Open the Bible UK Daily

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”Luke 19:10Jesus is the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost. But how does He seek and save us?How God seeks people who ignore Him: This is why Jesus came into the world. God became man. The invisible God revealed Himself and made Himself known to us in Jesus Christ: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). When you come to know Jesus, you have come to know God.Jesus looks for people who aren’t looking for Him. Peter, James, and John weren’t seeking Him at all when He stepped into their lives and said, “Follow me.”How God saves people who provoke Him: This is why Jesus died on the cross. Brutal men scourged Him, mocked Him, struck Him on the head, spit on Him, pressed a crown of thorns on Him, and then nailed Him to the cross. Those who did this were secular men who did not know God and religious men who claimed to know God. This is what we did to the Son of God. On the cross, Jesus, with arms spread, said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Think about it. “I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people… who provoke me to my face continually” (Isa. 65:2-3). This is what God was doing at the cross.God seeks people who've ignored Him and saves people who've provoked Him. And when you see who He is, you will want to turn to Him, trust Him, know Him and follow Him.Reflect on how God has sought you and/or how God has saved you through Jesus Christ.

Thus says the LORD: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.”Isaiah 65:8You pick up a cluster of grapes. Some of the grapes have gone bad. But you don’t throw them all away because some grapes in the bunch are good. You sort out the good from the bad.God says, “That is what I will do with religious people who claim to know me.” Our Lord Jesus tells us that one day God will bring all people to account—secular people and religious people. On that day, some religious people will tell God what they have been doing for Him, and Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Mat. 7:23).That is what God is saying through Isaiah here. God seeks out people who don’t know Him, and He sorts out people who claim to know Him. It really doesn’t matter if we are secular people who don’t know God, or religious people who claim to know God. All of us need God’s saving intervention in our lives.Paul talks about this in the New Testament: Jews (the religious people who claim to know God) and Gentiles (the secular people who don’t know God) are all under sin. As it is written, “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10).You may want to come to God today and say, “Save me from a secular life that ignores You,” or you may say, “Save me from a religious life that provokes You.” Either way, all of us need to come to Him.Will you come before God today and ask Him to intervene in your life?

This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.Matthew 15:8Religion is a mixed bag and much of it offends God, especially religion that is: Hypocritical (talking the talk but not walking the walk). Personalised (a projection of your own preferences and prejudices). Ritualistic (rites and disciplines that don’t change lives). Dark (seeking communication with spirits of the dead). Rebellious (pursuing what God has told us to forsake). Arrogant (religion that makes you feel superior to other people). This stuff provokes God continually—to His face! (Isa. 65:3).Religion can also be a way of hiding from God. Imagine hearing a knock at your door on a warm, summer afternoon. You peek out through the window and see a couple of students standing outside your door. You open the door, and one of the students nervously announces: “We are from St. Stephen's Church in town, and we have come to talk with you about Jesus Christ and leave a little booklet with you.” Well, you attend St. Jude's Church in town, so you politely decline: “Oh, I’m not interested in that, I already belong to St. Jude's Church,” and you shut the door. There are many people who find that religion is a convenient way of hiding from God. Many people sit in the pews, sing the songs, and all the time they are hiding from God. Jesus said, “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mat. 15:8). Don’t hide from God in religion.Have you been hiding from God?

A people who provoke me to my face continually… These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.Isaiah 65:3, 5Here are several more forms of religion that Isaiah identifies as offensive to God.Dark religion: People “who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places” (65:4). This brand of religion takes a great interest in the dead, seeking communication with the spirits of people who are no longer with us. There’s a great upsurge of interest in this form of religion in our time. But the God of the Bible says that it offends Him.Rebellious religion: People "who eat pig's flesh. and broth of tainted meat” (65:4). In the Old Testament, God’s people were given specific laws that marked their special relationship with Him. These included avoiding certain foods. So, for a person in Old Testament Israel to eat “pig’s flesh" or "broth of tainted meat" was open rebellion against the laws of God. This person was saying, “Whatever God has commanded, I will do the opposite. I am going to be my own god.” And God says, “That provokes Me.”Arrogant religion: People “who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you’” (65:5). Some religious people are unbearably proud. Their religion makes them feel superior to others. But God is saying, “If your religion makes you proud, then your religion provokes me, it offends me.”Maybe you have been burned by religion. You were drawn to seek God but you have been discouraged by what you have seen in church. You have found that among those who claim to know God (in church), there are many who are far from Him. That’s exactly what Isaiah is saying here: “Religion is a mixed bag, and much of it offends God!”Have you been discouraged in your pursuit of God by what you’ve seen in the church?

A people who provoke me to my face continually… These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.Isaiah 65:3, 5Clearly there is a kind of religion that God does not like. It is not pleasing to Him; it actually provokes Him! Isaiah identifies several forms of religion that are offensive to God.Hypocritical religion: “A rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good” (65:2). Here are religious folks who talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. They claim to know God, but they do not do good. God says, “That offends me!” If you’ve been offended by people who claim to know God, but they do not do good, then you agree with God. He is provoked by the double standard of claiming to know Him, yet following a pattern of life that is not good.Personalised religion: “Following their own devices” (65:2). Following your own devices means you just assume that God is “for” whatever you are for, and that He is “in” whatever you are in. It is remaking God in your image, so that your god becomes a personalised projection of your own preferences, prejudices, and desires. And God says, “That offends me! It provokes Me to My face continually!”Ritualistic religion: "Sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks” (65:3). Rituals, rites, and disciplines don’t change lives. You might expect that God would be very impressed with people who are constantly offering sacrifices and burning incense. But a religion that is all about rituals is ultimately empty, and God says that this provokes Him.Which of these approaches to religion is most attractive/tempting to you? Why?

I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices.Isaiah 65:2The rebellious people described here in verse 2 are different from the people who did not ask for or seek God in verse 1.We know that because in the New Testament Paul quotes these verses and tells us that they refer to different people: “‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people’” (Rom. 10:20-21).So verse 1 is about the Gentile nations, the secular people who did not know God; verse 2 is about Israel, the people to whom God made Himself known.There are many of us who belong to this second group. Many of us were brought up with religion. For some, this was positive—you look back on what you learned and you’re thankful. For others, religion was a burden—it felt empty, and it did not bring you to God.Notice what God says to religious people who claim to know Him: “I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people ... a people who provoke me to my face continually" (65:2-3).He’s not talking about secular people who don’t know Him. He is speaking to the religious people who claim to know Him—and He is telling us that religion is a mixed bag. Some religion honours God, but some of it provokes Him.Reflect on your religious upbringing, if any. Would you say that it was more of a positive or would you say it was more of a burden?

