Forbidding and Permitting

Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven. (Matthews 18:18 Amplified Bible)

Here is an amazing statement Jesus made to His disciples; amazing because it empowers them with all the authority of heaven to act upon the earth. Read, mark and inwardly digest what this means about the coming together of heaven and earth:

• Whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven.
• Whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven.
  

Of course, in order to exercise this authority, you have to know what is going on in heaven — what is forbidden, and what is permitted. You have to be able to “see” what heaven is about. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God in heaven and on earth. In Matthew’s Gospel, it is also called the “kingdom of heaven.”

Unless a person is “born again,” he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. In the Greek text, the words for “born again” actually mean to be born from above. In other words, this new birth is one that takes place in the realm of heaven. It is a work of the Holy Spirit, and we receive it through faith in Jesus Christ. Without this new birth from above, we will not be able to see, understand or participate in what heaven is all about. On the other hand, when we are born of the Spirit of God, we are enabled by Him to see into the spiritual and understand what is going on in the kingdom of heaven.

Now, God’s plan is to bring everything in heaven and earth together in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:10). It is toward this end that Jesus has given us the authority to forbid on earth what is forbidden in heaven, and permit on earth what is permitted in heaven. For example:

• Sin is not permitted in heaven. So you do not have to allow it to have any dominion over you. Instead, you can allow the Lord Jesus Christ to rule and reign in your heart.
• Sickness and disease have no place in heaven. So you do not have to allow it to have any place in your body or on those you love. When you see sickness or disease in someone, you have the authority of heaven to forbid it and declare it to be improper and unlawful. You also have the authority to release the healing power and health of heaven on the earth.
• Lack and poverty are forbidden in heaven. So you can declare that it is improper and unlawful for it to be in your life and in your home. Instead, you can declare that the abundance and provision of heaven is lawful and proper, and release it to meet all your needs.
• There is no demonic oppression in heaven. So you can forbid demonic influences to have any place in your life. Instead, you can be continually filled and led by the Holy Spirit.
• God is love, and everything about heaven fully reflects that. So you can release the love of God on earth wherever it is needed.

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been given great authority. Everything in heaven now belongs to you, so your life is very important upon earth. What will you do with that authority? What are you forbidding on earth? What are you permitting? Does it correspond with what is forbidden and what is permitted in heaven?

It’s All About the Relationship

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because id do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30)

Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:28-29)

Jesus did only those things He saw the Father doing, and said only those things He heard the Father saying. The ability to see what the Father was doing and hear what the Father was saying came out of fellowship with the Father. It's all about the relationship.

How is your relationship with the Father? Are you taking the time?

(See also Taking Time)

Cynicism and the Vote

In a recent forum, an acquaintance who is a Christian expressed much dismay about voting in the upcoming election, and is currently planning to not participate. He offered a number of reasons, many of which may have a good bit of truth to them. But over all, his cast is gloomy, bitter and cynical. Here is how I responded:

Cynicism does not serve you well. It is based on how things appear in the natural realm, in the old age of this world that is passing away. But we are the people of God, people of the kingdom age that is now breaking into the world. We are people of the Spirit and of the spiritual realm. We are a colony of heaven. We are not the last remains of a mission team mournfully waiting for the Big Air Lift to come and rescue us. We are an insertion team, to establish the kingdom of God wherever we go. We have been given authority in the spiritual realm to bring forth change in the natural realm. We have been given the spiritual eyes to see what is going on in heaven and then pray, as Jesus taught us, "Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). We have been given the authority to forbid on earth what has been forbidden in heaven, and to permit on earth what has been permitted in heaven (Matthew 18:18). We do not have to fall into that despair to which cynicism invariably leads; we can operate on the level of faith, bearing the authority of the kingdom of heaven on the earth.

The vote that has been given to each of us is not the end-all be-all, not from the kingdom perspective. But it is a practical way to respond in faith, instead of abdicating responsibility (although failure to vote will not make you one bit less responsible for the outcome of the elections).

You have told us what you will not be doing. But what will you be doing? How and what will you pray? Will it be full of cynicism, or faith? What are you willing to believe God to do to bring forth His kingdom and righteousness in this instance?

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, there is every reason to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and expect it to change the world — even on election day. So go out and vote.

What Song Are You Singing?

Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
And His praise in the assembly of saints.

(Palm 149:1)

What song are you singing to the LORD? Are you singing the song of lack and need? Or are you singing the song of the LORD your Shepherd, who takes care of you in every way? (Psalm 23:1)

Are you singing the song of the attacking enemy? Or are you singing the song of the LORD Most High, who hides you in the secret place? (Psalm 91:1)

Are you singing the song of sickness? Or are you singing the song of the Lord your healer, who heals all your diseases? (Exodus 15:26; Psalm 103:3)

Are you singing the song of burden and care? Or are you singing the song of the Lord who takes care of things for you? (1 Peter 5:7)

Are you singing the song of rejection? Or are you singing the song of being accepted in the Beloved? (Ephesians 2:6)

Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we now have so many wonderful songs we can sing — and they are all new, because in Jesus Christ we are made new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Search out the promises of God, because there is one for every circumstance, and start singing your new song to Him.

Don’t Be Fooled: Hold Fast the Word

Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. (1 Corinthians 15:33-34)

The company you habitually keep is either going to build you up in the faith, or tear you down. The issue at hand in 1 Corinthians 15 was the resurrection of the dead:

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. (v. 12-14)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the keystone to the Christian faith. Paul goes on to explain the necessity and importance of the resurrection and demonstrate its truth.

But there were some among the believers at Corinth who taught that there is no resurrection, and perhaps suggesting that it was not really the message that Paul and the apostles were bringing. If that was so, Paul asked, then “why do we stand in jeopardy every hour” for the sake of the gospel (v. 30): “If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’” (v. 31).

This false teaching, if left unchecked, would have sucked the life out of the Corinthian church, leaving them in despair. But like see many other life-sucking situations they were allowing to continue in the church, the believers allowed themselves to be lulled to sleep.

That is what happens when you hang out with a faithless crowd — they nip away at your faith until you are filled with doubt and finally sink into unbelief. Don’t be fooled, Paul says. Then he offers the antidote:

WAKE UP!!!

The Greek word for “awake” means to rouse up, as out of a deep sleep or drunken stupor.

Wake up! Sober up! Pull your head out!

“Awake to righteousness.” Return to what is right. Don’t let your faith be corrupted; eaten away by rot; rusted away by neglect. You have people among you who don’t even know God, and you are letting them influence your faith and pull you away. Don’t let them lead you astray — get out of there!

