Coffee With The Lord

Wow! I’m looking forward to the wonderful future God has prepared for His people!! I read about it prophetically in the last part of Isaiah 65 this morning and savored every word!! (I’ve included a “taste” of it below from the New Living Translation” … Enjoy!!

“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! … The sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more. No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young! … For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains. They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed. I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! … I, THE LORD, HAVE SPOKEN!” (from Isaiah 65:17-25 NLT)

Hey, this is not just an Old Testament prophet dreaming about the future for God’s people… The New Testament version of the same reality is found in Revelation 21-22!!! Definitely worthy of reading it too, reflecting on the reality it describes, and getting ready to “move there” one day when the Lord calls us “home!”

Hey, a time like this is coming for the people of God!! It’s going to happen… “THE LORD HAS SPOKEN!”

I have always been impressed by the number of times in the Gospel records that Jesus responds to a cry for “mercy!” … “LORD, HAVE MERCY!” (Cp. Matthew 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 20:30-31; Mark 5:19; 10:47-48; Luke 17:13; 18:38-39)

This morning my Bible reading included Matthew 20:29-34 – the account of two blind men and their insistent cry for mercy! The crowd rebuked these blind men – told them to be quiet! But they cried out for “mercy” all the more!

Jesus stopped, called them, and asked “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus heard and heeded their request! In “pity” he healed them!

Oh, may I learn the power and effectiveness of a “cry for mercy” – the cry of the undeserving, the needy, helpless, the insistent, the believing! The Lord hears it!!! All the way from a cry out of any human need to a cry for forgiveness and salvation (Luke 18:13-14)!

I admire a person with a sense of mission, purpose, calling and destiny! Don’t you? Their life is not wasted on “fooling around!” Every day matters! Everything is pointed toward a significant destiny!

This morning during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” I read of the declared mission of Jesus Christ early in His ministry… It goes like this in your Bible – Luke 4:16-21

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE HAS BEEN FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING!”

Jesus applied the inspired prophetic message of Isaiah 61:1-3 to Himself! He saw Himself as the Divinely appointed fulfillment of its words! It was His mission… His purpose… His calling and destiny! He spent the remainder of His life fulfilling those words – every day – every hour of every day! It was who He was!

So at the beginning of His ministry He declared, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!'” And at the end of His ministry on earth He declared, “IT IS FINISHED!” (John 19:30) WOW! What a powerful moment in human history, His unveiling as Messiah – but more than that, what an incredible mission!!!

I acknowledge the mission of Jesus Christ was unique! But we have the high and holy privilege of sharing in it! At the close of His life Jesus did this… “Jesus spoke to His disciples again, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you!’ Then He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit!” (John 20:21-22). Hear me, I’m so honored to share in His redemptive mission! And I’m incredibly grateful for the Holy Spirit’s power He provides to fulfill it!