Date: Tuesday,
August 04, 2015
Chapters: Isaiah
43-46
Message Title: God's Counsel Stands

Hello
My Friend,

How often do we face some kind of affliction
and after a while start to question why God allows these things in
the first place? Pretty often I believe. We all have these
expectations, even after we are saved, but sometimes they are far
from what we tend to get. God gives us the life that He wants us to
have, we may not understand how and why He puts us where He has us,
but we can understand that he has a great purpose for it, even if it
is something so tragic that we cannot fathom why He allowed it in the
first place. Affliction of any kind brings us closer to God, and
brings others to Him as well. “Remember the
former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God,
and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: I bring near my
righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not
tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.”
- Isiah 46:9,10,13.

When God chose the sons of Jacob to be
the people that would represent Him as the only living God, who gives
power, strength, and prosperity to those who believe in Him, He did
not choose them based on their faith. It was because of the covenant
He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who was renamed Israel after
he wrestled with God. Now, the nation of Israel is facing judgment,
far from what they had ever seen before. God assures Israel that He
is still with them, but also encourages other nations to join them.


“Let all the nations be gathered
together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare
this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their
witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It
is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I
have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I
am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be
after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no
strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD,
that I am God. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel,
your King.” - Isaiah 43:9-12,15.

God used Israel
to be a witness that the most stiffnecked, hard-hearted, people can
turn their fate around when they trust the only living God. The is
true for the Christian today, we are not saved by our works, but by
believing in the only Saviour, our God, our King and our LORD, Jesus
Christ. We are witnesses also, that Christ can turn our fate around,
and not only that, but bless us tremendously when we trust Him and
let Him be our King and Lord of our lives. Our works do not determine
our salvation, but they do show that Christ is in us. “But
ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and
have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off
concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of
your mind;” - Ephesians 4:20-23.

When we accept
Christ as our Saviour, we are known as reborn again, that means we
are babies born with the Spirit of God in us. Just like all babies
need to be nourished with good things to be healthy and happy, we too
need to be nourished with good things to have a healthy and happy
soul. God literally forms us and grows us, he creates us in the image
of His Son, of we walk with Him daily. God tells Israel this very
thing. “Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and
Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and
formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob,
my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour
water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I
will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine
offspring: Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my
servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou
shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud,
thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I
have redeemed thee.” - Isaiah 44:1-3,21,22.

God
can put us through some stuff if we get away from Him, not
intentionally, it's what we choose to do, and He will not mess with
our free will. However, once saved always saved, and He will never
blot us out, He will blot out our transgressions though. You see,
when God looks at us, He sees us through His Son, that means He sees
no sin. “Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no
sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17,20,21.

Everyone is born with the
knowledge of God in them from birth, but lifestyles cloud the mind
from that truth. Some will learn and accept, some will reject, some
will block any kind of knowledge of Him whatsoever. We cannot escape
God no matter how much we try, we will all face Him one way or
another, we might as well learn of Him by acceptance rather than
rejectment.

“I am the LORD, and
there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though
thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the
sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD,
and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make
peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Drop down, ye
heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let
the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let
righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it. Woe
unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth
it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” -
Isaiah 45:5-9.

We are the clay, God is the potter, He
molds us and shapes us through the good, bad, and ugly times of our
lives. Those who believe in and receive Christ are never ashamed of
their confidence in that truth, not to mention their faith in Him.
They shall be saved in Him for His name shall be their strong tower,
into which they shall run, and in which they shall be safe when
facing their Maker. Those who are saved shall never be ashamed of it,
or the suffering they endured as a part of it, for the rewards will
far outdo their expectations. Our goal in this life is to do whatever
we can to please God, after all, He pleases us through our pleasing
Him. “I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid
up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all
them also that love his appearing.” - 2 Timothy
4:7,8.

Today's Prayer:
God, I know the importance of living by faith for without it I would
not even be sitting here right now. Lord, lead me and guide me, help
me to follow Your will by living in Your Word. Increase my faith so
much so that everything I do and go through reminds me that You are
at work in my life and that all my afflictions will come to past.
Best of all I know that I will be blessed even more as I simply trust
You and live the life that You want me to live. I love You Lord, and
ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

God Bless You, I
am praying for you,
Christina

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