I am encouraged with a spark of energy when I read scriptures like in Isaiah 30:18 (in the Amplified Version) that tells us how He wants so much to be gracious and bless us.
Isa 30:18 "And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship] (Amplified Version)!
When I read these scriptures, I like how the Amplified Version expounds the meaning as we pay attention to several of the adverbs that often puts greater emphasis on nouns, verbs and adjectives of what we read. When we do pay attention to these details, we see how much of a greater impact His Word has on us than those who just read and skim over scriptures. How He not only "waits", but He waits the way He wants us to wait on Him, by being expectant, looking with Hope and longing in a healthy way, and not as though we are dreading while we wait. God doesn't need to prove Himself anymore because He already fulfilled everything imaginable including fulfilling all prophecies this through His Son Jesus so we may all benefit in this present life as we prepare to dwell in our eternal home. However, He longingly waits for us to prove our love and faithfulness to Him which means He wants to see us trusting Him regardless of the present circumstances. How can we prove we are faithful to Him if we always relied on favorable circumstances in the first place in order that we may be thankful? In other words, are we under the influence of our circumstances by how we react or will we trust Him completely and continue to be thankful to Him regardless? He wants us to have stability by remaining confident in Him that makes a person having a strong Christ-like character. He doesn't want us to be under the influence of our circumstances, but to prove ourselves to Him by being stable by trusting and loving towards Him. God does not want to bless us just so we can be faithful and loving towards Him, but He wants to "prove us" so He can bless us because we have proven our love and faithfulness to Him in the first place. However, this almost sounds like we are rewarded based on our works. But this is where we need to be obedient and humble as we ask and rely on the help of His Spirit in the first place as we learn to trust Him. Even though God does expect much from us by living in freedom from the entanglements and bondages of sin, He still tells us that we can't accomplish any of this without the help of His Spirit (John 15:5) "For without Him, we can do nothing". So the bottom line is to understand that we need to be humble in a healthy way, to simply confess our need of the help of His Spirit and believe only for the best results when we truly trust in Him and leave the results to Him. To receive His best, we have to believe and expect the best which is what He is able and willing to do (Eph 3:20). He does want to be gracious to us and offers us the abundant life, but I wonder how many times we have stopped Him from doing that for us when we allowed ourselves to doubt when we should have approached Him with that Hopeful Expectation so we would allow Him to be gracious to us. If we always expected Him to be good to us first so we can be joyful, we would only believe because we see or experience. However, God tells us that we are more blessed simply because we first choose to believe before we see any results (John 20:29). This way, we can prove our genuine love for Him because we don't have to see in order to believe He is loving and gracious towards us.
I am encouraged to pay attention to each of the adverbs that expound key words that will give greater emphasis to what God wants to say. That is why I think studying other versions of the Bible is not such a bad idea. So when we re-read Isaiah 30:18 amongst other favorite scriptures that may encourage you, I hope you pay particular attention to these adverbs such as "being hopeful"; "greatful", thankfully, with great expectation, etc., while we focus on the magnificence of God as you personalize His promises in His Word for you. I believe it will put greater emphasis to allow the power of His Word to work more effectively on your behalf. No matter what our past may be, we have to remember His Love, Power and Grace far exceeds any of our shortcomings. I find it amazing that even though He foreknows everything of what we will ever do, say or think, He still chooses to love us unconditionally. When I end up doing dumb things, I often remind myself that I am no surprise to God and to understand that He knew what He was getting Himself into when He chose me. This is why we need to know that He "can" and is "most willing" to be ever so gracious towards us, regardless of our past. I believe if we want to get the most out of Gods Word, we have to see the measure of the truth of His Word as "Powerful, Life-Giving"; "Uncompromising Truth" that exposes anything else as a lie and see His Word as a "Double-edged Sword" that is powerfully effective which is the only weapon that no enemy can withstand when we His Word confidently and with authority that He has given to each of us. He has given us authority in His Name (Luke 10:19), but it is of no avail unless we learn to put it to use. Lets not allow the enemy to have the upper hand simply because we have been silent to speak the Word and use Gods Word as a Sword which is meant to richly bless us.
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In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
Do not cast away your fearless confidence in Him for such is great reward (Heb 10:35)
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