Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exodus 33:18-19

In the book of Exodus, a poignant moment between Moses and the God of Israel is recorded. Moses, in a very bold moment, asks the Lord to see his glory. The implication is that Moses was asking to see the face of God. The Lord responded by agreeing to show Moses his goodness. In one sense, the text tells us that God’s response was for Moses’ protection. God tells him that no mortal can see the face of God and live. And yet, I believe seeing the goodness of God is even more revealing than seeing his face.

Seeing the goodness of God first is instructive for us. This passage in Exodus reveals that the goodness of God is his glory. For us to truly know God or understand God we must see his goodness first and then understand everything else in that context. God mentions two aspects of his goodness right away with Moses – mercy and compassion. Those both flow out of his basic nature of love. John tells us that God is love. His goodness is the constant expression of that love. When you love someone you always do good to that person.

If we were to see God’s holiness first, we might understand all of God’s actions in terms of holiness and his rejection of sin. Every act of God then would seem like the actions of a harsh judge or an angry God. Most people filter the activity of God in the Old Testament through his holiness only and see his judgments as expressions of that. Holiness is undoubtedly a major characteristic of God, but if all we see is his holiness then all we will see is judgment. He will be a God easy to fear but not easy to love.

If we see the goodness of God first, then we will understand his judgments in the context of discipline as a loving Father disciplines his children or in the context of his judgment being the last thing he wanted to do.   Man’s persistent and unrepentant sin sometimes gives him no choice but it is never his first thought or his heart for us. In our personal relationship with the Father, we need to focus on his love and goodness and give thanks for that before we look at anything else. His goodness and love assure us that he is for us, not against us. They assure us that he always wants what’s best for us and is always working on our behalf. They assure us that we are welcome into his presence and that he is eager to answer prayers that will bless us and bring about good because he is good.

Many believers have much to overcome in this arena…especially if they were raised in a “hell fire and brimstone” church that preached the judgments of God and the fury of hell every week as a motivation for righteous living. One of the most famous sermons in American history was preached by Jonathan Edwards during the Great Awakening (1700’s) and was entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” That was not a podcast you wanted to listen to just before going to sleep. It pictured all of us suspended above the fires of hell by a thin thread and suggested that God was just waiting to severe the line with his celestial scissors.

If you grew up with that view of God, then a warm, loving relationship with the Father is a monumental task. Everything that goes wrong in our lives will probably be understood as an expression of God’s anger toward us and we will see him as our adversary rather than our loving Savior. Jesus will seem like the antithesis of the Father and the statement of Jesus that if we have seen him we have seen the Father will simply be confusing. Moses was shown the goodness of God first. That is why he was able to stand before God and plead for mercy on Israel’s behalf on several occasions. He was able to plead for mercy because he knew God was merciful and that in heaven, mercy triumphs over judgment. Moses even knew that Jehovah was searching for someone to ask for that expression of who he is.

This perspective is critical. When a loved one is diagnosed with stage-four cancer, our first thought as believers is to try to make sense of what has happened. If the goodness of God is not our primary filter for the circumstance, then we will assume that either God has visited the cancer on us because he is angry about some sin or our lack of faith or that he is indifferent about our suffering because holiness is the only issue. In that moment with that perspective, we will have little hope and will either wait out the cancer with resignation or try to buy God off with some “righteous works” we can do.

If the goodness of God is our filter, we can assume that the cancer is not God’s will and begin to press in for healing with hope. Even if sin has opened the door for cancer or the activity of the enemy, we can know that repentance and forgiveness will shut that door and open the door for the goodness of God to still be the primary color of our lives.

I have seen believers face death or the death of a loved one with differing sets of glasses. Those who saw God primarily through the lenses of judgment, had no faith for healing and left the cemetery with a since of condemnation and bitterness. Those who looked at circumstances through the lenses of God’s goodness were able to pray with faith for healing and even if healing didn’t come they were able to see the love and compassion of God at the gravesite. They left closer to the Father than when they arrived knowing that God’s goodness would see them through the grief.

What do you see first when you look at God? The perspective is critical because it defines everything else. A God of goodness offered himself through his Son as a loving sacrifice for lost people. A God whose primary trait is judgment simply poured out his wrath on a Son who seemed more abused than loved. The way we see God first, will determine our view of everything, will totally affect our prayer life, and will totally define our faith. Spend time thanking God for his goodness, meditating on his goodness, and declaring his goodness over every circumstance of your life. It makes all the difference. Blessings today… because if his goodness.

We are told that by Jesus, that Satan is a thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy (Jn.10:10). With that in mind, there seems to be historic periods when Satan is more active or, at least, more successful in his trade than at other times. If Adam handed the keys over to Satan through his sin, then it follows that an increase in sin increases the authority of the enemy to be about his business. I believe that is because the hand of God typically restrains the enemy but people and nations often force God to remove his hand of protection.

