God is Love: Loving Father Who Corrects

Hebrews 12:3-13 – “Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens (corrects) everyone he accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” (NIV)

Sometimes, our concept of love is limited to “what feels good,” but love is so much more than that. Here it is written that “God disciplines us (corrects us) for our good” – but that does not always feel good. Actually, it says that it never seems pleasant, but painful. However, it brings forth good fruit.

God is a loving Father. He loves us, and His correction is always for our good. Look at these different reasons given for why God corrects us…

• “So that you will not grow weary and lose heart”
• This word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son”
• “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens (corrects) everyone he accepts as his son.”
•  “God is treating you as his children.”
•  “Submit…and live!”
• "God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness."
• It produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
• “So that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed…”

These are all good things, even if it may not feel like it at the time. The correction of the Lord IS LOVE.

So let us look at our part in this passage and use those things as prayer tools to make changes in our lives.

What is our part?

• “Consider Him” (focus on the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, how He laid down His life for us.)
•  “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood…” (which means we need to resist sin to the point of shedding blood…
•  “Have you completely forgotten the word of encouragement that addresses you as a son?” (which means, that we need to remember, and constantly remind ourselves of it.)
•  “Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline”
• “Do not lose heart when He rebukes you”
• “Endure hardship as discipline.”
•  “Submit to the Father of spirits and live!”
• “...for those who have been trained by it” (God, help me be trained by Your discipline. Help me be changed by it).
• “Strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees” (Do not lose heart. Be encouraged.)

Prayer Time: Take this passage and these thoughts and talk to God about them in your own words. Turn this into a conversation with Your Loving Heavenly Father and ask Him what needs to be corrected in Your life. Ask Him to strengthen you and help you to make changes. Ask Him to encourage your heart and strengthen you and bring forth fruit in this time.

Thank Him: Thank Him for being your Father and helping you and correcting you. Let thankfulness flow from your heart that He has not left you as an orphan and He is teaching you during this time.

Write: Write your thoughts and impressions in a journal. Write down the things He is asking you to correct and prayerfully write down action steps of how you can take little practical steps in your daily life to change those things.

For more practical prayer tools on praying Scriptures, see the previous posts on the “Knowledge of God Series.”

God is Love: Love Is...

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…” (I Corinthians 13:4-8)

Interesting, this is one of the most quoted and most familiar passages in the Bible, but I almost always hear it taught from a specific perspective – the perspective of our love towards others. This is used as the main passage at weddings and the main passage for teaching children --how to be nice, and the main standard for how we treat each other in church. And all of that is good, of course, but I think we might be starting from the wrong foundation.

If God is Love, then this passage is about God. And this passage is about His Love – His Love that He has toward us. As we studied in the last session, we see that “We love God, because He first loved us” (I John 4:19). Therefore our love for Him starts with Him. Furthermore, our love for others should also start with Him.

The First Commandment is “love God with all your heart soul, mind, and strength,” and the second is “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22). But how can we love our neighbor as ourself if we hate ourselves, or cannot receive God’s love for us personally? So, the key to loving God and loving others is first receiving His love toward us.

So now, let’s look at this passage a little differently – “Love is patient and kind, does not envy, does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, etc…” If God is Love, then you could actually substitute the word "God" here in place of "love." “God is patient and kind, does not envy, does not parade Himself, is not proud (puffed up), is not rude, does not seek His own…”

This is actually a description of Who God is in His very nature. Which means, that we can look at this passage as the way God relates toward us. You can say, “He is patient with me. He is kind to me. He does not envy, He is not prideful, He doesn’t show off to put others down, etc…”

When you begin to think about this passage as the way God relates to you, then you will start to feel a thankfulness, and tenderness about His love toward you, and you will be able to receive His love and His thoughts and His affections toward you. When that happens, you will also be able to love others – not from your own striving or attempt to love them, but from an overflow of the Love of God that you have already received in your heart.

So let’s pray this now.

