“O storm battered city, troubled and desolate. I will rebuild you on a firm foundation of sapphires and make the walls of your houses from precious jewels. I will make your towers of sparkling rubies and your gates and walls of shiny gems”
Isaiah 54:11-12
This is the verse I have clung to over the past few years, the restoring God, the God of hope when I had none. As Teresa mentioned in the beginning of this study, the Great I AM will speak to you in the manner that you need. He will be what you need Him to be. Have you begun to see this for yourself? As I looked up each verse, I was overwhelmed by just how much He loves each one of us, so much that He does not want to leave us in the state we are in.
Today we have the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us, a gentle nudge from the Dove, a Gift left to us by Jesus when He departed into Heaven. But in the Old Testament, God sent prophets to do just that…to give His people His messages. These messages weren’t always what they wanted to hear. Can you just imagine? I mean who wants to be told that you are not walking in His will and you are about to be punished? I know that being on the receiving end of “constructive criticism” is not easy (especially when I know I’m wrong) but, as Jesus followers, it is our duty to hold each other accountable and to do this in a loving, godly manner. Praise God that He loves us enough to send messengers our way to redirect our path. He is relentless when it comes to His children, right?
Just as Isaiah’s message to the people was “return, repent and be renewed,” so should ours be. “Fear not, you will no longer walk in shame. He is your Redeemer!” Isaiah 54:4-5
He is my _________________ (fill in the blank). For example: do you need Hope? He is your HOPE. “From eternity to eternity, I AM your God. No one can oppose what I do, no one can reverse My actions.” Isaiah 43:13
Do you need Forgiveness? He is your FORGIVER. “I, yes I alone, AM the One Who blots out your sins for My Own sake and will never think of them again.” Isaiah 43:25
Do you need Rest? He is your REST. “I will be your God throughout your lifetime, until your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you, I will carry you along and save you.” Isaiah 46:4
Do you need Comfort? He is your COMFORTER. “I, even I, am the One Who comforts you, so why are you afraid of mere humans who wither like grass and disappear?” Isaiah 51:12
Friend, His message to us is one of hope, forgiveness, rest, and comfort; but we must return, repent, and be renewed in Him to receive all that He has planned to give us, blessing upon blessing, and we must not be timid with His message. He wants us to be bold! Isn’t this what we were created to do?
There is a song that has been playing in my mind the entire time I have been writing. It is by the Sidewalk Prophets and goes like this: “If there’s a road I should walk, let me find it. If I need to be still, give me peace for the moment. Whatever your will. Whatever Your will, can You help me find it?”
He will rebuild us and continue to work in, and through us, until His grand finale’ — the Coming of Jesus!!
How is He speaking to you today? As you wrote out each verse from today’s section, which of His names really spoke to you? Would you tell us about it?
I love each one of you and I’m praying for you.
Blessings!!
Let’s Pray:
Dear Heavenly Father, Daddy, the Great I AM, You are so many names to us in the midst of whatever we are going through at the moment. You become what we need. You are the Redeemer, Deliverer, Comforter, our Resting Place, Beginning and End. We praise You for satisfying our every need. We thank You for Your unfailing love and Your Presence that never leaves us. You give us Your words of wisdom so that we know what to say to all weary souls. Thank You for giving us an understanding of Your will. May we have the strength to boldly carry it out for all to see so that You alone are glorified…for it is in Your Son’s precious Name we pray.
Amen.
About Kim Spring
Kim, this is one to print and keep in my Bible. I Love, love, love the book of Isaiah and the hope it brings for the future. It brings such peace when we remember in this book how much He loves and wants to give us a hope and newness for our future. Great read
Thank you Ceystal! The book of Isaiah is one of hope for all of His people. Every single verse spoke to me. Isn’t God so good?
Oh Kim, this is just a magnificent blog. Thank you! He is indeed the GREAT “I AM” He is EVERYTHING. He is my “Life my Breath and my Hope” I firmly believe that the GREAT “I AM” wants to heal our Land (United States). We the USA have taken “I AM” out of everything. As if we are ashamed of our Creator, In 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 the Lord says “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” This has been such a heavy burden on my heart, and I pray daily for “I AM” to open the eyes, ears, and hearts of his people. That we would repent, turn from our wicked ways so the “I AM” will HEAL This Country. Again, Kim – OUTSTANDING BLOG
Thank you Mary! That’s so nice to hear as its my first one! The Holy Spirit gets the credit. I love that scripture you pointed out. And yes. We could never be ashamed!!:))
In my personal worship of God I many times find myself praising and worshiping The Alpha and The Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Isaiah 41:4, “Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last. I alone AM He.” (NLT) Isn’t HE amazing, the Great I AM always there, always available to us, never leaving us, from the beginning to every generation into eternity! Even as i write this, my heart is welling up with worship and love and my eyes are filling with tears as I try to comprehend this Great God of the Universe loving me with His everlasting love! Then to confirm this He had Isaiah write, “I will be your God throughout your lifetime–until your hair is white with age. (I’m there) I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.”–Isaiah 46:4 ‘O what Love, amazing love!’
