Coffee With The Lord

Heard a guy the other day spewing filthy language and vile profanity… thought of something I read in Job in the Bible… “Your sin inspires your mouth!” (Job 15:5 NET Bible) How much better if this had characterized his speech…

“You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of others in need, that it may give grace to those who hear! … Neither should their be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or course joking – all which are out of character (for a Christian) – but rather thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 4:29; 5:4)

I want my speech to be God-honoring and others uplifting! Don’t You?

This morning during “Coffee with the Lord” as I was reading Isaiah 12 I was reminded of all that the Lord has done for me – all the rich and bountiful blessings of the Lord! As I read Isaiah’s praise (and his encouragement to praise the Lord) I felt challenged to make his words my words! So what follows is a bit of a personalization of Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 12. I worshipped with them today (… it was wonderful!) … I recommend them to you for your worship today…

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord! … You are my salvation! I will trust in You and not be afraid; for You are my strength and song, and You have become my salvation! With joy, I’ll draw water from the wells of salvation and I’ll give thanks to You and call upon Your name! I’ll make known Your deeds among the peoples (of the world) and proclaim that your name is exalted! O, I sing praises to You for you have done gloriously! I want this to be known in all the earth! I’ll shout and sing for joy for You are the Great and Holy One in our midst!” (adapted from Isaiah 12)

Wonderful time of worship with those words! Wonderful time! Just say’n!!

I don’t know about you, but I get very frustrated with flawed, fallible human leaders! They promise so much to gain their positions and deliver so little. Their values are distorted and their decisions destructive. They blindly seek their own agenda and never seem to think (or care) about the impact of their decisions or personal agenda on others. Worst thing is… when I think about the human options to their leadership I’m not very encouraged. And I admit I fear who will step into the leadership vacuum…

We need a new kind of leader in our world… in our nation!

I read about one that is coming… A world leader prophetically spoken of in the Bible… a righteous, Messianic type leader… the kind we need! (Here’s just a sample of what the Bible says about Him in Isaiah 11…)

“The LORD’s Spirit will rest on him— a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the LORD. He will take delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. He will treat the poor fairly, and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth… Justice will be like a belt around his waist, integrity will be like a belt around his hips…” And the effect of His leadership? Wow!! Worldwide, universal peace!

“There will be universal submission the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea!” (from Isaiah 11:2–5 NET Bible)

Oh I’m looking forward to that day… the administration of that leader!
Until then, what do we do? I think Apostle Paul in the New Testament gives us some guidance…

“I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people… for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1–4)

That’s what I’m going to do… and I’m going to do my part in the meantime to influence public policy and leaders toward righteous, wholesome ends.