Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 37:17
"Give ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see;
listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God."
(Hezekiah, faced with Sennacherib's imminent invasion with a powerful army,
has taken his need to the Lord.
Before he ever mentions his crisis here in his prayer,
he had first given God honor and praise
with a specific acknowledgment of His sovereignty and power.
When enemies confront us, when menacing situations arise,
that is the exact and essential moment
we need to remember Who our God really is.
When our focus is on the Lord,
when we center ourselves in His presence,
our view of the world takes on a very different perspective.
After his initial acknowledgement of praise and honor to God,
rather than centering on the danger to himself and his interests,
he places the threat at the foot of the throne of the Living God,
exactly where it belongs.
Because we are in covenant with the God Whom we serve,
because He has called us His friend,
we see that any challenge to us is the Lord's to contend with.
He tells us that He has promised to fight our battles today
and for us to stand still and see His salvation at hand.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 37:16
"Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,
You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made heaven and earth."
(Faced with an insurmountable and overwhelming invading force
armed and ready at the doorstep to his kingdom,
Hezekiah takes his petition to God,
but He begins his prayer for help in this desperate situation,
not with the need, not with his plea, not voicing his desperation,
but with an acknowledgment of God and of Who He is,
focusing his heart and mind and spirit
on the omniscience and omnipotence of his God.
Often, when we go to the Lord in prayer,
we begin our much-saying with the pressing need before us,
with the prayer "instructions" for what we perceive
that we need for God to do in our situation.
Our prayers are often simply telling God what He needs to do for us.
Rather than magnifying the situation and its challenges,
rather than placing ourselves as the arbiter of what needs to be done,
we are far better served and our prayers are much more effective
by magnifying the God Who supplies all our needs and protects His people
and by reminding ourselves Who really is in charge.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 37:15
And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
(When the King of Judah was threatened by an overwhelming Assyrian force,
he immediately took his need to God in prayer,
a lesson for us when faced with insurmountable situations.
Rather than focusing on the advancing army,
rather than wringing his hands in fear,
rather than worrying about what he should do against this impossible threat,
he immediately prays to the LORD, here the Lord's Own personal Name,
the One Who has declared through this Name
that He is in covenant with His people,
that He is their God, and that they are His people,
that anything that comes against them comes against Him,
that He will protect and provide for His the ones He has chosen.
How often when faced with difficult situations and people
do we focus on them and their threat
rather than centering in prayer on the One Who goes before us,
the One Who guards all our ways,
the One Who is the LORD of our lives.
Today, as we place our fears, concerns, and difficulties in His Hands,
we allow Him to guide us through the difficulties
and bring us into His triumph.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 37:14
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it.
(The forces of Assyria had just confronted the people
of the godly Hezekiah, King of Judah, in Jerusalem,
telling the Israelites they were no match for their imminent invasion,
taunting them, and accusing them of being foolish to trust in their god
when, in fact, none of the gods of the other defeated nations
had been able to withstand the Assyrian juggernaut.
Then the Assyrian commander sent a message to Hezekiah
assuring him that the god that Hezekiah served
would be unable to save Jerusalem from invasion.
Stricken with deep concern for his people,
Hezekiah was facing an army of overwhelming size and force
with a track record of destruction and victory in its wake.
The impending menace was real.
In our lives today, we may be facing threatening and intimidating
and overwhelming circumstances looming against us.)
Then he went up to the temple of the Lord
(When faced with insurmountable odds
and an opposing and irresistible force, as soon as he received the report,
Hezekiah took the matter straight to the Lord.
When life's situations become more than we can withstand,
greater than any strength we can muster to fight against them,
Hezekiah's response is a lesson for us to call on God directly and immediately.)
and spread it out before the Lord.
(Here Hezekiah shows us what we to do when confronted with terrors.
He lays out the entire situation before the Lord,
not to inform an omniscient God of the situation,
since He already knows everything, but to verbalize his own desperate need,
intentionally transferring the emergency from his own shoulders
to the throne of God and to place his own focus on the Lord,
rather than on the challenge before him.
When we choose to see challenging situations in our lives today
through the lens of God's power and truths,
we see He establishes for us a far, far different scenario
that is completely under His control.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

 