The Book of Job gives us some insight into that principle. In the beginning of Job, Satan comes before the Lord and the Lord points out his servant Job as a model of righteousness in the earth. Satan replied, ““Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face” (Job 1:10-11). Satan’s complaint was that God had placed a protective barrier around Job, his family, and his possessions. Why did he need a protective hedge? He needed the hedge because Satan is always poised to kill, steal and destroy – especially anything that is good or godly. Satan’s accusation was essentially that God only received praise from his people because they were always blessed. Take away the blessing, he argued, and your “servants” will not find you so worthy of praise. God needed a champion and Job was selected. God then set limits on what Satan could touch. The implication is that Satan would have gladly visited Job with total disaster long before this moment if God had not restrained him.

We see another version of this principle in Ezekiel. “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord” (Ezek.22:30-31). This is a moment when the rebellion of Israel had brought God to the brink of judgment on the nation. His love looked for some way to avoid judgment while his righteousness demanded it. He said that he had looked for someone who would stand between him and Israel like Moses did in the wilderness as he aked for mercy for a rebellious nation. The plea would have been enough to at least justify putting off the judgment since “mercy triumphs over judgment.” Mournfully, God said that he could find no one who would truly intercede for the nation so judgment would have to come.

My belief is that Satan is always at the door, desiring to unleash suffering and destruction and is limited only by God’s edicts restraining him. When people or nations demand judgment by their own persistent godlessness and rebellion in the face of God’s pleas for them to return to him, God eventually can find no just cause for mercy. He then simply lifts his hand of restraint and Satan has his way.

As a person, family, or nation persists and increases in sin, I believe God has to honor our choices and so he begins to lift the restraint like slowly opening a floodgate and letting more and more water through until the gate is fully open and massive destruction occurs downstream. In this case, the floodgate lets in more and more demonic powers and we see more and more evidence of evil, destruction, natural disasters, violence, and tragedy. Even God’s people are caught up in the flood of increasing judgment. We see that principle in the book of Daniel when he and his three righteous friends are deported to Babylon along with many other Jews. They also lost their homes and their families and had to endure the forced march to a foreign nation. There they continued to be under attack by Satan who subjected them to persecution for their faith. Though God sustained them, they still experienced suffering because of the sins of their nation and their leaders.

As our nation and leaders continue to call evil things good and good things evil; as they continue to forbid the presence of God in our schools and government buildings: and as they persecute followers of Christ while deferring to Islam and the homosexual agenda, the flood gates of judgment will continue to open more and more. The demonic will be given greater presence and their presence will be manifested in greater spikes of tragedy, violence, illness, floods, storms, attacks, and perversity in the nation. The question then becomes, is there anything believers can do about it?

There are several things we can do. First of all, stand in the gap and pray for your family, community, church, and nation. Pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness for the nation and for his Spirit to work righteousness in this country or in the life of an individual for whom you are praying.

When its time to vote, vote for the candidate who will most likely steer the country toward biblical values or who will less likely steer us away from biblical values. The choice may not be clear and there may not be a faithful believer in the mix, but even a nominal believer or a non-believer who is not hostile toward the gospel is a better choice than those who clearly and aggressively support ungodly values. Many Christians may refuse to vote for anyone who is not a sincere Christian but that plays into the hands of the devil. Sometimes, our vote does not usher in righteous leadership but less evil leadership. That is still a better choice that handing the nation or a community over to those who actively war against the gospel.

Secondly, do your part to increase righteousness in the land and push back against the devil. Begin with increasing righteousness in your own life. Living in an ungodly culture dulls our senses to the sin and lethargy in our own lives. Measure your life by biblical standards rather than cultural standards and make adjustments where needed. Actively pray for the church and against the devil. Pray for God to pour out his Spirit on the church in America for a move of unprecedented power, love, evangelism, and a boldness to once again be the conscience of the nation.

Learn how to engage in spiritual warfare. The real battle for an individual, a family, or a nation will be won or lost in the spiritual realm. Aggressive prayers and declarations of God’s truth and promises push back the enemy and liberate hearts and souls. Share your faith with others. That is also spiritual warfare. The most powerful way to defeat the enemy is to take away his soldiers – not by killing them but by making them soldiers of the Cross.

America is experiencing more and more turmoil, economic chaos, and decline because the church stopped evangelizing those around us and because the church withdrew from the realm of secular leadership. We turned leadership over to unbelievers and we are paying the price. All of that can be reversed if the church will exercise her authority over the devil and if believers will step up and lead again beginning with city councils, school boards, state governments and so forth. It may seem overwhelming but nothing is impossible with God. God gave believers stewardship of this nation founded on biblical truths and principles and through the years we turned it over to those who do not fear or regard God.

