Date: Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Today's Chapters: Isaiah 57-59
Message Title: God's Closed Ears

Every day thousands of saved, born again Christians are struggling, they seek answers from God, fast and pray, but nothing ever changes. There are two reasons why God delays in relieving us of our struggles, the first is the obvious, God wants to build our faith, trust, and dependence upon Him. The second, we are doing something that God has closed His ears to our pleas until we repent. “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” - James 4:2-4.

The world, it seeks everything that goes against what God stands for, immorality, idolatry, sorcery, are to name a few. God has no tolerance for those who completely rebel against Him, eventually they will suffer for their sin, whether they are saved or not. Through Isaiah, God explains a rather touchy subject, death, why He feels He has to bring some people home to Him before their time. “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” - Isaiah 57:1-5,21.

While living right does not determine our salvation, remember, we are saved by grace, it is the living right that God does honor us with as we humble ourselves before Him. In fact, the more we live for God the more we realize just how sinful we are, and do not deserve God's blessings. We have two choices, continue to live in sin and suffer until we physically die or remove the sin and find peace with God. “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” - 1 John 5:16-18.

We all want God's blessings on our lives, everyone does, whether they admit it or not, the problem is not everyone wants to live by every Word of God, if they did that it means they would have to give up some of the things they do. Now, we all sin every day, even by trying to live by every Word of God, but there is a big difference between those living by the Word of God and living by what they claim the Word of God to be. Through Isaiah, God has something to say for those who are praying and fasting to get His attention, yet living in sin.

“Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.” - Isaiah 58:2-5,8.

Godly fasting is the most unselfish act a person can do and one that does get God's attention, it is omitting a meal or two in an attempt to get God's attention, not for personal gain (losing weight, getting back at someone, etc.). This is not the first and only time God has instructed us on how to fast. To truly see God answer our plea is to follow His instructions. “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” - Matthew 6:16-18.

Every person here on earth is capable of doing something evil, no matter how good we were brought up, we all have some wickedness in us, and this is why we can never do enough good to measure up to God's standard. Through Isaiah, God explains this to the believing Jews who had gotten themselves caught up in the world.

“Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.” - Isaiah 59:1-4,18-20.

God is longsuffering, meaning patient in waiting for the very last soul to accept His Son before He sends Him to judge the world. God will save anyone who believes in His Son, and while He will never go back on His promise to redeem a save soul from hell, He will let them suffer. It is a painful life to live in sin being saved, but God's mercy endures. “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” - 1Corinthians 15:56-58.

Today's Prayer: God, I cannot fathom the amazing grace that You gave me and still give me, to take a life that was a complete mess and turn it into one that has meaning is truly a miracle that only You can produce. Thank You God, for seeing something in me that is of good use to you, thank you for your grace and mercy and never giving up on me. God, as I humble myself before You, be merciful to me, a sinner, lead me and guide me, help me to never cease from living with You in my life. I love You Lord and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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