Thursday, June 6, 2013

Blog Hop Week 9

Summoned by Name...
Isaiah 43:1b-3a

"I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you upass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" NIV

Wow.  The reflection verse this week from Isaiah is long but full of meaning and inspiration.  And love!  I decided to dig in a little deeper and list some different translations to see if these loving words could pull at my heart strings in an even bigger way. 

"I've called your name.  You're mine.  When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.  When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.  When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end--Because I am God, your personal God, The Hold of Israel.  Your Savior."  MSG

"I have called you by name--you are mine.  When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you.  When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you.  For I am the Lord your God, the holy God of Israel, who saves you."  GNT (US Version)

So many words and messages speak to me in these verses, and they just fill me up with love, honestly.  If you notice, in every verse and in the same way, the Lord states "You are mine."  We are His!  And He takes care of us always!  These words remind me that when I'm in the bad, God is in the good and will not fail me.  He can't.  He won't.  That's not the promise He spoke. 

"He has called my name.  I am HisWhen I'm in over my head, He will be there with me.  When I am in rough waters, I will not go down.  When I am between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end--Because He is my God, my personal God, The Holy of Israel, my Savior." MSG

"He has called me by name--I am His.  When I pass through deep waters, He will be with me; my troubles will not overwhelm me.  When I pass through fire, I will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt me.  For He is the Lord my God, the Holy God of Israel, who saves me." GNT (US Version)

Obviously, the red parts are about me and the pickles I get myself into.  But the blue parts are all about Him and how He never fails to fix it.  You'll notice that I switched some words around to make it more personal.  I was hoping that the words would affect me even more if I addressed them to myself...like God is speaking directly to me.  It worked.  What a fantastic reminder that I should never forget. 
I went beyond the reflection verse and read verses 1-4 entirely.  Check out the befores and afters:
"But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: 'Don't be afrain, I've redeemed you...I paid a huge price for you;  all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!  That's how much you mean to me!  That's how much I love you!  I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you."  MSG

"Israel, the Lord who created you says: 'Do not be afraid--I will save you...I will give upu Egypt to set you free; I will give up Ethiopia and Seba.  I will give up who nations to save your life because you are precious to me and because I love you and give you honor.  Do not be afraid--I am with you!'  GNT

"Jacob, the Lord created  you.  Israel, He made you, and now He says:' Don't be afraid.  I saved you...I gave Egypt to pay for you.  I gave Ethiopia and Seba to make you mine.  You are precious to me, and I have given you a special place of honor.  I love you.  That's why I am willing to trade others, to give up whole nations, to save your life. So don't be afraid, because I am with you."  ERV (Easy-To-Read Version)

Speaking of "Spiritual Vitamins..."
How much more spiritual can you get when you read these words as the Lord spoke them, and you take them into your heart, your mind, and your soul?  How much better does it get?  Much better, if we can imagine.  I don't know about you, but I don't ever want to reach a place in my life when I can say "Ok, God.  I'm done.  I've gotten all the spiritual messages in my mind and I'm good to go."  Talk about going down the wrong road.  God doesn't ever want me to think that I've learned all there is to know about His Word and His love, because guess what?  There is no end to it!  We can't ever learn enough!  As Christians, we won't ever be done learning about God and His greatness.  And as Christians, as children of God, we shouldn't want to be done!  Right now, as I sit in my breakfast nook typing away on this blog hop, I have a cup of coffee that I've consumed about a quarter of, and I am a coffee nut!  I love it!  But when it comes to waking me up and lifting me up, coffee has nothing next to God.  God is the greatest morning cup of warmth and pep I've ever had and will ever had.
This has been an awesome week again!  Never fails!  God bless!

Check out my blessings blog!
http://jennysblessings.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-will-receiveall-i-have-to-do-is-ask.html




5 comments:

  1. Oh Jenny! Us and our "pickles"! I hear you. Color coding each of the verses was so powerful - thank you for highlighting the verses here so that we could see just how powerful God's Word can look when we really dig into it.

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  2. I love how you broke it down and changed it to help you to allow it to sink in! and they way you researched it further! Great blog Jenny

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  3. Great Blog Jenny! I love all the different Translations!

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  4. "The red parts are about me and the pickles I get myself into. But the blue parts are all bout Him and how He never fails to fix it." I love that! Great reminder of how in His Word there are constant reminders that He loves us and helps us despite all our mistakes. color coding scriptures in this way is so powerful.

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  5. Thanks for the color coding. very touching.

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