Israel often did the same thing but there were generations who once again responded to God and God once again blessed the nation with peace and prosperity. I am certain the prayers of a few sparked those revivals of faith and we can do the same. Jesus declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church but that promise pictures an aggressive church pushing Satan and his servants back into the hole from which they came. It’s time to do just that. Our children’s future depends on our prayers and actions today. Be blessed in Him.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are. Genesis 3:17-19

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:19-23

It seems that nearly every day, as I catch a glimpse of the news, there is some massive natural disaster occurring in the U.S. and around the world. Tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, sustained droughts, massive forest fires, record snowstorms, and earthquakes abound. Of course, the scientific view is that global warming is the primary cause of those devastating acts of nature. The presumed solution is to drastically reduce emissions, cut down pollutants in the atmosphere, and to ban cows altogether since they are huge contributors of methane gas that is leading the way to global warming.

I would like to offer another explanation for your consideration. In both the Old and New Testaments, natural disasters are linked to sin. Adam and Eve were given authority over the earth. They were told to rule over it and subdue it. When Adam sinned, he forfeited his authority to Satan and the result was that the earth would no longer be a greenhouse for man in which all of his labors would bear tremendous fruit. Instead, the climate would shift so that man would have to struggle for survival and scratch a living out of hard, unforgiving earth covered with thorns and thistles.

If you browse Deuteronomy 28, the chapter on blessings and curses, you will see that righteousness will bring blessings of fruitful crops, healthy herds, and timely rains. Sin and disobedience, however, would be linked to drought, crop failure, diseased herds, and so forth:

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.           Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks…The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. Deuteronomy 28:15-24

In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that God’s intention was for creation (nature) to be a blessing and a partner with man to produce abundance. His intention was frustrated by Adam’s sin and creation (the natural realm) was made subject to decay. The curse attached to man’s rebellion directly affected creation. Adam’s sin frustrated God’s design and purposes in the earth. There will, of course, come a time when man and creation both will be restored to God’s initial purposes, but in the meantime, creation (nature) seems to be at odds with humanity.

When men or nations are righteous, God promises to mitigate the general curse placed on mankind and send blessings that overrule the curse. Those blessings include health, prosperity, peace, and beneficial weather patterns. However, as a man or nation continues to live in unbelief and rebellion, God lifts his hand and lets the curse have it’s way with those who say they want no part of God. It’s a simple equation: No God, no protection. I believe there is a direct correlation between unrighteousness and natural disasters. It is the sin of man and rejection of God that brings destructive weather patterns rather than global warming. Without the protective covering of God – called blessings – man is at the mercy of an environmental system gone wrong. It is subject to decay and decay always is progressive – it gets worse as time passes unless someone intervenes. When the Genesis curse is operating, men experience the judgment of God against sin. Curses are the natural order of things in a broken universe. Blessings are the exception carved out for those upon whom God’s grace is poured.

We live in an age when all this talk about the judgment of God seems old fashioned and unsophisticated. And yet, the idea that man can thwart the forces of nature with political policy and technology is akin to the mindset that built the Tower of Babel – self-sufficient men who discount and reject the notion of a holy God who judges men and nations for their deeds. The key to overcoming natural disasters and devastating weather patterns will not be found in science or politics but in prayer closets and churches oozing repentance. Scripture declares this principal:

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks…The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you…The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.       The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Deuteronomy 28:1-13

For centuries, great scientists believed that their discoveries revealed God – his order, his genius, his creative powers. In the last few centuries, much of the scientific community and educational systems of the world have tried to demonstrate the irrelevance of God. God, who holds all things together by the power of his word, is not irrelevant. He is essential and will show himself to be so. An abundance of natural disasters declare that something is wrong. However, it is not the temperature of the earth that needs adjusting but the temperature of men’s hearts. To take God out of the equation is truly disastrous. These are just a few thoughts for your consideration as you watch the news over the next few weeks. Blessings in Him as always.

Some of us relish the idea of being “different” or unique – the one standing out in the crowd. Others of us like to blend in and avoid being a center of attention. But the truth is that if you are a follower of Jesus, you are already different from all other people groups on the globe. You are set apart and unique and you need to not only get comfortable with the idea but also celebrate it.

God expressed his intent for a such a relationship when he spoke to Israel, saying, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.            But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:6-8).

God declared this over Israel after he had delivered them from Egypt, but they experienced their position with God while in Egypt. After Moses had returned to Egypt to demand the release of God’s people, Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews go. In response to Pharaoh’s refusal, God released ten plagues on the nation. It seems that the Hebrews experienced the first three just as the Egyptians did – the Nile was turned to blood, frogs infested the land, and gnats filled the air. The next scheduled plague was flies. However, God announced to Pharaoh, “On that day, I will deal differently with the land of Goshen (a province of Egypt, explanation added), where my people live. No swarms of flies will be there so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people” (Ex.8:22-23). The remainder of the plagues devastated the Egyptians but not God’s people. Even when darkness covered the land, there was light in Goshen. When the final plague took the firstborn of every person and animal, the Hebrews and their livestock were spared.

