Lot’s wife

 

Her story can be read in Genesis 19. We all know her sad end. The Bible tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah had become ​​so abominable in the sight of the LORD that He decided to destroy them. Habakkuk reminds us indeed that His eyes are too pure to see evil (1:13). In the case of Sodom, this evil was constantly displayed before His eyes: male homosexuality was rampant. The situation was so grave that the men of the city, young and old alike, were even about to sexually abuse the angels that God had sent to warn Lot of the danger which threatened the city (vs. 5)! Out of respect for hospitality which was still sacred at the time, Lot pleaded with them not to do it and even offered two of his daughters who were still virgins (vs. 8). According to the customs of biblical times, girls were married around 12-14 years of age. In other words, the situation was such that Lot was ready to deliver two young teenagers or pre-teens into the hands of evil men, thus condemning them to perpetual dishonour (or even death): they could have never married afterwards and would have had to wear a mark of their shame on them always.

The townspeople refused his proposal because they wanted “fresh meat”; then, furious that he had tried to stop them, they decided to rape him as well. The angels intervened and struck them all with blindness. They explained to Lot the purpose of their mission and advised him to take his family and all he could save from his precious belongings and leave the town. Lot spent the night vainly trying to convince his sons-in-law of the impending doom: the guys thought he was joking. So, the angels told him to leave with his wife and the two daughters who had just escaped a collective rape (vs. 14-15). They finally had to grab him by force to bring him out and set him outside of the city because he was lingering. He could not bear to leave without some members of his family. They told him: “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away” (vs. 17). As soon as Lot was safe in the city of Zoar, the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from heaven and totally destroyed them (vs. 24-25). This is when Lot’s wife unfortunately decided to turn and look back and was instantly changed into a pillar of salt (vs. 26). What are the lessons that we can draw from this story?

1) We really must be careful to be at the right place. Lot settled in Sodom because, at the time, the place looked like a garden of the LORD (Gen 13.10). He based his decision on the flesh. As a result of this bad choice, he lost his wife, some daughters, sons-in-law, and maybe some grandchildren. Because of this decision taken without the LORD, he will later find himself having an incestuous relation with his last two daughters and two incestuous sons/grandsons: Moab and Ben-ammi (vs. 30-38). These two children will be the fathers of two of Israel main enemies: the Moabites and Ammonites. All this happened because many years before the events, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen 3.6), a man who had neither the spiritual sight nor common sense, made a decision based on what had caught his eyes. We do not know how some of our present choices will affect our future and that of our children, but God knows; that’s why it is a lot wiser to seek Him/His advice. Are you at the right place? Are you about to partner with the right person (marriage, business, friendship etc.)?

2) When God has spoken, we must obey without looking back. Some people think that Lot’s wife turned back out of curiosity: “What is all this noise I hear in the distance about? What can possibly be going on there?” Or: “Did we really have to flee? Was the city actually destroyed?” It is indeed possible that like many women, the pangs of curiosity –ugly little sin- were stronger. However, I think that more than that, it is the maternal fibre which caused her to look back. Some of her daughters, fruits of her womb, had remained in Sodom. From afar, she may had heard all the terrifying noises and screams coming from there and wanted to look back and see if there was any hope that the whole city had not been destroyed and thence, her family had possibly been spared. If you know someone who lives in a place that has just been hit by a terrorist attack or a natural disaster, immediately you will want to hear from them to reassure yourself: it is only natural, and Mrs. Lot’s reaction was natural. But the situation here was not a natural one: God's judgment was falling down on people and to avoid being cursed with them, the order was clear: not to turn back. God wants to be obeyed and obeyed completely. He cannot care less that our excuse is that we wanted to behave as responsible and loving parents. When a child or a loved one refuses to obey God’s commandments in spite of everything we do or say and God is about to strike and punish them, we need to physically and emotionally step aside in spite of the love that we have for them, lest we perish together. We can continue to pray for them, but no other interference is acceptable. And sometimes, praying for them is even forbidden (Jer 7:16, 11:14 & 14:11). Lot had begged his sons-in-law (and thus his other daughters) all night. At dawn the angels literally had to force him out of the city for him not be destroyed along with her, because the physical separation was tough. His wife cut ties physically, but not emotionally: this killed her. Beware of soul ties; they can become powerful hinderers on the path of those who want to do God’s will. This is why Jesus said that we cannot come to Him and be His disciples, if we are not ready to hate our father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own life (Lk 14:26). Follow the LORD, move on, do not go back and do not look back.