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.Isaiah 65:1What do you think God would have to say to people who don’t ask for Him and don’t seek after Him? You might expect Him to say: “There are many people in this world who completely ignore Me. They don’t call on My name. These people don’t have faith. They don’t pray. These people really aren’t interested in Me, and so I am not interested in them.”But that is not the God of the Bible. The first thing we learn about God here is that God seeks out people who don’t know Him, and He reveals Himself. He puts Himself on the radar screen of people who aren’t looking for Him. He says, “Here I am,” to those who don’t know Him.You may not be interested in God. But that doesn’t mean God is not interested in you! People who do not pray find that God shows up in their lives. Those who are not looking for God come to know Him-not because they find God, but because God finds them!That opens the door of hope. Maybe you would say, “I don’t have much faith. I don’t know how to pray. I don’t know God. I haven’t been looking for Him, and I don’t feel very spiritual at all.” If so, you are exactly the kind of person God is looking to restore today.If you were to believe that God is really like this, what difference would it make?

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.Isaiah 65:1Notice who Isaiah is describing here—people who do not ask for or seek God. We might call these secular people today.In Isaiah’s time, this group of people were known as the Gentiles. In the Old Testament, God had made Himself known to Moses and the people of Israel. But the other nations didn’t know Him, and because they didn’t know Him, they didn’t seek Him or call on Him either.These are people with full and busy lives. They are not looking for God or searching after Him. They don’t expect God to do anything in their lives. They haven’t been praying. They did not ask for God or seek God or call out to Him.You know people like this. They may respect your faith, but they really aren’t interested. Their lives are full, and they don’t have either the time or the inclination to seek after God.Or maybe that describes you. If someone asked you, “What do you expect God to do in your life today?” you wouldn’t really know what to say because you are not really expecting God to do anything in your life.Does this describe you? Or someone in your life? Who?

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down…Isaiah 64:1Here is prayer that you could pray:O, that You would rend the heavens and come down. Come down and make Your name known.Even among your own people many have such a vague grasp of Your glory. To many You seem distant. Let us see with fresh clarity, who You really are. By Your Holy Spirit, show us Your love, that we may know the love by which Your Son gave Himself for us. By Your Holy Spirit, show us Your power, that we may know the power by which You raised Your Son from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in heaven. Come and cleanse us from our sins. Break the pride of our self-righteousness, and cause us to find in Christ alone our life, our hope, our righteousness, and our redemption.Make us people who pray. Reshape us as people who strive to lay hold of You. Come down and move among us in power. Come, because You are our Father. Come like the potter, and shape what pleases You in my life and in the church. Make us ready for the day when You will rend the heavens and come down, that we may rise and meet You with fullness of joy. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.Isaiah 64:8Why would God listen to an unclean, unrighteous, dried out, and unstable person? Isaiah gives us two reasons here in Isaiah 64:First, plead the relationship you have with God (your Father): Notice Isaiah appeals to the covenant relationship he has with God: “O LORD, you are our Father” (64:8). That’s the relationship we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Father.When you come to God, say, “Lord, I am an unclean, unrighteous, dried out, unstable person, but hear my prayer today because you’re my Father! In Christ, you’ve adopted me as your son, your daughter.” The only prayers ever offered by a sinless person were the prayers of Jesus. All our prayers hang on the mercy of God. Plead the relationship you have with God in Jesus Christ.Second, plead the relationship you have with God (your Potter): When Isaiah prays, “We are the clay, and you are our potter,” he is inviting God to make whatever He wants of his life. Isaiah is saying, “Here’s my life. Make of me anything You choose. You are the sovereign Lord.”Prayer is not about you getting God in line with what you want. It’s about us getting in line with what He wants. It’s saying, “You are the Potter. I am the clay. I want You to shape my life. Make of this life anything that You want. Do anything with me and in me that pleases You, because I know that what You do is always good.”As you pray, will you plead the relationship you have with God—by pleading for mercy (from your Father), and inviting Him (the sovereign Lord) to make whatever He wants of your life?

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.Isaiah 64:6When you pray, you will feel your unworthiness. We all do. Coming into a holy place makes you feel how unholy you are. Isaiah knew about this too, and he describes it using four pictures:A leper: “We have all become like one who is unclean.” The leper was outside the camp of Israel. He could not approach the presence of God. So Isaiah says, “I come as someone who has no right to enter the presence of God.”A rag: “All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Even the best things that we do, like ministry and service, are not as good as they seem. Augustine said that he did not want to present the works of his hands to God for fear that God might find more sins in them than merits.A leaf: “We all fade like a leaf.” Isaiah felt worn out when he came to God in prayer. “I’m like a dry leaf. I feel drained of energy, lacking in life. I feel as if I have nothing left to give.”The wind: “Our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” That’s a picture of the power of sin. It sweeps us away. Here we are struggling with the same sins and not gaining victory. We’re not prevailing over the world; the world is prevailing over us.When Isaiah comes to God, he feels unclean, unrighteous, dried out and unstable. And this is often our condition too when we come to pray.Which of these pictures do you identify with the most as you come to God in prayer?

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.Isaiah 63:7How do you prepare to pray? One way is to fill your mind with the goodness of God. When you read the context of Isaiah 64, you will see this clearly. It’s like watching an athlete taking a run-up to the long jump: she gathers speed, and then she launches into the air.The run-up to Isaiah 64 begins in chapter 63, where Isaiah fills his mind with God's goodness: "I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love” (verse 7).Isaiah goes on to list the works for which God is to be praised. Isaiah is not praying at this point. He does not address God directly until the end of this verse: “So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.” So, what is Isaiah doing? He is preparing to pray by filling his mind with the goodness of God. Effective prayer arises from confidence in God's goodness.Faith is the conviction that God is always up to something good. So, if you want to pray with faith, begin by filling your mind with the goodness of God and the great truths of the gospel.Take some time to fill your mind with the goodness of God as described in Isaiah 63:7, and allow this to launch you into prayer.

