SPRING FORTH NOW 2023
A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump, from his roots a budding Branch. The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding, the Spirit that gives direction and builds strength, the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God. Fear-of-God will be all his joy and delight. He won’t judge by appearances, won’t decide on the basis of hearsay. He’ll judge the needy by what is right, render decisions on earth’s poor with justice. His words will bring everyone to awed attention. A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked. Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots, and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land. The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid. Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them. Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,their calves and cubs grow up together, and the lion eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent. Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill on my holy mountain. The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide. On that day, Jesse’s Root will be raised high, posted as a rallying banner for the peoples. The nations will all come to him. His headquarters will be glorious.
Isaiah 11:1-10 (MSG)
We were designed, created in the image of God, and God Himself is Spirit, and it was that Spirit He blew into our nostrils and we became a living soul. To begin to understand who we are, not just in life but as we engage in every experience of our lives, it begins with our Spirit, the internal being and essence of who we are, the very being that makes us alive in our experiences. Our root, the very being that gives us life and what we need to live is not found in the external but instead in the internal. Focus on building and nurturing your spirit self, the internal being of God Who Is With You every day and in every experience, draw on that to spring forth life-giving waters to overcome and inherit all things. You may not look like you can win or you have what it takes, focus on your inner being, that is where your strength lives and the source of your Most Favored Status. God, who sees, hears, and feels you, will arise in and through you providing you with everything you need to navigate and conquer life and its challenges, working out all things for your good.
