- Click here to read
- Click here to listen
- Today was my LAST day to not set an alarm. Summer is officially over 😢
Isaiah 54. So after the read of Isaiah 53 (feel free to read it again), you then roll into 54 and 55. This is a song of Praise, but to me, I felt like God was saying after Isaiah 53 happens…let me introduce myself to you. The reality is, before Jesus died on the cross for me, I really didn’t know Him. (So be patient with other believers, some have not known Him long).
4 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For your Maker is your husband—
the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
Isaiah 55- A call for all to come to Him! What a beautiful chapter….He begins with Salvation is Free for All! It costs you nothing…He paid for it. I am reminded of the woman at the well. He said he had a GIFT, she just needed to ask for it. You don’t buy yourself a gift , someone buys it for you. When Jesus approached her and said in John 4:10
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
I am always reminded that Jesus came for the sick, not the healthy. We are so quick to throw stones at the world rather than pray for them. God loves them as much as He loves us. He begs for them to be found.
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Chapter 56-
If salvation depends on God’s grace, do God’s servants have any responsibility other than receiving that grace? You know I try to stay away from “application” since I am not your Holy Spirit (just my husband’s), BUT if you are a Christian, do you have a responsibility?
James 2:26 says: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
So if you are jumping in and missed some chapters…
- Isaiah 1-39 we saw it was impossible for them to demonstrate any righteousness
- Isaiah 40-48 God redeemed them from captivity and redeemed from sin
- Isaiah 49-55- how to be a servant now to God
- Isaiah 56- how to live morally now
Chapter 56 is the most assuring chapter for anyone feeling unworthy. Let me explain: someone who has a “past” this free gift given equally to the person who lived their life without a “past”?
BUT those who ignore the Gospel- “you made that bed, you l lie in it” (verse 7)
13 When you cry out for help,
let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain.”
Chapter 58
I read and re-read the first 12 verses. It is as if this was written to the world TODAY Click here if you want to re-read them.
2 more days of Isaiah (There are about 5 books I find crazy hard and this is one of them…I can see the finish line!!)
Reading the Bible - 2021 
So many of the verses in today’s reading are things I was taught as a child from the pulpit. But it seems like today they sunk in a little deeper. Thanks again for leading us.
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I thought yesterday was good….today, whew! The common theme I read in 55: Come to Me. Listen to Me. Pay attention to Me. Seek Me.
I fall more in love with our Abba Father every time I open His word.
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Chapter 58:3
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
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Yes and Amen!
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