“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”- Isaiah 12:2 ESV

Warrior;
It is written: “A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use. So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:20-21) It is the hand that wields the vessel that gives it the Power and the Purpose. I scalpel in the hands of an untrained, uneducated person will kill, maim, and debilitate. However, the same scalpel in the hand of a skilled surgeon can save, help, and heal! We must remember greater is HE who is in Me, than He that is in the world. 1 John 4:4 expresses the belief that God, through the Holy Spirit, is in every believer and is more powerful than the Prince of the Power of the air, or the world. This is what John the Baptizer meant when He said, “I must decrease, and He must increase”. God is looking for people with GREAT FAITH! Hebrews 11:6, it states, “And without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. In Luke 18 Jesus wonders if he will find any faith when He returns; “…However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith”. God is looking for a few good vessels that are willing to Have Faith and play big for God! The Apostle Paul was such a chosen vessel. In Acts 9, the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus, God confirmed that Paul was His chosen vessel/instrument for God’s purpose. Hear the Word of the Lord; But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.” “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” (Acts 9:13-16) The great question is how much are we willing to suffer for His name? That just might be the question that decides what type of vessel we get to be for the Lord!

Leader, there are five books, and 4 men make up the ‘The Major Prophets’. The men all have eponymic books, while Jeremiah also penned Lamentations. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel cover a significant time span in the history of Israel and God’s Grand Plan of redemption. Israel was being punished, as foretold, there were Jews in Exile, and there were Jews in Israel under captivity. They were God’s people experiencing judgement in different ways. Jeremiah, the crying prophet, cried out to those people on the brink of that exile and pleaded for their repentance. Ezekiel and Daniel spoke and wrote to the people in exile, encouraging them to remember, and do not fear! Remember that Yahweh is God Most High, and in control. They were HOPE DEALERS, giving hope in knowing that Yahweh would eventually restore the spiritual fortunes of His nation, after He disciplined them. Of this group, Isaiah was the forerunner, he spoke to the nation of Judah about 150 years before their exile into Babylon, calling them to be faithful to God. Isaiah’s name means the “salvation of Yahweh.” Today’s verse is the purest words of Isaiah’s purpose, his name lived out. “I will trust and not be afraid.” Isaiah was a GREAT VESSEL in the hands of the Lord. He was used in a mighty way, in an important time, and in a way that brought glory to God! He desired to be a GREAT VESSEL of the maker of the heavens and the earth. Hear the Word of the Lord; Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ (Isaiah 6:8-9)

Conduit, Isaiah became an offensive weapon. Isaiah was an ‘Arrow in the Quiver of Yahweh’. Look at the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah provides us with the most comprehensive prophetic picture of Jesus Christ in the entire Old Testament. It includes the full scope of His life: the announcement of His coming. Hear the Word of the Lord; A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5) His virgin birth: “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’) (Isaiah 7:14) His proclamation of the good news (61:1-2), The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn. His sacrificial death (52:13–14) Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—(53:3), He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Because of Isaiah’s desire to serve the Lord and be used as a GREAT VESSEL to the Lord, God used Isaiah as an arrow in His Quiver, a vessel that was SET APART and used in SPECIAL THINGS. Because of these and numerous other Christological texts in Isaiah, the book stands as a testament of hope in the Lord, the One who saves His people from themselves. Isaiah was Yahweh’s chosen vessel to the people of Judah at this critical time in HIS MASTER PLAN of REDEMPTION. The people of Judah turned their backs on God and alienated themselves from Him, which created the need for Isaiah’s pronouncements of judgment—declarations made in the hope that God’s chosen people would return to Him. GOD is looking for a couple of VESSELS like Isaiah in today’s world! Are you willing to step up, to sacrifice and to die to yourself? It comes down to one question, “What do you want?” But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Amen! Time to FOCUS!