A Call to Unity and the Pursuit of Truth 4

This is an edited excerpt from my upcoming book. It explains what is necessary for us to be carriers of the glory of the Lord to every place He has called us to influence and help in the transformation of the world around us as a united Church for His glory alone. The glory of God is the only means of transformation for our society and for the satisfying of our longing to experience what we were created to do—to be objects of worship, but the glory of God helps us get back to what should be the sole object of that worship: the Lord Most High through His son Jesus. That is why everything that is in the way of our worship of Him is removed when He takes over with His glorious presence in our lives.

Let me now direct you to what every believer should do in order to obtain a continual transformation within us that will help us get hold of the character of Christ we need to fulfill our destinies in Him as carriers of His glory that remain relevant to the moves of His Spirit.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

⁹And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. ¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. KJV

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

⁹Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” ¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. NKJV

Reading these two versions of this passage would have caused me to go on a search hunt for the right words Jabez actually said, so I would have the “right” meaning of the context. But for now I will forgo doing that because I find it interesting that one version says that Jabez fervently prayed that God would keep him from evil, that it may not grieve him! But the second version says that the prayer was pretty much the same except that towards the end he prayed that if he was kept from evil, he would not cause pain!

This tells me that Jabez was indeed a man that gave himself to prayer and intercession. A very important key in our walk with God, also called ministering to the Lord. These two versions of the passage show that prayer should keep us both asking to be protected from the wiles of the evil one against us, and also that God would do a work of continual transformation in us, so we do not become snared by the world and its system and compromise and accept sin in our lives (Exodus 34:12-17), nor anything else that would exhibit a low level of our love walk and devotion to our God. We must pray fervently that the Lord would help us maintain in us a humble, obedient, and contrite heart that trembles at His word. In other words, our walk as citizens of heaven must demonstrate that we worship the Lord our God with ALL our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, and that as we learn to receive the love of the Father for us that causes us to love ourselves, we can then extend that same love, mercy, and grace to others around us (Mark 12:30-31).

By the same token, being able to pray at the direction of the Holy Spirit against the schemes of the enemy involves that we are mindful of our love walk and devotion to God. Only then will we be free to be the vessels God uses to extend judgment against the enemy at every level and dimension He takes us in our process toward our destiny in Him and be effective at fulfilling every plan and purpose He has for our lives as we till the ground and build into our future through prayer, intercession, and worship.

Psalm 24:3-5 explains that in order for us to receive the victory of the battle against the enemy, we must have clean hands and a pure heart, and not raise any idols to worship in the place of our God, neither give ourselves to live in deception. This means that we should always pursue the truth of who God is and of the ways of His kingdom. It describes,

³ Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
⁵ He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation. NKJV

This will enable us to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). To worship the Father in Spirit and in truth means that it is very important to spend time seeking the presence of the Lord, not only in prayer, but in worship, fasting, consecration, reading His word, and seeking every word that comes out of His mouth as we learn to listen to the voice of His Spirit within us. The object of it is to seek continual decontamination from the pollution we obtained from the world and its system in our upbringings, our cultures, our generational background, or through any defiling means like traumatic events that caused us to receive the fear that leads to manipulation and control which is contrary to God's will for us and His nature in us, or sex outside of marriage—one of the biggest sources of defiling and contamination in us. We need to repeatedly come to the Father asking Him to have His way in us, so He can have His way through us by removing the things that hinder our obedience to Him and to His word, and that the fruit we bear is fruit produced by clinging to the vine because we are the branches and apart from Him can do absolutely nothing (John 15:5).

This will turn us into righteous believers that can be used of God to bring down the government of heaven to be established in our lives and in every situation we encounter, for we cannot come against the things that still influence us. They have to be overcome first. Prayer and seeking the presence of God continually put a stumping boot against those things in our lives as Jabez prayed so fervently for God to remove from him. The first part of verse nine of the above passage says that Jabez was found to be more honorable than his brothers. 1 Samuel 2:30 says that those who honor the Lord, He will also honor, and He despises those who think lightly of him.

Going to God persistently in prayer and seeking His glorious presence to be transformed by Him puts us on the side of those who honor God because we are showing Him by this that our relationship with Him is of chief importance in our lives and that we are willing to pay the price to obtain the great reward of the crown given to those who overcome the enemy at every level and dimension of our walk as citizens of heaven and in partnership with Him because many times that enemy “self”. That crown signifies that we increasingly become carriers of His glory and His Spirit can rest in us, so we can be conduits that manifest the atmosphere of heaven wherever we go in order to leave a lasting mark that changes not only the environment around us, but those we encounter, so they too can taste and see that the Lord is good and those who take refuge in Him can walk with joy (Psalm 34:8).

This is something that should put us on the path of going after our spiritual maturity that cannot be achieved without allowing God to turn every stone in our hearts in order to deal with the proclivities of our flesh and the traumas, pains, disappointments, hurts, and all other things that get in the way of our emotional maturity. Prayer, worship, and all other strategies like fasting that He will ask us to do, will help us reach this emotional maturity so we will prosper even as our souls prosper (3 John:2).

