LifeLink Devotions

Monday, July 31, 2023

As things continue to heat up in our world and people begin to feel more strongly than ever about their position on the issues, my heart continues to remain steadfast on one thing – God is in control…ALWAYS!

People are deeply hurting and being hurt by the politics and politics of our day, but one thing is ALWAYS true – God is in control! His promises NEVER fail. He cannot not fulfill His Word. We tend to forget that in times of stress and hardship. At the first sign of trouble, we quickly move into a massive mode of self-protection, fix-it, and take control. Why do we do that? Why is it so easy for us to start trusting ourselves again rather than trusting God?

In the story of King Hezekiah, we learned how he prayed and how we should pray when the odds are overwhelmingly against us. Now look at the answer God gives through Isaiah. He says, “Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the LORD has spoken against him:” (Isaiah 37:21).God is pleased with Hezekiah’s prayer because it was one of surrender, not selfishness. Hezekiah stretched out the problem before the Lord, indicating that he was releasing control of the outcome to his Lord. As a result, God spoke against the king of Assyria, and God will speak against our issues as well when we surrender them to Him.

In the next few days we will look at some of the specifics of God’s answer to Hezekiah, because there are some incredible truths for us to ponder. But for today, let’s look at the end of this story. Here’s what happens as a result of Hezekiah’s prayer of surrender:

“Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.”

Notice three things from the story that are applicable to our present situation:

• Jesus Christ is involved. The Angel of the Lord is Jesus, and He is personally involved in conquering the enemy that is attacking you.
• The problem will go away. At the hand of God, and by His will, He can remove the problem and He can give you sufficient grace based on your faith in Him to sustain you while the problem remains.
• The problem will be permanently punished. The King of Assyria was murdered by his own sons and he went to his eternal punishment. It may seem like it’s taking a long time, but not one problem will survive the judgment of God.

God is in control! So cast all your cares upon Him. Surrender every issue and problem to Him. The promise of God is that His peace, that surpasses all human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, July 28, 2023

Twelve years ago during the early spring snow melt, the end of my driveway was filled with slush. I took the shovel and went out to remove it. After four or five exertions of my muscles to lift that heavy wet mess and toss it aside I felt a little twinge in my chest. I took a break, and it seemed to be okay, so I finished the job.

When I got into the house I called the doctor and made an appointment. The next day I was having an EKG at his office, and when that turned out normal (if anything about me can ever be considered normal) he scheduled a stress test. A week later I was on a treadmill having my heart function analyzed. I was fine, but that first twinge of pain, which was probably just muscles screaming from inactivity, was a real wakeup call.

When Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, invaded Judah, it was a real wakeup call for the people and for King Hezekiah. He had tried to be a faithful king. He had destroyed all the places of worship in the land that were primarily used by the people to worship idols. He had asked people to focus their worship on the one true God by coming to Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. But the people were rebellious and wanted what they wanted when they wanted it. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

When Sennacherib sent his envoys to Hezekiah with another letter defaming the name of God, it was a wakeup call for the King of Judah. This time he did not seek after the prophet Isaiah to try to re-connect with God. This time he went directly to God. He had been encouraged by Isaiah’s words that the Lord was going to deal with this attack. That encouragement motivated him to begin anew his own relationship with the Lord.

Isaiah 37:15-16  “And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”

When Hezekiah approached God, he did so humbly. He went to the temple and spread his problems out before God. How often do we go to the Lord in a time of distress and ask for help, but we never really release the control of the problem to the Lord? Hezekiah laid everything on the altar and gave it all to Him. He showed great faith and trust in the Lord’s outcome.

Now read Hezekiah’s prayer, and notice the honor and awe he expresses towards God. Our prayers to God for every problem, every issue, and every need should be encapsulated in this kind of praise and worship to Almighty God.

“O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”

Not only should our prayers be bathed in praise and worship, but the ultimate request we make should be for the glory of God to be revealed on the earth. Hezekiah acknowledges his fear over the facts of his circumstances. Sennacherib has already been successful over every other nation that worshiped other false gods. But Hezekiah knows that the will of God is for all men to know Him and connect to Him, so that is the basis of His request.

