Sunday, January 16, 2022

THE SLAIN



THE SLAIN - AUDIO LINK




"It only takes one flicker of light to overcome darkness"

I am going to start this devotional with two dreams I had a while back. This will form the backdrop of this devotional. 

In the first dream I was seeing myself walking.  I had my wedding gown on, but my view was that of ground level.  In other words, I could only see my shoes and the hem of my wedding gown.  I was walking up a hill, but the further I walked, the more I realized what this hill was made of.  It was made of skulls.  The other thing of note is that the shoes I had on was Nike running shoes.  When I got to the top, I turned around and jumped with outstretched hands in victory.  Much like Rocky running up the steps in the Rocky movies.  If you are not sure of what I am talking about, just look up Rocky’s victory run.  In my dream I clearly heard the words, “The Slain”.  Immediately I thought of David and Goliath. 

I also had a dream where I was fighting off zombies the whole night. This lasted the whole night and left me exhausted upon waking. This made me think about the Nike running shoes in the Footlocker add wherein the different people are more concerned about getting the next best Nike shoes, whilst the living dead, the zombies were trying to kill everyone.  According to mythological beliefs, Nike was the goddess of Victory.

As you read or listen to this devotional, in the context that it is written in, the workers are indeed the ones who need these shoes in the time to come.

The next morning I went into YouTube and the first video that I went passed, the transcription caught my attention.  This pastor said that we must listen to Darlene Diebler Rose’s testimony.  That is exactly what I did the whole day before.  Needless to say that He had my attention.  Her testimony blessed me so much and I knew that Father was talking to me about the heart of a missionary, which is a willingness to suffer, enduring in the harshest of circumstances through His love that endures all.  I highly recommend listening to her testimony. It moved me so much.   In this teaching the pastor mentions how Darlene was told by Father that He chastises, or disciplines those He loves.  This was after her husband died and she just felt she could no longer go on.  If anything the love she had for the Lord God is what caused her to endure.  Love hopes all things, believes all things, bears all things and endures all things.  Nothing is impossible with love. 

I think of the Richard Wurmbrand’s, Corrie Ten Booms, the Darlene’s of this world who loved their enemies and how those very enemies broke down and gave their lives to Christ because of that love.    

The pastor then proceeds talking about how we are running the race of our lives and the disposition we are to have, which reminded me of the Nike running shoes.

When I woke up from the dream about the hill of skulls, “The Slain”, the Spirit gave me… 

ROMANS 16: 20

20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

 This peace comes in different forms.  The peace that I am referring to that will bruise Satan under our feet, is because of the shoes…the shoes we run with, called The Gospel of Peace written in Ephesians 6 regarding our whole armor we are to put on.  This is what crushes or bruises the head of our enemy.  Indeed we have been given authority by Yeshua to trample on snakes and scorpions.  But we need to understand by what means.  God’s ways are not ours and that which constitute foolishness to the world, is the wisdom of God.  We place our feet on the enemy’s neck not through violence, protests, anger and bitterness.  By a murderous spirit that seeks to take an eye for an eye.  Rather it is a foot that crushes all arguments and vain imaginations, able to bring strongholds of the mind down.  In 2 Corinthians 10 these strongholds, vain imaginations and taking thoughts captive all point to the reasoning of man.  Those who come against us with their reasoning, but also silencing their reasoning.  Meaning discernment.  The skulls representing man’s reasoning, the mind.  Whether this is by erroneous doctrine or man’s way of thinking in general of how things must be, the point is, that our warfare is for this specific purpose. As you think, so you are.  As they think, so they do.  When the reasoning and vain imaginations and thoughts are brought into subjection, it is then when they are left speechless or at a loss for words.  Please note that this is not to say we are never to say anything at all, but this peace is a state of being.  Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned just after he accused the Pharisees of killing Yeshua, explaining exactly to them with scripture their guilt.  His very words judged them, but this was not in an aggressive way, a tit for tat reasoning.  The Spirit of God came over him.  They were left speechless with only one alternative…to stone him.  But they saw the glory of God on his face.  Stephen did not grab a stone and threw it back in the hope that he could get in on it.  He was ready to die and in fact as good as dead.

When we are not afraid to lose our lives, when we are willing to suffer for the Gospel’s sake and for our King, it is then that the enemy can afflict his worst on us, his Goliath’s, and we through the love, the bond of peace, bring him down.  Indeed many are slain by the feet of those who bring good tidings.  These feet are precious in His sight.  Darlene’s first husband who also passed away on the mission field, once came back having walked over mountains to bring this Gospel of Peace to the unknown tribes of New Guinea.  When she pulled off his socks, he had no skin on it as pus ran from it.  Daily she had to pluck off dead skin in order to place ointment on his feet.  At one time a doctor came over, seeing the sight of his feet that she daily dressed in love, he wanted to vomit.  Crying out to the Lord about this, saying that it is so terrible and grotesque he cannot even look at it, the Lord God said to him, “For Me they are beautiful, quoting “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings.”  These are the feet that Joshua was told to place every place Father shows him.  By these feet the enemy is taken captive. Arresting them and bringing them into subjection.  How?  By peace.  This is not the only means by which the enemy is brought into subjection, but this is the place where the life within that is poured forth in peace, renders the enemy absolute powerless and on its knees before the Most High. 

