Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 28

Read chapter 28 here.

Let's talk about  the exchange we see in this chapter. The rulers of Israel were walking in sin. They were bragging that they had struck a bargain to cheat death and "dodge the grave". I don't know what deal they made, but no doubt their assurance of safety was coming from the enemy. They believed that they had a place of refuge to hide from death itself. This refuge they had built was constructed on a foundation of lies and deceit. God, in His omniscience, knew that their refuge would become their prison. Their plan to "escape death" would end in their eternal death. God has every right to scold and punish these men for their choices. They were the religious leaders, they had no excuse, no plea of ignorance to cover their dealings of evil. They knew more of God than anyone else in that day. Though their minds knew of Him, their hearts never knew Him. They turned to making deals with the enemy to endorse their lives of sin. God saw their choice of sin and chose, not to turn away from them, but to present them with another choice. A new refuge. A precious cornerstone. A foundation safe to build on. When their sin deserved punishment God, instead, gave them Jesus.
If you think about it, this is a picture of exactly what happens when we accept Christ. A beautiful exchange. Our sin for our salvation. Our death for eternal life. Darkness for light. Despair for hope. It's the last thing we deserve, but it's God's first response to our sin.
His Heart longs so deeply to draw you into His family that He made a way for your sin to be exchanged under grace. How could anyone refuse such an offer? Come in to God's love. Let Him strip away the sins of life and cover you in new life.
Step into His beautiful exchange.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah chapter 27

Hello there. :) It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that, it wasn't intentional. Anyways, I'm excited to jump right back in where we left off.
As always you can read Isaiah chapter 27 here, and then come right back so we can talk about it. I'll wait here.

Isaiah is an interesting part of the Bible to read because so much of it can be connected to how we live now. We can pull truth out of prophecies that were meant for people two thousand years ago. Before we dive into the meat of this chapter I want to talk about what's going on in verse 1, it's a bit abstract so I want to separate it from our discussion about the rest of the chapter. The first verse talks about The Lord defeating Leviathan with his mighty sword. There is a lot of controversy over what (or who) "Leviathan" is but to me if you line it up with other scripture there isn't much to debate over. Lets look at what we know. First of all we know that Satan is the enemy of God and in this verse Isaiah portrayed Leviathan as being defeated by God. I don't think God is in the business of going on random harpoon hunts for sea monsters. This is not a meaningless battle. This is the defeat of Satan by God. The second thing that we know from scripture we get from Genesis 3:14-15,

So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Satan was cursed to crawl on his belly for the rest of his days, the very definition of a serpent. We also know from scripture that Satan has power, that's evident enough in our world as well. So who's to say that Satan didn't become Leviathan, his own version of a serpent, after the curse. It's not a stretch at all then for us to conclude that the "dragon of the sea" that The Lord will defeat with His sword, is Satan himself. 

All of that, the entire prophesy of Satan's defeat, wrapped up in one verse. 

Now that we got verse one out of the way let's talk about the rest of the chapter. We really see God's heart poured out in these next verses and what a picture of love He paints. I want you to really let the idea of the vineyard being you, God's child, sink in and read those verses again. With that perspective, this is what it looks like to Me.

V2 (paraphrased) I will sing about my precious child. 3 I, her father, watch over her, carefully tending to her needs. Day and night I watch over her so no one can harm her. 4 I am not angry any more. If I find dangerous or harmful things or people in her life I will defend my child from them. I will remove any threat, personally. 5 Let these people come to Me, let them come to Me and I will decide if they belong in my child's life. 6 I know the time is coming when my child will set roots of her own and prosper in her own life. 7 Yes, I have punished her, but never in harshness. Not like I would punish anyone else. She is my own. 8 No, I only discipline her to make her accountable. She had walked to places she didn't belong. 9 My punishment was to bring her back and purify her heart. Because of that she is pure of all sin. She is where she belongs.

Obviously I've taken some creative liberty here, I just want you to see how personal God's word can become. I didn't change any biblical truths or characteristics of God, but the text transforms from an old prophesy about an ancient culture to a very real and new and personal message from God. If we took time to let God's word speak to us, how differently would we face life? Think about it, just by letting this single passage seep into your heart I bet you have a new perspective of God as a father and protector. If we took the whole Bible personally, as it was intended, how would our lives change? Drastically? Definitely. Ask God to let His words come alive to you. When you read the Bible as a personal letter, a connection to God the father, change happens. God's heart becomes real, and your heart is never the same.