Picture Paul waving the “smelling salts” under their noses, preaching to them about the gospel, for that is how he began this section, reminding them of the truth they were in deep danger of forgetting:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-3)

Who are the people you allow to have influence in your life. Do they build you up in faith, or do they fill you up with doubt. Don’t let yourself be lulled away, but get a firm hold of the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith come by hearing the Word of God), and let yourself be renewed and strengthened.

Laying Up Treasure in Heaven

Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

This begins a section of Jesus’ sermon on the mount in which He teaches on the relationship between wealth and riches and the kingdom of God. This section includes the teaching on laying up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21), the difference between the “good” eye and the “evil” eye (Matthew 19:22-23), the teaching that you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24), about how God will take care of all our needs (Matthew 6:25-32), and the command to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33-34). It all goes together and shares the same context.

In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus teaches us to not lay up treasure for ourselves on earth, but to lay them up for ourselves in heaven. And He gives use the key to what this means: “Where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.”

In other words, the whole question of treasuring — what we treasure, how we treasure it, and where we lay it up—is a matter of the heart. What is going on in your heart will determine what your treasure is all about.

Now, we know that there is no need, no lack, no want in heaven. Heaven is perfectly provided for in every way. Therefore, it does not need any of the treasure of earth. We do not need to try to crate up gold and jewels and earthly treasures and ship them up to heaven.

Heaven does not need the treasure of earth — but earth desperately needs the treasure of heaven. And that is why we are to seek the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of heaven. We need it here.

That is why Jesus came, to destroy the works of the devil, redeem fallen humanity, and establish the kingdom of God on earth. When He began His ministry, He came preaching, “Repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is here.” His teaching was about the kingdom, and His works of healing and deliverance were manifestations of the kingdom. Forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus ascended to His throne in heaven, where He now rules over all, forever and ever.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Kingdom of God, come — and keep coming! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven — and keep being done!” (that is the sense of the Greek text).

Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” But we are not to seek it in heaven only, but on the earth. For the kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God, and the righteousness of God is His way of doing and being right. Everything is already set right in heaven by the rule and reign of God. Where it is really needed now is upon the earth. And that is what we are to seek — for the rule and reign of God and His rightness to be established on the earth. When we do, everything else will be fully taken care of.

So the kingdom of heaven is now here, and has been ever since Jesus came. Laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven is to be understood in the context of the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of heaven.

Heaven does not need the treasure of earth; earth needs the treasure of heaven. If we merely treasure up for ourselves treasure on earth, neither heaven or earth will benefit from it. But when we treasure up for ourselves treasure in heaven, then it can truly become a blessing on earth, manifesting the prosperity of heaven to meet every need.

We are the people of heaven. We are in the world system, but we are not of it. Our new birth by the Holy Spirit is from above, our citizenship is in heaven, and we are seated — right now — in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. We are on the earth, but we of heaven, and therefore, uniquely qualified to bring forth the blessing of heaven to the earth.

We are authorized to pray for the kingdom of God to keep coming onto the earth, to call for the bread of heaven to be distributed on earth, to bind on earth what has been bound in heaven, and to loose on earth what has been loosed in heaven. We are of heaven, and we are bringing heaven to earth, by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we are to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven so that it can be filled with the purpose of heaven and manifest the blessing of the kingdom of heaven on the earth.

It does not mean that we are not to have wealth and riches on the earth. Rather, it means that our wealth and riches must have the purpose of heaven. And that is a matter of the heart, for where our treasure is, that is where our heart is.

It is impossible for us to have our hearts in one place and our treasure in another. As Jesus said in this same passage, we cannot serve both God and mammon. Where one is, that is where the other is.

To lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven, we first need to settle the matter of the heart. We need to line up our hearts with the heart of God and the purpose of heaven, seeking the establishment of the rule and reign of God (a.k.a. the kingdom of God) on earth, just as it is in heaven. When we do that, then we will be able to direct all our wealth and riches towards that purpose.

Discipleship: The Stunning Revelation of Jesus Christ

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have not faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:39-41)

The disciples had been fearful enough about the storm that raged against them out on the sea; they thought they were about to perish. But they were even more afraid when Jesus calmed the wind and the waves by the power of His words. The Bible says they “feared exceedingly.”

“Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” Though they had already been with Jesus for some time, being instructed by Him and observing the many wonderful miracles He performed, this was a new revelation about Jesus for which they were completely unprepared.

The goodness, the greatness, and the grace of God in Jesus Christ is so stunning because our own experiences are so limited, our thoughts so restricted, and our faith so weak. There is also the awareness of the greatness of the distance between us and God, that He is so holy — so completely unlike anything else in the world, and that we are so unholy, so unlike Him.

Isaiah experienced this in his vision of the LORD in His holy temple: “I am a man of unclean lips, and I come from a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).

Peter experienced this when Jesus instructed him to cast the net on the other side, and Peter hauled in an amazingly and totally unexpectedly prosperous catch of fish. He fell before the Lord Jesus and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8).

The revelation of Jesus Christ always generates controversy:

• No, God isn't really like that.
• No, He doesn't do that today.
• No, His grace is not that free.
• No, Jesus didn't really mean that.

It's too much for us. Even the Lord Jesus recognized that He couldn't unload all this revelation at one time on His disciples. He told them, “I have many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them now.” That's why He sent the Holy Spirit, to lead us into all truth. And we are still unpacking what that all means (John 16:12-13).

That is what our discipleship is about: processing the revelations of Jesus Christ. Each step stretches us past our limit, and a lot of times we don't want to go any further. Our job is to keep going further and further with Him, continually being stunned.

Don’t Be Fooled: Inheriting the Kingdom

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

This is not an exhaustive list; the apostle Paul expands on it in some of his other letters:

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. (Ephesians 5:3-5)

Paul summed it all up pretty well in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The Greek word for “sin,” hamartano, and means to “miss the mark.” Think of an archery event in which you win the prize for hitting the bullseye. To sin is to miss the bullseye.

But Paul not only said that we have all missed the bullseye, but we have also fallen short — we’ve missed the target altogether! God created us to share in His glory, to experience and enjoy all the goodness that is in Him, but we have fallen far short of that.

None of the things Paul listed have any place in the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is all about the glory of God, all these things fall far short of that glory. God is all about life and light, but the things on Paul’s list bring only death and darkness. God is love, but the things on the list demonstrate nothing more than selfishness. They are lacking in love for God and one’s neighbor.

Bummer.

But there is a solution. No one has to remain this way. For in 1 Corinthians 6:11, Paul is quick to add, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

• We can be washed (made clean).
• We can be sanctified (set apart to experience God’s glory).
• We can be justified (declared righteous).
  