HEBREWS 13:20 says,

Now, the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus…

God the Father is the God of Peace and His Son, Yeshua, is the Prince of Peace.  Yeshua said that He will give us peace, not the world’s peace, but His peace.  Peace is no small thing in the Kingdom of God. This peace is the word Eirene, not shalom.  It means quietness, rest, harmony, concord, no rage or war.  It mostly relates to relationships and the lack of friction. 

ISAIAH 30: 15

For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength…

This quietness is the same as the Eirene.  Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God.”  That still means to become weak coming from H7503.  It means to let go, faint, to slacken or cease.  In a way we can liken this with stop struggling, stop trying to fix it, or stop fighting.  Be weak and know that I am God.  Today’s society you are considered strong the more bold you are, the more verbal or demonstrative.  The louder the stronger apparently.  But the Lord God says that in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.  The complete opposite. 

I know Yeshua had his moments with the Pharisees, as well as the well-known incident of zeal that ate him up for the house of God.  We obviously should not mistake his jealous love for a fit of rage.  His love is an all-consuming fire and we are that house.  But I believe Yeshua, the Prince of Peace who promised us his peace, walked continually in that peace.  His walking in stillness, that is to say in absolute dependence upon the Father, at rest in his heart over the outcome of every situation, was his confidence and His strength.  Truly He was still and knew that His Father is the God of peace.  And through this peace, he took every place his feet tread on.  When He was reviled and ill spoken of, He did not revile back.  The word says he did not even lift up his voice in the streets.  I believe that He was probably of one of those calm authorities that had that particular sense about Him that demanded respect, but made you feel as if you were deeply loved and cherished.  A calm resoluteness that was not plastered on by putting on a brave face, but rather, as the Prince of Peace, peace oozed out of Him and you cannot but have been deeply touched by His presence.  And is this not exactly what we feel when we come into his felt presence?  His peace.  Peace is something I yearned for, for many years and when the Prince of Peace came and gave me His peace, it was no longer dependent upon my circumstances, but dependent on the One whom I abide in.  Now I still have stress, a lot in fact, but my peace is greater.  I am still and I know He is God. 

JOHN 14: 26 - 27

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Saying, I give you My Spirit, the Comforter, the Dove who is the very universal symbol of peace, to be in you in these perilous times to come so that your heart will not be troubled and you will not be afraid.  This peace is His Spirit.  Not a force to take lightly.  This peace is specifically for the purpose of being still, both in your heart, but also the ability to be silent in the face of persecution and reviling.  The same peace He had when He was brought as a sheep to be slaughtered.  Not a weak peace that whimper away, but a peace that stand sure as a pillar of strength in the presence of his enemies. We read in John 19 of Yeshua’s conversation with Pilate that gives us a glimpse of his calm, resolute and perfect peace.

JOHN 19: 8 - 11

8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;

9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

He was silent except for this one statement.  Then we have the encounter of being in the fishing boat with His disciples.  A sudden storm came and whilst His disciples were frantically trying to survive, He was asleep in the boat.  A peace that truly transcends our understanding. A peace that stood up and said to that storm “Be still!”

Many stories have been written of an overwhelming peace that came upon those who was to be persecuted or killed.  No man on earth can explain how any person can experience that peace, other than it is God.  And so the persecutors are brought to naught, when faced with the Prince of Peace in us.  When we lay our lives down, not as pigs screaming taken to be slaughtered, but as lambs, silently we lay, knowing that nothing can snatch us out of His hands.  Not even death.  It is this peace that the enemy cannot overcome and it is this peace that is the Gospel.  It brings peace between us and God, but it also slays our enemies.  It is a provision and a state of being.  It is Christ in us, the hope of glory, the Prince of Peace.  It is in this state where death loses its sting. 

Yeshua is the head of the body and speaks of His authority over the Church, where the feet speaks of dominion, and we are those feet.  We bring the tidings of the Gospel of peace.  It is surely a very strange strategy to take ground by using peace as a means of war.  And yet when we read of the Armor of God in Ephesians 6, we are told…having shod your feet with the gospel of peace.  Take dominion through peace.  And yes, it is the same peace, the one that talks about quietness and stillness and rest.  This is how He crushes the enemy beneath our feet.  This is how the enemy’s power over us is rendered useless. 

There is just simply no getting around this.  Yeshua said to me, “Once I have your mouth, I have you.”  So much goes wrong with our big mouths.  The letter of James makes it clear that he who controls his tongue is able to control his whole body.  What does your tongue have to do with your whole body?  How is your tongue controlling it?  Your tongue is controlling the outcome of your circumstances.  You can bring about some serious damage with your tongue or as the word says,

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Or

The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

It makes a huge difference.  Particularly with regard to peace.  The Word says in Hebrews 12 that we are to pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no man will see God and again in Psalm 34 we are to pursue peace.  It is not just a cutesy virtue that makes us more bearable towards others.  No.  It is the very life of the Gospel!

