Category: Oppressed

Develop Closer Relationships Between Fathers and Children (Insights in Prophets)

4/28/2013

To release God's healing for closer heart relationships between fathers and children, surrender your heart to teach whole Bible so you create desire for instruction, unified marriage, purified people, hate oppression, give financially to God's kingdom and expect God to write a scroll of remembrance.

Surrender Your Heart to Show God's Greatness
Malachi told Israel that God showed love by loving Jacob and hating Esau. He turned his mountains into a wasteland called The Wicked Land. God continually demolished it to prove His greatness to Israel. They did not honor and respect God like a son to His father. The priests despised His name by sacrificing crippled or diseased animals on the altar they would not offer to their governor. God was displeased and found these useless fires unacceptable. They shamed and cheated Him by sacrificing blemished animals instead of offering acceptable males they vowed to give. Israel was to show nations that God was to be feared as a great king (Mal. 1:1-14). Surrender your heart to show God's greatness to unbelievers.

Teach Whole Bible to Create Desire for Instruction
If priests did not set their heart to listen or honor God, He sent a curse and cut off their descendants. He made a covenant of life and peace with Levi so they could reverence His name. True instruction was in his mouth as he walked in peace and uprightness turning many from sin. Priests should preserve knowledge so men would seek instruction from the messenger of the Lord Almighty. But they turned from the way, violated the covenant with Levi and their teaching caused many to stumble. God caused them to be despised and humiliated before everyone since they did not follow His ways showing partiality in matters of the law (Mal. 2:1-9). Teach whole Bible to turn people from sin and create desire for instruction.

Guard Your Spirit for Unified Marriage to Bear Godly Offspring
Judah broke faith with one another by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. God did not accept their offerings because they broke their marriage bond through divorce. He sought godly offspring from the one flesh relationship between husband and wife. Husbands who guarded their spirit prevented breaking faith with the wife of their youth since God hated divorce (Mal. 2:10-16). Guard your spirit for unified marriage to bear godly offspring.

Participate with God to Purify His People and Hate Oppression
They wearied Him saying those who did evil were pleasing to Him and questioning whether there was a God of justice. No one could stand the refiner's fire of God's coming as He purified the Levites like gold and silver. Judah's and Jerusalem's righteous offerings would be acceptable. God would judge sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers. He was against those who defrauded laborers of their wages, oppressed the widows and fatherless, and deprived aliens of justice without fearing God (Mal. 2:17-3:5). Participate with God to purify His people and hate oppression of others.

Give Financially to God's Kingdom and Reap His Blessing
His people should return to God and His word so He would return to them. He cursed Israel because they robbed Him of tithes and offerings. Bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse brought food into His house. By testing Him, they saw Him open the floodgates of heaven to pour out so much blessing that there was no room for it. He prevented pests from devouring crops and fruit from their fields. All nations called them blessed in a delightful land (Mal. 3:6-12). Give financially to God's kingdom and reap His blessing.

Expect God to Write a Scroll of Remembrance By Fearing Him
Israel said it was futile to serve God since evildoers prospered and those who challenged God escaped. The Lord listened and wrote a scroll of remembrance for people who feared Him and talked with each other. He distinguished between those who served God as His treasured possession and those who did not (Mal. 3:13-18). Expect God to write a scroll of remembrance by fearing Him.

Release God's Healing for Closer Heart Relationships Between Fathers and Children
A day would come to burn the arrogant and every evildoer. For those who revered God's name, the sun of righteousness would rise with healing so they leaped like calves released from the stall. They trampled down the wicked like ashes under their feet. Malachi commanded Israel to remember the law God gave Moses at Horeb. He would send Elijah before the dreadful day of the Lord to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and hearts of children to their fathers or else curse the land (Mal. 4:1-6). Release God's healing for closer heart relationships between fathers and children.

To release God's healing for closer heart relationships between fathers and children:
1. Surrender your heart to teach whole Bible
2. Turn people from sin
3. Create desire for instruction
4. Guard your spirit for unified marriage
5. Bear godly children
6. Participate with God to purify His people
7. Hate oppression of others
8. Give financially to God's kingdom and reap His blessings
9. Expect God to write a scroll of remembrance

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Ministry Actions to Change Culture (Insights in Prophets)

1/7/2013

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Brian Walsh and J. Richard Middleton in their book, The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View, wrote that “we must abandon our idols, recognize the multi-dimensionality of life, respond in obedience to God's norms for his creatures and begin to live in community with one another in a renewed way."