Scripture: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…” (I Corinthians 13:4-8)

Prayer: “Jesus, Your love is patient and kind. It does no wrong. You do not envy and are not prideful. You humbled Yourself and gave Your life freely on the Cross. Thank you, Father. Fill me with your love, today. Let Your love fill my heart, and help me to love others from Your love.”

In your own words: Talk to Jesus about this passage. Focus on the area that you struggle in the most. Let Him talk to you about it.

Listen: Pause and listen for what He might say to you about His love for you. Maybe there is an area where you are not patient with yourself or kind to yourself. Talk to Him about that, and let Him show you His patience and His kindness toward you.

Write: Write in a journal or notes about what you are feeling and experiencing with the Lord in this passage. Write out certain scriptures or phrases that touch you. Go back and read this when you are feeling unloved or unwanted.

For further ideas and tools, look at the earlier sessions in this “Knowledge of God Blog Series; Part 1 – God is Love.”

God is Love: No Fear in Love

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” (I John 4:17-19)

We are going to be filled with something. But in order to get rid of darkness, the answer is not to try to cast out the darkness, but to turn on the light. What is the antidote to fear? Love. Perfect love casts out all Fear. God is Love and He is perfect, and His love toward us is perfect. How can we be filled with more of His Love and be free of fear? We need to “behold” (look, think deeply, meditate, chew on in thought) His Love for us.

I John 3: 1-3 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

In this passage, John actually says, “Behold” or look, gaze, meditate on, chew on, think deeply about -- God’s love. And specifically, in this passage, it says to think deeply about His love as a Father, and our position or identity as His children. In the last lesson, we looked at God’s love through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, and in this lesson, we are looking at the Love of God as a Father to His children.

When we want to get the Love of God deep into us, or know an attribrute or characteristic of God more, we need to study those passages of Scripture about Him, but also, we need to look at various ways those Scriptures can get deep into our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits, so that we can love God with all of our being (Matt. 22:33-40).

And right now, we are focusing on God’s love as a Father that fills us and casts out fear. Romans 8:15-16 further develops this thought, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”

Again, here we see that our identity as children of God frees us from every fear. But how can we be filled with God’s love and be freed from fear? The key to this is in I John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us” – which means that the love that we have for God, and God’s love that we can feel does not originate with us, but it originates with God. But does that mean that we are helpless to do anything about receiving the Love of God? The answer is no, of course not.

God is Love, which means that His love is ALWAYS there, whether we feel it or not, whether we experience or see it manifesting as a reality in our lives. It is there and exists and is moving constantly. But we need to receive it, and how we do it goes back to this idea of “Beholding” (look, meditate, think deeply, chew on, etc). 

2 Corinthians 3:18 says that, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This means that in order to transform (change) our thoughts, emotions, and will (choices, decisions, desires) that we need to behold (look, meditate, chew on, etc) the Glory of God – or His attributes, characteristics. This is why growing in the knowledge of God is so important – not only in head knowledge, but heart knowledge, and relational experience with Him. And we do that through praying, singing, and interacting with Scripture until it becomes a part of us and changes us.

So, let’s try that today with beholding the Love of God. Try these interactive methods of praying Scripture, and adapt them to how you see fit. You can even try this as a family with your kids, or your spouse, or with a group of friends, as well as alone in your quiet time with Jesus.

Scripture:

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” (I John 4:17-19)

Prayer Points:

• Jesus, I just declare who You are. You are Love. I worship You, and behold You as Love today. I want to behold and ponder Your Love as a Father toward me and How great Your Love is toward me!

• Your love is GREAT toward me, Lord! I thank You and Praise You for it.

• Show me how much You love me today, and let me feel Your Love and know it personally deep inside.

• I give you all of my fears. You said those who are in fear have not been made perfect in love. So, I give you my fear today – my fear of …….. and I ask that You would make me perfect in Love. And you would cast all fear out of my mind, will, and emotions.