If there is one thing that I want to bring across, it is this.  In the last days extremities when many will be found in the colosseums of this world, the concentration camps, the gallows of life…how immensely important will a calm resolve be to serve those amongst us and to be that hope to a dying world.  Will this Gospel of Peace demonstrated by a life of love and no guile found on our lips, not be the very testimony of Christ and His unfailing love that can endure all things?  Even the torture or hunger or peril we will be subjected to.  It’s much easier to talk about casual things…sorry.  That time has passed.  Time to buckle up and get in on what will be necessary for the time to come.  If you believe that you are a worker for the time to come, should it be any surprise to you that you are now presently being exercised by this?  Should you not instead of wondering whether the enemy is on your back, be of such a disposition knowing that all of your life is training for what is to come?  Not in fighting spiritual demonic entities, which may very well be, but in building the very character of Christ that is to sustain you in the time to come.  Willing to be crushed even now that the fragrance of Christ may come forth to your family, friends and others. 

Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of the Voice of Martyrs who spent 14 years in Communist prison in Romania said the following…

“A flower, if you bruise it under your feet, rewards you by giving you its perfume.  Likewise Christians, tortured by the Communists, rewarded their torturers with love.  We brought many of our jailers to Christ.  And we are dominated by one desire: to give Communists who have made us suffer the best we have, the salvation which comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is interesting that I started this with The God of Peace will bruise Satan under your feet and here Richard Wurmbrand talks about us being bruised under their feet.  There is one difference.  The fragrance of Christ being released from that bruising.  That is the difference.  Daily we may experience the bruising by those of our own household, family or friends, by the government and others in authority.  He is not asking us to be strong in our own might, but rather to be still, that is to be weak, and know that He is strong.  This by no means comes easy and I am trying to say…learn by the grace of God to live in peace.  In so doing your enemy when he strikes you, smells the aroma of Christ.  But more than that, that very aroma reaches up to the Mercy Seat of God on behalf of your enemies.  Maybe he will not bow his knee immediately, but he will remember that you answered not in kind or wanted to defend yourself. Your enemy will remember that when he called you a deceiver or a fake that what came from you is love.  And He will know that, that love was not you.  In the end he did not strike you, but Christ.  He did not spit in your face, but Christ’s.  He did not call you a deceiver, but Christ.  Simply because you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. And therefore, when He strikes you, he will be crushed by the feet of those who brings good tidings, by you remaining still, weak in yourself, but strong in Him.  Yeshua, the Prince of Peace and the Father, the God of Peace in whom you are hid.  Therefore, this peace that surpasses understanding will guard your heart and mind and with every step you take, peace bruises your enemy’s head.  2 Corinthians 10 regarding the strongholds, vain imaginations and thoughts of the enemy concludes with the following verse.

And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

This readiness refers to a racer in starting blocks.  I believe Nike shoes would do great here.  My dream was about zombies wanting to kill me and eat up my flesh.  Nike was chosen by the Lord God in my dream to give understanding that it is by this means we obtain victory. In Psalm 27 we read:

2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

We can only take vengeance on disobedience when our own obedience has been fulfilled.  What obedience?  The very thing He has probably been speaking to you about for so long.  Chances are good that in your training there are areas that Father needs you to focus on and bring your obedience into fulfillment.  The one is not going to happen without the other.   Chances are you know exactly what I am talking about. 

There was another who died on the hill of the skull…Golgotha.  A hill that is an enormous skull.  And just like it took one stone to overcome Goliath through David, the type and shadow of Yeshua, so the Rock of Ages bruised his head on that hill.  Just like my dream of the hill of skulls.  Victory is ours, not on the basis of brute strength and human reasoning.  It is on the same basis that Yeshua overcame the enemy, by the cross.  He overcame the enemy exactly the way that was foretold in the Garden of Eden….

GENESIS 3: 15

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

And so in Romans 16:20 we read that He will do it through our feet.  How?  With peace.  Imagine that.  He is the Prince of Peace proclaiming the Gospel of peace, overcoming His enemies with the shoes of peace.  Oh the wisdom of God!  If only we will obey, we will then be able to be in readiness to avenge all disobedience.  We ourselves have to walk in peace, learn to shut our mouths and only speak when He says so, but live at peace as much as possible with all people. 

In Hebrews 12 He says that we are to

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

And that we are to make sure that we do not fall from grace due to a root of bitterness.  This is quite something.  Out of all the things He could have inspired to be written in the word, peace is the one to accompany holiness.  The very thing that identifies us with the Gospel is peace, apart from holiness, because it is called THE GOSPEL OF PEACE.  Not the Gospel of opinions or strength or any of those things.  It is what He says it is.

