Living Lives That Please God - Isaiah 58

Our days here at Soaring Wings Ministries are busy and full.   Most days it is hard to find time to get everything done that we need and want to do.  Because of our busy days I often get up very early in the morning to read my Bible and to spend time talking to God.  It is usually quite early in the morning, sometime between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.  I truly love this time, in the quiet of the early morning, spending time alone with God.  

 I have found that as I read my Bible, God will speak to me through His word.    My Bible reading recently took me to Isaiah 58.    The words in Isaiah 58 are convicting and also comforting.  I loved reading this passage because I had just finished praying for Soaring Wings Ministries   This Bible passage reassured me that we were on the right path with Soaring Wings Ministries and that we should be encouraged as we continue on with our work here for God.  It was also very comforting to know that if we follow God's ways and are obedient to what pleases Him then He will guide us and He will satisfy our needs.  I also felt convicted reading this passage because it told me how important it  
is to God that we care for those in need....that we care for those in need well...not just with minimal effort.  After reading Isaiah 58 I prayed that our work here at Soaring Wings Ministries would be pleasing to Him and that we would truly care about and care for the needy and the oppressed around us.

 I am sharing Isaiah 58 with you as I believe it is best to let God's words speak to you rather than my own words.  


Isaiah 58

"Shout it aloud, do not hold back.  Raise your voice like a trumpet.  Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house or Jacob their sins.  For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God.  They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.  'Why have we fasted', they say, and you have not seen it?  Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed?'  

​Yet on the day of your fasting,  you do as you please and exploit all your workers.  Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.  You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.  Is this the kind of fast I have chose, only a day for a man to humble himself?  Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and lying on sackcloth and ashes?  Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:  to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.  Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say:  Here am I.

​If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.   Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.  

If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as  you please or speaking idle words, then  you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause  you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob".  The mouth of the Lord has spoken. 

I pray that God will help us to be faithful in our work here at Soaring Wings Ministries as we seek to be pleasing to Him in all that we do.   I also pray that God will bless you and guide you as you follow His ways.  My prayer is that God will be pleased with all of our lives and that we will all find joy in our work and joy in the Lord.

Anita Rennells
Soaring Wings Ministries
​Wellington, Colorado  


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