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
in the day of disease and incurable pain.

12 Oh, the raging of many nations—
they rage like the raging sea!
Oh, the uproar of the peoples—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.

My Understanding: God initiated a judgment against Damascus, which also inflicted Israel, because of her close link (ties) with Damascus. Due to this close association with Damascus, Israel (God’s chosen people at that time) had to partake in the consequences of that association. That is why the Bible tells us to “Come out from her so that you don’t share in any of her sins,” meaning we are to come out from the world and the world’s political, social and religious system that stands opposed to God and to his will for our lives. If we don’t come out and be separate from the world’s influences and patterns, then we will share in the judgments against her because of her sins. This is not to say, though, that the innocent will not suffer through God’s judgments on mankind, but it does say that if we choose to make friends with the world, i.e. with the things, patterns, philosophies, etc. of this worldly and sinful nature, then we can be assured that we will share in her judgments.

When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he took upon himself the sins of the entire world, having crucified and buried them with him, and then he rose from the grave, triumphing over death, hell, Satan and sin – the ultimate penalty of sin and the control of sin over our lives. When we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, by his work of grace in our lives in convincing us of our need of him, in drawing us to Jesus, in having provided the way we can be saved, and then in giving us the faith to believe, provided we appropriate it to our lives, he delivers us from bondage to sin and he sets us free from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternal separation from God in hell), as well as he frees us to serve, worship and obey him. Yet, he does not promise us that he will not discipline us. In fact, he says that those he loves he disciplines and that we should consider judgment as his discipline, because the ultimate goal of judgment is to bring God’s people back into a right relationship with God. So, although we will be spared the ultimate judgment of hell fire, if we are in a true faith relationship with Jesus Christ via repentance and obedience to his commands, that does not mean we will never have to suffer God’s discipline and correction in our lives.

The result of this judgment of Damascus was that the people now looked to Almighty God and they turned their hearts and eyes to him. They no longer looked to the work of their hands (their idols and their other gods) to bring them comfort, satisfaction, relief from suffering, etc. In other words, they repented of their sins, which is the ultimate goal of judgment, to bring about repentance in the hearts of God’s people. God does not like inflicting punishment upon us, but he will eventually, if we continue to go our own way and we forget about him. The way we forget about God the Father, and about Jesus Christ, our Lord God, the Son, is by making other things in our lives our gods, i.e. making the things of this world more important than our relationship with Jesus Christ and more important than walking in faith and obedience to him. God/Jesus barely is even a thought in many believers’ lives throughout the day. He gets shoved in a corner and is barely noticed until something happens in our lives that causes us to seek his face. This should not be. We should be so in love with Jesus Christ that we make him truly first in everything that we do – in our thoughts, attitudes and actions.

There is presently an uproar of many nations which are coming against God and against God’s people, the church, and God is using them right now as his divine instruments of judgment, yet they will not escape God’s judgments. One day God will be finished using them and then he will turn on them in judgment. I believe that the government of the USA in cooperation with NATO, the UN Security Council and the New World Order is one of those nations that is presently in an uproar and is coming against God and against God’s people, yet God is using them as an instrument of judgment. Yet, what goes around comes around and one day it will come back to us and the USA will face the judgment of God unlike anything we have ever seen before. We are a proud nation, but God will one day humble us.

When God pronounces his judgments and when he carries them out, he is making a strong statement to us about how he feels about our sin. The passage in Matthew 18:1-9 is one such passage of scripture where the language is such that it emphasizes with extreme contrasts how strongly God feels about sin. God is calling out to his church, his people, to “Come out from her so that you don’t share in any of her sins.” May we take this seriously.

Child-like Faith / An Original Work / May 24, 2011

Based off of Matthew 18:1-9

Child-like faith He requires of us all:
“Who is greatest in God’s Kingdom?”
“Unless you change and humble yourselves,
You will never enter His Kingdom.”

“Whoever welcomes a little child
Like this in My name, he welcomes Me.
If you cause a believer to sin,
You stand in danger of God’s judgment.”

“Grief to you ‘cause of what causes sin.
Grief to the man through whom these things come.
If some part of you leads you to sin,
Throw it off, and never give in.”

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

Child-like Faith

Child-like Faith / An Original Work / May 24, 2011

Based off of Matthew 18:1-9

Child-like faith He requires of us all:
“Who is greatest in God’s Kingdom?”
“Unless you change and humble yourselves,
You will never enter His Kingdom.”

“Whoever welcomes a little child
Like this in My name, he welcomes Me.
If you cause a believer to sin,
You stand in danger of God’s judgment.”

“Grief to you ‘cause of what causes sin.
Grief to the man through whom these things come.
If some part of you leads you to sin,
Throw it off, and never give in.”

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

Like A Harp

Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 7:55 a.m. – When I woke this morning, the song, “A Still Small Voice,” was playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 16 for my quiet time with the Lord:

Isaiah 16
1 Send lambs as tribute
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, across the desert,
to the mount of the Daughter of Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds
pushed from the nest,
so are the women of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.

3 “Give us counsel,
render a decision.
Make your shadow like night—
at high noon.
Hide the fugitives,
do not betray the refugees.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;
be their shelter from the destroyer.”

The oppressor will come to an end,
and destruction will cease;
the aggressor will vanish from the land.
5 In love a throne will be established;
in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
one from the house of David—
one who in judging seeks justice
and speeds the cause of righteousness.

