Isaiah 59:16 – “And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him.”

There are times in our lives when events make the day a very sad day and prove to be a reminder of the times we are living in.   The events of 9/11, Pearl Harbor, various assassinations and murders, etc.  

Many of those events and all the senseless, evil acts transpiring are prolific reminders that evil is evil, no matter when or where it comes from.  Today, there are heart-wrenching reminders of the biblical reality that we are in the last of the last days.  The condition of the human heart has plunged to depths hard to fathom. It is bad.  However, not to be a pessimist or a gloom-and-doom purveyor, it is going to get worse!

Something in Isaiah 59:16 gripped my heart today. “And He saw there was no man, and was ASTONISHED that there was no one to intercede; THEN His own arm brought salvation to Him…”

God was “astonished” that there were no intercessors!  We get so invested and involved in the hate or being hated that we focus on the evil rather than the solution.  We decry the wicked rather than crying out to God for their souls. They hate. They act violently and abominably. We then justify our animosity and anger, thirsting for retribution and revenge. God weeps over the lostness of man.

Yes, the senseless acts of men are horrific, wicked, and demonic, as is the case in every senseless act of violence.   But if we lose sight of the real problem, we will become party to escalating and perpetuating the problem.

I am weeping for the families of the victims of mass murders and acts of terrorism.   The children left behind need our immediate and continued prayers.  I weep for a nation and people who choose to celebrate the death of a voice they disagree with.   I weep over the lack of commitment to intercession by the church.  I refuse to let hate dominate me.  I choose to pray for the souls of people.  I will stand for truth, knowing it could cost me my life, but I will not hate!

My prayer, “LORD, help us to be so moved by the depravity and hate that we become intercessors. Help us to manifest and demonstrate the love of God and refuse to be drawn into hate.”

I am weeping today!  Weeping and crying for repentance, renewal, revival, and restoration.  I do want those guilty held accountable, and at the same time, I pray they repent. I Choose Not to Hate!

LORD, help us to never be those who Astonish You, but be those You delight in!

Isaiah 35:5 – “Then blind eyes will open, deaf ears will hear.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, I was challenged by a thought almost unrelated to what I was reading.  The challenging thought – “Don’t let your blinders blind you to your true purpose.”

My blinders are my blinders, and sometimes the blinders only let me see something, not so I can fix it or right the wrong in my activism, but so I can pray.   If God gives you a blinder and that becomes a commission, then pursue it with your all.  The warning was to me personally not to lose focus on my whole assignment and allow the blinders to distract me from my whole purpose.

Isaiah 48:10 leaped off the page at me.  God’s refining process includes the furnace of affliction.  Our focus and commitment are either destroyed or strengthened in times of trial.  If we are refined in it, we grow stronger.

Isaiah 50:4-5 gripped my heart in a prayer.   Make it so in me, Lord.   Give me the tongue of a disciple so that I can sustain the weary with one word. Awaken my ear to listen, open my ears to hear.

If I listen and hear and out of that have the tongue of a disciple, the blinders won’t blind me.   One word from God changes everything!  A timely word is like a miracle medicine; it heals, inspires, and liberates.

Sometimes, we need blinders to move us to prayer and mistake the call to prayer as a mandate to activism.  Whatever God has put in your heart, do it!   I am in no way suggesting that any inspiration to act is a blinder.  The directive to me was to not lose sight of the big picture and the whole purpose.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with everything you have and are!  Just be sure that you are not blinded by the blinder.  Let the blinder inspire you rather than control you.

LORD, help us not to be blinded by our blinders but to see with the eyes of the Holy Spirit!

Isaiah 38:4-6 – “Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, ⁵ “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”’

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, an interesting thought and question filled my consciousness.  It came from Isaiah 38:5, where God raised Hezekiah from his deathbed and gave him a bonus 15 years to live.

That raised a question inside my mind. “What would you do with the extra years?”  As interesting and even intriguing as that thought, the follow-up question was, “What will you do with the time you have left?”  Since none of us knows how much time we have left, we are unable to allot specific time to activities and endeavors. What we must do is focus on Now!

