“Remember this, keep it in mind,
    take it to heart, you rebels.
9 Remember the former things, those of long ago;
    I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning,
    from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
    and I will do all that I please.’
11 From the east I summon a bird of prey;
    from a far-off land, a man to fulfil my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about;
    what I have planned, that I will do.

If we are going to pray in faith, the second half of verse 11 must be deeply rooted in us. God says what He means and means what He says.

One proof of this (and here is another repeated theme in Isaiah) is fulfilled prophecy. The idols did not know the future and could not foretell it. But the one and only true God can and does. As we have already seen, long before he appeared on the stage of history, God made known the appearing of Cyrus. Here he is referred to here once again.

By the way, what emblem was on Cyrus’ shield? Yes, you’ve got it. I understand it was ”a bird of prey”.

‘The prophet Isaiah foretold that a conqueror named Cyrus would destroy seemingly impregnable Babylon and subdue Egypt along with most of the rest of the known world. This same man, said Isaiah, would decide to let the Jewish exiles in his territory go free without any payment of ransom (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; and 45:13). Isaiah made this prophecy 150 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were taken into exile.’ Hugh Ross: ‘Reasons to believe’ website