God bless you with a fruitful week.

Are you at the right place?

 

It is written that there is a time for everything under the sun (Eccl 3); and I recently realised that there is actually a time and a place for everything. The time can be right; but if the place is not also right, what should be birthed may never be.

As you now know, my first book, Catalysts of Favour, is finally out. I was led to write it at the end of 2005. It was supposed to be a ‘two-hands’ piece. I finished writing my part early 2006 and began to wait for the other part which was supposed to be written by someone else. After more than a year of waiting and postponing, I reckoned that if I didn’t do it myself, there would never be any book. So, in 2008, I finished the first draft of the French manuscript. In 2009, I revised it and changed a few things, and it was ready for publication; but everything came to a halt. Today, I can say that there was like an invisible barrier stopping me from going any further. In December 2010, we left the country and territory where we had been living for a little more than 10 years and in January, the LORD asked me to write the English version and publish the two simultaneously. In October 2010, He had already told me to start doing everything in both languages and that’s why I have two versions of my blog. But I had always thought that I would publish my books in French and then, they would subsequently be translated in other languages by one editor or publisher.

In any case, I completed the translation in April 2011 using a bad software – the easy way–, and asked someone to proofread it. I had not re-read it myself. Months went by without me seeing anything coming; so I saw two other persons who agreed to do the job for me. One of them tried at least to proofread some 20-30 pages, but the other one, like the first, never mentioned the book again… In July 2011, I understood that once more, I had to do everything myself and started proofreading the English version of my own book. I have to say that I was amazed by the very poor job that I had done. It was as if I was sleeping while translating it; there were so many errors; these may have tired my proofreaders... I took a break between August and November 2011, to help somebody else publish their book –one has to sow- and resumed my proofreading work in January 2012. I completed the task in June 2012. The time for a few people to read, proofread and preface it, then the publishing process, and here it is, out at last! As I was looking back at this long journey three weeks ago, the Lord made ​​me understand that there is a time indeed, but also a place for the manifestation of certain things, of certain gifts of God.

The Bible speaks of territorial spirits: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Eph 6.12. Therefore, Daniel had to deal with the prince of Persia; except, it was not the king of Persia or any of his sons. It was the principality, the ruler of darkness, the demon that controlled Persia at the time. This spiritual entity did everything possible not to see the arrival of the blessing which God had sent to Daniel in response to his prayer. Fortunately, Daniel kept on praying and another spiritual entity, more powerful than the prince of Persia, the archangel Michael, intervened to help the blessing reach its destination. “Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.” (Dan 10:12-13; read the whole chapter 10.)

In order for me to publish my book in that country, the prince of the country who was resisting my breakthrough had to be neutralised first. Unfortunately, I was never aware of the true spiritual dimension of my blockade and so, I never prayed/warfared as I should have, if I had known it. My ignorance cost me many years: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6)…

Jesus was the Son of God; the embodiment and fullness of the Divinity; yet, he could not be born in Nazareth: His parents had to move. Bethlehem was the place where the heavens were opened enough for the Son of God to come to life. Joseph, Esther and Ruth could only fulfil their destiny in exile, far away from their homeland. John the Baptist could only minister in the desert...

When we speak of open heavens, we speak of an opening in the spiritual; we speak of a territory where spiritual entities that oppose your breakthrough, success, blessing, health etc., have no rule. It is a piece of territory which escapes the authority of certain princes and chiefs of darkness. It can be a house, an office, a neighbourhood, a city, a region, a country, or even a continent. Jacob found himself in such a place. He had to leave his father’s house in a rush, running away from his brother’s wrath. On his way, he got to a place where God appeared to him and he exclaimed himself (Gen 28.17): “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

When I finally arrived in the house of God, I also found the gate of heavens. The books that I long had inside of me can now ‘come to life’– Catalysts of Favour is the fifth that I have written; but the one that the LORD has asked me to publish first.

Are you at the right place - the right house, office, church, neighbourhood, town, area, country or continent? Some of the LORD’s promises will not be fulfilled; some of His blessings that you wait in prayers and fastings will not come as long as you stay in territories which are spiritually under the dominion of entities which are hostile to the manifestation of your gifts/what you have to offer.

It is by revelation that I received this message and it has not been easy to convey what I see and understand in my spirit. However, I do hope and pray that God will do the rest and that the Holy Spirit will help you grasp what I have tried to communicate.

