Monday, January 23, 2012

It Was A Good Night

I spoke last night at North Glencoe's Celebrate Recovery. God was beyond gracious as people streamed to the front after the message to receive prayer. There were prayers for salvation. Prayers for healing. Prayers for deliverance from demonic oppression. Prayers for God to simply come and touch them and bring hope to dry place in their hearts. There were prayers asking for forgiveness. There were confessions to God about sin. It was a night where I got to stand and watch God's hand move over the people. I confess to you that I never tire of seeing God move like this. It isn't about the numbers, it is about the heart. That God would come and touch and bring healing to those who had come seeking.

Isaiah 35 talks about God's redemptive hand being laid on places of dryness and in the hard, wilderness places of our hearts.
Even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and the plain of Sharon. There the LORD will display his glory, the splendor of our God.
With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those who are afraid, "Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you."

In these verses, we see that God is proclaiming a message of hope to all who are discouraged, frightened, or injured. God has promised to save us and strengthen our weaknesses. That is His promise! Following God means that we can ask Him to help us recover in this lifetime and share eternal life with Him in the next. God says that through His power, His love and His authority, He will reach down into those dry, hard, wilderness places in our heart and cause real life to come forth. Life that is sustained through His Holy Spirit at work in us. How can you argue with that?
That is a promise you can bank on.
Why not receive from this promise today?
God on you.....
mb

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