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence-as when ire kindles brushwood and the ire causes water to boil-to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!Isaiah 64:1-2When Isaiah asks God to "come down and make your name known", he is asking for God to come down and make His power known.We may believe that God is able to bring us into heaven when we die, but, at the same time, we sometimes fail to believe that God can give us victory over our habitual sins—our pride, laziness, lack of discipline, lust, or greed. We find a way of living with our sins and we say, 'That's just the way I am,” and over time we lose hope.But when Isaiah prays, “Come down and make your name known; come like fire that kindles brushwood and causes water to boil,” he is asking God to make His power known in a way that changes us. Isaiah knew from his own experience that when a person really encounters the God of the Bible, that person’s life is set on a different track forever.Paul prayed for Christians to know God’s power like that: “that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you… and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:18-20).Where could you ask God to make His power known in your life?

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down ... to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!Isaiah 64:1-2God’s name is a way of speaking about His character. So, when Isaiah prays that God would “come down… to make your name known,” what he is asking is that God would “come down and let us know who you really are.”Isaiah wants even God’s enemies to know Him: “Make your name known to your adversaries” (64:2). But God’s name becomes known to His adversaries when it is known by His friends. That's why revival is first an intensification of God's presence among His own people.So, what does it mean to ask God to “come down and make your name known”? One example is that it means asking God to “come down and make your love known.” God is love. We believe in God, and yet some of us are not sure that He loves us. You believe in Christ, and yet somehow you assume God is frowning on you or at best tolerating you.Even in the early church, Paul prayed that Christians would know the love of Christ: “that you … may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:17-19).Paul was praying Isaiah’s prayer! “Lord, come down and make your name known. Bring your people into a felt experience of your love.”Would you take a moment to pray that God would make His name and His love known to you and those around you on a deeper level?

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.Isaiah 64:1Isaiah’s prayer was formed by the Bible and by his own experience. Isaiah knew from the Bible that God’s presence had come down to Mount Sinai, and when that happened, the whole mountain shook (Ex. 19:17-19). But this wasn’t just history to Isaiah. He had seen the earth-shaking glory of God himself (Isa. 6:1-4).Isaiah felt the weight of the glory of God. He saw it in Scripture. He experienced it in his own life, and now he is saying to God, “I have seen your power and glory. But I live among people who do not know you. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down! Oh, that you would visit your people like you did at Mount Sinai! Oh, that you would give them a glimpse of your glory like you gave me!”Isaiah’s prayer is a passionate longing for a felt sense of the presence of God that will change His people. He is praying, “Come among us, Lord, in a way that shakes mountains. Come in a way that shakes us, that changes us and makes us different.”Imagine what that would look like in your local church. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul talks about an unbeliever coming into a worship service at Corinth. He hears the Word of God with such power and conviction that he encounters God. He sees his own sin. He begins to worship, and he says, “God is really among you” (verse 25). That’s what Isaiah is praying for—a felt sense of the presence of God that would make even an unbeliever know that God is present.Would you take a moment to pray for God’s powerful presence to convict and change your life and the lives of those around you?

“Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”Matthew 21:22Would you consider making it your goal this year to grow in the areas of faith and prayer? That may sound like two goals, but it is really one. For where faith grows, prayer follows. The greater our confidence in God, the more we will ask of Him.Our prayers are the clearest indication of what we really think about God. If you don’t think your king is great, you won’t ask much of him. But if you have a great king, you will ask him for great things. Looking at your prayers will tell you how much you have really grasped about God.Let’s take some examples. Here’s Kathy—she prays for all her family and all her friends. Kathy knows that God cares for each individual, but she has not yet grasped that God cares for the world. When she does, her prayers will become broader.Here's John—he has a well-organised file for his prayer requests. He brings many needs to God and he even tracks the answers, but he has not yet grasped that God is the sovereign Lord who is to be worshipped. When he does, he will enter a deeper communion with God in prayer.Here’s Ben—he is a Christian, but he doesn’t really pray much at all. Ben believes that God saves people through Jesus Christ, but he doesn’t really believe that God does anything much in people’s lives. When he does, he will begin to pray.Wherever you are in your prayer life, may you grow in your confidence and in your ability to ask great things of God and expect great things from God.What does your prayer life reveal about your faith in God?

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down...Isaiah 64:1The Bible records some marvellous prayers and Isaiah 64 is one of the greatest. It is a prayer for revival and because it is in the Bible, we know it was breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God.It is often said that the best way of learning prayer is to pray with other people. There is some truth in that, but there is also this limitation: If you learn to pray only from other people, you will never pray better than the people from whom you learn.Many Christians seem to reach a certain level in prayer and get stuck there. But when you hear or see someone who prays effectively, you will feel that you want to grow in prayer. That’s what happened to the disciples of Jesus. These men had been praying all their lives, but when they heard Jesus pray, they felt that His praying was at a different level, and they wanted to learn. So they said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), and Jesus taught them.That means prayer is something we can learn. You can grow in your ability, your language, your faith, your passion, your confidence, and your effectiveness in prayer. And we need to learn prayer. When people write the history of the UK church in our time, they might say that we excelled in programmes, or in organisation, but they won’t likely say that we excelled in prayer.Do you feel that you need to/want to grow in your own prayer life? If so, would you ask the Lord to teach you too?

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the aflicted. then shall your light rise in the darkness.”Isaiah 58:10There is a story of a monk who had given himself to prayer. All his life, he longed that just once, Christ would appear to him. He had prayed this for years, and then one day it happened.The monk was praying, and as he looked up, there he was: the Lord Jesus Christ standing right there in his cell. The monk was completely overwhelmed. This was the moment he had longed for all his life—a personal audience with Jesus Christ. His mind was filled with a thousand questions he wanted to ask.At that moment, the bell over the door of the monastery rang. The monk knew what that meant. From time to time, a beggar would climb the hill to the monastery to ask for bread. That day, the monk was on duty, which meant that it was his responsibility to answer the door.So now, the monk faced an agonising choice: Would he leave the Saviour and feed the beggar, or would he stay with the Saviour and ignore the beggar?The monk made his decision. Slowly, he rose from his knees, left his light-filled cell, went to the kitchen, and gave the beggar the bread. Then, with great sadness the monk walked back to his room, distraught that serving the beggar had caused him to miss the moment of a lifetime.When he got to his cell, to his absolute astonishment, he saw that the Saviour was still there, waiting for him. He fell to his knees in wonder. And then the Saviour said to him: “If you had not gone, I would not have stayed.”Is there someone in need with whom you can share the presence of Christ?

