Shout Aloud Is. 12:6

Isaiah 12:6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, (the words used here in the Hebrew instructing us how to approach God with our expression of praise mean to cry out shrilly with a ringing, piercing cry; in fact, if you have ever heard the shrill ringing neigh of a stallion, that is exactly what the words mean here; often the very people who cheer with loud vocal enthusiasm to show their excitement at an athletic event, shouting out their approval and admiration at the top of their lungs, are the very people who remain silent and guarded in their vocal expressions to God; while deference and reverence are always due God, since He Himself has created us with this full spectrum of vocal expressions, He also gives us permission and, in fact, invites us to use the full array of our joyful voices in our praise to Him) for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. (included among the many reasons we loudly shout to God in outbursts of joy and praise are that our God is great and greatly to be praised, that He has chosen to dwell among us, that He has revealed Himself to us, that He is sovereign and supreme, that He has redeemed us, and that, as we look to Him, He is victorious over every aspect concerning our lives today) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields

The Offspring

Isaiah 11:1 A Shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. (during a time when King David's lineage was in disarray because of the disobedience and lack of faith of his descendants, Isaiah describes the revelation that the Messiah will actually come from those very fallen remains of Jesse's line; though David was a revered and honored king of Israel, a man of God who had united the Israelites and had powerfully expanded the kingdom of God, and though Israel and David's lineage were now in shambles, here is the promise that the Messiah would rise from the fallen deadness of a stricken line; while Jesse himself is relatively unknown to us, his son became one of the most revered kings of Israel with the ultimate descendent from Jesse fulfilled in the birth of Christ Whose kingdom exponentially expanded far beyond David's; embedded in this message about Jesus, about the Person of Christ, about the wonder of the Messiah, about the fallen state of Israel's affairs, about Jesse, is a promise that God still gives us today; while our own existence may seem small, while our own efforts may seem small, while our own impact may seem small, while our life may be in a fallen state of brokenness, as we walk out the Lord's purposes in our lives today, we become the source of a heritage today and for the future that may be unimaginable to us at this moment; whatever the Lord is leading us through today may, in fact, be the stump from which a branch will come forth in our lives that will eventually bear eternal fruit; our job today is to trust Him with our ordinariness, with the commonplace life we may feel we live, and with the disarray and brokenness that may describe our lives; in Christ, we are a mighty source of good, we have a powerful impact on the kingdom, and He brings forth in us hope and triumph in the midst of darkness!) Submitted by: Sally Shields

Zeal of the Lord

Isaiah 9:7c The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (the root word for zeal and jealousy is the same here, indicating that the fervor of God Almighty Himself and the intensity of His determined love for us is so forceful that He declares He Himself has established Christ's kingdom of justice and righteousness, a kingdom reality that has been accomplished, is still being established, and will finally be completely fulfilled; His determination to accomplish His purposes toward us prevails; He has placed Christ squarely in our path so that we can't avoid Him, so that we have no logical, no reasoned choice, except to yield to His presence and love; today the ardor of God toward us comes from His passion to redeem us and to make us His Own, and He achieves His reign in our lives through His decree, through His love, through His sacrifice, through His zeal for us today; such unconditional love and passion toward us shows us that we can trust the Lord today with our deepest fears and needs and know that whatever the Lord has determined to accomplish in our lives today, in His zeal and jealousy over us, He will accomplish it!) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields

David's Throne

Isaiah 9:7b He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, (when the Messiah comes, and He has and His kingdom has begun, just as David reigned over the people of God, today Jesus reigns sovereign over the people of God; knowing that we are His, owned and ruled by Him today, gives us the assurance and hope that we don't face challenges and difficulties in our lives alone, that, as the kind and loving Ruler of His kingdom that He is, Jesus is quick to look to the needs that lie within us) establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. (forming His kingdom, not by earthly warfare, but by overcoming evil through spiritual warfare, Jesus and His authority are the foundation upon which this kingdom of goodness is built, established and upheld by the humility of His sacrifice, by the purity of His sinlessness, and by the compassion of His reconciliation that makes us right with God; forming His kingdom in us through a personal relationship with us, Jesus reigns supreme in our lives today upholding us, covering us, and giving us unmerited, undeserved, and unearned justice and righteousness that springs from His great love and mercy— His justice and righteousness, not ours!) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by:Sally Shields

