As we continue in the book of Isaiah, picking up where we left off, we move into chapter 30. In the last installment, we talked about God’s judging of various people groups and how it stems from us forgetting God and what He has done and the plans that He has promised to fulfill. In this installment, we will talk about a few things, but the main idea I want to convey is this:

God is faithful in every circumstance.

We sing songs about it. We read about it. Our friends talk of God’s faithfulness. We say it all the time…”God is faithful.” But do we actually believe it? I’m going to put out there that we don’t…at all.

Let me describe this to you:

Person #1 – “I have been seeking the Lord fervently, or at least I believe I have been. I need to decide on my major. I need to make a decision…and I pray and I seek and I never reach a conclusion, or I never reach an understanding of what I should do. I have so many ideas of what to do, but my mission is to be pleasing to God in every aspect, to live a life that He is happy with. So I seek constantly, waiting for an answer of sorts. Where is God and where is His answer? When will I know? I try to be patient, but it wears thin.”

Person #2 - “I know that I want to be married. I want to date, but every dating opportunity seems to fall through…either I’m not right, or they’re not right, or things are not right. I know that marriage will come after a dating relationship, but I feel like its never going to come for me. I am seeking after the Lord, but the failures just keep stacking up. I want to be pleasing to God, but when will He come through for me in this way? What do I have to do…make a life of legalism for myself?”

Person #3 – “I am deep in depression. I see no hope. I seek after God and I know that He will come through, because everyone tells me that He will, but sometimes I have a hard time believing that He will come through for me in the way that I need it most. I read Scripture, but I find it difficult to see hope in a bunch of things written hundreds of years ago. They don’t understand what is going on with me. I pray, but I just end up feeling like I’m talking to myself. I don’t know where to turn anymore.”

What do all of these people have in common? A struggle with truly believing that God is faithful in every circumstance. What else? An active faith, where they seek and they pray and they spend time with God. Why is this?

We have been raised in a society that praises independence. Sometimes, without even realizing it, this causes us to blatantly ignore the Word that God set before us. We read what it says, but then we say, “well, society doesn’t expect us to do that…that’s asking too much (or too little).”

Isaiah 30:15, 16 says : “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning [repentance] and rest, you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’ But you were unwilling, and you said, ‘No! We will flee upon horses’; therefore you shall flee away; and ‘We will ride upon swift steeds’; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.”

I want to put out there…this poison that society has spoon-fed us from the beginning is something we need to find an antidote for. God says something so obvious and simple to follow, but we say “No!” and do the opposite; we take action at the wrong time, or we think we have an advantage that we don’t have. We run when we are told to stay, we move faster when we are told to move slow. God’s Word says that we will follow our human instinct, and therefore, we will be overcome by the same thing we follow. Do we not realize that our battle is against flesh and not against God? Persons 1, 2, and 3…they are trying to come alongside of society’s expectations, not God’s. They are expecting God to fill those expectations and not His perfect ones. And they wonder why God isn’t “coming through”. One wants to figure out their major because the world tells them that they have to…God says “in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” They say, “okay”, and then…they read more about majors and figure out more logistics. One wants to get married someday, because that’s what is expected of them, and that’s what they want. God says “in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” They say, “okay”, and then…they see someone, they think about dating them, they think about marrying them…back to the slippery slope. One is deep in a pit of depression, and they want hope. God says “in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” They say “okay”, and then…they go back to thinking that they are entitled to happiness, to the American Dream, to what everyone told them that they needed.

…And we wonder why we can’t see that God is faithful in every circumstance. We are not holding up our end of the deal. God told us what to do. Our job is to listen and do. We simply ignore.

But here, my friends, is how God is faithful:

Isaiah 30:18 – “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”

Even though we don’t listen, the Lord waits to be gracious to us. He waits patiently to give us the desires of our heart, even though He really wants to. How’s that for faithful. All He asks is for us to wait for Him.

The bottom line: I believe that we are called to train our thoughts to be counter-cultural. Then, and only then, will we understand exactly how God is faithful in every circumstance. At that point, “God is faithful” will become more than just a reminder to ourselves to help us get through the day…it will become fact to us, a fact that we can support with our lives. Society has made God into a genie of sorts, when, as Christians, we understand that our faith is a relationship, not a magic lamp. There’s give and take. There are things we have to do. And nothing good has ever come from thinking we are entitled to certain things, especially when Scripture tells us that we are deserving of nothing. God is counter-culturally faithful…He is not a genie indebted to us, He is not a dog trailing behind us, but He is the Lord, dictating every whim of the universe. He is outside time and culture, and yet completely in it.

I believe the only answer to this is for us to be, in our human state, counter-culturally faithful as well. Wait on the Lord, as He waits upon us. And I think that this transformation of viewpoint might just show us the thing that we never thought we would actually experience:

God being faithful in every circumstance.

-CFG

I was looking through my notes that I took in Isaiah, trying to see where to move next. And instead of an exegetical approach to the text, I want to share with you what an extremely wise friend of mine said to me, how I applied it, and how Damascus apparently didn’t.

Isaiah 17:10,11 states –
“For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger, though you make them grow on the day that you plan them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.”