Later, in the days of Ezekiel when Israel had rebelled against the Lord for years, a subgroup within the larger population was set aside as unique to the Lord. “Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, ‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’     As I listened, he said to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark’” (Ezek. 9:3-6). In this context, God was forced to judge Israel for it’s rebellion, but even in the midst of this judgment, God marked those who had been faithful so that his judgment did not touch them. In the same vein, in the Book of Revelation during the great tribulation, God told his angels, “Do not harm the land or sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of God” (Rev.7:3). Two chapters later, God spoke to scorpions that had been released for judgment and said, “not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead” (Rev. 9:4).

God marks his people and treats them differently from all other people on the earth because he has chosen them. The apostle Paul continued the theme of being set apart from all creation by God when he says of Christ followers, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Paul says in another place, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph.1:13-14). Peter put it this way. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet.2:9).

As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are different. You walk around with the presence of God (the Holy Spirit) within you. You have been born again and made into a new creation. You are primarily a spiritual person rather than a physical or natural person. You are loved, chosen, marked, and elevated above all creation. You are so honored in Christ that Paul even says that you will judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3). You are a royal priest – anointed with the Spirit to offer praise, prayers and service to the King of the universe. Only priests minister in the presence of God. No one else has that kind of access. In the spiritual realm you are clearly marked as one belonging to God. His judgment will not touch you and you will be treated differently – as sons and daughters of the King.

You are different. You are chosen. You should at all times anticipate blessing and favor. You should not be proud but confident and thankful. You should expect significant spiritual assignments that mirror your significance as God’s anointed representative on the earth. One of Satan’s primary strategies is to deny who you are in Christ so that you might deny who you are in Christ. If you deny your identity, you will not live up to the privilege you have in Jesus. You will not walk in your inheritance and you will not fulfill your destiny. It is imperative that you know who you are; accept that you are different; and live up to that difference. With every thought, say what God says about you, call the devil a liar, and be blessed today in your difference.

Shame is a powerful weapon of the enemy. I was part of a group a few evenings ago in which four or five believers were prayed for and received deliverance. In nearly every case, a spirit of shame was one of the tormentors in the life of those being ministered to.   Guilt is the sense or the feeling that I have done something wrong. Shame is the sense or feeling that there is something wrong with me that ultimately makes me unlovable and unacceptable.

Many of us carry a sense of shame from our childhood where we too often heard phrases such as: Shame on you!   What is the matter with you? What’s wrong with you? You little piece of trash! Etc. If we hear those kinds of words often enough we begin to feel as if something is broken and defective that makes us unacceptable. We also feel that the defectiveness is unalterable. Our self-image plummets and we are unable to carry a sense of goodness, worth, or acceptability around with us. The devil loves to move into those wounds and reinforce them with internal whispers of rejection, condemnation, and accusation.

When we carry shame or a sense of unworthiness we tend to believe that if anyone really knew us they wouldn’t love us. Authenticity and transparency are too risky for that individual who is always anticipating the next experience of rejection. On a spiritual level, those of us who carry shame doubt that even God can love us. We doubt his blessings and we doubt that he pays much attention to our prayers. As a result, we live with little expectation of good things coming our way and pray more with vague hope than with faith.

One of the women we ministered to this week asked for prayer because she didn’t feel welcome in the presence of God and believed that her prayers were not being heard. She had a checkered past and felt in her heart that her past failures disqualified her for the blessings and the privileges of the kingdom. The shame she carried from past mistakes was being reinforced daily by demons that had been assigned to her. After we cast our several demons (one being the spirit of shame, another rejection, and so forth) she said there was an instant shift in her heart. Before she felt that all she could do was stand outside the throne room of God and peek around the corner from time to time. After shame was driven out, she felt herself standing directly before the throne and being fully accepted by the Father.

She, of course, already knew what the Bible says about her forgiveness and the Father’s total acceptance of her but shame kept her from receiving that truth in her heart. If we don’t believe in our hearts that God loves us, delights in us, and quickly forgives our past failures we will never live up to the destiny God has ordained for us in Christ. What we believe about God’s response to our failings is very important.

Two apostles denied directly Christ on the night of his arrest. Judas denied him by betraying his location to the High Priest and Peter denied him verbally three times to witnesses who asked if he had been with Jesus. Both were overcome with shame. Both wept bitterly. One believed God would never release him from his failure and so he hung himself. The other clung to the little band of believers and the Lord in spite of his shame about what he had done. He returned to the Lord with some reason to hope that he would be forgiven because he had seen the love of the Father expressed in Jesus for the past three years.

God is not interested in shaming his children. Of course, he wants us to take responsibility for our failures, confess them, and then align our hearts with his, but then he wants to forgive our failures and forget them. Before his conversion, the apostle Paul made a career if blaspheming Jesus and arresting his followers, He put some to death. In his letter to the Roman church, Paul says confidently “those who trust in Jesus will never be put to shame” (Rom.10:11). I believe Paul leaned on that truth from time to time when Satan would remind him of his past. Paul also tells us that love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Cor13). Since God is love, he keeps no record of the failings in our lives that produced our shame and sent Jesus to heal broken hearts that have been shattered by shame. When God looks at us, he doesn’t see past failings; he sees future potential. He doesn’t see us as broken, defective unchangeable human beings but rather as born-again new creations in Christ.

