Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 26

Isaiah chapter 26
We are strong because of God's salvation.

The Faithful (The Remnant) enter the walls of the city of God's salvation. They have trusted in the Lord the Eternal Rock and their thoughts are so fixed on Him. Because of their devotion, God promises to keep them in perfect peace. Their faithfulness hasn't gone unnoticed and God is being faithful to them in return.

The Proud and Arrogant have been reduced to dust under the feet of the faithful, but God has made the path smooth and even for the faithful to walk on. Those who put themselves above the faithful, God humbles. Not so we can exalt ourselves as more than them, but so God can be exalted through us. We are not to rub our successes in their faces when the prideful are knocked down a peg, as His children we are expected to take that opportunity to introduce them to our Father. The exalted above all. The one who sees them in all their pride and loves them just as much as you and me.    

God knows that the faithful put their trust in Him because they follow what He says. Their heart's one desire is to glorify Him. They spend every moment seeking Him out and learning His heart. God gives them freedom and peace because they know He is the source of their accomplishments. They gladly confess that all of their success comes from Him.

When the faithful were in a time of distress they didn't doubt or run away, they searched. They knew their God had not turned from them, they only had to push deeper to find Him. Through His punishment of the unfaithful He was drawing the faithful to a deeper level of intimacy with Himself. A new realm of trust in their relationship. They have faith that those who follow Him to the end will arise with a new kind of joy, singing of His "life-giving light". 

These are attributes of a followers heart: Devoted, Humble, Available, Relentless. Take a minute to identify which characteristics describe you and which ones you may lack. Are you loyal to God only? Or do other things often hold the majority of your time and affection? Are you quick to give God the credit for your accomplishments? Or do you find yourself seeking out that pat on the back for your job well done? Are you open to God's prompting and listening for His voice? Or do you turn away from opportunities to share your Father with those around you? Do you push deeper when God feels absent? Or are you quick to throw up your hands and decide to sit where you are until God comes back? Admit your weaknesses to your Father and declare your desire to grow. Offer control of your heart to God and watch as He molds you to become His version of you. Let Him stretch you and push you and watch your heart fall in line with these characteristics. 

When your heart matches His heart, that's a beautiful thing.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 21-25

You can Read Isaiah chapters 21-25 here.

   The reason I decided to group these five chapters is because of their similarity. You will notice when you read them that there is a lot of repetition in the first four chapters. Chapters 21-23 repeat a similar judgement message to six specific people groups, and chapter 24 reiterates that message to the whole world. The details vary in each chapter but the core message is the same, God is coming to judge all people and determine between those who belong to Him, and those who belong to the world. There was a word in chapter 24 that caught my eye, something we've seen before in Isaiah's prophesies, the word remnant. Isaiah says in 24:13 "Throughout the earth the story is the same-only a remnant is left.." What is the remnant? The remnant will be made of The Faithful, those who were true to The Lord even in the hard times. Chapter 24 verses 14-16 say this of the remnant,

 "But all who are left shout and sing for joy.....We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One!"

Chapter 25 is an example of what those praises will sound like. Those included in the remnant of spared children will rejoice in their salvation. God planned this judgement a long time ago, and when His plans come to pass the faithful ones will sing of His power. Verse 3 says that even those not chosen to be part of the remnant will exalt God's strength.

"Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory, ruthless nations will fear you."

Think about what is being said here, world powers will emphatically proclaim His glory, merciless nations will be afraid of Him. What great power, to evoke this kind of reverence and emotion. What a great God, to embody such power and, in the same being, such love, as expressed in the rest of the chapter. He is described as a tower of refuge for the poor, needy, and distressed. A refuge from the storm of oppression. He is silence, stillness and shade.

Sometimes when I read things from the Old Testament I find myself in a mindset of "this happened ages before Jesus came and so, none of it can really apply to me". I know that it's true and that it's God's word and we should follow it's leading, but sometimes I read it and go, "that was a great story" or "wow, God did some great things". I forget that, that God is my God. These chapters were great reminders of that because they actually aren't talking about some obscure prophesy of the ancient Jew's future. They are big, flashing billboards that point to our future. The future of all followers of Christ. They aren't talking about smiting the neighboring enemy of the Jews, they are talking about wiping out God's enemy, our enemy, forever. That remnant Isaiah spoke of, it's not the spared people of an Old Testament battle, that remnant is us. That remnant is followers across the world singing in thousands of languages the song of salvation.

Listen to the proclamation made in verse 9;

"In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the LORD, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”"

Imagine this kind of praise being sung all over the world, in every nation, in every language. Imagine how beautiful that will be. In His deep love God offers this beautiful gift to all of His children. The chance to follow Him and become a piece of the remnant. I want to be a part of that. I want to sing at the top of my lungs that I trusted my God and He saved me. God's heart longs for this remnant of people to include every one of His children, and my heart longs to be counted as His child.

Winter Photo Shoot

Hello fellow Eskimo's!
I think it is safe to say that just about everyone has had their fill of snow for the winter. Unless you are my sister...she has a bit of an obsession with all things winter. I decided to take advantage of our last round of snow-mageddon and get some pictures. Now usually I have to beg and bribe my sister to get her to agree to a photo shoot, but when I mentioned a "snow-to" shoot one Saturday morning she literally jumped out of bed to get ready. We headed out to our favorite spot in the woods and started our trek through about 12 inches of snow. You may recognize some of the landmarks from our Autumn shoot, did I mention that this is our favorite spot? As usual we had a blast, and as usual my model was great! :)  Even though we waited too long to catch that ideal morning light, the sky was bright blue and the snow was sparkling. Now this shoot was more for fun than anything else so you won't see the props and poses like our Autumn shoot but I hope you still enjoy it as much as we did.

Forgive my absence last week, it's been a stressful couple of weeks and unfortunately the blog is the first thing to suffer when my free time takes a hit. Look for 'Chapters of His Heart' to be back next week. Let me know what you think of the pictures in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe and share to the left. :)