God Cares For You
One of the amazing things about the God we see in Scripture is that He cares for the outcast, the weak, and the hopeless. He is a God of second chances. He loves to do His greatest work through the most unlikely people.
God could work through the most powerful and wealthy people. But, one of the ways God shows His true power is when He strengthens the weak and gives power to the powerless.
When God sent His Son to earth, Jesus came in the form of a helpless baby. When Jesus chose His twelve disciples, He chose the most unlikely group of followers.
God doesn’t choose the powerful; He empowers those He chooses. This is great news for us! We may not be the best at what we do or the most influential person–but God can still use us!
You may not feel like you have the right traits or talents to be used by God–and that’s okay. God can use anyone and everyone. God makes it a habit of taking our greatest weakness and greatest pains to use for His kingdom work.
Take a moment right now to ask God for strength. If you’re feeling weak, ask Him to increase your power. While He may not fix your weakness immediately, when you’re open to God using you, He will turn unlikely situations into powerful moments for His kingdom.
Ask Him to open your heart and mind to how He can use your weaknesses to make a difference in the world around you.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...