According to Ephesians 6:18-19, we must pray always with all manner of prayer and supplication. We must also pray in the spirit, and be watchful with perseverance and supplication for all saints. This is meant to explain that as we pray in the spirit and start following the flow of the Holy Spirit, He will show us people or situations to pray for. Sometimes we will be shown the root of a situation for us to pray for the uprooting of the cause of what is shown, and that way the manifestation that is seen on the surface will also disappear. Moreover, the Scripture also mentions to pray for all saints. This includes all leaders. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 says,

¹ Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

As mentioned above and as verse 4 confirms, it is the pursuit of the truth of who God is and of the ways of His Kingdom that we are required to cry out to God for because pursuing lies and wrong doctrines, following our own selfish ambitions, and refusing to turn from our wickedness can turn us into objects of judgment according to Romans 2:8-9 which says, ⁸But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. ⁹ There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. NLT

Hosea 4:6 says that people perish for lack of knowledge and receive rejection. Therefore if we find our prayers being rejected by God, it could mean that we are violating the laws that govern prayer and are asking amiss according to James 4:3 which say, You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. NKJV

Some laws that govern prayer that will ensure God will hear us are:

1. We pray to God the Father in the name of His Son, Jesus (John 14:13-14). We also pray the Word of God about the situation. This means that we have taken the time to ask Him for a word about it, waited for His answer, and listened to what He has to say about it.

2. Then we must meditate on and confess that word to get it on the inside of us, so that our faith level to see the fulfillment of that word rises as we pray (Joshua 1:8) and we purposely take every step of faith God directs us to take towards its fulfillment; and after we have done all, then we can stand on that word believing that He will bring it to pass.

3. We need to make sure we have forgiven all trespasses and offenses done against us (Mark 11:25).

4. Also, because we are to be submitted and understand authority, we must all be submitted to God’s authority with reverential fear and awe like the centurion did when he said to Jesus to just send the word and his servant will be healed (Matthew 8:5-13). We also must understand authority, so we can be submitted the right way. We need to recognize all authority figures God has placed in our lives and honor and respect them and their position of authority over us. These are parental authorities, civil authorities, and spiritual authorities, teachers, coaches, guardians, etc. There are serious penalties for not obeying and honoring our authorities including prayers that go unanswered.

Honoring our parental figures of authority will ensure we live a long life on the earth. Obeying our civil authorities will also ensure that we do not pay the penalties established for the rebellious in the land (Romans 13:1-3). Furthermore, the Bible says not to touch God's anointed and to do His prophets no harm (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15). This disobedience will cause God to rise up and fight against those who touch God's anointed people He has placed in our lives.

5. Another part of the laws that govern prayer is the law of perseverance stated in Luke 18:1-8 which relates the parable of the widow who went repeatedly to the judge to ask him to avenge her of her enemy. Initially, the judge did not respond to her in the way she wanted, but her perseverance finally moved his hand speedily. In addition, Matthew 7:7-11 confers about asking, knocking, and seeking. These three are a progressive state by which one perseveres in prayer in a way that turns us into those that take the Kingdom by force (Matthew 11:12). This is because we have used steadfast endurance in our prayers until their fulfillment without fainting, and allowing the Holy Spirit to flow in us in all His fullness, according to His seven facets stated in Isaiah 11:2-5 which says,

² And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³ He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
⁴ He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
⁵ He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment. NLT

All of these are done at different levels and dimensions as we journey in the process God takes us on the way to our destinies in Him and even after. As citizens of heaven, we are to always aim for more knowledge of God and of His ways, and as verse 5 of the passage states, always pursuing righteousness and truth with the acknowledgement that to whom much is given much is required. Luke 12:48 tells us,

But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. NKJV

In order for us to become agents of unity and carriers of His glorious presence as we continue to be transformed into His image and likeness, the pursuing of the fullness of who God is (the vine dresser) who engrafted us and made us partake of the vine as branches adopted in order to bear fruit that remains, we need to come and drink of the wine of the vine, and come back for more again and again. This is to become our lifestyle until He has His way in us and through us to His own satisfaction that only He can determine until every “no” we have said to Him turns into a “yes” to His will and His plan and purpose for us. We must complete this pattern at every level we reach in our walk towards our destiny and after because it will ensure we will remain relevant to everything God wants to do in us and through us as we partake of the moves of His Spirit. This is an important key to seeing the supernatural ways of God manifested in our lives. It is not by works that we can produce fruit that remains, but by drinking from the vine as many times as we need to (Esther 1:7-8).

Works of our flesh without drinking from the vine continually can wear us out and still we will see no fruit or at the maximum a small portion of it compared to what can be accomplished when God is greatly involved in our lives. This is the difference between King Saul and King David, and that is why, as mentioned in the last post, the women of the land sang about the thousands Saul could kill, but David was able to kill tens of thousands. James 4:8 admonishes us, Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. NLT

In other words, the Scripture is saying to many in the Church that they have one foot in the Kingdom and the other one in the world. But God is a jealous God who will not allow His name to be tarnished by giving His glory to anyone else (no one else will get the credit for what He does to rescue us for His name's sake), neither will He share His praise with any idols we may have raised in any area of our lives to replace Him (Isaiah 42:8; 48:11). Therefore, drawing near to God so He can draw near to us continually will help us produce more fruit in less time than if we did it by works. Our striving and struggling to make things happen ahead, behind or apart from Him is also something that God intends to remove from us as we come to Him again and again to be filled with more of Him so that among other things, He can expose and remove the idols we have raised. To Him alone be all the glory.© 2014.