Now, we cannot wash ourselves — but we can be washed. We cannot sanctify ourselves — but we can sanctified. We cannot justify ourselves — but we can be justified. How does this happen? Through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul addresses this in another letter:

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)

Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, and through faith in Him, God makes us new—gives us a new birth—by the Holy Spirit. Jesus does not come short of the glory of God, and in Him, neither do we, for we are new creations in Him.

When we receive the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes into us to bring forth the same fruit He brought forth in Christ: “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

This is what you and I were created for, to experience the life of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, and the glory of God. This is what the kingdom of God is all about.

Don’t Be Fooled: Understanding Sowing and Reaping

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

“God is not mocked.” Paul is speaking of an immutable principle: Whatever you sow is what you will reap. God established that at the very beginning, when He created plants and animals each to reproduce after their own kind, and told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. God also reaffirmed this same principle to Noah when He promised, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). It is true in the natural realm; it is just as true in the spiritual realm. Do not treat it lightly!

It’s a bedrock principle: Whatever you, that is what you will reap.” In his second letter to the Corinthian believes, Paul brought out this accompanying principle: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Not only do you reap what you sow, but also according to how you sow. You will also reap more than you sow. Jesus said,

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measure back to you. (Luke 6:38)

“Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” will be either a blessing or a curse for you — it all depends on what you sow. There’s really only two directions you can go with this: You can sow to the flesh, or you can sow to the Spirit. Here’s how Paul lays it out:

• He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.
• He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

Sowing to the flesh is thinking that everything we say and do, and how we spend and invest our money is about us. It has no lasting value and results only in a harvest of corruption, decay and a ruined life.

Sowing to the Spirit, on the other hand, is realizing that everything we say and do, and how we spend and invest our money is all about God. It has eternal value and that harvest of a life that is rich and full.

Sowing to the flesh is like a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Sowing to the Spirit is lining up with Jesus, the good shepherd who comes to give us life more abundantly (John 10:10).

Earlier in his letter to the Galatians, Paul made this comparison between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit:

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told in the time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we life in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:19-25)

Don’t be fooled. Everything you say and do will either bring life and light, or death and darkness into your world. Choose carefully what will you sow.

All You’ll Ever Need (Part 2)

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, God has given you everything that has to do with life and godliness. Jesus came to give us life and abundance of life (John 10:10). Not only is life to be found in Him (John 1:4), but He is life (John 14:6). It is the life of Jesus that the apostle Paul was speaking of when he wrote,

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

God has given us everything that pertains to this life as well as to the next. Jesus said,

Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30)

The apostle Paul said, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

God has also given us everything that pertains to godliness, that is, fellowship with and devotion to Him. In Jesus Christ, we come into a life that is poised to experience the divine glory and virtue, the greatness and the goodness of God at work on our behalf.

Peter called these “exceedingly great and precious promises,” through which we not only escape the corruption of the world, but much more than that, we become partakers of the divine nature! (See Partaking of the Divine Nature).

In 1 Timothy 3:16, Paul outlined the mystery of godliness (see The Mystery of Godliness), and later on he declared, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

We were created to be like God, and though this was lost to us through the sin of Adam, it is restored to us through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Through faith in Him, we receive a new birth from above, a birth by the Holy Spirit of God. To partake of the divine nature, to fellowship with God and to be like Him in this life — could there ever be anything better than this? It is all you’ll ever need.

(See also All You’ll Ever Need, Part 1)

All You’ll Ever Need

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, God has blessed with you everything you’ll ever need. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies already belongs to you.

Now, don’t go thinking that, because it says spiritual blessing, it has nothing to do with the natural world. What goes on in the spiritual realm has everything to do with the natural realm. For this natural world was created by God, who is Spirit. What happens in the natural realm is totally dependent upon the spiritual realm. So when God blesses you with every blessing in the spiritual realm, it also affects everything in the natural realm.

Many Christians seem to think that we only receive a few spiritual blessings now, and that we will receive the rest, the greater majority, when we leave this life for the next — at least they live like that is what they think. But the truth is that, when we get to heaven, we will not receive anything there that we have not already received here.

We do not need to receive any more blessing from God. All we really need to do is learn how to live in the blessing we have already received, for it is more than enough to enable us to be and do what God has called us to be and do in this world. And that is what discipleship is about — learning how to walk in the blessing of God in such a way that it changes the world.

We are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. In fact, that is where we are seated in Christ Jesus—in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6). We are born of heaven, our citizenship is in heaven and we live on this earth as ambassadors of heaven. Our job is to bring forth heaven on earth, just as Jesus taught us to pray: “Kingdom of God, come. Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). We are authorized to bind on earth what has already been bound in heaven, and loose on earth what has already been loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18). Jesus also promised that as we come into agreement with each other on earth concerning anything, it will be done for us by our Father in heaven (Matthew 18:19). In this way, the spiritual blessing we have received is able to bring forth blessing in the natural realm.

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, God has already blessed you with everything you’ll ever need. Are you learning to walk in the blessing and live the life of heaven on earth? Then you are becoming a world-changer.

(See also All You'll Ever Need, Part 2)

A Table in the Presence of My Enemies

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. (Psalm 23:5)

This morning I took of the Table of the Lord with this verse fully in mind. I took of it, very deliberately, in the presence of my enemies.

The particular enemy we are dealing with at this time is debt — mortgage, car note and unsecured debts. These are enemies because they represent lack, and Psalm 23 opens famously with line, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” To want, or be in want, is to be in lack. When the Lord is our shepherd, we do not have to be in lack. It is not God’s will for us.

Now, I confess that we have made some poor choices and foolishly gotten ourselves into some financial dfficulties. But it would be even more foolish for us to think that, since we got ourselves into trouble, we must therefore get ourselves out of trouble. It is foolish for a couple of reasons: First, though we have a great ability to get ourselves into trouble, we have little skill or capacity for getting ourselves out. But more importantly, we are in covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Savior and our Shepherd. He as already provided for what we cannot do ourselves. So we look to Him.

That is where the Table of the Lord comes in — it is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the covenant we have in Him. The bread reveals His body given for us, and the cup is the cup of the New Covenant made in His blood. In Him we have all we need, for as the apostle Paul said, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

So I took of the Table of the Lord in the presence of my enemies. But first, I took all our bills, our mortgage and car note coupons, and everything that represents debt and lack in our finances, and I set them on the coffee table. Then in between them and me, I set the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Table, and I declared, “You have prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

Then I looked at all those bills and notes, and I spoke to them: “I’m serving you notice, we are going to overcome you.” I thought of Caleb’s words, when the twelve spies reported back to Moses after spying out the promised land. Ten spies gave a sorrowful report about how, though the land was indeed a good land overflowing with milk and honey, it was also filled with giants. But Caleb said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). He agreed with Joshua, who said, “Do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them” (Numbers 14:9). (See When Its All About God)

Then I thought of Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him [satan, the accuser of the brethren] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (See The Word of Your Testimony)

The blood of the Lamb is what is revealed to us in the cup of communion. It is a cup that runs over with the blessing of the Lord. It is how we overcome all our enemies. It is a cup of salvation. The psalm writer said, “What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD” (Psalm 116:12-13).

