Fresh Water For Weary Souls

 

And the LORD

will guide you continually

and satisfy your desire

     in scorched places

and make your bones strong.

You shall be like

      a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters do not fail.

            Isaiah 58. 11

(When we walk with God,

He does not just

   guide our steps

but transforms our hearts.

We see God with a new spirit,

we see ourselves and 

   the situation we're in differently,

not defeated by

         scorched places,

but knowing how to respond

  in unexpected ways

for the well-being

of those around us.)

O LORD,

Help us to view

the circumstances before us

  with a new heart

  and revived strength.

You have divinely appointed us

    even in drought

to bring living water here.

Show us specifically how

           to do that today,

as a witness Your wonders.

You're Gonna Need A Bigger Tent

 

Enlarge the place

   of your tent,

and let the curtains

   of your habitations

   be stretched out.

Do not hold back,

lengthen your cords and

strengthen your stakes.

For you will spread abroad

    to the right

    and to the left,

and your offspring

      will possess the nations

and will people

            the desolate cities.

                Isaiah 54. 23

(Now is not the time

to huddle up

       and kick back.

God did not strategically

place us here for a holiday,

   but for holiness

Enlarge the place

        of the ministry

        God has given.

Think about it differently.

With both new doors

   and in familiar spaces,

may we bring the gospel,

even in what we never

considered ministry before.)

O LORD,

Help us to see and grasp

  that all of life is ministry,

every effort, every word,

every action and attitude,

        even the potholes.

Please multiply

  our faithfulness to You

  in a million unexpected ways,

far beyond our abilities,

far beyond our lifetimes.

Seeing Differently

 

...and make her wilderness

           like Eden,

her desert

  like the garden of the LORD.

               Isaiah 51. 3

(In our uninhabited,

barren, dried up places,

God transforms our hearts

  not to make-do or survive,

          but to thrive.

He empowers us to

see circumstances differently,

walk differently with Him,

and be different

     in this impossible place.

To see ourselves differently

  because we see 

                God differently.

What does this situation

           make possible?

What is God forming in me

    through this?)

O LORD,

When we hit these difficult spots,

  help us to lean on You

                   even more.

Strengthen us

  to stop asking "why?"

and to start asking "what?"

Divine appointments,

sacred encounters,

strategically placed,

Your glory all over it.

Use Your Words

 

The LORD has given me

the tongue of those

who are taught,

that I may know how

to sustain with a word

him who is weary.

           Isaiah 50. 4

(We do not have

the resources to solve

all the problems

    in this broken world,

but in this very day,

we can sustain with

   a well-placed word

those around us

  who are weary

--of which there is no lack.

Who has God put on my path

     or on my heart

     to encourage today?

There is never just one.

May we use Your words

  in unexpected places.)

O LORD,

Enlarge our senses

   and sensitivity to know,

see, hear, feel, even smell

  weariness in others,

and to know how

to bring Your kindness

   to the situation.

Grant to us tender words

  to strengthen

  souls around us,

even those with

not so visible fatigue.

Gets All Over Everything

 

Walk in a manner

worthy of the calling

to which 

  you have been called...

         Ephesians 4.1

(How differently

  does that look today

in what we see,

how we respond,

what we pursue,

how we treat others,

how and where we walk?

Do others see

  anything different in us?

May the grace

     and love of Jesus

get all over everything.)

O LORD,

Empower us

to walk with You

through every sacred

      encounter,

every divine appointment,

even those which appear

   random and ordinary,

knowing that 

in walking with You,

there are no interruptions,

  only intricate steps

designed by You

      for Your glory.

May we bless

  Your holy name today.

And God Is Not Finished Yet

 

Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing

                   a new thing;

now it springs forth,

  do you not perceive it?

I will make a way

   in the wilderness

   and rivers in the desert.

         Isaiah 43. 18-19

(We are not defined

               by our past,

but by God's redeeming.

What is God forming in me

      through this?

We are under construction.

And God is not finished yet.

When we seek God

  in the wilderness, desert,

  or this present mess,

we are amazed

        by what springs forth

and what He makes possible.

A new thing is not necessarily

             a new door,

 but may be right where we are.

God sharpens our vision,

  strengthens our hearts,

and brings His awe to it.)

O LORD,

Help us to not dwell

           on the past,

but to trust in You.

Grant to us a glimpse

  of Your Presence

not just in this situation

         but with us.

You are creating

         something new

in impossible places.

Enlarge our vision,

    Almighty One.

Unfamiliar Territory

 

And I will lead the blind

in a way

  that they do not know,

in paths

  that they have not known

        I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness

 before them into light,

the rough places

    into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them.

          Isaiah 42. 16

(I may not know

what I am heading into,

or even where I am,

but the unknown to me,

  is not unknown to God.

He helps us see in the dark

   in unfamiliar territory.

God leads us through,

gives us just enough light

  for the next proximate step,

and holds us tight.

He is not about to

  abandon us now.)

O LORD,

When we can't see our way,

   be our light.

In the familiar or unknown,

  direct our hearts

that we may

    follow You into it.

Empower us

 to walk differently

and respond in a way

   that points others to You.