(Is. 35:4), Say to those with palpitating hearts,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.”
(Is. 40:3), A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
4 “Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed…
(Luke 3:3), And John came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,
‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,
MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.
5 ‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED,
AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW;
THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT,
AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH;
John came preaching a baptism, or an immersion, of repentance. John’s message of radical brokenness and surrender was a word of preparation. An immersion into surrender, not just a sprinkling, prepares our hearts for a fresh manifestation of the presence of Jesus and the glory of God in our lives. If you pay close attention to the language used in Isaiah 40 and Luke 3, you’ll notice that the call is for a major road construction that creates a highway of holiness on which Jesus can travel in and through our lives. Ravines filled in and mountains brought low don’t represent simple road work; they represent major changes. Jesus wants to move freely in and through our lives, but He requires a spiritual highway that is straight and smooth. It is easy to play around the edges of a surrendered life, and in His grace He will never love you any less if that’s the way you choose to live your entire Christian life, but if you have a palpitating heart that longs to experience His radical fullness then grace calls us to a radical repentance and surrender for loves sake. I know that it is popular today about the release of glory in a life as the result of someone laying hands on you and releasing impartation. I believe in that and have been blessed by others laying hands on me, and I’ve been privileged to lay hands on others who received fresh a impartation, but the highway of holiness, that is created by a radically yielded heart and life, is the the most ancient, and sure path that carries sustainable presence and glory. It’s not a one time thing; instead it’s a lifetime of deep calling unto deep. A palpitating heart that longs for the depths of God, provokes the depths of God’s heart to call for the depths of us ever increasingly. Oh the endless joy of discovery.