God’s Word CANNOT Return to Him Void - Episode 118

Well hello again! Thanks for joining me here at The Burt (Not Ernie) Show - getting the promises of God into the people of God, just stacking up those promises week after week, and praying that God’s people would be so given to belief, that our natural bent would be toward believing fully every single promise from God’s Word, that we would leave a mark, a holy mark, on our generation.

 

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Wouldn’t that be an awesome legacy? To be able to look back in your old age, during those golden years, to pause and reflect and know that you truly believed God’s Word and you prayed big, bold, daring and sometimes perhaps even audacious prayers based on nothing in the visible realm but based on what the Bible says. Wowza, what an impact! What a legacy that would be! I want in on that, gimme some of that - more of that, please! 

 

That’s why I do what I do week after week, so that you can have that kind of legacy. A legacy that is rooted in a Kingdom impact. And today, well today is a big day on the show because today we take a look at two verses from the prophet Isaiah that are astoundingly, incredibly remarkable. If we would just choose to believe these words from the Bible.

 

You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, now playing in the Edifi app. This is episode number 118.

 

Alrighty, well here we are in the heat of summer here in Wichita, Kansas. And the Farmer’s Almanac says we are going to have an arctic kind of winter, snowfall above normal and hibernation temps. What a contrast from the blasting oven of heat that lies just outside my front door today, to think of cold that is described as a hibernation zone, glacial, snow filled. And that is the kind of contrast we see between Isaiah 55:10-11 and the way we often pray and what we do or do not believe God for in our actual, walking around lives. Blasting heat it’s an oven outside versus arctic hibernation winter temps. What it says in the Bible versus how I pray and what I believe is going to prove true as a result of how I pray. Often a very stark difference, if we are totally honest. But, is that how the Lord wants it to be?

 

Isaiah 55, verses 10 and 11 are ones you have probably heard many times, and portions of these verses are regularly mentioned when people pray. So if it’s familiar, well, that’s good - it should be very familiar to us. I know for me personally, I want people who will pray these verses over my life, over my requests, my needs, my emergencies, my future, my children, the work of my hands, my marriage, and so on like ad nauseum. Pray this, please! And pray it as often as you want to! I’m thankful for it!

 

Let me read it to you from the Amplified.

 

For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, making it bear and sprout, and providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My word be which goes out of My mouth; it will not return to Me void (useless, without result), without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. 

 

Anybody else get a little bit excited, pumped up, when you hear those words?

 

This is God speaking in quotes here in Isaiah 55. God is making this promise about His Word, and He has not stated this in secret, in a quiet corner, in obscurity. He has loudly and boldly proclaimed it and I believe, with all of my heart, that He wants us to take Him at His word.

 

He meant what He said here, and He said exactly what He meant. 

We can know with absolute certainty the will of God when it comes to His Word accomplishing what He desires. And when we know for certain God’s will on a matter, we need to believe Him and we should pray in accordance with what His will is. It is a dangerous game, and total folly, to do otherwise. 

 

We are not like a senseless animal being led around by a bit in our mouth, right? We are the ones who have this great opportunity to believe God’s Word, right here and right now, in the midst of this generation. And I promise you this: you will never regret believing God for what He has said in the Bible. Conversely, what you doubt Him for, where you refuse to believe, that may well become a regret that weighs on you for a very long time. 

Because what we believe God for, especially when it comes to what we ask God for in prayer, has an eternal impact, one way or another. For good or for not good. Your prayers matter. And when you pray knowing that God’s Word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish what He desires and will succeed in the matter for which He sent it? Oh that’s big time praying, my friend. 

That’s money, right there. That’s the good life, in the most literal sense that I know of.

