A Word From God

Well ... I guess this post is more than one word from God.  It's from Isaiah ... Chapter fifty-five.  But it is from God; it's His word written down by one of God's prophets. 

As I was reading this portion of scripture, I felt impressed to try and present some selected verses from three translations ... the old King James Bible, the Amplified Bible, and Young's Literal Translation of the Bible.

I don't claim to know if one version is better than the other.  Each one of them use different English words to express the same meaning.  By carefully selecting certain words or phrases from each of the three versions ... my purpose is to make this important chapter a little easier to understand.  To do this, I must edit all three versions, hopefully without doing harm to the Word of God.  I've never attempted this before, so let's see what I come up with ...

God starts with a poetic, humorous exclamation or expression of concern ... "Ho" ... a call for attention.

"Ho, wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty; come to the waters ... even he who has no money.  Yes, come and buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts this blessing.]

Why do you spend your earned money for bread which is not satisfying?  Listen to me and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in spiritual fatness.

Turn your ear to Me and come and hear, and your soul shall live.  I will make an everlasting covenant with you ... even the kind I made with David ... full of kindness and compassion that is stedfast.

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.

Let the morally wrong forsake his way, and the sinner his thoughts and the Lord will have mercy on him and will abundantly pardon him.

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.

For as high as the heavens have been above the earth, so have My ways been above your ways, and so are My thoughts above your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens, and returns not again there, but waters the earth and makes it sprout and bud and causes it to yield which gives seed to the sower, and bread to eat ...

So is My word that goeth out of My mouth ... it shall not return unto Me void [useless, without any effect] ... but it shall hath done that which I have desired, and has accomplished that which I pleased and purposed, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

So says the Word of God ... as spoken through Isaiah.

Some people think that once God finished writing the Bible, that He stopped speaking.  Well, He didn't.  Jesus said ... "My sheep hear My voice." 

He speaks to me.  Not in an audible voice, but in my spirit.  But the only sure way to know the voice you hear is of the Lord ... the Word of God will bear it out.  It must agree with the printed Word.  That's the true test.

Now ... as far as this portion of scripture in Isaiah ... yes, I know it was written to Israel some 2600 years ago; but I find nothing in it, that God said through Isaiah, that is not relevant for us today.  God's Word stands the test of time.

Today as then, the message is the same.  The Lord is still saying, there is a better way.  Turn to Him ... what He gives is free.  It was paid for by Jesus.  It won't cost you a thing ... accept giving up all the stuff that weighs you down. 

Yes, we do need natural bread for our physical bodies.  But we also need spiritual bread for our soul.  It's a good thing to be made spiritually fat.

Is your soul ... "delighting itself in spiritual fatness?"  God is asking that question. 

It can be.  Do you want or need kindness and compassion?  That too is available.  Does unconfessed sin still trouble your thoughts?  "The Lord will have mercy ... and will abundantly pardon you."  

Turn your ear to the Lord and listen to what the Word of God is saying.  You can start with this chapter from Isaiah.

It's ... a Word from God.

Abandoned by God

I was sure I wasn't alone in experiencing … "failure in prayer" … even when following what was thought to be "God's Will."  I have shared some of my failures before on this blog.  Open and honest … that's what you get with me.

I want to share a letter with you that has to do with praying for someone else to be healed.  This woman like me, is being open and honest with her feelings.  Maybe you can identify with her.  She writes ...


"I have a very dear friend, whose husband was dying of cancer.  Healing has always been the one area I would never touch.  Too afraid of failure?  Other spiritual failures, you can hide or fake your way thru, but not healing.  Everyone knows if someone doesn't get healed when you pray for them.  It's a combination of pride and doubt in myself. 

So of course, what did God call me to do?  Nothing less than to lay hands on my friend's husband as he lay on his death bed in the final stages of cancer.  Talk about jumping in with both feet into cold water!  

The Lord built me up over several weeks leading up to it.  He put very purposed scripture in front of me, woke me in the night with specific messages, placed books in front of me, sermons, etc.  It all pointed to the same thing … I had no doubt in my mind.  God was going to raise this man up in front of our eyes!

When fear crept in, He pointed me to the scripture of Jesus in the boat when He said, O you of little faith!  It was like … Okay God, I hear you.  Send me … I will go.  And I went.

His wife was there when I walked in … and she knew I was there to pray.  It was very overwhelming.  He has three little girls. His wife does not work.  No life insurance. 

First of all … I have never really looked cancer in the face before.  I walked in and just literally fell to my knees.  I prayed like I have never prayed in my life.  I lifted my shaking hands and just began to praise Him and declare who He IS.  The great I AM.  I got up; armed with the scriptures He had given me … I laid hands on him. 