We can so easily read over these words and think, “Oh that’s nice.”  But we fail to see how fundamental it is.  In Psalm 34 David says:

PSALM 34:12 - 14

12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

The word pursue is the Strong’s Concordance number, H7291.  It means:

Follow after, run after, chase, aim eagerly to secure

Sounds like something we might just need running shoes for.

This is not a casual disposition of picking and choosing with whom we live in peace with.  We are to seek peace with ALL men.  They may not be in peace with us, which is between them and the Most High, but as far as we go, we are to walk in peace.  Why?  Because this is what differentiates us from the world. We overcome not by the wisdom of this world, but by the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb, even our faith.  This is especially true between the children of God.

The reality is that we have one huge problem standing in our way between walking in peace and overcoming the enemy.  When I say enemy I mean the enemy behind the actual person or people persecuting us.  The problem is our over estimation of ourselves.  Whatever comes out of your mouth, will in essence portray and express how you see yourself.  This of course does not mean that we are never to defend ourselves.  There is a time and place for everything.  However, how we defend ourselves will testify whether we are walking in peace.  Whether we are fighting for our own kingdom, or for the Prince of Peace and the Gospel of peace.  We may be able to subdue or muzzle or place a hold on something for a while, but this in the end is all the works of flesh.  We are called to walk by the Spirit, which is the complete opposite of this world.

This can easily be seen as weakness, backing off, to be a wimp or cowardice.  I am not referring to a general term of peace, but the very means we are to subdue.  The peace I am referring to is the peace that overcomes.  Joshua, who is the personification of Yeshua, was told to be bold and courageous, because every place he placed his feet, was already his.  Feet always speaks of dominion. 

PSALM 18: 36 - 39

36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.

37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

Does this sound to you like a kind of peace that is docile and relaxed.  No. Rather it is a peace that subdues.  Paul was in Rome at the time and he saw the centurions wearing their armor and the Spirit of God impressed it upon his heart to use this imagery for our benefit.  The centurions wore shoes that had sharp spikes at the bottom, which meant that when they came marching, people made way like the Red Sea so that they could pass.  Even so, the God of Peace will make a way for us.  However, I am afraid that by this imagery most Christians still see the weapons of warfare in the natural and not the spiritual.

The natural is: a shield, sword, belt, breastplate, helmet, and shoes.

The spiritual is: salvation, faith, righteousness, truth, The Spirit and peace. 

We tend to hold on more to the natural and lose the heart or essence of the warfare.  When we put on the armor, we put on Christ.  He is all those things.  This is a spiritual warfare that people tend to fight in the natural.  They do not understand that this warfare is not a moment in time, but a way of life.  Many do warfare through intercession and renunciation prayers, but do not live authentic and obedient lives.  One can say that they have a chink here and there in their armor.  Paul says, being in readiness to avenge all disobedience once your own obedience is fulfilled.  Faith, salvation, righteousness, truth, peace and the Spirit is a way of life. This is why we find in John 13 Yeshua washing the disciples feet.  Feet not only resembles dominion, but our walk.  Our walk in obedience.  Our feet touches this earth, even though we are seated in heavenly places with Him.  The things of this world defiles our walk, and we have need that He must wash our feet with the water of His Word.  We are called to walk in peace. That peace that transcends the greatest of persecution, by having done all to STAND, we subdue our enemy. And so when He tells us that He will give us His peace, not the world’s peace, He is making a huge distinction between what we call peace, and how He sees it.    

We have a saying of “hold your peace”.  In other words, keep your cool.  It speaks of do not let anyone take your peace from you.  That would be the equivalent of the enemy stripping your feet from shoes of peace.  It takes a tremendous amount of restraint to keep quiet in comparison to run your mouth.  You may have put someone in their place, but who really won?  And it very often is about winning and not about Him and His purposes.

Considering what the book of James says about the tongue, I get it.  The whole body is controlled by the tongue.  It is something that is impossible for us to control.  Running our mouth we are quite good at.  Keeping quiet, not so much.  Instead of running our mouth, we should run with the shoes of peace.  Only one can do this for us and that One is the Spirit of God.  This does not exempt us from pursuing peace.  We must want it with our whole being because it is an enormous testimony of the strength of God in weak vessels to be able not to fight for their life amidst persecution.  To be able to stand with resilience, with dignity, grace and meekness when the world spits on us, slaps us, binds us and lay us bare.  The same dignity and meekness found on the cross…that very cross on the hill of the skull.  What happens in the spirit world when the prince of the air uses his minions to persecute the children of God and they stand in peace and love, not loving their lives unto death, is that the enemy has no game.  It renders him powerless.  And just like with Yeshua when they viciously took his life, thinking they have overcome, never knew that this was to their own demise.  For had they known that his death would be their demise, they would not have done so.  So it will be in the time to come when the Anti-Christ have 42 months to do what?  To trample the saints under his feet. 