The heart of God is revealed in Peter’s life in such clear ways. Other than Judas, Peter was the only apostle who directly denied his relationship with Jesus – not once but three times. And yet, less than two months later, the Holy Spirit chose Peter to deliver the very first gospel message on the day of Pentecost to launch the church of Jesus on the earth. He was enabled by the Spirit to preach that sermon to the same people before whom he had denied Christ. Jesus came to take away our shame and grant each of us a place of purpose and honor in the kingdom. Shame has no place in the kingdom because in Christ we are all loved, all worthy, and all significant. Any whisper to the contrary is a lie.

For those of us who struggle with a lingering sense of shame and unworthiness, we must choose daily to agree with God and say what he says about us while we reject the lies and taunts of the enemy. Remember….”Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom.8:1); “Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb.10:14); and… “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6). If you are in Christ, there is no shame. When the whispers come call them lies. Let the enemy know who you are in Christ and send him on his way. In Jesus, you have no past – not even yesterday – and you are glorious! Be blessed today.

As I was browsing through some chapters in Isaiah, I was reminded of the degree to which Hezekiah is  highlighted in the Old Testament. He is given space in 2 Kings 18-20, 2 Chronicles 29-32 and also in the book of Isaiah, chapters 36-39. That is a significant amount when most of the kings of Israel received only a half column or a chapter to tell their stories. So why Hezekiah?

Hezekiah was installed as king over Judah when he was twenty-five years old. If you are not familiar with Old Testament history, shortly after Solomon’s death a civil had broken out in Israel and the nation was divided. The northern part of the nation was called Israel with Samaria as the capital and the southern part was called Judah with Jerusalem as the capital. Sometimes these two political entities were enemies and at other times they were allies. The kings of Israel built their own altars and high places for worship so that their people would not go to Jerusalem and for the most part fell quickly into idolatry.

Although Judah possessed Jerusalem and the temple, it too fell into idolatry. Ahaz was king prior to Hezekiah. He had no regard for the God of Israel. He worshipped idols and had even sacrificed some of his own sons in the fires of the pagan god Molech. In summary, the text says, “Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and took them away. He shut the doors of the Lord’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and provoked the Lord, the
God of his fathers, to anger” (2 Chr. 28:24-25).   Hezekiah was his son.

If we ever think that a son is destined to follow in the footsteps of a perverse father, Hezekiah is proof to the contrary. At the death of Ahaz, Hezekiah was installed as king. The text in 2 Chronicles says immediately, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.” David is called his father here because he reflected the character of his ancestor David rather than his biological father Ahaz. God tends to assign family trees based on the heart of a person rather than his biology. For instance, we are all sons and daughters of Abraham if we have the faith of Abraham. We too are children of David if we love God as David dud and we are children of God if we have a heart that resonates with our Heavenly Father.

It is amazing to think that within two hundred years of David and Solomon’s rule and the building of the great temple by Solomon that the center of Jewish life and culture would be closed, the priests dismissed, and the temple consigned to a state of neglect and decay. That suggests that Ahaz was not just indifferent to God or religion but actually hated the things of God which strongly suggests a demonic presence in him. His hate for the things of God and his exaltation of the demonic set Judah up for the heavy hand of God’s judgments. Ahaz only ruled for sixteen years and yet brought Judah to the brink of destruction through this godless administration. But God is full of grace for his people and had done a work in the heart of young Hezekiah. My guess his that his mother had something to do with that and probably hated the pagan God’s of Ahaz. After all, she had lost some sons to the fires of those gods.

After becoming king, his immediate responses was to reopen the temple doors, repair and sanctify the temple, restore the priesthood, and restore worship to the God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob. He also destroyed the high places of idolatrous worship. What followed was years of peace and prosperity for Judah while Israel, the northern kingdom, was destroyed by Assyria because of idolatry with most of the population being carried off into slavery.

We are going to consider several events in the life of Hezekiah in my next few blogs but one thing we see in the opening accounts of his life is the difference that one man can make for a nation for either good or bad. Although the people of Judah had no real political influence in who became king, there must have been many praying in the shelter of their homes for God to raise up a godly king so that God’s name would be honored again in Judah and his blessings restored.