When you do justice, defend the needy, equip shepherds, communicate God's word, plant His word in receptive disciples, stop following false gods and warn people of God's judgment, you turn from evil ways to stop God's judgment and wrath along with ruin in cultural spheres. In contrast, you prove personal knowledge of God by living securely and bearing spiritual fruit (Jer. 21-25).

Do Justice By Rescuing the Oppressed
King Zedekiah asked Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Judah. God said He would fight against Judah by killing men and animals with a great plague and take Zedekiah captive. People who stayed in Jerusalem would die by the sword, famine or plague but those who surrendered to the Babylonians would live. God determined to harm Jerusalem by having Babylon destroy it with fire because of their evil. The Lord said to administer justice and rescue the robbed victim from his oppressor to stop His wrath (Jer. 21:1-14). Do justice by rescuing the oppressed to stop God's wrath.

Defend the Poor and Needy
God told Judah's king to not wrong or do violence to the alien, fatherless or widow nor shed innocent blood. Otherwise, God would make them like a desert and destroy the palace. Many nations asked why the Lord did such a thing to Jerusalem. The answer was they forsook God's covenant by worshiping and serving other gods. Woe to him who built his extravagant palace by unrighteousness and injustice without paying the workers. Everything went well for Josiah because he did what was right. Those who knew God experienced well-being because they defended the cause of the poor and needy. In contrast, focusing on dishonest gain, shedding innocent blood, oppression and extortion caused an untimely death for Josiah's son, Jehoiakim. Security and disobedience triggered exile for their shepherds and allies, disgrace, no prosperity and no offspring ruling on the throne of David (Jer. 22:1-30). Defend the cause of the poor and needy to prove you know God.

Equip Shepherds to Care and Teach God's Word
Woe to shepherds who destroyed and scattered the sheep of God's pasture by not caring for them. God gathered the remnant out of all countries so they could be fruitful and multiply. He placed shepherds to tend them so none would fear or be missing. In the future, God raised up a righteous Branch and King called the Lord Our Righteousness from David's line to do the right thing in the land, which saved Judah and caused Israel to live in safety. Unfortunately, adultery caused parched land and withered pastures. Godless prophets and priests followed an evil course and used their power unjustly. The Samaria's prophet prophesied by Baal and led God's people astray. Jerusalem's prophets committed adultery, lived a lie and strengthened evildoers like Sodom and Gomorrah so no one turned from his wickedness (Jer. 23:1-14). Equip shepherds to care and teach God's word so His people live securely.

Communicate Power of God's Word
Jerusalem's prophets spread ungodliness in the land by offering false hope. They spoke visions from their own minds, taught peace to those who despised God and said no harm would come to those with stubborn hearts. Not one of them stood in the council of the Lord to see or hear His word. God never sent or spoke to these prophets. Those standing in His council proclaimed His word to turn His people from their evil ways. God filled heaven and earth so no one could hide from Him. The one with His word should speak it faithfully. His word was like fire and hammer to break a rock in pieces. God was against prophets who stole words from one another that were supposedly from Him. They led His people astray with reckless lies. They received no benefit from these words. Do not mention 'the oracle of the Lord' again because every man's own word became his oracle that distorted the words of the living and Almighty God. Therefore, He cast Jerusalem out of His presence bringing eternal disgrace and unforgettable shame (Jer. 23:15-40). Communicate the fire and hammer of God's word to turn people from their evil ways.

Plant His Word in Receptive Disciples
After Judah's leaders were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, Jeremiah placed one basket of early-ripened figs that and a basket of spoiled figs in front of the temple. The good figs represented the exiles sent to Babylon. God brought them back to Judah to build up and not tear down, to plant and not uproot. He gave them a heart to know Him as His people. The poor figs represented Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and survivors from Jerusalem who remained in the land or lived in Egypt, They were an an offense, reproach and object of ridicule to every earthly kingdom. God sent sword, famine and plague to destroy them from the land (Jer. 24:1-10). Plant His word in those pursuing a heart relationship to God so they can bear spiritual fruit.