I prayed, I confessed, I declared, I prayed in the spirit.  I did it ALL.  Nothing. Quiet.  Nothing.  His wife just looked at me.  Nothing.  I left that hospital so defeated, beaten down, questioning God, questioning Jesus, feeling abandoned, lied to, set up … it was ugly.

I went into a depression and stayed that way for several days.  I would wake in the night crying.  I have never felt so abandoned by God.



I now know thru lots of seeking God and His healing that this thing is not over yet.  Yes, my friend died, and now his wife is dealing with her own anger with God, but I know God had me to do all that for a reason.  I still don't know what it is, but I still feel that same tugging in my heart that there's a big lesson He has yet to reveal in all that happened.

I went out of obedience and I … Did it afraid.  Will I have the courage to go the next time He calls me?  I don't know and that frightens me.  I still want to be able to say, Here am I, send me.  Was my faith in myself?  I really hadn't thought it was. 

I had heard the voice of the Lord and I am still convinced of that … but why He didn't show … I may never understand."
 

Wow ... talk about being honest. 

Another friend of hers sent this response to her letter.  I added a couple of the words as I edited the length of it ... but I think the message is still in tact.


"It is not always our privilege to know why God does one thing one time and something else another time.  God is not accountable to you or me.

But we do know that God and His Word are unchangeable.  We also know that … "it is appointed unto man once to die." (Hebrews 9:27)



With that being said … do not think that you went there to just pray for your sick friend and nothing happened.  God met you there.  He was there before you arrived and He was there while you prayed and He was still there when you left that day.

Will you see miracles all the time?  No.  Do not feel like a failure because you didn't receive the miracle you were asking for.  You absolutely did not fail!

You did exactly what God wanted you to do.  Do not feel like you failed.  You were not in charge ... God was."


So I ask, have you ever felt ... "abandoned by God?" 

I have ... but I was wrong.  We don't live and act on feelings.  In fact, I think the Apostle Paul said something like ... "we walk by faith, not by sight."  Peter would never have walked on water, had he not stepped out in faith.

Abandoned by God?  Never!

The Fool

David said this about the foolish man in general ...

Psalms 14:1 ... "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.  They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."

The fool has a lack of good sense and therefore acts unwisely or imprudently and is easily duped or fooled ... hence the title of fool.  The atheist is the fool above all others universally.  He would not deny God if he were not a fool by nature, and having denied God, it is no wonder that he becomes a fool in practice.

I have noticed that many of the old Bible commentators speak of fools and their folly, meaning the foolishness of sin.  It has been said that sin is always folly, and concerning the atheist ... to attack the very existence of God is the greatest imaginable folly.

To say there is no God is to deny the plainest of evidence ... nature itself.  If I were to deny the existence of fire, would that keep me from burning if I were in it?  The atheist by so doing will not stop the Judge of all the earth from pronouncing judgment upon them.  The atheist or fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God."

A few years back, I worked with a man who told me that his brother-in-law had died a couple days before.  So I asked him if his brother-in-law was a Christian.  He said ... "No, he was an atheist.  He didn't believe in God."

My response was ... "He does now!"  My friend said ... "You don't understand, he didn't believe in God."  So I repeated myself ... "He does now!"  His eyes lit up and a big smile broke across his face when he got it, and then he said ... "Oh, I hadn't thought about that."    

I may have been out of line with my remark, because it wasn't funny, it's really sad, but I wanted to make him realize each one of us will stand before God whether we believe in  God or not.  The point was made.

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."  He may not have said this to others, but the reference here is to what he is thinking in his mind.  His belief is really ... his desire ... because his conduct or actions make him wish it to be true.  He hopes there is no God. 

Next, I want to look at a man named Asaph who just might represent some of us today.  It seems from generation to generation man is still the same ... he becomes tired and exhausted, worn out fighting the good fight of faith.  Sometimes we just give up and quit.  We shouldn't, but some do.  Asaph wrote the following ...  

Psalm 73:1-3 ... "Truly God is good ... to such as are of a clean heart.  But as for me ... my steps had well nigh slipped.  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."

Here we have a half-defeated man of God who declares that God is good to the clean of heart ... but as for me ... am I one of them?  The confession in this case is plain and simple ... my steps have slipped.

"I was envious" ... He saw those who neither worshipped or even believed in the true God, who were in possession of wealth and every comfort, while the godly many times were not.  From all this he was led to doubt whether there was any advantage in serving the Lord.  He questioned whether God blessed the righteous anymore than He did the foolish.

It is bad enough that a man of God should confess, I was envious, but worse still that he was envious of the foolish.  How many of us could say the same thing?

When he saw the prosperity of the wicked and foolish, he was only fixed on their present prosperous condition which was temporal ... he forgot their future.  If all men had wealth and comfort without any trials or affliction, there is reason to doubt whether there would be any faith, hope or preparation upon the earth for a future heaven.  Would man feel the need to seek God?

