Day 37 - 50 Day Journey To Christ

Daily Reading:

Isaiah 40

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) 

God’s People Comforted

1 “Comfort, comfort My people,”

says your God.

2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and announce to her

that her time of forced labor is over,

her iniquity has been pardoned,

and she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.”

3 A voice of one crying out:

Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;

make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

4 Every valley will be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill will be leveled;

the uneven ground will become smooth

and the rough places, a plain.

5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,

and all humanity together will see it,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!”

Another said, “What should I cry out?”

“All humanity is grass,

and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flowers fade

when the breath of the Lord blows on them;

indeed, the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,

but the word of our God remains forever.”

9 Zion, herald of good news,

go up on a high mountain.

Jerusalem, herald of good news,

raise your voice loudly.

Raise it, do not be afraid!

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

10 See, the Lord God comes with strength,

and His power establishes His rule.

His reward is with Him,

and His gifts accompany Him.

11 He protects His flock like a shepherd;

He gathers the lambs in His arms

and carries them in the fold of His garment.

He gently leads those that are nursing.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?

Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure

or weighed the mountains in a balance

and the hills in the scales?

13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

or who gave Him His counsel?

14 Who did He consult with?

Who gave Him understanding

and taught Him the paths of justice?

Who taught Him knowledge

and showed Him the way of understanding?

15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales;

He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon is not enough for fuel,

or its animals enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before Him;

they are considered by Him

as nothingness and emptiness.

18 Who will you compare God with?

What likeness will you compare Him to?

19 To an idol?—something that a smelter casts,

and a metalworker plates with gold

and makes silver welds for it?

20 To one who shapes a pedestal,

choosing wood that does not rot?

He looks for a skilled craftsman

to set up an idol that will not fall over.

21 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you

from the beginning?

Have you not considered

the foundations of the earth?

22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He reduces princes to nothing

and makes judges of the earth irrational.

24 They are barely planted, barely sown,

their stem hardly takes root in the ground

when He blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

25 “Who will you compare Me to,

or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

26 Look up and see:

who created these?

He brings out the starry host by number;

He calls all of them by name.

Because of His great power and strength,

not one of them is missing.

27 Jacob, why do you say,

and Israel, why do you assert:

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

and my claim is ignored by my God”?

28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Yahweh is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the whole earth.

He never grows faint or weary;

there is no limit to His understanding.

29 He gives strength to the weary

and strengthens the powerless.

30 Youths may faint and grow weary,

and young men stumble and fall,

31 but those who trust in the Lord

will renew their strength;

they will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary;

they will walk and not faint.

Note: Read Isaiah 43 for extra credit. :)

Key:  Bold - Verse of the Day

Reflection:  Todays reading finds us in the presence of our Messiah, pondering His, height, depth and majesty.  Marveling at His creation, and the way that every thing is in sink.  We hear the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and are reminded that when we put our trust in the Lord, He will renew our strength.  

Discussion Topic:  Can you identify some different aspects of apologetics within this prophesy?  Do you see any keys to evangelism hidden within this text?

Join the Discussion on G+

Prayer:  Father in heaven, I bow in awe of Your Wonders.  You are the God of creation, and yet desire to be called Abba, Daddy.  Thank You for the gift of your Son, and the daily reminders You give us to explore.  Your love is unending, Your grace free.  Give us the boldness to be the voice of one crying out in the digital wilderness, or the dark street corners.  For Your return is promised, Your arrival soon.  Be with us as we share Your love.  In Jesus, for Jesus and because of Jesus.  Amen

Acknowledgements: Text - BibleGateway.com, Artwork - 

Day 36 - 50 Day Journey To Christ

Daily Reading:

Isaiah 11

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Reign of the Davidic King

1 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.  He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, He will not execute justice by what He hears with His ears,

4 but He will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.  He will strike the land with discipline from His mouth,

and He will kill the wicked with a command from His lips.

5 Righteousness will be a belt around His loins; faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.  6 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat.  The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a child will lead them.

7 The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.

9 None will harm or destroy another on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.

Israel Regathered

10 On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples.  The nations will seek Him,  and His resting place will be glorious.

11 On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover—from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west—the remnant of His people who survive.

12 He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel;

He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

13 Ephraim’s envy will cease; Judah’s harassment will end.  Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim.

14 But they will swoop down on the Philistine flank to the west.  Together they will plunder the people of the east.  They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

15 The Lord will divide the Gulf of Suez.  He will wave His hand over the Euphrates with His mighty wind and will split it into seven streams, letting people walk through on foot.