From this account of Hezekiah’s beginnings we see that judgment does not always come when it is deserved. Regarding a nation, if godly leaders are in the pipeline because of the prayers of godly people, then God can restrain judgment because he longs to extend mercy and blessings whenever his people give him the opportunity through personal repentance and prayers for godliness to rule once again in a nation. In the life of an individual, the same principles apply even when that life is presently in shambles.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray and never give up (Lk.18:1) because God’s responses are not based solely on the present but also on the future and the future of God’s people rests not on present circumstances but faith and prayer for the future. So…if you are discouraged take heart and pray for the future. Even while many of the Jews were in exile in Babylon, God had the prophet Jeremiah send them a letter in which he stated, “ For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer.29:11). That is always God’s heart for his people or for nations. So, if you are discouraged or afraid…take heart and pray.

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matt. 12:33-37)

The last verse in this section of scripture is very sobering. The thought that I might have to give an accounting on Judgment Day for every careless word I have ever spoken should get my attention. Even if I have not given much thought to my words, apparently heaven has. The context of these words is a rebuke by Jesus toward the Pharisees who have just attributed his authority to cast out demons to some alliance with Beelzebub. Jesus then equates their assertions to blasphemy of the Spirit which, I believe, is synonymous with unbelief in the face of a clear work of God.

Jesus goes on to the reveal the significance of these words spoken by the Pharisees which were obviously not well thought out. In this context, Jesus gives us one very significant reason that our words matter so much. Our words, especially our careless words, reveal what is truly in our hearts. We often deny that truth by blurting out something or making some sarcastic or cutting remark and then declaring that we didn’t really mean what we said. I hear that frequently from couples whose marriages are crumbling under the weight of anger and mistrust in the relationship. They often share with me the brutal remarks with which they wounded one another in the heat of their fighting and then say that they were just angry and didn’t really mean what they had said. The one who received the wound, however, is not so quick to dismiss the words that were spoken. The truth is that their words reveal something that is in their heart about their spouse and until that something is changed, the marriage will not truly heal.

In our hearts reside out deepest beliefs. We have a set of beliefs that rest neatly in our mind and in our intellect but those are often our “acceptable” or our “aspirational” beliefs. Those are the beliefs or attitudes we would like to have or believe we should have. Those are the beliefs or attitudes that we show to others and acknowledge as our own. Our actual beliefs are hidden in our hearts. Those show up when we are tempted, angry, afraid, or offended. They show up in our actions that have not been calculated and our careless words that pop out of our mouths in stressful moments or in moments of temptation.

Sometimes, even we wonder where those words or thoughts came from and are surprised by what we just said. David was aware that deep within our hearts we sometimes harbor thoughts or beliefs that are contrary to the mind and heart of God and reflect a part of us that we don’t want to recognize. He prayed, “Search me O God and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps.139:23-24, ESV).

Our words matter because they can reveal the truest thoughts and attitudes of our hearts – even the ones we carefully hide from others who would disapprove or that we deny when confronted about them. My words will acquit us or condemn me because they reveal my heart which then reveals the “true me”. The good news for every believer is that even our hearts are covered by the grace of God and the blood of Christ. That grace reaches even the hidden sin in our hearts and we can take comfort in that.

However, the wisest path is to pay attention to our careless words, our impetuous words, and our angry words because they do reveal the unattractive reality of our fallen nature. We should pay attention and take responsibility for those words and the part of us that is not yet fully submitted to Jesus. We can then acknowledge that part of us, repent of the attitudes or beliefs our words reflect, and submit them to the cross so that the Holy Spirit can then begin to change our heart at the deepest level.

Our careless words, then, can be our allies in discovering what still needs to be aligned with the heart and mind of Christ. They can be our allies in discovering footholds or even strongholds of the enemy. Denying that spontaneous words or actions reflect who we “really are” leaves an unlocked door through which the enemy can enter when we least expect it. The wise man and the spiritual man will acknowledge that some parts of his heart are not yet submitted to Jesus and as he discovers each part, he will gladly lay them at the foot of the cross. That is a key to real transformation in the kingdom of God.

In one sense, God judges his people every day. He judges us not in the sense of condemnation but in the sense of evaluation and then goes to work changing those things that are not aligned with the mind and heart of Jesus. The transforming work of God is much easier and effective when we cooperate. It is easier when we willingly bend to his will rather than resisting. When we resist or deny that we need to change, more pressure must be applied even to the point of breaking. From personal experience I would say it is better to bend that to be broken. Carless words can alert us t the need to bend or can alert God to the need for more pressure. Our choice!  More about “words” on Wednesday.

The love of God is unconditional but the grace of God comes through faith. A lack of faith in those who should have some reasonable level of faith hinders healing. In addition, answers to prayers may also be conditional. For instance, in my last blog I quoted James when he said, “You have not because you ask not.” We are told that God knows our thoughts and our heart’s desires before we utter a word but asking in prayer still seems to be the normative condition for God responding to our desires or needs. There are additional conditions that hinder answered prayed and healing if they are not met.

In his letter, James reveals several of these conditions that, if not met, may hinder healing. “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (Ja.5:14-16).