REVELATION 11: 2

But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

This, make no mistake, is given to him by the Most High to do.  This was prophesied to John in the book of Revelation and so the Most High is in fact in the loop concerning this.  This is not just persecution for the sake of persecution, but for the sake of those who will come to salvation because of it.  For the real church only shines her light the brightest in the darkest of times, and never before has there been a time as dark as that which is soon to come.  And even those whom the enemy uses, will fall to their knees and He will cause those that persecute you to walk in peace with you, just as Pilate sought to set Yeshua free.  I am reminded of Richard Wurmbrand who was beaten mercilessly under his feet until it became a pulp.  A man 14 years in prison, persecuted and tormented daily.  Every time they found him praying in his cell, they would drag him to the torture chambers and beat him.  One day, the guard caught him again in the act and wanted to know how come after all these years Richard was still praying to a God that obviously was not going to help him.  To this Richard replied, “I am not praying for myself, I am praying for you.”  The blood of those who will die for the Gospel of Peace will cry out to Him, just like it has always cried to Him and He will avenge His little ones.  His saints and those who loved not their lives unto death, who laid their necks down.

And so He tells us in Romans 12 through Paul the following:

ROMANS 12: 18 - 21

18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

This was written in a time of Roman persecution.  The Word says that whilst we were sinners He died for us.  We were all the enemies of God, and yet He died for us.  Is it possible that He may ask us to die for our enemies?  What a profound thought!  And not at all unlike him to require this of those willing to lay their lives down for Him.  Whilst we were sinners, enemies of the Gospel and of Him, He valued our souls and died for us.  When we as workers are taken to prison houses, concentration camps, wherever we may be, we are not to see ourselves as the victims of persecution, but as ones chosen, called, prepared and ultimately sent by Him to be a testimony of salvation unto all those who will call upon His Name and believe.  We will be sent ones.  When we value our own soul more than that of our neighbor and are not willing to live in peace with them, but always want the last say, how will we lay our lives down for those we do not even know, or our enemies?  There is just no way that we will, unless we walk in the readiness of the Gospel of peace even now.  This is the shoes of the Gospel of Peace.  It is our victory over the enemy.  It renders them speechless and powerless.  They may harm our bodies, but are not able to take our faith and capture our souls, which belongs to Him.  Foolishness to this world, but glorious to the Prince of Peace are those who walk in peace.  We are to pursue it with our whole being, for by it our enemies will be silenced.  Even now in our own homes.  They will have to conclude that they are powerless to overcome us and at the same time we will see that He has subdued them, and bruised them underneath our feet.  When the enemy thought to trample us under their feet, it will be our feet that bruise their heads…just like our Yeshua.

Yeshua told Peter when he cut the centurion’s ear off that those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.  Those who insist on using their mouths as swords to cut off ears or to maim their enemies by means of a spirit of murder, rebellion and anger will in fact die by the sword.  I received a word for those who insist on leaning on their own understanding, unwilling to die to self.  These are those who has allowed bitterness and resentment to spring up in their hearts and thereby defile many as we read in Hebrews 12. 

EZEKIEL 11: 6 – 10

6 Ye have multiplied your SLAIN in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the SLAIN.

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your SLAIN whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

8 Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord God.

9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

I suggest you take this judgment seriously.

Our King is the Prince of Peace and His gospel, his message is that of peace.  He is the God of Peace.  Blessed are those who are peacemakers for they will be called the children of God.  We are to proclaim this Gospel of peace so that others may be reconciled to Him through His sacrifice and mercy, extending a mercy undeserved.  This requires that the seed of the Word of God must be sown in peace and just like all seed that has to fall to the ground and die in order to bring forth much fruit, so we when we sow the seed of the Gospel of peace, will have to die and fall in the ground, and sow in peace in order to produce fruit of righteousness.   The workers will put their necks on the line willingly, sowing in peace and reaping a great harvest of righteousness.

JAMES 3: 18

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

When Yeshua was here the first time, He came in peace.  Later He spoke of bringing a sword and division, speaking of the time to come when He will return.  Those who go before Him to prepare a way for the coming of the King, will walk as He walked, in peace. 

When the Seals are broken and judgment is released upon this earth, there will be a great revival. However, a great and terrible sword will come.  We have to understand that what is presently happening on this earth is not because the enemy is getting his way.  He is in service of the Most High and even though he thinks that he is subduing the earth in order to rule, “As above, So below”, he is in fact used as judgment upon this earth by the Most High.  All the seals that will open and all the trumpets blast, will be by the Most High through the enemy as a judgment on this world, but also even on them.  For understand this, The Prince of Peace, shall from that very hill where the enemy was crushed, reign forever on His throne as the Son of David, from Jerusalem, The City of Peace.   But when His time of judgment comes, He will use those very feet to bruise our enemy’s head.  The God of Peace will soon bruise Satan underneath our feet.

ISAIAH 52: 7

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace;
that bringeth good tidings of good,
that publisheth salvation;
that saith unto Zion,
Thy God reigneth!

Martin Luther

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."               

LUKE 6: 35 - 36

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.  

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

JOHN 20: 21                  

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.


