5th Dec.
Topic: COMFORT, O COMFORT MY PEOPLE
Text:Isaiah 40:1-5
"Comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God.” – V.1 (NKJV)
Israel punishment for their sins was that they were exiled from their land and became captives in strange lands. Your own discomforting discipline might come from abandonment, lack of provisions, failures, shame, broken relationship, bereavement of dear ones, or sickness. First, ensure that you belong to God by repentance and faith in His redemption. Second, acknowledge God’s justice, righteousness for His discipline or punishment in your life. Thirdly, watch in prayers; remind Him of His promise to comfort you with time of refreshing. See Acts 3:19,20. The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD will bring good news to you. He would comfort the brokenhearted and set the captives and prisoners free. See Isaiah 61:1. Isaiah 40: 3-5 emphasizes the importance of your preparation for the Lord’s visitation: forgive yourself and others; start greeting the unlovable; share your food and shelter with the hungry and the homeless; and help the helpless. (See Isaiah 58: 6-7; Luke 3: 4-6). You will witness testimony of God’s glory in your life.
Emphasis:
God would comfort the brokenhearted and set the captives free.
Prayer:
Thank You our God for Your righteous discipline so that we might enjoy your holiness.
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
Ephesians 1-3
6th Dec.
Topic: GOD STRENGTHENS THE POWERLESS
Text: Isaiah 40:27-31
“He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak.” – V. 29. (NLT)
This passage switches between probing questions (vs.25,27) which expose the problems there were between God and His people, and prophecies about the nature of God which answer those questions, appealing to people to believe what has been revealed. Isaiah’s next question reflects the problems and doubts which many people have when faced with talking about God. On the one hand people tend not to believe that God is really interested in what they do, and on the other they complain when God appears not to help them when things go wrong! (see v.27!) Isaiah responds to this illogical but common complaint about God with a wonderful and powerful poem which proclaims the truth about God. He is the Creator, He knows everything and can do anything (v.28), and He cares for people by helping them not just in a general sense (‘He gives strength to the weary’ (v.29), but in spectacular and specific ways as well! He transports the needy human spirit and revives the soul; ‘for those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength and will rise up on wings like eagles!’ (v.31) giving us the spiritual energy we need to face life and the world and live as God intended!
Emphasis:
God gives strength to the weary
Prayer:
I’m weak; but You are strong, Lord. Make me stronger than my challenges.
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
Ephesians 4-6
7th Dec.
Topic: MY GOD HAS BECOME MY STRENGTH
Text: Isaiah 49:1-7
“And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.” – V.5
The idea of the Lord forming His Servant in the mother’s womb (49:1) reminds us of David’s great psalm 139; ‘for it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.’ (Psalm 139:13). In verse 2, the phrase ‘He made me like a sharp sword … like a polished arrow … hid in His quiver’ (49:2) reminds us of Psalm 127 which describes the descendants of Solomon as like a Quiver full of arrows (Psalm 127:4). The picture is also taken up in the New Testament by the writer of the letter to the Hebrews who speaks of the ‘Word of God’ as like a ‘two-edged sword’ (Hebrews 4:12), or the ‘sword of the Spirit’ in Ephesians 6:17. God’s strategic planning is the forming of His servant to do His will. The commission is that He is to return Jacob to the Lord again. Furthermore, by His Spirit to be a light and salvation unto the ends of the earth (verse 6 cf. Acts 1:8). Likewise, believers are strengthened for God’s agenda to take the Good News far. God strengthen the weak, renew their strength to do the impossible tasks of winning the nations.
Emphasis:
When we allow Him, He renews our strength, and makes us a polished shaft in His hands.
Prayer:
In my exhaustion, Lord, strengthen me, that I may take the good news far.
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
Philippians 1-4
8th Dec.
Topic: THE LORD HAS COMFORTED HIS PEOPLE
Text: Isaiah 49:8-13
“Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their sorrow.” – V.13 (NLT)
How has God comforted you? This speech (v.13) begins with a promise of God to act to bring salvation (49:8). At the beginning of verse 9 there are four great covenant promises of God which follow on from this; He will ‘establish a land’, ‘allocate ... inheritances,’ release prisoners and bring enlightenment. Which of these do you need? You may affirm it in your prayers.
The passage then continues with a series of three pairs of promises, each one introduced by ‘they will ...’ (49:9,10). All of these promises are about sustenance and guidance. God Himself will do the work required, and He will sustain His people through the difficulties they face; ‘they will feed along the pathways ... they will not hunger or thirst ... they will be led ...’ At a time in the life of God’s church when there is a great deal of emphasis on renewal (and quite rightly so) it is right for us to be reminded that salvation is God’s work, and we are dependent upon His sustenance.
Emphasis:
The covenant promises of God are comforting and are our sustenance.