Have a wonderblessed week under open heavens !

At loooonnng last....

My first book, Catalysts of Favour, is finally out!

If you have been blessed by this blog's postings, you will be even more blessed by the content of the book. I have been overwhelmed by the comments I have received so far from the proofreaders, foreworders and the few who have read it before publication (MS Word).

The paperback is available on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles. 

The eBook is available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Google eBooks and Sony.

Go to "MY BOOKS" and grab your copy. It is the new page under the header.

And, do not forget to share and spread the good news around.

God bless you!

Must-pray prayers of the New Testament VI

 

Paul's prayers for the Thessalonians

1Th 3.12-13, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

This prayer is close to those that Paul addressed in favour of the Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians. There is always this concern about the need to growth in love, stability in Christ and holiness/consecration. Maybe, instead of us spending our time praying for material things, we should rather spend more time praying and watching that we grow in love –the only criterium for recognising a Christian according to the LORD-, stay rooted in Him and are totally consecrated unto Him – holy.

1Th 5.23, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We know that Paul had a real burden for sanctification; and here, he seems to acknowledge that this will not be possible/easy unless God Himself comes to help them. He is the One who works both to will and to work in us (Phil 2:13). To think that we can do this by ourselves is sheer madness: the lonely one achieves nothing. In other words, we must pray God to grant us the grace to walk in holiness; without Him, we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5). Paul wants this transformation to affect their whole being: the spirit (the realm of thoughts), the soul (realm of will and feelings) and the body. His prayer is similar to that of John concerning Gaius: “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” All sorts of interpretations have been given of this verse. Till now, I had always understood that it meant that our material, financial, social, professional, and spiritual or more prosperity is directly proportional to the prosperity of our soul. In short, if your soul prospers, the rest prospers automatically; hence the focus in prospering the soul. However, about two months ago, it appeared to me that it wasn’t exactly that. It rather seems that John had noticed that while Gaius’ soul was obviously prospering, the same was not to be said with other areas of his life. So, he prayed that Gaius’ prosperity be more harmonious and that every other domain of his life may prosper as his soul did. This makes me think of some Christians who are more than zealous in prayer and fasting, in reciting verses and in church activities; but who strive to make ends meet, sweat to find a job, toil to get married and struggle to see their businesses prosper etc.: prosper in the soul, but dry and ‘sterile’ elsewhere.

2Th 1:11-12, 3:5 and 16, “…Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ... 3.5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ… 16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”

If Paul prays that God may count the Thessalonians ‘worthy of their vocation’, it means there is a risk not to be found worthy of the Lord’s calling: I pray that this never happens to us. Then, he sort of implores God’s grace so that this can be done and comes back on the recurrent theme of God’s love.

Paul also prays for peace: May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. Nobody can receive or give even one thing unless it is given him from heaven: the Lord and Prince of Peace is the only One who can give peace (Jn 3:27). It is absolutely pointless looking for peace in the things of this world: riches, marriage, kids, work, leisure, yoga, Buddhism, alcohol, food, drugs and so on. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the source of peace: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (Jn. 14:27) His peace surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7) and keeps your heart untroubled, un-palpitating and unshakable, even under the most alarming situations. That’s why the lack of peace also causes many stress-related diseases. You can possess all the riches of the world; but if you do not have peace - because of a health issue, a bad marriage, a wayward child; the collapsing economy, the fear that your investments and savings will vanish- your life will be hell. Peace proceeds from the ability to rest on the fact that God is in control, knows what is going on, and is taking care of it. Peace proceeds from the ability to believe that in spite of what we may see, hear or feel; in spite of what is befalling us, God is good and is working towards our welfare and well-being. It is the quiet assurance that the best is yet to come. In the Old Testament, peace, shalom, is a condition of freedom from disturbance, whether outwardly or inwardly. It primarily meant soundness or health, but also came to signify prosperity and well-being in general. Therefore, peace is a priceless treasure; and knowingly, Paul did not want the Thessalonians to experiment a temporary peace: he wanted them to abide in it. So, he prayed and asked God to use any and every resources to ensure/guarantee them peace during good or ‘bad’ days.

Have a ‘wonderblessed’ week,

Shalom!