• Holy Spirit, you said that those led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God, and we have not been given a bondage of fear, but a spirit of adoption. And so I cry out to you, “Abba! Father!” Come and touch me. Come and hold me. Come and give me peace. Fill me with Your love today.

• Give me boldness. Give me boldness to speak your Word to my friends and neighbors. Give me boldness to live without fear in an unstable environment.

• Make me perfect in love, Father.

• I just set my eyes on Your love today. I behold it. I receive it. It is wonderful and it is perfect. I love You, because You first loved me. You are the beginning of love and your love is eternal. Thank you, Father. I love you!

Sing: You can do this a Capello or turn on a little instrumental music or grab an instrument, and sing these phrases and prayers, and allow them to go even deeper into your heart. Allow your own words and thoughts to come out of your spirit. Allow yourself to take more or less time as you need it, and open your heart to God.

Listen: Ask Jesus to talk to You about His love for you, and just take a few minutes to pause in silence and see if He shows You anything. You might feel certain fears come up inside of you. Tell Jesus about them and ask Him to take those fears out of your life. Declare His Love and truth over yourself. Pause to see if you feel or sense anything that He might be saying to you. See if He brings anyone to your mind to pray for and pray for Him to show His love to them.

Write: Write down your thoughts or impressions in a journal, and write the different Scriptures that touched you the most, and maybe some of the reasons why they impacted you so much in this season. In times when you need encouragement, go back and read them and speak them over yourself again.

Draw or color: This is especially great for kids, or creative types. Close your eyes, and ask Jesus to give you a picture of His love for you, or have your kids do this. And then have them draw or color what they saw.

Changing of National Boundary Lines - “That they might grope for Him”

Solomon prayed in II Chronicles 6 and I Kings 8 that if God released war on the people because of their sin, that when they repented, He would hear and answer. Throughout the Bible, wars and judgments were released on a people who were walking in disobedience against God and not turning to Him.

Acts 15:26-27 says that God “has determined the pre-appointed times and boundaries of their dwellings, that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”

What does it mean when the boundary lines of a nation are changed? The changing of boundary lines of nations typically means war. And changing boundary lines means that God is giving an opportunity for men to grope for Him and find Him.

God answered Solomon’s prayer in II Chronicles and said, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, turn from the wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, and heal their land…”

The answer to war and the changing of boundary lines is not a political solution or a solution derived from man. The answer is for men to grope for God and find Him. The answer is for men to call on His name and He will answer them, and heal their land.

Solomon's Prayer - Lord, Hear from Heaven

As Solomon dedicated the temple of the Lord that he had built in I Kings 8, he prayed that God would hear His people when they were caught in various circumstances because of sin (see parallel account of the prayer in II Chron. 6). These circumstances would be hardships that had come about because of the sin of the people. However, Solomon petitioned the Lord to hear the prayers of the people when they cried out in repentance and turned their hearts back to Him.

There were several types of circumstances that would come upon the people because of their sin—wrongs done against a neighbor, war/slavery/bondage, drought, plague, captivity (I Kgs. 8:30-46). Solomon’s request for every one of these types of judgments, was that God would “hear in heaven” the prayers of the people who repent (I Kgs. 8:32, 34, 36, 39, 43, 45, 49).

God answers Solomon’s prayer in I Kings chapter 9 with a personal promise to Solomon concerning the kingdom. Also, there is further insight into God’s answer to the prayer in II Chron. 7:12-14, where God says, “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will HEAR from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Solomon petitioned God to hear the prayers of repentant people, and God answered that He would hear the prayers of the people of God who cry out to Him in the midst of war, famine, pestilence, plague, drought, captivity, etc. He will HEAR and He will HEAL.

Implementing the Five-Fold Ministry: Essential Life of Prayer

Everyone has been looking at the right strategy for church growth and development for centuries, but God will not just hand us a formula. With everything He designed, He built-in a necessary place for communication with Him. Prayer is absolutely essential to every part of life. God wants to have relationship with His people.