Context: This section of Isaiah is the group of oracles allotted for specific cities. Spanning from chapter 14, verse 24, to chapter 24, Isaiah communicates prophecies for these cities and, for the most part, their destruction. Super pleasant, I know. This chapter, 17, is all about the city of Damascus and one part (those two verses above) stood out to me. When one reads the chapter, you realize that Damascus is going to be destroyed completely and swifting…after nightfall and before the morning (v. 14)…it will not be a city, but merely ruins (v. 1)…only a few will remain (v.6)…and they will look to God from their desolation (v. 7-9). The verses I quoted (10,11) stood out to me because of the lessons that Jesus often taught in his ministry around vines, branches, planting, sowing…I believe that we can draw a parallel from this.

In the conversation I had with my friend the other night, I said, “I realize that I should be dead right now and that my life was spared for some reason, but I find myself asking, ‘Okay, God, what now?’” and I think that all of us ask this question at some point, whether we encounter a near death experience or we just simply realize the gravity of our sin nature. But when we take matters into our own hands and try to build an answer to this question from our own works, we forget what God did in the first place; we disregard His plan. See, when He saved you, He was just kicking that plan into gear; that was only the beginning. And that, my friends, is verse 10: “For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge…”

We sought in Him salvation and refuge and when we got it, we were done. And more often than not, we are oblivious to this, believing that because we were saved, we are subconsciously making efforts to grow and to follow His plan for our lives. Absolutely not! When we carry on with our lives like nothing happened, not only is that an indication of false salvation, but its also an indication of pride. “Yeah, God, I don’t need you to get a job.” or “I can get into MY dream college all by myself” or “I can prepare myself for ministry and get the position that I see for myself.” Nothing about those statements would please God. Sure, you’re being proactive, but in what direction? You’re being proactive to take matters into your own hands.

When did we stop needing God?

I know that for me, I stop needing God at least once a day, without even realizing it. All it takes is a thought of “I have to get this done” or “I have to make a spot on a ministry team” or “I have to serve on leadership next year”, and I am set back into this planning mode, configuring a way for me to achieve all these things that I set out for myself. Sure, God puts passions in our hearts for a reason, for His glory, but He doesn’t put them there so we can figure out how to accomplish them; He puts them there to spur within us a feeling of dependence on Him so that He can show us how He has divinely set up our lives and everything and everyone in them to accomplish it. He’s more creative than we are…wouldn’t we want the more creative plan of action? And we don’t HAVE to be anything or do anything besides what God has set apart for us.

Then, when we come to this reality, we set out to prune and cut off things that we don’t think belong. Wrong again, friends. Do we really know what is right and wrong to get rid of? My friend said something in regards to this: “If we go to cut things off on our own, we will probably cut off the wrong things.”

Let’s look back at the people of Damascus. “…therefore, though you plant pleasant plants…”
We can plant wonderful things in our lives, like friendships, relationships, business endeavors, classes, missions trips…all things that are looked upon as good. Things that are pleasant.
“…and sow the vine branch of a stranger…”
You can help others and cultivate relationships with other people. Those are beautiful things.
“…though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow…”
We can make things happen for us overnight if we put enough work into them. For example, an assignment that we have due the next day. We can work hard and do it in a couple hours and still get an A on it. Or we can hang out with someone for an entire day and already have a friendship built with them. We can hang out with someone everyday and end up dating them.

But this is the result: “…yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.”

Uhh…what? But I thought I was planting good things in my life. I thought I was being efficient. I thought I was accomplishing something. Not when you’ve forgotten God and who it was that put you there in the first place. What a slammer.

And this is so true in my life right now. I realized all of this and ended a relationship. I can make something work, I know I can, but if God’s not in it, then its going to end badly anyways. And so I had to end it. If I spend my time seeking the Lord and the person is put back into my life, then that’s it. But just like it said, I forgot God. I planted a wonderful thing into my life, but I forgot God. And so it ended in grief, in fighting, in tears. This is how it always ends.

But here’s the beginning. Check your life. What are you relying on your own strength to accomplish right now? Stop to remember the Rock of your refuge, the One who saved you and set out your life before it began, and He will establish the things in your life that He wants there.

Psalm 37:4-7, 23-24 says: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!…The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in His way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.”

As long as we refuse to remember the God of our salvation, we are just another stupid group of people. It’s time to turn the tide.

-CFG

I am repeating this over and over.

-CFG

It’s pretty easy when a new semester starts, when people around you are hurting, when it is so very cold outside. Joy seems like a phase that comes and goes too quickly; it becomes momentary, and even then, the moments are so brief, you are barely grasping onto it before it takes off again. It seems that you are being dealt a hand that you don’t know how to handle…and its all because there is a lack of joy.

In the next chapter of Isaiah, chapter 12, consisting of only six verses and the simplest of ideas, we are encouraged to remember that God and His promises hold within them the epitome of joy. Joy is one of those things that we don’t often understand. We hear it from our youth, but we never entirely grasp the concept of what it is to be joyful. The idea of joy is expressed throughout the Bible, but dictionary.com is the first tool we will go to…because it is the source of least importance.

dictionary.com states:

joy: intense and especially ecstatic or exultant happiness; the expression or manifestation of such feeling.

