"Remember
the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded
him in Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. "He will restore
the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to
their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."
(Malachi 4:4-6 NASB)
This is as we have stated multiple
times, a key scripture to live our lives from in these days prior to the day
known in scripture as the :great and terrible day of the Lord. There are 2 key components here:
1.
Remember Torah.
2. Prophetic-led restoration of hearts focused primarily on the
generations.
We spoke a few weeks back about remembering
in connection with the Feast of Yom Teruah.
Remembering is greatly affected by offense. When we get offended, we re-interpret reality
in the past, by the offense. What mostly
disappears is thankfulness. Instead our
mechanisms of self-protection gather evidence that twists our “knowing” of
another. We experience identity collapse
and another idolatrous image appears.
This vain imagination is a twisted re-presentation of the “offender”
through our pain and the attending lies of the kingdom of darkness.
The Hebrew word iniquity, “avon” is
described by this twisting reality: the word is a picture of a twisted
rope. There is a strength that is added
to the distortions made by twisting or bending away from the light or the
truth. Just like the truth is built
precept upon precept, deception is also built lie upon lie, a twisting of
reality based on a wound, an offense.
Look with me at Isaiah 28: 5-18
In that day
the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the
remnant of his people, and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and
strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
This is an end time condition. There will be a remnant of God’s people.
There will be a battle at the gate.
Which gate? The gate of
judgment. In biblical culture, the gate
is the place of hospitality. Judges sat
in the gate and determined who could come in as part of covenant community and
also who was friend or foe. This
requires a pure spirit of justice. Read
on:
These also
reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel
with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision, and they stumble in
giving judgment. For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space
left. (there is a perversion of the prophetic and priestly roles, which closes
the gates of hospitality) "To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom
will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken
from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line
upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." For by people
of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people,
to whom he has said, "This is rest;
give rest to the weary; and this is repose"; yet they would not hear.
You see, there is a place of rest
but it requires the truth. It requires
love and hospitality. Torah is not only
about loving God and keeping His commandments.
Torah is also about a heart that is free to love our neighbors.
And the word of the LORD will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be
broken, and snared, and taken. Therefore hear
the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem!
Because you have said, "We have
made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the
overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken
shelter";
I know this sounds a little
strange, bible-speak, but remember the kingdom of God is within you and is
expressed around you. When we take
refuge in lies, or if you rather distort how we think about one another based
on our hurts and reinterpretation of the past, we shrink our world and death
becomes a covenant partner. In other
words, we give our time, resources, and life energy to the one we are in
partnership with. When lies enter into
our thinking about each other then, begin to avoid each other. We become dead to one another. Instead of the life of God flowing between
us, the death flows between us. This is
anti-Christ.
therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
"Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a
tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: 'Whoever believes
will not be in haste.' And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the
plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will
overwhelm the shelter." Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge
passes through, you will be beaten down by it. (Isaiah 28:5-18)
Yeshua is our cornerstone. Yeshua came not only that we would be
forgiven and go to heaven. He came to
break the covenant with death. This is
the remembering of Torah of Moshe. You
see Torah isn’t just about keeping Shabbat or keeping the Feasts or even just
about Israel and her redemption. That is
Torah but NOT all of it or perhaps not even the most important part. I won’t debate that. Torah is also about loving our neighbors as
ourselves. Look with me at Mark
12:28-34:
One of the scribes came and
heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him,
"What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The
foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE
THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL
YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than
these." The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly
stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM
WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH,
AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings
and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He
said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that,
no one would venture to ask Him any more questions. (Mark 12:28-34 NASB)
The second part of Malachi’s end tome prophecy relates to
Elijah and the healing of generations.
This is a prophetic anointing, a hearing of God specifically targeted at
healing wounds in our hearts from the primary agents of blessing in our lives,
father and mother. Of all of the sources
of pain and deception that impact our lives, the parental wounds are the most
impactful. These affect our destiny, our
inheritance, our stewardship in God’s kingdom.
Malachi tells us that if we don’t get this right our land is cursed. Look at Ephesians 6:1-4
Children, obey your parents
in the Lord, for this is right. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the
first commandment with a promise), SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT
YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians
6:1-4 NASB).
Generational iniquity, the twisting of the image and likeness
of God in our parents or in our children brings about devastation. This sets up a kingdom of lies in a covenant
with the father of lies who brings about death, death of dreams, death of
relationships, death of inheritance.