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. :)

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 20

Isaiah chapter 20

What an obscure chapter! I'm not going to lie to you I think my mouth hung open a little bit when I read it for the first time. It's chapters like these that give you a fantastic glimpse at God's character. When it comes to getting our attention He will literally use whatever method it takes to turn our heads. Can we just talk about the dedication of Isaiah to God's call? I mean how many of us would walk around naked for three years because The Lord asked us to? I can tell you I would have failed that assignment. Isaiah trusted his whole self to God. He had surrendered his life in it's entirety to God's call. That meant Isaiah followed wherever, however, and whatever God told him, no questions asked. Sadly enough, in our culture it probably would take a person walking down the street with "their buttocks bared" to get our attention. How scary is that? If God needed to get our attention would we hear Him? Are any of us committed enough to be the exposed prophet to our world? I don't think God is calling us to walk through our neighborhoods in the nude, however, I know he is calling us to go against the current of our culture. He has called us to stand out. 1 Peter 2:9 says it like this,

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light"

The word 'peculiar' in this verse has two different meanings. The first one is 'strange' or 'odd', and the second one is 'to belonging to'. So, God has called us to be strangers to our world, but in the same breath He quickly claims us as His own. In essence, we may be strange, but we are His. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Yes God has called us to stand out among the world, to sing the praises of the one who called us out of darkness and into His light, but He doesn't hesitate to make it known that, in our strangeness, we belong to Him.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 19

Read Isaiah 19 here.

I want us to take a look at some themes we see in this chapter. We have read enough of Isaiah that these "impending punishment" chapters are beginning to sound repetitious, but if you take time to look deep enough there is something unique in each chapter. We are going to look briefly at the punishment the Egyptians are facing, but I really want us to dig deeper into how this punishment will affect their future.

God has decided to punish Egypt by creating strife, pitting Egyptian against Egyptian. They will become discouraged and confused, their idols and mediums will not be able to help them and they will be given over to a harsh ruler. God will also send a drought to cause the Nile to recede. The Egyptians depended greatly on the Nile river's annual flood to fertilize the land and water their crops. Without the flood there was a great famine and a lot of people lost work. The fisherman, farmers, harvesters and weavers all lost their livelihoods. Still the people were going to the officials and wise men for help, the ones God called deluded fools, only to be led astray again. God says the Egyptians would be helpless, the noblemen and the poor. Isaiah begins to tell us in verse 16 how broken and frightened the Egyptians are. Imagine realizing the power you believed in all your life to help you and guide you wasn't the right power. Imagine finding out there is a God but He's not any of the ones you've been worshiping, and it turns out your whole country has managed to make Him really angry.

Now as an Egyptian you are left with two choices, run from God, or run to God. You may decide that this is too much, that you didn't sign up for all this, you were fine going about your day believing in the gods of you ancestors. You memorized their names and you know their stories, you even prayed to them on occasion. That was fine, but they never did anything different. They never showed up unexpectedly and changed life as you knew it. They always sat in their temples or shrines and did the same thing year in and year out. You didn't bother them, and they didn't bother you. That, you were ok with, that was comfortable, that was easy. Now...now there is this power that you never counted on, and He's angry. He's angry at you because of your choices. Your gods never cared about your choices before. You never had to answer to them for your life decisions. This is different and scary, this is hard.

You also have the choice of the five cities. Verse 18 says that five cities of Egypt made a different choice about God. "In that day five of Egypt’s cities will follow the Lord of Heaven’s Armies." These cities saw God in a different way. They had been raised with the same ancient gods and they went through the same devastation as the rest of Egypt, but instead of turning from Him, they turn to Him. They decide to trust in the only God that is bigger than life. The only God that can change their world and their hearts. Look at what blessings come to those cites! Verses 19-25 tell us that when the Egyptians cry out to God he will "send them a savior who will rescue them", He will "make Himself known" to them. Because of their faith they are now a part of God's family and they can count on the gift of salvation. Verse 22 says "The Lord will strike Egypt, and He will bring Healing." God had to deliver the punishment before He could administer the healing. In their ignorance God could not heal their empty hearts, but in their brokenness God could pour His life into the void. We also see Assyria mentioned in the end of the chapter and Isaiah says they will also turn to God. Egypt and Assyria will be connected and Israel will be their ally, mortal enemies will become working neighbors because of one common thread, they all love God. The last few things Isaiah says are incredible,

"For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, “Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!"

If there was ever a doubt in your mind that God's heart is for ALL people this should be more than enough to wipe that doubt away.  God blessed the Egyptians greatly because they opened their hearts to Him. God's heart loves to bless those who trust in Him.