Isaiah and Sara

Isaiah 20:1-6

1 In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it- 2 at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

3 Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, [a] 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. 5 Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame. 6 In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’ “

Do you love God enough to go stripped and barefoot for 3 years?

Do you want to do the will of God enough that you would go stripped and barefoot for 3 years?

Isaiah the prophet was hardcore in love with God…

May we be the same.

in Christ,

Isaiah

1 Thessalonians 5:17

pray without ceasing

One of the shortest verses in the Bible is one that convicts me, without ceasing….

This is one of those concepts that blows my mind.  Praying throughout the day, about every situation, about every problem.  My issue is not the praying, its not hard to pray… its the without ceasing.  I’m not one who has an issue praying when times are good.  For some reason it is easy for me to pray when times are good, but I have hard time remembering to pray when times are tough, or during a hard situation.  Maybe I’m the opposite of you, but its something that I struggle with… praying through the hard times, which is ironic, because I know that when I do stop and pray I feel better.

Do you struggle with praying without ceasing?

I pray, that I would pray without ceasing.

Will you do the same?

in Christ,

Isaiah

Isaiah 7:9b

If you are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.

I was reading along in Isaiah, and this verse hit me in the face like a spiritual wrecking ball.  God is speaking through Isaiah to Ahaz, saying that if you stand firm in faith, knowing that I am stronger than the Assyrians – stronger than any army, then you will be firm.  But… if you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all… you will fall.

Something about this passage, the exchange between God and Ahaz struck a chord with me.  It is very easy to not be firm in the faith that God is in control.  The past couple weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions as we closed on our house.  From being sure we were closing to finding out we needed more money to close, to finding that money, to be worried that we didn’t fix everything well enough for the appraisal to… the list goes on and on.

But God is faithful.  He is firm, He is the Rock.

If we do not stand firm in Him, we will not be firm at all…

Be firm in faith,

in Christ,

Isaiah

Isaiah 6:8

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Being as Isaiah is my namesake, I do like to read through Isaiah often.  I suppose that could be viewed as narcissistic, but since I hope to be half the man of God that Isaiah was, maybe not.  I pray that my life show the meaning of my name, “The Lord is Salvation!”

Here in the text above, Isaiah is standing before the Lord, having just heard the chorus of, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.”  Where he was standing shook from the force and power of the voices… so we see an awesome display of the power of God.  But then something weird happens…

God says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Almighty God is asking who will take his message to the people.

The Lord is asking who will speak words of life to those around us.

God, Creator, Father is asking you… “Whom shall I send?”

May we all like Isaiah say, “Here I am… Send ME!”

in Christ,

Isaiah

It appears to have been quite a while since I posted… I have been blogging, especially during Choir Tour, but not here.  Since Choir Tour finished, Sara and I have been working on closing on a house here in Scottsbluff.  People talk about stress during buying a house, but no description really tells all that you will feel in worry, doubt, joy, and frustration.

That all being said, we are now proud homeowners!  We will be painting this weekend, and then moving in as we have time through the next couple of weeks.  From previous moving experiences, I know that moving is a timely process, even if all the “big” stuff gets moved in one day.

I wanted to finally update and let you all know what’s been going on.  Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things and updating soon.

Be in prayer for the moving/painting process, and praise Him for all that he’s done.

In Christ,

Isaiah

Today was Monday… I usually loathe Mondays.  They are my least favorite day, least creative day, and the hardest day for me to get up.  This morning that was compounded on by a massive headache that has slowly disappeared as the day has gone by.

Now that I’ve gone on a rant about Mondays, I want to figure out how I can change my perception about Monday.  Today I started realizing that since I’m not as creative on Mondays, I should move creative tasks to another day (duh!).

So that’s what I’ve done, I moved some creative tasks to another day and moved the organizing tasks to today.  I have to say… this Monday has been enjoyable, aside from the headache.

What do you do to tackle Mondays?

in Christ,

Isaiah

This evening I departed for Alliance to visit Gabriel Tyce Bruton and his youth group at the Alliance Christian Church.  I left Scottsbluff, confident of the route to the church, and excited for the opportunity to speak.  Upon entering Alliance, I realized that though I knew the address, I didn’t know where this certain street was in Alliance.  I texted Gabe, swallowing my pride, and found that I had passed the street… oops.

Once I arrived and Gabe introduced me, we began a lesson on Doubt… discussing our own doubts and how God can use the doubts in our lives to draw us closer to him.  I then was able to share about Summit Christian College, and a little of my story.

The lesson finished, we played a game that you may or may not be familiar with.  Though known by a few names, tonight it was called, “Honey if you love me, would you please please smile”.  One person, stuck in the middle of a circle, must say the previous phrase, “Honey, if you love me, would you please please smile?” to one certain person in the circle.  That person must then respond, “Honey I love you, but I just can’t smile” without smiling, of course.  The game with the Alliance youth was quite fun, and we all shared some hearty laughter.

While I was driving home, I realized that I had been re-energized.  I have had several weeks since I visited youth, and have been mostly in a planning/paperwork/phone call stage of my job.  It was invigorating to get back to doing what I love, sharing God’s love and promoting a college that I think is making a difference for the Kingdom.

What energizes you?

in Christ,

Isaiah