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