And that’s exactly what I did. I ate the bread and drank the cup from the Table of the Lord and claimed my victory in Jesus Christ. I ate of the table He prepared for me in the presence of my enemies. For the Lord is my shepherd, my savior, my healer, my provider, and there is no enemy in the world that can stand up to Him.

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, God has a table prepared for you in the presence of you enemies. Are you partaking of it?

(See also Warring with the Bread and the Cup and A Table of Victory Prepared for You)

The Joy and Privilege of Your Kingship

The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD;
And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
You have given him his heart’s desire,
And have not withheld the request of his lips.

(Psalm 21:1-2)

The king originally in view here is David, the psalm writer. Ultimately, however, this psalm finds its most perfect fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the Son of David. After His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus ascended to His throne in heaven, where He rules and reigns over all, forever and ever.

But this psalm can also be applied to every believer in Jesus Christ. For the original mandate God gave to Adam and Eve was to subdue the earth and have dominion — to rule and reign over it. We were created to be kings on the earth. Though that dominion was forfeited when Adam rebelled against God, it has been restored to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. For God has “made us alive together with Christ … and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6). We are now seated with the Lord Jesus Christ on His heavenly throne, the place of ruling and reigning. We are kings, and He is the King of Kings.

“The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD.” Nehemiah said, “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). But here we see that its works the other way around, too: The strength of the Lord is your joy!

The Hebrew word for “joy” here is samach, and means to be lighthearted. When you rely on the strength of the Lord, there is nothing that can weigh your heart down, because God is far greater than whatever might be a burden for you. So the Bible tells us, “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Regardless of your circumstance, you can be lighthearted and joyful, when you roll your burden over onto the Lord.

“And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice.” The word for “rejoice” here is giyl (gheel), and literally means to spin. It is a dancing joy that whirls and twirls in delight. David certainly knew what this was all about. When he brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, he was so full of joy that he danced with great abandon, leaping and whirling before the Lord (2 Samuel 6:16).

The salvation God has for you and me is indeed something to get very excited about. The Hebrew word is yeshuah. It is not only the forgiveness of our sins, it is also freedom and deliverance from everything that binds us up, holds us back or keeps us down. It is healing for all our diseases. It is even our peace and prosperity. It is wonderful. As a proper name, this word for “salvation” is Yeshua, which is the Hebrew name for “Jesus.”

“You have given him his heart’s desire.” In another psalm, David said, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). The Bible refers to David as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), that is, he was a man who lined up his heart with the heart of God. Even when he stumbled, he did not run away from God, but he ran to Him. He delighted in God, and so received his heart’s desire.

Again, we see this completely fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose heart was perfectly aligned with the heart of the Father:

Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. (John 5:19)

I can of Myself do nothing. As I her, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30)

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 6:38)

I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. (John 8:28-29)

When we delight ourselves in the Lord, He transforms us, aligning the desires of our hearts with His. Then He fulfills those desires.

“And have not withheld the request of his lips.” Because Jesus is all about the Father, the Father is all about Jesus, and will not deny any of His requests. Whatever the Son asks, the Father will do, because the heart of the Son is perfectly aligned with the heart of the Father.

Now, hold on to your hat, because here is how that relates to you and me in a very powerful way: The Father will not withhold the request of the Son; the Son has given us the authority to make requests in His name!

Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14)

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16)

And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full … In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. (John 16:23-24, 26)

Jesus has given us the authority to ask in His name, that is, to ask as He would ask. When we do, the promise is that God will not withhold the request of our lips. For the Father loves all those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ just as much as He loves the Lord Jesus Himself.

God has created you to be a king upon the earth. Because of what the Lord Jesus has done for you, you can be lighthearted in the strength of the Lord, casting every single burden of care upon Him. You can celebrate without any inhibitions because of the rich forgiveness, freedom, healing, peace and prosperity God has for you. Delight yourself in the Lord, for He wants to give you your heart’s desire. Get the perspective of what Jesus is all about and ask on the basis of His name and His authority, fully expecting to receive, and God will not withhold the request of your lips.

Invitation to a Vision

BEHOLD!

We find this word in the Bible often, but many times we don’t recognize the significance of what it means when God tells us to behold.

It is an invitation to envision — to enter into a vision — with God.

Our God is the God who sees. He is called Yahweh Yireh, the LORD Who Provides. The word yireh comes from the Hebrew root ra’ah, which means to see. Even the English words “provide” and “provision” mean to foresee with the purpose of making supply. When God sees a need, He extends Himself to supply what is needed.

Time and again, God tells us to behold something, to focus our attention and gaze intently. Often, what we are called to behold is something which has not yet manifest in the natural dimension — God is telling us to see it in the spiritual dimension.

The very fact that God tells us to behold it is the evidence that it really is true in the spiritual realm. Our job is to learn how to see it in the Spirit and lay hold of it by faith. Then, with the power of divine faith at work in our heart, we can call it forth into manifestation in the natural realm. (See Mark 11:22-24, about speaking to mountains).

Don't Be Fooled: Understanding the Source of Good

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. (James 1:16-18)

“Do not be deceived,” James says. The Greek verb for “deceived” is the same word Jesus used when He told the Sadducees, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29).

Deception is a trick of the devil played upon a willing heart. He does not want you to know the Scriptures or the power of God. He will be happy enough for you to fill your head with religious theories, but he does not want you to have a personal experience of the Word of God at work in your heart or the power of God at work in your life, for that is death to his plans and destruction to his works. So he tries to lead you astray in your thinking.

Like Jesus, James identifies how it is possible to be deceived about the power of God and the Scriptures. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”

This is about the manifestation of God’s power. Everything that is good, mature and complete comes from above, from our Father in heaven. God is not the source of evil, but only of good. Many Christians, however, have been deceived into thinking that God sends diseases upon people or causes bad things to happen to them — to punish them, get them to repent, teach them a lesson, humble them, etc.

But that is simply not so. Nothing evil comes from heaven. There are no diseases there waiting to be unleashed upon the earth. There are no car crashes or any other tragic accidents there. God is the Father of lights, not the Father of darkness. But we know who is the father darkness—the same one who is the father of lies — and we have been delivered from his power into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). Anything that is lacking, anything that is not mature and complete, anything that is not good—it does not come from our Father in heaven, but ultimately traces back to the evil one, in whom there is nothing but darkness.

Do not be mistaken. Anything the attributes evil to our Father in heaven is a deception.

