A Voice Cries in the Wilderness Prepare the Way of the Lord!

I stepped out of my front door to pick some flowers this morning and abruptly was met with a loud crying honk of a Great Blue Heron flying overhead.

I just had to smile at this all too familiar sighting.  I have been seeing these birds fly over me for several years now to the extent that I could no longer chalk it up to chance.

God desires to speak to us each and everyday through a variety of ways and birds are definitely one of the ways He gets my attention.

No matter the time of day or my location,  it seems to happen quite frequently that, I see these awesome birds and so it has led me to investigate their scientific names to see if God is indeed speaking to me.

Ardea herodias is this bird's scientific name and I am immediately intrigued by the species name herodias,  so I delve further in and check to see that Ardea means "fire" in Greek.  Fire and Herodias remind me of Elijah who called down fire from heaven and herodias reminds me of John the Baptist's death sentence that was pronounced by Herodias, the lover of King Herod.

It is in Luke 1:15-17 that we find a clear description of John the Baptist:

"... and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.  And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."

Isaiah prophesied about the arrival of John the Baptist in Isaiah 40:3

A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Isaiah goes on to say in verse 5

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

That Great Blue Heron's cry reminds me of this cry in the wilderness.  I stand amazed at how God really speaks in all the details of life around us if we are paying attention.

I pray that my voice, that my life would be like that of John the Baptist and Elijah.  That I would be filled with the Spirit's power.

 A life willing to die for the cause of Christ.  That I would lose my head completely and it would be replaced by the head of Jesus!

 I want my life to be used to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their children and to bring the disobedient to wisdom so that we are prepared as the people of God for the day of the Lord.

James 5:17-18 says

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore fruit.

I am encouraged to continue in my prayers for God to bring down the rain of heaven in areas of my life where death and corruption and unfruitfulness seem to linger so that I will bear much fruit and fruit that will remain.

I feel a prompting by the Spirit to not lose hope and to keep praying for my  brothers and sisters in Christ who are waiting for a powerful display of God's awesome strength and might from heaven to raise their bodies from the grip of death just like Elijah did when he prayed for the widow's son.

That my prayers are as effective as Elijah's is mind blowing!  

I want my voice to be used to prepare the way for the Jesus' return!