Most of us have lived our Christian lives not getting involved in situations outside the church. We’ve probably been taught that if we pray and ask God to move on our behalf that we’ve done all that we can do but is that what is seen throughout scripture?
Now, sometimes God just sovereignly moves, like this example in II Kings 19:35. “And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eight-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses, all dead.
(Read II Kings 18 and 19 for the complete story). So Hezekiah prayed asking the Lord for help, the prophet Isaiah prophesied the word of the Lord to Him saying that they would be saved, and that night the death angel went and killed all of the enemy camp. Pretty sweet deal….but not the Biblical norm.
All throughout biblical history, when something significant happened and God moved, He partnered with someone willing to step into a moment with Him.
Gideon won a battle for Israel against the Midianites with 300 men using shofars and pitchers with candles at the Lord’s command. Then it says in Judges 7:22 “When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp.” And the whole army fled while Israel pursued them. (Israel had to do something. They obeyed God’s plan, which made no sense what-so-ever, then after God started working against them by His own hand, Israel pursued them and God gave the victory.)
David asked the Lord whether he should go up against the Philistines in the Valley of Rephaim. God said in II Samuel 5:24, “And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.”
Moses was used numerous times. As he obeyed the Lord’s directives plagues happened, the Red Sea parted, water came from a rock and so much more. Moses acted as God commanded him and God did the rest and miracles happened.
But somewhere along the line, this message got hidden and another message began to be preached. It was “God is in control and if it’s His will He will do it”. I don’t find that backed up in scripture.
I heard a sermon the other day by Dutch Sheets and he was talking about the children of Israel right before they entered the Promised Land. Joshua 3:5 says, “Then Joshua said to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.’”
Consecrate is the Hebrew word qadash (H6942) which means to (make, pronounce or observe as) clean, appoint, consecrate, dedicate, (keep) holy etc. Most Bibles concentrate on the holiness factor but I liked how Dutch portrayed it. He mentioned that articles that were used in the temple were consecrated for that use. They weren’t considered free from sin as a spoon or dish had never sinned. They were dedicated or set apart for a specific function.
I believe we are only seeing half the picture if we see consecration as just an aspect of walking a holy life. There is also the “set apart for Him aspect” that I believe is missing.
One of the definitions in the dictionary for consecrate means, “to devote to a purpose (or in this instance a person) as if with deep solemnity or dedication.”

He also mentioned that God always spoke about the Promised Land as a land of milk and honey. But in the natural it was a land of giants and Baal worship. God wanted them to see it as He spoke it. But 10 spies came back and saw what satan had been doing and then their inadequacies to make a difference. They looked at the situation from doing it alone instead of partnering with God. Hebrews 3:19 says “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” The greek word for unbelief comes from a double root “not” and “convinced”. Basically they did not inherit the Promised Land at that time because they were not convinced that He would do what He said He would do.
Dutch’s message challenged us to take what is going on with our nation right now and see it from God’s perspective which is a nation that has a covenant with God and a land that God loves.

Dutch Sheets (June-30-2024) Watch Message: A Holy Moment (sermons-online.org (could not get to link)

This is more in line with verses like Deut. 31:3 which says, “The Lord your God Himself crosses over before you, He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them.”
The word dispossess (some versions say possess) is the Hebrew word yarash (H3423) which means to occupy (by driving out previous tenants and possessing in their place); to seize, rob, inherit, expel, drive out etc.
Interestingly enough Psalms 37:9 which says, “For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.”
Then verse 11, “But the meek shall inherit the earth.”
Vs 22 “…For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth.”
Vs 29 “The righteous shall inherit the land…”
Vs 24 “Wait on the Lord and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land.”
Inherit in each of those verses is the same Hebrew word yarash which means “to occupy (by driving out previous tenants and possessing in their place.”

7 Mountains

This understanding matches the teaching of the 7 mountains. With this concept comes the understanding that we should influence the mountains of culture with the investments God has invested within us. We are to be good stewards of what we have received.  We have received an investment of the kingdom.

I know this is stepping on some sacred cows but how you see end times completely affects how you believe we are to proceed.  If you only see us needing to be whisked away by rapture by a big, bad devil who has overpowered the earth and everything in it, then we see satan as more powerful than God. (This is the same as the children of Israel not moving forward because the giants in the land were more powerful than their perception of who they were and who was on their side. If they knew it was theirs to do alone then they knew they couldn’t succeed.)

If you believe seeing everything around us getting bad is an indicator of Jesus’ soon return, then you won’t feel compelling to pray or ask the Lord for any next steps.

