Daily Devotion July 20

July 20: Isaiah 65:17-25

KJV Key Verse: Isaiah 65:24
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call , I will answer ; and while they are yet speaking , I will hear .

Devotion:
Around 700 years before Christ was born, the prophet Isaiah was telling of a New Jerusalem that was going to be made. What He was telling us about was the state of grace that we live in now – the time after Christ had paid for our sins but before we wait for His second coming. During this time he foretold of greater happiness and peace, longer lives and many other things which we take for granted now.

But the one thing that he told about that we need to remember all the time is that God is still listening to our prayers. Not only is He listening, but answering and also anticipating them! I wonder if you can sit down and think of a prayer that God has answered recently for you. Think about what would have had to happen around you for that prayer to be answered. Think about what had to have happened days, even months or years before to make that answer possible.

Back in Ecclesiastes we were given insight into how Solomon found out how many thing were vanity. Solomon was given riches and things beyond any other man, yet with that all, and with the life that he was able to experience, he was never satisfied with the physical life. He told us of the vanity of working because it would be left to someone who we did not know. The vanity of creating wealth only to have to leave it to others! Yet Christ wants us to be able to enjoy the things that we work for. He wants to make sure that we are able to enjoy what we have already worked for.

God wants us to be able to live together, not to have to worry about who lives where in this world, but living next door to people from different lands. Just like God was able to change the animals so that they could all live on the ark for so long, He is able to change us so that we can all get along! We can see how much better our lives are living in this time of grace; how much more can we expect when we leave this old earth behind and join Christ in heaven.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you think about answered prayers?

How often do you lift up your prayers?