Fri.'s Devo - Getting Back the Land

Read Isa 7:20-25
God is going to use the Assyrians to be his hand of judgment on Judah. They will be like a barber shaving off the hair from the bodies of God's people. Hair is a picture of covering and to shave off a Jew's beard caused him great shame and dishonor. It reduced them the position of a slave. Isaiah said that they would be exposed from head to feet and their pride will be no more. Where there used to be abundance there will be lack. They won't be able to squeeze a harvest from the land. Their blessings will turn to curses. In the garden, when God cursed Adam and Eve and the serpent, he also cursed the land. We are very closely related to the land we live in. When God blesses a nation he blesses the land. When he curses a nation, he curses the land. That is why we are to pray that God will heal our land. (2 Chr. 7:14) God blessed the land of Israel and set it aside for his people. When they obey they gain more of this land and God's spiritual clock starts. When they disobey and are forced to leave the land then the spiritual clock stops. In 1948 Israel came back to the land and the spiritual clock started ticking. They seem to be losing land right now so we need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the courage for Israel to fight for their land. Land has never been gained through negotiating peace. Peace must be won through fighting and contending for.
Lord, we pray the Israel will stand up and fight for their land and see your salvation. Help us not to negotiate our peace with the devil. He never plays fair. God has called us to be warriors who don't faint in adversity. Let's get back our land.

Thurs.'s Devo - The Sign

Read Isa. 7:10-20
Ahaz must have had a hard time believing what Isaiah was saying but was too afraid to have it confirmed in a sign. Maybe then he would have to believe. So God decided to give him one anyway. He prophesies both the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary and the birth of a child which will be born to the prophetess, Isaiah's wife in the next chapter. The word "virgin" can also mean a "young woman". She was a type of Mary just as the baby was a type of Jesus. Isaiah says the name of the child will be Emanuel meaning "God with us" which is talking about Jesus. We will discuss the name of Isaiah's baby in the next chapter. Then as quickly as he gives that word about Jesus he shifts back to the present and talks about his baby. He will eat
butter and honey which describes the condition of their land. There only food will be what they can find on their own. In verse 16 it says, "before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good." This is referring to the day he becomes a man and is responsible for his own actions which is the age of 12 - the age Jesus was when he went to the temple and wanted to be about his father's business. By this time the two nations that Ahaz is afraid of (Israel and Syria) will be destroyed. God will use Egypt and Assyria to bring shame on Israel and Syria.
Lord, you are always giving us signs about what you are doing in our lives. Help us to see them and read them correctly.

Wed.'s Devo - God's Encouragement

Read Isa. 7:4-9
Isaiah encourages Ahaz to not be afraid of the intimidating wrath and threats of the king of Syria and the king of Israel. He calls them tails or smoking firebrands. In other words they are not heads and have no fire, only a lot of hot air. Then he tells Ahaz their strategy that only they and God know. (It is good to have a prophet on your side.) That alone had to encourage him. He even tells the king who they had planned to put in his place: Tabeal, which means "pleasing". He would please them in what they told him to do. But God said, it won't happen and not only that, in 5 years Ephraim will be crushed and its people scattered.
If we could only see into the future. Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed in a project or something over my head I remind myself that in a few months or a few weeks this will be behind me. The devil always uses intimidation and fear to freeze us and cripple us from moving forward or just having peace and staying to wait on God's salvation. Like Ahaz, we need the word of the Lord to encourage us. Luke 12 is a chapter of "fear nots". My favorite is verse 32: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Lord, let us hear your words of encouragement over the devil's words of fear and intimidation for greater is he in us than he that is in the world.

