AWAKE, ARISE, AND TRIUMPH
Thursday – August 18, 2022, Av 21, 5782
O LORD OUR GOD
Greetings dear and precious brothers and sisters in the Lord and welcome back to this exciting and empowering study of the Book of Isaiah. The Lord is so good dear ones. Let us take heed to every Word from the mouth of God. Let us listen carefully to the examples He has provided for us to follow and to avoid. Please take a moment to share this teaching as widely as possible by every means available to you. Thank you for sharing. Everyone can share, you just have to want to, and believe these teachings are valuable enough to benefit others. The featured picture today is of a beautiful woman and me. Now let’s turn our attention to our primary Scripture and continue to read out loud.
Isaiah 26:12-15 (TLB)
12 Lord, grant us peace; for all we have and are has come from you.
13 O Lord our God, once we worshiped other gods; but now we worship you alone.
14 Those we served before are dead and gone; never again will they return. You came against them and destroyed them, and they are long forgotten.
15 O praise the Lord! He has made our nation very great. He has widened the boundaries of our land!
The Prophet Isaiah is making a decree on behalf of Israel not just himself for peace. Peace does not come by decree alone; it comes by obedience (expressing our peace) first coupled with our decree taking possession of His peace. Let’s just hearken back for a moment to an earlier verse.
Isaiah 26:3-4 (TLB)
3 He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!
4 Trust in the Lord God always, for in the Lord Jehovah is your everlasting strength.
So, what brings His peace on the scene? His peace comes when we trust Him with our whole heart always, and our thoughts are often on Him. Not only does peace show up but He gives us His strength upon our own. This is how it works. When our peace is insufficient, He adds His but only when we are operating with our whole heart. His peace makes up for our shortfall. It is not automatic; we must do our part and do it with a whole heart just as He has instructed. Let me remind us of a New Testament passage that illustrates this as well.
Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV)
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
When we resist fear (“be careful for nothing”) and fill our mouths with thanksgiving which together is our expression of peace He then shows up with His peace giving a perfect expression of Godly, Kingdom peace. Now, let’s once again look at the meaning of this word peace. This word peace is transliterated from Hebrew as shālôm meaning to be safe, well, happy, in health, in prosperity, and peace (tranquility) according to Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. Peace does not come from our asking for it, begging for it, peace comes with our obedience to the Word of God, in faith, in love, free of doubt, led of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah concludes verse twelve telling the Lord that all we are and all we have come from you. This is 100% true for all of us. Any goodness in our lives came from God, not one ounce of goodness comes from the kingdom of darkness. Thanksgiving in and of itself will not bring peace, only obedience to the Word of God. To be obedient with a whole heart involves absolute trust in God, in His Word.
As we move forward into verse thirteen, we come to a pivotal Truth. Isaiah confesses that once Israel, God’s people, were worshipping other gods but now they had turned back to the one true God. Do you suppose this goes on today? Do you suppose you or I have ever done this? Turned aside to another god(s)? What is the fruit of turning aside to other words (like Adam and Eve), to other gods? It gives the devil a place in our lives, a legal place, access, and here comes the stealing, killing, and destroying in our life. This is the fruit of worshipping another god(s). Another god is anything, anyone, any activity that is put before God. Put everything through the Word filter not what our friends or the world says is just fine.
Lord willing, I will pick up right here next week. Remember, God loves you and we love you and there is nothing you can do about it.
2 Chronicles 20:20 b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Receive the blessing in Jesus’ name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (MSG)
24 GOD bless you and keep you,
25 GOD smile on you and gift you,
26 GOD look you full in the face and make you prosper.
By: Dr. David R. Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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