This is a first entry in a series which I am pleasantly surprised to see composed a little after the halfway point of this year. As I see it now, it’s a personal journey a terminus ad genesis, from fear to perfect love.
July 3-4, 2026
Playing catch up here… Also, just taking this opportunity to smooth things out and to clarify. It’s never changed; Writing makes a precise man.
I thought I was doing okay last Friday night. We just finished 2 rounds of practice, had a good dinner, and I drove the boys home before heading home myself. I turned in earlier, read a couple of volumes of The Adventures of Tintin, thinking I was ready to doze off… but sleep did not come.
I tossed. I turned. I tried to calm down. I tried slow deep breathing. I tried praying. I tried to calm myself from my fingers and toes, but sleep did not come. Went as far as punching the mattress and the pillows.
Spoke to my mom at around 3-4am, Saturday morning. Bless her soul, she gave her best in massaging my head and shoulders, and all the while she was praying, and reminding me that I think too much, and that I should be focusing on the Lord. I thanked her, and then I told her I’d head back to bed to read my Bible… I thought, I might as well if I really wasn’t going to be sleeping.
I went with the Psalms first, but eventually I ended up in Isaiah. I was reminded to note a couple of passages, which I will go through here.
First, Isaiah 54:11-17.
11 “O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.
So you could probably see why this group of verses popped out for me. I was tossing, and I was not feeling comfortable at all.
I wanted this Word for myself. I want it now.
I don’t just want my foundations and houses strong… I want them adorned – implying that we have been given so much, that some of it can be spared for the decoration – or the material that serves as our own walls and structures.
Or, now that I think about it, is this also a foreshadowing of where we would eventually set our feet upon in eternity; You know, where it says in the final chapters of the Revelation of John, where the streets are made of pure, reflective gold, and whose massive gates are whole precious stones?
Either way, I shall take comfort, and I shall find calm in the promises of the Lord, beginning with His lavish provision for us, here and in eternity to come.
13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
I shall take comfort, here and now, in consideration of all that I have and don’t have… in this promise of the Lord – that, on top of provision, I shall have a posterity… Meaning, I shall have future generations or descendants, joining my brothers in furthering the bloodline of my father and my father’s father.
I am at peace, for they shall be taught the Word of the Lord. They shall have great peace, for when their time comes, they shall also believe in Christ, and they shall also be established in righteousness.
At the time I remember thinking, I already have this going on, in the form of the congregation that I serve – indeed, there are generations ‘under’ me, but I specifically want my own children. That’s right, I’m following the advice of James Earl Jones as King Jaffe Joffer, sowing my royal oats – with one queen, of course.
You know, I’m going through all this, and part of me is sort of cringing because I’m sounding a lot like those pastors I actually cringe at, who lure folks in by placing less emphasis on Christ – or, rather, they paint all the beautiful pictures of better circumstances in this side of reality, and just go ahead and add in ‘in Jesus’ name‘ in the end to make it ‘official‘.
I’m being directed now to Philippians 2:13: ‘…it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.’; Here, ‘for His good pleasure’ points us to Ephesians 1:5 where it states that the good pleasure of God’s will is our adoption as (His) sons (and daughters) by Jesus Christ to Himself;
And because we have been made His sons (and daughters), you can see, among other perspectives, through the parable of the Prodigal Son, that He would run to us and cover us, equip us, and vindicate us when we come back from being the most decadent of sinners; just as He would chase us and remind us that all that He has is ours, even when we storm out from being the most self-righteous of hypocrites.
So with all this in mind, I’m not asking for what I want according to my own preferences and applying a ‘magic word’ and assuming it would be given to me according to my own expectations.
I’m doing what we all should do in the body of Christ, as sons and daughters of the Most High – appropriating the promises of God to His people, because we have been adopted as (His) sons (and daughters) by Jesus Christ to Himself.
We’re claiming. We’re not denying that. But the small nuances make the biggest differences.
We’re not self-righteous folk asking God for what we want, like a genie. We are children of God claiming our Father’s promises.
Not by our power, but by His Spirit.
Not unto us, but to Him be all glory.
Right. I just wanted that out of the way before we kept going.
15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
16 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.
No assembly against us shall stand. At this very moment, I believe it is very possible that there are folks who we don’t know, folks who don’t even know us from halfway around the world that are gathering with the firm intent of cursing the body of Christ.
With this said, I am thankful – because for our sakes, they may be unhindered in their assembly… but they shall fall for our sake. Sure as it says in Deuteronomy 28:7: they shall come out against (us) one way and flee before (us) seven ways.