Tues.'s Devo - God's Restoration Process

Read Isa. 7:3
Yesterday we read how the king of Syria and the king of Israel had aligned and were coming to intimidate Judah to join them. God sends Isaiah with his son to meet the king of Judah and give him instruction and encouragement. God specifically tells Isaiah to take his son Shearjashub and to meet at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. All this is significant. Isaiah's son's name means "a remnant will return". God was saying, I am still in control and I promise to save a remnant to build this place up again. They were to meet at the end of the conduit of the upper pool. A conduit is a channel into which water is raised for irrigation. It is also a bandage or plaster (as placed upon a wound for healing). God was saying after all these events have run their course I will bring healing and restoration. This "upper pool" is the Lord's pool of healing. But the highway they had to walk on to get to the end of the conduit was the highway of the fuller's field. On the fullers' field they would take the harvest and wash it by stamping with their feet. So to get to healing they would have to be cleansed by a process.
Is that not true of us. America has turned their back on the Lord but through a process of stamping out our sin, God will heal us and our land and a remnant will return back to him.
Lord, may you turn our hearts to you and bandage up our wounds.

Mon.'s Devo- Stand Tall

Read Isa. 7:1-2
Prophesies of the Old Testiment always amuze me because they mix time all up. They prophesy about what is happening at the time then they blend in what will happen in the future when God will establish Isreal in the millennial kingdom. . It is the mystery of the Bible not to confuse us but to make the truth only available to those who search with all their hearts. So, let's search. This chapter starts out with a bunch of kings. Ahaz, the king of Judah is being attacked by Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the king of Israel. Ahaz, which means possessor, was the son of Jotham who had done "that which was right in the sight of the Lord" except he didn't remove the high places where the people offered sacrifices to idols. In 2 Ki. 15:37 it says that it was the Lord who sent these kings against Judah. The name of the king of Syria meant "self, pleasure". And the name of the king of Israel meant "to watch". These two kings had made an alliance to stand together against the king of Assyria. They wanted to bring Ahaz, the king of Judah into the alliance with them so they were threatening to replace him with a puppet king if he didn't join them. That is what is called manipulation and God hates it. Ahaz hears that they are camped in Ephraim, which was Israel's largest tribe and he is terrified.
The devil will use some strong tactics against us to scare us into compromising or choosing the easy way out. The easy way usually costs you so much more. He studies us to find out or weaknesses so we just need to study the Bible and find out our strengths. We'll see tomorrow what happens.
Lord, teach us the strategy of the enemy. Help us to use our weapons which are mighty to the bringing down of strongholds.

Fri.'s Devo - Deaf and Blind

Read Isa. 6:9-13
Isaiah had an "open heaven" experience to cleanse him in preparation of the word he was going to have to give. Also to encourage him because the word he was to give would not fall on hearing ears, seeing eyes, or soft hearts but would, instead, make them hear less, see less, and harden their hearts. God promises that he will always tell his prophets what he is about to do and they must warn the people. So, that is what Isaiah is to do. If they did understand what Isaiah said they would repent and be healed. This devastation was to continue until the cities were torn down and the land left totally desolate. Every man will have to leave when this happens, but like God always does, a tenth will come back and all the trees will be gone. God's holy seed, his fruit, will sustain them. In other words, when these people come back, the remnant, they will find total devastation with no plants to harvest. They will turn to the Lord who will sustain them by the power of his word. I don't know exactly what that looked like but I have never seen manna on the ground every morning either. So before Jesus comes back again God will send prophets to warn us and help us to get prepared. Then he will supernaturally sustain us till he comes.
Lord I pray that you will raise up prophets who know your voice and have eyes to see what you are doing. Make us willing to hear their message.

Thurs.'s Devo -Isaiah's Commission

Read Isa. 6:2-8
In Isaiah's vision we get a picture of what is going on in heaven. God is on his throne and his glory is filling the temple. There are seraphims above him with 6 wings. They use two to cover their face, two to cover their feet and two to fly with. Seraphims are only spoke of 7 times in the Bible and refer to fiery serpents. Remember Satan was once an exalted angel in heaven and manifested in the garden as a serpent because he was one of the seraphims. God sends these creatures to earth to bring judgment or life depending on the circumstance. God sent them down to bit the people and many died in Numbers 21:6, but two verses later he is using a serpent to heal them and give them life. The seraphims in today's verse worship the Lord crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." When they say this the door posts shake and smoke fills the house. It is such an awesome sight that Isaiah immediately repents of his unworthiness to see this. One of the seraphims then takes a live coal from the altar and places it on Isaiah's mouth and pronounced him sinless. Then the Lord asks a question of who will go for them to tell the people the word of the Lord. Isaih says that he will go. What a way to be commissioned!!!
Lord, I wonder if that is what it looks like in heaven when a person is commissioned. Everyday God commissions us to go forth and be the gospel to a dying world. Maybe if we could see this process in heave we would realize the importance of our witness.
Lord, may we be quick to go with the humility of this experience in our mind. Here we are, send us.

