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[Jesus] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  Titus 2:14

I was not created to love evil.  Quite the opposite.  If Adam and Eve had never sinned, I wouldn’t know what evil was.  I’d be walking in Paradise, communing with God in the evening after an enjoyable day at work.  Instead of pondering my regrets of the past 24 hours, I’d be savoring the beautiful moments on God’s perfect earth.  Instead of brainstorming on how to keep my soul safe from unsafe people, I’d be soaking in the beauty of perfect intimacy, one without any reservations whatsoever. 

But that’s not how the storyline unfolded.  A knowledge of good and bad opened.  Acquaintance with evil came into view, and with it, an incapacity to understand the breadth of wickedness.  It is still too shocking for the human mind.  Too horrific to grasp.  Yet, before we came to Christ, we had an appetite for what it might be like to explore the edges of the canyon of evil desires.  One taste after another put us deeper into the pit with an enemy who never intended to let us go.  Once in his web, he lured, tormented, condemned, and maligned the only Savior who could rescue us.

Praise Jehovah Tsidkenu – that’s not the end of the story.  Nothing could stop His plan of redemption.  Jesus came to snatch us from the fire, to give us a new nature, one that would no longer want to sin.  Wickedness would repel us.  Dressed in His garments of righteousness, we would dance in our new identity.  We would forever stand in awe of Jesus’ shed blood, for by it, we have been purified and perfected. 

There is Paradise in my soul now.  But Paradise for my body – coming later – is still a sure thing.  Even so come Lord Jesus.  Amen

I will not execute my fierce anger. I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. Hosea 11:9 

God stood on the brink of executing judgment. When He looked upon His people, His heart was filled with waves of love. He controlled His anger instead of executing it. It’s as if He couldn’t stand the thought of the pain they would experience. He explains the reason for such holy restraint. He is God and not man. 

Because God is God ~ He did not leave me to die in my sins without any chance of being saved. He sent a Savior, even though it meant sending His Son for sacrifice.  He did not send me to eternal judgment, even though I deserved it. He credited all my sins to His Son’s account, the Son He loves. How humbling!  He forgave me for every wrong thing I did and I was made perfect when Jehovah Tsidkenu clothed me in His Son’s righteousness.

I am now His image bearer. I cling to righteousness and not to the ways of the anti-kingdom. God’s nature is being fully formed in me and I am perfect in my Father’s eyes. This affects every decision I make today.

A lover of righteousness ~ I can restrain my anger and redirect with love and good deeds. I can withhold what someone deserves and give grace instead. I can suspend making a list of wrongs done against me and offer someone a clean slate in its place.  And, I can pray for my accuser instead of delivering a pointed speech. Restraint, prudence, purification and redirection. These are the hallmarks of a child of God. 

I am Yours, dressed in Your perfection. I make different choices as I live by Your Spirit. Amen

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.  I Thessalonians 5:24

We are each called to do something outside our ability to produce it.  To escape the pressure, we will play it safe, engaging in the areas of our natural giftedness.  We will rely on the results of the spiritual gifts tests we’ve taken, but even those can be exercised in the flesh.  Though my natural talents may be admired by others, and though it might appear that I’ve done significant kingdom work from man’s viewpoint, I will have achieved little that is supernatural.

When God sets us apart for kingdom work, we faint at the call.  Knowing we’re in over our heads and feeling inadequate, we cry out to God for help.

When someone asks a person to take on a ministry opportunity, they will often say, “Please do it.  You’d be so good at it.”  But no one should ask another person to sign up for a kingdom endeavor without asking them to pray about it first!  And no one has any right to agree to a request without a season of prayer!  Natural giftedness all too often replaces an anointing on one inadequate.

Jesus said, “He who believes in me, from His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38  ‘Innermost being’ is the phrase for womb.  Each of us is to birth something for eternity that will produce living water.  It should begin with divine conception and then ~ obedience through faith ~ in a faithful God..

Forgive me for the times I’ve engaged in ministry like it was busy work.  Amen

Now this is His name by which He will be called: Jehovah-Tsidkenu”. Jeremiah 23:6

Adam and Eve were created with God’s righteous nature but when they sinned, they corrupted it. Their righteous legal standing with God was nullified and we who were born after them suffer the same corruption.

This scripture is the only place where Jehovah Tisdkenu is referenced. Jeremiah foretells that there will be Messiah who will be called ‘The Lord our Righeousness.’ The Hebrew is specific in its use of the pronoun ~ ‘our’. This name not only means that Jesus is righteous but that He is also our righteousness. The legal standing Adam lost is restored when we put our faith in Christ.

For the next four days, I will share the deep and rich implications of righteousness being gifted to us through Christ. Though it can be a heavy handed doctrine, it is also simple enough for a child to explain. A five year old might say, “My heart was black with sin but Jesus washed it white as snow.” Never will there be a more stunning explanation of this great exchange ~ i.e. I give God my sin and He gives me His righteousness.