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.Philippians 2:4-7God’s purpose in sending His Son was to create a people who would become like Him, that we should be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29).He was rich, but He became poor, so that others might inherit the world. He became homeless, so that others may have an everlasting home. He became hungry, so that others might have the bread of life. He was bound, so that others would be set free. He was stripped of His clothing, so that others would be clothed in His righteousness. He suffered injustice, so that others may be justified before God.When you ask the Holy Spirit to restore your soul, you are asking that He will make you more like Jesus. And the distinguishing mark of Christ’s presence in your life will be that you care about others more than you care about yourself.Thank God for all the ways we see reflections of Jesus among us: Those who foster children in need. Those who visit prisons. Those who care for the grieving. Those who have a passion for the persecuted. Those who serve the homeless. Those who care for ageing parents, neighbours, or friends. Those who have a passion for needs in other parts of the world.These are things that Jesus would do. They reflect the kind of Saviour He is. And they show that we belong to Him.What is one way you could better reflect the image of Christ?

The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.Isaiah 59:15-16Do you see what Isaiah is saying? God is going to fight for our salvation. He comes to us and He stands with us as our Champion, when we could not break through to Him because of our sin. He comes to deal with the dark powers that lie behind sin and evil.God is getting ready to fight: "He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak” (59:17). He dresses for battle. He takes up the armour.In the New Testament, Paul tells us to “put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:11). He talks about the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. He got that from Isaiah, and Isaiah tells us that Christ wore this armor when He went into battle for us.Reflect on what it meant for Christ to bring justice for you: He wore the breastplate of righteousness to give you a righteousness you do not possess. He wore the helmet of salvation to rescue you when you could not save yourself. He wore garments of vengeance to defeat the dark powers that oppressed you, and to give them what they deserve. He dressed in zeal to enter this fight that you could not win, and triumph so that you could not lose.Philip Ryken speaks about wearing the “hand-me-downs” from Christ's victory over Satan. Whenever you find yourself in a spiritual battle, you are putting on the armour that Jesus has already worn. Christians wear second-hand armour.How does knowing that your spiritual armour was already worn by Christ strengthen your confidence for the battles that lie ahead?

Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.Isaiah 59:9What hope is there for believers who have neglected justice? The answer is God: “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear” (59:1).But here’s the problem: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (59:2). We have no way of breaking through to God. Our only hope is that He should break through to us.In the middle of the chapter in Isaiah 59, God’s people come to Him in confession. Up until then, Isaiah was saying, “The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths” (59:8). He uses that language because he is speaking the Word of God to the people. But then suddenly from verse 9, Isaiah is standing with the people, talking about “us” and “we.” They turn to God together, owning their own sin and the sin of the nation.Make these words from Isaiah 59 a prayer for yourself and for our nation: “Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom... For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us… we know our iniquities: transgressing. and denying the LORD. and turning back from following our God” (59:9, 12-13).

The LORD saw… that there was no justice.Isaiah 59:15Isaiah 59 paints an astonishing picture of the world in his day and of our culture today, using three broad brushstrokes.1. Truth. “Truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking” (59:14–15). Isn’t that right where we are? Our whole culture has been taken with the idea that truth is just the way you see it; it's what’s true for you. When truth stumbles in the streets, justice falters in the courts.2. Justice. “No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies” (59:4). When truth is lost, justice cannot be found. When a culture is given over to selfishness and greed, the courts become about winning and we find ourselves in a world of spin where it is hard to know what is true and right.3. Life. "Your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity” (59:3). We cannot read this without thinking about the millions of unborn babies whose lives have been taken in this country over the past few decades.We are a culture that is losing justice. We are losing integrity, trustworthiness, truthfulness, loving your neighbour as yourself and caring about the plight of others as if it were our own. At the root of the problem today lies a tide of selfishness, an enormous failure to look out for others as we look out for ourselves, and a massive indulgence in living beyond our means.We can hope and pray that our leaders deal wisely with the economy. But our leaders cannot deal with the greed and selfishness of the human heart. Only God can do that. And that’s what Isaiah is talking about here.Would you ask God today to show you where you are contributing to our failure to look out for one another and/or living beyond our means?

“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.”Isaiah 58:8See what happens when God’s people get a fresh vision for justice:“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily” (58:8). When? When you “share your bread with the hungry” (58:7).“Then… your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard” (58:8). When? When you “bring the homeless poor into your house” (58:7).“Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am’” (58:9). When? When “you see the naked, to cover him” (58:7).That was God’s word through the prophet Isaiah to His people 700 years before Jesus was born. Do you think this speaks to evangelical Christians in the U.K. today? God sees our worship, our Bible study, our prayer and maybe even some fasting. But He is asking what we are doing about the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, the stranger.Do we care about people in desperate need?A young man in his twenties decided to leave the church. Someone asked him: Why did you reject Christianity?This was his answer: "It just seemed too selfish to be true.” The Christians he had seen were interested only in themselves. Their church was about meeting the needs of its own members. The God they believed in seemed to exist to make them healthy, wealthy, comfortable and happy. But the plight of others wasn’t even on their radar.That is what Isaiah is talking about here—the church, ignoring justice.Do you care about people in desperate need? How are you showing it?

“Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?"Isaiah 58:5-7God was looking for something more from His people. Justice means integrity, trustworthiness, truthfulness, doing right, loving your neighbour as yourself, caring about the plight of others as if it were your own.Do you see what God is saying? “I know that you have been to worship, read the Bible, prayed, and fasted. But here’s my question: Have you done something to help someone who is hungry, or who has no home or who needs clothing?”This is not an isolated theme in Isaiah. It goes to the heart of authentic Christianity. “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). In other words: If you do not love your brother, what reason is there to think that you are a Christian at all?A fresh movement of the Holy Spirit begins with God restoring faith, joy and repentance. But it does not end there. Revival begins in the heart, but it does not end in the heart.Why must faith and repentance in your heart lead to love and justice in your relationships?

“Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.”Isaiah 58:1God says to Isaiah, “Declare to my people…” (58:1). Notice what God says about His own people and see if you think this describes Christians today.These people were diligent about their personal relationship with God, serious about worship and serious about studying the Bible: “They seek me daily and delight to know my ways” (58:2), and they were serious about prayer and fasting: “They ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?’” (58:2–3).God’s people had been worshipping, studying the Bible, praying, and fasting, and yet, bad things were happening to them. Trouble had come to their nation. God wasn’t answering their prayers.So, God’s people were frustrated. They felt that God had let them down, and they wanted Him to know that they were not pleased about it (58:3). These believers felt that God owed them and that God was obliged to come through for them because of what they’d done for Him.Hadn’t God seen their devotion? Yes, God had seen their devotion, and He sent the prophet Isaiah to tell the people that He was not impressed: “Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers… Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high” (58:3–4).These believers were no different from other people who did not worship, read the Bible, fast or pray. They had settled for a private piety that left them as self-centred as if they had not known God at all. Their faith was a religious glaze over a self-centred life.Where do you feel that you most identify with God’s people here?

Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?Romans 2:4Repentance begins with a sense of God’s mercy. The natural inclination of your sinful heart will always be to run and hide from God, but when you are persuaded of God’s mercy, you will gather the courage to repent.That’s why faith comes logically and psychologically before repentance. The two are born in the heart together, but repentance flows from faith-not the other way around.Faith tastes the mercy of God and that makes repentance possible. When you see that God is totally for you in Jesus Christ, then you will gather the courage to repent.The prodigal son was eating with the pigs. He was absolutely miserable. But then he came to his senses and remembered, “I have a father who will receive me.” That’s what gives a person courage to draw near.Maybe you have drifted far from God. But right now, God is speaking to you. He is drawing near, not to punish you, but to heal you. He has seen your ways but He wants to show you mercy. He comes to revive your heart.Bible scholar Alec Motyer writes, “Without repentance there is no entering into the comforts of salvation, and only God can sovereignly create the ability to repent… There is nothing in the whole of salvation that is not God’s sole, creative work, not even the words of sorrow by which the penitent comes home.”Ask God to restore and renew your faith in His mercy, so that you may have the courage to repent and return to Him.

“Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him.”Isaiah 57:17–18How does God make a stubborn heart contrite? The stubborn heart is not changed by judgement; it is changed by mercy.Notice, God is provoked by “the iniquity of… unjust gain.” He is angry. He strikes in punishment. He hides His face. And what was the effect of all this? God’s people “went on backsliding.”God’s judgement makes the sinful heart harder. It makes the sinner hate God more. That’s why, at the end of the Bible when God’s judgements are poured out, you don’t find sinners in hell repenting, but continuing to resist God (see Rev. 6:15–16). Judgment cannot make a sinful heart contrite before God. The sinner would rather die than repent.So how does God change a stubborn heart? He says: “I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry… I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him” (Isa. 57:16, 18).It is as if God is saying, “I poured out my judgments on these people. But it made no difference. They did not turn to me. They just kept pursuing their same wilful ways. But I want to heal them. Therefore, I will stop punishing them, and I will show them mercy.” That is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. God’s law condemns, but His love redeems.When have someone’s judgmental words made your heart more resistant? When have someone’s merciful words changed your heart?

“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.”Ezekiel 36:26–27We need to pray for repentance. But you may be asking, “Isn’t repentance something God tells us to do?” In other words: Is repentance something God commands, or is it something He gives?Repentance is a command. God “commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). But repentance is also a gift. In Acts 11:18, we read that “to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”In 2 Timothy 2:25, Paul says that we must gently instruct those who oppose us in the hope that “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.” God grants repentance, so you can ask God to give you a contrite heart. You can ask Him to change your heart. You can cry out to Him “Lord, restore repentance!”This is the promise of the gospel: God will give you a new heart (Ezek. 36:26–27). That’s why we can pray for God to restore repentance. In this prayer, you are asking God to change your stubborn heart. You are asking God, “Pour out your Spirit on me. Cause me to hate what You hate and love what you love. I can’t get there on my own.”Knowing that repentance is both a command and a gift from God, how might this change the way you pray?

You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say, “It is hopeless”; you found new life for your strength, and so you were not faint.Isaiah 57:10Isaiah is describing the stubborn heart. If you are battling an addiction, or you love someone who is, you know exactly what Isaiah is talking about here. You know this is killing you, but you still do it. The sinner gets tired and wearied of his sin but he will not give it up. He finds strength and energy to repeat the same destructive behaviour again and again.Sin is a great mystery. It makes no sense. Why would you do again something that made you miserable the last time you did it? The stubborn heart is never contrite. The stubborn heart says, “I know this is killing me, but I am going to do it anyway.”Let’s not limit this to addictions: You can have a stubborn heart even when you are studying the Bible or you are at bible college. Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You search the Scriptures… yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40).That’s a stubborn heart! The problem that alienates you from God is not on God’s side. The roadblock that stands in the way of God coming to us is the stubbornness of our own hearts.Is there a sin you are tired and weary of, but you won’t give it up? Will you ask God to soften your stubborn heart?

“Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.”Isaiah 57:17The natural inclination of the human heart is not to come to God, but to hide from Him. That goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where you find God coming into the garden to enjoy fellowship with Eve and with Adam. And where are they? Hiding among the trees. Why? Because they are ashamed (Gen. 3:8).We like to think of ourselves as sincere seekers after God. But the truth is that by nature, we hide from God even when we pretend to be seeking Him. “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Rom. 3:10–11).Some of us were brought up with teaching that focused on having a contrite heart. It sounded easy: If you want to draw near to God, all you have to do is have a contrite heart. You’ve got to be sorry, really sorry for your sins.You’ve got to hate your sins and love Jesus.The message sounded easy, but the reality was harder. You found that you loved yourself more than you loved God. Your love for sin was stronger than you thought. You found that even when you were sorry, you went back and did the same things again. You found that your own heart was more stubborn than you thought. Repentance is easy for those who haven’t tried it!Where have you seen signs that the inclination of your heart is to hide from God, even while pretending to seek Him?

“I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”Isaiah 57:15Look at what God is saying and try to take it in: “I dwell… with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit” (57:15). God dwells with the person who is contrite. Contrite means “penitent,” humbled by our own sins and failures, seeking after God.God says, “When I see a person with a contrite spirit, I will choose him or her as my friend. I will stay with that person. I will live with that person. I make my home in that person’s life.”Now notice what God does when He comes to this person: “I dwell… to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” When God comes to the contrite, He revives the spirit. He breathes new life into the heart.Revival in the Bible isn’t a series of meetings with a travelling evangelist; it is God coming to a contrite heart. It is God’s life, God’s Spirit being poured into you, bringing you new life and peace and hope and joy.Do you feel your need for God to revive your heart and restore your soul?

