The Shepherd's Apprentice

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May 4

"On all bare heights shall be their pasture"
Isaiah 49:9

Have you ever felt like the mountains were bare, the opportunities were scarce, and God's voice was silent. You were hungry for pasture, for feeding, and for rest; instead you were like Charlie Brown. Instead of Halloween candy or heavenly goodness, you got rocks. Good grief!

It seems like about half of God's prophecy is speaking words of hope to people in rocky times. In this case, "the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel" says ... (and see if this isn't a good summary Isaiah 49:7-10, see at bottom) ...

God says, I will keep you close to my heart.

And when the day of salvation arrives, I will help you.

If you feel like a prisoner in this broken world,
I will say to you, Come out of the darkness.

I will take you on a journey.

I will feed you along your pathways.
I will turn the mountains into a road.

On what appear to be bare heights, I will sow a pasture.

The sun shall not strike you.
Instead springs of water shall guide you.

So sing for joy,
for the Lord will have compassion on his suffering children.

In Christ's Love,
a guy who wants to invite God
on his next vacation
(all that's a pretty good deal!)

Isaiah 49 - 7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you." 8 Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; 9 saying to the prisoners, "Come out," to those who are in darkness, "Show yourselves." They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Lo, these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene. 13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones.


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May 5

"But prayer"
Acts 12:5

Last night our church council laughed at me. I said, "I have a very short report this month." "Yeah right," they said, "We've heard that before." I said, "Here it is: Prayer works."

Therefore, when I found today's lesson, I delighted that it was also only two words! Now the book of Acts -- like my council report -- elaborated just a little bit. In Acts, it tells us three things about prayer ...

1) The Need: "5 Peter ... was ... in prison ..."

2) The Human Action: "5 but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

3) The Heavenly Reaction: "7 [So], behold , the angel of the Lord came upon [Peter] ... and ... his chains fell off from his hands."

If you have a need, and want a heavenly reaction, you may want to try "prayer ... without ceasing"!

Prayer works, I told our council. For four straight months, we have embarked on the wonderful discipline of holding a prayer vigil on the first Saturday of the month. We had 150 prayer requests this month -- some of them praise reports from last month.
Doors are opening. Rough places are being made smooth. Chains are falling off. Healing is occuring.

Two words: Pray more!

In Christ's Love,
a guy who's practicing
what he's preaching

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