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The Scriptorium

True Spirituality

God is looking for inside-out works.

The Way of Restoration: Isaiah 58 (4)

Pray Psalm 146.1, 2.
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Read Isaiah 58.10-12.

Reflect.
1. What does God promise to those whose souls are in line with Him?

2. Why must the good we do in Jesus’ Name begin in our souls? How can we make sure that’s the case? 

Meditate.
Notice that the works God approves begin in the soul (v. 10). The purpose of spiritual disciplines, such as fasting, is to shape our soul to line up with God and His will. We must learn to think with God’s Word; to feel with His compassion and love and zeal; and to value and prioritize according to His agenda. If we will work hard on our souls as we practice spiritual disciplines, the life God wants for us will flow like living waters that never fail (v. 11).

Look around you: In your sphere of influence – your Personal Mission Field – are people who hunger for someone to listen; who need some advice to help them see the light for their way; and who are looking for an example of love and good works to emulate (v. 10). If we get our souls in good working order, we can be those people.

And when we do, God comes to refresh and renew our souls, and to guide us for more of the same (v. 11)! We can become like springs of living water to the people around us (Jn. 7.37-39). Soon enough, this becomes habitual, and we are people known as builders, repairers, and restorers to all the people around us (v. 12). This is what God’s people in Isaiah’s day were failing to do, because they had given their hearts, minds, and consciences to the worship of created things, rather than to the Lord.

It all begins in the soul, and how we invest our time, attention, and effort to bringing our soul into submission to God and His Word. This is true spirituality, and true Christian faith.

Prepare.
1. Where have you seen progress lately in the shaping of your soul for serving others?

2. God is looking for sincere inside-out people to be His agents of renewal. Explain.  

3. What’s one thing you can do to begin bringing more focus and fruitfulness to your spiritual disciplines?

Their soul became like a lush garden, that is, luxuriant and tree-filled and with many types of flowers abounding and providing all sorts of fruit. For gardens that lack water are exceedingly ugly, being dry and barren of all fruit.… For just the hardiest among trees has the most beautiful fruit, so also fairest and finest virtues exist in God’s sight among the souls of the saints. Cyril of Alexandria (375-444 AD), Commentary on Isaiah 5.4.58.11

Cleanse, shape, and strengthen my soul, O Lord, so that I…

Pray Psalm 146.

Praise the Lord; renew your trust in Him alone; and ask God to show you how you can be an agent of His grace to those who need help or hope, or those who are lonely, lost, or looking for comfort.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 146 (Hallelujah! What a Savior!: Man of Sorrows)
Praise the Lord, my soul, give praise! While I live, His Name I’ll raise! 
And exalt Him all my days – God forever reigns in Zion!

Trust we not in prince or man – no salvation’s in their hand. 
Death shall take them, breath and plans – God forever reigns in Zion!

Blessed are they whose hope resides in the Lord, Christ at His side. 
By Him heav’n and earth abide – God forever reigns in Zion!

He is faithful evermore; He gives justice to the poor, 
feeds the hungry from His store – God forever reigns in Zion!

Jesus sets the pris’ner free, heals blind eyes that they may see, 
lifts those burdened painfully – God forever reigns in Zion!

He the righteous loves the best; wand’rers in His grace are blessed;
needy ones in Him find rest – God forever reigns in Zion!

But the wicked who defame His eternal blessèd Name, 
them He brings to ruin and shame – God forever reigns in Zion!

T. M. Moore

Where do the prophets fit with the rest of Scripture? How can I be a better student of God’s Word? Our course, Introduction to Biblical Theology, can help you gain a better approach to and understanding of the Scriptures. Watch this brief preview video, then register at The Ailbe Seminary and enroll in this free online course.

Forward today’s lesson to some friends, and challenge them to study with you through this series on Isaiah. Each week’s lessons will be available as a free PDF download at the end of the week. Get a copy for yourself and send the link for the download to your friends. Plan to meet weekly to study Isaiah’s important message.


If you value Scriptorium as a free resource for your walk with the Lord, please consider supporting our work with your gifts and offerings. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button  at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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