His Name - Is. 9:6

Isaiah 9:6e . . . and His name shall be called . . . The mighty God. . . . (the word for God used here is El, the most ancient word for God used by the Hebrews, a form of which is used for the first time in Genesis 1:1, and has as its underlying meaning strength and power; it is a singular noun for One God, meaning the Strong One, referring to the strength of God, and describes the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus as absolute and complete Deity, His unique and unqualified status as God Himself, as the Almighty God, as Divine and Strong Hero, as the One and Only God; this Mighty God, this Jesus, the Author of creation, Who was with God in the beginning, Who is God, Who holds all things together, undertook the heroic mission of redemption, of breathing the life of salvation and renewal into the deadness of our lives; now, today, this same Jesus, this same Hero, this Deity, this Mighty God, continues His relentless pursuit of His mission to redeem all aspects of the life we live out before Him today. to be our strength and power, to extend His heroic love and salvation to us, to be in intimate relationship with His redeemed and beloved creation; no matter what our lives hold in this hour, Jesus is mighty in our lives today!) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields

Isaiah 7:14b

Isaiah 7:14b The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (after the rebellious and stubborn people of Judah reject God's truth that He will deliver them from the enemy they see before them, after they even refuse to ask Him for a sign of His good intentions, God Himself in His mercy and relentless and determined pursuit of His people unilaterally chooses to give us a part of His very Self, His Own Son, as a pledge of His unwavering love for us through this young and inexperienced and, as yet, unclaimed young girl who will bear and bring forth the purpose that God Himself has planted within her; the Hebrew word for virgin refers to a young girl who has arrived at a marriageable age, but has not yet married, and is also related to a word meaning to be concealed and hidden; as we experience the Lord, whether in our initial salvation experience or in a daily moment of desperate need of His presence, we, too, finally reach a time when we move away from where we have been hidden away and where the truths of God have been hidden to us and into a place where we are called to be married to the Lord, ready to bear the fruit of His truth borne out in faith and trust in Him; this young virgin will embody the message of His Name, that God Is With Us; as the Lord brings us forth who have also been hidden away, inexperienced and unable, He implants within us the seed of His presence, the pure and unencumbered faith that comes from Christ; as we conceive His word in us of His salvation and provision, as we bring forth the new life in Him that has been birthed in us, we know with certainty today that, indeed, God Himself Is With Us!) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields

Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah 6:5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, (when Isaiah's vision revealed the grandeur and holiness of God, when he heard the powerful praises of the seraphim swell in an anthem of adoration to the Lord, he realized how insignificant, how small, how unfit and unworthy he was even to stand in such Presence, much less to lift his own voice to attempt to articulate praise, a voice too often expressing irreverent, arrogant, self-centered, unkind, fearful utterances, all of which are in direct opposition to all that God is; when we truly focus on God and take in the reality of Who He is, we realize how we have tried to put our God in a human-sized box, how we have tried to fit God into our own making; we recognize how unworthy and undeserving, how sinful we are, how far is the expanse between the Creator and us the created, and how far short we fall from the awesome holiness of Almighty God) and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (when we recognize our own sinfulness, we can see the Lord, the God Who is Jehovah, Yahweh, the Eternal, the Self-Existent I AM, the One Who graciously and mercifully reveals Himself to us today as our covenant God, the One Who says He will be our God and we will His Own!) Submitted by: Sally Shields

