Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” Isaiah 6:8....."He loves to hear a heart say 'Yes' before it understands the details......How would your life change if you said, 'Here I am,' to God?" Chris Tiegreen
Isaiah was a man who fully fit the description and question put forth by Tiegreen. Before God spoke anything to him, he had resolved in his heart that his response would be "yes." No matter what He asked of him or what dangers or obstacles might be involved, his response was cemented in the word "yes." He'd also already decided on Tiegreen's question as to how his life might change with his "yes." It didn't matter to him how it would change. He would follow his Lord. He would obey and he would trust. This is the place to which He seeks to bring His people. The place He seeks to bring you and me.
I think most of us want to believe we would respond just as Isaiah did. Our intentions are certainly to do so. Yet, when it comes down to it, a great many of us, perhaps most of us would not. What sets Isaiah apart from most? What's the difference? I believe it's found in what took place before God asked him the question. The angel had placed the burning coal upon the lips of Isaiah. Isaiah who, in His presence, was acutely aware of how unclean he was and how desperately he needed to be cleansed of all in his life that came between himself and his God. We in the Wesleyan tradition call it a work of full sanctification. All that Isaiah was yielded up to all of who His God was. There was no part of him not given over to his God. The Father took his offering of self and filled him with the fullness of Himself. Isaiah would no longer try to follow and obey God from the weakness of his human nature but instead would do so from the fullness and infilling of God's nature. As Paul would one day write, his weakness was perfected in God's power. It is this experience, that of being sanctified, set apart, and filled with His Holy Spirit that separates those with good intentions but no real power to carry them out, from those who can say "yes" because they fully trust where He'll lead and know that whatever strength and supply they need along the way will be given.
I think most of us want to believe we would respond just as Isaiah did. Our intentions are certainly to do so. Yet, when it comes down to it, a great many of us, perhaps most of us would not. What sets Isaiah apart from most? What's the difference? I believe it's found in what took place before God asked him the question. The angel had placed the burning coal upon the lips of Isaiah. Isaiah who, in His presence, was acutely aware of how unclean he was and how desperately he needed to be cleansed of all in his life that came between himself and his God. We in the Wesleyan tradition call it a work of full sanctification. All that Isaiah was yielded up to all of who His God was. There was no part of him not given over to his God. The Father took his offering of self and filled him with the fullness of Himself. Isaiah would no longer try to follow and obey God from the weakness of his human nature but instead would do so from the fullness and infilling of God's nature. As Paul would one day write, his weakness was perfected in God's power. It is this experience, that of being sanctified, set apart, and filled with His Holy Spirit that separates those with good intentions but no real power to carry them out, from those who can say "yes" because they fully trust where He'll lead and know that whatever strength and supply they need along the way will be given.
When God asked "Who will go for us," He wasn't directly addressing the question to Isaiah. In essence, God was looking for free-will volunteers. Isaiah heard the call and immediately responded. Nothing has changed here. The Father still issues this call. He still seeks His free-will volunteers. Will you and I be found among them? Whether we are or not depends upon whether we too will allow His Holy fire to enter into every part of our being, enabling us to carry out the call and to do so in victory. His call still echoes. Do we hear, and if we do, do we go.....in the power of His Spirit and of Christ's risen life?
Blessings,
Pastor O
Blessings,
Pastor O
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