16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will survive from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Key:  Bold - Verse of the Day

Reflection:  Isaiah 11 is one of the most noticiable of the Messianic prophesies.  In it, Isaiah prophesies that the Messiah will come from Jesse, and his reign will be one of Harmony and Peace.  A shoot that grows from a tree stump, and becomes greater than the original tree trunk.  Reflect on the imagery that Isaiah uses to describe Jesus throughout your day.  

Bonus reading:  A member of computer church community in G+ posted this exerpt on the same chapter, check it out here

Discussion Topic:  Todays verse of the day points us to the 7 spirits of the Lord.  With the six being Wisdom and Understanding, Counsel and Strength and Knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and the seventh being the Spirit of the Lord.  Some theologians argue 6 vs 7, what do you believe?  

Join the Discussion on G+

Prayer:  Father in heaven, you rescued your people from the remnant of Jesse.  Your wisdom and understand surpass even the smartest of us, Your counsel and strength even the most dedicated.  Teach us in the knowledge of You so that we may grow in a Holy reverent fear of You.  You are our Messiah and we look to You in the midst of the storm, Your banner is Peace.  Your name is forever to be praised.  Amen! 

Acknowledgements: Text - BibleGateway.com, Artwork - www.wallpaperhere.com

Day 35 - 50 Day Journey To Christ

Daily Reading:

Isaiah 9

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Birth of the Prince of Peace

1 Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.

2 The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

a light has dawned

on those living in the land of darkness.

3 You have enlarged the nation

and increased its joy.

The people have rejoiced before You

as they rejoice at harvest time

and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.

4 For You have shattered their oppressive yoke

and the rod on their shoulders,

the staff of their oppressor,

just as You did on the day of Midian.

5 For the trampling boot of battle

and the bloodied garments of war

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6 For a child will be born for us,

a son will be given to us,

and the government will be on His shoulders.

He will be named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7 The dominion will be vast,

and its prosperity will never end.

He will reign on the throne of David

and over his kingdom,

to establish and sustain it

with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

The Hand Raised against Israel

8 The Lord sent a message against Jacob;

it came against Israel.

9 All the people—

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—will know it.

They will say with pride and arrogance:

10 “The bricks have fallen,

but we will rebuild with cut stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

11 The Lord has raised up Rezin’s adversaries against him

and stirred up his enemies.

12 Aram from the east and Philistia from the west

have consumed Israel with open mouths.

In all this, His anger is not removed,

and His hand is still raised to strike.

13 The people did not turn to Him who struck them;

they did not seek the Lord of Hosts.

14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

palm branch and reed in a single day.

15 The head is the elder, the honored one;

the tail is the prophet, the lying teacher.

16 The leaders of the people mislead them,

and those they mislead are swallowed up.

17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice

over Israel’s young men

and has no compassion

on its fatherless and widows,

for everyone is a godless evildoer,

and every mouth speaks folly.

In all this, His anger is not removed,

and His hand is still raised to strike.

18 For wickedness burns like a fire

that consumes thorns and briers

and kindles the forest thickets

so that they go up in a column of smoke.

19 The land is scorched

by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts,

and the people are like fuel for the fire.

No one has compassion on his brother.

20 They carve meat on the right,

but they are still hungry;

they have eaten on the left,

but they are still not satisfied.

Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.

21 Manasseh is with Ephraim,

and Ephraim with Manasseh;

together, both are against Judah.

In all this, His anger is not removed,

and His hand is still raised to strike.

Key:  Bold - Verse of the Day

Reflection:  Todays reading is a prophesy, two in fact.  One in regaurd to Jesus, the coming Messiah, and one based on the empending doom and judgement coming to Israel.  At times prophetic scripture can be hard to wrap your head around but to slowly read it, in combination with a knowledge of other text you can see how God used prophets to warn the people, and drive the remnant to a place of repentance.  

Discussion Topic:  Do you think its easier to accept pending judgement, knowing you will one day be delivered?  How can these prophesies be applied to todays modern issues we see all around us.  

Join the Discussion on G+

Prayer:  Eternal Father, we thank you for your judgement and respect your ruling.  We are a people of unclean hearts, and speak with unclean words.  Your Son is our only hope for redemption and salvation.  We thank you for your mercy and grace, and the Eternal gift, the Prince of Peace.  Guide us in our lives as we prepare our hearts for your return. 

Acknowledgements: Text - BibleGateway.com, Artwork - Believers Journey