Intense, exultant happiness. My theory is this: true joy is only found in the Lord or things of the Lord. What else should honestly cause us to be exultant?

Off the soap box…Joy is found throughout the Bible:

Nehemiah 8:10b – “…And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Psalm 43:4 - Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 – And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 12 says this:

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

The first time I read completely through the book of Isaiah, I went back and read this chapter a few times. It mentions joy, yes, but it lays out the entire reason for why we find joy in the Lord and His works. Verse by verse…

1- “…for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.”

We do so much to disgust God, honestly. We cause anger to fire up within Him. But His compassion overwhelms the flame of His righteous anger, because even though He is angry, He puts His anger aside to comfort us in our deepest, darkest hurts. That is cause for joy. An intense, exultant happiness.

2- “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

We are completely undeserving of any sort of salvation, but God still sent His son, a human manifestation of Himself, to sacrificially atone for our sins. God, Himself, IS the salvation at the same time that He bestows the gift of salvation upon us. God is also strong enough to handle our hurts and our depravity, so we can trust and not be afraid of an almighty God. That is cause for joy. An intense, exultant happiness.

3- With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

In this, I automatically think of living water. We literally draw living water from the wells of salvation, giving us eternal life and creating within us, a dark and disgusting vessel, a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. That is cause for joy. An intense, exultant happiness.

4- “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.”

Exactly how high and holy is this God? Beyond imagination. We give thanks to Him for all He has done. Through His grace and sovereign plan for us, He has brought us through darkness and conquered death for us. In an Old Testament sense, He had delivered His people countless times from every ailment, every enemy…He more than came through for them. And we can draw near to a God that is to be exalted. That is cause for joy. An intense, exultant happiness.

5- “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously.”

A God of glorious works. That is cause for joy. An intense, exultant happiness.

6- “Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

We are inhabitants of Zion, and the One who redeems us is in our midst. That is cause for joy. An intense, exultant happiness.

Don’t you see? Everything about the nature of God, the person of Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit, is cause for joy. So here’s the big question: Where along the way do we lose our joy?

Tonight, I realized that it is simply a matter of discipline. We write off the deeds of God too easily. We ignore the fact that He is at constant work (and His work is GOOD), and take matters into our own hands. We pour out and pour out of our own spirit, when in reality, apart from God, we have absolutely nothing to offer. We must discipline ourselves to rejoice in every circumstance. Jesus describes the nature of this true, disciplined joy in His ministry on earth and the gospel of John dictates it this way:

John 16:20-22: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Our joy, when disciplined, is Future-Focused. It’s zoomed out and gazing at the bigger picture…big enough to keep in mind the Second Coming of Christ. Why are we looking at the world through a keyhole?

Even in the Old Testament, those who really knew the Lord and knew of His coming salvation, understood that their joy was to be Future-Focused. For example, Habukkuk the prophet ends his book and his prayer with this statement…

Habukkuk 3:17-19: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

When we discipline our joy to be Future-focused, we are conscious of the fact that despite all circumstances, God is still the joy we grasp onto. How can we lose our joy when it is as big as God?

-CFG

This year, I asked for a few things, but my heart has made quite the transformation since last Christmas and I had a hard time thinking of things that I wanted. Why, you ask? Mostly because I don’t need anything, really…I have everything I want, I have everything I need, and I am ultimately content with where I am. Content in the sense that if I had to stop here, I would be fine with that…However, I do have quite the discontent with those who are too content in the present, so they become stagnant. We are being sanctified to God’s end, not our own.

Anyways.

We now move into a widely known portion of Isaiah…chapters 7-11. A large section, I know, but we’re focusing on one significant theme in these chapters…the prophecy of Jesus Christ. People have been quoting this for centuries…Handel with his Messiah, more Christmas cards than anyone can count, Christmas songs of the modern age…everyone remembers these verses as they pertain to the prediction of Jesus’ birth and destiny:

Isaiah 7:14 - “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Isaiah 9:2 - “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who have dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 - “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Isaiah 10:24-27 - “Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: ‘O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”

Isaiah 11:1-5 - “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

Later on, we will look at the person of Christ, but these passages cover the destiny and mission that is set before Him. They all proclaim a reoccurring theme of a man who, when we look at these verses, seems like a guy who would emerge from the womb in armor and with a vengeance. When I sat down and studied this strange image, a few ideas came to mind.

1. Christ came into the world not wearing armor, but in a stable…as humbly as possible. These passages make Him sound like a politician, a militant force, or the like, not a baby. But could it be that He was, in fact, wearing armor? I don’t mean literally, of course; I mean, like what we read in Ephesians 6…”Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” The armor that would be given to us upon the death and resurrection of Christ that atoned…could it be that Jesus was born into and continued to dwell in this armor as long as He was on the earth? We see it when He is beaten and bludgeoned for our transgressions. We see it when He spends 40 days in the wilderness being tempted and tried. He was the full embodiment of God, anyways.