“I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit.”Isaiah 57:15In the year 722 BC, right in the middle of Isaiah’s ministry, the northern kingdom was overrun by the Assyrian army. The people were deported, forcibly relocated to foreign lands, and they would never see Jerusalem again.Then 150 years later, something even worse happened. The Babylonian army marched against the southern kingdom and destroyed the Holy City. The ark of the covenant was lost and has never been found. Jerusalem lay in ruins for 70 years, with God’s people reduced to a small group of refugees living in Babylon.Try to put yourself in their shoes: You know God lives in heaven, but you can’t go to meet Him there. You know that God has promised to meet with His people in Jerusalem, but the city is destroyed; you can’t meet Him there. So what hope is there for finding God when his Holy City is destroyed, the temple is in ruins and the ark of the covenant is lost?Then you hear the words of the prophet Isaiah: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit’” (57:15).This is mind-blowing stuff for these deported people who are miles from Jerusalem and feeling far from God. And it is mind-blowing stuff for all of us who feel far from God today.Do you feel far from God today?

Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place…”Isaiah 57:15God is present everywhere-but where can you find Him? One place is in heaven: God says, “I dwell in the high and holy place." If you could ascend to heaven, you would find God there.God’s people in Old Testament times knew another place where they could find God. When they came out of Egypt, He told them to build an ark—a rectangular box housed in a tent, where the high priest would offer sacrifices. God said, “There I will meet with you” (Ex. 25:22), and the cloud of God's glory filled the tent (40:34-35).When God’s people entered the promised land, God made it very clear that He would choose one place where He would meet with His people (Deut. 12:5–7). It was David who identified Jerusalem as the place God had spoken about. And when the temple was built in Jerusalem, the cloud of God's glory filled it (1 Kgs. 8:10-11). We don't meet with God at the place of our choosing, but at the place of His choosing.You may be feeling far from God and it may be that the reason you feel far from God is that you are far from God. In Isaiah 57, God is speaking to people who are far from Him (57:19), and He talks about removing “every obstruction” out of their way (57:14). God is clearing the roadblocks so that you can get to Him—or better, so that He can get to you.Is there something keeping you at a distance from God?

“Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live… Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”Isaiah 55:2–3, 7The people who go out in joy and are led forth in peace (55:12) are those who develop the habit of hearing God’s Word and receiving it with faith and repentance.Isaiah has a wonderful promise from God about what His Word will do in your life: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (55:10-11).This is one reason why it is so important for you to be in a church where you hear the Word of God applied to your life every week. This is how God speaks into your life. Over time, His Word will accomplish His purpose in you.This is also why any ministry that wants to bear lasting fruit must have the Word of God at its centre. God accomplishes His purpose through His Word. You might accomplish your purpose without the Word, but you cannot accomplish His purpose without the Word.Listen to the Word of God and return to Him. This is a way of life, but it can begin for you today.Are you in the regular habit of listening to God’s Word? Are you listening to it diligently—with faith and repentance?

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price… Seek the LORD while he may be found.”Isaiah 55:1, 6Seven hundred years after Isaiah, our Lord Jesus took up these words: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). This is something for you to do. How can you cultivate your joy in Jesus? You come to Him. It begins with believing, but it does not end there. Because you believe, you come. Ask, seek, knock—and you will receive.First, ask God to give you new joy in His people. Ask Him to forgive you for moaning and complaining and fault finding with His people. Ask Him to forgive you for loving the politics of the church more than the people of the church. Ask Him to give you eyes to see His redeeming work in the lives of other people and to rejoice in this.Second, ask God to give you new joy in His love. This is how David prayed when he longed for God to restore his soul: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Ps. 51:12).Third, ask God to give you new joy in His city. Ask Him to help you to see beyond the disappointments of your life right now. Remember that while there is a future that you don’t know in your city, there is a future that you do know in God’s city. Ask the Lord to give you joy in His city, and you will find that your joy grows in your city.Will you ask the Lord for new joy in His people, in His love, and in His city today?

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!”Isaiah 55:1The ones who find joy in God are the people who have discovered a deep thirst in their own souls: “Come, everyone who thirsts” (55:1), and those who feel that they are bankrupt: “Come… he who has no money” (55:1). They realise they don’t have what it takes to get what they need.You can’t ask God to restore your soul until you know that your soul needs restoring. That’s why the barren woman, the deserted wife and the folks in the ruined city discover this joy. The woman with children, the happily married couple and the successful business person in the city often do not seek it. Their lives are so full that they never ask: What are children for? What is marriage for? What is the city for? Is there a higher purpose, a greater joy?The default mode of the human heart is to seek joy in children, in marriage and in money. The Bible has a name for this: it is called idolatry and idolatry always fails.Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matt. 5:3–4, 6).When you know your soul needs restoring, you will ask God to restore your soul. This is why sorrow is often the back door to joy.Have you discovered a deep thirst in your soul for greater joy in Christ?

"O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.”Isaiah 54:11–12The ruined city is being rebuilt, not with brick and mortar, but with sapphires and precious stones. John takes up this theme of the city built with precious stones in Revelation 21—making it clear that Isaiah is talking about the New Jerusalem, the home of righteousness: “In righteousness you shall be established” (Isa. 54:14).Those who have endured such sorrow in Isaiah 54 find joy in God’s people, in God’s love and in God’s city. The fullness of this joy will be ours when Jesus Christ comes in power and glory. But in Christ, the beginning of this joy is yours already.You don’t have to be a barren woman or a deserted wife or live in a ruined city to experience this joy. Some single people have this joy and some single people do not. There are married people who have this joy and married people who don’t. There are businesspeople who have this joy and business people who don’t. Some poor people have this joy, while other poor people do not.Don’t wait for a disaster in your life to pursue this joy. Joy in Jesus Christ frees you to savour all other joys, and it strengthens you to face all other sorrows.What excuses have you been making for not having joy? Will you renew your pursuit of joy in Jesus Christ today?

“You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”Isaiah 55:12You might expect that the barren woman, the deserted wife and the people who live in the ruined city are the unhappiest people in the world. But Isaiah sees joy in these unlikely places.The barren woman is singing! The abandoned wife knows that she is loved. The ruined city is rebuilt, not with brick and mortar, but with rubies, sapphires, and precious stones. God says to these people: “You shall go out in joy” (55:12). But how can these people, who have known such great sorrow, ever find joy?The barren woman is singing because she is surrounded by a community of people who love her like their own mother, and she finds joy in them as if they were her own children: “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labour! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married” (54:1). The barren woman finds joy in God's people.The deserted wife, who has gone through such emotional trauma, has become confident. She has dignity, is not ashamed and knows that she is loved. God says to her, “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more” (54:4). How? “For your Maker is your husband” (54:5). This deserted woman finds joy in God's love.How have you found joy in God’s love or His people in your sorrow?