Stop Following False Gods
Jeremiah spoke God's word to Judah for 23 years but they did not pay attention. The Lord sent His prophets repeatedly but they followed other gods and provoked God in what they made. Judah and the surrounding nations became a desolate wasteland and served the king of Babylon. After 70 years, God punished Babylon for their guilt to make it desolate forever as written and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. Babylon was enslaved by many nations and great kings. God repaid them according to their deeds and the work of their hands (Jer. 25:1-14). Stop following false gods that cause ruin in various cultural spheres.

Warn People of God's Judgment
God told Jeremiah to make all nations drink the cup filled with the wine of God's wrath. After drinking it, Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials became ruined and an object of horror and scorn as they were today. Every kingdom on earth, including Babylon, drank the cup of God's wrath. The Lord Almighty called down a sword upon every person on earth and even brought disaster upon Jerusalem that bore His Name. God told Jeremiah to say these words: The Lord shouted against all who lived on the earth. He brought charges against the nations, judged all mankind and put the wicked to the sword. The disaster of those slain by the Lord spread from nation to nation. He called shepherds as leaders of the flock to weep and wail since they would be shattered like fine pottery with no place to escape. The Lord destroyed their pasture and laid waste their peaceful meadows because of the oppressor's sword and the Lord's fierce anger (Jer. 25:15-38). Warn people of God's judgment beginning with the church and spreading to all nations.

Confess your sin, help someone in need, study and communicate God's word to a friend.

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Destiny of a Nation is Determined by Prayer (Insights in Prophets)

6/23/2012

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"Give yourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Give yourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. If you do not pray, God will probably lay you aside from your ministry, as He did me, to teach you to pray" (Robert Murray McCheyne). The spiritual health of leaders determine the health of families, churches or nations. The amount of spiritual fruit in peoples' lives is proportional to the amount of prayer. The destiny of a nation is determined by prayer.

Jehoahaz's evil caused God to give Israel into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. Jehoahaz entreated the favor of the Lord who listened because He saw the oppression. The Lord gave Israel a deliverer so they escaped from the Arameans and lived in tents as formerly. They continued in the sins of Jeroboam and the Asherah remained standing in Samaria. They had only 50 horsemen, 10 chariots and 10,000 footmen because Aram destroyed them (2 Kings 13:1-13). God delivers nations from evil, defeat, oppression and deficiency as leaders pray.

Elisha told Joash, king of Israel, to shoot the Lord's arrow of victory over Aram until they were destroyed. He was told to take the arrows, but only struck the ground three times. Elisha said if he struck the ground five or six times, he would have destroyed Aram. When a dead man touched the bones of Elisha. he revived and stood up. The Lord was gracious because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Three times Joash defeated Ben-hadad and recovered the cities of Israel (2 Kings 13:14-25). The extent of deliverance and victory is proportional to the amount of persevering prayer from leaders.

Amaziah, king of Judah, did right in the sight of the Lord except people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He killed the servants who had slain his father, but kept their sons alive according to law of Moses that sons or fathers were put to death for their own sin. Jehoash, king of Israel, told Amaziah that since his heart became proud after defeating Edom, he should enjoy his glory at home and not provoke trouble to himself or Judah. He did not listen and Judah defeated Israel by tearing down the wall of Jerusalem and taking all the gold, silver and utensils from the house of the Lord and king's house (2 Kings 14:1-16). A leader's sin and pride hastens evil, defeat, oppression and deficiency.

Jeroboam made Israel sin and restored its borders from Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to God's word that he spoke through His servant Jonah. The Lord saw the bitter affliction of Israel without a helper. Jeroboam saved them and fought to recover Damascus and Hamath that belonged to Judah (2 Kings 14:17-29). Victory comes by claiming God's promises and fighting for the faith through prayer.

Azariah king of Judah did right in God's sight according to all his father Amaziah did. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The Lord struck the king with leprosy until his death and had to live in a separate house. God fulfilled his word to Jehu that his sons would be on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation (2 Kings 15:1-12). God fulfills His promises for good in proportion to the obedience of leaders.

