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Grace takes you from where you are to where God desires you to be, and may it be your experience in life, as you reflect and meditate upon the word of God that comes to you this day. And studying in this regard, the pursuit of peace in your life, God’s word declares that, The one who loves life and desires to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil, and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11] Peace, in God’s word is the wholeness that comes in your life, as a result of what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished on the Cross of Calvary.
The punishment that brought your well being and peace was laid upon Him, so that by His stripes you may be healed and made whole in every aspect of your life. Therefore, it is the appropriation of what has already been accomplished, that needs to happen in your life, in order to make peace your experience. And, it becomes possible as you put your faith in the faithfulness of God, in the everlasting covenant of peace that He has made with His chosen people, the nuances of which are laid out in the words of the prophet Ezekiel.
The covenant of peace :
I will establish them and multiply them, and set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [Ezekiel 37:26,27] It is in establishing you, in planting and settling you that God promises to flourish and prosper you, so that you may find wholeness that is peace in your life. As the psalmist has said, it is the person who meditates upon the word of God day and night, who is like a tree planted by the waters that bears fruit in season. Whatever he does prospers, and he is led ultimately to wholeness or peace in his inner being. [Psalm 1:6] And, the Lord Himself declared with a loud voice on the last day of the Feast that out of the innermost being of the one who believed in Him, would flow rivers of living water. [John 6:38] He said this about the Holy Spirit that the people who put their faith in Him would receive later.
Thus it is in being planted in His word, in streams of living water, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, the source of rivers of living water in you, that God establishes and settles you. It is the knowledge of the truth of God’s word that sets you free, to walk in liberty, knowing that you no longer have a spirit of fear but a Spirit of power, love and sound mind. The Holy Spirit, also fills you with the skill and expertise that you need in order to fulfill what God has called you to do in life. And, it is in doing what God has called you to do in life, that you will find true satisfaction that removes all restlessness within you, to establish and settle you in peace. Also, together with skill and ability, the Holy Spirit brings about a change in your character, in your inner being, to be in alignment with how God requires you to be as written in His word.
This is an indispensable requirement as you venture into what God has called you to do, for when your God given skill and empowerment takes you to a place of promotion, all by the work of His grace in you, it is a godly character that will sustain you in the place where He has established you in order to increase and prosper to experience wholeness in you that is peace from God. It has been said that charisma can only take you thus far. There is a limit to what can be accomplished by solely relying on it, for people will at some point or the other, see through it to detect that it is all an outer façade only ! And more importantly, the moral and spiritual principles that you compromise with in order to climb to the top, will begin to control you once you are in that position. A man who is skillful, to be sustained in his place of empowerment, also needs a right character, or a change in his inner being. It is the transformation that takes place by the Holy Spirit’s cleansing and redeeming work of grace in him.
‘Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, so that He may lift you up at the proper time’, is the counsel of God in His word. [1 Peter 5:6] For, as it has been observed and said about the lives of people, it is pitiable indeed, for a man to be lifted up to a place of promotion before he is ready for it. Therefore, it is when you are lifted up by God, transformed by the Spirit, that your life and your work will be sustained in Him to come to a flourishing finish. And, the life of Saul, chosen by God to rule over His chosen people, the events of his life, as recorded in God’s word, is a lesson in display, to show how the Holy Spirit can indeed work in a person to transform him and make him fit to carry out the task for which he has been called by God.
Transformed by the Spirit of God :
‘Then the Spirit of God will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man’. [1 Samuel 10:6] They were the words of Samuel, as he anointed Saul, to be the king who was chosen by God, to rule over Israel. And, an understanding of the full context of it, will come to you, as you read a few earlier verses. It is where Samuel assures that the lost donkeys of his father that Saul was searching for had been found. [vs 2] It was the mission of finding his father’s donkeys that were lost, which had led Saul to inquire of Samuel, the prophet, regarding the way that he needed to take !
1. Redemption – concerning your past :
It was the missing donkeys that led Saul to Samuel, only to know the high calling that God had for him, one that was much greater than searching for a donkey ! It serves to illustrate a very valuable principle. God can use anyone or anything, however trivial or insignificant it may be in order to lead a person to Christ the Savior. And, an added truth established by it is that, just as in Saul’s life his past troubles were resolved through the donkeys being found, in your life and mine too, the negativities of our past have all been redeemed, by the precious Blood of Christ shed for us on the Cross.
Every one of us has something in our past that can trouble and haunt us, bringing back painful memories in some way or the other. But when you turn to God in repentance and faith, believing in the finished work of the Cross, your sins could be as red as scarlet, but they will be washed white as snow ! The apostle Paul is able to say, ‘I have done no wrong’, though he was a blasphemer and persecutor of Christians in the past. For in saying, ‘Yet, the Lord appeared to me’, he declares the truth on which he now stood. It was the truth, that his past had been redeemed, by the precious Blood of Christ that was shed for him on the Cross.