“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord.Isaiah 54:10Isaiah 54 paints three scenes of sorrow in verses 1, 6, and 11. The choice of these scenes is significant because our natural inclination is to seek happiness in three places: children, marriage and money.1. The barren woman: “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud!” (Isa. 54:1).In the ancient world, the key to survival was to have children—lots of them. Sons and daughters worked your land and cared for you when you were old. Without them the barren woman faced loneliness and poverty. 2. The deserted wife: “A wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off” (54:6).Maybe you know what this is like. You married young. It seemed that things would work out well, but it wasn’t long before he lost interest in you. All your dreams of joy were shattered. You felt that your life was over. 3. The ruined city: "O afflicted [city], storm-tossed and not comforted” (54:11).What a picture this is for those who have lost their property or their possessions. One writer translates Isaiah’s words as “a tempest-driven city.” That’s the world in which many of us live. Maybe you are living under relentless pressures and they are draining your soul.Our pride, our joy, our happiness and our security get wrapped up in the children we raise, the person we marry, and the possessions we have. So, if your children go off the rails, or your marriage is on the rocks, or your career is in ruins, you feel that your life is a total loss.Which of these pictures do you most identify with today? Why?

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.Hebrews 12:2The desire for joy is universal. One thing that unites us all is that we want to be happy. The famous mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal said, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both... [Happiness] is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”Our desire for joy is never more intense than when we experience sorrow. Some of us carry great burdens, absorb great pressures, endure great disappointments, experience great struggles and live with great sorrows. Over time, this fatigues the body and drains the soul, so when you experience sorrow you need to know this—God is for your joy.You may say, “If it is true that God is for my joy, then you’d better give me a good reason to believe it.” The cross is your reason to believe it. Jesus carried your sorrows for the joy set before Him and so that there would be a joy set before you.If you believe that the Son of God loved you and gave Himself for you, you know that God is totally for you; and if God is totally for you, it must follow that He is for your joy. In fact, God is more for your joy than you are.Do you think God wants you to be happy? Why or why not?

“I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”Genesis 45:4-5If you look at the story of Joseph through the frame of unbelief, it is a catalogue of disasters:1. He was born into a dysfunctional family, where his brothers beat him up and sold him into human trafficking.2.His sexual integrity caused him to lose his job and spend years in prison, after his boss’s wife (who tried to seduce him) made false accusations against him.3. He reached out to help a fellow prisoner, only to find that when the man was released, he forgot about Joseph and did nothing to help him.You read the story and think, this man will be totally messed up, bitter and dysfunctional. But when Joseph is finally reunited with his brothers, he says, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (50:20). That’s the transforming power of the gospel.One of the most amazing effects of the gospel is that your life story looks entirely different when you know that your life is in the Redeemer’s hands. It is the story of God’s love and kindness reaching into your pain and sorrow, your sin and rebellion and redeeming your life for His eternal glory and your eternal joy. Do you want to see revival in your life? Preach the gospel to yourself every day. Tell yourself who you are in Christ. Tell yourself what He has done for you. Nourish your soul on this truth. Bathe yourself in the healing stream of Christ’s love for you.Are you actively rejecting the unbelief that says God is absent and hostile and doesn’t care?

They still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”John 12:37-38When a picture is put in a new frame, that same picture can look entirely different. Before it was placed in the new frame, you barely noticed it hanging on the wall, but now it draws your eye and becomes a very attractive feature.Many people view their lives in the old frame called unbelief. Unbelief is the default mode of the human heart. In this frame, your life looks like a series of events from which God is largely absent. Many Christians profess faith but live in unbelief. You feel that God watches passively from a distance and that He is either unable or unwilling to do anything about your illness, your family, your broken heart. If you look at your life in that frame, you will live in constant confusion, doubt and fear.Now suppose you were to believe Isaiah’s message—that is, you really believe this message of the gospel. Your life would be in a new frame called faith. Faith is the cross-centered conviction that God is always up to something good. You see suffering, pain and death. You hear evil, abuse and injustice. You feel loneliness, heartache and disappointment. But the Son of God loves you and gave Himself for you and that outweighs everything else. God stepped into this world of grief and sorrow so that you would not be abandoned in it or to it.The picture of your life would look very different in that frame. The same life always looks different when you know that life is in the Redeemer’s hands.How might you begin to reset your life in the frame of faith instead of unbelief?

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.Psalm 42:5-6The psalmist models for us what it looks like to address our own souls. Notice, he does not simply listen to his own feelings and thoughts, he speaks to himself. He asks himself questions, and he encourages himself with reasons to hope in God.Every day, you have to reset your soul to embrace, believe, live on and rejoice in all that Jesus Christ has done for you. Milton Vincent puts it this way: "Preach the gospel to yourself every day".Tell yourself who you are in Christ. Tell yourself what Christ has done for you on the cross. Tell yourself how He is with you now. Tell yourself what lies ahead of you.Make sure it is the gospel you are preaching to yourself, not the law! Some of us are in the habit of preaching the law to ourselves every day. That will drain the life out of your soul. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6).Christians sometimes talk about spiritual disciplines— reading the Bible, praying, etc. But we should put this discipline at the top of the list: preach the gospel to yourself every day.The Christian life is a life of faith. Faith lays hold of all that Christ has accomplished on the cross, so nourishing this faith is priority number one for a healthy Christian life. Preach the gospel to yourself every day and your soul will be strengthened, lifted, restored and renewed.Are you daily laying hold of all that Christ accomplished on the cross?

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?Isaiah 53:1Who believes the gospel message? That is Isaiah’s question: “Who has believed what he has heard from us?” He’s asking God’s people, those who are known by God’s name.Then he asks a second question: “To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Who gets it? Who gets the life- changing power of what God has done in Jesus Christ?You may say, “I do. We do. It’s in our statement of faith. We believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.” Really? Would you say that you have lived this week in the conscious knowledge that the Son of God loves you and gave Himself for you? Knowing this subconsciously won’t change your life. Signing off on a statement of faith won’t restore your soul.In his short book, A Gospel Primer for Christians, Milton Vincent says that many Christians make the costly mistake of viewing the gospel as “something that has fully served out its purpose the moment they believed in Jesus for salvation.”Milton says: “The gospel is so foolish (according to my natural wisdom), so scandalous (according to my conscience), and so incredible (according to my timid heart), that it is a daily battle to believe the full scope of it as I should.”Ask yourself: Whatever I may say I believe, am I living—daily—out of a conscious knowledge of the love of Jesus for me?

