Be Refined Soldiers

Isaiah 48

“Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But not in truth or in righteousness;
² For they call themselves after the holy city,
And lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name:
³ “I have declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
⁴ Because I knew that you were obstinate,
And your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
⁵ Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’
⁶ “You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
⁷ They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
⁸ Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called a transgressor from the womb.
⁹ “For My name’s sake I will defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
¹⁰ Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
¹¹ For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.
¹² “Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, I am the First,
I am also the Last.
¹³ Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When I call to them,
They stand up together.
¹⁴ “All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
¹⁵ I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
¹⁶ “Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now the Lord God and His Spirit
Have sent Me.”
¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go.
¹⁸ Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
¹⁹ Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”
²⁰ Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
²¹ And they did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
²²“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

 

 God rules and refines us if we are willing to become His living sacrifices.  We are called to greatness, life, and prosperity.  The truth and the righteousness of our king is to live and abide in us.  God wants to take us on long wonderful journeys building us into the knowledge and wisdom of Himself.  He wants to clear our paths of all unrighteousness to reveal sincere love and truth that awaits us. However, we can’t just proclaim the name of Jesus if we don’t walk the walk and talk the talk.  Our world has become hard and stiff-necked building on the foundations of our family’s mistakes, taking our own mindsets that have been planted by satan then executing them into God’s wonderful kingdom.  A kingdom that is to bless us with life, and life more abundantly.  But we sabotage this beautiful gift of mercy that has been bestowed upon us by acting out our own plans and will becoming self-withdrawn, shunning God’s beautiful children, working our own devices, inflicting spiritual pain upon one another.  We were adopted into a royal dynasty by our father Abraham who with faith obtained this glorious gift for us.  So we are now to pick up our crosses and endure the fight for our King Jesus Christ through all tests and trials to show Him that we belong.  Speak blessings and life over our lands to claim the truth and inheritance from God who stands, refines, and rules today.  Stand as soldiers for Christ and be refined in the blessing.

 

Bless us Lord as you refine and strengthen us for your Glory,

 

Vincent Young, Christian Analyst.