We can look at church structure, study the Scriptures, and come to the conclusion of how everything is supposed to work, but it will fall flat without the essential life of prayer. Every aspect of God’s design for life is for the development of relationship with God. He will even allow friction and strife into a situation to cause His people to turn to Him in prayer. God will allow suffering and hardship so that His people turn to Him as the only hope.

God will give us wisdom in leadership when we pray. He will also give us wisdom in direction. I heard Reinhardt Bonnke speak one time about how he seeks direction from God. He said, “I go into my room and I push all my thoughts aside. I don’t ask God should I do this or should I do that…I lay it all aside. Then, God will speak to me something that I never would have thought of before. It is usually something so far-fetched that I think it is impossible, but when I step out in faith, it turns out to be way better than I could possibly imagine…”

God’s wisdom is so contrary to our human wisdom, but He will lead us when we are in constant communication with Him. Not only that, but He will also change circumstances and situations through our prayers.

For the five-fold ministry to be truly implemented in a body of believers, prayer is absolutely vital. When we pray, our hearts are conformed to God’s will and desires rather than our own. This is the only way for a group of people to function together as a body that loves each other better than themselves. Prayer will break down walls in our hearts and in relationships with each other.

There is so much strife and division in the church, causing the body to fight with each other. In the human body, a response of the body fighting against itself is called an “auto-immune disease.” Unfortunately, there are rampant cases of auto-immune diseases with the body of Christ. Unless people become filled with the love of Christ and learn to care for one another, there will never be enough unity of direction to properly restore the five-fold ministry and see the church walk in the fullness of its destiny in Christ.

However, Jesus has promised that His Bride will be made ready. She will be pure and spotless before His return. She will walk in her inheritance as the child of God and she will move in the fullness of His power. God will bring it to pass, and we must partner with His plans. Prayer on both an individual and corporate level will bring us into unity with His purposes for His Bride.

Implementing the Five-Fold Ministry: Preferring One Another

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them…”
(Romans 12:3-6)

There is no way the five-fold ministry can function in a church body without the foundational principle of preferring one another.

All of the passages in Scripture concerning the gifts of the Spirit and the five-fold ministry are written in the context of the body functioning together as a whole and each person doing their part. It is absolutely essential for any kind of unity and mutual love to exist in a body.

The primary reason church leadership structure collapses is because of everyone seeking their own. People think more highly of themselves than they should for three primary reasons:

1.)    They have not seen God rightly or experienced His presence, so they do not realize how small and insignificant they are compared to Him.

2.)    They do not see other people the way God sees them, so they do not realize His overwhelming love and the remarkable value of that other person.

3.)    They do not see themselves rightly, and base their value on the works of the flesh rather than on the value that God has given them. This not only leads to pride, but also to insecurity and self-condemnation. This causes the drive to seek the praise of man.

This must be combatted in several ways: One, each person must seek to love God with their whole heart and seek His glory only. Secondly, they must seek to love each other as they love themselves. Also, they must be healed and able to receive the love of God so they can actually love God, love themselves, and love others.

It is necessary for every person in a body to have the humility to lift someone else above their own needs. Because of human nature, all of this talk of the five-fold ministry sounds good until you try to put it into practice. However, there are some practical ways that people can grow together in love and service as a body.

 

One of the most practical ways is to stir up prayer among a group of people. If people pray together, it becomes difficult to hold a grudge, because God will not answer prayers in the context of bitterness, and He will make each person so miserable until they repent. Also, when you pray for people you begin to love them the way that God loves them and can look past their faults and failures. There is a reason why Jesus told us to bless our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

 

Another practical way to grow in preferring one another is to activate the gift of prophecy among believers. Prophecy is meant for edification, exhortation, and comfort. When you prophesy over someone, you feel God’s heart for them and learn to see them the way God sees them, rather than seeing them in the natural. God always calls forth the true identity of that person according to the spirit rather than how they are behaving in the flesh. If we begin to call people out according to the spirit instead of according to the flesh, then we will call them into the identity God has created for them, and they will become healed and secure in His love.