‘Your past troubles have been forgotten, and are hidden from My eyes’, are the words of your Living Redeemer to you, when you can in faith declare like Job, ‘I know my Redeemer lives’. [Job 19:25] Your sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west, is the assurance in the written word of God, in which you can find your rest and peace. For, your past has been taken care of through the Cross, where the Savior has crushed the head of Satan in victory, to cry, ‘It is finished’! Therefore, ‘This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in my eyes’, can be your confident proclamation concerning your past that stands redeemed today.
2. Provision – for your present :
The Lord does not save you from the sins of your past, only to leave you to take care of your present and future ! He is the God of your entire being, and the Lord of all of your days. In the life of Saul, when he was called out so dramatically by God, there was a sign that came to him concerning his present provision too. For, Samuel said to him, ‘Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree at Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. [1 Samuel 10:3,4] It signified the provision of a very present need, not just in the life of Saul, but in yours too. For, God your Father is intimately concerned about every little detail of your life. And, the manner in which the Lord articulated the truth to the listening multitudes as He taught them on earth, was by saying that even the very hair on their hand was all numbered, and not a single strand of it can fall without escaping the providential eye of God.
In the life of Saul, there was a much higher and greater gift that God had prepared for him. And, the same holds true in your life too. But, the danger lies, in being content and satisfied with having merely your physical and material needs met by your Heavenly Father. He knows all that you need in life, and you do not have to go seeking after it as the Gentiles, the people who do not have a relationship with God do. And, He is concerned about the wellness of your entire being, which includes your spirit. It is where He brings about a transformation, as you yield to the Holy Spirit’s work in you, and upon you. It was the third sign that took place in the life of Saul, even as Samuel had prophesied a little earlier, as the signs that would confirm his kingship.
3.Transformation – for your future :
It was when the third sign happened, and the Holy Spirit came upon Saul, that he was transformed and changed into what appeared to be another person, as he too began to prophesy along with the other prophets. [1 Samuel 10:6] It was solely the work of the Holy Spirit that brought about a wondrous change in the spirit of Saul, to transform him and bring about a right change in his character. With God it is always about the person and never about the issue. He is not interested in merely the moral man. In the kingdom of God, what counts is the saved man. And therefore, it is not an outward behavioral change, which in any case cannot be sustained over a period of time that He works in you. It is a transformation that takes place in your inner being that He works out in you, through the infilling of the Holy Spirit in you and upon you. It happens when the revelation from God of His mind comes in you, to then lead to a proclamation or prophesy of it by you, to result in a transformation of your entire being.
What is prophecy ?
Prophecy is not just about foretelling. Rather, it is a telling forth of the mind of God that has been revealed in His word. The entire Bible can be considered to be prophetic, a revelation of God’s mind. God is mindful of you, the psalmist has declared. [Psalms 8:4] And, His specific thoughts concerning you, has been recorded in the Bible, the timeless Book of the ages. But, to know where exactly it has been written concerning you would not be possible without the revelation and anointing of the Holy Spirit. For, what is in the mind of God, what has been prepared for you, to all those who love Him is something that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or mind has conceived. [1 Corinthians 2:9] But, God has revealed them to us through the Spirit. [1 Corinthians 2:10]
The importance of the word ‘but’ in the verse above can never be underestimated, for it stresses the role of the Holy Spirit in you. It is why it has often been remarked that in order to read the Bible you need to know only the English language, but you need to know the Holy Spirit in order to listen to the voice of God as you read it ! For, you may read God’s word like any other person, but you will understand the truth like a child of God, as He reveals to you through His Spirit. Lord Jesus in His last discourse with His disciples described the Holy Spirit, to be the Spirit of Truth, who will glorify Him, as He takes what is from the Lord Himself, to reveal to us. [John 16:14] And therefore, anything that is contradictory to the word of God can never be a revelation from the Spirit.
The importance of the Spirit in your transformation :
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him ? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. [1 Corinthians 2:11] Nothing can be clearer than these words of the apostle Paul, in stating the crucial role of the Holy Spirit in receiving the revelation from God which can then lead to your transformation. The greatest gift that you and I can ever receive from God is the Holy Spirit. And, Paul goes on to explain why it is so. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God. [vs 12] This truth once again is invaluable in its’ importance, as it connects to what Paul teaches in his letter to the Romans.
