Skip to main content

Desires and Promises

There are things in this life that we desire very much. They are legitimate desires. They are more than desires on our part; they are promises on God’s part. Desires or promises, they are listed in a beautiful way in Isaiah 58:11,

“And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

There is a hitch to this promise of continual guidance and spiritual refreshment. It is an “iffy” promise. Here are the “ifs”.

“IF you take away from the midst of you the yoke (Slavery), the pointing of the finger (accusation), and speaking wickedness (vanity KJV, boasting), and IF you put yourself out for the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday” (verses 9, 10).

Earlier in the chapter we find that God will answer when we call, that our righteousness will go before us, His glory will come behind us and…

“Your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily” (verse 8).

How could we ask for more? It is a promise of exuberant life, some of that more abundance Jesus promised, light that breaks and health that springs! What are the conditions?

• Setting men free from evil
• Removing their heavy burdens
• Delivering men from oppression
• Feeding the hungry from own supply
• Bringing the poor and afflicted to our own house
• Clothing the naked
• Taking care of our own family
-verses 6 and 7

The promises are spiritual and physical but so are the conditions. If you are interested in the conditions that are not acceptable they are listed in verses 1-5.


(Taken from Day & Night, 2005)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a

Getting Old

This is a post for those who are getting old or considering themselves old, from 65-100. Right now, I am 91.* I will be 92 in October. I have my own house, but I cannot live in it alone because of my physical inability to move around. One of my sons lives with me. All of us will have to make some adjustments. That includes money, relatives, your own ability and willpower to stay independent, etc. My advice is if physically and financially you can live independently, you should certainly do that. If you do, you will still need to have visits from your family frequently. You need your family. Even if you don’t need them to take care of you, you need them for the fellowship. The more fellowship you have, the longer you’ll live. If you can stay independent do it, but only if friends and relatives can see you often. In my case, I can’t walk, and I can’t do much physically. So, whether I like it or not, someone else has to get me up, get me showered, and get me dressed. I am blessed to have

Three Types of People Christians Aren't Loving

There are three types of people in the world that Christians do not love with the Gospel . The first type are the people we witness to but do not love. The second type are the unbelievers that we do not witness to. The third are people we love but do not witness to. That sounds like doubletalk. Let’s change it. 1) We witness to people we love. 2) We love everybody and witness to them with love. As Christians, we have the fruit of the Spirit—love. We are commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies. The first thing is to have the love. The second is to choose to love our neighbors and enemies. Sometimes we can’t make the choice because we have lost the fruit of the Spirit, love. We lack the fruit of the Spirit of love because we are under the chastening of the Lord because of unconfessed sin. In order to get the love back, we must confess sin. Once we get the love back, we can choose to love our neighbors and enemies and preach the gospel to them.   Written December 22,