All of the Above

I first read this passage in the NIV this morning. But the message is always a nice paraphrase. From beginning to end, this passage speaks to me about what God is doing and is about to do. Vereses 8-11 get me the most excited. When I read them, my spirit leaps because I know that the promised things are just that-they are promised and they are coming. I pray this passage means something significant to you as well. To explain the title, I saw a vision of multiple choice answers. A-C are things God has breathed into my spirit but I thought it was just too many good things. But in the vision, there was choice D that His hand came down and circled. He wants to give me "All the above." We are scared of hurts in the past and out of that try to limit God so that we don't get our hopes up. But He is not a man that He can lie! And when you are dealing with people who want God's perfect will right along with you, you will surely get all the above. Be encouraged! Happy New Year.

Isaiah 55 (The Message)

Isaiah 55

Buy Without Money

1-5 "Hey there! All who are thirsty,
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything's free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
I set him up as a witness to the nations,
made him a prince and leader of the nations,
And now I'm doing it to you:
You'll summon nations you've never heard of,
and nations who've never heard of you
will come running to you
Because of me, your God,
because The Holy of Israel has honored you."
6-7Seek God while he's here to be found,
pray to him while he's close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.

8-11"I don't think the way you think.
The way you work isn't the way I work."
God's Decree.
"For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don't go back until they've watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They'll do the work I sent them to do,
they'll complete the assignment I gave them.

12-13"So you'll go out in joy,
you'll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade,
bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
exuberant with applause.
No more thistles, but giant sequoias,
no more thornbushes, but stately pines—
Monuments to me, to God,
living and lasting evidence of God."