Friends, we get pretty selfish in our prayers don’t we. We want God to bring us glory. We ask Him to meet our needs or solve our problems according to our projected outcomes that we believe will benefit us the most. But when we pray according to the will of God – that the people who see what God does in our lives will have to acknowledge that He alone is God – then we will be praying correctly.

So, what wakeup calls has God sent into your life recently? Are you responding according to His will and glory or your own?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Recently I had conversations with three different people who don’t believe in God. All three are willing to admit that there may be a God, but that His identity and involvement in the course of human events are both questionable. All three people initiated contact with me. All three are in distress in their lives. All three didn’t know where else to turn.

This was the plight of King Hezekiah. The King of Assyria had laid siege to the land of Judah and was terrorizing them with physical and verbal attacks. Hezekiah knew of God but did not trust in Him nor serve Him. Neither did the people he ruled. But now, in this time of distress and disgrace, he turned to the only place that still offered a glimmer of hope – the prophet of God named Isaiah.

There are two things that are blatantly obvious to me in this story that are still true of people’s life stories today:

• They are under attack, causing stress, leading to distress and even disgrace; and
• They don’t have a personal relationship with the God who can save them.

Notice King Hezekiah’s message to the prophet Isaiah. “It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.” Isaiah 37:4  

Twice the King refers to God, but not personally. He refers to Him as the Lord your God. He knew that Jehovah was Isaiah’s God, but he couldn’t say that was true for himself. Yet when all hope was gone, and Hezekiah came to the realization that there was nothing he could do to solve the problem, he sought God.

People today are in the same situation. Every week churches receive calls from people in distress. They have a financial crisis, or a marriage crisis. They are hurting and want someone to reach out to them and resolve the problem. If only they would understand that Jesus Christ will give them hope even when all the circumstances of life are hopeless. If only they would come to a place of surrender and give their hearts and minds to Jesus. Then they could know that the Lord God is their God, and that He never fails and never forsakes those who love Him and serve Him.

There is one more interesting point in this story. When Hezekiah was at the end of his rope, and needed to contact God, he knew where to go. He knew that there was a man who had a relationship with God and whose life was different because of it. He knew that he could go to Isaiah and get a message to God.

I pray that is always true of me…and you. Even though the people of the world usually just want someone to extend a helping hand or relieve their pain, they know that the people of God are the ones with the compassionate hearts. Or at least they should be. Are we? Are we truly people’s connecting point to God?

Here are some questions to ponder:

• Are we the people who stand out in the world because in the midst of life’s worst problems our faith in God controls our emotional reactions?
• Are we the people who maintain an attitude of hope in the righteousness of God when all the rest of the world is fighting for their rights?
• Are we the people who model to the world the peace of God when all around us people are living in fear?
• When someone finally hits rock bottom, and has nowhere to turn, will they think of us as the place where they can connect to God?
• Does our attitude and reaction to crisis show that the Lord is truly our God?

I see God’s people handling the financial and political crisis of our day in two ways. One makes them look and act a lot like those with no hope. Others have their hearts set on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and their affections and hope are on Him. Those are the true faithful followers of Jesus. Those are the people we can turn to for help and hope. Be one of those people.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Silence is scary – especially for someone so impulsively vocal as I am. But according to an old saying, “Silence is Golden.” The whole saying goes like this – “Speech is silvern, but silence is golden.” In the Bible, the wisdom of King Solomon said that there is a time to speak and a time to be silent. I have the speaking part down well. It doesn’t turn out well many times, but I certainly speak a lot. It’s the silence part that needs a lot of work.

Isaiah 36:21  “ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

King Hezekiah’s representatives were being verbally bashed by the commander of the Assyrian army. They were being told that they had no hope of surviving unless they surrendered. But after the audible assault was over, they remained silent. They were under orders to do so. They obeyed. Hezekiah wanted information. He didn’t want debate. This was a battle that would be won by the Lord’s power not by man’s reason. That’s the lesson I need to learn and apply more frequently in my own life.