Wednesday, January 12, 2022

TIME & PURPOSE


TIME AND PURPOSE AUDIO LINK



We read in Ecclesiastes 3: 1 that to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.  That He has set a time for everything that happens in our lives.  We measure time and purpose in minutes, hours, days and seasons. The Word says that He has placed the world in our hearts so that we would not be able to know what He does from the beginning to end.  He has set the world in your heart.  This world in the Strong’s concordance means “eternity” or time.  We think linear, He thinks eternal.  He has no beginning and end and He has placed the principal of time, of eternity in our hearts so that just when we think we have this thing figured out, we realize that the circuit is still going.  This simply means that there is always more to your season than what meets the eye.  More than you can ever think or ask for.  Like a stone cast into a still river, causing ripple upon ripple, so are the seasons of our lives.  A season resembling a ripple.  But He sees the whole earth and all that is still to come.  So vast is His understanding and wisdom.  So far reaching is His ways that we would never be able to comprehend the importance of one season in our life.  One ripple in the river of your life.    

To further confirm this we read in Ecclesiastes 3…

Ecclesiastes 3: 14 - 15

14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

Ecclesiastes is full of words like vanity and foolishness and how man is to spend his days here in wisdom, enjoy his portion received from the Lord, but know one thing…He will stand before God.  The whole time the words “under the sun” is mentioned.  As if the writer had a bird’s eye view, an overall or summary of life.

John 21: 18 - 22

18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

 

Peter was just told what he would endure for the Lord and he looks to John and cannot help but to ask…”What about John?”

From this we are admonished to focus solely on what He has placed before us and not before another.  We are not to compare ourselves with all the great revelations, visions and dreams other people get.  We are not to compare ourselves with how they are used by the Most High.  We are not to compare ourselves period. 

2 Corinthians 10: 12 - 14

12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:

I have found that discontentment with where we are, are often the result of an unwillingness to let go or an unwillingness to embrace.  And so we long for a season to end, or just for another season in general where He can use us, where we at least in some form or shape can be of use to the Kingdom of God.  At least we will then have a testimony, right?  And so we will obey Him in what He asks of us in the season, but not joyfully.  We are willing to pay a price for whatever He asks, willing to suffer, but deep inside of us sits a discontentment with this stupid season taking so long.  “Why can it just not end already?” we ask.  We are unwilling to accept.

And so the same is true once we go to a new season.  He reveals a bit of the season to come and tells us that we will have to count the cost.  And what do we do when we hear those words?  We run.  Just like a jack rabbit we are out there.  And we hide.  Because the moment He says count the cost we are faced with the reality that we know we will not be able to do it.  Not even for a second.  And so we decide not to make a choice.  We make sure that we are busy with everything else, except that very thing He wants us to do.  Make a decision to let go.  Let go of the season where it has been cozy and loveable, and come into the valley with Him.  We are unwilling to let go. 

We have to let go the one season to embrace the next and we have to embrace the one we are in, in order to obey Him joyfully and not begrudgingly.  Neither can we secretly desire abundance in a season of healing or suffering.  Every season requires a certain disposition of mind and determination to allow the season to take its course.  When we are of two minds, we are double-minded and the word says we will then be unstable in all our ways.  With every season there will be a surrendering, an acceptance, a time to be still and a death.  The season following, will be the life that comes out of that season of death that will require you to walk in obedience to what He taught you.  Then the season after that will again bring you into a greater degree of death, with the one thereafter bringing you in a greater degree of life and obedience in Him.  But you can forget about going into the next without learning what you were supposed to learn in the previous. 

We read the following also in Ecclesiastes 3…

Ecclesiastes 3” 16 - 17

16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

Who are we?  We are nothing. We cannot even breathe without him or sit up straight.  The mere fact that He even thinks of wanting to use us should blow our minds.  But no, true to human nature, we want more.  Always more. Never considering that He does not even have to use us and for that matter even think of us.  Psalm 40 ends with the words:

17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

It is important that you understand and can articulate exactly what season you are in and what He is teaching you.  Very often He will let you know by His Spirit exactly what He is busy with.  Contentment is both a choice and a disposition.  A sweet spot of complete fulfillment in whatsoever state or season you are in.  This produces fruits of righteousness of which love, joy and peace are foremost.  Every season is given by Him so that we may be exercised in it. 

Ecclesiastes 3: 10

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of man to be exercised in it.

Sometimes, we may not know exactly what He is producing in us, but we can know that He determines the seasons of our life and choose to be content with our lot and our portion so that we may work with Him and not against Him, being exercised by whatever He deems necessary.  Not being content will cause us to slow down and resist Him.  He will then have to discipline us and correct us as a loving Father.  We can either accept and surrender joyfully, or resist and long for the former season or the seasons of other’s.  However, this will not change the season we are in.  It will however affect our disposition - Joy and contentment or unhappy and miserable whilst going through the motions. 