2. When we see this image, how in the world can we remain in a place of desperation? If the might and strength of God can be embodied in an infant, how much more can it be seen and demonstrated in us, with our speech, our movement, our actions? Oh yes, the truth that Jesus was the Son of God and we are merely humans with a deeply rooted sin nature…that does pose a problem, doesn’t it? Wrong. When Christ died for us, He bridged the gap between humans and God Himself by creating a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit within us. This means that people can “see the Lord in you/your actions” (ever had someone say that to you?), that means that the Lord’s might can be demonstrated in us when we rely on Him for strength, endurance, confidence, etc. SO…if the might of God lives in you, why are you still hurting like you are? This is a question I ask myself everyday.

3. All of these great names applied to a baby. Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Everlasting God. Goodness…can you actually wrap your mind around that? I still can’t. When He was born, He was already being worshiped, He was already setting out on this mission. He was given the mission upon birth of reconciliation, of sacrifice, of conquer. This, my friend, is why Jesus sounds like a politician, a militant force, a Counselor, a Prince, Mighty, a GOD…

He is.

We wake up on Christmas morning. A tradition in my house…my sister and I have to wait at the top of the stairs until my mom has everything ready. I’m pretty sure she thinks my sister still believes in Santa. My sister rushes down the stairs…Christmas music is playing. The house is warm and smells like coffee. I have to stop for a moment at the top of the stairs before I can come down because when I descend, I think of the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about the power of God dwelling within an unlikely warrior, sending Him on an unlikely charge towards a cross, and presenting the miracle of an unlikely resurrection, an unlikely rescue for sinful people. It’s unlikely, but its true. And that’s what pushes me to tears. I can be as angry as I want, but the unlikely happened for me, for everyone in my living room, for a world, and not one of us deserved the Gift besides the Gift himself.

And I, an unlikely vessel, became a vessel of the Holy Spirit. Because a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace found Himself as a child to be nearer to me, so that I would draw nearer to Him. An honest, good-seeking politician. A militant force on crusade for my soul.

-CFG

I’m going to break this up into sections and cover some of the most influential verses…also some of the most misunderstood and taken out of context verses. I think its important that if people are going to get verses tattooed on their bodies, share verses, and adopt small pieces of Scripture as their life verses, they need to understand context. “Jesus wept” doesn’t mean that he was emo, after all.

We begin our journey in Isaiah 6. (P.S. I will, 9.5 times out of 10, use the ESV. Just so I don’t have to keep attributing quotes to any particular version.)

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wing: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

-Isaiah 6:1-8

This passage begins with a vision that Isaiah saw. Now…seraphim with six wings and thresholds can get confusing, but most simply, in this vision, Isaiah saw the absolute glory of the Lord; his eyes were opened to the temple as a whole. Jesus talks about this particular prophecy being fulfilled in the end of John chapter 12. He quotes Isaiah 6:10, which is God’s dialogue with Isaiah post-vision, and then says to the people around him that Isaiah said these things because he saw the glory of the Lord and spoke of Jesus Himself.

Wouldn’t your response to actually seeing the glory of the Lord be that you are lost and unclean?! This is how Isaiah responds. “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips…”

So often, we walk through life and we see snippets of God’s glory throughout our days, but we remain oblivious and unchanged. Shouldn’t we be reacting how Isaiah reacted to these moments? In my personal opinion, I think we’ve sunk into a pattern of comfort, saying, “Oh, Jesus saved me from my sins. So when I do sin, when I am in the wrong, it’s fine because it is already paid for.”

NO. To live in sin is dangerous. Your sin is paid for, yes, but you can still dwell in a pattern of sin and death even once you are saved. To think that you can do whatever you want once you’re saved is the biggest mistake that Christians make. “I am saved, so I can drink too much. Even if I have a hangover in the morning, I’m already forgiven for it.” or “I am saved, so if I lie to someone, God will forgive me for it and everything will be perfectly fine.”

No! Sin puts divisions between you and God, even once you are saved. You will still crave His presence, you will still long for God, but you and God will be divided. Isaiah knew the Lord, which is why God used him in such a profound way, but in the presence of such greatness, we should be reminded that we are still not good enough to be immune to the correction and reproof of God’s glory, just like Isaiah was.

When Isaiah admits his fault and is humbled, the seraphim comes to him, cleanses his lips with a burning coal, and says that his sin is atoned for. The coal can mean a couple things. It can symbolize the actual atonement and cleansing that Isaiah undergoes, but as I look into the context, I realize that it is much more. Yes, the coal cleanses and takes away his sin, but in preparation for something more than just righteousness. This is the gift of prophecy and teaching being given to Isaiah. This is the moment that prepares Isaiah for what he is about to share…the prophecies about the coming Messiah, both as sacrificial lamb and as eternal ruler. Why do people focus so much on the verse that follows this moment? It is so pivotal.

When he receives this vision, the revelation of the glory of God, and then the gift of prophecy, Isaiah is prepared to answer the question that follows. The voice of the Lord says to Isaiah, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?”

Isaiah says, “Here am I! Send me.” There is no hesitation. There is no “well, God…let me really think about who You can send and I’ll let You know in a couple days.” It doesn’t say, “Isaiah then sat down and pondered this for a while.” He just witnessed the glory of God and then God bestowed upon him the confidence to speak and proclaim the words He gives. Why would he stop and hesitate in this moment? Why would you?