Heaven's Activity

Isaiah 6:2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: (when Isaiah was given a glimpse into the throne room of God, he saw an extraordinary and astonishing spectacle, sights outside and beyond human experience and language, sights which he tried to take in and put words to; the word seraphim means flaming or burning ones, so these other-worldly creatures are aflame with blazing light, energy, and a splendor unknown to us; though existing beyond our sight, these other-worldly hosts of heaven stand ready to carry out the Lord's commands) With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. (they cover their faces because they are unable to look into the even greater illumination and fire of the glory of God, they cover their feet to show their lowly sense of humility and submission to the profound greatness and sovereignty of God, and they fly to show their compelling desire and quickness to serve God and to do His bidding; like these celestial beings, may our hearts be so moved today that we reverently acknowledge God's greatness, that we are careful to submit our inadequacies and frailties to God, and that we are quick and ready to be in service to God; may the Lord open our eyes to see beyond our circumstances and into the reality of God on His throne with attending messengers ready to carry out His purposes in our lives)

Walking in the Light

Isaiah 2:5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. (as part of the family of the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as descendents of the house of Israel, having yielded to the calling of God over His people, having been grafted into the very people God has chosen today, Almighty Jehovah God, the One Who actually created light, calls us to walk out of darkness, out of the old ways, out of hopelessness and fear and unforgiveness, out of trying to control our own lives, out of our willfulness and self-centeredness, now exhorting us to walk and live in His light, to seek Him, to understand His ways, to grow in knowledge and wisdom; as we walk in His light, the light of His love and mercy, we also become a light to others and an encouragement for them to seek the Lord as they see Christ in us!) Submitted by: Sally Shields

HE WILL JUDGE BETWEEN THE NATIONS

Isaiah 2:4a He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. (judgment is in God's hands, in the One in Whom all wisdom resides; what a relief to know that we not only can't, but also that we don't have to be the arbiter; what a relief to understand that He sees into the heart and knows our and others' motives and intentions and that only He can determine justice and act justly; what a relief to know that we can relinquish the burden of trying to exact retribution to set matters right, of trying to hold others accountable, where we have been unjustly treated and that He metes out the appropriate kind and level of judgment and discipline toward us and others; as we turn over to Him the responsibility of judge, we are free today to rely on His justice and to focus on our responsibility for acting in just ways that are pleasing to Him) Submitted by: Sally Shields

So Shall His Word Be

Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." The Word of God is truth and life; it is authority and power; it is alive and active, quick and powerful. God's very first words recorded in Genesis spoke His directive and generated the beginning of a massive, awesome, creative act. When we, as God's Own delegated and appointed ambassadors, speak forth His Word, we exercise that same power and authority contained in the Word. His Word is no less powerful today than when He spoke it to creation; than when He spoke it through the prophets; than when He spoke it through Jesus, His Word made flesh; than when He saved us and adopted us into His Own Family. As we speak God's Word aloud, we, too, send it forth to do God's bidding. He gives us authority to proclaim His Word, not based on our power, but based on the authority of His promise and plan. As we speak His Word, we sow the seed of the Word. In the same way a seed is planted, rests in the soil, takes root, sprouts, matures, and brings forth a harvest, when we speak God's Word, we plant the seed of the Word in ourselves, in our situations, and in others. If we want to bear a fruitful harvest, we must plant the seed of God's Word. He is the One Who causes the seed of His Word to grow and bear fruit. He is the One Whose authority stands behind that Word. He is the Sovereign, Mighty God Whose Word never fails, never falls short, never lies empty, never lies useless. His Word is active and alive. His Word planted cannot help but bring forth a harvest of blessings. When we give voice to doubt, unbelief, worry, and fear, why are we surprised at the harvest we reap? We are sowing seeds in direct conflict to the kind of harvest we hope to gather. Our words matter. What we speak is what we sow. We sow what we speak. Rather than voicing doubt, unbelief, worry, and fear, we can choose to plant the Word into our own hearts by reading and speaking it aloud to ourselves. If faith comes by hearing and that hearing by the Word, we build our faith through hearing God's Word, spoken aloud, by us, to us, into our own heart first and then outward into the situations and people surrounding us. Our words have authority; they have the power of life and death. Since our own words are the seeds that grow our environment, we need to speak the Word of God into our lives and minds, sowing it to build our faith and to align our present and future with all that God's Word designs for us. Submitted by: Sally Shields Reflection of PSB sermon