From this text we discover that unconfessed sin can get in the way of healing. His counsel is to confess our sins so that we might receive prayer and through that prayer we receive healing. He has just mentioned calling the elders so that their anointing and prayer of faith might be offered for healing. Notice that if the elders pray without faith, healing will be hindered. I have seen many church leaders pray for healing with little to no faith that it would occur and it did not. He ends that instruction with “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” The implication is that unrepented and unconfessed sin can open the door to sickness. We know that is true when guilt, stress, and worry compromise our immune systems. It also gives Satan legal access and the legal right to attack us with illness through spirits of infirmity.

In order to receive healing, we need to make sure we have dealt with any sin in our life – especially unforgiveness. Remember the psalmist, speaking of covenant children, declared that God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases (Ps. 103:3). The fact that he mentioned forgiveness of sins before healing is not an accident. Isaiah declares, “your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2).

Another serious example of this principle is found in I Corinthians. “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor.11:28-31).

Some in the church at Corinth were abusing the Lords supper by taking it while at the same time abusing weaker members of the church. Their sin brought the judgment of sickness on them. God calls them to self-examination and repentance so that the judgment might be lifted through healing.

How often do we pray for physical healing without doing any assessment of the spiritual health of the person for whom we are praying and then leave disappointed that God did not heal. But was there unbelief, unrepented sin, rebellion, unforgiveness, a disregard for the people that Jesus died for, etc.? Those things that come to us as a result of sin will typically not be healed until the sin is dealt with.

The problem is not in the prayer or the faith of those offering the prayer but in the spiritual condition of the one who is ill. Let me say right away that not all illness for disability is a result of anyone’s personal sin but some is. In addition, we see a number of people in the gospels come to Jesus with long term illnesses and disabilities that were caused by spirits of infirmity. They were not healed until the spirit was cast out. I will discuss demonic hindrances to healing in Friday’s blog. In the meantime, be blessed.

But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the water and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.  (Ex.8:18-20)

When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. (Ex.31:18, See also Dt.9:10)

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Lk.11:20)

This phrase, “the finger of God” shows up only four times in scripture.  The first time it speaks of the plagues on Egypt that ultimately forced Pharaoh to release the Hebrews. The second and third times referred to God writing his commandments on tablets of stone for the Hebrews and the fourth time is found in the gospels when Jesus is speaking about casting out demons. It’s an interesting phrase so I thought we might explore it.

The first three uses of the phrase are all related to the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt to the land God had promised the descendants of Abraham.  God told them over and over again that he was delivering them from slavery, oppression, and bondage in Egypt to make them a people of his own.

It’s interesting that when Jehovah sent the ten plagues on Egypt he described that judgment in the following way.  “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord” (Ex. 12:12).  He says in another place, “The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out boldly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment on their gods. (Num. 33:3-4).

Moses didn’t say that God had punished Egypt but, in fact, had brought judgment on their gods.  Scripture clearly teaches that idols are lifeless and powerless in themselves but they do represent demons. When men worship idols (false gods0 and offer sacrifices to them, they are worshipping demons and offering sacrifices to unclean spirits.  Note the following passages.

They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. (Dt.32:16-17)

They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations. (Lev.17:7)

They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. (Ps.106:36-37)

No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. (1 Cor.10:20-22)

God targeted the real perpetrators of bondage over Israel and that was the demonic realm.  That realm possesses power and uses that power to possess and oppress men.  To answer the challenge of Moses, Pharaoh’s magicians through down their staffs and they became snakes.   They also turned water to blood and summoned frogs just as Moses had done. The Bible says that they had been practicing their “secret arts” or sorcery which calls upon the demonic realm to do their bidding.  It wasn’t long, however, until the magicians realized a power much greater than demons was being manifested.  But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”

Every plague that God sent was a demonstration of his power over a specific God of Egypt. He judged these demons by making it clear that they were powerless before the God of Israel and so were unworthy of any worship or sacrifice. When the text says that the plagues were the very “finger of God” of God, I believe it reveals that God was very personally involved in the redemption of Israel.  In Genesis 2, we are told that God formed Adam from the ground. The text implies that Adam was formed by a very personal touch from God who then breathed life into his nostrils.

We are told that that the Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets by the “finger of God.”  The writing of those tablets was to establish a very personal covenant between God and the Hebrews.  It was likened to a marriage covenant which God made with his bride Israel.  God did not sent a representative to establish that covenant but because was so personal it was written by his own finger.

I believe God took the enslavement of the Hebrews in a very personal way and knowing that our struggle is not against flesh and blood executed judgment on the demons who had prompted Egypt to treat the Hebrews in such a way and who had also seduced many of the Hebrews into false worship. It’s as if God stepped in front of his angels and said, “I’ll take this one.”

Then in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says that demons were being driven out by the finger of God and that deliverance was a clear sign that the kingdom of God had been released on earth.  Deliverance is setting captives free. It is a redemptive act.  It is the same as God leading his people out of bondage to demons in Egypt. He is just leading them out of bondage to demons wherever they may be.  The words of Jesus suggests that God takes deliverance very personally.  He is present and working by his own hand to execute judgment on demons who are oppressing and seducing his people, his bride.