We are nothing and this is what we lose sight of.  We lose sight of the very 3 things He wants us to remember in every season:

·        To whom you are called (That would be Him, not man or ministry)

·        Unto what you are called (Your specific calling, even if you are not sure about it now, He knows what it is)

·        For what you are called (In what particular way He will use you)

All three of this is His blueprint in what He is doing in you, in every season.  I think this is a very important lesson, because if we lose sight of this, we will lose sight of Him, our call and purpose.  And that is what we by all means necessary must never lose sight of.  He died not just for our sin and to redeem us, but to prepare us for His Kingdom and our function in His Kingdom.  It is not just about now, it is about eternity.  When you lose sight of unto whom you are called to, what and for who, you lose sight of eternity and only think of now.  What you can get out of now.  Having narrow vision and basically miss the point.  If you do this long enough, you will eventually get sidetracked and start adding or subtracting according to what you think must be and make your own way prosperous, which is nothing but flesh.

And the reality is that we always measure ourselves with others.  “How do I rate against that person?” Even sub-consciously.  It is then that we miss the crux of the matter.  That all of your life was made to serve Him.  Not man or yourself.  Only Him.  You miss out on the fact that the Most High, the creator of all things, the All-powerful and Almighty God actually wants to use you.  Heck, just really contemplating that and meditating on that should cause you to say that you are willing to be a rag to wash someone’s feet, if only this rag lies in His hands.  Those precious hands that was pierced for you.  You will be willing to wash floors and toilets, it really does not matter what, as long as you can serve Him.  Then we would not compare ourselves to ourselves or to anyone, but know that we are nothing.  And that our only worth is in the fact in whom is using us and not what He is using us for.  Our hearts would be overjoyed and overwhelmed in gratitude.  The problem is that we do not value the fact that it is actually Him that uses us more than what He uses us for.  And so we fall short of the glory we so desire.   Our eyes are still on ourselves and on man.    

About a month or so ago Father led me to give a message to someone very dear to me.  This was not easy at all.  It was a message of judgment, but also of restoration.  I had a choice to make.  Am I going to obey Him and be willing to let go of this person in my life, or am I going to hold onto this person and disobey Him.  I obeyed Him and trusted the person into His hands.  Before Father gave me the word He wanted me to tell this person, He gave me a vision.  This was whilst the person was at my house.  I saw a pocket watch fall to the ground and the lid flipped open.  As it crashed to the ground, all the small parts of the watch fell out with barely anything intact.  At that moment the Spirit said to me…The pocket watch represents our life.  When someone dies, we say, “His time is up.”  The lid represents whatever we use to keep everything nicely together.  But that he is going to fall like this pocket watch and the season, time and purpose of his life will be broken.  This person was called to be a missionary, and even though he made a vow to be just that, he broke this vow.  And now his life will be broken.  But the Lord will restore him when he returns to Him.  There is more to the word, but this makes the point.  Later the Spirit showed me a valley full of watches, all broken.  All the purposes and seasons of people’s lives wasted.  Broken promises and people who wanted to do it “their way”.  Refusing the voice of wisdom.  Refusing the Creator who Himself created every time, season and purpose or their life.  What we forfeit from moving out of season and being stiff-necked in the one we are in, affects generations and eternity, because when a purpose and call is lost or broken, He has to raise up another.  But more than that, it breaks the “Watchmaker’s” heart.  I cannot help but to think of Corrie Ten Boom whose father was a watchmaker.  As a family they hid many Jews from the Nazi’s during the World War and she was eventually captured and led many to Yeshua in the concentration camps.  The “Watchmaker’s” daughter was exactly where He wanted her, but she would never have chosen it.

Philippians 4: 11 – 13

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Words that catches my attention in these verses are: learned; know and instructed.  This speaks of a clear directive from the Lord.  Nothing is by chance.  Paul had to learn what it meant to go all over the world and preach the gospel.  However he spent 3 years in the desert.  For 3 years he was hidden from all where the Most High had to deal with him.  It is not that Paul did not know scripture, but rather, Paul had to learn wisdom and the ways of the Most High.  There will also come a critical time in your seasons just before He uses you, the way He intended and purposed, which will require you of giving everything up.  You will be asked, “Are you willing to be never used by Me?  Are you willing to be nothing in everybody’s eyes, including yourself?”  You see, significance is something we all want to feel.  We all want to feel that we are part of the group, or can make some kind of mark in society.  We want to be able to add to life and be of value.  And the question He is asking is, “Are you willing to give that up, forever?”  Once He knows, really knows that you are willing, and have in fact done so, He will cause you to wait.  The waiting season is fairly difficult, but it is the proverbial corn of wheat that falls to the ground and dies, and only He can raise you up.  Only He decides if you should ever come out of the dark soil which He has planted you in.  For everything there is a season.  A time to plant, and a time to uproot that which was planted.  You have to be willing to be nothing.


