28 August 2001

Text: Isaiah 64
(Continuation of Prayer begun in Isaiah 63)

PRAYER FOR THE PRESENCE OF GOD TO BE FELT
"Oh, that You would rend the heavens!
That You would come down!
That the mountains might shake at Your Presence…

As fire burns brushwood,
As fire causes water to boil-
To make Your Name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your Presence!

When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down,
The mountains shook at Your Presence!"
Isa. 64:1-3

A DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF HOW GOD WILL REVEAL HIS PRESENCE
Learning to Plead with the Lord
"For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who wait for Him.

You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways"
Isa. 64:4-5 (Cp. 1 Cor. 2:9)

INSIGHT AS TO WHY GOD HAD HIDDEN HIMSELF RATHER THAN REVEALED HIMSELF
"You are indeed angry, for we have sinned-
In these ways we continue;
And we need to be saved."
Isa. 64:5

CONFESSION OF SIN
"But we are all like an unclean thing,
and all our righteousness are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.

And there is no one who calls on Your Name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us
And have consumed us because of our iniquities"
Isa. 64:6-7

PLEADING THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD
"But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our Potter
And all we are the work of Your hand"
Isa. 64:8

PLEADING THE COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
"Do not be furious, O Lord,
Nor remember iniquity forever;"
Isa. 64:9 (Cp. Isa. 54:9; 57:16-17)

"Indeed, please look- we all are Your people!"
Isa. 64:9 (Cp. Isa. 54:4-8)

"Your holy cities are a wilderness,
Zion is a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.

Our holy and beautiful temple,
Where our fathers praised You
Is burned up with fire;
And all our pleasant things are laid waste"
Isa. 64:10-11 (Cp. 61:4)

"Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O Lord?
Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?
Isa. 64:12 (Cp. Isa. 62:1-4)