I actually had a conversation with a pastor one time and he was sharing about something bad going on.  I asked him if he had prayed and asked the Lord for wisdom or insight on it.  His answer was, “Why pray about it?  Scripture prophesies that these things must happen.  The problem is….is this that time?  We need to be like the sons of Issachar who could read the times and seasons.  We need to be asking the Lord IF His perspective matches up with ours. Since Matthew 24:36 says “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” 

So if Jesus doesn’t even know, I’m pretty sure that the latest eschatology teaching is also wrong.  What I do know is Jesus taught us in one of His parables about the kingdom to Occupy till I return.”  I want to be focused on that. When Jesus does return He is looking for a bride that is an overcomer and without spot and wrinkle.  I believe we have a ways to go…  😉

(If anyone is interested in some links to explain another perception of what the days ahead hold, I can share some links.)

Here are a few scriptures that I believe lay out God’s plan for the days ahead.

Acts 3:19-21 Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. (What is this period of restoration of all things? We have not been taught this.)

Ephesians 4:10 The same one who descended (which is Jesus) is also the one who ascended above the heights of heaven, in order to begin the restoration and fulfillment of all things.

Romans 8:19 & 21 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, because creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope. That creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

The word “sons’ is the word huios G5207 which in another podcast that I can share, explains that being a son of God is more than being a child of God.  We all as children of God have an inheritance of the kingdom, but “sons” of God are mature sons that move in their authority, knowing who they are in Christ.  In Hebrew culture they had a ceremony called a huiothesia (whee-o-thee-see-uh). At that ceremony a father would take his first born son, gather some city members together and declare “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”. In this event people were informed that this son was mature enough, and trusted enough to manage the family affairs and business.  He was trustworthy and given authority.

This is what God spoke over Jesus at His baptism.  (Matthews 3:13-17 and 2 Peter 1:17-18)  Jesus did not start His ministry until after this event and 40 days dealing with the devil in the wilderness.  But after that He fully represented God on the earth and had the authority to do so.

I believe this is where we are being taken. We are growing up into mature sons and daughters of God, fully capable of partnering with Him in whatever He leads us to do. But if we don’t see that this is where we’re going, we will not lean into where He is leading us.

I heard the Lord tell me awhile back, “This generation has the opportunity to do it right this time.”  I believe this means that we have been told through the prophets where we are going (the kingdom era) and we can by faith believe Him and go where He leads us knowing He is faithful. Hebrews 13:5b says, “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear, what can man do to me?”

Where do we fit in all of this? What is it we put our hands to, to steward well and safeguard the gains we have made with abortion for our state. If we do nothing, like our patterns from times past, then we lose ground for the kingdom and for righteousness. 

Here is a little bit about what’s been going on in Missouri in the last few months. I attended a rally in Jeff City back in February. I learned at that event that our state has a problem with everything being presented as a constitutional amendment instead of just passing laws. Our state constitution has gone from several pages to over 300 because everytime a group wants to gets something passed they go out and gather enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. And then the amendment only needed to be passed by a 50% + 1 vote. St Louis and Kansas City covered that/

This new reform was going to require a lot more signatures to get an amendment on the ballot plus 2/3 of votes before passage. This was going to better represent the whole of our state instead of just barely 50%.

Then the shenanigans began. the last 2-3 weeks of session were nothing but filibusters and delays. The session ended with NOTHING happening on this reform. Then signatures were acquired to get abortion put back on the November ballot in the form of a constitutional amendment. While all of this happened we did nothing. We (as righteous sons of God) have not been as organized so we see things happening all around us and we don’t know what to do. This has got to change. I’ve contacted both my senator and representative. Supposedly Governor Parsons could call a special session…. but without pressure from us who care that won’t likely happen. Please be praying about this. As we pray ask the Lord if any next steps need to happen.

I feel like ground was gained for life and righteousness and now it’s being threatened. How do we respond? I still don’t know the answer to that question but I’m hoping together we will find out.

Dutch Sheets (June-30-2024) Watch Message: A Holy Moment (sermons-online.org)  (sermon on seeing as God sees instead of giants and Baal worship)

https://youtu.be/ELsDHs8fETY?si=9zIRXsGT8DCRBx7G  (Give Him 15 explaining “sons” of God)

Stop the Bland (A Prophetic Word) | Tim Sheets (youtube.com) 

This is an amazing teaching by Tim Sheets which goes right along with this

https://youtu.be/ELsDHs8fETY?si=9zIRXsGT8DCRBx7G                                         (Give Him 15 explaining “sons” of God)

Stop the Bland (A Prophetic Word) | Tim Sheets (youtube.com)                                        This is an amazing teaching by Tim Sheets which goes right along with this