Out with the Old, In with the New Covenant of Peace
Greetings in the Lord!
Well, here it is, 2017, and only 6 days from Trump's inauguration as President of the United States. However, you feel about that, let me assure you, the will of God came to pass. God does not guarantee that we will agree with all that HE determines, yet a spirit sensitive and submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit would have recognized the need for a change in leadership in this country anyway. We had a leadership that lied to us, took advantage of us, caused serious problems near and far, and did all of this under the cloak of smooth talk and devious deception. My father would say this was "Chicago politics," but I digress.
Anyway, our Heavenly Father has a word for us today that should be of some encouragement. It is based on the passage in Ezekiel 34. It is a word that directly addressed the leadership of Israel back in their day. The Lord chastised severely those in leadership that fed only themselves and took the best of the land, but did not take care of the flock they were entrusted with. In fact, they oppressed and ignored the needs of the people and hunted down their opponents and ate them for lunch, so to speak.
"You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled over them harshly and brutally. So they [the sheep] were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched for them." [Ezk. 34:4-6] Boy, is there a lot in those verses!
First, the scattering can have several meanings but one is a leaving of the faith. With no shepherd to model and continue to uphold the precepts of God, the people are prone to seek other 'high hills' in which to graze and put their trust--which becomes idolatry. This then, opens the door to the 'wild beasts' reference, which can also mean demons, as that is what is drawn to idolatry. People become enslaved to the things they worship and are devoured by it. Next, the sheep scatter looking for nourishment and food, i.e. economically they begin to seek jobs elsewhere and may even be susceptible to or embrace an 'immoral' economy--drugs, theft, prostitution, what have you, just to make ends meet. Lastly, the scattering can be a wandering through life--purposeless, confusion, depression, a mad-at-the-world mentality that leads many people to simply get lost. Needless to say, homelessness, suicide, mental illness, all sorts of violence goes on the upswing when people feel lost or like they have no value or purpose. It truly is amazing how fast a society can go to pot with bad and ungodly leadership modeling or propagating a belief system which is antagonistic to God's ways.
Now when I say that, Obama supporters get angry and anti-Trump people even more so, but truth be told, if any leader does not follow and revere God's precepts in their life and lives to follow their own appetites, the people under their care will suffer in some way. Being a leader of a country just has so much influence over a nation, I think we often overlook that or are not aware of it. It has spiritual ramifications as well. For example, when a nation's leader signs a law into being, it can have a spiritual effect. When laws are passed that contradict God's word blatantly--like gay marriage--it is a breaking of God's Covenant with us as His people. Legally we move from blessings to curses and only God's grace can override that, no matter how I feel about the subject of homosexuality!
Anyway, the word from Ezekiel 34 goes on to say that God Himself would be removing the bad leadership and would continue to judge between the fat and lean sheep, and rams and goats. That basically says that all of the nation would be examined by God and He would begin to restore and put an end to the infighting, hatred and jealousy at every level in society--a kind of divine ripple down effect, I suppose.
"Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: See, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save My flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken." [V, 20-24]
I shared back in March of 2016 of my vision with Trump--I anointed him "king" and gave a word of the Lord to him about trusting in God and he would be safe and prosper. In my heart, I felt like Trump didn't yet know the Lord but that through his many trials he would become a praying man of God. Well, none of us can account for his prayer life, but we see daily of his many enemies attacking and slandering him. That would drive me to my knees, too--ha! So, in Jesus' name, I bless Donald J. Trump and this nation of ours.
Finally, in verse 25, God promises to make a 'covenant of peace' with the nation so that they may live in security and have rest from their enemies. The Lord will break the yokes off of their shoulders and remove the wild beasts from the land, and He will cause the rain to come and crops to grow. Amen! In 2017, let the Lord confirm His word in a mighty way before us, Amen.
~Be blessed and be a blessing
Well, here it is, 2017, and only 6 days from Trump's inauguration as President of the United States. However, you feel about that, let me assure you, the will of God came to pass. God does not guarantee that we will agree with all that HE determines, yet a spirit sensitive and submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit would have recognized the need for a change in leadership in this country anyway. We had a leadership that lied to us, took advantage of us, caused serious problems near and far, and did all of this under the cloak of smooth talk and devious deception. My father would say this was "Chicago politics," but I digress.
Anyway, our Heavenly Father has a word for us today that should be of some encouragement. It is based on the passage in Ezekiel 34. It is a word that directly addressed the leadership of Israel back in their day. The Lord chastised severely those in leadership that fed only themselves and took the best of the land, but did not take care of the flock they were entrusted with. In fact, they oppressed and ignored the needs of the people and hunted down their opponents and ate them for lunch, so to speak.
"You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled over them harshly and brutally. So they [the sheep] were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched for them." [Ezk. 34:4-6] Boy, is there a lot in those verses!
First, the scattering can have several meanings but one is a leaving of the faith. With no shepherd to model and continue to uphold the precepts of God, the people are prone to seek other 'high hills' in which to graze and put their trust--which becomes idolatry. This then, opens the door to the 'wild beasts' reference, which can also mean demons, as that is what is drawn to idolatry. People become enslaved to the things they worship and are devoured by it. Next, the sheep scatter looking for nourishment and food, i.e. economically they begin to seek jobs elsewhere and may even be susceptible to or embrace an 'immoral' economy--drugs, theft, prostitution, what have you, just to make ends meet. Lastly, the scattering can be a wandering through life--purposeless, confusion, depression, a mad-at-the-world mentality that leads many people to simply get lost. Needless to say, homelessness, suicide, mental illness, all sorts of violence goes on the upswing when people feel lost or like they have no value or purpose. It truly is amazing how fast a society can go to pot with bad and ungodly leadership modeling or propagating a belief system which is antagonistic to God's ways.
Now when I say that, Obama supporters get angry and anti-Trump people even more so, but truth be told, if any leader does not follow and revere God's precepts in their life and lives to follow their own appetites, the people under their care will suffer in some way. Being a leader of a country just has so much influence over a nation, I think we often overlook that or are not aware of it. It has spiritual ramifications as well. For example, when a nation's leader signs a law into being, it can have a spiritual effect. When laws are passed that contradict God's word blatantly--like gay marriage--it is a breaking of God's Covenant with us as His people. Legally we move from blessings to curses and only God's grace can override that, no matter how I feel about the subject of homosexuality!
Anyway, the word from Ezekiel 34 goes on to say that God Himself would be removing the bad leadership and would continue to judge between the fat and lean sheep, and rams and goats. That basically says that all of the nation would be examined by God and He would begin to restore and put an end to the infighting, hatred and jealousy at every level in society--a kind of divine ripple down effect, I suppose.
"Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: See, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save My flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken." [V, 20-24]
I shared back in March of 2016 of my vision with Trump--I anointed him "king" and gave a word of the Lord to him about trusting in God and he would be safe and prosper. In my heart, I felt like Trump didn't yet know the Lord but that through his many trials he would become a praying man of God. Well, none of us can account for his prayer life, but we see daily of his many enemies attacking and slandering him. That would drive me to my knees, too--ha! So, in Jesus' name, I bless Donald J. Trump and this nation of ours.
Finally, in verse 25, God promises to make a 'covenant of peace' with the nation so that they may live in security and have rest from their enemies. The Lord will break the yokes off of their shoulders and remove the wild beasts from the land, and He will cause the rain to come and crops to grow. Amen! In 2017, let the Lord confirm His word in a mighty way before us, Amen.
~Be blessed and be a blessing
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