Three thoughts: 1) “Do not provoke to anger” – What provokes anger in your kids? Usually, inconsistent or overly emotional parenting on your part. Your child responds in kind. You are unpredictable and moody, so they are too. 2) “Bring them up in the discipline of the Lord” – This means you follow a consistent pattern of external …
This Messianic prophecy was written 700 years before Christ. Chapter 53 describes in chilling detail the crucifixion of Jesus. There are two threads of prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. One, describes him as the Suffering Servant who will take on our sin, and the second, which describes him as the coming king that will put everything right in the world. Jesus has already fulfilled the first. The second is coming soon.
Anger is an emotional response to a felt offense. It is an emotion, not sin. But uncontrolled anger can result in sin. Submit your anger to the Spirit of Christ. Allow Him to rein it in. This is not stuffing it, but allowing the Spirit to help you control it, so that the offense is properly confronted. Two cautions: 1) Deal with anger urgently within 24 hours “do not let the sun go down,” and 2) Be aware that Satan is looking for an opportunity to insert himself into your relationships through your uncontrolled anger. Properly dealt with, anger can actually energize you to address a needed relational problem.
A home is not built with wood, brick and nails alone, but by wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Its furnishings may be fashionable, but your home won’t be filled with beautiful riches without the Author of Wisdom at its center. You may think that a refi of your mortgage or redoing your kitchen will bring happiness to your house, but what you really need is the Lord as your home’s architect.
The apostle Paul believed that God had not only saved him by the gospel, but He had called him to be its servant, declaring it to all. This is not a call unique to Paul, or even to “ministers,” but to all who believe and are saved by the gospel’s power. We are all “made ministers” of the gospel when we receive it!
We cannot earn or work for salvation, but having received it as a gift of God’s grace, we are called to walk out that which God is working in us. In doing this we become God’s masterpiece (“workmanship” – Greek: poiema). We become God’s poem.
Isaiah reminds us of the temporal nature of this world compared to the eternal constant of God’s Word. Starting every day with reading and meditating on Scripture lifts our eyes from the fleeting to the fulfillment. For the beauty of creation is just a foreshadowing of God’s coming kingdom.
Do not dig up in doubt what you planted in faith! As the Apostle Paul said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6). Or as the Lord told Haggai, “Be strong, do the work, and do not fear,” and leave the results up to God!
Our liberty in Christ is not license to sin. Receiving His righteousness we have been set free from the external law written on stone tablets and received the Spirit of the law written internally on our hearts. We are not called to legalism but to love. We are not under law, but under grace. Yet, this freedom is not to dabble in sin, but it is freedom to serve God and one another. As Victor Frankl once wrote of America, “Our statue of LIBERTY on the East Coast should be supplemented by a statue of RESPONSIBILITY on the West Coast.”
After the Assyrians had conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, they sought to overthrow Judah as well. In response, Judah asked for help from Egypt. God spoke through Isaiah rebuking Judah for trusting Egypt rather than God for their deliverance. In His mercy, He offered salvation to those who would return and find rest in Him. He offered strength to those who would trust Him with quiet faith. Who or what are you trusting for your deliverance?