RAISING OUR LAND (EPISODE 8: ON PATTERNS, LAWS, JUDGMENTS AND PRAYER

RAISING OUR LAND

“Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage…”(emphasis mine)

Isiah 49 vs 8 (Hebrew Names Version of The Holy Bible)

Welcome to today’s episode.

I would like a hundred people or more to join me in praying this prayer, based on the scripture that says “And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. Lev 26:8” The enemies we need defeated in our lives presently are: the veil which may be over our eyes: as it prevents the light of God’s word to enlighten and be sown in our hearts; and those obstacles that prevent our hearts from being good soils. Our swords are our words of prayer. Therefore, the prayer goes thus:

We pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: that our minds may be opened to see his light, so that we will know what is the hope to which he has called us.

We also pray that God should by His Holy Spirit prepare our hearts by making it a good soil for the word of God which when planted in our hearts will grow and prosper and yield forth good fruits just as a seed would in good soil. And that by the Blood of Jesus, we clean every heart from whatever may be present within which would negatively affect the growth and prosperity of the Word of God in our lives in Jesus Name, Amen.

 

EPISODE 8: ON PATTERNS, LAWS, JUDGEMENTS AND PRAYER

The Israelites fought many battles on their journey to raising their land – that is on their way to inheriting the land promised to them by God. One of the battles they fought on the way was with the Amalekites. Lets look at how the battle was fought and won.

Exodus 17: 9 -14 “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”

One lesson that I believe we must all learn from this story is how to recognize ‘patterns’ through watching. A pattern emerges when an action is repeated and the results it produces are the same. To recognize a pattern, a person must be watchful and careful to study and experiment on certain actions to ascertain if it would produce a predictable reaction. 

In the battle with the Amalekites, Moses commanded Joshua to choose out men to fight the battle. Indicatiing that Moses understood the implication of being prepared and using the right tools to solve certain challenges. Moses then made another comment that to the natural mind, cannot ever be a battle plan. He said he would stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand – one may wonder how that is a battle plan, and how knowledge of that can assure victory in battle. But Joshua obeyed anyway, so he must have understood the significance of that action. 

Moses, being a man who was not scarce in the presence of God must have understood certain spiritual principles that made him confident of his actions. One thing we should learn is when we have a good physical strategy on any challenge we may be facing, be it business or health related, we must have with it, a sound spiritual strategy to ensure victory. This spiritual strategy is the advantage we have over our competitors. We see this to be true when during the battle, if Moses’ hands was raised high (the spiritual strategy), Joshua (the physical strategy) was advancing in the battle. But when his hands were down, the enemy began to advance. 

Now, another lesson we must learn here is that, Moses was watching the effects of his actions – hands up, we advance; hands down, enemy advances – and hence he recognized a pattern, which when he followed, victory followed. 

Also, the fact that the enemy was not able to recognize the pattern was their downfall, because if they had, they would have prepared a strategy to take out Moses and they would have won.

We must be able to recognize the patterns the devil uses against us, because he is at war with us. One of these patterns the devil uses is to ensure that as Christians, we are blinded to who we are and what we are in Jesus. This lack of knowledge produces in us poor spiritual strategies when combating the enemy in battle and makes us lose battles that we should win easily.

The only way to recognize this patterns is by watching carefully at the activities that goes on and around our lives, we must take nothing for granted. The truth however is, we will not be able to effectively watch without knowing the laws and the judgments of God.

Jesus summarized the laws of God in to two. See:

Mat 22:37 – 40:  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Now as regards the Judgments of God, These are the infallible truths that God has declared unto the earth that cannot be changed. If the highest judge in the highest court of a country declares a judgment, no lesser judge or court can change the ruling. God is the Judge of the earth, and as a just judge, when Jesus paid the price for our redemption as I explained yesterday, and the scale of justice became balance, certain Judgments became activated and are in our favor. No other judge can rescind God's judgment. Just as if you are residing in a country and you do not know the laws of that country, you may end being cheated and even being on the wrong side of the law unknowingly, so it is with the Judgments of God.

When we discussed in previous episodes - how God’s plan is for the earth and man to be blessed and productive; how God is the blesser and entreprenuer of the earth; and how God has redeemed us through his Son’s blood – we were establishing certain judgments of God.

So let me give an example of how one would watch effectively when he knows God’s judgment. A scenario where at a certain age a man’s great grandfather had a certain disease, grandfather had same disease, and father had same disease, if that man is watchful, he would recognize the pattern and would not sit like a lame duck waiting to be shot. Instead, that man must recognize the possibility of him contracting that same disease, and must prepare to fight the enemy. He may engage a physical strategy. But most importantly, knowing the judgment of God on the matter: that no sickness and disease ought to ever come on his body, because the effects of the curses on the earth is neutralized by the blood of Jesus to those who believe and pray same to God. He would have effectively raised his spiritual strategy and would eventually come out topside over the enemy. 

