Isaiah 57 - 10.13.25
Scripture
Isaiah 57:13 NIV
“When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you! The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away. But whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”
Observation
In this passage, God is speaking through His prophet Isaiah and He is condemning His people’s foolishness and their sinfulness. The people of Judah have turned their backs on God. They chose to live adulterous lives, filled with serving their own man-made idols and doing detestable things in the sight of God. The people of Judah have forced God’s mighty hand to show them that their idols are worthless. But God, the One True Living God, will forgive those who repent. His anger won’t last forever. He will allow those who trust in Him to inherit the land and possess His holy mountain.
Application
Ain’t nothing like the real thing.
That’s not just the title of an old 60’s song by Marvin Gaye. It’s the truth when you put it into context with this passage. You see, the people of Judah were trying to substitute The One True Living God, with false gods and idols in their lives. They were about to find out that the fake idols they were worshipping and all the hideous sacrifices they were making, were making God very angry. God was about to show them that these things they were putting in their lives didn’t hold any weight and were NOTHING compared to Him!
What were they thinking?! God’s people literally witnessed firsthand, or were told stories passed down from their ancestors, of God’s mighty hand and faithfulness for His people. So why question it?!
But the more I think about it, we could be just as guilty of doing that sometimes. God has been faithful with providing for our every need. He has healed us or a family member. He protects us in times of danger. He may not always get us out of difficult situations, but He is always faithful to sustain us and see us through them. But, how soon we forget! We allow our lives to be too filled with other things/idols where we forget about Him. We turn to anything but God, that is, until we hit rock bottom. Why do we have to wait until we hit rock bottom though? Is it because these other things/idols that we put our faith in instead of God don’t really hold any weight and can’t really help us? Whether it’s our own physical strength, our homes, our finances, or even our friends and family, they will eventually fade away and fail us. But God will never fail us. His love for us is never ending. We read in this chapter that as angry as God was with His people, God yearns for them to repent and come back to Him. He yearns to heal and restore them. He yearns to give them peace.
So why put our trust in anything or anyone else when we have a God who is real, who is mighty, who loves us unconditionally, and who is alive today! 🎵Ain’t nothing like the real thing baby!🎵
“But the Lord is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations cannot stand up to his wrath.”-Jeremiah 10:10
Prayer
Father God, You are The One True Living God. There is no one like You. You are my God, my Lord, my Savior, and my friend. Please forgive me for putting idols (other things in my life) that replace my time that I should be spending with You. Help me to seek You and trust You in everything that I do. Keep me on the right path…Your path today. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 🙏🏽
-Moses Gaddi
1 John 3 - 10.10.25
Scripture: 1 John 3:24
24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Observation
John is enjoying his fellowship with the God of Love, Life and Light. In this chapter he is encouraging fellow believers to love our brothers and sisters to the point of laying down our lives, just as Jesus did for us. Love is an action word. God is Life and those who fellowship with Him must possess His quality of life. A spiritual life starts with a spiritual rebirth and faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ infuses us with God’s Life – Eternal Life. God is Light, so to walk in a relationship with Him, we must walk in light and not darkness. We must regularly confess our sins and allow the blood of Christ to cleanse us. By keeping God’s commands and loving others, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us.
Application
God wants an intimate relationship with us. He longs for us to sit quietly and talk to him and share our innermost feelings and concerns. He gave us the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us, that speaks truth to our heart and mind. We are to live righteously, obeying God’s commands and surrender our lives to Him and He will dwell mightily within us. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning.
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. – Acts 5:32
What a privilege it is to be called Children of God. The God of the Universe loves and adores us and eagerly awaits time with us. To Abide means to live, continue or remain in a close, intimate relationship with God.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. – John 15: 9-12
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus,
What an honor and privilege to be your child. Thank you for loving me so much that you would put the Holy Spirit inside of me to lead, guide and direct my path. Help me to obey your commands and life a life of righteousness. Thank You Lord for abiding in me as I abide in you. Help me to have an abundant love for all people and to shine forth your love to all that I come in contact with. I love and adore You!
- Michelle Craig
1 John 2 - 10.9.25
SCRIPTURE: 1 John 2: 1-2; 9-11
S - 2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
O – First John was written to dispel doubts of who God is and to build assurance by presenting a clear picture of Christ. We know we have sinned, but Jesus has already suffered our penalty in our place. You can’t be tried for a case that is no longer on the docket. Entering history, Jesus was and is God in the flesh and God in focus – seen, heard, and touched by the author of this letter, John the apostle. He was a first-hand witness as he walked, talked, and lived with Jesus. John wrote this letter to no particular church. It was a pastoral letter to several Gentile congregations explaining in simple and practical terms what it means to have fellowship with God. He is urging us to obey Christ fully and to love all the members of God’s family. He presents God as love – giving, dying, forgiving and blessing. God IS love and this truth should motivate us to live close to him. And we can be sure of our relationship with Him when our lives are filled with good deeds and love for others.
A – We are blinded when we look at others and think to ourselves, “Hey, I’m not as bad as all that. Sure, I sin, but they are just little sins. Look at what he/she is doing!” I am guilty lately of seeing some things on social media that make me cringe…that make me question certain people’s love and commitment to Jesus. Or as Moses said in his comments yesterday, the things I see can also anger me to such a place of disgust and that is NOT love! It actually is just straight out sin. So yay, look at me LOL God never told us to just love the loveable, to just pray for our fellow brothers and sisters, but to love the whole WORLD and to pray for our enemies. Our enemies are anyone who would lie and say that God doesn’t exist. Love is about self-sacrifice, selfless giving and loving even the difficult ones, perhaps especially them. We need to reach beyond friends to enemies and persecutors. Love should be the unifying force and the identifying mark of the Christian community. Boy does the world need to see us leave our mark right now more than ever! Love is the key to walking in the light, because we cannot grow spiritually while we hate others. Our growing relationship with God will result in growing relationships with each other and with the outside world who is watching us with eagle eyes during these dark times. And the truth is we ALL deserve the punishment of the cross. We need to picture ourselves up on that cross because that is where we should be, and then fall on our knees in gratitude to the one who freed us from such a horrible suffering.
P – Lord Jesus, forgive me for ever looking at someone else’s life choices and having judgmental thoughts and even disgust in my heart. That is not of you, that is not the person you have called me, or any of us to be to be as your children. Help me to be so filled with love for those who don’t know you, those who rebel against you, and those who flat out deny you. Help my life be a SHINING example of the love you have given me by living a holy life that shows my love, devotion and awe over what you have done for ME.
- Crystal Flory