97th Week, Isaiah Chapters 10-14

Click on Title for Video Introduction

Monday, Isaiah Chapter 10

Isaiah 10

Verse 3

Jane Jones

Verse 3:  What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you leave your riches? To who will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?

THOUGHT

Are we accountable to God for what we do, or are we more concerned about being accountable for what we have? Are we concentrating on how to serve God or do we concentrate too much on what we have and are accumulating? Our perspective can become distorted by our accomplishments of our material things if we fail to recognize God working his purpose through us. 

When we think we are strong enough for anything, we are bound to fail because pride has blinded us to the reality that God is ultimately in control. The key to being set apart by God is faith in Him.

I heard a story in Church today about a very wealthy man who was going to take everything he owned to Heaven with him. So he melted everything he owned into gold and had a huge brick of gold placed in his casket at the time of his death. When he got to heaven the gate keeper said, “Why did you bring

such a small pebble of pavement with you to Heaven? Our streets are already paved.”

PRAYER

What an awesome God You are.  We thank You for weekends and for Your day of rest. All of us are so grateful for that time. We look to the week ahead with added strength and reassurance that You will walk with us. Please help us this week to be accountable to You on what You want us to do.  May we never take for granted what You have abundantly given us. We love You, Jesus. AMEN

Tuesday, Isaiah Chapter 11

Isaiah 11

Verse 3b

Jane Jones

Verse 3b:  He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears.

THOUGHT

How many times have we judged someone by outside appearances?  I am not fond lover of tattoos, and when I see multiple ones on a person, I instantly think that they are not mature or professional.  Were they under the influence of alcohol when they had this done?  Then if you add piercing to the attire, I definitely wonder why they made the decisions they did.  However, I am being so unfair.  I am only concentrating on the outside appearance and have completely forgotten what amazing qualities are being hid on the inside.  I work with several nurses who have tattoos.  After working with them and getting to know them, they are such wonderful caring individuals.  Shame on me.    

Only Christ can be the perfect fair judge. Only as he governs our hearts can we learn to be as fair in our treatment of others as we expect others to be toward us.

PRAEYR  

Thank You, Dear God.  We give you all the glory, honor, and praise. We thank You that You are the one and only true judge. Help us to soften our hearts and not be judgmental Christians. Lord, I so need Your help on this. Through this thanksgiving may I surrender all my weaknesses to You in this area.  We love You for all that You do for us. AMEN

Wednesday, Isaiah Chapter 12

Isaiah 12

Verse 2

Jane Jones 

Verse 2:  “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song: he has become my salvation.”

THUGHT

This chapter is a hymn of praise--one can tell from the joy that the words emulate. The words relay the incredible feeling we will share when Jesus Christ comes to rule the world. Every day as we awake, we need to express our thanks and praise to God and share the good news about Jesus with others.

Praise God and love Him with your whole being for with that we will find the Kingdom of Heaven.

PRAYER

Father God, each one of us brings to You concerns and life decisions that were hard to make today. We always seem to look to You for immediate help. But tonight, dear Lord, may we try something different. May we surrender everything that we are carrying and lay it down tonight and just sit and listen for ten minutes.  May You speak to us, directing our paths in the days ahead. We pray that after our ten minutes are up that we can sing praises to You for all that You have given to each of us today. We love You, Lord Jesus. Thank You for handing us our hardships. We know You will put them to good use in our lives.  In gratitude we say 'Good Evening'.   AMEN

Thursday, Isaiah Chapter 13

Isaiah 13

Verse 13

Jane Jones

Verse 13:  “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.”

THOUGHT

The verse tells us just how angry the Lord can get. WOW!!! To make His own heavens tremble and the earth shake is a huge wrath, a huge burning anger. Remember when your parents got angry with you and how you felt. That was nothing compared to the wrath of God. 

This Chapter is a message from God concerning Babylon. Isaiah communicated a message of challenge and hope to God’s people telling them not to rely on other nations but to rely on God alone. Isaiah also told them that their greatest enemies would receive from God the punishment they deserve. Isaiah prophesied even before Babylon became a world power that it would shine for a while. But Babylon self-destructed to the point that it would never be inhabited again. It is the present day Iraq, still in ruin.

The wrath of God is a very powerful thing. We see the results of it in this true story. Yet, we do not listen to His teaching. We do not live according to His commandments. We do not follow His Word.  Why??? Maybe we just take everything for granted. Maybe we truly haven’t ever been scared. Maybe we just don’t rely on God. But we must take heed. Be prepared. Be ready. Depend on Him. Rely on Him. Love Him.

PRAYER:

Your Word shares with us the power of Your wrath, Dear Lord. We pray that nations will rise to Your glory and that Your anger will be no more. With sin in the world, we find evils always lurking.  Guide and direct us in Your paths, Lord. We pray that we live each day in harmony with You and that we

will still Your anger. We love You, Jesus.  In Him. AMEN

Friday, Isaiah Chapter 14

Isaiah 14

Jane Jones

THOUGHT

There wasn’t any verse that spoke to me this evening. The chapter was another example of where pride was the sin. It shared about how Babylon placed confidence in human power. Pride was Satan’s sin as well as Babylon’s. The truth is that pride opposes God and will result in judgment. Once again Israel made the mistake of being too proud to depend on God, and we are vulnerable to that same mistake. We must be made aware that human power will one day fade no matter how strong it appears now.

We must be careful not to put or let human power and secular dreams and ambitions create so much pride in our lives that it smothers out the true mission in life. The true mission is to spread the Word of God and help people become devoted followers of Jesus Christ. I am struggling with a huge pride issue at work. My backup at work is very sick and out a great deal of time with Meniere’s syndrome. I feel like I have to be at work all the time and that payroll cannot run without me. I pray that I may surrender this pride issue and realize that someone will step up to the plate and do the job. Maybe I am concerned that someone will do it better. May I surrender this pride issue in the days, weeks, and months to come.

PRAYER

We thank You for this week of studying pride. May we each pick one issue about pride that is bothering us and give it to You, Lord. Thank You for taking those from us so willingly. We love You, Jesus. AMEN