Monday, July 22, 2013

Calling All Esthers 2: How to Prepare to Plunder the Enemy

Esther 2:12

Before each young woman was taken to the king’s bed, she was given the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments—six months with oil of myrrh, followed by six months with special perfumes and ointments. NLT



To continue with the previous post, all curse brakers must prepare and develop according to the prescription of the Lord for each of them individually or corporately. During this process, as stated in the passage above, the oil of myrrh represents our yielding to the Holy Spirit and not to the desires of the flesh, or demonic influence, or human reasoning or logic (because the wisdom of the kingdom of God confounds the wisdom of this world).

The special perfumes and ointment represent the anointing we develop at every level of our process that helps us identify the influence of the Antichrist spirit in its various forms—mainly through religion, Mammon worship and the influence of the Jezebel spirit. 

In addition, being taken to the king’s bed represents maturity in the knowledge and ways of the Kingdom of God because in our process in the wilderness we have learned to be skilled warriors who operate in the anointing to spoil the enemy and conquer his kingdom. This way we take back everything stolen in former generations. At this point we have gone through the process of being called, then of being chosen, and finally of being sent ones into our destined sphere of influence and authority.

Esther was no stranger to this process before she was able to go to the king’s bed without spot or wrinkle. This is what makes the bride of Christ—reaching that point of maturity that makes us be more concerned with the things of the Kingdom and God’s people than our own gain.
But in the book of 2 kings, there is an example of someone who failed the test because he was more focused on the reward than on the process and season for growing in stature and developing the anointing needed to establish him in his calling. 

During the time Elisha was preparing to become Elijah’s successor, he was fixed on the price of getting the mantle from his predecessor which would enable him to do the great exploits he was called to do. He would not allow himself or anyone else to take his eyes off the prophet Elijah at the time when he (Elijah) was due to depart from the earth (2 kings 2:1-15). In fact, Elisha's steadfast gaze at the price of the anointing to advance and expand God's kingdom with his life was such that he was granted a double portion of Elijah`s anointing. 

But Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, had a different agenda. Instead of learning everything he could from his mentor, Gehazi wanted riches and wealth by any means possible and at the wrong time for him. 2 Kings Chapter 5 recounts how Naaman, a commander of the Aramean army was sent by the King of Aram to see the prophet Elisha to be healed from his leprosy (leprosy represents a person`s contamination and great influence of the Antichrist spirit in his or her life). As it is customary even today, to not go before a prophet empty-handed, Naaman wanted to give lavish gifts to the prophet Elisha, but the prophet recognized it was not the right time to receive any gifts. Also, verses 20-27 of the passage exhibit what was the real treasure in Gehazi’s heart. It says, 

20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said to himself, “My master should not have let this Aramean get away without accepting any of his gifts. As surely as the Lord lives, I will chase after him and get something from him.” 21 So Gehazi set off after Naaman. When Naaman saw Gehazi running after him, he climbed down from his chariot and went to meet him. “Is everything all right?” Naaman asked. 22 “Yes,” Gehazi said, “but my master has sent me to tell you that two young prophets from the hill country of Ephraim have just arrived. He would like 75 pounds of silver and two sets of clothing to give to them.” 23 “By all means, take twice as much silver,” Naaman insisted. He gave him two sets of clothing, tied up the money in two bags, and sent two of his servants to carry the gifts for Gehazi. 24 But when they arrived at the citadel, Gehazi took the gifts from the servants and sent the men back. Then he went and hid the gifts inside the house.

25 When he went in to his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” “I haven’t been anywhere,” he replied.26 But Elisha asked him, “Don’t you realize that I was there in spirit when Naaman stepped down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to receive money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, and male and female servants? 27 Because you have done this, you and your descendants will suffer from Naaman’s leprosy forever.” When Gehazi left the room, he was covered with leprosy; his skin was white as snow.” NLT

As we can see in verse 26, Gehazi failed to seek the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness at a time when he was going through his process to be set free from every Antichrist influence. Focusing on his development and process would open the way for his family line to be free before he could be entrusted with the riches of God`s Kingdom because the process had been completed and there was spiritual maturity in him. Seeking the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness means that we seek to develop the character of Christ in us and His fullness as described in Ephesians 4:11-16.

Gehazi`s imprudence led him to think of himself and his family with greed and not on the purposes of the Kingdom and its advancement through their lives. This caused him the Kingdom for his generation and his sons`s generations because not only did he get the leprosy of Naaman, but so did his sons. Not only could he not continue in his training under Elisha, but his family could not receive the deliverance they needed during his generation because of his defilement. At this point he also became a stumbling block for his children in their generation.





We need to understand that in the Kingdom of God there is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Even during the times when we are learning to be curse breakers and repairers of all strongholds of the Kingdom of God, our focus should be to obtain the full training and development that will grant us the anointing to spoil the enemy of all his ill-gotten gain stolen from other generations. 


This does not mean that we neglet seeking to obtain our sustenance and support for our daily living and the things God has entrusted to us. But while we are in our quest for the removal of all Antichrist influence from our lives, including the way we go about obtaining finances and resources, we need to follow every command and direction from the Lord so we do this in a way that does not contaminate us with the spirit of Mammon. 


1 Peter 5:1 says, “And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world…” NLT


This passage explains that just like Christ did, in order to pay the price for the deliverance and freedom of our blood line so they can worship God without any Antichrist influence, our yielding to the Holy Spirit at all times is essential. Regardless of how unorthodox and disciplined the process may seem, we must carry our cross and die to the desires of our flesh. This also means that we are not to worship His promises for us or try to bring them to manifestation in our way and time. Thus, we are called to worship the God who made those promises to us and trust Him to bring them to pass in His time and in the way He chooses to do it.