Wed.'s Devo - "In the Year that Uzziah Died"

Read Isa. 6:1
This first verse packs a wallop. King Uzziah had been crowned king at the age of 16 and reigned 52 years. His name means "the strength of God". He started out following the Lord and God prospered him and made him strong, but when he was at the height of his power he became arrogant and proud and decided to burn incense in the temple. The priests tried to stop him but he with stood them. When he took the sensor in his hand he broke out with leprosy and ran from the temple. He was leper for the rest of his life and not able to be buried in the place of the kings because of it. Leprosy is a picture of sin since it is a disease of the "flesh" that affects the whole body. Uzziah's sin affected the whole body of the Lord. One day sin will die once and for all and we will see the Lord. When Uzziah died Isaiah had an "open heaven" experience and saw the Lord seated on his throne in heaven. His train which stands for his glory filled the temple. We will one day get to see that.
Lord, help us not to get caught up in pride and miss the display of your glory.

Tues.'s Devo The Flag of the Lord

Read Isa. 5:17-30
Woe is a strong word in the Bible. It means "oh!" or alas and is said about impending doom. Yesterday we had the first 2 woes: towards the materialists and the drunkards. Today we have the last 4. The third is pointed toward the ones that defiantly drag their sin and idolatry before the Lord like a cart strapped to them. They have no shame or fear of God. The fourth woe goes to the people who have no godly discernment and no sense of right and wrong. They have gotten sin and righteousness turned around. The fifth woe goes to those who are righteous in their own eyes and think they can deliver themselves without God's help. And lastly, the sixth woe goes to those who were the leaders who would rather party and feed their flesh than administer justice and honest leadership to the people. (Does any of this sound familiar?) God promises to bring them down. Just like fire consumes straw, his punishment will totally consume them. He will hoist a signal flag to summon the Gentile nations to come and plunder them. Even the light of the sky will be darkened it will be so intense and devastating. In chapter 11 God is going to raise that same flag to gather the scattered of Israel back. Isaiah uses that term of an ensign 5 more times in Isaiah. In Zec. God is able to take his people, his flock, and raise them up as stones in a crown, as ensigns upon his land. God never devastates without the plan of restoration. He works everything for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. So be encouraged that what America is going through is for her good. God is purging out our sin and restoring his righteousness in our land.
Lord, may your ensign be lifted up over America and may all the people come to you and be saved.

Fri.'s Devo - The Branch of the Lord

Read Isa. 4:1-6
There is more prophecy in the Bible about Jesus second coming than his first. I guess that is why the scribes and pharisees missed it. This is definitely a prophecy about the second. The first verse gives us a hint as to what will be going on when he comes. The ratio of women to men will be 7:1 because something (probably war) has killed most of the men. There seems to be so much fear in the land that women are willing to pay a man to marry them and give them a sense of worth. The rest of the chapter describes the Lord's second coming. It will be glorious. He is not coming this time despised and rejected, a man of sorrows but as a beautiful glorious branch of the Lord. He will proclaim Jerusalem holy and everyone left living there. Those that rebelled against his gospel will be washed, purged, judged and burned. God will once again cover his people with a cloud by day and fire by night. He will restore the canopy over the earth that was there before the flood. God will set up a tabernacle where they can go to get away from the heat and a refuge from storm and rain.
I can't wait to see this happen either from heaven or earth. Prepare our hearts to be ready.