There are numerous passages about silence in the Bible. I have narrowed them down to the three areas that I believe, at least for me, are the ones that need the most work.

When verbally attacked, follow the example of Jesus.

• Matthew 26:59-63 “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.   But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward   and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”   Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?”   But Jesus remained silent.”
• Isaiah 53:7  “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.   In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.”

When angry at someone, think a long time before you speak.

• Psalm 4:4  “In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.”
• Proverbs 17:28  “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”

When questioning authority, remember who is really in control and trust Him.

• 1 Peter 3:13-15  “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority,   or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.   For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”

I also need to work on speaking when I prefer to be silent. Sometimes it’s more convenient to not witness about Jesus in a public place for fear of being embarrassed or misunderstood. At times it’s easier not to “Speak the truth in love” because we avoid conflict. But the biggest place of silence in our lives is when we have sinned. We like to cover our sin. We don’t want to open up and be honest about what we have done. We may speak when we have sinned, but it is usually to defend ourselves or to pass the blame onto someone else. Whether we know it or not, this is what is causing the bitterness that permeates our lives. It makes us unpleasant to be around. Look at what the Bible says about this important speech impediment from which most of us suffer.

Psalm 51:1-5  “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.   Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.   When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.   For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah    Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Psalm 30:10-12  “Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.   You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,   that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.”

The church of Jesus Christ would be a whole lot better place if we would learn to speak when we should and be silent at other times. I know I’m going to work on that, and by God’s grace, the Holy Spirit will teach me to control my tongue.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Wedding invitations have changed.  Many people are opting for postcards covered in pictures of the couple in various life experiences. On it is all the necessary information about the wedding.

Invitations come in all shapes and sizes for all kinds of events, and they are designed by the sender to do three things: first, to appeal to your emotions with the design of the invitation; second, to give you the information of the event and the blessings you will receive by attending; and third, by the design of the invitation, to reveal the personality and/or character of the sender.

In the same way, our enemy, who is called Satan, also sends invitations to us. They come in all shapes and sizes, and like junk emails they clog the inbox of our mind all day long. They are very attractive. They are designed to appeal to us and give us exactly the information the sender knows we need to make a spontaneous and emotional decision. But what is different about his invitations when compared to the ones we receive for a wedding is this – Satan’s do not reveal his personality or his character.

Satan is a deceiver, and will use any lie he can to convince you to come to his party. What will appear on the outside to be an opportunity to find pleasure and fulfillment is really an invitation to death and destruction. Ultimately, Satan cannot offer anything else.

One of his most devious invitations is the one that leads us to doubt the character and promises of God. Satan knows that he cannot appeal to Christians with a display of his own character, so his only hope is to diminish our view of the nature and character of God so Satan himself looks better. It’s the same tactic we use when we belittle others to make ourselves look better.

This is demonstrated in today’s portion of the story found in Isaiah 36. The commander of the Assyrian army is sending an invitation to the nation of Israel to not listen to the promises of God but rather to make peace with them and join their powerful and prosperous kingdom. He does three things: he paints a word picture of the blessing they would receive by joining – “Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.”  (verses 16-17)

He also warns them what will happen if they don’t attend – “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?” (verse 12)

But then came the main emphasis of his invitation – he destroys the people’s hope in the Lord. He starts by saying that he is actually doing this by the command of the Lord – “Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.” (verse 11). He proceeds to tell them that they can no longer trust the Lord – “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?” (verse 18)

That’s the same invitation Satan sends us every day when he invites us to be married to the world. He appeals to the pleasures of the world. He convinces us that anything less than that is ugly and will hurt us. He disguises himself as the Lord, so we think we are really obeying, Then, he plants seeds of distrust in us so that we begin to think that God isn’t really meeting all our needs and isn’t even capable of doing so.

Be careful in everything. We are receiving numerous invitations to be married to the world every day. They are lies. Let’s not be people who just say that we love and trust God. Let’s live like we do and really trust Him.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, July 24, 2023

Isaiah 36:7  “And if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar?”