This week’s name may seem daunting to unwrap. It is not. Join me in asking God for childlike understanding. When He answers our prayer, we will know it because we will grasp the beauty of this truth. We will then praise Him. And we will tell others about it with breathless wonder. Only God can change the spiritual nature of a sinful man and make him holy.

Lord, I remember Your words to Your people. ‘I am God and there is none other.’ This is my testimony and affirmation in prayer today. Amen

And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” Genesis 16:11-12  ESV

Yesterday, we saw that Hagar is the one who called God El Roi. The power of God was on full display in her story, just as it was in the story of Abram and Sarai.  This mother of Arab nations is often thought of as the subject of some side plot in Genesis.  Oh, but that is a mistake.  There are some astounding things to consider in God’s encounter with Hagar.

Though God told Hagar to return to Abram and Sarai and, under difficult conditions, resume her role as their slave, her son Ishmael would grow to become independent of the clan of Abraham.  He would be the father and ruler of 12 princes, paralleling the 12 tribes who would descend from Isaac.

God had compassion on Hagar, an Egyptian slave girl who had been a pawn between powerful men.  King Abimelech of Egypt had passed her off as a gift to Abram. As a slave, Sarai had passed her off to Abram to be used as a surrogate mother.  She was without power in a world where women and slaves had no rights.  When no one else had kind regard for her plight, God did.  God is a kind champion of women!

The promises of God, spoken through the Word of God, stand for all time.  There are things that He speaks today that will be true thousands of years from now.  I am learning that my heart is time-bound.  I am consumed with the fulfilling of God’s promises for the immediate, not the long run.  That’s because pain is short-sighted.  I want relief, resolution, and deliverance today.  What happens a thousand years from now doesn’t feel as important to me as what will happen this afternoon.

Nevertheless, my heart takes notice that I belong to a God whose Word is powerful enough to transcend time.  There is nothing that can nullify what He has spoken.  No power will come against me to erase God’s plans.  However badly things may look for me on a given day, once God chooses to pour out His favor on the oppressed and forgotten, a blessed future commences and remains.  No threat, no arrow, no scheme, even perpetrated by the kings of this world, can undo what God has put in motion.

Though the hands of time move slowly and I don’t see the fulfillment of Your promises in 24 hours, the future course of blessing is set on a servant who obeys.  Amen

She gave this name [El Roi] to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me.”  Genesis 16:13

This beautiful name for God was spoken by the least likely candidate ~ a young woman, a slave, not a daughter of Israel, despised and in dire circumstances.  She had been sexually used by a giant of the faith, a patriarch, Abraham.  She had been verbally abused by Sarai, Abraham’s wife, who was barren and jealous of Hagar’s fertility.  

All of this set up Hagar’s desire to escape the presence of her master.  She fled and went into the desert.  Her heart was aching.  She was willing to subject herself to the unknowns of the wilderness rather than stay in unbearable circumstances.  An angel came to Hagar and told her that the Lord had heard of her misery and then he blessed her.  Favor was shown to her before she ever uttered a prayer.  She called God, El Roi, ‘for I have seen the One who sees me.’ 

God sees and hears our affliction before he hears our cries for help.  Before prayers are formed, his compassion has already been engaged.  A desperate exile into the desert set the stage for Hagar to see God.  Completely alone, with no competing voices, she was ripe for a divine encounter.

There are periods of our lives when we’d do anything to escape our predicament.  I’ve had more than a few periods like that.  Perhaps you are in one at this very moment.  God sees you struggling to hold on when you don’t think you can cope any longer.  He sees you taking a breath and holding your tongue when unfair accusations are being spewed.  He sees you giving your best, yet again, to someone who doesn’t appreciate it.  He sees you worrying about medical bills, knowing that paying them is impossible with what’s in your bank account.  He sees your disappointment over a marriage that leaves you lonely and heartbroken.  

God sees. He sees before you pray.  He’s moved by your distress even before you’ve stretched out your faith.  God is near you.  Right now.  You are poised for a divine encounter with El Roi.   

Sometimes, I’ve been too tired to tell you my story.  But You already know.  You’ve been watching and You’ve seen me.  Thank you.  Amen

..and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation 20:10

God’s angels didn’t always fight.  Their warfare had a beginning, and it will have an end.  Let’s look at both events.

This war began when Satan was expelled from heaven.  Previously, Satan had been a high-ranking angel alongside Gabriel and Michael. He lived in God’s presence and led worship in heaven. Despite his privileged position, he committed an act of treason that resulted in his exile. Satan promoted himself.