Menahem killed Shallum and became king in his place. He did evil in the sight of God and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam that he made Israel sin. Menahem gave Put, king of Assyria, 1000 talents of silver so he would be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his rule. Menahem exacted money from all the mighty men of wealth in Israel. Pekah conspired against Pekahiah with 50 Gileadites and became king in his place (2 Kings 15:13-26). Power and materialism lead people to selfishly rule over others.

Pekah did evil in the sight of God and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam that he made Israel sin. Hoshea conspired against Pekah, put him to death and became king in his place. Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah did what was right in God's sight like his father. The people sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord (2 Kings 15:27-38). The example of leaders influence people toward evil or good.

Ask God to increase your prayer life so you persevere daily in your most important discipline. The health of your family, church and nation depend on it.

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Break the Chains of the Evil One Through United Prayer (Insights in NT)

4/16/2012

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Ole Kristian O. Hallesby wrote, "Listen, my friend! Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness, and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness." God's word multiplies in breaking the chains of the evil one through united prayer.

Cornelius, a centurion, prayed to God continually. An angel said his prayers ascended as a memorial before God and told him to send men to Joppa to get Peter (Acts 10:1-8). God answers prayer and speaks to an unbeliever who seeks God.

As they approached Joppa, Peter was praying on the housetop. While in a trance, he saw the sky open up and a object like a great sheet coming down containing animals. A voice said to kill and eat but Peter replied that had never eaten anything unholy and unclean. A second time, the voice said to no longer consider unholy what God has cleansed. After this occurred three times, the object went up into the sky (Acts 10:9-16). God speaks to expand your paradigm in ministry.

While perplexed about the vision, the Spirit said three men were looking for him. The men explained to Peter that Cornelius was directed by a holy angel to come and hear a message from him. He told Cornelius that even though it was unlawful to associate with a foreigner, God showed him to not call any man unholy or unclean. Cornelius explained with relatives and close friends present how God instructed him to send for Peter and then asked to hear all that God commanded him to say (Acts 10:17-33). God arranges circumstances so the right person shares the gospel with someone ready to hear.

Peter said he learned that God shows no partiality, but any man who fears God and does what is right is welcome to Him. He preached peace through Jesus who God anointed with the Holy Spirit, power, doing good and healing everyone oppressed by the devil. Peter said he witnessed Jesus being put to death on a cross, raised up on the third day and made visible to witnesses chosen by God. Jesus ordered them to preach to the people so anyone who believed in Him received forgiveness of sin (Acts 10:34-43). Those who witness Jesus healing the oppressed preach the gospel boldly so people receive forgiveness of sin.

The circumcised believers were amazed that the Holy Spirit fell on those listening to the message. They heard them speaking in tongues and exalting God. Peter ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They asked him to stay for a few days (Acts 10:44-48). Those who believe the gospel get baptized.

Herod had James the brother of John put to death and arrested Peter. While he was in prison, the church prayed fervently for him. An angel appeared, light shone in the cell, his chains fell off and the gate opened into the city with Peter following. When he realized his rescue, Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of Mark, where many were praying. He described how the Lord led him out of prison (Acts 12:1-17). Fervent united prayer breaks the chains of the evil one.

When Herod could not find Peter, he ordered the guards to be executed. He went to Caesarea angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Herod delivered an address and the people kept crying out, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" An angel struck him because he did not give God glory and was eaten by worms and died (Acts 12:18-23). Self-seeking and glorifying yourself and not giving God glory destroys and kills you.

The word of the Lord continued to grow and be multiplied. Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem where they fulfilled their mission taking along Mark (Acts 12:24-25). God's word grows and multiplies when people pray and preach the power of Jesus.

What would happen if you joined with others in praying that the chains of the evil one be broken?

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Develop Closer Relationships Between Fathers and Children (Insights in Prophets)

Ministry Actions to Change Culture (Insights in Prophets)

Destiny of a Nation is Determined by Prayer (Insights in Prophets)

Break the Chains of the Evil One Through United Prayer (Insights in NT)

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