To fully understand the context and the application of today’s devotions, you should read the entire thirty-sixth chapter of Isaiah.

Here’s a quick summary. King Hezekiah is reigning in Judah. The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, has invaded the land and is attacking all the fortified cities. Sennacherib sends his commander with a large army over to Jerusalem. Hezekiah sends a delegation to meet them. The Assyrian commander makes these statements:

• Why are you so confident?
• You claim to have strength, but we see no evidence of it.
• You say you have allies, but they are weak and powerless against us.
• You claim to trust in your God, but you have stopped worshiping Him and have adopted other gods.

It’s this last statement that hits me really hard. Here was the enemy of God, with no faith in the One True God at all, who is attacking God’s chosen people. These are His covenant people, yet they have ignored the covenant and rejected their faith in God alone. For the sake of pleasing the people they live with – wives, children, and friends – they have removed what they thought was an obstacle to survival in the world – their faith in Jehovah God. They believed that they would fit into their culture better if they eliminated the one thing that made all other people angry.

David Wilkerson once said, “What anguish it must bring to the heart of God when He sees that the Bride He was preparing for marriage to His Son has instead been married to the world.”

Please don’t stop reading. The conviction you are feeling is good. It is the Holy Spirit. God is working to purify the Bride of Christ.

We are in huge turmoil in our country because of a massive fiscal crisis. The people that are being affected by the proposals of reducing spending are staging protests. Yet many of those same people continue to live with a belief that they are owed a life of prosperity. They continue to spend thousands of dollars on luxuries for their families while they complain about having to pay their debts and provide for their own health care and retirement. Something is terribly wrong. Our faith has been displaced with entitlement theology. We have become married to the world.

My friends, as followers of Christ, why are we so easily persuaded to make friends with the world and adopt its standards? Why do we continue to see our faith in Jesus Christ as an obstacle to acceptance with the world rather than a means of bringing true life to the world? Why have we chosen to become adulterous in our spiritual lives and have a fling with the world? It is time for us to be recognized by our faith and not our possessions. It is time for us to find pleasure in doing the Lord’s work rather than finding more ways to find pleasure from the world.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, July 21, 2023

Times like these in which we live can easily bring discouragement and get us down. We can become overwhelmed with the details of life to the point of sighing. Imagine how much worse it could get as the Day of the Lord approaches.

Yet our verse for today brings us such assurance and hope.

Isaiah 35:10  “They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

There is a day coming when we who know Christ will enter the house of the Lord with singing. And because of that guaranteed outcome, I can enter my own house every day with singing. I can leave my house every day with joy crowning my head. I can invest in work, recreation, and relationships with gladness.

We can live in that context of joy and gladness because of he promise of God – the ransomed of the Lord will return with singing.

We sing because of the everlasting joy of our salvation.

We are glad because the sufferings of this day are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us when Jesus returns.

We rejoice in the midst of our present sufferings because we know that this too shall pass and there is a day coming when all suffering and sorrow and sadness and sighing will be gone.

So today, we make the choice to let our attitudes be dominated by the promises of God, not the circumstances of the present. Today we will rejoice and enter the day with singing.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Have you ever heard the expression, “Keep your chin up?” I’m sure you have. My need to know things sent me to the internet to find out where that expression originated. According to one site, the first use was in the Pennsylvania newspaper The Evening Democrat, October 1900, under the heading “Epigrams Upon the Health-giving Qualities of Mirth:”

“Keep your chin up. Don’t take your troubles to bed with you – hang them on a chair with your trousers or drop them in a glass of water with your teeth.” 

The unfortunate thing is that I couldn’t find one reference to this idiom that gave any reason why we should be able to keep our chin up, other than the reference to the possible health-giving benefits of mirth. That’s sad. People know the value of a positive attitude but fail to find the real motivation for one.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are in a section of Isaiah that looks ahead to the promised return of the King and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth. Here is our motivation for releasing worry and fear. Here is the encouragement we need to be strong. Jesus is coming to redeem us and to set the world straight. Peace will reign because the Prince of Peace will be on His throne. That’s sufficient for me to keep my chin up.