Isaiah provides more insight into this event. ” I will climb to heaven and place my throne above the highest stars. I will sit there with the gods far away in the north. I will be above the clouds, just like God Most High. “(Isaiah 14:13-14) Satan felt entitled to the worship that God was receiving and believed he should be the one to sit on the throne. With this twisted ambition, his gifts became corrupted. Pride fueled his supernatural charisma, and he campaigned among the angelic hosts to join his cause. He was remarkably successful, influencing one-third of them to defect. God expelled him – and the angels who joined him – and sent them to earth. From then on, the kingdom of darkness has sought to thwart God’s plans. Angelic armies are sent to cripple their efforts. 

Angelic battles will have an endpoint.  God hasn’t seen fit just yet to send all demons into captivity, but one day, they will be thrown into the lake of fire.  None of them will escape this fate.  

For now, the battle rages on.  Daily, God’s children carry the Gospel to others and live their lives to the glory of God. Each day, Satan strategizes plans to corrupt the faith of every believer.  In the heavenlies, God’s forces are coming to our aid, bringing answers, healing, health, strength, provisions, and encouragement.  One day, they will rest.  One day, we will rest.   And we may learn ‘the rest of the story’ of what transpired behind the scenes when we walked by faith and not by sight. 

I get so caught up in my little corner of the world.  Enlarge my vision of Your kingdom ~ and of Your faithfulness beyond my range of vision.  Amen

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.  Psalm 91:11

Jehovah Sabaoth is Lord of the angel armies.  He implements battle plans and dispatches angels to war in the heavenlies.  Satan, the mimic, also implements battle plans against the advance of the Gospel and dispatches his dark angels to carry out his work of resistance.  

There are differing opinions among God’s children regarding the use of spiritual authority in heavenly realms. Satan has assigned high-level territorial spirits to various countries and regions to darken the minds of the people to the truth of the Gospel. Most believers acknowledge that these spirits exist and fulfill these roles.  However, some contend that their spiritual authority extends to these heavenly places.  They ‘take authority’ over these satanic leaders and bind their activities.  Is this biblical?  Or is God the only one who commands His angels to confront these dark forces?  

In Daniel 10, Daniel received a vision and fasted and prayed for 21 days.  His prayers were heard and answered immediately by God but His intervention was delayed in the heavens by the work and leadership of two territorial spirits: one over Persia and one over Greece.  Heavenly reinforcements were needed, so God dispatched Michael, one of His archangels, to engage in the battle.  Victory was achieved.  

Daniel was unaware of the war in the heavenlies.  Therefore, he did not address them or bind dark forces.  His role was to fast, pray, and leave the matter to the Lord of Hosts.  Did he sense the great battle occurring?  Most likely, yes.  An angel came to encourage Daniel to stand firm and be courageous, addressing him as ‘you who are most loved.’  

Many sincere Christian leaders are training people to engage in spiritual warfare by entering an area, discerning the spirit assigned by Satan to oppress and control it, and then addressing them directly, informing them that God is victorious over them.  This level of strategic warfare is concerning and, I believe, a subversion of our spiritual authority.  While we have been given the mandate to liberate people from demonic oppression on Earth, warring in the heavens is beyond our bounds.  

If you often repent on behalf of our country, understand that this is God’s method to influence the battle where territorial spirits fulfill their mandates.  Like Daniel, we repent, fast, and pray, entrusting the Lord of Hosts to devise battle plans and deploy angelic forces.  Oh, child of God, dearly loved, be courageous, and do not grow weary in prayer.  Humbly defer all battle plans to Jehovah Sabaoth.  His promises in this scripture passage hold true throughout all time.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

…and the government will be upon his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

When was the last time you said, “I wouldn’t want to carry that responsibility on my shoulders!”  Whatever it was that you were referring to, it was deemed too heavy to carry.

Our Prince of Peace doesn’t run from positions of power and authority.  This prophetic word (Isaiah 9:6) assures us that Jesus will shoulder the responsibility of ruling over a literal, earthly kingdom that encompasses all the governments and kingdoms of the world.  As His children, each of us will see it with our own eyes.  

Solomon was given divine wisdom, and we admire his discernment in ruling over complicated civil cases. We recall how he delivered a righteous judgment in the dispute between two women who claimed the same baby as their own. Only God could have inspired the idea Solomon employed to reveal the real mother.  

This embodies the essence of divine leadership. Jesus will govern justly, and the implications and examples are so extensive that we can regard them as countless. No sin will remain concealed. Every motive will be revealed. Every false accusation will prove ineffective. Every con artist will be unseated.  

Furthermore, every unfairness will be righted.  Every victim will have advocacy.  The poor will be fed.  The weak will be strengthened and promoted.  The ambitious and charismatic leader will be asked to serve as the humble are exalted.  

None of this will tire our King of Kings. He rules with ease. Righteousness is inherent to His nature. Those of us who live under His reign will embrace the peace that flows from His throne. We will breathe easily, never fearing the worst. All previous sources of anxiety will fade away in the joy of God’s kingdom. 

I’ll be safe then—and I’m safe now because You are already above all powers and authorities that dominate the front pages of the news. Hallelujah. Amen.