“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18.
These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:13.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Do not fear, I am with you. And that is all you need. I was with Joseph, the son of Jacob, and that took him from being sold as a slave with nothing of the world’s goods to a prosperous manager of all his master’s property, it then took him from imprisonment under false accusation to ruling and reigning with Pharaoh in Egypt. When I am with you, you do not stay in the destitution of darkness.
I told Moses, when he doubted being able to accomplish his amazing assignment, that I would be with him. And that was the power that made it all come to pass. I told Joshua that I would never leave him or forsake him but that I would be with him to deliver him wherever he set his foot. I was with David in all his undertakings and he always came out the winner. I was with Daniel and he prospered as a prisoner of war under three different pagan empires. And I was with Paul, and I delivered him out of all his trials. And I am with you always. Jesus told you that when He ascended into Heaven, “Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.” And then you will always be with Me.
And Jesus also sent you the Holy Spirit to be with you and in you forever. No, I will never leave you or forsake you. I have given you the Paraclete to be the one by your side to lead you, guide you, teach you, remind you, and tell you of the things to come. He is your advocate and life coach. You are never without wisdom, guidance, healing and strength. I have wired you for that and connected you to the very source. I have filled you with all the fullness of the godhead bodily. Christ in you, you hope of glory.
And if I am with you, who or what can be against you? Really the only one you need to cling to at all times is Me.
When you turn to Me, you will find Me right there with you. When you keep My Word, I come to you and make My dwelling place with you. You in My Son, My Son in Me, and I in you.
I am always giving you an invitation to “come” to Me. Why? I am your answer to everything. Love never fails. I know everything from the beginning to the end and for all eternity. Nothing escapes My notice. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without My consent. But you must come under My protection to experience My direction. My Son wept over the city of Jerusalem because its inhabitants had rejected Him and refused to come under His protection, His Lordship, that would shield them from the wrath to come. Instead they preferred to have no king but Caesar and he destroyed them and their city. Be careful whose jurisdiction you pledge your allegiance to. For you will be under the master of the jurisdiction you choose and subject to the same judgment. If you choose the realm of darkness when I offer you the realm of light that is your choice. But if you take Jesus as Lord, I can protect you and give you His reward. If you go with the devil, you will receive his reward. Think about that and it makes your choice much easier.
I am with you, but are you with Me? If you feel you have lost your way and wandered over into the kingdom of darkness too long, and done things you are ashamed of now, do not fear. It is not too late. I do not have the words “too late” in My vocabulary and you should not either. I AM. All are alive for Me. For Me it is the present moment of love. Seize the moment. Now is the acceptable time and now is the day of Salvation.
I have made you an amazing promise. Do you ever use it and enjoy it? If you are feeling you have lost your connection with Me because of sin or disobedience in your life follow the instructions I gave a very sinful and violent people through My prophet Isaiah. It is an astonishing invitation that only I, the God of all compassion, could have come up with. “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18.
That is My kind of reasoning. I give you what you can never do on your own and I gave it to you in My Son. In Him you have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, and all by My grace, which I have lavished on you. Ephesians 1:7.
Have you ever come to Me to let Me take you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness? If you confess your sins, I am faithful and just to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9. And if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.
What is it that is bothering you and keeping you from a sense of that you are forgiven and loved? Is it pain in your body? Grief in your soul? Disappointment in finances? A divorce or a break up in a relationship with your children, parents or friends? The remembrance of a missed opportunity or a failure to help someone who asked for your help? I have good news for you. That can all be fixed. Nothing is too hard for Me, nothing is impossible, I am Almighty God.
But how can you get it fixed? Come. Are you weary and burdened? Come to Me. Are you shamed and guilty? Come to Me. Are you sick and weak? Come to Me. In My presence there is fullness of joy, the delights at My right hand forever. And in My right hand is long life. Come to Me all who are thirsty and receive the water of life that will become an overflowing fountain within you leaping up to eternal life. The answer to death is new life. Resurrection life. And you have that resurrection power in you. Just come and receive My goodness. Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. I will restore, refresh, replenish and bless. But you must come.
