““For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. “For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. ” (Isaiah 55:10–12, NASB95)

I wrote this devotion a couple years ago when Adrianne and Julie were in Haiti with Kimberly and me.  I pray that the truth spoken two years ago finds relevance in your heart today.

The verses above are the verses I shared in our devotions the last night Adrianne and Julie were with us.  I couldn’t be prouder of those two young ladies.  They diligently planned and faithfully executed a wonderful VBS program for the orphans based on the Ephesians 6 (The Armor of God).  This morning I want to remind them, and all of you who teach Sunday School or VBS, that God’s Word is powerful and your use of it is NEVER in vain.  God promises that His Word will always be successful in doing what He wants it to accomplish.  Understand, this means that it will accomplish what He wants, not necessarily what we want.  It is our job to faithfully teach God’s Word.  It is God’s job to cause it to sprout and grow.  The good news is that it never goes out in vain.  Because the Word of God is alive, it always creates.  It always works.  It is always successful.

Isaiah says, ” for you will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.”  I told Adrianne and Julie (and  am  telling all of you faithful teachers) that this is how God wants us to leave the teaching opportunities we have.  We should leave them feeling joy and peace.  We should feel joy in that we were able to share the Word of God.  We should feel peace that God will faithfully cause the Word that we shared to work effectively in the lives we shared it with.

Lastly, I marvel at Isaiah’s description of how creation itself responds to the faithful use of God’s Word.  He says, “The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. ” When we faithfully use God’s Word, creation itself responds with praise and rejoices.

Don’t let Satan minimize the awesome work you do when you teach the Word of God.  Instead, be overwhelmed that the effect of your teaching goes deeper than you can even imagine.

Peace!

Tom

www.firmlyrooted.org