 

Anybody here ever heard of the author Susie Larson? She writes books, like a lot of them, and she has a daily radio show and is a speaker. I really am blessed by her show, by her books, her speaking appearances. She is someone who lives life in the real world, prays boldly based on God’s Word, and believes the Lord continually, at times in the face of a whole lot of difficulty and at times with the devil throwing lies right into her face. There is one thing Susie Larson often says that is just so true, it’s kind of like once you hear it, you can’t un-hear it, ya know? She says that the devil always overplays his hand. It’s like satan can’t not over-do things! He just is so full of pride and loathing for God and is such a liar, like can’t not lie and cannot ever stop lying, that he overdoes things. Susie kind of describes it like this: you and I, we may be thinking that what’s happening in our lives, it’s just life on this planet. And so we just endure it. We bear up under it. We keep on keepin’ on. We may pray about it a little bit, but mostly we just trudge along under the weight of it because we don’t recognize it as an attack sent by the enemy. And then, one day, all of a sudden, something just a wee bit more happens (or maybe something kind of big happens). The thing that happens is linked somehow to what you’ve already been dealing with. For example, health issues. Finances. Maybe your children’s behavior. Like, just that one more thing and then, boom, you see clearly that this is the enemy and it is for sure from him and you know God is not expecting you to just keep taking it. You sort of take pause and realize that this is too much to be just life in a broken world. This is not just life; this is from the enemy. You realize this isn’t about growing the fruit of the Spirit in your life, this is a satanic attack and there is a huge difference in how we respond. I’m talking about a realization that this is something that God wants you to be out from under, and you know that by prayer you will be freed from this particular attack. 

Satan has overplayed his hand. And now that he has overplayed his hand, it’s all over but the crying. It’s over, Rover. Done deal. Finito.

 

Have you had moments like that? When you just knew, in an instant, based on that one more thing, that satan was behind it and now you could see it all clearly, whereas if he had just kept quiet and left well enough alone, so to speak, you never would have known it was him and you would have just kept enduring it. He always, always overplays his hand. He can’t NOT overplay his hand. It’s like a temptation he is unable to resist, gnawing at him, until he adds just a bit more…and then, you see it all clearly and you seek God’s help and then it all turns around for you.

These verses from Isaiah are in direct contradiction to satan overplaying his hand. They give us the keys to overcome him, and we do that in prayer and often in fasting along with our praying. 

 

When it rains, when it snows, the earth is watered. It’s not possible for rain to not water. God sends the rain to water the earth, causing it to bear and to sprout, to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eater. It’s a beautiful picture of how God sustains us. Jesus is the Living Water, and all who come to Him will never thirst again (as He said to the woman at the well). He satisfies spiritually, which is far more important and vital than our physical bodies. And God sends rain to make sure that things keep working according to His design, that we would have seed to sow, to keep on growing more and more food, to keep on harvesting, to keep on sowing more and more seed. And for bread to eat, which of course is a result of the harvest which is a result of sowing, or planting, which grows because of the rain that God sends for that purpose.

 

And what God sends the rain to do, that is what gets done. Period. It doesn’t get to talk back and tell God it isn’t interested in doing what He wants it to do. It just does as it was sent to do. The intention is fulfilled, always.

 

And guess what? That is how God wants us to see His Word. It works in our lives, it does what He intends for it to do, it is life giving and life changing and life sustaining. And it never stops working. God set it up that way! 

 

And boy oh boy, I sure don’t want to be one who tries to undo God’s order for things. I don’t want to be a woman who pushes against the way God set things up. I want to honor my Lord, with my daily life, and I want to trust Him so completely that I feel weird not trusting Him. I want to believe His Word so much that I feel out of whack if I don’t believe. I hope you want that, too.

 

So we have this picture of how rain does what it is sent to do, how it waters the earth and provides seed and food. 

 

In verse 11, God says, “So will My word be which goes out of My mouth”.

Oh boy, that right there gets me excited. Do you know what this means? It means that what God has said is EXACTLY what will take place. You can call it what you like, I’m gonna call it how it be. The word of God, as we find it in our Bibles, that is how it is going to be. Might as well get on board with that starting right now, today. It’s the truth, like it or not. So might as well choose to like it. 

 

So will My word be which goes out of My mouth.

That is a promise for the ages! 

How could I ever pray a tiny, small, faithless prayer when I could instead pray a big, bold, believing prayer that reminds all of hell that the word of my God always and in all ways accomplishes that for which He sends it? 

