Prayer: Father, thank You for the determination of Yeshua to face the condemnation of the cross for me. He was despised and rejected for me. He stayed on the cross for me. He arose triumphantly for me. He ascended into heaven and is coming back someday, for me. Amen.
Reading: Isaiah 50 key: vs. 4-7 “Adonai Elohim has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning. He awakens My ear to give heed as a disciple. Adonai Elohim has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike, and My cheeks to those pulling out My beard; I did not hide My face from humiliation and spitting. For Adonai Elohim will help Me. Therefore I have not been disgraced. Therefore I set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.” TLV
Attention: I find the words of Adonai prophesied through the writing of Isaiah about Messiah fascinating. That Adonai told Isaiah to tell the Hebrew nation centuries before the entrance of Messiah and document these prophetic words is powerful. He tells the world what He is going to do and then He does it.
The word “flint” jumped off the pages of Isaiah 50 today. Just a little research rendered this description of flint in scriptures, “The hardness of flint is proverbial. God’s miraculous provision for the Israelites in the wilderness is pictured as water (Deut. 8:15; Ps. 114:8) or oil (Deut. 32:13) flowing from flinty rock. A face set like flint pictured the determination of the Servant of the Lord” (Isa. 50:7; cp. Luke 9:51). Pg. 584 Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
The Apostle Luke describes Yeshua with these words, “When the days were approaching for Him to be taken up, Yeshua was determined to go up to Jerusalem.” A couple of verses later, Luke says, “But they did not receive Him, because He was focused on going up to Jerusalem.” He knew He was on mission, an assignment from Adonai. He was on earth to fulfill the will of His Father, not to fulfill the desires of the Hebrew nation.
Isaiah gives us a key in verse 4, “He awakens My ear to give heed as a disciple.” Yeshua was being discipled as He was disciplining the twelve. Discipling is the key.
I have been a part of Evangelical communities most of my life and Matthew 28:19-20 is frequently misquoted. Some translations change the word “disciple” to “teach.” The correct translation is “disciple.” Discipling has a cost; teaching is only an investment.
Are you being discipled by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26)? Are you in turn, discipling others?
Action: I choose to be a disciple of Yeshua, be discipled by the Holy Spirit, and be a discipler of Yeshua followers.
Yield: I choose to yield my life and will to the Lordship of Yeshua.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Holy Spirit in being transformed to His likeness.
Relationship: I choose to live in obedient, intimate lifestyle with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, I am convicted by the prophecy of Isaiah and the resolve with which Messiah went to Jerusalem. “No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.” I am Your friend. Amen.
Memory Verse: Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” TLV
Music Video: Tim Sheppard—I Am Determined https://youtu.be/M0lv2ywAEMc?si=GWq6cYXglOcWB5gq
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”