Isaiah 54: A Passionate Calling

(6) For the LORD has called you
like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
(7) For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
(8) In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,
says the LORD, your Redeemer.

What are we to make of this, if this is something that God is saying to us today and not a record of a historical message from Him to His people of that (long) time (ago)?
Well for me, He seems to say that that the only thing that can separate me from Christ is me, my unrepented sin for which He offers abundant
grace and mercy.
The world does not/cannot often compute grace or mercy and where we do see it, I believe that we see the persuasion of the Holy Spirit moving too and fro softening hearts, we see the hand of Jesus reaching out demonstrating the love of the Father for His creation.
We are after all, every one, but dust without His breath in us.
As we live in a broadly unforgiving society we can, with a little help from the enemy of our souls telling us we are not worthy, turn away from His grace in a form of shameful penance.
Somehow we can forget, cheapen even, Christ’s suffering on the cross, as if the thing we have done is bigger than the thing He did for us.
Boy! We can be stupid sheep sometimes…
Now I am not cheapening grace and mercy. I join with Paul when he rhetorically asks in Romans 6, “Shall we go on sinning?” emphatically answering himself with, “Certainly not!”. Neither though do I cast condemnation as we all still sin at some time or another but it mustn’t be habitual.
So if you read this feeling alone, then you must remember that God is not a man that He should lie. He said that He shall NEVER leave us NOR forsake us, that means He will NEVER leave us alone.
We may suffer discipline (because He loves us) but we will not be deserted. Christ’s sacrifice is simply too great.

He is perfect. He is Holy. He is God.

We must trust Him.

We must remember who He is.

He is I Am.

Remember Psalm 139?

We can not outrun Him – the “Hound of Heaven” will find us and call us back if we will only listen and answer.

He loves you!

He loves you with “forever, 24/7 love”.

Are you answering this passionate call?

Simply put, He loves you.

⁽⁴⁾ Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

I continue to feel impressed to send you this note regarding Isaiah 54 as I believe that God is moving and although He doesn’t need us to fulfil His great plan, after all He is the mighty God of all Creation, the First and the Last, He wants us to be a part of it.
Why you?
That’s simple, He delights in you and He knows that in your weakness you are strong.
He is giving you and opportunity to be part of His big rescue plan because He believes in you.
Simply put, He loves you.
So that’s why I believe that I am writing this.
So that’s why I believe that you are reading this.
Our Father wants to work with you as well as on you…
It may very well be that you are reading this with a heart full of self-doubt, burdened by your mistakes and a history of being told you will never amount to much. That there is someone more equipped, better trained, less sinful than you to answer this call?
Well no, He is calling you, just as He has called so many under-qualified sinners in the past.
Remember Gideon? What about Moses?
They were both fearful men with low personal esteem issues.
One of them because he was raised being told that he was the least of the least. The other was a speech impaired hot-tempered murderer who couldn’t trust himself although God sent him off for a 40 stint looking after sheep to cut off some of that impulsiveness.
For that matter though, I am not sure Moses was particularly trustful of the people that God called him to save as they had all ready threatened to grass on him when he had only intervened out of misguided compassion to help.
I believe that God is saying to you “Fear not, for your not going to be ashamed or confounded, don’t live trapped in fear an doubt as He calls you to this adventurous rescue plan because if you follow Him you will not be disgraced.
I kind of think “So what anyway if a few people think I am a fool? I have an eternity of being with He who says otherwise…”
I believe that He is saying it is time to stop living in the sorrowful mistakes of the past, lay it all at the foot of the Cross and trust Him!
Forget that shame; forget all the harsh judgemental words spoken against you.
He sees you washed clean, new and ready to be who He made you to be.
Be ready.
Are you ready for this?
All you have to do is show a little faith and trust Him.
You know it makes sense!

Promise to Care

Isaiah 54

(5) For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.

