Read the Bible in a Year (10AUG19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, August 10’s Bible reading is Isaiah 59-63.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, August 11’s Bible reading is Isaiah 64-66. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

ISAIAH MOMENT – (10AUG19) “But your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil” (Isaiah 59:1-4). God was angry with Israel because He had called them to be a nation unto Himself and to bear His name, but they did not represent His righteousness, and participated in things that He found to be detestable. They were a dishonorable nation who followed the ways of the pagans. They expected God’s favor while their lives were unrighteous. There was no justice across the land, and God, who is our Righteous Judge, was going to judge them according to what their actions deserved. They had become violent, shed innocent blood, accepted bribes, did not look after the poor, and truth was trampled over in their streets. Those who lived in contrast to this wickedness became their prey. If only they would have turned to the Lord, His arms were not too short to save them. Israel had many enemies, but their number one enemy was their own reflection.

America is following the same destructive path that Israel had taken. We have a two-tier justice system that seems to not be just at all. The poor and homeless are all over the streets of America, but we have those who advocate to allow illegals into this country, while our own veterans, mentally ill, and other citizens remain on the streets any given night. We shed innocent blood through abortion, gang-related murders, drugs, and domestic violence, but little is said unless it can be talking points for votes, 15-minutes of fame, or money to be gained. We had the slogan of “draining the swamp” but how can the swamp drain the swamp? The very agencies that are to uphold justice corrupts justice to suit their desired political interest. We are infiltrated with lies, hypocrisy, and political propaganda all across mainstream media who could not tell the truth if it was fed to them intravenously.

We have the normalization of pedophilia with the sexual exploitation of children, homosexual agendas, transgenderism, and other sexual perversions. The church is also included in this iniquity on a large scale with pastors addicted to pornography, molesting innocent children, cheating on their wives, having children out of wedlock and denying them, having homosexual relationships, videotaping sexual acts, making contracts to take money from the people for their own greed, cursing like sailors, and more. God is NOT pleased, and just like Israel was judged for their wickedness. The judgments of God are on this land, the church, and more is to come. There is no making America great again. The days of her greatness are over, and those who fall into the trap of believing that a nation who proclaims God with their mouths during a National Day of Prayer, but not with their hearts in full repentance, will be shocked by what is to come upon this once great land. Only Jesus can save people who come to Him honestly with a humble heart in true repentance. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (10AUG19) How do you grieve the Holy Spirit away? The Bible says, “Yet they rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he fought against them” (Isaiah 63:10). A person can grieve the Holy Spirit away by their being in constant rebellion against the Lord. Israel had always been stiff-necked and rebellious towards God, so the Holy Spirit was not able to rest upon them in their sickened state of sin. During the days of Moses, they were able to see the mighty works of the Spirit in operation upon His life through the miracles that God performed through Him. Yet, they were not faithful to the Lord, and despite His constant pleading for them to return to Him, they rejected His call. This is why the Lord was angry with them. The nation of Israel had seen firsthand the goodness of the Lord, but they were determined to live in defiance.

The Bible says, “…they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord” (Isaiah 63:14b). The Children of Israel were able to experience rest from their enemies for a while, during Joshua, Moses successor’s leadership, but when one turns from God, there is no such thing as real peace.  When the Spirit of the Lord is absent, wickedness will thrive and those who are supposed to see by the Spirit become blind. This is why the Jews were unable to receive Jesus when He came because they could not discern who He was in the Spirit. They rejected the Son of God when He read in their hearing that He was the fulfilment of the prophecy that the Prophet Isaiah had given. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn…” (Isaiah 61:1-2). Despite this message of hope, due to the lack of the Holy Spirit being able to flow in their lives, the religious leaders of the day were more concerned with their image, pride, and status than submission to God. Similarly, we have the same problem today.

The Bible says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness… For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him… Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts…” (Romans 1:18, 21a, 24a). When the Holy Spirit is absent from our lives, we will not have a heart to obey God, but He will turn us over to a reprobate mind to do what should not be done. This is what is wrong in the world today. We are seeing evidence of the Holy Spirit’s absence all across the land. Wickedness, perversion, debauchery, and iniquity is being displayed on t.v., music, video games, internet, magazines, books, entertainment, and even in today’s churches. We as a nation have grieved the Holy Spirit, so when we see shootings, rioting, and chaos in our streets, we are seeing evidence of what takes place when God removes His Spirit from the land. May the Lord help us to witness to the lost so that there can be a revival of hearts across the world in true repentance to God. Something to ponder….