James goes on is this same passage to comment upon the Word of God: “Of His own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”

God did not send His Word — neither His the Scriptures not the Living Word, Jesus Christ—into the world to condemn you, but to save you and deliver you from the works of the devil: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse here through the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26).

In context, James has been addressing specifically the question of being tempted to do evil. His point is that such temptation does not and cannot come from God, for He is the giver of all good things.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and entices. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. (James 1:13-15)

James makes a comparison of sources by noting what each “brings forth” (the Greek verb is apokueo). Temptation to evil “brings forth” (apokueo) death. But the Word of God is the word of truth, whose purpose is to “bring us forth” (apokueo), “that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures,” that is, reflecting the glory of His goodness.

Any idea that God is out to condemn you, destroy you or do you harm in any way is mistaken — a lie of the devil. The devil is the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus is the Good Shepherd who has come that you might have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10)

Don't Be Fooled: Understanding the Scriptures and the Power of God

You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29)

The Sadducees thought they had Jesus stumped. A liberal sect among the Jews, they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and they thought that had a way to refute it from the Scriptures (though they did not accept all the Scriptures, only the books of Moses).

The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.” (Matthew 22:23-28)

That is when Jesus answered them and said, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Then He explained why the Sadducees misunderstood both the Scriptures and the power of God:

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:30-32)

That shut down the Sadducees’ argument. Though they might have accepted the God was able to raise the dead, they did not believe that raising the dead was actually part of His plan. They strayed from the truth concerning the power of God. They erred in their understanding of the Scriptures because they failed to see that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And God said to Moses, in the only Scriptures the Sadducees did accept, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob,” though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had long since passed off the scene (Exodus 3:6, 15). So the Sadducees did not even really know the only Scriptures they professed to believe. They had no faith, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), and they had not really heard what the Word was saying.

It is vitally important for us to know both the Scriptures and power of God. It is not enough to know just one or the other. If we know the Scriptures, but not the power of God, then our knowledge of the Scriptures will be dry and unfruitful. If we know the power of God, but not the Scriptures, then we will be vulnerable to the deceiving miracles and false doctrines of the devil.

There are many Christians today who believe that the time of God’s miracles have ceased. They are called, and even call themselves, “Cessationists.” There are also others who, while they do not wish to present themselves as cessationist, for all practical purposes, they are cessationists nonetheless. They will allow that God may, perhaps, under very unusual circumstances, still do miracles today, but such things are few and far between, and usually not something they have ever seen, heard of, or experienced for themselves. They don’t want to be found denying the power of God, but by their theology and traditions, they keep it tightly bound and under wraps.

The truth is, if we don’t know the power of God, it is probably because we don’t really know the Scriptures. For the Scriptures continually testify about the power of God, from Genesis to Revelation, and from Beginning to End.

The Scriptures and the power of God are both manifestations of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures are given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21) and cannot truly be understood apart from Him (1 Corinthians 10-16). The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Power. It was by the anointing of the Holy Spirit that Jesus performed all His miracles on earth (Acts 10:38), and He promised His disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8).

As you read the Scriptures, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to you in your inner man, so that they do not just become information, but revelation to you. Ask Him also to fill you to overflowing with His life-changing power. When the Word of God and the Holy Spirit are at work in you, you will be transformed by the power of God, and you will become a world-changer.

The Word of Your Testimony

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. (Revelation 12:11)

No matter what you might be facing today, this is how you overcome: By the blood of the Lamb. By the word of your testimony. By loving Jesus more than anything else in life.

Who do you overcome? “That serpent of old, called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and He did this by His blood shed on the cross. That is why the Bible can freely declare, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

But what is the word of testimony? We know that it must have something to do with faith:

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5)

The word of your testimony is the confession of your faith:

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)

Seeing then that we have a great high Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (Hebrews 4:14)

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

Your testimony is what you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. It is a powerful force that can overcome whatever obstacle you may face. That is what Jesus taught His disciples:

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (Mark 11:23)

The Greek word behind “confess” is homologeo and literally means “to say the same thing.” It is about coming into agreement with something? What are we to come into agreement with? The Word of God. Whatever the Word says about something, that is what we are to say. When you believe the Word of God in your heart and confess it with your mouth, it becomes the word of your testimony.

Here are some confessions you can make to come into agreement with the Word of God:

• The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want [be in lack]. (Psalm 23:1)
• The LORD is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust. (Psalm 91:2)
• He forgives all my iniquities and heals and my diseases. (Psalm 103:3)
• He delivers my life from destruction and surrounds me with lovingkindness and tender mercies. (Psalm 103:4)
• He satisfies my desires with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:5)
• With long life He will satisfy me, and show me His salvation. (Psalm 91:16)
• Jesus bore all my sicknesses and pains, and by His stripes I am healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)
• I am accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)
• My God shall supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)
• In all these things I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ, who loves me and has given Himself for me. (Romans 8:37)
• Nothing shall be able to separate me from the love God has for me and has demonstrated for me in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:39)
  

These are just a few of the promises, but there are many other confessions you can make in agreement with the Word of God. In fact, whatever your circumstance, whatever your need, God has already spoken a promise and made a provision that covers it. It’s all in the Word.

What is the word of your testimony? Is it based upon the finished work of Christ on the cross, and in agreement with the promises of God? Then today you are an overcomer.

Equal Parts, Love and Truth

And He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the quipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-15)

We must speak the truth in love. Both halves are equally necessary, equally important. Truth and love are equally divine: God is love (1 John 4:8); Jesus Christ is the truth (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13), and fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22).

Truth without love is nothing more than facts, data, information. It is just knowledge. The apostle Paul gave this assessment: “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1). On the other hand, love without truth is sentimental emotionalism. Paul wrote to the believers at Philippi, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10).

It is not enough to speak the truth. We must speak it in love, are we are not really speaking it at all. Likewise, it is not enough to speak in love. We must also speak the truth, or else we are not really walking in love.

When we speak the truth in love, it brings forth a maturity and a unity among the people of God. It builds up the body of Christ and reveals the “stature of the fullness of Christ” in us — everything of Him being made known in us.

The Goodness of Bold, Declarative Praise

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praise to You name, O Most High;
To declare You lovingkindness in the morning,
And your faithfulness every night.

(Psalm 92:1-2)

Let us consider goodness.
Three things come to mind:

• That which is good is good in its source, for that which is evil cannot produce that which is good.
• That which is good is good in its essence. God is able to bring forth good things in the midst of evil, but we should never call evil good because of it. We should always delineate between the two.
• That which is good is good in its effects. It brings forth good results, making the world a better place. It adds benefits and strengthens virtue. It increases beauty, bounty, and prosperity in the world.
  