Satan’s main attacks against the body of Christ are division, isolation, and accusation. Prophecy is one of the best antidotes to thwart the enemies plans and bring love and unity among a group of believers. Both prayer and prophecy go hand-in-hand to change the heart and conform the mind to God’s purposes, so that we grow in preferring one another over ourselves.

Life & Message of the Apostolic: Laying Down Your Life

On the night that Jesus died, he was in the garden of Gethsemane praying in anguish that the grueling assignment of his death would be taken away from Him. He knew His assignment on earth was to die on the Cross. Yet, He knew it would be the hardest thing any human being has ever done (Lk. 22:39-46; Mt. 26:36-46).

However, Jesus stayed in the place of prayer and surrendered His will over to the will of His Father. He said, “Not my will, but Yours be done” (Lk. 22:42). In the place of prayer, He laid down His life before He was even arrested or went to the Cross.

Jesus knew what was coming for His disciples and He told them to pray so that they would not enter into temptation (Mt. 26:41; Lk. 22:40). He knew that they would have the opportunity to lay down their lives that night, and He told them to pray to strengthen their spirits so that they were not tempted to betray Him.

However, they all fell asleep in the garden. None of them prayed during that time of temptation, and all of them were scattered. By the end of the night, every one of the disciples betrayed Jesus.

Jesus had promised that anyone who wanted to be His disciple needed to take up their cross and follow Him (Mk. 8). A mark of following Jesus is laying down your life.

Later on, after the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples were restored back into their ministry. I believe they were forever marked with what it means to lay down your life.

Time and time again, Paul preached how the mark of the apostleship was laying down their lives for the Church. And ultimately, nearly all of the apostles (if not all of them) were killed for their faith.

Laying down your life is a constant process of being identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in your daily life (Gal. 2, Rom. 6). It is like being “a living martyr” who is fully surrendered to Jesus. However, the entire New Testament is marked with those who actually died for their faith.

Before the return of Jesus, the Lord will restore the true apostolic to the church again and many will die for their faith in Christ.

However, if we, like Christ, stay in that place of prayer so that we will not be delivered over into temptation, our lives will already be completely surrendered to Christ in life, a long time before we are given over to death.

“Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).

Devo 67: Missions & Prayer: The Love of God & the Fear of the Lord

Devo 67: Missions & Prayer: The Love of God & the Fear of the Lord
October 12, 2010

“'From the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My Name shall be Great among the Gentiles; In every place, incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,' says the Lord of Hosts." Malachi 1:11

Have you ever had a moment where you had a sudden perspective change concerning something you have been passionate about for a long time? This happened to me recently. It wasn’t necessarily that my perspective changed completely, but it was like my eyes were lifted higher and I saw something from a different point of view.

The Lord has been stirring my heart tremendously concerning the uniting of Missions and Prayer. I have been burning every day for the lost and for a Spirit of travailing intercession that births souls (see Rom. 8:26).

I have been passionate about missions and evangelism my whole life, and I have also been a person of prayer. When I was in college, I was in the Missions department trumpeting prayer; Now at the House of Prayer, I have been trumpeting missions. I have always been like, “God, what am I doing here? I’m an evangelist, how long am I going to sit in this chair? Why can I never fit in with the rest of everyone else?”

Well, recently I had the opportunity to be a part of an evangelistic campaign in the area, and I was doing the work of missions and evangelism over 40 hours a week for over a month and a half—on top of my normal prayer room and house of prayer staff responsibilities. As I worked with them, I loved it and wanted to just jump full-swing into a mission organization. However, the Lord made it clear that He wants me to continue being a part of the House of Prayer for right now. He said that He needs “missions people” in the prayer movement and “prayer people” in the missions movement—because He wants the two to be completely married and no longer separated. He needs people with the DNA of both to be in both movements.

