Community News – 09/25/2024
Community –
“Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength…” Isaiah 40:31
This is a word of hope and encouragement for us, but we need to hear it in context. Isaiah is speaking to a people in exile – weary from waiting on God to lead them out of Babylon and back to their homeland. The truth is, they need something more than human strength.
“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall…” (v30). The strongest among us doesn’t have what it takes. Humans even at the peak of our strength get tired and wobbly legs. Human strength at its best, in its prime, will inevitably fail.
We can’t endure… on our own.
The strength that we need is not our own. Verse 31 tells us it’s source: hope in the LORD. Some translations read trusting in the Lord or waiting on the Lord. It’s a picture of endurance. It means that we confidently trust God to keep his promises. It means placing our confidence in God even when we have reason to doubt. It means believing God’s promises are true even when we haven’t seen those promises fulfilled quite yet. It means trusting God to keep his covenant promises even when you’re in exile in Babylon.
When we do that, the passage goes on to say, we will “soar on wings like eagles” (v31). Eagles don’t rely on the strength of their own wings. At just two months of age, before they’re ready to fly, baby eagles stand up in the nest and spread their wings when they feel gusts of wind. They’re training to know the currents! Eagles don’t sore by the power of their wings, but by learning to ride the power of thermals currents. Because heat rises, these air columns push up and up, displacing the cold air around them. By staying in the warmth of the thermal, eagles continue to soar – relying on the power of the currents rather than their own strength.
COMMUNITY’s hope is not a pastor or program or strategy. They all have a place in the life of our church, but they are all far too small for our hope. Hope in God, wait on Him, trust Him with an enduring hope. Then we can begin to tap into a source of strength that won’t fail us.
As we enter this journey of prayer together as a church, we’re anchoring our hope in God alone… to make sure that we’re not running with the best of our own strength but seeking His. It’s called RENEWED because we need our strength renewed through hoping in Him!
RENEWED is an invitation to extraordinary prayer – meaning, consider your ordinary prayer life, and add something extra: commit to praying daily for Community; get a prayer prompt text message 1-2x/week; join a prayer huddle and pray with and for 3-4 others during this season; commit to some form of fasting; show-up for one of our prayer meetings on Wednesdays at 8:30am or Sundays at 8:45am. May God use this season of prayer to give us more faith, more expectancy, more confidence, more trust in Him. God, give us a greater hunger for you and your Kingdom!
With Joy –
Pastor Brett
P.S. Let us know how you’re joining us during this season of prayer (HERE). Commit as an act of hoping in God. And as we commit together, I can’t wait to see what God will do through a church seeking His face, running in His strength!
