RantandRave

1 Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the LORD called me;
from my birth he has made mention of my name.

2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.

3 He said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor."

4 But I said, "I have labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand,
and my reward is with my God."

5 And now the LORD says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD
and my God has been my strength-

6 he says:
"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

7 This is what the LORD says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
"Kings will see you and rise up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."


This really spoke to my heart in these days. I am in the midst of trying to write a poem or song referring to this passage of scripture. Stay tune!

Labels: Isaiah, servant

This is a hot topic among Christians.

Couple of questions:

What do you do for devotions?
Is it a planned time?
Do you use organized materials(ie devotion book)?
If married do you do devotions together? Do you pray together?

It is important that we are in the Word of God, that we allow the Word of God to become worked into the very fabric of who we are as individuals living our lives for Jesus Christ. The Bible is not there just to read like an ordinary book, glancing over the words, skipping words, phrases, meanings. But the Word of God is God given, breathed, meant to study over, to infect our minds, apply it to our sinful hearts and minds, lived out in our everyday goings.

I believe that it is equally important that we are in prayer with God. I always struggle over what prayer is to be, to look like. Some often use it as a sounding board to vent frustration, anger, confusion, and still others just use it as a giveme list of things that they must have and need. I must confess that I have used prayer in my own life as all of the above. But over the last few weeks I have mulled over something that my Grandmother used to say, "I don't pray, I just talk to God!" How do you pray? Is it only in the heat of the moment? We should be about talking to God. We should praise God each day that God chooses to breathe life into our dry bones as Ezekiel says. Giving God glory for allowing the pleasure of this Earth that was created by Him, and ultimately we are responsible for.

God is Good and we should be about living out His Word and we should be about talking to Him giving Him glory and honor only due to Him.

Labels: Bible, devotions, glory, God, honor, praying, Word of God