Episode 125: Isaiah 41:17-20

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Dear friends, welcome to Peace Prayers. My name is Juli, the creator and host of the podcast, and I would love to be able to spend some time with you today. Our goal is to take a few moments and dive deep into God’s word before meditating on it ourselves. I’ll read a scripture from the Bible, and then pray it over our lives. Please join me in the prayer. Invite a friend to listen in and let’s begin our day with God’s peace. I am so excited to get started; thank you for joining me today.

You’re listening to Episode 125 and today’s verse is Isaiah 41:17-20:

“The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Let’s pray together.

God, we are certainly needy. As the people You created, we spend so much of our time broken, lost, and asking You for help. We can’t do anything on our own. We seek to restore the spent portions of ourselves anywhere and everywhere. We cough and choke on the desires of this world, on the lies of our enemy, and on the pride of our own flesh. Panting, we fall before You today.

We need the water of life, the wellspring that can only originate in You, LORD. And why do we need it so much? Because You are our Creator. You designed us to flourish in You. Humanity was created for a lush garden, filled with delights, and nurtured by Your Presence. We need the old Eden glory. We squandered it on the need to govern ourselves and now that garden does not exist on the earth.

But You did not abandon us, LORD. You made a covenant with Your people and You gave them a tabernacle, and a temple, a place for Your glory to dwell. A place to meet with You, to be absolved of the sins we travail in. How kind of You, God. But Your kindness did not stop there. You sent Your Son. Oh, Jesus, thank You for coming. And thank You for Your gift of sacrifice on the cross. The one that tore the temple curtain in two and sent Your glory into the hearts of Your people.

Jesus, we live now to worship You, to be in communion with You. We need that so. The Eden glory that was ripped from the world by our own fall is restored to us in You. Our hearts became the garden haven where the river of life flows and the garden grows in peace and harmony. But only when we seek You and follow You. Only when we consecrate ourselves to You, delivering each and every worry, each and every care to You. Only when our mental and emotional lives are full of the resilience only You can give. Only when we enter into the spiritual landscapes of our hearts and seek union with You.

Jesus, I pray that Your rivers will flow into us and through us today. Let the parched despair of our lives, the concerns of the outside world, the pain of broken bodies, the lies of the enemy, and the desperate grief of ruined relationships be swept away, bathed in the soothing water of Your Presence. We need the Holy Spirit’s comfort and counsel, which is only available in union with You.

And when we dwell there, in the garden of our hearts, possible only through You, may we grow a garden, bearing fruit of resilience, fruit of surrender, fruit of consecration, fruit of union. Let others see our lives and know we have been with You. Let that Eden glory flow out of us, bursting from every aspect of us, so that we go into the world, brimming with love, overflowing with grace, and strengthened with all the wild passion of a God who never gives up on us and who made a way when there was no way.

We give You all the glory and the praise. We give You the credit. You have done this. You have turned our deserts into an oasis. You have turned the dry riverbed into a thundering cascade of water. And You have given us the ability to commune with You, to rejoice in relationship with You, built up in love and strengthened in hope. We owe all fortitude in our spirits to You. We worship Your glorious Presence. Oh, be with us. Oh, show us the way to You.

I pray this in the glorious, refreshing, resilient name of Jesus. Amen.

That is the end of our collective prayer, but don’t forget that you can keep praying and meditating on this on your own. Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you have a peaceful rest of your day. I’d love to ask you a favor before we go and that is to please subscribe and leave a review for the podcast if you haven’t already. That is the best way to invite other people to join us in our prayers and it helps me more than you can know.

I also want to get to know each other better. Follow me over on Instagram where I’ve recently updated my handle to reflect my married name. It’s now thejulihernandez where you can DM me prayer requests or suggestions on verses you’d like me to pray on the podcast or just let me know what’s going on in your life. Another way to get in touch with what I’m up to is on my website at www.thejulihernandez.com. My website hosts a transcription of each prayer so that you can pray them whenever you like. You’ll also see monthly blog posts that detail my current writing projects and I can’t wait to engage with you on that. Let’s connect, but for now, Shalom.