But how do you come?
Do you remember Job? You find your answer in that book of the Bible. He went through a terrible period in his life when Satan ran rampant in his goods, his family, and his body. Job had a totally wrong mindset of fear, ill at ease, and self-righteousness. He had given the devil entrance to his life. And then, to make it worse, he resented the friends who came to comfort him but ended up abusing him verbally. But what happened that changed everything, gave him back his health, his life, and double what he had before Satan brought his world and health down? He reasoned with Me. He spoke with Me and listened to Me, and then He said these words to Me, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” Job 42:2-6.
And when I first began to talk with Him that is, reason together, he said to Me, “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; even twice, and I will add nothing more.” Job 40:4-5. Job had been a fault finder and this got him in trouble with his mouth. Job 40:2.
How did Job come to get completely healed? He retracted what he had said. He changed his mind in humility. And then there was one more step. I asked him to pray for the friends whom he now resented and considered enemies. Those he felt had abused him while he was down and made it worse. So he did, and the result? “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. Job 42:10.
What did Jesus tell you so that your prayers would be answered: “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.” Mark 11:24-25.
And Jesus gave you the step that Job did not have to restore him to health and wholeness but he begged for it and prophesied it. He asked for a redeemer, a kinsman redeemer, who would know what it was like to be like Me, God, and what it was like to a man like him, Job, to put one hand on Me and one hand on him and reconcile us. Someone who was God and yet could understand and sympathize with his weakness. And he wanted to be raised up from the dust and see his redeemer.
Remember Moses in the desert when the people rebelled against Me and they opened an entrance way to the evil one into the hedge I had put around them? The were bitten by the snakes that came into the camp that before I had been able to keep out, but they let them in by their grumbling, ungrateful, accusing words (like Job) and they were dying. But they returned to Me and I gave Moses the cure, a bronze serpent on the pole of a cross that when they beheld that object of judgment they were healed. And what did Jesus tell you who have been bitten by the snake, also known as the devil and Satan? “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14-15. It is My Will that whoever beholds Him shall be saved. John 6:40 (“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”)
Look to Jesus on the Cross and all that means—your sins are gone, imputed to Him and punished, and you have your sign and your healing. The sign of the Son of Man.
So if you are in trouble, pain, stress, fear, and a dark place of unrest and distress where all seems lost and you life ebbing away, look at Job and do the same:
- Repent (Job retracted his words of woe and fear, self-righteousness and blame, and changed his mind about Me, for if you read Job, I had not brought the disasters on Job, but the devil had when Job put himself in the devil’s hand by fear and distress, “For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.” Job 3:25-26). Renew your mind, repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
- Look at the Cross, at Jesus crucified, and be healed by knowing that He took all your sins, diseases and pain on Himself so you could be free. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
- Pray for those who hurt you. Forgive the ones who abused you and whom you are now blaming for your fall into darkness.
Remember the prayer Jesus taught His disciples; “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgiving those who hurt you and praying for them is a key to answered prayer and healing.
My prophet Hosea told you how to return when you had sinned, “Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.’” Hosea 14:2. The sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. The offering of your lips.
Return and I’ll restore, like I did the prodigal son. Eternal life is in My Son and you who have the Son have the life; the one who does not have My Son does not have the life. 1 John 5:11-12.
Consider Psalm 107 and take it for your own:
There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore He humbled their heart with labor; they stumbled and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bands apart. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men! For He has shattered gates of bronze and cut bars of iron asunder. Fools, because of their rebellious way, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men! Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of His works with joyful singing. Psalm 107:10-22.
I love you. Do not hang back and blame Me for your trouble, come and let Me take care of you. Jesus came to undo the works of the devil. And you know it was Adam and men and women to this day who let him in, but look to Jesus, and like the Israelites in the desert, like Job, you will be healed, restored, and blessed double what you had before.