Thank You, Lord. Because of Christ, the Father provides for us lavishly, gives us a posterity set up for righteousness and faithfulness to Him, and, here, He protects us from the threats of hostile assemblies, both domestic and foreign.
…And this, on top of the oft quoted final verse in this set of Scripture – that is, not only shall any assembly against us stand for long, but no weapon formed against us shall prosper, no tongue that rises against us in judgment shall be tolerated, but shall be condemned.
We stop there BUT look at the verse before that – two ways I see verse 16 are (1) He created the blacksmith who forms weapons against our enemies, and the spoiler to destroy those who come against us, OR, what I think it means more, (2) He made the blacksmith who made the weapons formed against us, therefore they shall not prosper against us; He made the spoiler that we shall come to condemn.
It’s important that we take that context into consideration because it’s not that these weapons will be stopped from prospering against us – it may very well be that as early as their forming by the blacksmith God created, they were already setup for failure… just as the spoiler, the tongue that rises against us has already been condemned.
And, to read: If ‘this is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,‘ how much more are we blessed, being CHILDREN of God, adopted as His sons and daughters by Jesus Christ to Himself?
To read: The righteousness of the servants of the Lord is from God… BUT God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
It’s all to say, what I’ve read from the top: O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold – through Christ, you have been made His son. Because you are His son, you are blessed, and He adds to sorrow to the good that comes from Him.
Thank You, Lord. Because of Christ, the Father provides for us lavishly, gives us a posterity set up for righteousness and faithfulness to Him, He protects us from the threats of hostile assemblies, both domestic and foreign; finally, He works well in our past to pre-empt our protection in the present, and consequently makes all things work for the good in the future.
With all this in mind,we continue.
Second, Isaiah 55:6-13.
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
Considering how we are blessed, I believe we’re brought naturally to being intentional with our own devotion back to Him – seeking Him and calling upon Him.
We talk – or, it’s my desire that we continue to talk – in length regarding how we have a new commandment: That is, (1) to believe in the One whom God has sent – Jesus Christ, the embodiment of how God loved us FIRST with all HIS body, mind, soul, and spirit; and (2) to love one another as He loves us.
Here, I’m also reminded that the more we take in this perfect and everlasting love of God, we are able to fulfill the greatest commandment – to love God back with all our body, mind, soul, and spirit, and to love ourselves. I also believe that the more we take God’s love in, the more we intentionally seek and call upon Him; the more we discern and forsake wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts; the more we return to Him.
And did you catch that? The more intentional we are in loving God back, we see more of the mercy He lavishes on us, more of the abundant pardon He proclaims over us.
It’s a cycle, beginning with the Lord loving us first:
God loves us, we love Him back, He loves us more, we grow deeper in love with Him, ad so ad infinitum.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Beautiful and oft-sought portions of Scripture here, but I’ll keep staying on the train of thought we’re on, and say: God’s love is not our love. His love is perfect and everlasting, and, if we see it as His thoughts and ways, it also is a love of intention – that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
God’s perfect and everlasting love does not return to Him void – it accomplishes what He pleases, and it prospers in the thing for which He sends it.
I mean, we’re calling Christ the living Word, and the Word of Life; We’d do well in also recognizing Him as… how’d I say it earlier, ‘the embodiment’ of His perfect and everlasting love; He did not ascend into Heaven void. He finished and accomplished what God pleased, and He Himself ‘prospers’ in us; He gave and sent Christ to us, for us.
Putting verses 8 and 9 into mind, we can also say that Christ is the representation of God’s infinitely higher thoughts, and His ways higher than ours, as the heavens are infinitely higher than the earth.
We set ourselves up for fatal failure if we try to understand and grasp God’s thoughts and ways… But when we look to Christ we immerse ourselves in the Love of God, the Word of God, the Wisdom and Power of God… which, no doubt, contributes greatly to the cycle which began with God’s love, the cycle we mentioned earlier.
12 “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
The conclusion of the matter, thus far:
Because of Christ and His finished work, we who have believed have not just been given a ‘Go to heaven’ card, and left at that – There is MUCH MORE to the salvation Christ paid for us to receive, and it ultimately brings us into a cycle begun by God’s love through Christ, which has us loving ourselves, others, one another, and loving the Father, with intention and conviction;
Provision, posterity, and protection; Mercy and pardon; Joy, peace, worship and praise… all these things are fruits that we bear as we flow in this cycle of being loved by God, and loving God back, loving ourselves, others, and one another.
Amen.
227775/365000
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment