July 10: Isaiah 55 9-13

Key Verse: Isaiah 55 11
so is 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.

Devotion:
I used to think I would never be good enough to get up in front of a congregation and bring the Word of God to other people – my first attempts at public speaking in university did not go down too well with the powers that be! But after many years of just speaking about God and saying what God has taught me, I have realised it is not about me and the way I can do things, it is all about what God can do when you have the faith to get up and share your journey with others.

The prophet Isaiah tells us how God told him it was not about his own abilities but about God’s abilities to use our lives that makes the difference! Just as the mad weather we have at times is actually used to water the plants around the world, so are our mad abilities used to reach people around the world. I love the fact I can write something here in the UK now and a decade later someone on the other side of the world will come across what I have written and it just clicks in their lives!

It is what God can do with us and not about what we can do with God! Allow God to encourage you to reach out and say things as the Holy Spirit guides you. If you say something out of turn, people will tell you and you can learn from what they say. If you say something rather special which is going to apply to someone a decade later, don’t expect to have them congratulate you – just allow God to use what you have done to reach others.

I continue to live and love on the estate I live on in London and don’t expect to be put up on any special pedestal, in fact I hope for the opposite. I hope my words I write will be able to reach out silently in someone’s life and allow them the freedom to believe in God, not because I have followed the rules or because they have followed the rules, but because God has deemed it so. Give the glory solely to God!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you wait for feedback before saying anything about God?

Will you just say what you believe God is telling you?