The Promise, the Problem, the Provision

Isa 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (KJV)

I was meditating on the Word one morning and this is the verse that God brought to me. Sometimes when God brings things He wants me to see He does it like a waitress, who after you sit down at your table as a guest of the restaurant, comes over and places your napkin down and a glass of water with the menu. It is just gently placed there to minister to you and it is a welcomed hospitality.  That is how this word came to me.

Here God speaks so fatherly-like to Israel.  He tells them the condition of His provision for them and how that provision is to be provided.  Remember, what was a means for provision for Israel is also a means for us today many centuries later. 

He gives Israel The Promise, “if you are willing,”...notice our father does not make the condition ‘if you are perfect.’ God’s condition for us to access His loving care is not how we walk that straight line in perfection.  His provision is not accessed by how we stay inside these perfect tolerances, not “if you be perfectly obedient.” No, it implies graciousness and hospitality “if you are willing.” Do you have “a willing mind,” and will you become voluntary in your obedience to my ways and my directions for your life. It takes the sense away from us that God is out there with all these resources and He is willing to dispose of those resources to us but only if we obey him to the letter. “You know, I would have given it to you but you were a termite today so go without.” That is not how it is. God’s provision is there for us all the time and all we have to be is willing to obey Him not be perfect in our walk or human life.

In conclusion of that verse He says, “you shall eat of the good of the land.”  In other words it will yield its abundance to you. 

The Problem, remember, church, satan is the god of this world and it is he that withholds, not our God (2 Cor 4:4).  For you and me as believers sometimes we need to remember to command those devils to take their hands off of our goods. 

The Provision, Hebrews 1:14 reminds us that while the devil has an army on this earth God does too and we can ask those ministering spirits to, “Go!” Yes “GO!!! Go now! Go on my behalf, Go according to your mission........ ‘Ministering spirits’ cause the good of the land to come to me according to Gods promise.

If You are willing

Isa 1:19
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (KJV)

What a tremendous verse to get a hold of. In Isa he says that

An Imitator

Acts 8:9-10; "A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, claiming to be someone great. The Samaritan people, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as "the Great One-- the Power of God." (NLT)
This scripture really gets under my skin. This guy is a magician, he probably was a very good one, but have you ever thought of how good you would have to be to be considered a God or "the Great One"?  Did you ever wonder why a magician would be considered like a God? I mean what trick could a magician do that would compare you to God?
Can a magician do a trick that creates a sun or a moon, or turn water into wine?  Did he ever open up the earth and swallow a horde of rebels like God did with Dathan for Moses?  Did this sorcerer do a trick that split the Red Sea and had millions of people go across on dry ground and get it all done before rush hour traffic in the morning? God created almost everything there is out of nothing, nothing that existed already. The scientific and theological term is ex nilo, 'out of nothing.' Did this wizard make anything out of nothing? Did he just speak it and it became....?
Well that is what our God did.  He didn't take lessons to pull a quarter from behind some little kids ear...He created things out of nothing.  Did this sorcerer do that?
Church I have thought of this many times and it is a major reason why we need to evangelize and be a witness to the world.  These people thought that Simon was a god b/c they didn't know God. They knew idols and idols only. They had no living God. They had no loving God, no speaking God, no manifesting power of God...They simply had magicians or people standing in for their god. They had dead gods. There might have been a demon but there is only one God and Simon didn't know Him. There was no life or love in their idol gods and since they were dead and lifeless, the only life a god had was shown through the magician or priest that represented him.
These people were easily deceived because they were in darkness.  People in darkness have their minds captured by deception & evil. People who serve idols usually find themselves in a quick downward spiral of intelligence.  Darkness overwhelms them and they become captive to ignorance.  That is why you see so much difference when missionaries go into tribes. When the gospel comes and salvation begins to work, the heathen's mind begins to be set free because he is no longer in darkness, no longer captured by ignorance and immorality. That is why a ghetto takes on new life when an evangelist begins to teach in it.  The reason is that the gospel breaks the power of darkness, of ignorance from satanic stupors.
As more of America and the western world turns to heathen practices, you can see already that many people are being hindered  intellectually, morally and spiritually as their sin begins to control them and they go into bondage/darkness. Things that were evil and unseemly become normal practices to them. Then they start living in bondage and they are the last to find out that they are being intellectually, spiritually, and morally squelched.
When God moves and uses His power, let me tell you....it won't be confused with some man's work that can pull a fast one over your eyes.
So, go bring light to darkness and truth to those deceived. Tell them about the real Great One, the all-powerful G-O-D!