As for the perspective change, I cry over lost souls all the time—lately nearly every day. I go through seasons where the burden is more strong or less strong, but I am always asking for the salvation of the lost.

Thursday, however, the Lord drastically changed my perspective to the fact that it is not just lost souls I am crying out for but it is the fact that Jesus is worthy of all worship, honor, power, and praise from every nation, language, tribe, and tongue. I can’t just cry over the fact that people are dying and going to hell, but also over the fact that Jesus is worthy of worship from people who are rejecting Him. He is worthy of songs and prayers of thanksgiving and lives of worship from literally every person on the planet.

Only the combination of the Love of God AND the Fear of the Lord can bring about this perspective. Sometimes we get so caught up on mercy and compassion that we completely forget about justice and we make God out to be the “bad guy” who is trying to kill all the people in the world while the people are looking at a beautiful, wonderful, loving, Holy God who they are turning their eyes away from and denying.

Jesus is not willing that any would perish but that all would have eternal life. However, we must also understand that Jesus is worthy of worship. He is worthy of the praise from every person and winning souls and praying for the lost should always be God-focused and not man-focused. Only God can truly give us a heart for the lost. His heart is way more broken over the sin and depravity of man than ours will ever be.

The passage in Malachi is a wonderful piece of writing that brings the Fear of the Lord and Love for the Son together to bring the reality that every nation should worship the Son of their own free will because He is worthy, but nevertheless, they will worship Him. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. However, now people have a choice. When that time comes, they won’t.

The book of Malachi was not written to the lost, however, but it was written to the priests and the people of Israel who had lost reverence and honor for God and His law. They had put God on the backburner and had lost the Fear of the Lord. God said that regardless of how they responded His Name would be great among the nations and incense would arise from every place.

Malachi addressed the injustice primarily regarding the institution of marriage, which God loves, and he addressed adultery and divorce which God hates. Malachi used the terms God loves marriage and hates divorce in chapter 3.

He also addressed the lying and man-pleasing lips of the priest who God would come to purge and that the priests were to teach the law and not change it to please the ears of the hearers.
Malachi ends with a promise that God would send Elijah who would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He also says that if those hearts are not turned, He would smite the land with a curse.

In all, Malachi is about repentance and the Fear of the Lord. The Lord is Holy and to be revered and His plan will come to pass. He gives man freewill, but He is also sovereign, and those who deny Him will perish, and those who turn to Him will be as happy as a fatted stall-fed cow turned out to pasture in the springtime (to use Malachi’s expression in ch. 4). Also, he says that to those who Fear the Lord, “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings…”

These passages were written to the priests whose job it was to stand before God and worship Him and they were to be the messengers who taught all others to worship Him. His name shall be great among the nations and He is worthy to be worshipped.

So now, I look at the uniting of missions and prayer not just with the Love and Compassion of God for the lost, but also with the Fear of the Lord and reverence that His name should get all the worship He deserves. He is worthy of worship and praise from every nation, tribe, and tongue and He desires a Holy priesthood throughout the earth who chooses His name because He is worthy.

©Copyright Amanda Rich 2010

Devo 51: Intercession through Our identity as Sons

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Luke 11:9-13

In the last devotional, we looked at the Holy Spirit being the guarantee of our inheritance as sons. He is “the witness” that gives us the assurance of eternity and the coming kingdom of God (Eph. 1). We have not been left as orphans, but the Comforter has come to teach us all things and tell us of the things to come (Jn. 14:18, 26; 16:13). He is “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). He tells us of the glory to come and transforms us into His likeness from glory to glory (II Cor. 3:18).

As we talk to Holy Spirit, we abide in His love and find our identity as sons and daughters of God the Father through the blood of Jesus (Jn 15, I Jn 3). It is in this place as sons and daughters that we have the boldness to come to His throne in intercession.