Praying these judgments is very important because the instruction Jesus gave us is to watch and pray. Matt 26: 41.

We must study and know the laws and judgments of God. Not knowing is like being terribly broke in a room full of money which is yours but you do not know belong to you. The enemy’s major game strategy is for us not to know these truths, for this truths will set us free and we will live victorious and raise our land.

Today, we will be focusing on learning another of God’s Judgment which is in our favor and belongs to us through Christ Jesus. Let’s study how that the redemptive work has neutralized the effects of the curses on our lives, giving us comfort in a world full of discomfort.

Galatians 3:13  “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”

Zechariah 1: 16 – 21 “Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Remember what we discussed in episode four, this is a continuation, for this shows how the four horns were destroyed. 

Now, to destroy the four horns and redeem the people, four carpenters were introduced. (in the Hebrew, the word carpenter could also mean a fabricator of any material: - artificer, (+) carpenter, craftsman, engraver, maker, + mason, skilful, (+) smith, worker, workman, such as wrought. Strong Hebrews Dictionary) I am of the opinion and do believe that these ‘four carpenters’ represent Jesus Christ, and specifically four roles that Jesus represents unto redemption.

Why, you may ask? Because the four carpenters job is to fray the four horns, and to cast them out. This will eventually lead to the people living in prosperity and also ensure the entrance of their comfort.

The only comforter is the Holy Spirit, who is the gift of Jesus to us. Meaning without Jesus, we cannot have the comforter – the Holy Spirit.

So we can say:

The victory of the four carpenters = comfort;

Comfort = the Holy Spirit;

The victory of Jesus = the Holy Spirit;

That means: The victory of the four carpenters = The victory of Jesus;

Therefore, the four carpenters = Jesus.

Also, since the four horns will be cast out, and we have established that the horns are curses, then we know there is only one person who has cast out the curse, and that is Jesus Christ.

So, why four carpenters? I believe these four represents four roles that Jesus is and exhibits especially as it pertains to our redemption. They are:

(1) Jesus as the Son of God: “Matthew 27:54  Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”

(2) Jesus as the Lamb of God: “John 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

(3) Jesus as our High Priest: “Hebrew 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.”

(4) Jesus as the Prophet of God: “Joh 6:14  Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.”

(Jesus as the Prophet is the same role as Him being the Word and the Voice of God. Hence, we can’t make a prophetic utterance or declaration without having the Word and Speaking out of our mouth)

Knowing Jesus in all these roles helps solidify the redemptive work of Jesus in us, making us able to overcome and hold fast to our profession – being a Christian.

I am sure we are all convinced without reasonable doubt that that which caused us great discomfort has been neutralized. Three major reasons Christians are still living in discomfort in spite of this is (1) they don’t know the laws and judgments of God (2) they don’t watch especially for patterns (3) they don’t pray. 

Thank God we have learnt this now, and we will begin to make the necessary adjustments by the grace of God and in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Tomorrow, 16th November, 2016, we will discuss and study another judgment of God for us

Also,

You can Download this FREE e-book - RAISING OUR LAND by 'Ladi Obidairo, which is a compilation of all the episodes. Click on link below.

 

Raising Our Land. by 'Ladi Obidairo

 

Thank you for downloading.

 

You who have read this and have not given your life to Christ Jesus prior to this time, but NOW you want to do so; please pray this prayer: 

“I believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God is the Lamb of God who has taken away my sins by shedding his blood, and dying on the cross, I believe that God raised Him on the third day and He has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father. I am now born again. Amen.”

Congratulations. You are now Born Again. And you are now a partaker of all the eternal inheritance in Jesus. 

Do join a Bible believing Church for you to continue to grow in Christ. Pray that God guides you to the church that will be best for your spiritual growth. This is very important

I declare that the Holy Spirit would teach us the laws and judgements of God, and that the grace of God will keep us on our journey to being victorious in all things, to the glory of God, in Jesus Name, Amen.

 

When this writing as blessed you in any way, please don't hesitate to give God all the Glory and also share this book with your contacts as it will bless them too.

 

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I would like to specially thank those reading and following this blog from Kenya, France, Germany, Portugal, United States of America and here in Nigeria. I hope that you will continue your ‘readership’, while also sharing with those around you.

I also welcome new comers from Ireland, Czech Republic and Morocco. Thank you for joining us. I believe you must have been blessed by this message. You can read previous episodes, so that we can all be in one accord. Also, please share with those around you.

God bless you, Amen.

Abundant Grace for us all,

 

'Ladi Obidairo.