Sally

513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 35:10b
They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
(While referring specifically to the Jews
who were released from captivity and permitted to return to their homeland,
here is a picture of our redemption and salvation as we return to God,
as we yield to His sovereignty in our lives.
He invites us to enter His courts with thanksgiving,
and the joy of the Lord fills us with hope and victory.
As we look to Him and to His promises,
no trouble on this earth, no challenge, no difficulty
will steal our joy when we trust in the One
Who has promised protection and victory
and Who leads us in the way out of the pit.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 35:8b-10a
The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.
(Having been invaded and banished from their homeland
because of their disobedience, and now because they have repented,
the Israelites are returning to their promised land,
and the Lord has provided an elevated causeway
over which His redeemed and cleansed may travel.
Those who have not accepted God's invitation to salvation and His way
will not traverse this highway of our God.)
No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.
(On this Way of Holiness, no prowling attackers will be permitted
to devour those who travel safely on the Lord's highway of life.
Even the enemy who walks about like a roaring lion
will be unable to devour those who are protected and safe in the Lord's way.)
But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return.
(Today, as His redeemed, as those He has bought from the slavery of sin,
the Lord as our Kinsman-Redeemer, as our blood relative
Who has provided the price for our redemption,
calls us out of captivity to walk in His way.
He rescues us today so that we can walk with Him on His Highway of Holiness.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 35:8a

And a highway will be there;

(This roadway is provided for us by God Himself.

The Hebrew word indicates an elevated road

like ones that were prepared in advance

so that armies could march over even ground

and avoid such natural barriers such as deep valleys.

For us today, Christ has invited us to walk with Him

on a highway of life which He has prepared,

wide open and safe as we travel through difficult and challenging terrain.

It is a highway also prepared for travelers to important cities,

again, a picture of our travels through God's Kingdom to the City of God.)
it will be called the Way of Holiness;

it will be for those who walk on that Way.

(Not permitted to those who are impure or unredeemed,

this turnpike, this thoroughfare, is accessible only to those

who have accepted the Lord's invitation to traverse it

and are being ushered through the wilderness of life

on the highway of His making,

the roadway by which the redeemed travel in God's Presence.

As we pass through otherwise impassable situations today,

the Lord makes our way smooth as He guides us into His holy way.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 35:5-6b-7
Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
(When we walk in the Lord's Presence, we experience newness of life.
The mighty river of God's love and mercy
flows through the wilderness of our brokenness,
through the desert of our need.
Not only will the New Jerusalem be the City of God, but here and now,
as the Body of Christ, as the Temple of God, we are His dwelling place,
a City of God that He has set on a hill while we are here on earth.
The mighty river of God's mercies and provision and blessings
makes us glad and strengthens us to show forth His purposes toward mankind.)
The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
(When we do not look to the Lord for His salvation and healing,
what we had depended on and seen before was only a desert mirage,
but the Lord will reveal Himself in His fullness in the very desert of our lives.
What before we had only imagined possible,
we now see as God's mighty provision in our lives.
What before we saw through a glass darkly,
we now see clearly as His workings and His Presence.)
In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
(Where the Lord provides shelter and provision,
even the place in our lives where we were once vulnerable
and unprotected from attack will be healed and removed,
and the desolation will turn into places of rich fertility.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 35:5-6a
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.
(Isaiah has just reminded God's people
that the Lord will judge those who have oppressed them.
Now, the Lord declares that He will not only deliver them
from the bondage of their enemies,
but that He will also deliver them from physical bondage.
Here, the Lord reveals yet another, deeper, spiritual level of oppression.
He has provided healing not only for our physical limitations,
but also for our spiritual blindness, deafness, lameness, and muteness.
Just as people are physically blind and deaf,
we are also spiritually blind and deaf and crippled.
But He has delivered us into His truths, into His reality,
into His wisdom and discernment,
and has set us free from all that keeps us from maturing and growing in Him
and has set us free to experience Him in His fullness.
When Christ heals our physical infirmities,
those healings are reflections of the deeper levels of spiritual cures
that He has made available to us today,
the ability to see and hear His truths,
the ability to walk forth in strength,
and the ability to express the joy of the Lord,
both to Him and to others around us.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 35:3-4
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
(When situations and circumstances arise
where we are often stricken with weakness and fear,
with lack of strength and lack of courage,
and our hearts are faint and frightened,
when those times rise up before us,
rather than agreeing with the apparent circumstances
that our senses tell us are real,
that is the time to encourage one another
by speaking the real truth of the situation, God's Truth,
into each other's lives.)
your God will come, He will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution He will come to save you.”
(Here is the Truth in our lives, that God is present,
that He judges situations and people who stand against us,
that He effects His righteous vengeance on our behalf,
that He saves us, that He leads us out of fear and despair,
and that He ushers us into His Presence,
a Presence so powerful and sovereign
that no shred of fear can even exist.
Fear disappears because in His Presence there is no reason to fear.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:22
For the Lord is our Judge,
(As our Judge, the Lord's just reckonings protect us by His findings,
by His determinations, by His judgments for our lives.
It is a fearsome thing to stand before God Who is our Judge,
but in Christ, it is also a blessed thing for us,
for He has made us righteous so that we are at peace
and in right standing with God.)
the Lord is our Lawgiver,