The only way I can pray itty bitty snack sized prayers is if I choose to. 

I choose NOT to pray teeny weeny prayers, thank you very much. 

I want to see the will of my God happening all over this earth that He made, that He created. I want to see that! And so I pray what His word says and I believe that not one bit of it will return to Him void. 

 

Because He says here that it will not return to Him void, useless, or without result.

 

When God says “WILL NOT”, isn’t it pretty silly for us to say, “Well, maybe it will but maybe it won’t”. 

Silly is a nice way of saying, bordering on sinful to doubt God so much. 

If you play with fire, what’s the saying? You will get burned.

Expect the Word of God to do what God sends it forth to do. Expect nothing less. You know the One to whom you pray, to Whom you have entrusted your eternity, the One who holds the keys of death and hell, he took them back from satan - do you think He can’t handle whatever it is you are facing? You’re probably not facing death as in you are already dead, as Jesus was in that tomb for three days, and you for sure are not standing in hell, which is a real place, the Bible has a lot to say about hell in the New Testament and before your time here ends you need to read the Gospels and see what Jesus said about heaven and hell. What you are dealing with isn’t too hard for the Lord. He defeated death and hell. Why are you afraid to pray and ask Him to deal with your hard places? 

 

Don’t give in to that fearfulness and thus pray small, unbelieving prayers. Don’t be afraid; just believe, said Jesus to the man whose little daughter had just died. Don’t be afraid, just believe. I think you can do that today. I’m asking you to do that today. 

 

His word will not return to Him without accomplishing what He desires (not what you and I desire, what He desires but remember when you trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, acknowledging Him in all your ways, He will make your paths straight - and on that straight path, you won’t be wanting things that aren’t what He wants. Psalm 37:4 tells us to take delight in the Lord and He will give us our hearts desires. That is the Word of God, my friend, and Isaiah 55 promises that it will not return to Him void but will accomplish what He desires. Isn’t this great news!!! I love this so much!)

The last part of verse 11 says this - and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

When God says something can’t be done, that issue is settled. 

Pay attention closely when you see Him say clearly that something cannot be done. 

 

What cannot be done here?

His Word can’t NOT succeed in the matter for which He sent it. It CANNOT return to Him void, useless, without result. It CAN’T NOT accomplish what God desires. 

 

Let’s pray like we believe God on this, okay?

 

Call me crazy if you want to, I seriously do not care. Crazy enough to get everything God has for me in answer to prayer based on His word? I guess maybe that may seem crazy to the world but it certainly should not seem crazy to the Church, to the Body of Christ. It should be the norm. We should be shocked by unbelief more than bold belief. 

 

Let’s pray big. Start today. Or tomorrow morning during your quiet time. Before you go to sleep tonight. Pray big. Never cease in praying expectantly, knowing God intends for His word to fulfill what He has sent it for. 

 

Thanks for joining me today on the podcast. I’m grateful for you listening and I’d love for you to share this episode if it blessed you or encouraged you or even challenged you today. Share it on your social media maybe, or mention it to a friend or your small group, those are some pretty easy ways to share the show. And if one person is encouraged, wouldn’t that be so wonderful? The prayer they pray may just be the one that breaks that family stronghold, that emboldens someone to do God’s will in some certain part of their life, that brings healing, emotional or physical or both, into someone’s life. The prayer someone prays may be the very prayer God answers and by doing so, totally turns your life around. So, yeah, please share this episode. 

 

I don’t usually feel an urge to ask you to share, but this episode I can’t not ask you to share because it’s not about what Jan says, it’s what the word of God has to say and somebody as a result of a shared post or text or old school email, somebody is about to experience something with God that will bless them and encourage them and be just what they need at this point in their life.

 

Thanks for sharing the show, and God bless you. Praying for all my listeners, and you probably have a good idea of how I am praying for you after listening to this episode. I’m expecting God to answer my prayers and do mighty things in your life.

 

See you next time when we will jump back to Psalm 27 and take a look at the promises God provides us there. 

 

Bye bye.