What is it that the psalm writer is pronouncing as good? Giving thanks. It is good to give thanks to the LORD. The Hebrew word translated “give thanks” is yada. Literally, it means to use the hand, as to throw. But it is used as a term of worship. Think of it as throwing praise and worship toward the Lord in grateful recognition.

The psalm writer is not talking about passive acknowledgement. He is talking about standing up and making bold declaration. What is that declaration? The lovingkindness and faithfulness of the Lord. This is the steadfast covenant love and mercy, and complete trustworthiness of our God.

It is a good thing to worship the Lord, to boldly declare His love and faithfulness. It comes from a good place and brings good results, magnifying the goodness of God on the earth.

The Kingdom of God is Now Here

From the very beginning, and throughout His ministry, Jesus preached about the kingdom of God, that it was now present. After His baptism, and the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). In Mark’s Gospel, we read:

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

To say that the kingdom is “at hand” is to say that it is now here. The appropriate response it to repent and believe, to receive it by faith. This was the message He was sent to preach. “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Luke 4:43).

When Jesus sent His disciples out, He sent them out to heal sicknesses, cast out demons, and to preach. What were they to preach? The kingdom of God:

Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 10:8-10).

The miracles and acts of deliverance were signs that the kingdom of God was present in their midst. Later in Luke’s Gospel, when He was accused of casting demons by the power of the devil, Jesus replied, “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).

Jesus described the kingdom of God as a seed:

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the lest of all the seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in the branches. (Matthew 13:31-32)

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened. (Matthew 13:33)

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-27)

To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is small than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade. (Mark 4:30-32)

The kingdom of God starts out as a seed that is sown, then it takes root and begins to grow, continually expanding. It becomes a tree shooting out large branches and starts to bear fruit. The fruit ripens and is harvested. That is how it is with the kingdom of God, and with everything that is sown into the kingdom. In another place, Jesus said,

Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not received a hundredfold now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30)

Jesus is describing an exponential growth of the kingdom of God. Notice that it is “now in this time,” as well as in the life to come. Surprisingly, many Christians overlook the magnificent expansion of the kingdom “now in this time” and see only the persecutions.

Now, the gospel Jesus is talking about is the gospel of the kingdom of God, for that is the gospel He preached:

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Matthew 9:35)

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

The kingdom of God has been growing and expanding ever since Jesus came into the world. Jesus said,

Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:11-12)

The NIV has this as, “The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it.” The kingdom of God is not in retreat; it is forcefully advancing, moving forward in a powerful way, becoming more and more what Jesus often described it as becoming.

The kingdom of God is here and now and is continually growing and expanding. We lay hold of this kingdom by faith in Jesus Christ, who has “delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13). The old kingdom of the present age, and the god of this age are passing way. The new kingdom, the kingdom of God, is advancing and increasing. The apostle John said, “Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).

This forcefully advancing kingdom is present within everyone who believes in Jesus Christ: “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:2-21).

It does not come militarily or politically. It is not marked on a map; nor can it be geographically contained. The kingdom of God is much more pervasive than that. It is within the people of God, and everywhere they go, that is where the kingdom is. Wherever Jesus is preached and the works of Jesus are being done, the kingdom is in manifestation. God is bringing it forth through His people.

The kingdom of God is not a symbolic kingdom, or a figurative one. It is a real kingdom — the dominion of the King, the rule and reign of God. It is here in this world and now in this time. It has not yet become all that it is going to become, but it has already begun. The seed has been planted and has been growing for two thousand years.

Earth Shall Yield Her Increase

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
  Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
  God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us,
  And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

(Psalm 67:5-7)

When God shows His mercy and blessing to His people, it reveals the glory of His salvation to the world and causes the nations to be glad, bringing forth praise to His name (see A Revelation of Jesus to the Nations and Governing the Nations). When that happens it causes the earth to release its increase, its fruitfulness, its wealth. The praise of God brings forth the prosperity of the earth. It is as the apostle Paul said:

For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:18-22)

This revelation has already begun, for Jesus has come to destroy the works of the devil, through His death, burial and resurrection, and has ascended to His throne in heaven, where He rules and reigns forever.

So why don’t we see this happening more? Why don’t we see the nations giving praise to God, and the earth yielding its increase?

The problem is that there are very many of God’s people who do not embrace this revelation and walk in its truth. Many have simply not been taught about it and discipled in it. There are also others who even argue against it, believing that it is not for this life at all, but only for the next. So the glory of God remains largely hidden upon the earth.

But the plans and purposes of God shall be fulfilled. The blessing shall be seen, the glory of God shall be revealed. The nations shall praise, and the earth shall be aligned with the will of God and bring forth her wealth.

God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. (vv. 6-7)

The psalm writer ends with the confidence that his request shall be fulfilled. Our God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall stand in awe of Him.

God be merciful to us and bless, and cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.

Governing the Nations

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
  Let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
  And govern the nations on earth.

(Psalm 67:3-4)

When God shows His mercy and blessing to His people, it blesses all the nations of the world with a revelation of His salvation (Psalm 67:1-2; see A Revelation of Jesus to the Nations).

When His “salvation” (Hebrew yeshuah — in name form, the Hebrew word for Jesus) is made known to the nations, because of His blessing on us, it causes the people of the world to praise Him with joy and gladness. For it is a sign that God is coming to judge the people righteously (fairly and equitably). That is, He is coming to set things right. He is coming to govern the nations, to lead and guide them into the place of blessing.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17)

For unto us a Child is born,
  Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
  And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
  There will be no end.

(Isaiah 9:6-7)

The judgment of God does not come to condemn or destroy the nations, but to lead them into salvation, healing and prosperity, through faith in His Yeshua. It is the invitation of Psalm 2. Though the nations rage and plot against the LORD and His Messiah in vv. 1-3, still, He invites them into a redeeming relationship with Him:

Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
  Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
  And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
  And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
  Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

(Psalm 2:10-12)

When God’s people learn how to walk in the favor and blessing of the Lord, and give Him all the glory, it becomes a powerful witness to the nations of the world — the hope of peace and righteousness being established.

A Revelation of Jesus to the Nations

God be merciful to us and bless us,
  And cause His face to shine upon us,
That Your way may be known on earth
  Your salvation among all nations.

(Psalm 67:1-2)

Psalm 67 is a prayer calling on God, not only for blessing, but for His name to be honored all over the world. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray to the Father, “Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That is, “Cause Your name to be recognized and honored on earth, among all the nations, just as it is in heaven.”

When God is merciful to us, blesses us and causes His face to shine on us, it is a revelation of His salvation to all the nations of the earth. The Hebrew word used here for “mercy” means to bend or stoop, as a father might bend down to show kindness or favor to his child. Blessing is a divine endowment, benefit or empowerment, an impartation of the resources of heaven.

