Isaiah 20 ~ Praying Scripture

Please read Isaiah 20.

Meditate on verse 5.

Then they will be dismayed and ashamed

because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.

The northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria.  The southern kingdom of Judah is fearful of the same fate.  They are trusting in Cush and Egypt to save them from Assyria instead of trusting in the LORD.  The LORD has Isaiah dramatize the foolishness of Judah’s decision.  Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for three years to show the people they were trusting in nations that were merely going to be taken captive themselves and lead away with their buttocks uncovered.

The image is vivid and so is the point God is making.  The LORD says, “Trust Me.  Anyone or anything else you trust more than you trust Me is going to leave you in captivity with your hind end exposed.  You will end up humiliated and looking foolish.”

Use Isaiah 20:5-6 as a prayer of confession for yourself and those for whom you are standing guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, I confess that we have fled to ___________________

for help to be delivered from ____________________.

Now, how are we going to escape?

LORD, forgive us for making them our hope and our boast.

Almighty God, You are our hope and our boast.

You are our Deliverer.

In Your Name, Jesus~”

Isaiah 19 Praying Scripture

Please read Isaiah 19.

Meditate on verse 22.

The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing;

so they will return to the LORD,

and He will respond to them and will heal them.

The LORD is burdened for Egypt.  He is so burdened for them He is going to cause their water to dry up, their crops to be gone, their fish to be gone, their manufacturing to be gone, their leaders and wisest men to be stupid fools…

God has a way of getting our attention, doesn’t He?  Isaiah 19:20 says that Egypt will “cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.”

Is the LORD trying to get your attention?  Is He trying to get the attention of someone you love?

Pray Isaiah 19:20-22 & 24 as a faithful prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, we need a Savior and a Champion. 

We need You to deliver us.

LORD, make Yourself known to ___________________. 

May they worship You with sacrifice and offering;

may they make a vow to You and perform it.

I know You are striking but healing ________________,

so they will return to You.

Thank You that You will respond to them

and heal them when they return to You.

LORD, make my family a blessing in the midst of the Earth.

In Your Name, Jesus~”

Please read Isaiah 18.

Meditate on verse 7a.

At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts;

from a people tall and smooth, even from a people feared far and wide.

Isaiah 18 tells about a time that is coming when God will remove and cut away everyone who is a hindrance to honoring Him.  Compare Isaiah 18:5-6 with Revelation 19:17-21. 

Notice what God says about Himself in Isaiah 18:4.  “I will look from My dwelling place quietly like dazzling heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

The LORD is patiently waiting for people to come to Him in repentance before He uses His pruning knives to cut off those who oppose Him.  Oh, how we need Him to prune the junk in our lives and in the lives of others that keep us from wholeheartedly giving homage to Him.

Pray Isaiah 18:5, 7 over yourself and those for whom God has appointed you a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

LORD, please use Your pruning knives

to cut out everything that is keeping

________________ from wholeheartedly following You. 

May my life and the lives of those I love

be the gift of homage we bring to You.

In Your Name, Jesus~”

Isaiah 17 ~ Praying Scripture over Your Family

Please read Isaiah 17.

Meditate on verses 10 and 11.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation

and have not remembered the rock of your refuge.

Therefore you plant delightful plants

and set them with vine slips of a strange god.

In that day that you plant it, you carefully fence it in,

and in the morning, you bring your seed to blossom;

but the harvest will be a heap

in a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

God tells the burden (oracle) He has for Damascus in Isaiah 17.  (It is fascinating to read this chapter in light of current events!) 

Do you see the recurring theme in Isaiah?  God will not put up with idols in your life.  What are you planting in your life that is more important to you than your relationship with God?  What are you carefully tending and caring for that is not pleasing to your LORD?  Take time today to be really honest with God.  Listen to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to show you things in your life that are going to end up a heap unless you uproot them now.

Pray Isaiah 17:7-8 over yourself and those for whom God has appointed you a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, let us have regard for You as our Maker.

May our eyes look to You, the Holy One of Israel.

May we stop having regard for the altars, the work of our hands.

Let us not look to that which our fingers have made.

May we only have eyes for You, LORD.

In Your Name, Jesus~”

Please read Isaiah 17.

Meditate on verses 10 and 11.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation

and have not remembered the rock of your refuge.

Therefore you plant delightful plants

and set them with vine slips of a strange god.

In that day that you plant it, you carefully fence it in,

and in the morning, you bring your seed to blossom;

but the harvest will be a heap

in a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

God tells the burden (oracle) He has for Damascus in Isaiah 17.  (It is fascinating to read this chapter in light of current events!) 

Do you see the recurring theme in Isaiah?  God will not put up with idols in your life.  What are you planting in your life that is more important to you than your relationship with God?  What are you carefully tending and caring for that is not pleasing to your LORD?  Take time today to be really honest with God.  Listen to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to show you things in your life that are going to end up a heap unless you uproot them now.

Pray Isaiah 17:7-8 over yourself and those for whom God has appointed you a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, let us have regard for You as our Maker.

May our eyes look to You, the Holy One of Israel.

May we stop having regard for the altars, the work of our hands.

Let us not look to that which our fingers have made.

May we only have eyes for You, LORD.

In Your Name, Jesus~”