Prayer: Father, You are just a prayer away. Amen.
Reading: Isaiah 26 key: vs. 18 “Adonai, they sought You in distress, they poured out a whispered prayer when Your discipline was upon them.” TLV
Attention: Throughout my years of ministry, I have experienced people contacting me and requesting prayer because they are experiencing a crisis in their life. Whether it is a crisis of finances or physical health, in those moments, people want the intervention of the Divine. When the crisis is averted, they usually go back to their former ways, but for the moment, they are desperate.
Isaiah is saying that we and the world learn from judgement and discipline and not from grace. In fact, righteousness is learned from judgement. Have you noticed from the study of the Old Testament, that kings and nations who did not know God, came to acknowledge Adonai as God (Daniel 4:34)?
Here is what Isaiah says, “My soul longs for You at night, yes, my spirit within me seeks You. For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Though grace is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness. Even in a land of uprightness he will act wrongly, not perceiving the majesty of Adonai.”
Though our culture rails against us as haters, we have a purpose and responsibility to declare God’s Word. There is a pending judgement which the world cannot avoid unless we and they are found in Christ. Love is found in declaring God’s judgement, not in telling the world God loves your behavior.
Have you told God that you long for Him? He tells us in His Word, “Then you will call on Me, and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you will search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:12-13).
Action: I choose to seek God with all my heart.
Yield: I choose to submit my life to God.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Holy Spirit in living for Adonai.
Relationship: I choose to live in intimate, obedient relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, may we tell the whole gospel message of Your love and judgement. Amen.
Memory Verse: Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call on Me, and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you will search for Me with all your heart.”
Music Video: Hillsong United—Spirit Leads Me https://youtu.be/6GGFb6LcX3U?si=6InLJHEEXU1TGw4B
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”