And yet, we do. All the time, God blatantly places in front of us the call to go, the call to move. It’s something that we receive when the Holy Spirit dwells within us. However, too many people look for a sign or look for absolute assurance “from the Lord”, when these signs and wonders are most likely God shouting at us to “move already!” When the Holy Spirit has residency in your heart, your decisions, your thoughts, everything about you is ready to walk in the will of God, so why hesitate? If you are walking in obedience, then your decisions are Spirit-led! Are you trusting that God is guiding your steps? Then you should have no problem making a move. Are you confident in the Holy Spirit interceding on your behalf? Then stop waiting for everything to be spelled out for you. If you are in the will, then the Spirit will move through you without you waiting for an obvious answer.

You see…at Christmas, we celebrate the birth of our Savior. This Savior came and died for you; He was the coal placed upon your lips. So move. You are atoned for. Repent and walk in the will of God.

-CFG

True Love does not “date” by modern society’s standards. True Love wants a marriage. A bridegroom to His bride. True Love seeks a relationship of deep intimacy, not a relation of sexual promiscuity. True Love cares for you beyond your ability to understand and loves you more than you can fathom or mimic. True Love would endure all of the hardship the world offers and die a humiliating death for the world to see…and already did. True Love wants to spend the rest of Eternity with you, not just the rest of His life (even though He endures eternally). True Love has the most fun, the most tears, the most anger with you…True Love experiences it all right besides you and then pulls you through. True Love doesn’t need you, but He wants you, every bit of you. True Love doesn’t apologize because He doesn’t mess up. True Love is perfect beyond measure and doesn’t sin against you. True Love doesn’t make empty promises; His promises are fulfilled.

So the next time you go out searching for true love, find it in a Creator, not the created. A Creator will understand when the created doesn’t. A Creator will love when the created doesn’t. A Creator will create everlasting fruit while the created bear fruit that dies on the vine. Be a generation that seeks first the Love that is true. In His will, not his diamond ring, is your future. In His arms, not his bed, is your desire. In His love, not his paycheck, is your hope.

Stop seeking a husband and seek a Bridegroom.

-CFG

Any place or point of entering or beginning, the entrance to a house or building, the sill of a doorway.

So…let’s think about this. You’re walking up to a house for a long time. It’s got a nice, lengthy driveway, but you can see, hear, smell, imagine this house in the distance. At times, you feel like you’re very close, but at times, the time it takes to walk up to the house can be tedious and frustrating…there’s most likely a shifty rut in the driveway or gravel in parts (I’m wearing my flip flops that have holes in the heels and they’re worn deathly thin, so this is particularly painful). But then you’re on the front porch…the front door is open, you feel the warmth within. You see the light inside, you hear your friends laughing. And that metal piece that usually sits in the doorway (this is the threshold). You look down, see it, make sure you don’t trip over it because you have a tendency to be clumsy when entering new situations…or anytime for that matter. You step over it entirely to make sure that you don’t trip or get caught on it, and suddenly, you’re stepping into the house, the party, the celebration. Friends greet you with bright smiling faces, someone you love dearly has their arms around your neck in an embrace. You’re at ease. Breathe in, release. Relax.

This is how crossing this threshold felt.

I can’t remember clearly what it was like outside of the house. All I know is I’m getting my party on. And it’s crucial. Part of my experience in this happy, heavenly party included today, when I finished the book of 1 Corinthians and then read the book of Hosea. Now everyone knows 1 Corinthians… “Isn’t that the one with ‘Love is patient, love is kind’?” YES. Give it a rest. Everyone knows. Did you know that this book also unpacks spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of prophesy, speaking in tongues, the intimacy found in singleness, the principles of successful church ministry? Yeah…I didn’t think so. Anyways, I discovered a really great verse in Chapter 15 that I wanted to share with you. And it ties into our food for thought that the Lord has laid on my heart. It’s funny how He does that, huh?

1 Corinthians 15: 51-52: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

We shall all be changed. And how are we changed, you ask? God’s incomprehensible gift of Grace. I’m not trying to unpack Calvinism for you and argue the idea of Irresistible Grace…God is irresistible because He’s beautiful and wonderful and perfect and we have an innate desire to seek Him and be with Him, but I’m talking about…Amazing Grace. The all-encompassing love and magnificence that makes up the God we serve. He has every right to destroy us for the things we do…how we blaspheme His name day in and day out, how we sin constantly, how we disregard His righteousness and His sovereignty. But instead He shows us love and hope and gives us comfort and ultimately…grace.

The book of Hosea is an interesting one. It starts out with God telling Hosea to “take a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom”, to marry a prostitute and have unholy descendants. This is used as an illustration of the relationship between God and Israel. God, as the bridegroom, took Israel, an unfaithful whore of a wife, as His own. So he takes a wife of whoredom, has children of whoredom, and then in chapters 2 (starting in verse 14) and 3, he redeems the relationship and re-establishes the covenant of their marriage. It’s pretty cool. However, the book of Hosea is 14 chapters long…what happens in the rest of the story?