Whilst specifically this book was spoken to His people in Judah and most specifically Jerusalem, it is in the bible for more than historical interest and more than evidence of the plans laid for the coming Messiah.

As I have already said, I believe that God is telling us to appropriate these promises for ourselves and taken as words spoken to you and me that can be all a bit weird and difficult to get hold of for most men, perhaps it’s easier if your a married woman reading this but I guess that depends on your experience of marriage…

I think the use of the word Husband meant far more to the Jewish audience than to many people today who don’t understand the significance God attributes to marriage, the ideal state for us.

The Torah is clear is saying “A man who does not marry is not a complete person” and Jesus certainly spent time putting the religious leaders of the day straight about His Father’s view on it by going back to scripture to point to Adam and Eve.

Consider that God is pointing to the covenant He has made with us.

The duties of a husband within the covenant were to protect and provide for his bride and that, I believe is what God wants you to get hold of deep within you. He promises to care for you, protect you, provide for you, care for your emotional needs and will always love you.

After all, elsewhere He tells us that “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Then, just in case you have begun to think that your problems are bigger than God, He reminds us that He is the Lord of Hosts, our Redeemer, the God of the whole earth.

Have you got that?

He is bigger than your struggles.

He is the God of the heavens and the earth, Lord over all.

There is none mightier.

So don’t worry and don’t get all caught up in works theology.

He has it all in control if your keeping on track with Him, and if your not then do the sensible thing, stop hiding and say sorry because His love for you brings more mercy and grace than you could imagine.

What’ s more, remember that He disciplines those He loves, He is so good!!

Also remember that we do what we do because of what Hs has done for us, we cannot work our way into His love. He doesn’t need our help but He loves it when we do.

I am thankful that it all depends on Him and not me, so I try to be obedient, love God and my neighbour and hold things lightly and when I get it wrong, thinking its all up to me or all wrapped up in worry, I am thankful He will never leave me.

I am thankful for His grace, mercy and love.

Are you?

Are you ready?

This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad!

Remember the promises in Isaiah 54 are for you.

Expect great things of God.

Expect the fertile ground that you have fought so hard to take, yet standing still for so long will quickly become your field of harvest.

Expect this to be the “Now Time” of the Lord.

Are you ready?

Are you ready to pray for Kingdom breakout?

Are you ready to disciple new disciples?

The next wave is coming, will you be blessed or washed away?

Are you ready?

Are you singing songs of praise and wonder?

Are you making ready for the newcomer and stranger?
(1) Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the LORD.

(2) Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
Set aside unforgiveness and love as Jesus loves you.

Set aside personal ambition and serve as Jesus serves you.

Set aside judgement of your neighbour and accept as Jesus accepts you.

Are you ready?

Future Glory, coming close…

I am always very cautious about prophetic suggestions spilling out at the start of a year but I have this thing jumping up and down in me.

I heard someone paraphrase Graham Cooke as “You die by your prophesy.” I think that is to say, when people do not respond you feel like dying, it’s always a risk to speak out.

Still John Wimber said that Faith is spelled R-I-S-K so that’s good enough for me.

I think, I believe actually, that God might have said something to me for His bride.

It’s the promises in Isaiah 54. I think that the Lord wants us to take these to our heart and expect Him to move.

¹ “Sing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the LORD.
² “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.

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.
⁶ The LORD will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected,” says your God.
⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
⁸ In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD your Redeemer.

⁹ “To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke you again.
¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

¹¹ “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,^[a]
your foundations with lapis lazuli.
¹² I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
¹³ All your children will be taught by the LORD,
and great will be their peace.
¹⁴ In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
it will not come near you.
¹⁵ If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

¹⁶ “See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
¹⁷ no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the LORD.

I believe that He expects us to expect Him to move soon.

I believe that I have now found myself prompted to break this down and spell out what I think He is saying through this and have done so for the last two days now and will add these as following posts.

God IS moving, I am becoming so sure of this, and if I am a fool in this, then I am trying to be a fool for Jesus…