Thurs.'s Devo - Judgment of Babylon

Read Isa. 3:11-26
There are not too many times God stands up, but it is always connected with judgment. This looks to me like the Great Judgment where God judges the whole earth. In the Old Testament they were told not to reap the corners of their fields but to leave them for the poor. In the end God will reap the four corners of the earth. Everything will be reaped and the wicked will be judged. In Daniel the archangel Michael stands up and ushers in a great time of tribulation for the nations but deliverance for everyone whose name is found written in the book. When God judges he has a senate that judge with him and they always judge the leaders first. The counsel of God first deals with their treatment of the poor and helpless. Then they deal with the pride and arrogance of the fashionable women who are covered from head to foot with every kind of adornment but their hearts are empty and black. Her beauty and beautiful things will be cursed and she will find herself widowed because of war. Revelation calls this woman Babylon. Revelations says of her, "the light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived."
We join with heaven in saying, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are Your judgments."

Wed.'s Devo - Judgment and Promise

Read Isa. 3:1-10
When God's judgment falls on a nation he takes away their substance and support. In this case it is the water supply and the food supply. Then he takes away all the leaders: the spiritual leaders, military leaders, economic leaders and novices have to make the decisions. The incompetent children that will lead have no experience, so they will oppress the people and have no respect for the older more mature. They will lead the nation into more sin but the righteous who follow God will be rewarded and bear fruit. God always remembers his remnant and takes care of them. I was encouraged as I watched the 4th of July program on the grounds of Washington D.C. One of the singers sang "God Bless America" with such intensity. You knew she was a part of the remnant of people who still pray for God to save our land. We live in a land where the majority want a Christian nation and the minority seem to be winning because they speak the loudest. Maybe we need to pray more and speak louder. We have been seeing a shift from the wisdom of the old to the knowledge of the young - even in the church. There is no price for experience and experience takes years.
Lord, have mercy on America and heal our land. May we honor those who have gone before us and given their lives for our freedom and may we fight to keep it.

Tues.'s Devo - When God Shakes the Earth

Read Isa. 2:11-22
God hates pride. How foolish it must look to him. God made us and knows everything there is to know and yet he looks down on man who thinks he has power and can control his own life. In today's verses God is promising to bring down those who are prideful and haughty. God will share his glory with no one and all will one day see. On that day God is going to judge the cedars fo Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan. He is speaking figuratively about the people who like cedars and oaks have strong roots in idolatry. The Assyrians were beating down on them and instead of repenting and turning to God they were turning more meticulously to their idol worship much like the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' time. Religion is man's way of getting to God through his own works. God's way is through repentance from a humble heart. Verse 14 speaks of the high mountains and the hills which are the sectors of society like politics, education, business, religion, arts, and entertainment. Next he condemns the high towers and the fenced walls which are the individual leaders who have positioned themselves above the people and are inaccessible. Verse 16 condemns the ships of Tarshish which was their means of transportation of goods and people. They got gold and silver from Tarshish so these ships were a symbol of wealth and power. Getting things from these ships was like shopping at Prada - great status symbol. But all this was coming down so that God alone would be honored and esteemed. Their whole religious system was about to be changed because God was rising up to shake the kingdoms of the earth. When he does that the people are going to try to find a place of safety. When they cry out to their gods they will realize that their religion in worthless. Every man will be affected. What a picture of our day.
Lord, when you shake the earth I pray that we will have faith that will remain.

Mon.'s Devo - Have Courage

Read Isa. 2:5-10
Isaiah pleads for Judah and Jerusalem to walk in God's revelation not the eastern religions or the magic of the Philistines or any other god than the Lord. These other countries are rich in material things, military power, and merchandise but what they worship is worthless. He tells his people to enter into the rock. We know that rock is Jesus. That is the same rock that followed the children of Israel through the wilderness to the promised land. (1 Co. 10:4) We are privileged to live in a time when the kingdoms of the earth are being tested and tried by God. It is a time of great fear and uncertainty to everyone but the children of God. When they run out of answers, and IF we have exhibited great courage and confidence in God they will come to us for the answer and we will be able to be the light to the Gentiles and the way back for the Jews. God will give us supernatural wisdom and answer our prayers and heal the land. So this is not a time to shrink back and be afraid, but a time to press into the rock and gain strength. Our time is coming!
Lord, prepare your people to do great exploits. Pour out your spirit on this dry and thirsty land and let life grow here once again.

