I recently received an email from a girl asking me to send her Bible verses on the topic of purity. She said she vaguely knew that the Bible promoted purity and holiness, but she wasn’t exactly sure where to find the passages.
Impurity and immorality are very real threats that we need to be equipped to fight against.
After I emailed her back with a list of verses, I wondered if there were more girls out there like her—girls who know that the Bible “promotes purity” but aren’t exactly sure where to find the passages in the Bible.
If you are one of those girls who wants to fight for purity, keep reading. This blog post is written for you!
Ammo for the Fight
At times staying pure in our culture can seem nearly impossible. Doing basic things like getting on Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook can feel like entering the danger zone. Because advertisers all seem to agree that “sex sells.” Even just walking through the grocery store checkout line can feel slightly scarring at times.
Impurity and immorality are very real threats that we need to be equipped to fight against. That’s why I want to share that list of verses I emailed to my friend with you.
I want your spiritual guns to be loaded with ammo that I know will work.
The next time you are tempted to compromise in the area of purity, I want you to pull out these verses. They will be your spiritual ammo in your fight for purity.
Six Verses You Need to Know
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word” (Ps. 119:9).
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8).
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thess. 4:3–5).
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desire” (Rom. 13:14).
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet. 1:14–16).
What Next?
Here are two action steps to give you practice in firing this spiritual ammo.
Pick one and memorize it. I want to encourage you to pick one of these verses and memorize it. My go-to verse is first one, Psalm 51:10. That verse is ingrained in my mind and ready to fire anytime I’m facing something that is impure.If I’m being tempted with an impure thought, I’ll quickly recite that verse and pray that God will make it true for me. I’m always amazed that quoting Scripture in the midst of a temptation really does help. I dare you to try it the next time you are facing a temptation in the area of purity.
Write one down and tape it to your mirror. I also decided to write down two of those verses and tape them to my bathroom mirror. It’s the first thing I see in the morning when I brush my teeth and the last before I go to bed. Having that visual reminder is extremely helpful for me, and I know it would be for you as well.Will you join me?
Who would like to join me by:
Memorizing one of the verses.
Writing one down and sticking it on your mirror, wall, journal, or somewhere that you will clearly see it.
If you want to join me in this fight for purity, comment below and let me know! I’d love to pray for you and encourage you as you make these truths a reality in your life.
Are there any go-to verses you would add to my list? Please don’t keep the spiritual ammo to yourself. Share it with us below!
57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.
66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
Luke 1:76-79 NIV
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Zechariah Is Redeemed(NOTES)
Luke
1:46-55 New International Version
Mary’s
Song
46 And Mary said:“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he
has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on
all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things
for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy
extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has
performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in
their inmost thoughts.
52 He has
brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has
filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has
helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to
Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
Luke
1:67-79 New International Version
Zechariah’s
Song
67 His
father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68 “Praise
be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and
redeemed them.
69 He has
raised up a horn[a] of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he
said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation
from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show
mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue
us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him
all our days.
76 And you,
my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to
prepare the way for him,
77 to give
his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because
of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us
from heaven
The Holy Spirit is moving in signs, wonders and miracles across Cuba right now and we sat down with Evangelist Blake Lorenz to hear what God is birthing in the country. “It is so powerful it’s like stepping into the book of Acts. Signs and wonders, miracles, people are being saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire,” Lorenz told us.
The people in Cuba are hungry for a genuine move of God and they are praying for the nation to be reignited. The congregations are gathering together in house churches which often grow so quickly they overflow outdoors. Lorenz and his team work with a network of pastors across Cuba to equip, teach and disciple the body of Christ.
While they were ministering to a group of young pastors who were hungry for the gospel, Lorenz says, “the head of the Communist Party walked in, you could have heard a pin drop. He sat there and when I gave the altar call he came forward to receive Christ and he’s living on fire for Jesus still!”
The church is walking out a spirit of boldness and an incredible hunger that has actually shifted the oppression from the government. Last year the Cuban citizens protested in the cities, and the churches have see more freedom since then.
“This is true revival,” Lorenz says as he’s preaching the gospel he barely has to talk for long before the Spirit of the Lord falls on the people and they run to the altar for salvation. The local pastors are going out and knocking on doors and people are falling under the presence of God at their door step and getting saved. Just like the early church, they are adding to their numbers daily, with 20 to 30 people joining the house churches each week.
Tune in to the full interview to hear about the revival they are believing for to break the back of the Communist rule within the country. Let the body of Christ come together to pray and contend for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Cuba.
Lorenz also shares what he believes has unified the country and these practical steps are desperately needed in the Western church to see division healed and the body of Christ come together as one unified bride of Christ.
Moses, in the classic movie The Ten Commandments (1956), goes down to oversee the work of the Hebrew slaves. He does not yet know that he too is Hebrew by birth; Egypt’s golden chalice rests comfortably in hand. He arrives after the taskmasters have seized Joshua (his future assistant and successor), who just rescued an old Hebrew woman nearly crushed under a large stone.
Deaf to pleas to spare the old woman, the taskmasters had refused to halt the workforce to free her. The woman couldn’t escape. So Joshua went down and struck an Egyptian overseer, halting the work immediately, sparing her life and forfeiting his own.
Moses, prince of Egypt, arrives at the behest of a Hebrew woman. Hearing what happened, he asks Joshua, “Do you know it is death to strike an Egyptian?”
“I know it,” he responds.
“Yet you struck him. Why?”
“To save the old woman.”
“What is she to you?”
“An old woman.”
Moses took less time to recover from the slap than I did. Because she is an old woman. I realized how much more Moses I was, than Joshua, in this exchange. Joshua had a clear moral category I lacked: that of saving an old woman simply because she is an endangered old woman. His heroism needed no further explanation or incentive. She did not need to be his mother, his aunt, or his queen. For Joshua to forfeit his own life for hers, all she needed to be was an old woman, desperate for help.
Inner Calculus
This exchange left a mark because I imagined my own inner calculus in the crisis:
Do what you can — chide the taskmasters for their insensitivity and murder; receive a lashing for it even — but don’t be so foolish as to lay down your own life for hers.
To do otherwise seemed bad math.
She already stood with one foot in the grave. Her best days of productivity, of house and community building, faded in the rearview. The way of women had ceased with her (Genesis 18:11). Weak and frail, she had mere days and months ahead of her; I gripped years and decades by the throat. Her sun was setting; I was rising. How could her remaining life outweigh mine?
And yet, in a flash of glory Joshua strikes the oppressors, venturing to substitute his life for hers.
Death of Honor
Do you know such calculations on a smaller scale? Are we today a people known for honoring our elderly with our time, resources, and attention? Or is it not the case that if a friend should proverbially walk an old lady across the street, we would instinctively ask, “Who is she to you?” The youthful, the innovative, the beautiful, the YouTube sensations, the celebrities and professional athletes receive our admiration. The enfeebled, the mostly spent, the hard of hearing and seeing and walking do not.
Is it not true that the elderly mostly live in the background of our attention, cast as the extra pecking away at an iPhone, trying to send a text? Youth are rarely taught to honor grandma and grandpa, let alone the aged in general.
The scene of this endangered old woman comes closer to God’s timeless expectations than our assumptions today. The real Moses would soon write a law that read, “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:32). A special respect and care were due to the elderly of Israel.
Why don’t we stand before the elderly man in our midst? Why so little honor paid to the weathered face of the old woman? Why so little fear of God? Of the many options, I contribute two that have discipled me to give less regard to the elderly than is fitting.
1. Information Age
Throughout time, the elderly have served as sages of the community. They have experienced and lived, lost and learned lessons lacking among the untested thoughts and ideals of youth.
So Job spoke, “Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days” (Job 12:12). So Elihu explained his deference in saying, “Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom” (Job 32:7). And so Paul exhorts that the older women are to “teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands” (Titus 2:3–5). Generally, the elderly ought not only to be the wisest among us, but also regarded as so.
But what is abuelo and abuela compared with all-wise Google? What can they tell me that a quick search can’t? Expertise on anything under the sun lies at my fingertips. What good is one old chief, viewing life from his narrow, dated lens, compared with a million sages with advanced degrees, anticipating the next trends and offering unsleeping counsel on anything I care to know?
Jesus taught that Christians who lose family for his sake receive back a hundredfold in the church. We seem to believe that those who lose wisdom from the elderly receive back a millionfold on the Internet.
2. Cosmetic Age
Our society does not like to look at death. Our funerals are short; our grieving brief. When the signs of the end begin, we cover it. We dye our hair. We get fake teeth. We iron wrinkles and use liposuction. We diet and make-up and teeth-whiten to preserve the appearance that we will live forever. While living, we embalm.