And I add my “Amen” to your prayer, Kim.
You just got me all choked up Clella!!! 🙂 I join you in worshiping the Almighty and GREAT I AM!!
Great song Christi!
The tears are falling as I worship with this song. I fall to my knees and cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy to the Kings of kings and Lord of lords, Lover of my soul.”
Thank you Clella!! I wrote what He told me to and yes He is the beginning and the end. And so much more. Thank you for reading today!
He is our all in all, our everything. He never fails us or lets us down, He is faithful even when we are faithless. It blows me away that the Creator of the universe would care for and love me so much! Thank you Abba Father for this love, thank You for Your mercy & thank You for Your grace.
Amen! And amen Paula. Thank you for sharing!
I so agree with your words and prayer, Paula!
Oh, Kim. Thank you for your beautiful blog this morning. I could not wait to get to the prophets to see the many promises of redemption. “I AM” loves us so much He chooses restoration and renewal over anger, wrath and separation. Love you girl. Great Job!
Oh thank you Teresa! I wanted this to honor you too and all that you put into this study. All the I AM’s you brought to our attention and how He meets us where we are. Love you too!!
Thank you Kim for that precious reminder of who He is. For He is my strength.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:7
There were times in the past where I could not get out of bed and I laid awake waiting for the light. I confessed with my mouth my weakness and He showed up faithfully.
Oh how He loves us, Anne! Even in the midst of our darkest storms, He is there with us. I simply cannot imagine going through ANY trial or storms in life, without Him! Oh Father, we love You oh so very much!!!
He will never leave us or forsake us. He will meet us where we are. We cry out His name and He rescues us. Praise God He restores!!
another great song. lots of references that I AM is my Redeemer
Good morning! This is a great post. unfortunately my quiet time didn’t happen this morning but will definately happen tonight. I have a bible here at work so I was able to look up a few verses. There are so many things that God is to me at this time in my life. I can’;t wait until tonight when I can sit and study today’s lesson. Have a blessed day 🙂
thank you, my friend, for writing as you were told…we have been the joyful beneficiaries of that! as you and so many of our dear sisters have agreed we LOVE the Book of Isaiah and how the Great I AM makes Himself known to us through Isaiah’s prophetic words. (thank you, too, for sharing your special hope-giving verses with us!) <3
Thank you Coleen!! That means a lot. I love sharing what He places in my heart. The benefit of walking so close with Him is knowing His heart.
Kim! This is awesome! God is definitely working thru you to spread HIS message!
I am so proud of you and so honored to be your friend!
Love you!
Nancy
Kim what a beautiful message today, thanks for sharing..
God is so many names to me in my life and I am learning more names for Him the more my relationship with Him grows….but for where my path is with God right now He is “my constant”….just like the armed forces… “He stays on the ready”, for me at any moment , ready to be deployed for action when I whisper His name… I don’t have to beg or plead for Him to come to my rescue or just give me a comforting hug when I am sad, just a whisper to Him and HE IS THERE on duty ready to serve my needs.
Joshua 1:9 “have I not commanded you?, be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
what an awesome promise we can count on!!! And I want to make sure that I am not just sitting back and waiting/expecting His 24 hr service, as He serves me, comforts me, cares for me I want to ensure that I am reciprocating all that to others and showing this beautiful love of God in this world.
Beautiful nugget I learned in my quiet time this morning that I didn’t know at the time would go perfect with today’s lesson and blog is this
“Comfort others with the comforts you’ve been comforted with”, Just love how God planned out these lessons for me today!
I love that!! My Constant. So beautiful Beverly!!
🙂
My quiet time has been late at night this week, so im a bit late to the party! But oh it has been so powerful with all you wonderful writers! Wow Kim this blog spoke to me so much tonight! The verses spoke to me when I wrote them but I loved the way you simplified them too. The one that really hit home tonight was the forgiver. I have always had the hardest time holding on to shame and trying to forgiving myself. So the Isaiah 54:4-5 that you quoted got me started and then the verse about how God blots out our sins and never thinks of them again. I need to write that verse on an index card and put it on my mirror because he forgives me, yet I have such a hard time forgiving myself. Thank you so much for your writing Kim!
The Forgiver! That’s what He is and 70 times 7 and beyond is how many times He forgives. And aren’t we so blessed? Thank you Michelle!!
Thank you Kim for today’s blog. Since we started this study I can feel The Lord speaking to me. He is my Lord, he is Mighty, wonderful. He the God that created me and stand by me through everything in my life.. Praise to The Lord God almighty. Thank you so much. A fire has been rekindled in my heart I know he has forgiven me and and never thinks of them again. He made me and he does take care of me. He is my God. Praise you Lord!!!!!
Praise The Lord!! A fire rekindled. I’m so glad. Thank you for sharing!!