READING:
One-year plan: Isaiah 7-11
Two-year plan: Isaiah 26:1-28:13, Philippians 2:1-11
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The gospel works miracles that fix the broken, heal the hurting, and restore the fallen. More specifically, I’ve seen the gospel bring a supernatural peace that cannot be explained apart from a working of God. I’ve watched as decaying marriages find hope and strength again; in fact, I’ve even seen divorced couples get re-married to each other after the gospel brings them peace. I’ve watched children learn to love neglectful parents, parents be reconciled to wayward children, and entire families start over again when they get saved.
As a pastor, I shepherded members who differed, fought, struggled, repented, and reconciled when the gospel grabbed them. I’ve watched new believers return to people they’ve harmed to ask for forgiveness and healing. I watched as Christian Arabs and Christian Jews push beyond their histories to love one another. I’ve even read of people who were jailed for their faith, but who sought a relationship with their jailers for the sake of the gospel.
More personally, I’ve ministered to people whose internal agonies have found peace when they met Christ, the Immanuel, “God with us.” I, too (and perhaps you) have experienced that peace that gives hope in life and security in death – that is, a peace that affects eternity.
All of this is the work of the one Isaiah called the “Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:7). Somehow, the baby born of a virgin in Bethlehem brings a peace the world cannot understand nor duplicate. That’s a sweet, gracious gift to us.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you living in peace today?
PRAYER: “Help me, Father, to cling to You.”
TOMORROW’S READING:
One-year plan: Isaiah 12-19
Two-year plan: Isaiah 28:14-29:24, Philippians 2:12-30
MEMORIZATION VERSE (July 16-31)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov 3:5-6)