Read carefully the thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. You will find great encouragement to press on. You will find the hope you need to be determined to finish the race of life strong. You will discover the joy of knowing that Jesus is coming to save you.

Isaiah 35:1-10

“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.  Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.  In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.  The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there.  But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return.  They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness.” The words of this grand old hymn are ringing in my head. How I long for them to be absolutely true of my life. “I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” No matter how sweet and inviting the world looks, it will not last, nor will it satisfy. “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

As I contemplate the real life application of that truth to my life, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit of the additional verses of that song.

“When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.”

No matter how dark the world begins to look around me, and how severe the storms of my life become, I know I stand secure in Christ. Why? Because His Word NEVER fails. His promises are ALWAYS fulfilled. In Christ our hope is secure!

“His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.”

Then the final verse came to my mind. It fixed my eyes where they are supposed to be all the time – on the coming of Jesus to reclaim what is rightfully His. Since I am His, I will be a part of the Lord’s worldwide reclamation project.

“When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.”

It was then that I discovered the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah. It is the beginning of the conclusion of the story for this particular section which describes God’s judgment on man’s sin and rebellion. Isaiah gets our attention in verse one.

Isaiah 34:1    ^“Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!”

He then begins to describe the incredible day of the Lord’s vengeance (verse 8) which culminates in the enemies of God being destroyed and the people of God being restored in a transformed physical world.

As I was reading, a line from verse four jumped off the page at me and reminded me of another song – one that hitchhiked on the previous song still being sung in my spirit. The line is “the clouds be rolled back like a scroll.” As a part of God’s judgment of sin and redemption of the physical world, Isaiah describes the transformations of nature that will take place. As the stars of heaven dissolve, and the sky rolls up like a scroll, I am reminded that there’s nothing in this world that I can stand on, but because I stand on the Rock of Jesus Christ it is well with my soul.

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

“Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.”

“My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”

“And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Do you know what post-celebration depression is? Have you ever experienced it? I watched many people go through it years ago after the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. A week after the victory the heaviness of life returned to their hearts. No matter how great their moment of celebration, it was only temporary, and did nothing – absolutely nothing – to satisfy the longing of our hearts for meaning and purpose. How sad it is for those who put their hope in man and man’s accomplishments.

But there is a victory coming someday that will satisfy every longing of our human hearts. For many of us that victory is already being experienced in our spirit. Others will discover the truth soon, maybe even today. Greg Jennings of the Green Bay Packers testified to it after the big game, when in the midst of the awe of the victory, he looked up and around at all that was happening and declared in front of a worldwide audience, “Glory to God.” As great as that moment was after such a thrilling victory, it was not to be compared with the awe we have for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Look up and around, for the day of the Lord is coming with greater majesty and splendor than any football game could produce. Jesus is coming, and when He does, He will fill the world with the spectacle of His presence. The blessings of His victory will satisfy us for all eternity. There will be eternal celebration, with no post-celebration return to the realities of earthly life.

In our study of Isaiah, in chapter 33, here’s what the Lord says the world will be like after His return. This is what we truly long for with all our hearts:

• Peace and Permanence – verse 20 – “a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.”
• Powerful leadership –verse 21 – “There the LORD will be our Mighty One.”     
• Protection –verse 21 – “It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them.” Broad rivers refers to the borders of the land being uncrossable by any enemy.
• Justice and Righteousness –verse 22 – “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us.”
• Complete trust in God alone – verse 23 – “Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread.”     
• Plenty of provisions for every person’s needs – verse 23 – “Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder.”
• Perfect health and well-being – verse 24 – “No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”;     
• The forgiveness of all sin – verse 24 – “and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.”

Go ahead – celebrate the little victories in life. But don’t let them become more important than the victory that is to come when Jesus returns – a victory you can celebrate every day of your life and one that is eternally more significant.

Pastor John