6 We have heard of Moab’s pride—
her overweening pride and conceit,
her pride and her insolence—
but her boasts are empty.
7 Therefore the Moabites wail,
they wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve
for the men of Kir Hareseth.
8 The fields of Heshbon wither,
the vines of Sibmah also.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled down the choicest vines,
which once reached Jazer
and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and went as far as the sea.
9 So I weep, as Jazer weeps,
for the vines of Sibmah.
O Heshbon, O Elealeh,
I drench you with tears!
The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit
and over your harvests have been stilled.
10 Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;
no one sings or shouts in the vineyards;
no one treads out wine at the presses,
for I have put an end to the shouting.
11 My heart laments for Moab like a harp,
my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab appears at her high place,
she only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine to pray,
it is to no avail…

My Understanding: I believe the Lord Jesus would have me take this passage of scripture, which began in chp 15 of Isaiah as a prophecy against Moab, and he would have me make practical application of its truths to today, in particular to the nation in which I live, the USA, though not exclusively to us. Moab was a son of Lot through an incestuous relationship with one of Lot’s daughters. Evidently Moab and his family entered a part of the country where they intermingled with the people there, and the land became known by Moab’s name, so it appears this was a people who were a mixture of Jews (God’s people) and Gentiles (not God’s), or today this would be a mixture of believers in Jesus Christ (God’s people) and non-believers (those who are not God’s people). This could be a description of most any nation here on the earth. Yet, Moab was, in particular, a very proud nation – prideful, conceited, arrogant, boastful and insolent - and that is why God judged her.

When the Moabites were under the judgment of God, they looked to Judah to offer them counsel, protection and shelter from the destroyer. They also looked to their false gods, which could not save them. Their gods were useless to them to give them any kind of counsel or protection from the enemy. So, instead of turning to the one true God to help them, they turned to man and they turned to what their hands had made, i.e. their gods, to give them comfort and aid and protection from the enemy. The shouts of joy over the harvest had been stilled by God via his divine instruments of judgment. Joy and gladness was taken away from her orchards. God put an end to the rejoicing over the fruit of their labor because of their sins of pride, arrogance, insolence, adultery, idolatry and unbelief.

I live in the USA, so that is the nation and the people I know. I believe the people of the USA, as a nation, are mainly the people God would want me to speak to right now. We, as a nation, are a very prideful nation and people. We are a wealthy nation filled with many riches and material possessions, as well as vast opportunities. Not everyone in the USA is wealthy, but even the poorest in our nation might seem wealthy compared to those of other nations who have so much less than we do. We consider ourselves a Christian nation and a nation which trusts in the one true God. Sometimes I think that lends itself to thinking we are better than other nations, but we are not. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. Yet, I do believe our privileges and opportunities in this nation are often taken for granted, which also lends itself toward pride, arrogance, conceit and even insolence. We, as a nation, may not see our need for God because we are not as needy of a people, overall, as those of other nations.

Although the USA is called a Christian nation and one nation under God, yet, we are a very mixed people of various faiths, religions and no religion at all. And, much of today’s church has blended right in with that mixture and has become just like the people of the world to where it is hardly distinguishable between the church and the world anymore. Instead of turning to God to meet our needs, to give us counsel and/or protection from the enemy, we, as a people in the USA and in the world, will frequently, or often, turn to men, and to the things we have made with our hands, or that others have made with their hands and we have purchased, i.e. to our idols of money, games, TV, movies, the Internet, videos, computers, cell phones, smart phones, sports, recreation, careers, entertainment, food, drink, etc., in order to bring us comfort and protection and/or to give us counsel and direction, sometimes as more of an escape from our problems rather than us facing and dealing with our situations.

There was weeping and wailing going on in Isaiah’s time as recorded in this chapter of Isaiah, because of Moab’s sin, and then because God had to judge her for her sin. The Moabites most likely initially wailed due to the judgment that was upon them, and for the loss of their crops. I don’t know if any of the people of Moab wept over their sins in repentance, because the end of the chapter (not quoted) prophecies more judgment to come within a span of three years. Also, just prior to this is recorded that they went to their idol shrines to pray, instead of calling on Almighty God. Yet, God and Isaiah definitely wept over their sins and they also wept over the judgment that was brought upon them because of their sins. Isaiah described this lament for Moab as “like a harp.” I empathize with the feelings and emotions of Isaiah, as I was weeping and praying last night over my loved ones and over my nation, and I was calling upon God to bring revival and to bring salvation to as many as possible before the great day of his judgment on the earth. It was after that time of prayer with the Lord that he spoke to me with this song, A Still Small Voice.

The same hope for the Moabites is our hope today, as well. This passage promises a time when the oppressor will vanish from the land and will come to his end. Our oppressor is Satan, and he has a day coming when God will finally put him to an end. Jesus Christ conquered him on the cross, and his final end will come one day soon. The throne established in love is speaking here of Jesus Christ, our Messiah, who, although he is God the Son, came to earth and took upon himself human flesh, suffered as we suffer, yet without sin, was crucified on a cross, though he had done no wrong, took upon himself all our sins, having crucified and buried our sins with him, so that we could go free, and then he rose from the dead, triumphing over sin, hell, death and Satan via his resurrection. Because of all that Jesus Christ did for us in taking upon himself the penalty of our sin, through faith in him and in what he did for us, we can be set free from the penalty and control of sin. Amen!

God is calling out to the people of the world and to the people of the USA to hear him, to listen to what he is saying, to repent of sin, to turn to God, to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to invite him into our lives to cleanse us from our sins, so that we can be free from the control of sin and the penalty of sin and so that we can live for him in perfect union and fellowship with him, and so that we can live with him for eternity in heaven. He is calling to believers in Jesus who have lost their first love or who have become complacent and lukewarm in their relationship with him to return to Him in full obedience and surrender of our wills to his will for our lives. And, he is calling to the non-believers to make that decision to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, committing to him in full surrender, too. He didn’t die on the cross so that we could continue living under the control and bondage to sin. He died to set us free! He didn’t die just so that we could go to heaven one day. He died so that we would live for him and be in fellowship with him while we are still on the earth. So, I pray you will hear his voice calling today and that you will invite him into your lives and make him Lord and Savior, or that you will return to obedience to Him.

