God's desire for you is fruitfulness. Those who put their trust in him, he watches over and stands guard, as part of his "fruitful vineyard" - his Church. Even when we disappoint ourselves and others, God continues to protect and nurture us. He wants your roots to go deep into him, especially during the difficult times.

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God wants you to KNOW his passionate, specific and purposeful love for you. Security, provision, even loving discipline, all flow from this perfect, robust love, which extends to church communities as well as to individuals. New Creation Church is also "rooted and established" in and through the love of God, in an amazing way.

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Peace is your portion - it's what God wants for you. But your mind is the key. How do we keep our minds steadfast? The prophet Isaiah reminds us what God does for his people, and how a knowledge of that will keep us in perfect peace.

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The only real weapon the enemy can level at us is intimidation, of one form or another. In Isaiah's day, the people of God were subject to huge intimidation, but they looked to God and God dealt with it. Listen, as Samantha exhorts you - "Don't be intimidated and don't give up!"

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Being a Christian requires a new lifestyle - one of risk and dependence on God, and one that is no longer tied to the "mainstream" of popular opinion. Following Jesus always has been, and always will be, counter-cultural.

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Sometimes it seems as though we are surrounded by that which is contrary to the will of God. The tyrants seem to be winning, like Babylon of old. But you have a secret weapon that defies and disarms the siren call of wickedness - the power of a cross-shaped, laid-down life. Isaiah proclaims the destruction of the tyrants and the restoration of God's people. See how the ways of God in Jesus are the antidote to the pride of Babylon, causing it to fall.

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Nestled among the warnings and judgement of Isaiah comes a wonderful song of praise, together with promises that, whatever has happened in the past, God will cause his people to rejoice and shout aloud in praise. Whatever we may think we deserve, God's anger has been turned away from his people, and we can draw water from the wells of the Spirit of God - the wells of his salvation.

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As a sincere believer in Christ, you smell good to God! As a Church - in our worship and our relationships - we carry the fragrance of Christ. What does this mean, and who is it for? And can it really apply to me? Be encouraged as you listen to this very personal word from God to you.

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God is a specialist in putting right what we humans get wrong. The cut-down tree of Israel's failed kingship produced a "shoot", by God's grace - Jesus, the promised Anointed One. In the same way, the broken tree-stumps in our own lives can live again, as we allow the Spirit to form us into a company of anointed ones, following the "Root of Jesse".

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Whatever we have done, wherever we have been, there is a "never-the-less" for us in God. Despite the disobedience and failure of God's Old Testament people (and all humanity), what God had in store was greater than they could imagine. God's promise to them would eventually draw all nations into it. A Son is given to us, who brings light instead of darkness.

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