The face of God shining on us is the revelation of His glory in our lives. It is a manifestation of His gracious favor: “For the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). As God imparts His mercy and blessing, so He imparts His glory, and we are lit up by the manifestation of His presence in our lives.

The revelation of the salvation of the LORD is a revelation of Jesus. The Hebrew word for “salvation” here is yeshuah. The King James Version translates it as “saving health.” Elsewhere it is rendered at “welfare,” “help,” “health,” and “deliverance.” Some versions even translate it, in some places, as “prosperity.” Used as a name, it is Yeshua, the Hebrew name translated in the New Testament as “Jesus.”

When God shows His favor and mercy to us, and blesses us, and causes His glory to shine on us, it not only benefits us, but becomes a revelation of Yeshua — of Jesus — to the nations of the earth. It shows that He is a God who saves, heals, delivers, helps, and prospers all those who trust in Him.

Our High Tower

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah.

(Psalm 46:1-3)

When God is our refuge, there is no need for fear. Not even if the whole earth were destroyed and every mountain submerged in the deepest oceans. Nor in the midst of great tsunamis and monumental earthquakes.

God is our shelter, our strength, our security. He is the cause of our boldness, our confidence. He is a very present help. The margin note in the NKJV says, “abundantly available help.” The Hebrew words show that God is more than ready to move on our behalf, vehemently, speedily and wholly. He greatly desires to help us with all that belongs to Him. Especially in the time of trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear.

The psalm writer has “done the math,” and concluded that, regardless of whatever happens in the world, or even to the world, there is no reason for fear. He has stepped into the revelation of the love of God, for God is love, and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). If we have fear, it only means that we need to know more of His love.

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

(Psalm 46:4-6)

Literally, the “city of God” refers to Jerusalem, the place where God specifically manifested the of His presence. It was holy because it was set apart as the place where the glory of the Most High dwelt on earth. But now, everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in them. We are the living temple of the Living God.

There has never been a literal river that flows through Jerusalem. The river the psalmwriter has in mind is a river of God’s mercy and favor. It is a river of revival, like the one in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 47), bringing life and healing to the people of God. It is a river that everyone who thirsts may come and drink (Isaiah 55). It is the river of living water Jesus spoke about, which would come forth from our innermost being — a river of the Holy Spirit.

There is a holy city, and the river of God runs through it. God is in the midst of her, therefore, she shall not be moved. There is no shaking or falling or crumbling in this city; God is instantly there to “help” — the Hebrew word means to surround and protect. For this is the city of God, a city of heaven, the kingdom of God now breaking into the world.

Nations and kingdoms may rage against it, but it is they who will be moved, not the kingdom of God. For God utters a sound, and their foundations disintegrate. He speaks a word, and their evil works are destroyed. In “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” based on this psalm, Martin Luther identifies this word as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Word.

The LORD of Hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

(Psalm 46:7)

This is a very bold and powerful declaration of our position in God: Yahweh Sabaoth, the LORD of Hosts is with us! Yahweh, signified in our English Bibles by “LORD” (all caps) is the name by which God reveals Himself in covenant. His “hosts” are all the angels and armies of heaven. God has made covenant with us, and all of heaven is on our side!

“The God of Jacob” is another reference to covenant, the one God made with Abraham, confirmed to Isaac, and then to Jacob. He is our “refuge,” our high fortress, which is totally beyond the reach of the enemy. He is our strong and high tower. In fact, that is how the Jewish Publication Society Bible renders it: “The God of Jacob is our high tower.”

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

(Psalm 46:8-10)

Get big picture of what God is doing. As His kingdom breaks into the world more and more, and His will is being done more and more on earth as it is in heaven, the enemies of God will be undermined and their wicked works destroyed. Hostilities will cease, and the implements of war will be useless.

We have not yet send that day. But we will when we cease from our own striving and understand that this is all about God and His glory. Then He will be exalted among all the nations of the earth.

The LORD of Hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

(Psalm 46:11)

So the psalm writer ends with the repetition of his theme: God and all of heaven is with us; He is our high tower.

Five years ago, Islamic terrorists tried to cast the world into fear. But it will not stand, for God is love, and love casts out fear. Today, as we remember the fallen towers of 9/11, let not your heart be troubled. Quiet your heart and know that the Lord is God. Give Him glory, and put your trust in Him. For He is your strong and high tower which can never be toppled.

Crushing Satan

And the God of peace will crush satan under your feet shortly. (Romans 16:20)

Wow! Imagine satan crushed under your feet. That is what God is doing. That is why Jesus came: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). The Greek word for “destroy” means to break up, to loose and put off, to dissolve and disintegrate, even to melt. It is thorough, complete and irrevocable. It was the anointing of the Anointed One is for, to completely remove the burden and utterly destroy the yoke (Isaiah 10:27).

This was God’s plan from the beginning, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God. He gave this promise, which is known as the protoevangelium, the first mention of the gospel (“good news”): God said to the serpent (satan), “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed [Jesus Christ]; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

In the movie The Passion of the Christ, this is graphically portrayed in the first scene, where Jesus is shown praying in the garden of Gethsemane: A snake slithers out from the robes of the satan figure — and Jesus abruptly crushes its head under His foot. That is what happened at Calvary; satan got Jesus up on the cross, right where he wanted Him, but it turned out to be the death blow for satan — Jesus crushed his head!

How did that happen? Because it was not for Himself that Jesus died — it was for us:

Surely He has borne our griefs [literally, sicknesses]
And carried our sorrows [literally, pains]
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted [as if on His own account]
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53:4-6)

The wounds and bruises with which satan wanted to afflict Jesus were for our benefit. Jesus endured the chastisement that rightfully belonged to us, and in its place, He gave us His peace. The Hebrew word for “peace,” shalom, refers to wholeness — nothing missing, nothing broken.

Notice in Romans 16:20, it is the God of peace who crushes satan under our feet. That might seem to be a disjunction; what does peace have to do with crushing? But that is exactly how God has given us His peace — Jesus crushed the head of the evil one and destroyed all his works. The work of the devil is to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give us His peace, the life of God in abundance (John 10:10).

If Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, then why are they still around today? Because God is not only doing a work in and for His people, He is doing a work through His people. Jesus has delivered the death blow to satan and all his works, but He has given His people the authority and power to enforce that victory over the adversary:

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

Jesus has not only given us authority, but power also, just as He promised: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). This is the same power by which Jesus performed all His miracles and destroyed the works of the devil: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth wit the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). The broken power of the devil is no match against the power of the Holy Spirit.