(As our Lawgiver, the Lord writes His laws on our hearts
and, more than that, helps us to follow His ways
and to grow in His expectations and purposes for us.)
the Lord is our King; it is He who will save us.
(As our King, the Lord rules over us today.
We are secure in His reign in our lives,
saved by His benevolence and beneficence,
saved to do good works, saved from hell,
saved to prosperity, saved to peace, saved to wholeness,

saved to righteousness.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:21
There the Lord will be our Mighty One.
(As He brought His people into the City of God, into Jerusalem,
establishing it as His chosen dwelling place,
there, in the place where the Lord is, the Lord Almighty reigns,
and His is a Kingdom where His sovereign power is complete
and where His peace and stability rule.)
It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
(Not incidentally, Jerusalem has no river in its boundaries
because it is watered by the river of God's presence.
In the same way, His presence in our lives today
waters our lives with living water, with all we need from Him.
Jerusalem's literal lack of a river water supply
is a picture of lack and insufficiency in our own lives.
It was no accident that God chose a city
with no natural water supply as His dwelling place.
He Himself is Jerusalem's rich and plentiful supply,
and He is the supply in our lives today,
making our lives productive and fertile.)
No galley with oars will ride them,
(Just as a broad moat or river surrounding an encampment
protects it from intruders, serving as a buffering barrier,
the mighty river of God's Presence protects us today, as well,
and nothing can breach the protective river of His love that surrounds us.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:20
Look on Zion, the city of our festivals;
your eyes will see Jerusalem,
(The Lord is encouraging the Israelites to look at the results
of His having prevailed over the enemy.
The City of God lies before them, the very place of His abode,
the place He has declared belongs to Him,
the place where He has decreed He would commune with His people
and engage them through solemn assemblies and feasts.
Earlier defeats and devastation are now replaced
with God's restoration of their physical and spiritual home.
When we are faced with circumstances
that seem to belie the power and purposes of God in our lives,
He calls us to look to Him, to look on what He brings about,
to fix our eyes on His promises and deliverance which never fail.)
a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.
(He has ordained and prepared this city where He lives.
Unlike the tabernacle that had to be dissembled to move from place to place,
He has ordained and prepared us to be His dwelling place,
and we, like the temple, are fixed in a sure foundation,
a temple secured in the foundation of His salvation,
and we now no longer wander from crisis to crisis.
Rather we experience His peace, our lives planted firmly in Him,
no longer to be taken apart and shifted and transported
to places of wilderness need,
but remaining firm in the sure foundation that is our God.
There we experience His peace and security
and enjoy the richness of His Presence.)

May the Lord richly bless you this Day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:17-19a
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.
(When the Israelites were freed from the siege of the enemy,
they saw King Hezekiah, no longer in sackcloth and mourning,
but in the beauty and power of victory,
a foreshadowing of Christ in His triumph.
When we focus on King Jesus today,
Christ also reflects the deliverance and victory that He offers us.
No longer do we live in defeat,
besieged by circumstances and situations,
but we dwell in the far reaching and expansive and powerful
Presence of the Lord.)
In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:
“Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?”
You will see those arrogant people no more. . . .
(As we look to Him and the power of His Presence,
as we reflect on the misery and terror that had besieged us
through difficulties and challenges in our lives,
we see that those powers of darkness are nowhere to be found
and that their influence has disappeared.
Where once we lived in fear and stress,
now in Christ's presence, we thrive in His provision and triumph.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:15-16
Those who walk righteously and speak what is right,
(The Lord gives a clear explanation of His expectations for us today,
that our daily activities are without blame
and our speech is sincere and upright.)
who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes,
(We do not gain benefit or make profit unjustly or by force.)
who stop their ears against plots of murder
and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—
(When those around us engage in intrigues to hurt others,
to destroy their lives, or to commit evil acts,
we refuse to participate even by listening to or watching
or even associating with others who are so engaged.)
they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,
whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
(Because of the Lord's imprint on our lives,
because He directs us and enables us to walk according to His expectations,
He makes for us a dwelling place that is secure,
a stronghold against the enemy, a place that is impregnable to invasion.)
Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.
(His provision is complete, even to the food and drink we require to exist.
Once again, He reminds us today that His standards of righteousness
are beyond what we can achieve in our own strength
and that we have to stand in His righteousness.
Once again, He reminds us that He supplies all our needs
and that His provision is sure and plentiful.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:10
“Now will I arise,” says the Lord.
“Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up."
(Isaiah has just described the people's plight
and their  oppression from enemy forces.
In desperation and defeat, the people are reduced to nothing,
unable to muster any strength to come against the devastation
that lies around them on every side.
The power of the invasive influences has been too strong.
Only the God of Israel can effect any change in their circumstances.
Only He can deliver them.
And, using His covenant name that asserts His commitment to us,
He declares He will deliver His people.
In His timing, in His power, in His glory,
He reminds us that in our own strength
we are inadequate and ineffective to fight the battle before us today,
but that He chooses to reveal Himself,
to rise up on our behalf, and to deliver us once again.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:6
He will be the sure foundation for your times,
(Whether we are looking for a sure foundation for our country and our world
in these uncertain times in which we live
or, more personally, in our immediate lives today,
the Lord is the rock of our foundation,
both in the wider context of our country and in our personal arena.
He is the One Who changes the times and seasons,
and He is always in control, even during times of upheaval and change.
As solid as a rock, His foundation is secure.
The upheavals never shake His foundation
or cause Him to lose control over His world.)
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
(His salvation, His wisdom, His knowledge
are the elements of our foundation in Him,
a rich storehouse available to us today to equip us to meet our times.
When we look to Him, with the reverence and worship that is due Him,
He opens to us His treasure of resources
with which to enter into the times of our lives.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

 

Sally

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:5
The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high;
(There is no other God besides our God,
the celebrated and glorious God Who is high and lifted up,
the God Most High Who makes His home in the highest heavens.
He is not small or weak or inadequate or ineffective in any way.
He is LORD, Jehovah God, Who has chosen us as His people.)
He will fill Zion with His justice and righteousness.
(This Mighty God not only fills the heavens,
but He fills Zion, His chosen city, with His presence.
As a picture of us today, Zion is chosen by the Lord,
in whom He has placed His mark,
and in whom He has chosen to make His earthly dwelling place.
Today, we are God's chosen and marked and His dwelling place.
And where He is, there is His just judgment,
completely righteous because of His goodness and holiness,
a justice and righteousness that not only transforms us, but also protects us,
from both remaining in darkness and immaturity
and un-righted wrongs committed against us.
Because of Who He is in our lives today,
we can depend on His goodness and truth to overshadow us.
As He fills us with His presence today,
we can depend on Him to lead us and protect us.)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

 

Sally

513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:3
At the uproar of Your army, the peoples flee;
when You rise up, the nations scatter.
(When the Lord comes in with an uproar,
like a threat of an impending thunderstorm,
the invading army hears the mighty tumult of the army of God,
and its forces are overcome in defeat and retreat.
The army of the Lord comes in like a flood of rushing waters
to overpower what comes against us today.
His Presence disperses the enemy forces.
They cannot withstand the Lord's mighty power.
They are compelled to withdraw and are forced into flight.)

May the Lord richly bless you this Day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 33:2
Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you.
(When the Israelites saw the impending Assyrian army threat,
they turned their hearts in desperation to the Lord.
Today, when we see the enemy aligned against us,
when difficulties beset us,
when forces are coming at us beyond our control,
that is the time we look to the Lord for His intervention as our only hope.)
Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.
(In the time of distress and attack, when our own resources
are ineffective and inadequate to resist what is before us,
the Lord is our strength as we begin each new day.
Just as the Old Testament priests offered the morning sacrifice each morning,
so when we begin our day with a sacrifice of time spent with the Lord,
we are intentionally drawing on His strength for the day.
Then no matter what lies in our path,
we have His guidance because we have spent time
looking and hearing what the Father is doing
and accepting His invitation to join Him in His purposes for us for the day,
for He alone is our salvation today.)

May the Lord richly bless you this Day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings,

Sally
513 254 3874

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Isaiah 32:19-20
Though hail flattens the forest
(As the Lord works in us to bring about His likeness in us,
the grace of His hail of judgment
flattens the forest of the places in our lives
that are not yet healed and made whole.
His judgment, one of His sure attentions to us,
is just as sure as His blessing and just as welcome
so that we don't continue in unrighteousness,
but grow out of the places that remain barriers
to all that the Lord desires to do in us.)
and the city is leveled completely,
(Even though the difficulties resulting from the Lord's refusal
to allow us to remain in our unhealed states
may, in many ways, raze our lives,
He brings us low to cause us to look to Him and to His purposes.)
how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream,
and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.
(As His judgment and correction and discipline
move us into wholeness and blessing,
then, our lives are characterized by His rich planting
in us of new life and hope,
a planting watered by the Word of Truth
that allows an expanded freedom of our soul's prosperity and influence.)

May the Lord richly bless you this Day!

In Christ's love,

 

Blessings,

 

Sally

513 254 3874