Category: Daily Prayer

Our scripture this morning is Isaiah 65:17 (ESV).

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

In John’s vision from Revelation 21:1 we read “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” God sends the same lesson there as in our verse this morning from Isaiah. He offers us a chance to be remade in His image, washed clean by Christ’s sacrifice for us. God is constant and consistent no matter what changes we may experience, and He is always ready to accept our repentance and forgive us.

Loving Lord, we are sorry for the times we stumble or run to sin rather than into Your arms. Bless us to be new people in Your new creation, sharing Your love forever. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 61:1 (ESV).

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Most of us are likely more familiar with this quote from the lesson in Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus reads this passage in the synagogue in Nazareth. He ends by telling them “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” We can see this as Christ’s “job description”, one which He later passes to us. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah centuries earlier; now His promise has come to earth in the form of Jesus the Son. He is the only Savior and we are called to share that joy with the world.

Heavenly Father, we are amazed that You would accept us back in our sinful condition. Forgive us, refresh our spirits and realign them with Yours, and send us to speak the Good News everywhere. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 55:6-7 (ESV).

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

While the phrase “while he may be found” sounds like there might be a time when God is hidden from us, the exact opposite is true. Isaiah is being a little sarcastic in his earnest plea – there is no time that God hid from us. However, we hid from Him after choosing our own way (Genesis 3:8) and we continue to hide out of guilt, which evil uses to separate us. God says “I know you and everything you’ve done, come back and be forgiven.”

Heavenly Father, we know what we have done and sometimes that shame keeps us apart. Help us to see that Your forgiveness is open to all who repent and accept Christ as Lord. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV).

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

I can’t think of anything but Jesus when I read these words, yet they were written some eight hundred years before His birth. Jesus came to save us and remind us of what a life in God looks like. I don’t know why we are surprised when prophecy is fulfilled – God told us what He was going to do and He did it! God has inspired people throughout history to share His love and guidance with the world. May we be ready to share the gifts He has given us with all our brothers and sisters.

Loving Lord, when we fell into sin You made a way for us to return in forgiveness. Bless us to tell the world of Your love and to forgive others as You first forgave us. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 48:18 (ESV).

Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

Here we see the conflict we cause our Heavenly Father. His commandments are right and eternal; when we break them there are consequences. Sin can’t exist in God’s presence and without Christ’s sacrifice for us, we couldn’t be saved. He showed us what a life of obedience to God is like and promised us a place in the Father’s house when we accept His forgiveness.

Loving Lord, we are sorry for the times we think Your law doesn’t apply to us. Forgive our foolish and stubborn behavior and set us back on the path to salvation. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 43:1 (ESV).

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

From the very beginning God has wanted to be part of our lives and for our lives to be part of what He is doing in the world. He formed us in His own image, the only things in all of creation to receive that gift. When God says “I have called you by name, you are mine” He refers to all of us collectively and each of us individually. In Matthew 10:26-33 Jesus tells us that if God knows the fall of every sparrow, how much more so is He aware of us? He calls us to trust Him and walk by faith.

Loving Lord, You created us out of love that we might be Your partners in the world. We have failed You, yet You continue to wait for our repentance and return. Forgive us, strengthen us, and send us to do the work You have for us. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 40:3 (ESV).

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

The desert wilderness of sin we have allowed here is exactly where we are sent to share God’s love. John the Baptist says of himself “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:23). He came as a herald of Christ, to make people ready for the Messiah and His lessons. We are given the same task by the Lord Jesus: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). We are commissioned in His name and He goes with us always.

Heavenly Father, we are sorry for how far we have strayed from You. Forgive us and bless us to share the joy we find in You with the world. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 40:1-2 (ESV).

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Once again Isaiah offers God’s people a hope for the future. The Lord has made a way for us to be forgiven, but we must choose it for ourselves. We have to see the wrong we have done and ask forgiveness. The prophet says we can find comfort in this reconnection. Jesus told the story of a son who took his inheritance and wasted it selfishly. Later when he returns destitute, the father runs to greet him and welcome him home (Luke 15:11-32). This is our story, falling into sin due to our poor choices and coming back with nothing to offer but our repentance. God the Father stands ready to welcome us back!

Gracious God, we are sorry for the way we waste the gifts You have given. Forgive us and send us into the world to share Your love everywhere. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 35:5 (ESV).

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Isaiah tells us there is hope for God’s stubborn people. God has made a way for His spiritually blind and deaf children to see and hear His love for them again. God has always been there for us but our willful disobedience in choosing our way instead of His has made us spiritually calloused and unfeeling. When Jesus heals blind and deaf people in the Gospels, it is much more than physical healing. They realize the miracle of course, but more than that, they realize the source of the miracle and the love that made it possible.

Heavenly Father, we are sorry for our poor decisions and often worse actions. Open our eyes, ears, hearts and hands to receive Your love and carry it everywhere. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 28:16 (ESV).

“therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’”

Prophets were not wonderfully popular people because they usually brought bad news. Isaiah’s message adds a note of hope, “a foundation in Zion.” This tells God’s people all is not lost, regardless of the dire circumstances they have brought upon themselves. Is Isaiah pointing us to Jesus? The Gospels refer to Him as the cornerstone leading us to forgiveness and redemption. When we put our trust in Jesus we can be restored to a right relationship with God, and sent to share His love with the world.

Gracious God, we know Jesus is our rock and redeemer. Bless us to be the disciples of today, bringing the Good News everywhere. Amen.