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

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, July 17, 2023

Isaiah 33:10   “Now will I arise,” says the LORD. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up.”

Humility.

It is the exact opposite of what the world teaches. Since we were born, we have been bombarded with the message that we must excel. We must do everything in our power to become the best that we can be. We must win at all cost. We must get our own way in everything. We strive with all our might to exceed the popularity, power, and position of everyone close to us. We believe that the true measure of our worth is in the value of our possessions.

Pastor Leith Anderson, in a sermon he preached in 1999 called “The Height of Humility,” told this story:

“It was a strange bicycle race. According to the story I read, the object of this race in India was to go the shortest distance possible within a specified time. At the start of the race, everyone cued up at the line. When the gun sounded all the bicycles, as best they could, stayed put. Racers were disqualified if they tipped over or one of their feet touched the ground. And so they would inch forward just enough to keep the bike balanced. When the time was up and another gun sounded, the person who had gone the farthest was the loser and the person closest to the starting line was the winner.

“Imagine getting into that race and not understanding how the race works. When the race starts, you pedal as hard and fast as you possibly can. You’re out of breath. You’re sweating. You’re delighted because the other racers are back there at the starting line. You’re going to break the record. You think, This is fantastic. Don’t let up. Push harder and faster and longer and stronger.

“At last you hear the gun that ends the race, and you are delighted because you are unquestionably the winner. Except you are unquestionably the loser because you misunderstood how the race is run.

“Jesus gives us the rules to the eternal race of life. The finish line is painted on the other side of our deaths, right in front of the throne of God himself. There you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. The winning strategy for this life and for all eternity is caring about others and not about ourselves. It is letting others go first and not pushing to the front. It is giving without the expectation of getting in return. It is to be humble, like Jesus.”

Twice I had this illustrated to me in the lives of two men from our church. Both examples involved their work and their responsibilities as managers. Both had to do with am upcoming Super Bowl game years ago in which the Green Bay Packers were playing. Both men are in management in their respective places of business. Both told similar stories of personal greed that will require them to show Godly humility.

In both stories, an employee was scheduled to work the closing shift on Sunday night, meaning that they would have to miss the big game. In the first instance, after unsuccessfully trying to find someone to take her place on her shift, the employee sent a text message to her boss simply stating that she quit. She made a decision that the game and being with her friends was more important than her job and financial security. She will regret that. If not now, then most certainly later when this kind of selfish behavior brings her to rock bottom. Her decision is most likely going to result in her boss, also a huge Packer fan, having to work and miss the game.

The second story is similar. The employee didn’t quit but made life so miserable for everyone around her by her whining and complaining that she deserved to be fired. Instead, her boss and huge Packer fan, and a Christian, stepped up to the plate and volunteered to work for her. He said he wanted to be the bigger person. I told him he was being the Christ-like person.

Scripture is clear that God will arise and be exalted, and bring us with Him, when we renounce self and trust Him to be our Provider and Protector. It’s not what we learn from the world, but it is what results in ultimate glory – for Jesus and for us. Remember His words? “The first will be last, and the last will be first. Anyone who loses his life for My sake will find it, but whoever strives to keep his life will lose it.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, July 14, 2023

Have you ever felt like even when you try to do right you can’t get past the consequences of your past? Frustrating, isn’t it? Our past has a way of catching up with us, and when it does it usually overpowers us.

That was the story of the nation of Assyria. They were a treacherous nation that was despised by the other nations of the world. They not only conquered lands, but terrorized people. They were brutal in their tactics. But it was going to catch up to them. The day would come when Assyria would try to relax and enjoy the fruit of their conquering, but what they had done to others would be returned unto them no matter how much they announced that their terrorist days were done.

Isaiah is praying that the day would come when the attacks would stop and be reversed. He knows that because of their sin the nation of Israel has deserved the punishment that has been inflicted upon them by the Assyrians. He also knows that their past will overwhelm them and that they have no power to stop it. So he cries out to the LORD YHWH and says, “be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.” (Isaiah 33:2)

One quick point before we move on – when your past catches up with you, humble yourself and cry out to God. You cannot stop the consequences of your sin. Only Jesus can. His mercy and grace are the only thing that can give you victory over the past. He is your strength and salvation in time of distress.

Isaiah asks for grace from the Lord in a model of prayer for us all when we are in need. He begins to proclaim the promises of God and declare the Lord’s attributes. In faith he announces what will happen because of who he knows God to be. This is what Isaiah said, and can be a model to us all as we pray and declare the glory of the Lord:

• There is no one greater than the Lord – “At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.: (verse 3)
• The Lord will restore us and bless us – “Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts men pounce on it.” (verse 4)
• The Lord will be exalted in the land and bring peace – “The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.” (verse 5)
• The Lord is faithful and can be trusted – “He will be the sure foundation for your times,” (verse 6a)
• The Lord will provided everything we need – “a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;” (verse 6b)

Then Isaiah says one more thing. He gives us the key to victory over our past and the blessings of the future. He says, “the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.” The fear of the Lord can easily be defined this way:

 Father Exalted And Revered.

That leads us to these questions –

• “In my life, is the Father exalted and revered?”
• “Do I believe that I can deliver myself?”
•  “Am I expecting God to deliver me from my past and my sin based on my own merit or on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross?”
• “Do I expect God to bless me and believe I deserve it, or do I fear God and trust Him with every part of my life regardless of the blessings promised, just because He is worthy?”

“O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Destructive storms in America.

Civil unrest in France.  

Mass shootings.

Woke politics.

Need I go on? All around us things are anything but normal. Peace of mind is a past tense experience for many. Worry is building. Fear is replacing faith.

Life has been good for a long time for most of us in America. There have been ups and downs and some financial and political storms, but we have always weathered them. We have been trained by history to believe that this too shall pass. So, we tighten our belts for a time, make some adjustments to our lifestyle, and plan for the day when it’s over and we can get back to living the way we dream to live.

Well guess what? One of these days the storm won’t pass. Listen – I’m not trying to ruin your day or be the gloom and doom man, but the truth is that God’s Word says there is a time coming when the storm will not pass.

Isaiah 32:10   “In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come.”

These preliminary storms are not supposed to strengthen our resolve to survive and get back everything we may have lost. They are to get our attention and turn our hearts towards God so that we learn to trust Him and experience His peace no matter what the storm may bring.

Listen to the Word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah as He speaks to people who had become complacent about their faith and dependent upon their culture for their value and purpose. (Men, pay attention – this applies to us as well even though it’s addressed to women)

“You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say! In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come. Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your clothes, put sackcloth around your waists.The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, (my emphasis) and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, (my emphasis) sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”

There is only one reason that the storms of life, whether in nature or in your personal life, continue to rage – we are not seeking God with all our heart. We are more in love with the world than we are with God. We are more in love with ourselves than we are with God. We do not love Jesus with all our heart because we reserve sections of it for the pleasures of the world. We do not love God with all our mind because we allow the lust of the flesh to captivate our thinking. We do not love God with all our soul because we still seek to satisfy our need for acceptance and value with the approval of people. We do not love God with all our strength because we so easily give in to the temptations of sin. And as a result, there are storms.

My friends, the storms will continue to come because the power of sin will continue to dominate the world and keep them from turning to Jesus. But those storms must not turn our hearts from the love of God. In fact, in the life of one who truly loves God, the storms draw us closer, and we experience more grace and more peace. May the storms today, whatever they are wherever you are, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Every storm is God’s megaphone through which He is shouting, “May I have your attention?”

Pastor John