As stated above, the time of preparation, when we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness, is designed for us to share in the sufferings of Christ. For this we are encouraged to not grow weary for in due season (at the appointed established by God), we will reap the reward of the manifestation of His promises in a way that will bring about not only our freedom and empowerment, but our families and others we are called to influence can reap the benefits of our obedience. 


This is how we learn to share in His glory, so let’s follow God’s prescription for each of us and allow Him to develop the fruits of the Spirit in us (See Galatians 5:22-23) in the process that will grant us the ability to spoil the enemy in our generation and on behalf of the next ones. To Him alone be all the glory.▪



Images courtesy of Google Images

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Calling All Esthers 1: Standing up for your Generation



1 Samuel 15:18-19, 23b

18And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ' Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.' 19Why haven't you obeyed the LORD? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the LORD's sight? 23...So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king." NLT

  
The above passage  refers to Saul, son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, who was chosen to be the first king of Israel (1 Samuel 10:21,24). The Scripture reveals that he was chosen to be king for the task of removing everything that was oppressing the people of God from their midst. In the same way, God chooses a person from a family to break the curses in their generation and rescue back the things stolen by the enemy. For this, the person will have to learn to war against the things that do not glorify God or keep Him from manifesting His goodness and the promises made many generations before.

But, just like King Saul, when the person chosen by God fails to war under the direction of the Holy Spirit against the “Amalekites” which stand for every Antichrist influence that infiltrated the family through sin and disobedience and has brought signs of spiritual death, physically, relationally, and financially instead of the abundant life Christ died to give them, that Antichrist influence gets stronger. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) and one of the ways he does that is shown in verse 19 of the passage above. Saul did not obey the command of the Lord to utterly and completely eliminate the presence and influence of the enemy because he was fixed on the plunder more than on the command of the Lord.

Likewise, this affects families, ministries, businesses, nations and leaders in general that accepted the call but gradually started doing things in their own strength and apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit and commands of the Lord. This caused them to forfeit their positions as leaders and deliverers. Although these people may have loved God and wanted to follow Him, they got distracted with the riches and the cares of this world and became focused away from what was most important—the removing of every demonic influence and doctrine that has kept the family, business, ministry, nation, etc. from knowing, following, and serving the Lord. 

By getting familiar first with God and His ways then they would have been able to help those under their covering get familiar with the ways of His Kingdom so they could learn to obey His commands and principles as well. But many instead chose to follow the ways of the world, that is ruled by its Antichrist influence due to their lack of knowledge and of discipline which caused them to succumb to the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

Numbers 23:19 says, God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? NLT

For this reason, in His faithfulness, God will wait for the next generation and as many generations as it takes to fulfill His promises when another chosen person in the family line accepts the calling of being the curse breaker and deliverer of the family line who makes a way for the coming of the Lord to manifest everything promised from the time of Abraham (Numbers 14:31-35).

We see this in the book of Esther. There does not seem to be much information in the Bible about her family line—only that her father and mother had died and that she was raised by her cousin Mordecai who was an exile from the tribe of Benjamin and a descendant of Kish (Esther 2:5-7) just like King Saul. This is the linkage she had to the tribe and family line God wanted to deliver and turn into a deliverer of her people the Jews in her generation because Saul failed to do what was commanded to him in his generation to save his family line as well as the other Israelite tribes. 

We see this because Haman, whose position was as Xerxes  right-hand person was an Amalekite and descendant of Agag, the king whose life was spared by King Saul (1 Samuel 15:7-9) as an utter disobedience that cost him the kingdom and gave entrance to demonic oppression. The prophet Samuel did away with the evil king, but Saul's failure was still recorded in eternity and God saw the need to raise someone else in another generation to help Him fulfill what He had promised to their forefathers.

Esther had to be prepared and trained in the palace before she could step up to the position God had prepared for her since her position to be queen was a strategic one. This strategic position served as a means to open the way for the deliverance of her family as well as the entire Jewish race that was living in the kingdom under Xerxes’ rulership. Through Esther’s position as queen and the favor she received from the Lord through the king and the eunuchs, she was able to expose the enemy during an also strategic and time-sensitive act (she prepared and invited the king and Haman to eat a dinner meal with her) that helped set her people free. Not only that, but she was also capable of empowering her people through the decrees made for them to fight back and plunder the enemy.

God is calling all Esthers (male and female) around the world in these end-times to accept the call and be trained and developed, so they too can have clean hearts and pure hearts free from idolatry that will bestow them access to the strategic positions God has for them to fight the enemy and take back the promises given to their families many generations ago for they are called for such a time as this. In the same manner Esther was granted favor by the king, God gives us favor that enables us to not only set our generations free, but through us He empowers them to identify the schemes of the enemy and fight back and recover everything that had been lost in other generations.

This happens when we give our lives to the Lord and accept His calling and purpose for our lives because it is always to set us and others free from oppression so we can be released to advance and expand His Kingdom. We are called to be His vessels that take dominion in our spheres of influence and fight the enemy of our generaqtions not only for ourselves, but also on behalf of others and so that the next generations can be capable of walking strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10). As a result, they will be able to reach higher heights, broader territories, and can accomplish far more than we can and are free to fight what comes against them in their generation because they have learned through our example to destroy the works of the devil just like Jesus did and do it also on behalf of others.

Moreover, Esther was obedient to her cousin Mordecai. Likewise, it is very important that we become obedient and dependent of the leading and the admonitions of the Holy Spirit at all times and learn to hear His voice of wisdom. This includes waiting for the right timing to act on the command of the Lord just like Esther waited for the right moment and occasion (a strategic dinner) to expose Haman, the enemy of the Jews and turned the tables on behalf of her people. To Him alone be all the glory.

Image courtesy of Google Images