Fri.'s Devo - All Will Be Healed

Read Isa. 2:1-4
I often wonder what the prophets understood about their own prophecies. Today Isaiah is prophesying about the millenial kingdom. In that day Jerusalem will be physically elevated above all the other mountains and everyone will come to it to be taught by God about his ways. The law and the word of the Lord will come out of Jerusalem. God's government will go forth and his judgment will punish many people of their sins and they will respond by turning their weapons into implements of harvesting. The time of war will be over and it will be time to reap. Peace will permeate the land and war will be a thing of the past.
The Millenial reign is the 7th day in God's week. It is the Sabbath where the earth will rest and his people will rest. Have you ever noticed what Jesus did on the Sabbath? He harvested the corn and ate it (a picture of the great harvest and plenty of food). He went into the synagogue and taught. (Mark 1:21, Mark 6:2) We read today in Isaiah how God will teach us from Jerusalem. He loosed people from being bound by the devil. (Luke 13:16) In John 5 He healed the man that had been waiting for years by the trouble waters and told him to take up his bed and walk (a picture of the dead that will come forth and reign in the millenian). Right after that miracle he taught about how the dead will rise and live again. He healed the blind man and then taught on being spiritually blind. On one Sabbath he went into a town and healed everyone. He cast out unclean spirits, cleansed the leper, and healed the sick. That is because it was a picture of the Millenial Sabbath....all will be healed, cleansed, made to see, etc. With every miracle Jesus taught a spiritual truth.
Lord, open our eyes to see the truths in what you do in our lives. Help us to learn how to enter into a rest in you that will mirror in the Millenium.

Thurs.'s Devo - We Need God, America!

Thurs.'s Devo - We Need God, America!
Read Isa. 1:21-31
This might as well read: How have we become an harlot, America! We were birthed on Godly principles and our leaders judged rightly; but not murderers. Our money has lost its value, and our moral values have also been watered down. Our leaders are rebellious and hang out with extortioners. Everyone can be bought and lust for money. They are blind to the needs of the poor and helpless. So God promises to revenge his honor. He will bring down the haughty and restore righteousness so that one day we will once again be known as a righteous nation. The Church will be redeemed and cleansed. The Lord's enemies will be destroyed and brought down. They will have their eyes opened to see the decisions they have made and be ashamed. All of their deeds will be like hay and stubble and God will put the match to them. For the people of Isaiah's time he was prophesying of the day when they would go into Babylonian captivity which happened in 586 B.C. Then he told of a day when the Messiah would come and Israel would eventually turn back to him and become the "faithful city".
This week I was sent a copy of Billy Graham's prayer for America. It was short and poignant but perfect for today's prayer.
'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good, ' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'

Wed.'s Devo - God's Chastisement

Read Isa. 1:10-20
God compares Judah's sins to those of Sodom and Gomorrah. He questions their motives for all the religious rituals they observe. Their injustice nullifies all that they do to please God. Even their most holy holidays have become profane to God. Their prayers are no longer heard because of the blood on their hands. Sounds like America to me. Why do we go to church? To meet the "right" people, to look good, to do our weekly service to God? What have we done with the birth of Christ. We don't even celebrate it at the right time. We call it X-mas and we worship the gifts more than the Saviour. Does God turn his ear away because of the cry of the unborn child or the orphan in our land? Verse 16-17 gives us the remedy: repent and put our sins away. Pray and ask God to forgive us. Seek God's judgment, minister to the down-and-outer and defend the widow. There is hope. God says if we repent he will remove our sins away from us and we will be clean. We will be blessed in our land. If we don't we will fall to war.
Lord, we pray for our own hearts that we would not be content to live our lives with no responsibility for our nation. Show us how we can pray, repent, and minister to the needs of the needy.

