Weekly Prayer: Directions

Looking for directions?  Isaiah has a few from God.

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we confess we live in a confused age.  There are so many options, so many choices to make, we struggle to see which ways promote life, love, and peace.  Uncrust our eyes to see the prints your feet leave behind so that we may walk in your paths that lead to life for all.  In Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Isaiah 58: 1-14

Comments:

Yes, the prophets can be irritating some times and downright mean, but we have to admit that we all need a swift kick in the butt sometimes.  When we're stubbornly going the wrong way, the person who lovingly grabs our shoulders, squarely faces us, stares into our eyes with fire and says, "If you keep going this way, you'll fly over the cliff.  Turn around!!" is to be treasured!  That's Isaiah's job for God's people then and for us today.

The people of Isaiah's day seek God through prayer and humility, but they aren't connecting their acts of worship with their lives.  They seem to have completely disconnected their "spiritual practices" of prayer and worship from the way they treat other people in their businesses and their homes.  "'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.  Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists (verses 3-4)."

So it is today.  Many people see attending worship or praying as an insurance policy for "getting into heaven" or as a feel good tool for attaining greater relaxation or "something important to do for the kids."  God uses Isaiah to clarify the directions that lead to salvation.  Salvation comes when we worship God not only in our singing, praying, and reading of Scripture, but especially in the way we work, care for the poor, and treat our families.  It seems that the kind of people God saves in Jesus Christ are those who trust him enough to love as he loves, heal as he heals, and care for the poor as he cared for the poor each hour of every day, not just one hour on Sunday with singing in a building called a "Church." "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear (verse 8)."

Life Question:

1.  Who around me is poor in body, mind, or soul that I can offer healing to in the name of Jesus
     Christ? 


Closing Prayer:

Great God of our salvation, Your Spirit is constantly working in the the people around us to draw them to life-giving faith in Jesus Christ.  Help us see the needs of others.  Give us courage and joy in sharing the love of Christ in tangible ways.  And may your Kingdom of love continue to expand.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let it be so.

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