And so a whole field of watches find themselves broken.  Unused.  The purposes of the Most High frustrated, because we wanted to climb the spiritual ladder.  We were more concerned with where we are going and lamented the season of preparation.  Seeing it as a means to an end, forgetting that obedience in every season is the end in itself.  He is the Beginning and the End and every season has a beginning and an end and He is that in the season you are now in.  You miss your season, you miss Him.  For every season He will reveal Himself to you in a way that no other season can do.  In every season, apart from everything you learn in it, He is your reward.  It does not matter where someone else is, it only matters where you are and whether you are obeying Him.  Because the person in a season way ahead of you may be able to do great exploits that you long for, but live in disobedience, and the Most High will look on your season and be well pleased because of your obedience.  Obedience is His love language.  Did you know this?  He says in John 15, “If you love Me, you will do My commandments”.  Your season, whether it is your first season in your walk with Him or your 48th season, it does not matter, is for Him exceptionally important.  Because if He ordained it for now, His will is accomplished. 

Ephesians 2: 10

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Wanting to be in another season, running ahead of Him or being over eager, will only delay the season you are in.  You will have to turn around with hat in hand and see Him waiting there ever so patiently for you so that the teaching and learning can proceed.  He does not measure things the way we do.  His scale is completely different and this is why He wants us not to lean on our own understanding.  He will not let us go into the next season until we have learned in this season what He has purposed.  So you might as well get comfortable and put your learning cap on.  At the right time, usually when you think it will never happen…He opens the door that nobody can shut.  And He makes all things beautiful in its time.

All our days were written in His book.  This book is in fact our DNA.  He is never in a hurry and also never late.  The Spirit inspired me to write the following and I pray it blesses you.

MY BOOK

I am aware that like a clock, there are seconds, minutes, hours and a day.  Every day we get the same amount of time.  And like a clock there is a beginning and an end of a book.  A book is in itself a journey.  As I see a book before me with its pages spread open in a half circle, I realize that every page of my life is open before Him.  He sees every dot and every line.  Just like He is with us every second and every minute of the day.  He alone is the Author of this book and nobody else have ever written in it.  Only Him.  He holds the book in His hands and nobody can snatch it out of His hands.  Nobody can grab it, write something in it or even take something out.  In His sovereignty He has decided what is to be written in this book.  He has planned every single day beforehand and has written it already.  Nothing must still be written in my book.  For just like He predestined what would be written in the life of the Living Word, his Son, so He predestined what would be written in mine.  He alone determines the end of my book, because He alone is the Beginning and the End.  He alone has decided the boundaries of every page, knowing exactly how much I can handle for each day.  He will never write more on a page that what the page can allow.  The length of my book already established.  I can trust Him.  Every single page, a day, every single chapter a season and one day the book of life, and all our books will be opened and read.  Every word that was said, every act of kindness, every time we laid our lives down for another, every moment of a secret glance upward to love Him, every time we considered another, every time we did not strike back, every time we were willing to speak the truth in love to save another, every hour or second spent searching His Word and holding it dear in our hearts.  Every time we loved the unlovable and every time we chose faith over doubt.  All those hours spent in prayer in the middle of the night.  All these will be read in His presence. And yes, we can make choices to not follow the “Book”, but even those choices He knows of before they even are a thought in us.  He uses even that.  Every single day He opens this book and desires that we would come and listen to His voice leading us on the paths of righteousness for His name sake.  He knows the end from the beginning and therefore He knows how my story ends.  He knows how your story ends.  It is a love story of a sinner saved by grace and that sinner taking the hand of his Savior and walking with Him every step of the way. One word, one sentence and one page at a time.   It is story of how that sinner often let go of that hands that held him so lovingly, and how the Savior never left His side.  A story of how that sinner fell helplessly in love and gave up all so that He may be with her/his Savior even now and forever.  A story where the Savior fell in love with the sinner and said, “You Are Mine”.  This is my story and laced within my story is my purpose.  He has determined it in His great love and right through every page He decided whether good or bad needed to happen in order to prepare me for this purpose.  For I do not want to miss the purpose He has written in my book.  Not because I want to fulfill it for myself, but because it originated from His heart for His ends and purposes.  For His glory and not mine.  It is His desire that I want to fulfill.  And so every day is working towards that purpose and I want to be conscience and totally surrendered to it in everything He has written for that day.  We read one word at a time, one page at a time.  And so, every day will have a specific purpose I do not want to miss, because it has eternal value, for Him.  Often I have not understood, but in spite of this my love for Him grew and just like a vine, it grew stronger and stronger through every trial.  The most loved chapters are not when everything went well.  The most important chapter’s titles are:  THE THORN, THE SORROW, THE NIGHT I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE AND LONELY DAYS.  Many more chapters like these formed the backbone or the spine of the book of my life and only He wrote it.  Not the enemy, not those who hate me, for nobody can take the book from the Author, THE BEGINNING of my life.  And only He can write the words of the last page…THE END. 

Ecclesiastes 3:14

14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

Jeremiah 29: 11 - 13

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

 

We are never to forget that our greatest purpose is to find Him and in finding Him, we will find His purpose in every season. 

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON, AND A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE UNDER THE HEAVEN. (Eccl. 3: 1)