Tues.'s Devo - The Corruption of Judah

Read Isa. 1:1-9
Isaiah starts with a bang... or a vision. A vision is an awake dream where God shows a person revelation from heaven. It is a tool God uses to tell his prophets what is to come or secrets God needs to reveal to them. Have you ever caught yourself dreaming while awake and see things in your mind? Capture those images and ask God what he is saying. You don't have to be a major prophet to have visions; you just have to be in tune with the spirit world.
Before we get to the vision we need to know Isaiah's foundation and heritage. His father's name is Amoz which means strong, alert, courageous, and confirm - all characteristics he passed down to Isaiah. The vision he saw has to do with Judah and Jerusalem. He invokes both heaven and earth to be his witnesses. True to what they are involved in (idolatry and sin) Isaiah speaks to them about this. God brought them up and gave them their wealth yet they have forgotten Him. Even the animals instinctively know their masters, but not them. Their sin has reached its limits and God is angry enough to do something about it. He compares Judah to a child that gets spanked only to rebel more. Their thinking is so corrupted and deceived that they are troubled and mentally messed up. They are completely fragmented, wounded, bruised, and hurt. No one has the remedy so they live that way. The land has become corrupted and destroyed by people who don't know God. In verse 8 he speaks directly to Jerusalem and tells her that she is going to be shrunk to a small cottage or tent in a vineyard (he is referring to the remnant). If there had not been a remnant she would have been totally destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Lord, what a picture of our land today. We beseech you to hear the cries of the remnant and forgive our sins and heal our land.

Mon.'s Devo - Isaiah

When I asked the Lord what we should study next he immediately led me to Isaiah. I have to admit it is a little intimidating but when I started reading about the book I was convinced this is what we need to study. The word Isaiah means "Yahweh is Salvation". Isaiah is directly quoted in the New Testament 21 times. His prophesies are incredibly accurate naming people's names like Cyrus who was not reigning yet and towns like Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. He prophesied around 740 B.C. during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham. Ahaz, and Hezekiah who were all kings of Judah. Isaiah was believed to have been sawn in two during the reign of Mannassah like mentioned in Hebrew 11.
He prophesied during a time when the southern and northern kingdoms had experienced nearly a half-century of prosperity and power. During this time their leaders had turned to pagan worship and the people had slipped into moral decline. The wealthy oppressed the poor, the women neglected their families in the quest of carnal pleasure, and many of the priests and prophets became drunken men-pleasers. (Sounds much like today.) Isaiah starting prophesying at about the time of the first Olympic games of the Greek.
The purpose of the book is to declare God's displeasure with the judgment upon sin in Judah, and the surrounding nations. It was also to turn God's people away from sin back to God. And most importantly it was to give hope and promise for the faithful remnant of God's people. So the book is full of promises or restoration and redemption, the promise of a Messiah, salvation to the nations, and of the triumph of God's purposes in spite of suffering.
Lord, speak to us through this book and give us hope and joy. Happy 4th of July. Remember to pray for our nation.

Fri.'s Devo - The Proverbs 31 Woman In a Nutshell

Read Pr. 31:10-31
Most women look at the Proverbs 31 woman as an unachievable model that they try to forget about but I think if we see her as the bride of Christ we might not get as defensive. God created the world with the goal of acquiring a bride for his son. So let's see what God is looking for. He first states that Jesus will safely trust in her so he won't need any other thing. She, in turn will only be good to him. She will choose the best materials to make her clothing. She will clothe herself in righteousness and purity. She will bring him encouragement and blessings on her lips which will be his daily bread. She will stay full of the Word and be laden with treasures gotten from the Word of God. She will rise in the midst of adversity and her peace and confidence will flow out to her family and those around her. She will extend her testimony to the world and plant righteousness in the midst of evil. She is confident that God is faithful and good and this will be light to many who are lost and afraid. She takes the bull by the horn and fights the enemy so that nothing is stolen from her and her family. She reaches out with compassion and gives freely of herself and her supply. She is not afraid of hard times because her family is covered by the blood of the lamb. She speaks from the abundance of the Word which she has hidden in her heart. She is busy about her father, God's business so her labor is not in vain. She does not strive but is motivated by the Holy Spirit who gives her grace to do all she is called to do. All who she has mentored will bless her and rise up and take their place in the Body. Jesus' bride will excel above all others because she chose to fear God and not man. She will be rewarded for her sacrifice for eternity.
Lord, we want to be that bride. Help us.