“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the Lord;

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough places smooth;

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together;

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

my twocents…

the season is here! it’s december, and it’s time to celebrate Christmas! as chaotic as this world is, we still nationally recognize the birth of Christ, our savior. even if satan tries to throw a sheet of consumerism over it all, nothing can take away from the truth. God Himself came here to earth in the flesh to save us and there were innumerable witnesses from the time of His birth. the verses here in Isaiah tell us to prepare the way for the Lord, to level the grounds and remove all obstacles in the path. get ready! so, what obstacles block your view of God? can you see Him clearly or is there something else taking priority? is there something or someone holding you back from experiencing the love He generously offers? what is distracting you? phone, tv, competition, peers, lies, vices? so often, our culture calls us to follow the majority and rejects those who steer from the herd. but the reality is that by being Christian, we will always be nonconforming to the world and its ways. we are of Christ, we are in Him and He in us. our flesh is dead and we are no longer lead by sin and desire. this doesn’t mean that living in this uncomfortable transition zone is easy. its not. there’s a term: ‘long suffering’ made just for this explanation. nevertheless, the spirit of Christ is so powerful within us that there is nothing that can stop this love. so let’s clear that path. clear it for your neighbor who needs to see the light of the Lord. clear it for yourself so that your light can shine onto others. let go of pride, greed, lust, selfishness, anger, envy, and self-pity. let go of societal pressure to be someone other than who God created you to be. by being your true self, you glorify God. so let’s clear the way! rejoice for Jesus, our savior!

12/1/22

“I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;

I will lead them in paths they have not known.

I will make darkness light before them,

And crooked places straight.

These things I will do for them,

And not forsake them.”

my twocents…

it’s so common for us to become ridden with anxiety and fear in this life. it’s a habit we’ve created too. before we were saved, during periods of prideful independence, or in times when we rejected God, the world was pretty dark for us. this made our outlook very grim and overwhelming. we became defensive and felt it necessary to try to predict the future, create strategies, and prepare for battle in anticipated challenges. that time of life without a close relationship with the Lord was a tough memory filled with blood, sweat and tears. 

now today, in our walk with God, we still stumble over our old thought patterns from time to time. we might have a problem facing us and feel the need to strategize. the problem is that when we envision the future, it’s very dark and covered with crooked places. God is here in our present moment, He is not there in our future forecast. this is because, as this verse explains, He is shining a light into the darkness on our path while we’re walking. this happens in real time. imagine a flashlight beaming from your heart pointing straightforward and illuminating the way. that is God. He makes the crooked places straight. He’s actively molding our landscape as we are walking. how neat?! and thus, how can we ever be able to predict outcomes? we can’t. it’s not what He calls us to do. that’s why Jesus really meant it when he said, “and which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? if you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?” we are incapable without the Lord. rest easy knowing that He completes us, guides us, and unconditionally loves us. 

so when we were forecasting in our minds, we saw darkness and crooked paths, but we can know now, by reading His Word, that strategy is not much use any more. we are blind and we must walk in faith- it is the only way. this is really what faith is all about. knowing that God will keep a light on our path, realizing that most forecasting and anxiety is pointless, and truly believing that He will not leave us and He will never take away that light. the things we prepare for the trip are usually nullified by His power. we didn’t need to bring our compass and our canteen. our God is a God who provides. so as joyce meyer put it, “enjoy today while embracing tomorrow by faith”.

2/24/23

“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,

And all the remnant of the house of Israel,

Who have been upheld by Me from birth,

Who have been carried from the womb:

Even to your old age, I am He,

And even to gray hairs I will carry you!

I have made, and I will bear;

Even I will carry, and will deliver you.”

my two cents…

as complicated as we can make our lives, as confusing as we see our path, as blind as we walk into the future, as busy as each day can be… this passage reminds us of a simple comforting truth. our God says, “I made you and I will take care of you.” now take a deep breath… and repeat these words: He made me, and He will take care of me. 

we are not on our own here in this world. we just need to realize the truth. the truth is in His Word here. let this strengthen our foundation in faith. our great God created everything in existence. He made us with special intention. He made us with infinite unconditional love. He keeps every promise. He sees through every covenant. He protects us in ways we will never know. He waits patiently for us to come to Him.

12/19/22