Tuesday 18 September 2012

Isaiah 42:13 « The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. »

Yesterday we presented to you Rosh Hashanah, the Biblical New Year.  So, as we step into this new season we want to present a side of God we rarely draw our attention to: A God of zeal!

When a people went out to war in ancient times they would always put their biggest and most fearsome warriors on the front line.  They did this in hopes of intimidating the enemy.  Then these great warriors would raise a battle cry.  It was nothing like what cheer leaders do in American sports.  The cry was more like that of the roar of a lion.  They would bang their spears against their shields, stare the enemy right in the eyes, and roar with such intensity so as to push all fear aside.

This past March Kathryn and I went to New Zealand to visit some churches.  I watched (on a large TV screen with a bunch of youth) a most exciting, and some what confusing game of rugby.  But I could not help but be impressed with the All-Black “hackah.”  You need to see this.  It is perhaps the greatest picture of the Biblical strategy of “awakening the warrior.”  Click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAHRewQzLvA and then come back to the devotional.

Isaiah says that as a warrior God stirs up, or awakens, His zeal; and with a shout He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over His enemies!  Imagine for just a moment how much the devil dreads the day when God will awaken His “final” and ultimate zeal.  The next time you feel under spiritual attack, just remember that the devil lives in constant fear of the “terrible day of the LORD!”

My friend, in this new season, God has awakened His zeal.  And as He raises the battle cry we declare new hope over your life.  We say to you, “Hope awake!  Hope arise!”  The sun of righteousness has arisen with healing in its wings.  The discouragement and the fatigue of the past are gone.  The lack and the insufficiencies of the past are gone!  In this new season you will lack for no good thing that is necessary to follow Him to the finish line.

Hope again in His promises for our God has awakened His strength as a warrior and He is on the move!