A Still Small Voice / An Original Work / May 23, 2011

In a still small voice He calls you.
Won’t you hear and let him in?
He’s still speaking, oh, how gently.
He died to save you from sin.
Softly He speaks to our hearts.
His love and mercy imparts.
Won’t you come to Him today?
Let Him wash your sins away.

In a still small voice He whispers,
Kindly, calling you to Him.
He loves you so much, He’s willing
You not die, but live with Him.
He keeps prodding, gently so,
For His grace you come to know.
He died so that you’d go free;
Live with Him eternally.

In a still small voice He hastens
You to turn your lives to Him,
Humbly walk in obedience,
Making Him your Lord and King!
Turn from your sin, turn to God,
Put your trust in Christ, His Son.
Invite Him into your hearts.
He’ll give you a brand new start.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

A Still Small Voice

Sometimes God speaks to us loudly and clearly. Other times he speaks to us in a still small voice, calling us to himself.

A Still Small Voice / An Original Work / May 23, 2011

In a still small voice He calls you.
Won’t you hear and let him in?
He’s still speaking, oh, how gently.
He died to save you from sin.
Softly He speaks to our hearts.
His love and mercy imparts.
Won’t you come to Him today?
Let Him wash your sins away.

In a still small voice He whispers,
Kindly, calling you to Him.
He loves you so much, He’s willing
You not die, but live with Him.
He keeps prodding, gently so,
For His grace you come to know.
He died so that you’d go free;
Live with Him eternally.

In a still small voice He hastens
You to turn your lives to Him,
Humbly walk in obedience,
Making Him your Lord and King!
Turn from your sin, turn to God,
Put your trust in Christ, His Son.
Invite Him into your hearts.
He’ll give you a brand new start.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

Where is Jesus?

I was praying this afternoon and was thinking about the busyness of our lives and how we can get so busy with all of life's activities, that Jesus often takes a back seat or is forgotten altogether from our lives. The Lord inspired me to write a song about all the things in our lives, which begs to ask the question, "Where is Jesus?" It is not assuming he is not there, but the questions posed are for us to examine our lives to see if he is there, involved in all of our activities, or if we are involved with his will for our lives while we are engaged in all our busyness. Is Jesus taking a back seat in your life, or is he forgotten altogether?

Where is Jesus? / An Original Work / May 22, 2011

Fishing, swimming, boating, sailing,
Driving, hiking, camping, trailing,
Bowling, golfing, TV watching,
Videos, movies and talking –
Where is Jesus found?

Friends and Facebook, chat and email,
Internet, blogs, news sites, retail,
Sports and music, books, magazines,
Laptops, I-Pads, smart phones, texting –
Where is Jesus now?

Jobs and careers, data bases,
Business, money, many faces,
Get ahead of everyone who’s
Competition; always running –
Where does Jesus fit?

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

Summoning Israel Back Home

Sunday, May 22, 2011, 7:01 a.m. – When I woke this morning, the song, “The Joy of the Lord is My Strength,” was playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 13 (NIV 1984):

Prophecy Against Babylon
1 An oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
shout to them;
beckon to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my holy ones;
I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—
those who rejoice in my triumph.

4 Listen, a noise on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations massing together!
The LORD Almighty is mustering
an army for war.
5 They come from faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of his wrath—
to destroy the whole country.

6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
7 Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every man’s heart will melt.
8 Terror will seize them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame.

9 See, the day of the LORD is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
10 The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.

14 Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
each will return to his own people,
each will flee to his native land.
15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.

17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who do not care for silver
and have no delight in gold.
18 Their bows will strike down the young men;
they will have no mercy on infants
nor will they look with compassion on children.
19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
the glory of the Babylonians’ pride,
will be overthrown by God
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 She will never be inhabited
or lived in through all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there,
no shepherd will rest his flocks there.
21 But desert creatures will lie there,
jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
and there the wild goats will leap about.
22 Hyenas will howl in her strongholds,
jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
and her days will not be prolonged.

My Understanding: I believe the Lord would have me make practical application of this passage of scripture to how it might apply to his people, the church, today. A banner, at the time of this writing in Isaiah, was placed upon a pole and was used as a signal in order to call troops together and/or for calling the nations to bring Israel back home [Ref: NIV Study Bible 1984]. As I contemplated this idea prayerfully before the Lord, I received a picture of what a banner might look like today. What I envisioned were websites on the internet used for the purpose of getting out messages, such as Christian discussion websites, personal blogs, social networks, such as My Space or Facebook and/or Twitter. The internet is an information network designed for people to share stories, news, “how to’s”, photos, songs, etc. This is the “banner” of the 21st Century where we can “summon” the church back home to obedience to Jesus Christ.

I believe God is calling out to his servants, today, to raise such a banner and to shout to his people, the church, and to beckon to them to enter into a right relationship with Jesus Christ. So many in today’s church are living just like the world, yet God has called us to be separate from the world and its influences. He called us to be a holy people, his called out ones, set apart for his pleasure and his service. He did not call us to blend in with the world and/or to become partakers with the world in their evil desires and practices. Yet, there is not much of a distinction these days between the church and the world, as so much of today’s church has adopted the ways and the practices and even the philosophies of the world in order to reach the world, but what they fail to recognize is that they are attracting the world because they are offering them the same things the world is offering, just a cleaned-up version. The cross of Christ is an offense to the world and is not attractive.

One day God is going to judge the people of the earth. The Bible says that judgment begins with the family of God. Revelation begins with letters to the churches, which I believe still apply today, in which Jesus Christ told the churches what was good and bad about them, where they needed to repent, warned what would happen if they did not repent (judgment), and encouraged faithfulness, endurance, perseverance, and overcoming the temptations of the flesh and of the world and of evil desires and to live and to walk in obedience to Christ. These principles are still what God desires of his church and I believe he is still warning his church, where it is needed, to repent and to return to their first love, Jesus Christ, to stop living like the world, to discontinue their lukewarmness, and to get on fire for the Lord.

The Lord gave me this song, In That Day, to write yesterday, which is based off of Isaiah 12, which is a song about the day of our salvation. This certainly applies now to what happens, or should take place, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, because of what he did for us when he died upon the cross for our sins and then rose from the grave, conquering death, hell, Satan and sin, so that we could be free of the ultimate eternal punishment of sin, and so that we could also be free from the control sin might have over our lives on a day-to-day basis. On the basis of what Jesus Christ did for us in setting us free, we should not only praise him for his goodness to us in saving us, and for his grace and mercy and forgiveness, but we should live like we’ve been set free from the control of sin by living lives pleasing to God in every way. And, we should be raising that banner and telling the world about how they, too, can come to believe in Jesus Christ. As well, we should be calling out to the church, beckoning them to return to a right relationship with Jesus Christ, for the sake of their spiritual well-being today, as well as to spare them the rod of Jesus’ divine discipline, initiated in order to purify them and to make them holy.

Yet, judgment will only last for a time, and then Jesus will return for his bride and we will be with our Lord forever and our salvation will be complete. God will restore his people to himself and we will be his people and he will be our God and we will reign with him for 1,000 years on the earth, after which time there will be a new heaven and a new earth and we will live with him forever and ever. I look forward to that day! Yet, I am so thankful, too, for the day of my salvation when the Lord became my Savior, my strength and my song!

In That Day / An Original Work / May 21, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 12 (NIV 1984)

In that day you will say: “I will praise You, Lord.
I know You were angry; anger’s turned away.
God is my salvation; I’ll trust; not afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, my strength; the Lord, Lord, my song;
He is my salvation; Lord, my comforter.”
With joy you’ll draw water from salvation’s wells.

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on His holy name; make Him known today.
Proclaim: He’s exalted. Tell what He has done.
Sing, for He is glorious; make this known to all.
Shout aloud; sing for joy, people of Zion;
Great is the Holy One, who among us dwells.”

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song

In That Day

This is a Psalm of Isaiah concerning the day of our salvation.

In That Day / An Original Work / May 21, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 12

In that day you will say: “I will praise You, Lord.
I know You were angry; anger’s turned away.
God is my salvation; I’ll trust; not afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, my strength; the Lord, Lord, my song;
He is my salvation; Lord, my comforter.”
With joy you’ll draw water from salvation’s wells.

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on His holy name; make Him known today.
Proclaim: He’s exalted. Tell what He has done.
Sing, for He is glorious; make this known to all.
Shout aloud; sing for joy, people of Zion;
Great is the Holy One, who among us dwells.”

Song

Songs

For the past month the Lord has been giving me songs to write, which I've been posting on here. I have been trying to find a way to share the sound of the music as well as the lyrics and sheet music, yet the links I have been using for the audio work on and off, so today I tried another option for sharing the sound of the songs, and I think this one will work, so here are all the songs I've posted on here so far and with each song is a link to the midi where the song can be heard (computer generated), and they worked every time for me today, so thought I would share them with you so that if you wanted to hear any of them and in case you had tried the other links that were flaky, this should work, and I should be able to use this for any future songs.

Songs

Thank You, Lord

Thank You, Lord / An Original Work / May 19, 2011

Thank You, Lord, for saving me;
From my sins set free.
Crucified and risen Lord,
They hung on a tree.
They thought they had finished You.
You came back to life;
Triumphed over hell and sin;
Gave eternal life.

Thank You, Lord, for victory
Over all my sin,
So that I might live with You;
You cleansed me within;
Filled me with your love and pow’r;
Give me strength each day,
So that I might live for You,
To love and obey.

Thank You, Lord, for your return.
Soon You will arrive
To receive Your bride to You;
Meet You in the sky.
You’ll wipe away all our tears;
Free us from our fears;
Crown our heads in victory.
We’ll praise You with our cheers!

Sheet Music (with lyrics)

Audio/Sound (without lyrics)
(sometimes these audio links work and sometimes they don’t)

Your Great Salvation

Thursday, May 19, 2011, 6:42 a.m. – I woke this morning several times with the song, “How Sweet the Sound,” playing in my mind.

How Sweet the Sound / An Original Work / April 24, 2011

How sweet the sound of Your saints in chorus;
Oh, how we adore You, our King.
We love You so, we want You to know.
That’s why we lift our voice to sing.
Praise and adoration we bring
Just to honor God and our King.

We love You, Lord, for Your great salvation;
Freely given grace from above.
Jesus, our friend, His promise won’t end.
He gave His life out of His love.
By His blood He purchased our fee,
When He died on Calvary’s tree.

He set us free so that we can worship
Him as a living sacrifice.
We come to Him with all of our sin.
Before our God we humbly bow.
We have been forgiven our sin,
So that we might be cleansed within.

Sheet Music (with lyrics)

Audio/Sound (without lyrics)

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 9:1-7 for my quiet time with the Lord.

To Us a Child Is Born
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

My Understanding: This passage of scripture in Isaiah 9 is a prophecy about Jesus Christ, penned by God Almighty via his servant, Isaiah. Jesus Christ is the deliverer of gloom for those in distress. He is our Savior, our King, our hope of eternal salvation, our Messiah, our deliverer. Through him and what he did for us when he died on the cross for our sins and then rose from the grave, triumphing over hell, death, Satan and sin, and through our faith in him and in his great and precious promises to us, we have hope and salvation from sin.

When we are outside of faith in Jesus Christ, we are a “people walking in darkness,” because we have not seen the great light. We are under the curse of sin and death. Yet, when God draws us to himself and a light dawns in our hearts via the working of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and to show us the way of salvation, then we are able to see the great light, Jesus Christ, our hope of eternal salvation; our promised One.

When we come to know Jesus Christ through faith in what he did for us and in who he is, evidenced by repentance and obedience to his commands, where there was once despair, hopeless, and lives given over to sin, we are now able to rejoice in our salvation that God has provided for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection, as we are now free from the penalty of sin, the control of sin over our daily lives, and we are free to love God and others, to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, and to live lives pleasing to God.

When Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself all our sins, thus putting our sins to death, burying them with him, and the rising over them victoriously, leaving our sins in the grave behind him, so that we could be free from the chains and the yoke of sin over our lives. So, through his death on the cross, he thus shattered the “yoke that burdens” us so that we could go free! Amen!! We don’t have to be under the yoke of slavery to sin any longer, but we can be free to be slaves to Christ Jesus, to obey Him, instead.

Sometime after Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he ascended to the Father where he now sits on his throne and lives to intercede for us to the Father. He is our great high priest and mediator between us and the Father. His death tore the veil between us and the Holy of Holies in two so that we now have direct access to the Father in prayer and are no longer in need of human priests to intercede for us. Before Jesus left the earth, he told his disciples that he would send them the Holy Spirit to indwell them and to be their counselor. So, when we believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God comes within us to live so that we are now God’s temple and he lives in our hearts. Jesus Christ is thus living within us in the person of the Spirit of God and we now have the Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God living within us to give us counsel, guidance, direction, encouragement, and to teach us the things of God.

One day Jesus is coming back to judge the earth and the people of the earth and to receive us, his bride, for himself. At that time he will set up his kingdom on the earth and the saints of God will reign with him over the earth for a period of 1,000 years, according to scripture. While we wait for our Lord’s soon return, we should be growing in our understanding of him and his word, we should sit daily at his feet to learn from him, and we should obey what he teaches us and to walk in the great light we saw when we first came to know him. Our desire should be for him, not for the things of this world and this earthly life. And, as we walk continually in faith and obedience to him and to his word, he fills us with his peace and joy in knowing the salvation that is ours and in the hope that one day we will be with him.

For the One I Love / An Original Work / May 16, 2011

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard… (Is. 5:1a)

I’ll sing for the One I love
A song about His great love.
He died for our sins,
He rose from the grave,
And He reigns triumphantly.
He entered the throne of heav’n,
Where He lives to intercede.

I’ll sing for the One I love,
A song of His forgiveness.
His blood paid the price,
So we could be free
To live in victory.
He conquered our sin in death,
So we’d live for Him instead.

I’ll sing for the One I love,
A song of His soon return.
He’s soon coming back
To receive His own,
Who wait for Him patiently.
He makes us His holy bride,
Prepared for her husband, King!

Sheet Music (with lyrics)

Audio/Sound (without lyrics)

Never Will I Leave You

I had a horrible headache all afternoon from an incoming storm. We had a horrific storm come through at 1 a.m. today that knocked down trees all over the city. We are expecting more of the same tonight and tomorrow. Anyway, I was sitting on the sofa praying and crying because of my head, and I prayed, in Jesus' name, for him to heal my headache. Just then he began putting this song into my mind to write to encourage and comfort me.

Never Will I Leave You / An Original Work / May 11, 2011

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

“Never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you.”
Jesus is your Savior; love and comfort keep you.
He is your deliverer; Rock of your salvation;
Cornerstone, rejected by men; mighty God is He!

Hope of your salvation; He is your Redeemer.
He is living in you as your Lord and Master.
He will not forget you, nor will He neglect you.
He knows all about you; He will supply all you need.

God of your redemption’s perfect plan to save you
Sacrificed for your sin, so you’d be forgiven.
He loves and adores you; perfectly He made you
So that you might be His servant and child of the King.

Sheet Music (with lyrics)

Audio/Sound (without lyrics)

Whom Shall I Send?

Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 6:15 a.m. – I woke this morning with the song, Speak, Lord, playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 6:

Isaiah’s Commission
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

9 He said, “Go and tell this people:

“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?”

And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

My Understanding: God gave Isaiah, his servant, a vision in which he gave him his calling. Isaiah saw all the glory of God in the heavenly temple. He saw the Lord seated on his throne, high and exalted. There were heavenly beings which were flying above the Lord in all humility, in awe of God, and in worship of him. They called to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty.” The doorposts and thresholds of the temple shook at the sound of their voices. This was indeed an awe-inspiring scene for Isaiah to witness the majesty, glory, and awesomeness of Almighty God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The vision of this heavenly scene brought Isaiah to his knees in humility before Almighty God, in recognizing his unworthiness to even be allowed to see such a breathtaking scene. He confessed his sinfulness and humanity before God when he acknowledged that he, and the people he lived among, were people of unclean lips. Oh, how this kind of “fear” of God, i.e. respect, awe, honor, humility before, and deep confession and acknowledgement of sin in the presence of such an awe-inspiring God, is so lost today. If we could all see our sinfulness in comparison to God’s glory, what a difference that should make in our lives.

Because of Isaiah’s humility and submission to God and his acknowledgement of his sin before such an awesome scene of God’s glory, God was able to use Isaiah as his servant and witness to what the Lord would show him, to what he would tell him, and to what, in response, Isaiah was to tell the people of God. God cleansed Isaiah’s unclean lips with a live coal, representative of sacrifice made for sin on the Day of Atonement in the Most Holy Place. God also touched the lips of Jeremiah when he told him that God would put his words in Jeremiah’s mouth. I believe the cleansing of Isaiah’s lips had a similar significance.

