Isaia 43:12
YOU ARE MY WITNESS SAYS THE LORD.
I AM GOD.
Isaia 43:12
To be God's witness seems to be a simple task. I have actually seen a book titled "An easy guide to become Jesus's friend". I did not even pick it up.
I simply do not believe there is a "simple" way to know God.
I do not believe there is a "simple" way to become His friend.
My experience tells me the road is hard and the price is high.
But even here in Isaia I find the same concept. I insist that we cannot chop up the Bible in tinty pieces. We cannot separate verses as they best suit us...
Let us go back to chapter 42, yes it is a different chapter, but it is the same God, the same prophet, the same time, the same context. They all go together. Very close together.
WHO WAS IT THAT GAVE JACOB TO BE PLUNDERED, ISRAEL TO THE DESPOILERS? WAS IT NOT THE LORD, AGAINST WHOM WE HAVE SINNED? IN HIS WAYS THEY REFUSED TO WALK, HIS LAW THEY DISOBEYED. SO HE POURED OUT WRATH UPON THEM, HIS ANGER AND THE FURRY OF BATTLE; IT BLAZED AROUND THEM...
Is. 42:25
This is the beginning of knowing God. God's discipline, God fighting against us. Is this because God is mean? No, it is because we are stubborn. We choose our own ways over and over again...until God bring's his fire...it blazes all around us.
It burns, it is painful.
Before you turn your computer off...please read on, there are good news:
FEAR NOT FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU; I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME: YOU ARE MINE....WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH FIRE, YOU SHALL NOT BE BURNED; THE FLAMES SHALL NOT CONSUME YOU. FOR I AM THE LORD, YOUR GOD, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, YOUR SAVIOR.
Is. 43:1-2
Are you following me? It is not the enemy that brings the FIRE it is God. But He tells us "do not be afraid, you shall not be burned"
He makes me smile. God being God.
God brings fire upon our lives. Terrible God to face and accept.
We like a Santa Claus type of God. one we can meet every morning with a "prayer list" and just make known how selfish and self-centered we are...even our motivation for praying for others is often impure. I recall a time when I would get up at 5 and walk around my neighborhood praying for my neighbors...how spiritual! but after years of doing it and nothing really happening I asked God "what is the problem?" And He told me: Your motivation is impure, you do not pray out of love, you simply want them to become christians so they will not cause you any problems.
gulp.
Sorry, kind of got distracted there...
The Fiery God, the God that brings fire upon us and tells us not to be afraid in the midst of fire.
If you read on you will discover:
YOU ARE MY WITNESSES, SAYS THE LORD, MY SERVANTS WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN TO KNOW AND BELIEVE IN ME AND UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS I....IT IS I, I THE LORD; THERE IS NO SAVIOUR BUT ME.
Is.43:10
Isn't it beautiful?
Because our stubborness to hang onto sin, God places us in fire. We feel the pain. We weep and weep as our sin is rebealed. We lose strenght and courage and we feel weakness fill our every bone...BUT it is here, at the end of our hope and strength, at the end of our rope that we meet God.
It is here, that we BEGIN to know God.
That God, the real God, the "IT IS I" God.
Our savior.
THEN and only then we will be His witness.
Anything that comes from a different place will sound hollow to others, void, fake...and it is true, it has no essence, because we have not really faced the "IT IS I" God.
I AM GOD.
Isaia 43:12
To be God's witness seems to be a simple task. I have actually seen a book titled "An easy guide to become Jesus's friend". I did not even pick it up.
I simply do not believe there is a "simple" way to know God.
I do not believe there is a "simple" way to become His friend.
My experience tells me the road is hard and the price is high.
But even here in Isaia I find the same concept. I insist that we cannot chop up the Bible in tinty pieces. We cannot separate verses as they best suit us...
Let us go back to chapter 42, yes it is a different chapter, but it is the same God, the same prophet, the same time, the same context. They all go together. Very close together.
WHO WAS IT THAT GAVE JACOB TO BE PLUNDERED, ISRAEL TO THE DESPOILERS? WAS IT NOT THE LORD, AGAINST WHOM WE HAVE SINNED? IN HIS WAYS THEY REFUSED TO WALK, HIS LAW THEY DISOBEYED. SO HE POURED OUT WRATH UPON THEM, HIS ANGER AND THE FURRY OF BATTLE; IT BLAZED AROUND THEM...
Is. 42:25
This is the beginning of knowing God. God's discipline, God fighting against us. Is this because God is mean? No, it is because we are stubborn. We choose our own ways over and over again...until God bring's his fire...it blazes all around us.
It burns, it is painful.
Before you turn your computer off...please read on, there are good news:
FEAR NOT FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU; I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME: YOU ARE MINE....WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH FIRE, YOU SHALL NOT BE BURNED; THE FLAMES SHALL NOT CONSUME YOU. FOR I AM THE LORD, YOUR GOD, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, YOUR SAVIOR.
Is. 43:1-2
Are you following me? It is not the enemy that brings the FIRE it is God. But He tells us "do not be afraid, you shall not be burned"
He makes me smile. God being God.
God brings fire upon our lives. Terrible God to face and accept.
We like a Santa Claus type of God. one we can meet every morning with a "prayer list" and just make known how selfish and self-centered we are...even our motivation for praying for others is often impure. I recall a time when I would get up at 5 and walk around my neighborhood praying for my neighbors...how spiritual! but after years of doing it and nothing really happening I asked God "what is the problem?" And He told me: Your motivation is impure, you do not pray out of love, you simply want them to become christians so they will not cause you any problems.
gulp.
Sorry, kind of got distracted there...
The Fiery God, the God that brings fire upon us and tells us not to be afraid in the midst of fire.
If you read on you will discover:
YOU ARE MY WITNESSES, SAYS THE LORD, MY SERVANTS WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN TO KNOW AND BELIEVE IN ME AND UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS I....IT IS I, I THE LORD; THERE IS NO SAVIOUR BUT ME.
Is.43:10
Isn't it beautiful?
Because our stubborness to hang onto sin, God places us in fire. We feel the pain. We weep and weep as our sin is rebealed. We lose strenght and courage and we feel weakness fill our every bone...BUT it is here, at the end of our hope and strength, at the end of our rope that we meet God.
It is here, that we BEGIN to know God.
That God, the real God, the "IT IS I" God.
Our savior.
THEN and only then we will be His witness.
Anything that comes from a different place will sound hollow to others, void, fake...and it is true, it has no essence, because we have not really faced the "IT IS I" God.
posted by thisfool @ 6:01 AM
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