Look, Your Saviour Comes!

Yesterday I was blessed to be a part of the first Minister’s Association of Melton 2010 meeting.  Having only started full-time ministry a few months ago I was never able to attend their monthly meeting due to work commitments.  It was great to finally meet all of the Ministers/Pastors of our local town and hear their heart.  I walked away very encouraged by the unity and common heart for our town and the ideas of future combined events to present a unified body to our community.

But what I was really blown away by was Pastor Richard Doherty’s (Melton AOG Pastor) opening Scripture reading.  As you would know by now, we are fired up for revival and are praying hard to see it come to Melton and to our nation of Australia.  But little did I know, we weren’t the only ones in our town hearing God’s heart cry for revival.  What Pastor Richard did was insert our town “Melton” into every mention of Jerusalem and Zion in Isaiah 62 and it rocked my world.  Because it affected me so much, I then read it to our Prayer Gathering last night and this morning and they too were left in awe of what God is saying to us and doing in us.  So, below I have included this Scripture with the edited names to refer to our local context.  The Message paraphrase puts it so well…

ISAIAH 62

Look, Your Savior Comes! Regarding Melton , I can’t keep my mouth shut, regarding Melton , I can’t hold my tongue, until her righteousness blazes down like the sun and her salvation flames up like a torch.

Foreign countries will see your righteousness, and world leaders your glory. You’ll get a brand-new name straight from the mouth of God.

You’ll be a stunning crown in the palm of God’s hand, a jeweled gold cup held high in the hand of your God.

No more will anyone call you Rejected, and your country will no more be called Ruined. You’ll be called Hephzibah (My Delight), and your land Beulah (Married), Because God delights in you and your land will be like a wedding celebration.

For as a young man marries his virgin bride, so your builder marries you, and as a bridegroom is happy in his bride, so your God is happy with you.

I’ve posted watchmen on your walls,  Melton. Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out, reminding God to remember.

They are to give him no peace until he does what he said, until he makes  Melton famous as the City of Praise.

God has taken a solemn oath, an oath he means to keep: “Never again will I open your grain-filled barns to your enemies to loot and eat.  Never again will foreigners drink the wine that you worked so hard to produce.

No. The farmers who grow the food will eat the food and praise God for it.  And those who make the wine will drink the wine in my holy courtyards.”

Walk out of the gates. Get going!  Get the road ready for the people.  Build the highway. Get at it!  Clear the debris,  hoist high a flag, a signal to all peoples!

Yes! God has broadcast to all the world:  “Tell daughter  Melton, ‘Look! Your Savior comes, ready to do what he said he’d do, prepared to complete what he promised.’”

Melton will be called new names: Holy People, God-Redeemed, Sought-Out, City-Not-Forsaken.

Isn’t that amazing!  What gripped me was how God is reminding us that what He has started and said He would do He is also prepared to complete and follow through on His promise.

I recently read in a Rick Joyner book that the desire to pray for and believe for a revival can only come from God.  Any attempt from man to manufacture the desire or stir up the emotions is useless and a waste of time because it cannot be sustained.  But what we are experiencing is a move of God and a desire from God that gives great hope.  I keep on saying to those of us committed to pray for revival that God has given us this relenting passion for prayer and if He started it He is going to see it through to its completion!  That gives me great hope.

So Melton, Australia and the people of God around this world, listen up…No more are we the dejected, desolate and dead-end part of our region, God is stepping down to purify and beautify His Bride.  Our stains are being turned into shining gems and our God will hold us in His hand showing this world the miracle of revival.  No longer are called rejected and ruined, but restored and redeemed.  A City of Praise, a Holy People and a City not Forsaken.

Can you hear His footsteps approaching?  Look, our Saviour comes!!