Reaping the Blessings
Isaiah 55:9-13 NIV
Such glorious promises! "My word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Wow! God has a purpose for every single thing written in His Word, and every single word will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. That means that every word from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 has a purpose, and God will cause it to accomplish its purpose so that it doesn't return to Him "empty."
Have you noticed that every time you open your Bible, something new pops out at you - something you've never noticed before? Have you found yourself re-reading a passage you've read a dozen times, and suddenly, you see a whole new meaning and depth to that passage? Have you noticed yourself applying brand new things to your life, and having greater and deeper insights because of what you're learning in God's Word? Have you seen how much this enriches your life, so that your life (the things you say, the things you think, the things you do) glorifies God more and more and more? Do you realize that's what God meant when He said that His word would not return to Him "empty?" No, instead, your life is filled up with His Word - and His Word is FILLED with your life and the good things He is doing through you and for you.
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Yet another way that His Word does not return to Him empty is when we use His Word to witness to a lost world. Every time we witness to someone, and that person eventually - or right then and there - turns to Jesus for salvation, His Word is returning to Him filled up! Six years before I was saved, I was friends with a woman who was a born again believer. She witnessed to me almost every time I talked with her, even though I ignored her and tried to "convert" her to my beliefs. For five and a half years, Kathy and her husband prayed for me daily, even though I had moved away and we had no contact. Then, on the day that the Holy Spirit decided it was time to get me saved, He started speaking to my spirit through God's Word - and every word that Kathy had spoken to me six years earlier came back to confirm what I was reading! God's Word was returning to Him through the filling up of my spirit and my surrender to the living Lord!
The second part of the promise in this passage is also wonderful.. "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst forth in song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow." If we come to Him (open our Bibles), listen to Him (read His Word), seek Him (pray without looking at our watches), call on Him (ask Him for guidance, for knowledge, for wisdom, for whatever we need!), speak His word, apply His word to our lives, then we will "go out in joy and be led forth in peace". And "the mountains and hills will burst forth in song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow." Sounds incredibly wonderful to me. How about you? Are you ready to reap His blessings?
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