Hope in scorched places...

"And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like the midday. And the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." -Isaiah 58:10-11

It amazes me that in a season of focus on "revival" in some corners of the church that put such an empahsis on healing, that we don't hear more teaching on these promises in scripture. In fact, I read that only 20% of America’s pastors speak about poverty. If you read the above passage slowly and really let the promises in it sink down into the soil of your heart, you can draw up delicious nectar of promise in them for prayer. There is such hope contained in them, especially for the sick and diseased. Maybe if us leaders and our churches we're more engaged in the work God called them to be involved in...we would see more healing break out among us? I mean it is a promise right?

I prayed with the depressed and the sick, the weary and the downcast yesterday in and among our services...I am convinced that these promises and practices are desperately needed. As I waded chest deep into these verse today...I found myself more excited than ever to be engaged in expanding this kind of work in our neighborhood and church. Because the promise of seeing our "desires being satisfied in scorched places" is huge. We are working in "scorched places". People are scorched by sin, sickness and the plagues of purposeless lives spent on soul numbing activities. There are zombies sitting in our churches and walking about our streets, in a daze of slumber, cold, indifferent, drained of life. To many Inner streams of living water have dried up into crusty, dusty riverbeds; testimonies to a time past, when living waters flowed in abundance.

But God is unleashing rivers again.
Justice is going to roll down like a rushing, cleansing river of reviving life.
Great clouds of mercy and compassion will call for torrents of spirit enlivening, drenching rain.
Hard soul ground is going to soften under loves warming touch.
Parched revival chasing, throats are going to gulp down streams of replenishing life at the trough of service.
Brittle, weak, aging religious bones are going to renew, strengthen and be empowered with youthfulness.
Sicknesses and diseases are going to vanish in the kitchen as soups and breads are being prepared for hungry people.
Depression is going to break, like a slow coming dawn...in the midst of slipping a coat on a little child.
Heart embers long cooled, are going to be stirred up from seeing the sparkle in the eyes of those who have been loved and cared for. Hugs from grateful refugees are going to resuscitate dying spiritual lives.

We are going to drink from streams of water...that won't dry up.
That's something to get excited about!

(Photo: Denis Gontero)