Never Doubt. Never Forget.

This week I thought I’d share some powerful passages in the Bible that might encourage you.

Read slowly. Pause where necessary. Stay to the end.

Isaiah 52:13-15 (Amplified)

Indeed, My Servant (the Messiah) will act wisely and prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. Take a moment to praise and exalt Jesus Christ / Yeshua, our Messiah.

Just as many were astonished and appalled at you [Israel], My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form [marred] more than the sons of men. Deeply ponder this statement.

So He will sprinkle many nations [with His blood, providing salvation], Kings will shut their mouths because of Him; for what they had not been told they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand. Reflect on the fact that He is the King of the nations — a God of justice and mercy. We have no reason to fear the unrest in the world.

Isaiah 53 (Amplified)

Who has believed [confidently trusted in, relied on, and adhered to] our message [of salvation]? And to whom [if not us] has the arm and infinite power of the Lord been revealed? Consider the magnitude the gospel has to transform. When have you last shared the good news with someone?

For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant), and like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majestic splendor that we would look at Him, nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him. What appeals to you in a Christian leader, preacher, teacher? Would you be attracted to Jesus based on this verse?

He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief; Pause. Jesus was a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Are you in sorrow, pain, or grief? Take some time here and pour your heart out to the One who understands it better than anyone.

…and like One from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him. How do you show your appreciation for the Lord’s value and worth, daily?

But [in fact] He has borne our griefs, and He has carried our sorrows and pains; yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken, struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; the punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, and by His stripes [wounds] we are healed. Pause and ponder these verses deeply before moving on. What does all of this mean for you?

All of us like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, each one, to his own way; but the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] to fall on Him [instead of us]. Ask the Holy Spirit to examine your heart. Where have you turned to your own way recently? Take some time to pray, repent, and recommit your life to Him.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth [to complain or defend Himself]; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before her shearers, so He did not open His mouth. We follow Christ’s example. Where are you holding on to offense? Anger? A need for justice or retaliation? It’s time to lay it down.

After oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation [His contemporaries], who [among them] concerned himself with the fact that He was cut off from the land of the living [by His death] for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke [of death] was due? Selah.

His grave was assigned with the wicked, but He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. He is worthy of all honor.

Yet the Lord was willing to crush Him, causing Him to suffer; if He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand. The love of the Father was so great towards us that He sent His only Son to be our salvation. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He shall see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One, My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him], for He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins. Set aside time today to worship Him.

Therefore, I will divide and give Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because He [willingly] poured out His life to death, and was counted among the transgressors; yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many, and interceded [with the Father] for the transgressors. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingom (Psalm 45:6).

Never Doubt. Never Forget.

Be not weary in well doing, my friend, for you will reap if you do not lose heart. If you find yourself weary, retrace your steps mentally back to the wicked gates through which we passed, the broad way on which we were once walking — and reflect on what God has done in you since then…and be encouraged! You (and me) are walking "wonders of the world", and He is not finished with you yet.

How is this kind of change possible?

Because...the only begotten Son of God left heaven and came down to earth, having divested Himself of the insignia of His eternal glory, and humbled Himself, and was born a babe, and put in a manger, and endured the life of this world. He was spat upon and reviled, and had a crown of thorns thrust into His head, and was nailed upon a cross and bore the punishment of my sins, and your sins, and all sins — justifying many so that He should see His spiritual offspring and we should live forever, together…with Him!

Never doubt for a second the greatness and glory, the wonder and nobility of the Christian walk in which you are engaged. You’re set in the most glorious campaign in which a man or woman can ever enter, and the noblest road the world has ever known. Never doubt it. Never forget it.

May this song be a blessing to you today: Lord Take Up Your Holy Throne

God Bless You,

Carole