The power of death, the last enemy, was broken when God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit:

Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to com. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-22)

God raised Jesus from the dead. Forty days later, Jesus ascended to His throne in heaven, where rules and reigns forever. All things have been placed under His feet, his authority. The devil and his works have been destroyed — dealt the death blow — though it has not fully manifested on earth as it is in heaven. For we are living between the time of the cross and the end of this present evil age:

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all things under His feet. (1 Corinthians 15:24-25)

God has put all things under Jesus’ feet; God is putting all things under Jesus’ feet. It is not a contradiction, for what God has already done in the spiritual realm is now being worked out in the natural; what He has already perfected in heaven is now being brought forth on the earth. We are living in the time of that outworking. Indeed, we are a part of that outworking, just as Jesus authorized us to bind and loose on earth what is already bound and loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18), and to pray, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven!” (Matthew 6:10).

God is crushing satan under our feet. He has given us authority to trample on the power and works of the enemy. Just as these things are under the feet of Jesus, they are under our feet as well. For we are His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (see The Fullness of Him Who Fills). Not only that, but the Bible says that, just as Jesus is seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of the Father, we are also seated there in Him. God has “made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6).

God is putting all things under the feet of Jesus, and you and I get to be a part of that victory. As believers in Jesus, we no longer have to listen to the lies and accusations of the devil, and be subject to his power, for that power has been broken and has no authority, and no ability, to rule over us. We are part of the body of Christ. We are now part of that fullness which fills all in all. God is crushing satan under our feet, and that is the outworking of His peace, His shalom, in the world.

The Heart/Mouth Connection

You have tested my heart;
You have visited me in the night;
You have tried me and have found nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

(Psalm 17:3)

There is a very important spiritual connection between your heart and your mouth. Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). Whatever is in your heart in abundance, that is what is going to come out of your mouth, especially when the heat is on.

Jesus also taught His disciples, “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23). Here, we see the heart represented by what we believe, and the mouth by what we say.

The apostle Paul recognized the importance of the heart/mouth connection. Quoting from Deuteronomy 30:14, he says this:

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:8-10)

The reason the heart/mouth connection is so important is because that is how faith works, and without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). With the heart, we believe; with the mouth, we confess — and that greatly pleases God.

So David says to the Lord, “You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Here is how other versions render it:

The Hebrew word for “tried” literally means to fuse, as a metal, and refers to a refining process, such as that of a goldsmith. When God visits you and examines your hearts, is not in order to condemn you, but to refine you. It is not just about what He finds in you, but also about He removes from you, and what He fuses into you.

This is a 24/7 process. Much of it takes place in the night, while we are on our beds, and our hearts are more receptive. Of the righteous man, it is said, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2). David said, “I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night season” (Psalms 16:7). That is why Clement of Alexandria could say, “For the saints, even their slumber is prayer.” The counsel of the Lord speaks to our hearts, even at night, and our hearts instruct us. God visits and refines us.

“I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” When we let the Lord do His refining work in us, our hearts become filled with His purpose, and His purpose becomes our purpose. When that purpose fills our heart in abundance, it will overflow from our lips and our mouths will speak the purposes of God.

When your heart is lined up with the heart of the Father, the words of your mouth will have a powerful, life-giving quality that floods you with light. When the words of your mouth line up with the Word of God in your heart, they will bring forth an explosion of faith that changes the world. What have your purposed in your heart?

(See also, My Mouth Shall Not Transgress and His Words, Your Mouth)

Commanding the Hand of God

Here are some notes from my study file on what Isaiah 45:11 means concerning commanding the hand of the LORD.

Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.” (Isaiah 45:11 NKJV)

But there are also a few other renderings of this text. The New American Standard Bible has:

Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask Me the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.”

The New International Version reads:

This is what the LORD says — the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: “Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?”

This reading is favored by the Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, The Message, and the Bible in Basic English.

In addition to the New King James Version, the first translation, at the top, is also supported by the King James Version, the Jewish Publication Society Bible, Young’s Literal Translation, the Darby Bible, the Revised Version, Webster’s Bible Translation, the American Standard Version, and the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

There are also standard commentaries that support this rendering. Notice how they address the issue of commanding the hand of God:

It seems to me, however, that the word “command” is here to be taken rather as indicating the privilege of his people to present their desires in the language of fervent and respectful petition; and that God here indicates that he would, so to speak, allow them to direct him; that he would hear their prayers, and would conform the events of his administration to their wishes and their welfare. This is the most obvious interpretation; and this will perhaps suit the connection as well as any other. Instead of complaining, and opposing his administration, it was their privilege to come before him and spread out their needs, and even to give direction in regard to future events, so far as the events of his administration would bear on them, and he would meet their desires. Thus interpreted, it accords with the numerous passages of the Bible which command us to pray; and with the promises of God that he will lend a listening ear to our cries. (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible)

Instead of murmuring, humble yourselves and ask what you will for the consolation of my children, and you will be sure of it as you are of these things which are at your command. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)

These words are not spoken to idolaters, or the idolatrous Jews, or those of them that were inclined to idolatry; directing them to ask of the Lord, and not of their idols, things to come, which they were not able to show, and to seek to him for, and insist upon the performance of his promises to them, his children, and creatures; but to the spiritual Israel of God, as the preface shows, directing them to inquire after things future, concerning his children and people, especially among the Gentiles, whom the carnal Jews despised; and to expect, and believe, and even, as it were, demand the performance of them, being promised and prophesied of ... The Lord not only allows his people to put him in remembrance of his promises and prophecies, but to plead for, and, as it were, require the performance of them; and so the words are an encouragement to the importunate prayer of faith. Faith in prayer has great power with God, a kind of command over him; it holds him to his word; it will not let him go without the blessing; nor let him alone till he has made good his promise; nor give him any rest, day nor night, till he has fulfilled the things to come concerning his sons. (John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Instead of striving with Me in regard to My purposes, your wisdom is in prayer to ask, and even command Me, in so far as it is for My glory, and for your real good. (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary)

They are invited to enquire concerning the issue of their troubles. The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, though he does not allow them to strive with him, yet encourages them, 1. To consult his word: “Ask of me things to come; have recourse to the prophets and their prophecies, and see what they say concerning these things. Ask the watchmen, What of the night? Ask them, How long?” Things to come, as far as they are revealed, belong to us and to our children, and we must not be strangers to them. 2. To seek unto him by prayer: “Concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, which as becomes them submit to the will of their Father, the will of their potter, ‘command you me,’ not by way of prescription, but by way of petition. Be earnest in your requests, and confident in your expectations, as far as both are guided by and grounded upon the promise.” We may not strive with our Maker by passionate complaints, but we may wrestle with him by faithful and fervent prayer. (Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible)

(See also “Ask Me, Command Me,” Says the LORD and Reminding God)