Well, Hosea spends the last eleven chapters unpacking this parable for us, describing the transgressions committed against the Lord. What’s sad is that we commit the same sins today, but then…God’s grace is clearly displayed near the end of this book. We get to Chapter 11 and all of a sudden, amidst all of our ridiculousness and iniquity, God is there, showing us love, like He always is. Here’s Chapter 11:

1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more they were called,
the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and burning offerings to idols.

3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up by their arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of kindness,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.

5 They shall not return to the land of Egypt,
but Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword shall rage against their cities,
consume the bars of their gates,
and devour them because of their own counsels.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me,
and though they call out to the Most High,
he shall not raise them up at all.

8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.

What do we get from this? God’s overflowing compassion…His grace covering everything we’ve done. He’s basically saying, “Look. As a child, I loved you and took care of you, but the more I called to you, the more you walked away from me. Don’t you realize that I was the one that taught you to walk, picked you up when you fell, led you in my way, fed you…I took care of you in every way. And you will endure great hardship because of it, yet you are steadfast in your constant turning away from my face, and so even though you call out to me, I will not raise you up. But how can I give you up?! You are mine. I love you. I will not show you my anger, but my mercy. I will hold back my wrath because you are mine.” Despite everything we do, His grace continues to pour out and cover us. And even more so when Jesus died on the cross, covering us with His blood, the liquid, physical display of His grace.

So today, I want to challenge you. When you think that God cannot do something for you, when you think that He cannot save you or provide or heal, will you remember that He withheld His wrath from you and endured it Himself? His wrath is beyond anything we can comprehend the pain and sight of, and we are more than deserving of it. Think about the things that go through your head everyday. I know the things that go through my head, and 85% of the time, I am completely ashamed of them. We deserve for His wrath to be exacted upon us. But He said that He cannot give us up, He cannot let us go, He cannot put us through that because of the incredible love He feels for us.

And in that moment, Grace poured out and onto you and I.

-CFG

But what I need to express to you is that faith is priceless, and yet it is crucial to our existence. Even if we didn’t believe in God, we, as human beings, would need to have faith in something. Some have faith in their friends. Some have faith in substances. Some have faith in the security of a job or situation. I have faith in a God that sustains and protects and loves. You see…I was trying to put my faith in everything but God because I didn’t feel like He was rescuing or sustaining me. It was scary. It’s dangerous. Who has wandered away from the Lord and paid disastrous consequences?

The whole room is filled with raised hands.

On Wednesday night, I sought the Lord in church. I said, “Okay, God. I’m ready for a breakdown. Let’s do it.” And then…I didn’t break. He threw nothing in my path that would break me, in fact. So I reluctantly came to the conclusion that God needed me to push through a bit longer…which is horrible. I was drawing close to the end of my rope, watching threads unravel under the weight of my heavy heart. I came back to the dorm and tried to rest, tried to settle my heart, but it was squirming under the pressure, about to burst, to spontaneously combust in the heat of the moment. A friend of mine noticed my struggle and attempted to reach me, giving me Scripture and trying her best to give me hope. Right before I went to sleep, she gave me a card with two specific verses on it:

1st side: Isaiah 33:6 – “And he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.”

2nd side: 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 – “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me, but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

She then told me that when I woke up in the morning and couldn’t motivate myself to get out of bed, I was to read these verses out loud and believe them. So the next morning, I tried it. I felt the lack of motivation coming on, so I reached inside of my pillowcase, scrounging around for the little notecard. I found it and focused my eyes in the dark, and read them out loud. Then I got up. I proceeded to attend my 7:40 AM class, which just so happens to be Old Testament Survey. It was more boring than normal, mostly because we were talking about Chronicles 1 and 2. In my boredom, I felt compelled to spend some time in the Word. And in my bitterness, I shunned the Old Testament, and skipped straight to the New…where I stumbled upon an unfamiliar book called the Book of Hebrews.

I began to discover a crazy explanation of faith and its great importance, especially how it applied to my current situation and there it was…the encouragement I was searching for, the refill of the Holy Spirit that I needed, my cup, not just a sip, of Living Water. I underlined like a fiend, wanting to remember all of the incredible things my eyes were being opened to. And I was encouraged and worshipful in that moment.

Little did I know, in that moment, God was also preparing me to reach out in a way I could have never done on my own.

That night, a friend of mine needed some help working through some tough stuff. I had prayed before I left because I wanted to serve her in the best way I could and I wanted God to use me as a help when she needed it…and I didn’t quite know how to do it on my own. And suddenly, even though the day started off well, we were thrown back into a pattern of ultimate hopelessness, crying at the drop of a hat…it was a full-out mess. And then God gave me the words to say. I started to tell her that her situation needed to be surrender to the Lord’s will and that the Lord would be faithful to her through that and that translated into me paraphrasing the story of Abraham. Let me go ahead and give you the same spiel…

Abraham was a true believer in God. Always faithful, always obedient. God made a covenant with Abraham (before his name was Abraham…ha) that He would, from Abraham’s line, make a great nation as numerous as the stars. However, year 99 rolls around for Abraham and he STILL doesn’t have a son from his wife, Sarah (there was a little screw-up situation with Hagar, but that’s beside the point), even though God promised him a son. Finally, when Abraham is 100, Sarah gives birth to a son named Isaac, and you can imagine that he is so pumped to finally have this son. I picture Abraham wanting to coach Little League, go fishing, all the father and son stuff, but then God says “well, I’m going to need you to sacrifice Isaac to me on an altar on top of a mountain.” Abraham’s trust in the Lord never wavered, and so he knew that God would glorify Himself through the situation and through obedience, God would exalt Abraham. Therefore, one morning, he packs up Isaac and the necessary materials and climbs to the top of a mountain. When Abraham places Isaac on the altar, and then as his hand is raised to strike the killing blow, an angel of the Lord grabbed his hand and then because of his obedience to God, He provided a ram for the sacrifice.

My point in this was God gives and takes away. We are called to be obedient and when God calls us to give something up, He expects us to give it up and entrust it to His care. By doing this, we allow God to be glorified in the situation and He, in turn, blesses and exalts us…James 4:10 says “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (ESV)

My friend was, to say the least, as stunned as I was that words of wisdom came from my mouth. We continued to talk about the importance of sacrifice (not in an Old Testament sense, but in a New Testament humbling sense), and I found myself pulling out my ESV to share those verses from Hebrews that I underlined earlier that day. Hebrews, chapter 10, says this:

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries…It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised…But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (10:22-27, 31-36, 39)

And Hebrews 12 says:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God…It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?…For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we might share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your dropping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord…Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (12:1-2, 7, 10-14, 28-29)

Tears began to fall. And we prayed. And then my friend made the suggestion: “I think we should climb a real mountain.”

The following afternoon, after we finished classes, we bundled up and headed to Sharp Top, which is about an hour from Liberty, a mountain in the Peaks of Otter. I packed my backpack with our bibles, an extra sweatshirt, water, Gatorade, and snacks. The trail that you follow to the summit (which is about 4,000 feet above sea level) is steep and rocky…not ideal for someone who rarely exercises…and it’s 1.5 miles long. We stopped every ten minutes to pray and, honestly, I was praying constantly in my head that I wouldn’t keel over and DIE. About an hour and a half later, we reached the summit. When you walk as far as you can go on the summit without falling off, you run right into a large, rectangular rock that, I swear, looks exactly like what a primitive altar would look like. God knew we would be there.

My friend and I wrote a song and then we prayed and she surrendered will and control over the situation while sitting on top of that rock. The Spirit was so present…you could feel it in the air all around you. It was beautiful.

Then…we realized that it was going to start getting dark soon.

We started heading down the mountain as fast as we could with the little light that was still able to make it through the trees in constant prayer and worship. I think we sang every hymn and worship song I have memorized that night. Until this moment, I had never realized how quickly the darkness falls over the earth, and as the darkness fell upon us, so did fear. So we continued to seek the Lord. It came down to me leading the way, shouting out the next obstacle, straining my eyes into the darkness. When it started getting too dark to see, I pulled out my cellphone which was completely charged before I turned it off, but now…it was almost dead. Empty battery symbol, blinking at me, teasing me.

I tried to use the half power from it to light my path, but it didn’t really work. So…I made the smartest decision I could…and that was to call 911 for the first time in my life. I explained that we weren’t going to make it to the bottom before it was too dark to get down, both of us had already fallen and almost hurt ourselves, and we needed a ranger or someone of law enforcement magnitude to meet us on the mountain. We had managed to stay on the trail (by the grace of God). The dispatcher told me that he would call me back when he found someone. I told him that my battery was almost dead. He told me that he would hurry.

We stop and pray that we can make it, that someone will come for us, that we could stay safe. I picked my phone up again, and you will never believe…my phone had gained a third of a battery. Praise the Lord.

The dispatcher called me back and informed me that it would take longer than expected because there were no rangers or game warden in the area that night. They had to find an available cop from the surrounding towns to come for us. This was discouraging, but in this same phone call, I told the dispatcher about the battery coming back into my phone. I told him that we were praying and worshipping, and suddenly battery came back, and there was silence on the other end before he said softly, “That’s insane.”

We tried to continue walking, but it had started raining. Rocks + leaves + rain = BAD COMBINATION. My friend walked without the light for a while, relying on the Lord to guide her steps. And He did. She didn’t fall once, and we were enduring one of the hardest moments of the trail. After a while, we received another phone call from the dispatcher. He said that they found someone, but it was going to take a while. We were hearing coyotes and other forest creatures and it was getting really late, so obviously we were filled with fear, but on top of that, God was layering His peace. We never ceased praying and singing.

We felt ourselves getting off the trail, so we sat on a rock and decided to stay still, which didn’t help our fears much. See…I’m a very inward person when it comes to fear and nervousness. I like to internalize it so I can deal with it more directly. My friend…is not. She’s sitting next to me, sobbing uncontrollably. We have been praying, but we decide to seek others to pray for us. She is able to call her mom from my phone, which was probably a bad idea. It worried her mom to death. And I tried to send text messages to various people, asking them simply to pray…but for some reason, despite the full service I had, it wasn’t sending. In that moment, my friend and I became very aware of the reality of spiritual warfare and began to pray for protection from Satan, because it says that where two or more are gathered, the Lord is there. Satan was trying to keep prayers from reaching God. However, God won the battle again, and the texts sent.

Two feet in front of us, there was a cliff dropping off the mountain. Behind us, a massive rock. We were the definition of being between a rock and a hard place. Finally, after sitting in that same place for about an hour and a half, we received a phone call that the cop was on the trail. I told them to yell my name when they shine the flashlight because I’m not likely to answer to just anyone. I mean, we were in perfect position to be attacked…we were the only car in the parking lot at the bottom of the trail, so anyone would know that someone is up there. We were two college age girls with no means of protection, an almost dead cellphone, freezing, fearful…were it not for the hand of protection that God placed over us, we were easy targets. Not to mention, we’re in the middle of the forest. It’s pitch black around us.

Finally, I saw the flashlight and heard my name. And there he was. On the way down, we were able to witness to the cop as well because he asked questions about what happened on the mountain.

**Epilogue: It has taken me a long time to write this post. I think that is because of a few things. I could sit here and make a list of everything that it means. But there is one important thing…

Our battle to believe, to have faith, to rest in the Lord, it never ends. Nobody told you it was going to be easy. It’s hard, but God is, more than anything else, faithful. His will is the priority. It’s not God’s will to make your life easy. It IS God’s will to sanctify you, which means that by process you are becoming more like Jesus and the way He lived was NOT easy. So get up. I said GET UP. Fight everyday because what we believe in is worth fighting for, it’s worth every ounce of sweat, blood, and tears you will leave on that battlefield when your days are up on this earth. If you can’t fight, get on your knees and pray to God that He will fill you with His strength. We’re worthless…we’re not supposed to fight this war in our own strength. The minute the Holy Spirit comes into your heart…you walk onto a battlefield. I haven’t been fighting like I should, I haven’t been seeking His strength and power like I should, I haven’t been the person I should be. My question for myself and for you at the end of this crazy rant…

When you were called to battle, did you answer or did you put it off? ARE YOU FIGHTING? If you’re still breathing, it’s not too late to pick up the sword of His word, the shield of His strength, the spear of His salvation.

My friend. It’s time to rise up in faith. He’s ready to meet you on your mountain and show you what real faith is.

-CFG

So, through some blog community connections, I got my hands on an advance copy of “Jesus Loves You, This I Know”, the latest book by Craig Gross, founder of XXXChurch.com and the Strip Church located in Las Vegas right on (you guessed it) the Strip. I urge you, if you do not know about Craig’s ministries, to please look them up and see what he’s all about. His co-writer, Jason Harper, a resident of California, is also a Christian philanthropist, advocating for improved health care and education for inner-city kids. More important than any of their credentials is the fact that they are sold out for Jesus and everything He’s taught us, and therefore, they decided to write a book on a simple concept, “Jesus Loves You, This I Know.”

Now…after reading this book, I’ve realized that there is more than just words and a cute little tune to that Sunday School song we all know. This book is dedicated to unpacking many of the beautiful facets and glorious quirks of God’s all-encompassing love, with chapters titled “Jesus Loves The Forgotten”, “Jesus Loves The Crook”, “Jesus Loves The Glutton”, and as I would expect from Craig, “Jesus Loves The Porn Star”. Now…I’ve decided to unpack my feelings and thoughts about each chapter in separate blog posts, so if you want to read about those (or read along with them!) and you’re reading this review from another site, you can find my blog at http://hannahismakingmestartablog.wordpress.com .

For now, I want to express to you the impact this book is going to have. It’s simple, really. But, as Christians, and more importantly, as members of the human race, we often forget that we are just like everyone else; just as prone to falling and losing touch with what’s right or wrong as anyone else on the planet. This book is a great reminder that not one person on this planet is exempt from God’s love for us. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV)…THE WORLD. Not the Christians. Not the brunettes. Not the indie kids. Not the pastors. The whole, entire, fallen and forgotten WORLD. Too often we find ourselves in a bubble that closes our world into a 50 mile radius around us. That may be thousands, millions of people, yes. But this book challenges you to remember God’s love as a love that fills and surrounds everything. There are even challenges to remember that God’s love has taken up residence in yourself as well.

This is a book for all ages, easy enough for a child, on track with adults. Craig and Jason didn’t raid dictionary.com to find superfluous words to include in their book…they got back to the basics. They brought God’s love to a level that anyone and everyone can understand. I commend them on a job well done. This will be a book to hand to a friend that might not know Christ. It tears apart what scares people away from the church, what hypocrisy does to our mission as evangelical followers of Christ, and makes us aware of how we’re conveying the message of salvation. All of these ideas, I will dig into in the coming weeks, but as for right now…“Jesus Loves You, This I Know” comes out on September 1st. Pick up a copy. If you’re really proactive, pre-order a copy. We need to get back to the bare truth of God’s compassion…and I think this book is going to help.

Here is the link to order it from Amazon:

Order Now

Also. If you get a chance, please take some time to pray for Craig and Jason’s ministry through this book. They are doing wonderful things and I think God will really move through this book.

-CFG