Called to be transformed and not conformed :
And do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God is. [Romans 12:2] You have not received a spirit of the world, and you are called not to be conformed to the pattern of the world. It is because, the spirit of the world is a world system that is greed based and satan influenced. It is the carnal mind, the fleshly nature in you. But, when you become a child of God, you receive a Spirit that is God centered and God influenced. And, it is then that transformation becomes possible in you, beginning with a change in your inner being, one that reflects in a change in your external conduct too. God calls you not to be conformed to the world system, for to the world the externals are very important; it could be the colour of your skin, the background from which you come, everything outward and superficial becomes very important. And, in trying to fit into a particular mold you will end up missing out on a lot of the good that God has in store for you.
For with God, it is your heart attitude that matters. And when you are God centered, you will know that He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world. It is this truth that will set you free. For otherwise, you will end up being ruled by the thoughts and fanciful thinking of the latest fashion icon, however weird they may be! Dream weddings or destination weddings, the in thing of the present day culture, could end up only in complicating and not simplifying life ! With the world, it is all about self effort; while in the kingdom of God it is all about grace, and what has been made freely available to you, even as you seek God first. And then, you will the find that all that the world is chasing after, will be added to you, for the Father knows what you need in life. God’s thoughts concerning you are good, and innumerable. And, His plans for you are revealed to you in your spirit, by the Holy Spirit. But, it then needs to be articulated by you, in order to see it come to pass.
Proclamation – ‘These things we also speak’ :
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them for they are spiritually discerned. [1 Corinthians 2:13] The world system, and its’ wisdom, may offer nice sounding clichés, or catchy slogans, that say to very temptingly, ‘you can do it’! But, how much can you do, when your trust lies in yourself? It is subject to human limitations. But it is not so with God, who is limitless in His abundance, and with Him nothing is impossible. Indeed, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. God’s thoughts and plans concerning you are written in His Book, the Holy Scriptures. And, now being a child of God the Holy Spirit who is in you, and His anointing that is upon you, will reveal to you, the word that God has for you in His word. ‘In the scroll of the Book, it is written of me’, says the psalmist. [Psalm 40:7] It is then the prophecy that you need to proclaim over yourself, and all the things that are connected to your life.
For, it will see transformation come in you, one that is supernatural and extra ordinary. It will be the Lord’s doing, one that is marvelous in your eyes, and the eyes of the world around you, that is watching you. You will always be above, and never be below, is a prophecy concerning you that you can boldly proclaim, for all His promises to you are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ in Christ Jesus. When a little child is asked, ‘What is your name ?’, what would its’ answer be ? The child’s answer would be to say the name that was spoken over it, and called, when dedicated by its’ parents in the Lord’s house. You too have a God who has called you, sanctified you to be His servant, even while you were in your mother’s womb ! Therefore the faith and clarity that needs to be in you is the conviction that you will not proclaim or prophesy anything concerning yourself that the Lord has not pronounced over you. And, it is the coming of the Holy Spirit that unlocks it all.
Pouring out of the Spirit & then the prophecy :
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all people; and your sons and daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. [Joel 2:28] Prophecy or a telling forth of the revelation of God from His word comes, after the pouring out of the Spirit upon you. It then leads to a manifestation of the word that is spoken. The principle can be seen even in the act of creation, when the Spirit was brooding over the waters, God spoke His word, and everything that was very good in the sight of God came to be. God began with nothing, and ended with everything. It was His word that was spoken through His mouth. It is the same in your new creation too, when all that is needed for life and godliness has been given to you in Christ. And as a New Testament believer, His word in your mouth, has the same power to see His promises come to pass in your life. His word when spoken in the Spirit’s understanding and power will never return without accomplishing the purpose for which it is sent. [Isaiah 55:10,11]
Therefore, in all that is void and empty in your life, stand up to proclaim the prophetic promises of God, to see light and transformation come. For, the promise of the Spirit upon you comes to you today in a covenant from the Lord Almighty saying, ‘As for Me’, says the Lord, ‘This is My covenant with them. My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendant’s descendants ‘ says the Lord, ‘from this time and forevermore’. [Isaiah 59:21] And what would be the glorious result ? You will arise and shine, because of a wondrous transformation that takes place in you !
BRILLIANCE !
Arise, shine, for your light has come ! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you ! For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. [Isaiah 60:1,2] The brilliance of God will be seen in every aspect of your life, as transformation comes within you, to see a magnificent change in your circumstances, according to the promise of God that comes to you this day. A little one shall become a thousand; And a small one, a strong nation; I, the Lord, will hasten it, in its’ time . [Isaiah 60:22] Let us give thanks unto the Father, for the revelation word that has spoken into our hearts today, and will in the days to come empower us to rise up and shine, for His brilliance will be seen upon us.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