We all dread the infirmities old age brings. Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 12:1–8, captures the “evil days” of aging in poetic terms. These are days when one says, “I have no pleasure in them” (verse 1). Days when the sun and moon and stars darken, and you live under perpetual cloud (verse 2). Days when hands and arms shake violently, strong men hunch, and your grinders — your teeth — cease because they are few (verse 3). Days lived indoors with light sleeping and little hearing (verse 4). Days afraid of heights, days of graying hair and shriveled appetite (verse 5). Days when the golden bowl begins cracking, the silver chord begins fraying, and the body prepares to return to dust and the spirit to God (verse 6–7). Vanity of vanities, the Preacher concludes (verse 8).
And so what are we to do with these weathered boats with tattered masts sailing among us, these reminders of what the crash of time and sin is doing to us all? Honor them or ignore them? See glory in their worn faces or our own inevitable defeat? In the halls of honor, we do not keep dying flowers.
Testimonies and Silver Crowns
Our God would have us stand up before the gray head and honor the old face.
What can the aged teach us (a question already lacking humility)? Well, while any elderly person can speak of the scars and successes of human experience, the old saints in the church can tell you about a lifetime of God’s faithfulness, his kindness, his steadfast love.
Siri will not answer how good God has been to her. Google cannot testify that even to old age, God has carried him through countless trials (Isaiah 46:4). The wrinkled face of the saint with a wrinkled Bible is a treasure to all who love God and want to know him more. And the elderly saint, “full of sap and green,” has a testimony and wisdom that the young and beautiful and strong need to hear (Psalm 92:12–15). David wanted to age for this very purpose: “Even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come” (Psalms 71:18).
“Gray hair crowns an old and well-lived life, a life that should be celebrated, not ignored.”
And what of the challenges of growing frail? How do we commend that? The Bible also speaks of fullness of days as a splendor. “The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair” (Proverbs 20:29). We see the glory, but not the splendor. And, “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life” (Proverbs 16:31). Gray hair crowns an old and well-lived life, one that should be celebrated, not overlooked.
We miss much of the wisdom and glory of old age when the elderly dwell apart. Ancient times did not have government-run nursing homes, social-security programs, or retirement centers. All three converged in one place: the household. With multigenerational living now mostly a thing of the past in the West, we pick and choose to see our elderly family or not, affording them little influence in our lives. And without multigenerational representation, we can miss it in the church as well.
Lost Message
Of course, some elderly people have not lived wisely or well. Yet, John Piper observes, “There are tokens of respect and demonstrations of honor that belong to older people, simply because they are older. God has granted them to live long, and you shall fear your God by honoring the men and women who have borne his image to old age.”
The fear of God presides over this honor. Piper again says of Psalm 71,
This text commands the younger ones among us not to stride presumptuously and carelessly into the presence of an older person as though we were crossing no gap — as though we and they were simply peers with no special respect and honor to be shown to them. “You shall rise up before the gray head; you shall show honor to face of an old person.” . . .
And the loss of these manners of respect from baby boomers and teenagers is directly related to their small view of God and the contemporary foreignness of the idea of the fear of God. If God has become a buddy, you can hardly expect people to stand when an old man enters the room.
“The old saints in the church can tell you about a lifetime of God’s faithfulness, his kindness, his steadfast love.”
Some elderly among us forfeit degrees of honor because of how they lived. Yet old age is still to be acknowledged. We take the customs of our culture and communicate to our elders, “You are venerable.”
Honor the Old Face
Technological advances, state-run nursing homes, the worship of innovation and progress, and Western individualism may make it seem unnatural to show special honor to the elderly. Society little incentivizes my generation to look to old heads for wisdom or show deference or respect. The old is passing away; the new has come.
But while we smirk at the old man struggling with his iPhone, or shake our head as the old woman drives 30 miles per hour under the speed limit, God calls for honor. While we size up the gray hair and wrinkled faces for what we think they contribute to the progress of society, God might have us stand when they enter the room.
Do you honor the gray head in your family, neighborhood, church? When the world observes how we behave among the elderly — especially the elderly in the church — and they wonder aloud, “What is she to you?”
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
A Special Promise(NOTES)
Philippians
1:6 New King James Version
6 being
confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will
complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Genesis
18:11 New International Version
11 Abraham
and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
Genesis
25:21 New International Version
21 Isaac
prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord
answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah
Genesis
30:1 New International Version
30 When
Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of
her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”
Judges
13:2 New International Version
2 A certain
man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was
childless, unable to give birth.
1 Samuel
1:2 New International Version
2 He had two
wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but
Hannah had none.