Isaiah 1:17 - Defending the Oppressed

The Lord Be With You Today! Isaiah 1:17b Defend the oppressed. (the Lord calls us not only to help the oppressed, but also to correct the oppressor, which is also a part of defending and seeking justice for those under the yoke of oppression; the word defend here means to proceed and walk straight forward without deviating to the side, the connotation being that, as we defend the oppressed and correct the oppressor, we walk forward into success; when we take up the cause of the defenseless today, the Lord is on our side and causes us to walk into success) Take up the cause of the fatherless; Plead the cause of the widow. (as specific examples of those often vulnerable to oppression, the Lord calls us to defend the orphan and the widow, which is the “pure religion” that James describes: “looking after orphans and widows in their distress;” may the Lord open our eyes today to see those who need us to be “fathers” and “husbands” to them and may He teach us how to defend them and to take up their cause) May the Lord richly bless you this day!

The Thorn...

The Lord Be With You Today! 2 Corinthians 12:8-9a Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. (Paul refers to some “thorn in his flesh,” details of which we are not given; the Amplified translation makes it even clearer that Paul called on the Lord, beseeched Him, and begged Him to free him of this affliction; even such a man of God as Paul did not always receive the answers to prayer that he desired) But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." the Amplified translation puts it this way: “My grace, My favor and loving kindness and mercy, is enough for you, sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully, for My strength and power are made perfect, fulfilled and completed and show themselves most effective, in your weakness.” (rather than granting Paul’s request to remove the affliction, the Lord had a far greater purpose to fulfill, to show Paul how his weakness is a powerful, God-appointed way for him to depend on Christ’s strength; perhaps, just perhaps, the very thing that we desperately think needs to be removed from our lives is the very thing that the Lord tenderly and lovingly uses to help us lean on Him and trust Him more fully and completely; no matter what trial or hardship we are facing today, it pales in comparison to the power of Christ Who works in us to bring about His victory through the hardship) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ’s love, Submitted by: Sally Shields

Reclined

Luke 22:14-26 When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. (the hour having come on the evening known as Maundy Thursday, a Latin word referring to the Lord's last commands, knowing that the time had come for Him to be betrayed and crucified, Jesus is sharing the Last Supper, the Passover, with His disciples) And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. (Jesus' deep longing, His highest desire, even His intense yearning was to share this Last Supper with His friends; He knew what lay ahead, but He was eager to share this time of fellowship and teaching with the disciples, and He was eager to become the Passover Lamb of which this Feast of Unleavened Bread spoke; He is the Bridegroom eager for His Bride who will only be available to Him after His work on earth is complete; He still eagerly desires to share Himself with us today) For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” (at which time, He as the Bridegroom will celebrate the heavenly Wedding Supper of the Lamb with us, His Bride, His Church) After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. (after Jesus commands us to love each other, His second "Maundy" command is for us to take Communion in remembrance of Him; Jesus reveals to us here the astounding truth that God Himself chose to shed His Own blood and break His Own body on our behalf; this Last Supper is the fulfillment of all that the Feast of Passover had represented; as the Israelites were directed to eat of the Passover lamb, we now understand that His broken Body and shed Blood are the reason that God's judgment passes over us) But the hand of him who is going to betray Me is with Mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays Him!” They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves." (how often we totally miss Jesus' real message right before us because we are focused on our own narrow and foolish desires of title and standing, when Jesus tells us the greatest among us are those who serve; only as we are in right relationship with Jesus will we be in right relationship with others, and that means, according to Jesus' example, that we put others and others' interests before our own, serving others in love and humility) John 13:2-5 Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love. (not only through His actions that follow, but through His very death on the cross; the full extent of His love is to lay His life down for us whom He loves) The evening meal was being served . . . . Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God, (Jesus was fully aware of Who He was and from where He had come; as the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, God With Us, God Incarnate, He knew His rightful place was at the right Hand of the Father in the very throne room of God Almighty Himself) so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. (even though Jesus carried with Him the full resources and accolades as the Darling of Heaven, this little conjunction "so" conveys Jesus' true servant's heart; unlike most of us who, carrying such accolades, with, perhaps, a heavy sigh of resignation, would have used the word "but"; however, precisely because He knew Who He was and from where He had come, Jesus acted in love to those who had been arguing who was greatest among them; not “but,” instead, SO He got up; most of us would think if Jesus knew He was sent from His Father God and if He knew He was returning to His Father God and if He knew that all power was given to Him, here was still yet one more time Jesus would still need to relent to demonstrate His love yet again to these unseeing men; and especially, knowing all that, we would think He would choose to be served Himself before His great sacrificial death lying just ahead of Him; however, He did just the opposite; despite Who He was and what He knew about His Father and about Himself and about His imminent suffering, for those very reasons, precisely because of Who He was, He chose to stoop to serve; we can't even comprehend such humility, such love!) After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. (taking the garb and position of a lowly slave whose job it was to wash the dust from the guests’ feet, Jesus puts aside His position as God, as Messiah, and takes on the form of the lowest of servants, ministering to the needs of His beloved friends; through His every action, He gives a picture of His great love and deep desire to woo us to His salvation, a powerful picture of His laying down His life for us) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields

2 Cor. 10:17

2 Corinthians 10:17 But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (Paul reminds us not to boast about our own accomplishments that the Lord has enabled us to achieve in His work, and he uses this Scripture from Jeremiah 9:24 to remind us that those who are wise should not boast of their wisdom, that those who are strong should not boast of their strength, that those who are rich should not boast of their riches, but those who have true understanding should boast that they know the Lord, that they know Him personally, that they know Who He is, that they know He is Lord, that He is kind, that He is just, that He is righteous, and that He delights in kindness, justice, and righteousness; as we boast in the Lord today, we can boast of the work to which He has called us, we can boast of the God we serve today, of His provision, of His faithfulness, of His trustworthiness, of His mercy, of His forgiveness, of His justice, and of His great and relentless and fierce affection for us!) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields

Judging By Appearances

2 Corinthians 10:7 You are judging by appearances. (the Corinthians were judging Paul's standing as an apostle by their Greek standards of eloquence and imposing appearance, important qualities in their culture, but not the criteria for followers of Christ; we often judge others by appearances both through our cultural lens as well as through our own personal experiences, giving those with status and affluence greater deference and credibility, or giving those a wider berth who set off negative signals in us because of the lens of our own past negative connotations) If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, (the Corinthians in their elevated view of themselves had misjudged Paul, being convinced by others, and themselves deceived, that Paul was not what he said because of his outward appearances and actions; as born-again believers, our confidence in Christ does not give us liberty to disparage others or their walk with the Lord by judging them by outward appearances) they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. (rather, as Paul is asking the Corinthians to do, we need to consider others' relationships with Christ as authentic and as genuine as our own, knowing that our ability to judge is deeply limited; while we each walk out our experiences in Christ at different levels and at a different pace, our actions and attitudes need to match our words and align with His truths; no matter what others say today, we can walk in the sure confidence that our saving experience and call in Christ is no less than the mightiest apostle of Christ from the pages of Scripture; today He declares with a trumpet call that we belong to Him!) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields

Protecting the Mind

The Lord Be With You Today! 2 Corinthians 10:5b . . . and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (here is a military reference that likens our thought life to breaching a city and taking the inhabitants captive; here's a point where the Lord invites us to enter the battle and to make an impact; not only do we depend on God's armor and His weapons to fight against strongholds we meet in the world or in ourselves, but we follow up by taking control of our own thinking, by using self-discipline to control our thoughts; taking thoughts captive involves the discipline of exchanging each destructive thought with truth from God; we overpower destructive attacks with the very truths of God’s Word; we replace the wrong thinking that fills our mind with truth, God’s very Word, on which we can stand in confidence; we become fully subject to the lordship of Christ and allow Him to fill our minds with truth instead of lie as we speak His truths and focus on His Word rather than on the lie) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ’s love, Submitted by: Sally Shields