That tells me once again that God is all about redemption and loving relationships with his people. He is not a distant God.  He is not unmoved. He is the deliverer – the redeemer.  In the Exodus story we are told that he heard the cries of his people and moved in power. In the New Testament Jesus heard the cries of his people and he moved in power. When you partner with God to break the power of the enemy in the lives of his people, you are very close to the redeemer and you are about to see the “finger of God” at work.  Be blessed today.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head.  Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. (Ezek.33:2-7)

In the days of the Bible, cities and farmers needed watchmen.  A watchman was simply the “lookout” or sentry who was posted to give warning if danger approached. On walled cities, towers were built and those towers were manned by watchmen who would sound an alarm if the enemy approached or who would alert the gatekeepers that a messenger was approaching or that a company of men were returning from a mission.  In essence, the watchman was to discern whether the approaching figure(s) were friends or foes and he was to alert the city to that arrival.

In several places, God compares Ezekiel to a watchman who has been placed over Israel to sound the alarm if he sees judgment on the horizon. Judgment would often come in the form of invading armies, natural disasters, plagues, etc.  It was the prophet’s job to alert the people of impending disasters so that they might repent and avoid the judgment of God.

There were also towers built in fields, orchards or vineyards for watchmen who would survey the borders of the property to see if any thieves were coming to steal the crops or if any animals were coming into the fields who might damage the crops. If so, they sounded the alert so that the Master’s men could arise and protect the crops.

Dutch Sheets has some great insights about these watchmen.  “In seasons of harvest, there is a more urgent need for the “watchman,” as “the thief” is going to do all he can to steal it, keeping the greater portion.  It is little wonder that God has preceded the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever known – which is now happening – with the greatest prayer awakening in history.

The Lord of the Harvest is wise. I can assure you He has 24-hour sentries watching over the harvest.” (Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer, p. 255).

This is a day when the enemy is extremely active.  I believe that our nation’s leaders have released the demonic into our nation as never before by their attempts to drive God out of our schools, out of our military, out of courthouses, and out of our history.  They have passed laws against prayer and all kinds of expressions of Christianity in our culture while bowing to Islam, promoting abortion, and supporting the gay rights agenda.  In our conservative area of the country we have seen a spike in demonic activity of every kind and I have no doubt that there is more in other parts of our nation. This is a day when we need watchman who will protect the harvest and sound the alarm when an enemy approaches – not just for the nation but also for the church and for  individuals all around us.

There will be attacks from the inside and the outside that we must recognize and to which we must respond.  There will be individuals who work to destroy the nation, our families, and the church.  There will be those who wage a war on Christianity from the outside and those who wage a war from the inside by causing divisions and by teaching doctrines that do not line up with God’s truth. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (1 Tim.4:1-2).

Our American tradition has been to mind our own business and not to involve ourselves in the lives of others when we have not been invited.  We have carried that cultural mindset of individualism and self-sufficiency into the church we have labeled those who speak to others about their sin or who speak to others about questionable teachings as judgmental and intolerant.

However, God clearly tells us in Ezekiel that if we see a nation, a family or an individual rejecting God’s truth and God’s Son, then we must warn them or their blood will be on our hands. The church has set relatively quiet while millions of children have been aborted, while laws have been passed legalizing evil and restricting good, while God and prayer have been banned form our schools and then the nations wonders why children and teachers are being gunned down in those schools on a regular basis. If anyone suggests that natural disasters, a failing economy, flu epidemics, and terrorism are preliminary judgments from God on a nation once blessed by Him, they are labeled as religious quacks and extremists – even by other believers.  The truth is that if the church (and we as individuals who are the church) does not begin to sound the warning for the nation and for the people around us, God will hold us responsible in part for the destruction of both the nation and people.

Freedom, healing, and power come to those who align themselves with God and who are obedient even when it brings threats and criticisms.  In the book of Acts, every time the apostles were censured for preaching Jesus, they would go out and begin to preach him again and God wound do move supernaturally in awesome ways through those who were not only warning people but announcing the unconditional love of God.  I believe our warnings should be voiced out of love and concern but also tempered with truth. America was never in as much danger from Germany, Japan, or nuclear Russia as we are right now from a culture that is working hard to reject God and his righteousness at every turn. We really do need to steel ourselves and begin to speak out with wisdom, concern, love for our enemies, and with articulation.  We have been appointed to be watchmen for the church first but also for a nation God has blessed in generations past.

Today, think about your role as protector, defender, and lookout for those you love, for the family of God and also for a world of people Jesus died for.  Ask Jesus who you need to speak to or where you need to speak out.  To whom much has been given, much is required.  God has saved us and blessed us so richly, but with that comes great responsibility to be salt and light, fresh water, and watchmen on the wall.  Be blessed.