HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN (Isaiah 35)

The people God has ransomed will come back on this road. They'll sing as they make their way home to Zion, unfading halos of joy encircling their heads, welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night. (Isaiah 35:9-10, MSG)

Jesus is "the way," the only way to heaven and eternal life. In fact, early Christians were known as followers of the Way.

Jesus mentioned the Way in His teaching. During the Sermon on the Mount, He said, "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14, NKJV) I've heard it said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is definitely the easy road, wide, easy to find and to follow. Jesus describes the road that leads to life as narrow and hard to find.

In Isaiah, we read of the joy we find on the road--joy that grows the closer we approach to heaven. One has to have a ticket punched by the blood of Jesus's righteousness to get on the road. It's holy, and closed to the rude and rebellious. It is reserved for God's people, for those who are ransomed and redeemed. Once we're on that road, we can't get lost.

If you ever want a picture of our redemption, watch the death and resurrection of Aslan on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

We're singing our way home. When Mom lay on her bed dying, I held her hand and sang hymns of hope and God's love and heaven. That's the way I'd like to go myself--and at least humming along if my voice or mind gives out.

Like the description in Revelation, all sorrows and sighs scurry away. Terrors of the night can't exist--darkness doesn't exist. God Himself is the light.

Best yet, we'll be welcomed home. Embraced like the father embraced his prodigal son, like my Jolene ran to Jesus's lap. So many I have loved, the numbers growing more and more each year.

In its own way, it's the believer's version of the tortoise and the rabbit. The rabbits scamper down the wide path but lose the prize.

Narrow the highway may be, but everyone on the road knows the Lord. The Teacher walks with us, warning us of any bends in the road. When I come before the pearly gate, I will march in with the confidence that "whomsoever will" may enter in God's divine purpose before time began.

Amen and amen.

GRACE AND MORE GRACE (Isaiah 30)

Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right. (Isaiah 30:19-22, MSG)

Mercy and grace go hand in hand, but I think at their heart, mercy means we don't get the punishment we deserve and grace refers to the times we get all of God's marvelous gifts that we don't deserve.

And Isaiah promises--grace and MORE grace. He mentions it in the context of answered prayer.

God longs to answer our prayers. He waits, eager to hear our pleas for help. Isaiah says He'll answer as soon as he hears our cries.

That's not always my experience--probably because I equate an answer with a definite "yes" or guidance. Sometimes God says, "Trust Me. I have things under control." Sometimes the answer is "no"--the hardest to accept answer, but it is an answer.

How does God answer? He stays with us. He's "local and on the job," the kind of workman who would receive top reviews on Angie's List.

The two words used to describe God's relationship with us remind me of the words used to describe Jesus by His disciples. He was their Master and their Teacher. He was responsible for their physical needs and for the content that they learned.

God has always done the same for His people. He keeps us during the hard times. It says He keeps us alive--but we can't take that literally. Too many believers have died for their faith, or have died of illness or war or other reasons. But the hard times alone don't kill us.

While we are going through those hard times, our Teacher works right beside us. He tells us when we go astray. He encourages us to stay true to our faith. If we ever wonder which road God wants us to take, He will show us, left or right.

What I also find interesting: this explanation of grace comes in the context of our cries for help. Most of us would prefer for God's grace to spare us from hard times. Instead, He promises us grace to get through them.

I have a lifetime of stories of grace to share. How about you?

Isaiah 28-29

Love’s Dimensions

     Ah, Monday. Sometimes you may stumble out of bed in a stupor, wondering where the weekend went and why you weren't wise enough to go to bed early on a Sunday night. Foggy brains, like drinking alcohol, makes you do stupid things (like posting a silly poem on the wrong website).

     In Isaiah, God called the priests, prophets and people of Ephraim and Jerusalem a bunch of drunks. They just weren't getting it. They said they loved the Lord and followed His ways, but they were all talk and no action.

     In these two chapters, Isaiah 28-29, you can feel God’s anguish, His anger and His love all rolled into one. He’s a Holy Father with disobedient children. If they’d only listen, life would be good for them.

He’s the same Father today. He provides forgiveness and eternal salvation in Christ, graces you with the ability to walk in His fellowship and will, and promises to answer your prayers. But sometimes His people just don’t get it. What’s a loving father to do?

     Hebrews 4:7 says to endure hardship as discipline. Thank Him today for the hardships in your life and the fact that no matter if it feels like it or not, He does love you. He knows everything about you and wants a close relationship with you. He wants what’s best for you. He answers your faith-filled prayers in His time. Commit to Him, and recommit to Him, your troubles, cares and concerns. And thank Him daily for His love and all the ways He expresses it to you. 

     He loves you so much He experiences sorrow whenever you just don’t get it. Ask God for a revelation of the dimensions of His love and all He provided for you on the cross. Look up all the verses using the phrases “in Christ” to see what God has already given you.

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19) The Message

Connie L. Peters has thirty years of experience in writing poetry, adult and children’s fiction and inspirational non-fiction. Currently she writes devotions for The Presidential Prayer Team and The Pagosa Sun. She also writes a poem a day on enthusiaticsoul.blogspot.com. Connie’s work has appeared in numerous publications including Focus on the Family, Bible Advocate and The Quiet Hour. She has served on the board of Southwest Christian Writers Association for the past twenty years. Connie lives in Cortez, CO where she and her husband host two adults with developmental disabilities. The Peters’ two grown children live in Arizona.

TAKE YOUR TIME (Isaiah 26)

We're in no hurry, God. We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever want. (Isaiah 26:8, MSG)

Do you ever want God to hurry up? I know I do. You know, the kind of prayer that says, teach me patience, and I want it NOW.

I get impatient when I can see the road I'm on deadending in front of me and have no idea what direction God will send me in next. I especially get that way when the deadline for my final book contract approaches and I don't have another one--or even the hint of another one. But it works the same whenever I have to move or find a job or decide about a trip.

Living in a nursing home, I know that right now this is God's plan for me. When I wonder if I'll be here, in this same place, until I die? I try to avoid thinking about that possibility, but I kind of wish I had a hint about "what next."

Oh, to have the attitude Isaiah mentions in today's verse. To be content to live for today. To linger in this place and time where I know God has placed me. To accept the stoplight without wondering if or when it will turn green again.

How do I change from worrying about the future to living content, today? Change my focus. Today and tomorrow, praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He does will keep my heart in the right place. When I remember how God has proven faithful in the past, I am reassured for the future. When I ponder His character, what makes Him act t he way He does, I know He will always do what is best for me.

I don't know what the future holds--but I know Who holds the future.

So way hurry? Linger on the path with God.

(P.S. There's a great song, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow by Ira Stanphill, but I can't due to copyright. If you want to, look it up. :) )