LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 3, 2025

We all have different ideas of how things should get done. Not one of us has a corner on the solutions market. The process market is up for grabs as well. Our experience has taught us some lessons we can pass along, but anything we have learned from experience is confined to the scope of our experiences, and that scope is limited.

When committees or teams are formed to initiate programs they can be either productive or problematic, depending on the attitudes of those involved. It only takes one person in a meeting who believes that their solution is the only solution to cause a major problem. The assumption that their experience exceeds the experience of anyone else, and that their wisdom demands recognition puts them near the top of the arrogance scale.

One key element of truth that is ignored by such prideful people is that there is only One who has complete knowledge, experience, and wisdom – Almighty God. And whether we agree with His methods or not, He is in control and He is getting it done.

Let’s put ourselves in Isaiah’s time for a moment. God is revealing to him and to the nation of Israel that there is a time of political unrest coming. Babylon will invade and the people will be taken captive. I’m sure as they heard this news that their minds were spinning with possible solutions. They had been given the one and only solution from God – repent of your sin and submit to God’s control. They didn’t like the crimp that put in their lifestyle choices, so they rejected that possibility and turned to their human wisdom instead.

• Are there political alliances we can form that will protect us?
• Are there resources we can use to buy our way into peace?
• Are there other gods we can worship that will save us?

I wonder what Isaiah was thinking. He may have been considering all sorts of options. Then God gives him His solution. In Isaiah 45:4we read, “For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.”

God will anoint the ruler of Persia, Cyrus, who doesn’t acknowledge God as God, to bring restoration to the people.

WHAT!?!

God is going to use a pagan to accomplish His purpose? What a crazy idea. Why is He on this team anyway? We can come up with better solutions than that, can’t we?

Yes God will do it. No there are no better solutions than God’s.

Not only will God bring about the restoration of His people, but He will show the pagans that He is in control and that He alone is worthy of worship. God is getting it done.

So next time you are in the mindset to demonstrate against the political powers that be or proclaim your dislike for decisions that are being made, stop and evaluate your trust level in God and whether or not you really believe that He is getting it done according to His divine will and eternal purpose. It may not look like the way we would have done it, but we must humbly admit that our way has failed far more than it has succeeded, and God’s way NEVER has.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 2, 2025

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Nehemiah as he leads the people of Jerusalem in the rebuilding of the city walls. It is a story of redemption – from ruins to restoration. It is the story of our lives.

Isaiah prophesied the literal restoration of Jerusalem  some two hundred years before it actually happened.

Isaiah 44:24,26    “I am the LORD, who has made all things,  who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself…who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be built,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’”

Isaiah named King Cyrus by name in chapter 44 verse 28 and again in chapter 45, about 150 years before he actually took office in Persia. Many scholars believe that  Cyrus actually read this prophecy when He was in office and was so moved by it that he chose to fulfill it. We know that it was God who moved Him.

When Isaiah wrote this, Jerusalem had not even fallen captive to Babylon yet, so the people must have thought Isaiah’s prophecy of their flourishing city standing in ruins to be absurd. But God was revealing His plan to Isaiah, and it has implications to our lives today.

First, the things you say to people today on behalf of the Lord are the very words that God will use later in their lives to restore them when they have made a mess of things. It took two hundred years for Isaiah’s words to come true, but at just the right time in God’s plan his words were used to move Cyrus to action. Your words today will either hurt or help others. May what we say be words God can use to move them to action according to His will.

Second, even though everything seems great with your life today, there may be a time coming when it’s not. It may be the consequence of your own choices, or it may be the result of unforeseen circumstances, but either way a time is coming when you will consider your life to be in ruins. When that moment hits, and it will hit hard, remember the word of the Lord. Fill your mind with it right now so you are prepared. God said of your ruins, “I will restore them.”

Third, maybe everything is already in ruins. Trust the God who loves you and sent His son to die for you. He will restore you. Already there is a Cyrus in your life who is the agent of change. God has sent an Ezra and a Nehemiah to facilitate the rebuilding. God does not intend for you to fix your own life by yourself. He has sent you an incredible gift – people who love Him and serve Him – and they are there to help you rebuild and to experience God’s restoration. Let them help you.

“God, we acknowledge that you are LORD, and have made all things. By your mighty power that brought everything out of nothing, you are also able to restore our ruins. Let the rebuilding begin. Amen.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 1, 2025

In the midst of our greatest joys there can be heartbreak. That is how we tend to look at life. But what if we turned that around and so that our first thought was that in the midst of our greatest heartbreaks there can be joy?

I was overwhelmed with that thought as I read from Isaiah 44 and saw these words:

This is what the Lord says – He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you…”

Here’s the whole context.

Isaiah 44:2-3   “This is what the LORD says—he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”

The God who made me will help me, so I do not need to be afraid.

When I am thirsty for relief from the anguish of my trials, God will pour water on me.

When my emotions are drying up because of the heartbreaks of life, God soften my heart again with streams of grace and mercy.

When I tend to worry about the outcome of my offspring, I hear the promise of God that He will pour out His Spirit upon them.

He knows what I need and when I need it. What an awesome God He is.

I can trust Him. I will choose to praise Him.

Pastor John