The Way of the Lord

Scripture: Isaiah 45 v 2:  "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron."

Luke 3 v 4 - 6: "As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
 5  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
 6  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God."


The Lord has undertaken a mighty task in taking every person who is born again and changing them from crooked to straight and from rough to smooth.  He employs His followers in this huge effort to pray for, teach, warn and encourage those who are coming out of darkness into His light.

Without Jesus going before us these barriers are impossible to clear out of our way. He sees beforehand the obstacles in our path and asks us to walk in His footsteps to avoid spiritual landmines - these are laid by our sly enemy who wants to cause us to slip up so he can accuse us before God.  The name Satan means Accuser of the Brethren.

Jesus is our Advocate before the Father.  It means when the enemy is accusing the born again saints, He is taking the blame for us.  If our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life then our sins are all forgiven and our Father looks on the righteousness of His Son and says Case Dismissed to Satan.

In this world we can be deceived by those who lurk in crooked places to trip us and catch us in their schemes. Jesus makes a straight path of honesty and truth to teach sinners to know there is a better way.  We must renew the way we think to break wrong thought patterns that lead us to compromise.

It is the gates of brass that block us spiritually from growing in grace through faith and Jesus will break them into pieces when we pray to get past them. We may have ignorantly backed ourselves into these problems. So ask that every blockage we have erected be shattered, that our self-erected walls will come down.

The bars of iron speak of imprisonment, captivity and bondage. When we are freed from sin we have leverage to pray for Jesus to burst these bars asunder. He will reveal the hidden layers of ancestral curses and set us free.  We carry the unknown baggage of past generations into our present lives.  Jesus cancels it all when we ask Him to do so.  The release can be a bit turbulent at times but when its over we know we are free.

He is the mighty conqueror of this world and the Creator of every being. Nothing is too hard for Him to do. He reveals to those who pray the things that need shattering and removing and raises up those who have struggled and fills them with joy.  He always has an answer to the most difficult problems.  

He also makes the rough places smooth.  We all start off with some rough edges - we get angry, shout, rant, sulk, throw things and Jesus needs to calm us down to be like Him.  He did all that too against those who desecrated the Temple and made His Father's house a place of business.  Many still do that and need that rough edge removed.

Jesus does not hurry this work in us.  He does it slowly and thoroughly and to perfection.  So invite Him to sort out anything in our lives that needs fixing and it will be done in a beautiful way.

The end result of letting the Lord make a way for us to walk in is that we lose our pride and independence.  He wants to unify His Body, the Church, and have it harmonious with Him.  Instead it is fractured into denominations and groups that have their own specific twist on the Truth of Jesus.  Can Jesus change hundreds of years of traditions and watered down gospel teachings?

The Church of Rome or the Roman Catholic Church is under the cosh right now for the gross revelations of sexual perversions among the priesthood.  Their traditions teem with errors and their teachings save not a single soul.  From the Pope who they say is representative of Jesus on this Earth, and is not; to the worship of Mary as Co-Redeemer with Christ, and is not; to the celibate priesthood, which is not doctrine of God; to infant baptism.This is a cult who say they are the only true way to God.  

The Anglican Church was started by King Henry 8th of England because he wanted to get divorced and remarried but the Pope said no. The Anglican Church rid itself of Mary, Popes, and celibate priests but kept baby baptism.  As did all the Reformation churches.  Until the Baptists changed that rule.  Sadly they stopped short and blocked the baptism of the Holy Spirit and His amazing gifts.

The Pentecostals got it right but it got out of hand.  The Charismatics tried to rectify that and many went too far and added doctrines that included the Toronto Blessing, its not, and commanding angels to do your bidding, they can't.  However fallen angels under Satan's power fill in for them and havoc reigns.

Now we have Interfaith very much encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, and denominational main line churches, and where will it end?  Where on judgment day Jesus says I never knew you.

Where will Jesus find true faith and be able to unite His Body for the Rapture?  Mostly outside the visible church.  What does Jesus need to see? Humble and contrite people who tremble at His Word.  People who follow Him into hard places to rescue the lost.  People who love one another as He loves us.  People who are walking in the way of the Lord.

Sitting in comfortable pews being entertained and accepting sinful practices in the church while our brethren are in hellhole prisons for preaching the gospel will not look good on our CV for Heaven one day.  Unless we overcome all these things and get serious with Him about our real purpose our names may be removed from the Lamb's Book of Life.

Prayer: Father God, there are barriers, blockages, rough spots and crooked places in my life that need the gentle hand of Jesus to smooth and break.  Here I am Lord ready to be changed into whatever pleases You. I humble myself before You that You may lift me up.  Break the chains of tradition, pride, religion and error and put me on a straight way that leads to You.   In Jesus' name. Amen.