If not, then he is truly the fool.  Solomon gave us the first step to keep us from playing the fool.

Proverbs 1:7 ... "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

The foolish man becomes the fool when he no longer has any fear or spiritual reverence for Almighty God.  Every intelligent being, if they can think at all, would bring a little caution when they confront God on any level.  Unless you are the fool ... rule number one, the place to start ... is to realize there is a God, and you are not Him.

Solomon said ... fools despise (feel contempt for, and look down on) wisdom and instruction.  And then he added, some did not choose the fear of the Lord ... they would have none of my counsel. 

The prosperity (false security) of fools shall destroy them.

Don't be fooled.   
    

The Words In Red

Can there be one scripture that stands out from all the rest?  Some may say, all of God's word is good; so no there can't be.  I ask ... why not?  Doesn't it depend on what each one of us may need a certain chosen scripture to do personally in our lives depending on the situation?  Different times bring different circumstances ... just like walking in the snow requires a different type footwear than walking in the desert. 

At times ... life is good and we're on the mountain top.  But at other times there may be problematic days where we just barely endure, looking for someone to help us hold on to our shield of faith.  There have been a time or two when I dropped my shield because I became spiritually tired of holding it.  I needed more than just faith. 

I find it is in those uncertain periods, when I just feel inadequate, and powerless to change the situation, that I feel the need to grab hold of a certain scripture ... one that brings with it a sense of peace and rest to my troubled mind.  It's usually one of the "red lettered phrases" that's found in many Bibles.

The words of Jesus.  Words that I trust.  Words I believe in.  Words that strengthen me so I can pick my shield back up.  Words that I have bet my eternal soul on.

Why do I look for the words of Jesus?  I really don't know.  I have a deep trust in His recorded expressions of faith ... even the ones I don't fully understand completely ... but believe.  I guess they left a mark on me somehow.  Perhaps they bypass my mind and go straight to my heart.

May I share a few of the words in red with you?

Mark 9:23 ... "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

There is a question that goes ahead of this statement by Jesus.  It was a father's cry for his son with a demonic spirit ... "if you can do anything, help us."  The disciples of Jesus could not, so he comes to Jesus and asks ... "if you can."

As the man put an "if" on the power of Christ, Jesus put an "if" on the faith of this father.  "If you can believe" was the answer Jesus gave, suggesting no lack of His power, but rather the father's faith. 

So this raises another question in my heart.  Why aren't we today completely healed or delivered of things like anger, pride, lust, greed and anything else Satan can deposit in our minds?  The simple answer must be ... because we do not believe.

Jesus also said ... "all things are possible" ... but, may I say, all things are not possible to be done by the believer himself, but all things are possible to be done for him by our God ... to him that believes.

The word believe that is used here is "pisteuo" in the Greek, pronounced (pist-yoo'-o) and is a good translation as is.  It means simply ... "to have faith in, (a person or thing), to trust and commit (one's spiritual well being) to God's Word and/or Christ."

We as Christians believe that the name of Jesus is just about higher than anything that can be named on earth, and that someday all men everywhere will bow at that name.  But do you know that God has placed His Word even higher than His name?

Psalm 138:2 b reads, speaking of God; "... thou hast magnified thy word above thy name."

I have been speaking about believing, trusting in the words of Jesus, the words in red.  So here I am thinking ... if God's word is the only thing regarded or exalted "higher" than God's name; and if Jesus is the Word of God made flesh ... then I have no problem believing and accepting the following exhortation from Jesus as the one ultimate scripture that I can count on and believe in ... period.   

John 15:7 ... "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

The following is a short word study on this scripture.

If ... meaning it's conditional, or provided the following condition is met.  We have something to do with it being fulfilled.

Abide in me ... continue to stay in a given relationship.  This denotes a fixed position at rest in who Jesus is to you.

Words ... an utterance by Jesus, a topic or narration, a command.

Ask ... in general, to ask or call for.

What ye will ... meaning, (1st) whatsoever you choose or prefer; and (2nd) it implies what you delight in, wish or desire.

Shall be done ... it will come into being.

Of the many recorded dissertations and promises Jesus proclaimed ... John 15:7 ... is the one I lift back up to Him when we talk and share our hearts.  I don't know if my fellowship with the Lord is even considered prayer.

What I do know though, is that I'm not reminding Him of His word, but rather ... returning it back to Him ... because He said His word ... "shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

Understand ... if there is a problem receiving from God, it's us, not God.  Do what this father did who had the son with a demonic spirit; go to Jesus and say ...

"Lord I believe, help my unbelief."

The words in red, especially John 15:7, was spoken and recorded for me.