Prayer:
Sing the song, ‘He is able; abundantly able, to deliver and to save. He’s able abundantly able to deliver those who trust in Him.’
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
Colossians 1-4
9thDec.
Topic: I WILL NOT FORGET YOU
Text: Isaiah 49:14-18
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” – V.15
What an amazing transformation! God’s people, formerly captives living in darkness, are brought safely home! They thought they were forsaken and forgotten, but God’s commitment to His precious children is more certain than a nursing mother’s love for her child. With great compassion He is now bringing them comfort (40:1). From all directions God’s people are rushing back to the land. There will be lots of people, lots of help from the influential and great honor in place of humiliation. Jesus died not only for the Jewish nation but “also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one” (John 11:52). He plans for the whole human race to know that He is powerful to save and redeem His people. Do you feel “bereaved and barren… exiled and rejected” (21)? Lift up your eyes, and see what God is doing! Hurry home! Find your place in the international community of the redeemed! {Reference: Daily Discovery 07/21/2018 Scripture Union USA}
Emphasis:
God’s commitment to His precious children is more certain than a nursing mother’s love for her child.
Prayer:
My Father, I thank You that You have not forgotten me, You have engraved me on the palms of Your hands; I am Yours (vs.15b,16a).
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
I Thessalonians 1-5
10th Dec.
Topic: I AM THE LORD, YOUR SAVIOR ISAIAH
Text: 49:22-26
“I will personally save your children. Then all flesh will know that I am the LORD; Your Saviour and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” – Vs.25b, 26b.
Look at God’s answer to these charges in verse 25; He states categorically that He can overturn the human order of things; ‘captives of a victor can be taken’ and ‘the plunder of a tyrant be rescued’. He also emphatically declares that He will ‘oppose those who oppose you’, in other words, He will intervene in history to protect His people and to save them. He says ‘I will personally save your children!’ What other declaration and promise can we want from our God? Is this not enough for us to hear and accept that our God will put His enemies in their place. All flesh’ makes clear that God is only interested in saving the whole of His Creation, and this is the lesson which Israel could not stomach and the reason for her failure. Once chosen, she wanted to have God for herself, but God tore Himself away and said ‘No – my desire is for all flesh’. Make no mistake, God’s purposes for His world are ‘salvation and redemption’ (v.26). The church of God today can claim exactly the same Gospel as that announced in Isaiah 49:26, and the only addition we might wish to make to the last four lines of this verse are that we now know who this Saviour and Redeemer is. We know that the Servant is Jesus Christ, but His purpose and mission is the same as that prophesied by Isaiah.
Emphasis:
God is only interested in saving the whole of His Creation
Prayer:
I place to one side all the cares of my soul and place myself in Your hands, O Lord, my Saviour and my God. I rest in You, I take my peace from You, I learn from You, I look forward by Your guidance, and I rejoice in Your presence
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
II Thessalonians 1-3
11th Dec.
Topic: THE LORD GOD HELPS ME
Text: – Isaiah 50:4-11
“Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” V. 7 (NIV)
The one who is most qualified to help other people learn, is one who has learned for himself or herself. True teachers are the best helpers of all profession and life skills. The Servant (Jesus) is one who has learned the truth about humanity through the centuries old covenant relationship between God and His people. Indeed, even as the Christ, Jesus was humble enough to come to this world as a child and learn like any child and teenager (Luke 2:39f and Philippians 2:4f.), and He waited until His Father said He was ready for His task! This is what makes Jesus the most quoted teacher in the world. We should follow His example and be teachable. The Servant speaks about His ministry of care and learning (v.4) in a way that reminds us particularly of Jesus. He also speaks dramatically about standing united with the Lord God in a manner which opens Him up to the abuse and persecutions of the world (vs.5,6). This leads Him to suffer, but He stands firm (v.7) because He is convinced of God’s cause. Our meditation of Jesus and His ministry would be helpful to all who live to serve God.
Emphasis:
True teachers are the best helpers of all profession and life skills.
Prayer:
Lord GOD, give me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary.
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
I Timothy 1-3
Christian! The affirmation in this year's Confession of Faith is what you need in this uncertain time. Whenever you come to your wits' end, you normally ponder whether you are sufficient unto what the challenges demand. And, who then, is sufficient unto these things? The ready answer therefore, should be - "Our sufficiency is of God." We should rely on God for help, particularly in view of the signs of the end-time which make everybody vulnerable. We understand "help" to mean action given to provide assistance or aid. In this context, it is the making available of strength of the Omnipotence during the time of insufficiency. When one is at the end of one's tether and what remains is outside of human resources. God, from the Old Testament to the New, has promised help for His people in their times of need. All they need to do is to call on Him. It is pertinent to say that no promise of God is of private interpretation, and whatever God said to the people of old, in the Bible is, without doubt, applicable to all suppliants. Let us therefore, consider the focal verse in the following four dimensions - ....Click here for more
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