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.Isaiah 53:11You are an eternal being. And if you have faith in Jesus Christ, the suffering you know in this world is the only suffering you will ever know in your entire life. Think about your eternity. What part is 10, 20, or 30 years in the light of eternity?Isaiah is telling us that what Jesus did on the cross, He did freely and gladly; counting the joy of your redemption greater than the pain of His suffering.The risen Lord already knows that He will look out over a vast company of redeemed people that no one can number. He already knows all of us by name. Already He walks with us and rejoices over us, as He will for eternity. Already He sees us—forgiven for our sins, healed from our wounds, brought out of our sorrows and into His everlasting joy. Jesus counts His own joy in us greater than all the pain of His suffering. And He lives to bring us into that joy.This means you are more loved than you ever dared to dream. It’s almost frightening to think of being loved that much. This love—the love of the Saviour who offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, substituting Himself under the piercing, crushing, chastising and wounding that belonged to us on account of our sins, so that we might have peace and healing as we are redeemed from our suffering-this love, this sacrifice, this Jesus, is your salvation.Reflect on the anguish of Christ’s suffering and the weight of this eternal redemption He has paid out of His love for you.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healedIsaiah 53:5What kind of heaven would it be if there were no cancer, but there was still human trafficking? What kind of hope would it be to have no death, but still to have sexual abuse? What joy would there be in a heaven that was divided by race?In order to free the world from human trafficking, sexual abuse, and racism, you have to free the human heart from greed, lust, and pride. Suffering continues as long as sin remains. Therefore, redeeming the world from suffering must include redeeming the world from sin.Sin and suffering are wrapped up together in the Bible. They came into the world together, they exist in the world together, and God will take them out of the world together. Suffering will end when sin is defeated.Christ came to redeem you from suffering and sin. And Isaiah tells us how Christ redeems you from your sins— by sacrificing Himself as your substitute. Look at how Isaiah puts it (Isa. 53:5):He was pierced… for our transgressions He was crushed… for our iniquities He was chastised… to bring us peace He was wounded… to bring us healingWhen Jesus suffered and died on the cross, He did more than enter our suffering as a friend. He not only suffered with us, but He also suffered for us.What suffering do you see in this world? Give thanks that Christ has redeemed you from both suffering and sin by his sacrifice on the cross.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.Psalm 23:1-3How does God restore your soul? By leading you to Jesus Christ. This is what He was doing through the ministry of Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Jesus, and this is what He wants to do in your life today.Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest statements in the Bible of what Jesus has accomplished for His people. Here is the first thing Jesus has done for us: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (53:4). He came to redeem you. That means He came to release you, set you free, do whatever it takes to get you out of the mess you are in.When Isaiah spoke about the redeeming work of Jesus, he did not begin with our guilt and sin; that comes later. He started with our suffering. That would include the division in our families, the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or a pain from the past.Jesus has not abandoned you in your grief and sorrow. He refused to remain in heaven at a distance from your pain and your tears. He came near, and He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows for us. Jesus will not allow suffering to be the last word in your life.What grief or sorrow could you ask the Lord to redeem you from?

“This people draw near with their mouth and honour me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.”Isaiah 29:13The London underground system is a marvellous way of getting around the city. However, some of the station platforms are on a curve, which means that there is a gap between the edge of the platform and the side of the train. If you are in one of these stations, there is a looped recording that plays every time the train comes in: “Mind the gap. Mind the gap.” You can even get London underground t-shirts that say, “Mind the gap”.For many Christians, there is a huge gap between the faith we profess and the life we experience. That’s where God’s people were when Isaiah wrote, about 700 years before the birth of Jesus.Isaiah's ministry lasted about fifty years (from around 740 to 690 BC). Right in the middle of that—in 722 BC—one of the greatest disasters in the history of God’s people happened. The northern kingdom of Samaria was overrun by the Assyrians. The ten tribes in the northern kingdom were all marched off and relocated to other parts of the Assyrian Empire.These people professed faith. They were known as God’s people, but their experience of life had been quite desperate. So God sent Isaiah and gave him a message about Jesus, and how all would be theirs—and ours— through faith in Him.These people lived 700 years before the birth of Jesus. We live 2,000 years after the birth of Jesus. So we are in the same position as them—living by faith in this Saviour.Where do you see the largest gap between the faith that you are professing and the life that you are experiencing?

You are not your own. for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.1 corinthians 6:19-20Knowing that you will one day be raised and given a resurrection body, how should you live in your present body? Recognise that you are wholly owned by Jesus Christ. Christ has the right to determine where you live and what you do. He bought you with His own blood, and over every area of your life Jesus Christ says, “Mine.” You are not your own. Your life is His to spend, and the great calling of your life is to glorify Him.Be done with everything that defiles your body or soul. “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). Paul could have appealed to laws, but instead he appeals to promises. He is going for a higher motivation.Use your mind in a way that glorifies God. Don't pollute your mind. Fill your mind with what is pleasing to God. It’s the same with your body. Don’t use your body as a vehicle for sin (Rom. 6:13). Use your eyes, ears, hands, and feet in ways that honor Christ. Let your tongue speak words of kindness and your hands be a means of helping, not hurting others.Are you living in your body as if it belonged to you, or as if it wholly belongs to Christ?

The resurrection body will be imperishable and glorious. How else will it be different from our present bodies?Your body will be powerful: “It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1 Cor. 15:43).Donald Macleod says that the resurrection body is going to have more energy, more stamina, more athleticism, more speed, more coordination, and more durability than it ever had—because we’re not going to need the body less, we’re going to need it and use it more.Think about what this will mean for all of our friends who have physical challenges that have restricted their lives in this world. What will it mean when finally and fully Jesus· words will come true in all of their fullness? The blind will see, the deaf will hear, and the lame will walk.Your body will be godly: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (15:44).We are using the word “godly” here, because the word “spiritual” is often misunderstood. The resurrection body is a physical "fesh and bones" body. When Paul speaks about a “spiritual body,” he is talking about a body that is fully responsive to the Holy Spirit. In the resurrection body, you will never feel or think or say, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Your resurrected body will be as eager to do the will of God as your redeemed spirit.Here is what you have to look forward to in the new heaven and new earth—a glorious and powerful body that is adapted to life forever, and that is fully responsive to the Holy Spirit.Do you feel the limitations and weaknesses of your body? Take heart that your resurrected body will be fully and powerfully responsive to the Holy Spirit.