Both parents and children need to realize that we are living in a broken
world with a broken image of who God is and who we are. It will take great humility and the leading
of the Holy Spirit to change this. Even
if we were to manage a change on a small personal level with just discipline,
we still have the bigger picture as ambassadors to impact our culture.
This is why the Lord used Elijah as the intercessor. Elijah brings the power of prayer, prophetic
prayer to the picture and confronts the strongholds of Jezebel and Baal
directly. You see Jezebel was all about
mind control, head-trips.
(There was none who sold himself to do
what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife
incited. (1 Kings 21:25)
We live in a Jezebel Ahab time period. It is going to take the Elijah anointing to
turn the hearts back to the Lord and to each other.
So, how do we enter into that anointing? Charles spoke to us about the salt covenant
last week and being the salt. This is
the friendship covenant. He spoke about
coming into the place of love. We know
we need to repent to enter into the Kingdom.
But how do we access it over and over?
To answer that let’s look at Philippians
4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will
say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
First and foremost we need to learn to rejoice in the
Lord! When we abandon ourselves to Him,
it releases us from some degree of self consciousness. We cannot be rejoicing over Him and worrying
about our own self protection at the same time.
Next our gentle spirit needs to be how we are known by all
men. This word gives the impression of
an unwillingness to judge, an attitude of bearing with another’s weaknesses. This is
said to give another testimony of the nearness of the Lord!
Anxiety is a root of much separation. We disconnect when we become anxious. The Elijah anointing brings us instead into
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
Elijah was a man with a nature like
ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on
the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky
poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:17-18).
The Elijah mantle that is released in the last days is about
restoration generationally. Yet the
methodology is a type of prevailing prayer.
The result is a peace or a state of shalom which actually becomes the
protection that our hearts and minds need that the lies of self protection were
counterfeiting. Our heart and our minds
need to be open to work correctly. A
closed heart is a hardened heart. A
closed mind is a rigid mind unable to see outside of a fixed perspective. Together they make up what we call the
religious spirit. As we learn to truly
pray, to ask God to give us His perspective and His desires, we discover that
we begin to see life completely differently.
Now, we can enter into Philippians 4:8-9.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and
heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with
you. (Philippians 4:8-9 NASB).
This is actually a restoration of relationships that brings
about the blessing. In focussing our
hearts and minds of what is true and honorable, right and pure, the things of a
good reputation and worthy of praise, we attract the God of Peace into our
lives. I suggest that we should begin
now by an activation.
Elijah Restoration Activation
The purpose of this prophetic activation is to draw a believer
into the reality of the blessing out of the curse.
"I call heaven and earth to witness
against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and
the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
(Deuteronomy 30:19 NASB)
Explanation: Since we are in many
ways who we remember ourselves as, it is in remembrance that freedom or bondage
can control our lives. The kingdom of
darkness works primarily through iniquity, the twisting of reality. The Hebrew word used for night in the Bible
is: Laila. It comes from the word picture of a spiral staircase which turns one
away from the light. What we want to
recover in this activation is righteousness in our soul. Our spirit has already been made righteous by
the Blood of Yeshua. Yet our soul is in
the process of sanctification. The goal,
as I see it, is to be spirit-led in our soul and live the life of liberty.
We are going to press in for a word from
the throne that reveals where we have knowingly or unknowingly entered into a
covenant with death. This is place where
a lie has become our point of agreement.
We are going to ask the Lord to reveal to us the truth in the matter and
allow the spirit of Elijah to turn our hearts to the Father and all others as
well.
Pray after me: Father, I am a blood washed child of
yours. Father, in You I live and move
and have my being. Your Spirit is the
truth spirit and I know that above any thing else You will give me your spirit,
your truth when I ask. Father reveal to
me any place where I have made a covenant with death, where I have allowed a
lie to determine my reality.
Good. Now allow the Lord to show you
where the intruder is. As the Lord is
revealing to you what He is showing you just accept it as what He wants to deal
with now. Now ask Him what the unGodly
agreement is.
OK. Now let's rescind that
agreement. Break it in Yeshua's name!
Now, let's fill the void with a covenant
agreement of life, of blessing. Ask the
Lord to tell you a truth that will be the new covenant of His Torah written in
your heart.
As you hear, receive and declare the
following out loud!
I have heard you, Father. You are my Lord. You alone are my God! I commit to loving you with ALL of my heart,
soul and body. I commit to loving my
neighbor as myself!
Halleluyah
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For additional study about abiding in His love in the times we live in, obtain and read the book "Love versus Law, or BOTH!" by David Mitts.
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