In Ephesians 1:9-10, we see that Jesus brought together the heavenly realm and earthly realm. He was fully God; yet, He was also fully Man. By walking out a righteous lifestyle and bringing redemption through the Cross, He restored the separation between the spiritual realm and earthly realm that was brought about by the fall of man with Adam and Eve. This is why He came preaching “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mt 6:10, etc).

With each new revelation of God throughout history, the heavenly realm comes closer and closer to complete restoration with the earthly realm as it was in the Garden of Eden. It is God’s desire to dwell with men. When Jesus returns, His goal will be to bring heaven to earth. He will rule and reign from Jerusalem as King, then usher in God the Father to the earth (Gen, Is, Zech, Ezek, Mt, Rev, etc). For this reason, He taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” (Mt. 6, Lk. 11).

As we join Christ in intercession, we are ushering in the kingdom of God piece by piece. This takes the idea of “the meek shall inherit the earth” to a whole new level (Mt. 5:5). Intercession is the idea of “standing in the gap” between the people and the wrath of God we deserve because of unrighteousness (Ezek. .

Jesus was the ultimate intercessor. The Lord “saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him” (Is. 59:13). Jesus was the “right arm” who was “numbered with the transgressors” to make “intercession for the transgressors” (Is. 53; 59:16).

What Jesus did was previously pictured by Moses who lifted up the golden snake in the wilderness to stop the death plague that came against the children of Israel because of their unrighteousness (Num. 21). Jesus said, “Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:13-15).

Now, Jesus stands at the right hand of the Father making intercession on our behalf (Heb. 7:25). Also, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with “groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:15).

It is our inheritance as priests to join Him in making intercession. As intercessors, we ask for the blood of Jesus to cover our transgressions (sins) and the sins of our people. It is the same idea as when the blood was applied to the doorposts in the Book of Exodus and the death-plague “passed over” the children of Israel (Ex. 12).

Many people are confused about intercession because the judgment of the Lord is brought on by God. Many think that God was mean in the Old Testament and nice in the New. NO! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Heb. 13:8). The thing is that when God reveals Himself to His people in a manifest way—those who are ready for Him are blessed and those who are not ready are judged (See parable of wise and foolish virgins in Mt 25; also see Allen Hood’s teaching on Daniel).

God is Holy, and when He shows Himself to us, we have to respond accordingly HIS WAY or we die. All have fallen short of the glory of God and deserve death (Rom. 3:23, 6:23). So, it is not God who is unjust. We are unjust and deserve death, but God, in His mercy, prepared a way for us to be covered with the Blood of the Lamb so that death would “passover” us. If we accept His plan, then the intercession He made for us covers us, and we are then adopted into His family as sons.

At that point He washes us with His blood, we are all made kings and priests (Rev. 1:5-6). Then, we have the privilege of joining Him in making intercession in prayer and by crying out for the mercy obtained through the blood of Jesus to be applied to our nation, our families, our lives, etc.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Lord encourages us to pray. He has always been seeking human involvement in what He is doing. He does not need our help, but He does want us to love Him and want Him. He wants us to partner with Him. When we realize our identity as sons covered in the blood, we can boldly approach His throne and ask for the kingdom of heaven to be released on earth.

Luke 11 and 12 are examples of this. Specifically in Luke 11:13-14, Jesus instructs us that whoever seeks will find, and whoever asks it will be opened to them. Then, He connects it to our place as sons by saying that if earthly fathers love to give good gifts, then how much more will our heavenly father love to give the Holy Spirit! There again is the connection of our sonship in relation to the Holy Spirit and also in connection with the Holy Spirit.

This week, I encourage you to read Luke 11 and 12. I encourage you to pray the Lord’s Prayer not a rote memory verse, but as a true prayer with this new revelation of the kingdom coming to earth and our place in making that a reality. Also, I encourage you to ask for good gifts from the Father—the “much more” of the Holy Spirit—a deeper relationship with Him.

I also encourage you to reread Devo 50 from last week. I covered some things that are necessary for properly understanding this devo.

Bless you!

Amanda
 
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