Tuesday, March 15, 2011
END TIMES READING PLAN: Isaiah 47-48
SCRIPTURE READING
Isaiah 62:4-5 4 …You shall be called Hephzibah… for the LORD delights in you…5as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
In this scripture passage, Isaiah speaks in bridal language. The name Hephzibah in Hebrew means "my delight is in her". Hephzibah was a queen and the mother of Manasseh in the Old Testament, but in this passage the name represents an emotion that God has towards His children. For us, the Hephzibah message shows us that God delights in us and rejoices over us as a Bridegroom rejoices over a Bride. Understanding this message is critical if we are to sustain a passion for Jesus over our entire lives. Without the Hephzibah message or the message of the Bride of Christ, we will become burned out in ministry as our primary identity will be as workers in the Kingdom, mere slaves. The Bridal paradigm energizes us through intimacy with God because we encounter His heart. Unfortunately, many believers can lose perspective by becoming focused more on serving God or on their circumstances than in growing in love with Jesus. If we lose intimacy with God then our hearts become wounded and burned out. Disappointment is a sign that our circumstances have become first place in our hearts, this is a sign that our hearts must return back to the place where we focus on our love relationship with Jesus first and foremost.
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to reveal to you how over your lifetime you have struggled with being a worker, how you have gotten your identity from what you “do” for Him.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you an area of disappointment in your life that can be overcome with a right bridal view of Christ. Ask the Lord to forgive your wrong focus.
3. Thank God for delighting in you, for rejoicing over you the way a Bridegroom rejoices over the Bride.