Then, the Lord asked two questions: Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” I believe the “us” is the same as the “us” in Genesis when God said, “Let us make man in our image.” The “us” clearly speaks of a triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The question is really a two-fold question, the first half having to do with God’s call upon Isaiah’s life (and our lives, too), and the second has to do with Isaiah’s (and our) response to that call. When Isaiah heard the call of God on his life to go and to be his “mouth”, i.e. his witness, servant and prophet of God, he responded without hesitation, “Here am I. Send me!” And, even after he found out the job responsibilities, he did not back down nor did he appear to have any second thoughts at all. His only question was “How long?”

As true believers in Jesus Christ, we are all called into God’s service as his servants and witnesses. The New Testament makes it clear that all those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ as his true disciples are to be his witnesses, are to shine the light of the gospel to those in need of hearing the gospel, and we are to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that God has commanded of his servants, the church, his saints. We are not called of God just so that we can go to heaven one day. We are called to serve him now while we are still on the earth. We are all given different gifts, and we are to exercise the gifts God has placed within us for the edification and the building up of the Body of Christ, his church. So, none of us can use the excuse that we are not called or that we don’t know what our specific calling is, because we are all called and we are all to be his witnesses and servants.

So, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and His Holy Spirit comes inside us to dwell and to make us his temple, we are his witnesses, i.e. we are the Lord’s representatives on the face of this earth, as though the Lord Jesus is making his appeal through us. We are “Jesus” to the world because He lives within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. And, it is then he empowers us for his service and cleanses us so that he can use us for his purposes and for his glory. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us in cleansing us from our sin and in filling us with His presence, we should, like Isaiah, be in the same kind of humility and awe in the presence of Almighty God, which is daily, because His presence is inside of us, and we should answer a resounding “Here am I, send me” whenever he asks us to do anything in his service, no matter what he asks us to do. We should be willing to be whoever God wants us to be and to do whatever he wants us to do or to say and to whomever he would call us to minister to in whatever manner in which he would call us.

Isaiah’s commission was to go to the people of God and to say to them whatever God gave him to say. God told him ahead of time that the people’s response would be that they would hear, but not understand, that they would see, but not perceive, that their hearts would become even more hardened at the words of God through Isaiah so that they would close their ears and their eyes to the truth of God’s word. And, again, we are all given a similar commission in scripture as we are told to encourage (inspire; urge; incite; nurture; persuade and foster) our brothers and sisters in Christ in their walks of faith so that they don’t fall into sin’s deceitfulness, and to do what is for the edification (instruction; education; improvement; enlightenment) of the Body of Christ in order that they may be built up in the faith and may live holy lives, pleasing to God. And, sometimes we will get the same results as Isaiah, because people, even Christians, might want to live their own lives their own way and won’t want to hear what is for their strengthening in the faith.

Yet, our hearts, if we truly love Jesus Christ as we say we do, should respond to the call of God on our lives to be his servants and witnesses, even to go to hard-hearted and rebellious believers who have gone the way of the world and are resisting the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and to say to them what God gives us to say. We should all say, “Here am I, send me!” And, then be willing to hear and to do whatever God has for us, that is within his perfect will, and that fits with his divine character and purposes for mankind.

Speak, Lord / An Original Work / May 8, 2011

Speak, Lord, for Your servant’s list’ning to You.
Let me hear You speak in love and in truth.
Guide me, I pray. Teach me Your way.
Speak, Lord, while I bow before You now.

Speak, Lord, fill me with Your peace and Your joy.
Let Your Holy Spirit’s work now employ.
Strengthen within. Keep me from sin.
Speak, Lord, words that lead to victory.

Speak, Lord, so that I might walk in Your ways.
Let Your love o’er-flow in my heart today.
Be my desire. Set me on fire.
Speak, Lord, comfort me with Your presence.

Sheet Music (with lyrics)

Audio/Sound (without lyrics)

For the One I Love

For the One I Love / An Original Work / May 16, 2011

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard… (Is. 5:1a)

I’ll sing for the One I love
A song about His great love.
He died for our sins,
He rose from the grave,
And He reigns triumphantly.
He entered the throne of heav’n,
Where He lives to intercede.

I’ll sing for the One I love,
A song of His forgiveness.
His blood paid the price,
So we could be free
To live in victory.
He conquered our sin in death,
So we’d live for Him instead.

I’ll sing for the One I love,
A song of His soon return.
He’s soon coming back
To receive His own,
Who wait for Him patiently.
He makes us His holy bride,
Prepared for her husband, King!

Sheet Music (with lyrics)

Audio/Sound (without lyrics)

I Will Sing

Monday, May 16, 2011, 7:24 a.m. – When I woke this morning, the song, How Sweet the Sound, was playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 5:1-7:

The Song of the Vineyard
1 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”

7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

My Understanding: Isaiah is singing a song here about God, the one he loves, and about his vineyard, Israel. Since Jesus Christ came to earth in human flesh, died on the cross for our sins, rose again, triumphing over death, hell, Satan and sin, God has made Jews and Gentiles one in Christ, so that true Israel is now His church, the Body of Christ, comprising all true believers in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile. So, we, the church, are now true Israel, as the Bible teaches us that we are Israel, not by natural birth, but by spiritual birth through faith in Jesus Christ, through which we then become heirs of the promise of eternal life with God. We are now God’s chosen people, called to be his holy ones, set apart for Him and for His service. So, we can now apply this song to the church of today, as is applicable, and I believe the Lord would have me to specifically apply it to the church in the USA today.

The vineyard is now the church. God planted his church on the earth to bear good fruit, i.e. works of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit working within and through us for his purposes and for his glory. These fruits are the byproduct of lives committed to God and to Jesus Christ in full surrender and obedience to him and to his will for our lives. This fruit is not a byproduct of works of the flesh nor is this speaking of works-based salvation. These fruits are what reveal the kind of trees that we are, as our fruit reveals our true character.

God, through his plan of salvation for our lives via Jesus’ blood paying the price for our sins so that we could go free, cleansed his followers of their sins and he purified us within, i.e. he dug up his vineyard, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vines. He gave us the Holy Spirit to live within us to lead, guide, convict, counsel, teach, comfort, and encourage us to walk in His ways and to live by His truth (His word). He also gave us his word, the Bible, the scriptures, i.e. God’s God-breathed word to us, his children, to teach us, to train us in righteousness, to correct us, to convict us of sin, and to encourage us how to live godly and holy lives while we are still in these fleshly bodies on this earth. His word and his Holy Spirit give us what we need to grow in our faith and obedience to God/Jesus.

He also built a watchtower in this vineyard (his church), too. A watchtower is “a high place in which sentries keep watch for the approach of an enemy” (Encarta). A sentry is “somebody who is assigned to keep watch and to warn of danger” (Encarta). To watch means to be on the lookout for danger, to keep something under observation as a protective measure, to be careful about something, etc. God, as well, has given his church “watchmen” (and women) with gifts of discernment, prophecy, knowledge, etc. to keep watch and to warn of danger of the enemy coming against the church, and to encourage faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, as we watch for Christ’s return. Some of these watchmen are in positions of leadership within the church and others are those with these specific (and other) spiritual gifts within the Body of Christ for this purpose of being sentries for God in his church.

Then, God looked for a crop of good grapes (fruit), i.e. then he looked for us to walk in his light, in his truth, to follow his ways, and to live in faith and obedience to him so that we could be fruit-bearing disciples of Christ for God’s glory and in his service as his servants and witnesses. Yet, many in his vineyard are bearing bad fruit instead of good fruit, i.e. they have followed the ways, teachings and practices of men and of the world, and have become more like the world than they are like Christ, so that is why they are yielding bad fruit instead of good fruit as a byproduct of lives surrendered in obedience to God. Many of these are in positions of leadership and as watchmen who are not watching out for the enemy but are opening the gates of the churches to the enemy to come within, and many of those who are not keeping watch over the sheep are also rejecting and discarding others who have been called as watchmen (and women) in God’s church to warn of danger and to encourage repentance and obedience to God (See Matt 21:33-44; Ezekiel 34; and John 10:1-21).

God did everything possible to provide for his church everything she needs for holy living. Yet, it appears that the majority of his church in the USA is among those counted as having yielded primarily bad fruit, instead of good fruit (of righteousness), so one day soon God is going to remove his hedge of protection from those within his church who are bearing only or primarily bad fruit, and he is going to judge her in order to cleanse her and to purify his bride to make her holy and ready to meet her husband before our Lord returns.

May we not be found to be among those in his vineyard who are yielding only (or primarily) bad fruit, because we are yielding to the control of sin over our lives and/or we are following the ways of men and of the world over and above, or in place of, yielding in surrender and obedience to God the Father and to Jesus Christ, God the Son. But, may we be found to be among those in his vineyard who are yielding good fruit (or mostly good fruit) and who are living lives pleasing to God and to his service, though not in sinless perfection. Then, we can join together in song and sing together about the one we love, and give him all our praise.

How Sweet the Sound / An Original Work / April 24, 2011

How sweet the sound of Your saints in chorus;
Oh, how we adore You, our King.
We love You so, we want You to know.
That’s why we lift our voice to sing.
Praise and adoration we bring
Just to honor God and our King.

We love You, Lord, for Your great salvation;
Freely given grace from above.
Jesus, our friend, His promise won’t end.
He gave His life out of His love.
By His blood He purchased our fee,
When He died on Calvary’s tree.

He set us free so that we can worship
Him as a living sacrifice.
We come to Him with all of our sin.
Before our God we humbly bow.
We have been forgiven our sin,
So that we might be cleansed within.

Sheet Music (with lyrics): https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5aJQ42RLiUlZTgzZTgyNzEtZjA3My00Y2JlLWJkMzktODY4YWI1Y2NiMTFl&hl=en

Audio/Sound (without lyrics): https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B5aJQ42RLiUlNzgwMTI1MWQtNThkZS00MDYyLWE0ZDItMjIxNzZjYTI5NzQ1&hl=en

When You're Lonely

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel lonely in this world of ours. I can be surrounded by people all around me and still feel lonely. I often hunger for the kind of Christian fellowship I knew years gone by that seems a rarity these days, where we share deeply from our hearts and encourage one another with God's love and his word. Jesus' love comforts our hearts during those times.

When You’re Lonely / An Original Work / May 14, 2011

When you’re lonely, needing a friend,
His love will comfort you; give peace within;
Providing His grace; keep you from sin;
Jesus, our Savior, Master and friend.

If you call Him to meet your need,
He will be there to bring understanding;
Offering His love and compassion,
As we seek Jesus, turning from sin.

He wants your heart and devotion
Committed to Him in full obedience.
Give Him your whole life, a sacrifice,
Forsaking the world; live to please God.

Sheet Music (with lyrics)

Sound/Audio (without lyrics)

In the Light of the Lord

Sunday, May 15, 2011, 6:33 a.m. – I woke this morning with the song, Never Will I Leave You, playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 2:

This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 In the last days

the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The Day of the LORD
6 You have abandoned your people,
the house of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
they practice divination like the Philistines
and clasp hands with pagans.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
9 So man will be brought low
and mankind humbled—
do not forgive them.
10 Go into the rocks,
hide in the ground
from dread of the LORD
and the splendor of his majesty!
11 The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled
and the pride of men brought low;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

12 The LORD Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
and all the oaks of Bashan,
14 for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
15 for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
16 for every trading ship
and every stately vessel.
17 The arrogance of man will be brought low
and the pride of men humbled;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
18 and the idols will totally disappear.

19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground
from dread of the LORD
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
20 In that day men will throw away
to the rodents and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.
21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks
and to the overhanging crags
from dread of the LORD
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.

22 Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils.
Of what account is he?

My Understanding: The “last days,” referred to in scripture, are generally understood by most Bible commentators to include the time from Jesus’ first coming to earth in human form to the time when he returns to judge the earth, to return for His bride and to set up His kingdom reign on the earth for a period of a thousand years, at which time his saints will reign and rule with him. Thus, the “mountain of the Lord’s temple” must be understood as the Body of Christ, His church. We are the “City on a hill,” the Spirit of God dwells within our hearts, so that we are His temple, and the Holy of Holies is now within us, God’s chosen people, His church. The church also represents the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ, which is what the nations stream to, i.e. now salvation is available, not only to the Jews, but to all people.

So, for people to say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths,” this has to do with people being drawn to Christ through the preaching of the gospel and through the witness of the church, God’s temple, as to the salvation that is provided for all men through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The law that will go out is the gospel and Zion is the church, as well as Jerusalem is a heavenly Jerusalem, not physical Jerusalem. Yet, Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and he is the word that goes out, so it is him and his word that judges between the nations. When he comes to judge he will also set up his earthly reign on the earth, at which time war will cease to exist and nations will live at peace with each other.

Based upon this prophecy concerning the future, which is now our present reality, Israel was called upon by God to come and to walk in the light of the LORD. And, God is still calling his people, the church, to come and to walk in His light, because of what Jesus Christ did for us in dying for our sins so that we could go free from the penalty of sin, and so that we could be set free from the control of sin over our lives. This is the gospel message to which we are to respond with repentance, faith and obedience to God’s commands for our lives, and to which we should react by walking in the light of the Lord that he gives us.

Isaiah stated, as recorded in v. 6, that God had abandoned his people, which is why they were living in spiritual adultery against God, were involved in idolatry and the worship of and trust in man over and above worship and trust in Almighty God, as well as their actions and behaviors could be described as “religious syncretism,” i.e. a combination of different religious beliefs and/or practices, i.e. the blending of different religions into one faith. Yet, God has said of those who are his true children that he will never leave us or forsake us.

Certainly there is the distinction between being under the old covenant with God and the new covenant of grace where God now dwells within his followers, where we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit and we understand that even when we are faithless that God remains faithful. Yet, we also know that not everyone who calls himself a Christian is really a true believer in Jesus Christ, too. And, Romans 1 tells us that mankind, even though he has the knowledge of God within him, if he chooses to go his own way, God will give him over to do what his sinful heart desires to do, i.e. God will not force his will upon anyone.

The behavior of the people of God of Isaiah’s day could also be a description of much of today’s church here in the USA – full of superstitions, practice fortune telling, joining hands in agreement and partnership with the world and world’s system, which stands directly opposed to God and to his teachings and principles for daily living, greedy to gain material possessions, reliance upon and excessive use of man-made power and strength, following after other gods of money, fame, reputation, entertainment, prestige, power, position, possessions, etc., and worship (give honor, loyalty, devotion and allegiance to) the work of their own hands (their own creations, accomplishments, talents, fortunes, etc.).

Yet, the Bible also teaches us that God is patient, kind, and longsuffering, and he gives us a free will to choose to walk with him or to not walk with him, so even though his children may, for a time, choose to commit adultery against him and to become idolaters and to be involved in religious syncretism, and he allows it for a time, this does not mean he has abandoned us, it just means that he is patient with us, for a time, in allowing us to return to him on our own without the discipline of divine judgment, yet a time will come for all of us when God will draw the line in the sand and he will determine that his people and the nations must be judged, with the ultimate goal of bringing about repentance and a return to obedience and faithfulness to God Almighty on the part of his people, the church.

At that time when God judges, he will humble all the proud and lofty who are placing their trust in themselves, in other men, or in earthly objects of their affection over and above the affection, loyalty, devotion and allegiance that should be given to God, and to God alone. The arrogance of man to think he can forsake God and go his own way or to think that he can take lightly what Jesus Christ did for him in dying for his sins so that he could go free, will be brought low and the pride of man humbled. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day. Amen!

And, the idols of man, i.e. the people or things they worship and give their hearts to over and above giving their hearts to God/Jesus, will disappear, because God will make them disappear. In that day, men will discard their idols of wealth, fame, fortune, self-accomplishment, entertainment, et al, perhaps because they will become utterly worthless to them at that time, or hopefully out of sincere repentance over the sins they had previously committed by forsaking their God in favor of man-made idols. Either way, when God comes to judge, which he most certainly will do and has done, the dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty will be central and foremost when he rises to shake the earth. Thus, we, his church, are being called upon to stop placing our trust in man and man-made resources, but to put our faith and trust in Almighty God who will never let us down, who will never leave us or forsake us, and who will supply all that we need.

Never Will I Leave You / An Original Work / May 11, 2011

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

“Never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you.”
Jesus is your Savior; love and comfort keep you.
He is your deliverer; Rock of your salvation;
Cornerstone, rejected by men; mighty God is He!

Hope of your salvation; He is your Redeemer.
He is living in you as your Lord and Master.
He will not forget you, nor will He neglect you.
He knows all about you; He will supply all you need.

God of your redemption’s perfect plan to save you
Sacrificed for your sin, so you’d be forgiven.
He loves and adores you; perfectly He made you
So that you might be His servant and child of the King.

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