Prosperity is firstly and foremost a state of mind

 

I have just read the story of Victoria Hunt on the mobile website of the Huffington Post which has simply blown me away! She is a 51 years old self-made millionaire with several houses, stocks and other investments in Columbus, Ohio. She is so cheap that she pees in a bottle and then, empties it in her garden, so as to shave a couple dollars off her monthly water bill! She has her freezer on a timer so it only runs 12 hours a day and takes showers at her gym to save electricity and water. She also dumpster dives and forages for food, sometimes even in her front yard. She eats some of the weeds in her garden and now picks her own dandelion roots for herbal tea, instead of paying $8 per box. Her main hobby is to gather, both in dumpsters and in the forest, things like coins or boxes of fresh pastries and cakes! All in all, bills, groceries and even health insurance included, she lives on just $12,000 per year.

But it was not always like that. 25 years ago, she was a single mother living in a trailer park and receiving government assistance. So, to be sure she will never be poor again, she enjoys being frugal and saving money. She stopped working 3 years ago; but before that, she was driving a 16-year-old Corolla with broken windows, and admits that a lot of people made fun of her.

There is no argument that she is one of the worst cheapskates ever. However, she also reminds me of the brother of the prodigal son who lived like a slave in the middle of abundance. You can read what I wrote about this here. True greatness begins in the mind. You are truly great when there is no longer any smallness in you and you do nothing at a mini or micro scale. How can you have millions in the bank and you gather in dumpsters or eat your landscape weeds? She could be eating in restaurants and giving generous tips; or she could be providing a job to someone by hiring a chef who will cook for her; but she is not doing that. She finds a sense of security and peace in saving money, forgetting that in today’s USA, banks are no longer safe: we saw it in 2008.

Likewise, at some point in the desert, the children of Israel were frustrated and started crying and craving for meat saying: “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” (Num 11:5) Cucumbers? Melons? Leeks? Garlic? Come on! These are people who left Egypt rich (Ex 12:35-36); and not only that, they were en route to abundance. Later on, in spite of the fact that they had God Almighty, the God of Hosts with them, they chickened out in front of a couple of giants. Just like Miss Hunt, they suffered from a fear of lack syndrome: fear that money may lack; fear that power to back them up would lack…

We may stumble unto prosperity; but we will never really enjoy it if our mindset is not free and ‘prosperous’. It is an anointing in which one flows. You see it in the spirit, you become one with it in the spirit, it comes, and then, you naturally enjoy it and flow in it.

May God bless you as you conduct yourself with greatness.

Selected pieces

 

The head and not the tail?

Deut 28:13, And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them…

This passage is frequently quoted: Christians like the idea that they will always be the head. Yet, this promise or blessing is conditional: God will do… IF you do... The truth is; since Christ Jesus is preeminent in everything, the HEAD (Col 1.15-18), we, that is: the body/ envelope that carries Him, will inevitably be the head if we allow Him to manifest Himself in us and through us freely and fully. This implies that we submit to the will of God as much as He submitted to it whilst He lived on Earth. We have to obey God’s commandments and carefully do them. This is the only way that the dimension, measure, expression and stature of CHRIST can grow in us and that we can move from the tail to the head; and move upward from the bottom to the top.

Having said this, we also need to understand that what the LORD means by head, tail, up or down is not necessarily what we think. For instance, when He made this promise to the children of Israel through Moses, it was obvious that even if they had all obeyed His commandments in the same manner, they could not have all become Moses or Joshua etc. So, there was ‘a head and a up’ that the rest of the people could not attain, notwithstanding a perfect observation of God’s Word. Therefore, being the head; always being up; what exactly can it mean?

 

Forgetting Jesus

Luk 2:42-46, And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions..

I saw this portion of the Scripture in a new light on Tuesday. Jesus’ parents were a day's journey before realising that their eldest son was not with them: a 12 year old child! Likewise, some people set off thinking that Jesus is coming along with them, whereas they have left Him, forgotten Him somewhere. They get married, have children, start a business, embark on projects, take on jobs and refuse others, without ensuring that the LORD is indeed with them in that adventure. Fortunately, the parents of the young teen ‘quickly’ noticed that the boy was not with them and turned back to look for him. However, many people, Christians, continue their route nonetheless. Joseph and Mary’s U-turn is an image of repentance. We need to know how to return to God and Christ when we realise that we are alone on the way that we are treading on. The Bible states that unless the LORD builds the house/watches over the city, those who build or watch labor in vain (Ps 127:1). In other words, if God is not with you, if Jesus does not go with you, you are walking in vain; but, more importantly, you are heading (rushing) towards your destruction. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. (Jn 12.26).

Have a ‘wonderblessed’ week with and in CHRIST JESUS.