We live a life of perpetual procrastination on many fronts.  If we are young, we mistakenly embrace the idea of a future in which to do certain things.  If we are in our sunset years, we sometimes delay because we think our time is past, or we might not be able to finish the task.  Both are equally bad decisions.

James says that life is like a vapor, gone before you know it.  I recall graduating from high school as if it were yesterday.  Decades have now passed, and I am still here.  I am more limited physically than then, yet I am here, so I have purpose, assignment, and opportunity.   What do I do with my time?   What is my focus?   What am I investing my life in?   When the end of physical earthly life comes, will I have used my time wisely and productively for the kingdom? Only I can make that choice.

We are told to redeem the time.  How do we do that?  Matthew 6:33 is a perfect key and revelation. Make God our priority in Everything!   Everywhere, and every time, all the time.  What is more important than God? I hope the answer is Nothing!

If God gave you 15 more years to live, what would you do?   How would you live? Maybe that’s exactly how you should live Now!

LORD, help us to redeem the time and make proficient use of all the time we have here!

Isaiah 26:3      “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, two thoughts were prevalent. 

• Isaiah 26:3 – Perfect Peace through a mind fixed on God, which refuses to be distracted and anchored in TRUST!
• A Farming (Life) Principle (Isaiah 28:24-25).

The farmer prepares the soil and then plants the seed.  The harvest follows. Sometimes, we embrace the principle that preparation precedes blessing and take it too far. We get into a continual, unending preparation mode.

If we never plant the seed, we never have a harvest.  Preparation is critically vital, but there comes a time to follow the advice of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9:10-11 – “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…” Our assignment requires preparation, then action. God’s timing is always essential. However, we need to be careful that we do not get into a perpetual preparation mode and miss the window of opportunity.

Some have taken waiting to the extreme and made that which they are waiting for their source and hope rather than Christ IN us, living His life through us.

Preparation is vital.  God does not pour blessings out to be spilled on the ground; He requires prepared vessels.  But the Law of Sowing and Reaping requires us to sow into the prepared soil, so the desired harvest has a place to grow.  Perpetual preparation is not a sign of obedience but a lack of trust. Acting too quickly is presumptuous, as is failure to properly prepare.

Rather than fear of missing God, we should use the discerning ability and knowledge He has given us and prepare properly, then sow.   No Sowing, no Reaping.  Don’t be one described in Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 who fears to act. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide, your radar, and your confidence. This is your day. Don’t waste your window!

LORD, help us to be anchored in Trust!

Isaiah 53:6 – “And all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God, a thought came to my mind that I could not move past.  It is revealing, challenging, and perplexing.  

“Some people live life chasing butterflies!”   Pursuing dreams can be noble and commendable if they are God-inspired dreams rooted in the heart, nature, and character of God.    On the other hand, if they are fantasies, they become stumbling blocks and reefs in our love feasts.   Some have chased butterflies so long that they can no longer see the truth.  Their butterflies have become their truth. Their life is always in the future, even though their assignment is in the present.

God’s call is not contingent upon anything external.   Within Himself, all things exist.   Focusing on our butterflies blocks our view of immediacy.   Now is the accepted time.  God is a God of the now.  He embodies past, present, and future, but our assignment is in the present.  We don’t know what tomorrow holds. We have no promise of tomorrow.  We have an assignment that requires trust now rather than a fantasy of tomorrow.

If we watch the clouds, fear the winds, and are held back by the rain, we fail. Little is much if God is in it.    Remember the little widow and the prophet? God took the little and made it much.  Remember the loaves and fishes for the 5,000 and 4,000?  They refused to chase butterflies and achieved the purposes of God.  Gideon took 300 and defeated a mighty army. One can chase a thousand, and 2 can put ten thousand to flight.

The issue is total surrender and complete trust. Otherwise, it is not faith, it is God AND…(whatever the butterflies are).   If we hear and heed, He will provide.   Matthew 6:33 is the key! No more chasing butterflies for me! Speak, my LORD, and I will be quick to answer thee!

LORD, help us to never become distracted and chase butterflies but to focus on You!