Isaiah
55:11 New International Version
11 so is my
word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will
accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent
it.
Ephesians 3:20 New International Version
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within
Marilyn Hickey preached to over 1 million people in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, earlier this month. The momentous meeting came during an eight-day missions trip to Pakistan. But that trip and the millions reached for Christ were the fruits of seeds planted years before.
In 1995, Hickey said she felt called by the Lord to minister in Muslim countries, specifically in Pakistan. She held healing meetings in Lahore, the capital city of the Punjab province, and attracted thousands.
“It was absolutely a destiny time,” Hickey said. “So I went. The first night, I remember we had 4,000 people. By the fourth night, we had over 20,000. Lots of people [were] saved. Lots of people [were] Spirit-filled, delivered, healed. So in that timing, a man was saved called Anwar Fazal.”
Fazal became a pastor and launched Isaac TV, a Christian television network that reaches every home in Pakistan. Over 96 percent of Pakistanis are Muslims, and Isaac TV has had an enormous impact in spreading the gospel.
When Hickey planned her seventh trip to Pakistan last year, she reached out to Fazal and shared her vision for the trip. She wanted to gather 1 million people. Without hesitation, Fazal said, “That’s possible.”
Hickey and Fazal’s ministries worked together, and the event was scheduled in Karachi for Nov. 12. The ministries secured a 50-acre space for the Karachi meeting and covered the entire area with rugs. Isaac TV promoted the event, and Marilyn Hickey’s own reputation in the country helped attract a crowd. Believers flew in from across the country. But no one knew if they would fill the entire space.
When the gathering began, Hickey says the 50 acres could barely fit all the people.
“People come and they sit almost like sardines on the ground, all squished together,” Hickey said. “So for 50 acres, we had people. They’re very open. I’m going to guess a third of the crowd maybe was Islamic, and the rest were Christians, because the television is really, really getting hold of people’s hearts in Pakistan.”
She taught on the miracles of Christ and discussed what it means to be healed by the Word. Then she says she used words of knowledge to call out healings in the crowd, and miracles took place accordingly. Finally, she explained the gospel—Jesus’ life, death and resurrection—before leading people to accept Christ.
During the eight-day trip, Hickey brought that same message to other venues, including an interview with the governor and a sermon at Fazal’s church. At a meeting in Lahore, Hickey says she saw many people healed of deafness, cancer and back problems.
And even though she’s 85, Hickey has no intention to stop anytime soon.
“At 81, I had my biggest meeting in Pakistan—at that time,” Hickey said. “And if you’d told me I was going to, I would have thought, ‘You’re crazy.’ But we had 230,000 people. … This is how I take retirement. Retirement is doing what you like. So this is what I like. I like to do this. It doesn’t make you idle. It makes you supernatural.”
Lyrics You are here, moving in our midst I worship You I worship You You are here, working in this place I worship You I worship You You are here, moving in our midst I worship You I worship You You are here, working in this place I worship You I worship You You are Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God That is who You areYou are Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God That is who You are You are here, touching every heart I worship You I worship You You are here, healing every heart I worship You, Jesus I worship, you turning lives around You are here, oh, turning lives around I worship You I worship, You mended every heart You are here, mending every heart I worship You I worship You And You are Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God That is who You are Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God That is who You are (yeah, sing it again) You are the Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper (Light in the darkness, my God) (That is who You are) oh, it’s who you are, Jesus, yeah Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God That is… sing “That is who you are”, ohThat is who You are And that is who You are And that is who You are (That is who You are) my JesusThat is who You are (That is who You are) oh, and it’s right That is who You are (That is who You are) my Jesus, oh yeahyes it is, yeah, it’s who you areWay maker, miracle worker, promise keeper (Light in the darkness, my God) hey (That is who You are)Let’s sing this together, “Even when I don’t see it”, c’mon, even when… Even when I don’t see it, You’re working Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working You never stop, You never stop working You never stop, You never stop working, c’monEven when I don’t see it, You’re working Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working You never stop, You never stop working You never stop, You never stop (working) ohEven when I don’t see it, You’re working Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working You never stop, You never stop working You never stop (You never stop working) whoa Even when I don’t see it, You’re working (Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working) yeah You never stop, You never stop working (You never stop, You never stop working) you’re the way maker, yeahWay maker, miracle worker, promise keeper Light in the darkness, my God That is who You are, eh, yeahLight in the darkness, my God That is… Sing “That is who you are”, ohhThat is who You are (That is who You are) Oh, and that is who You are (That is who You are) yeahThat is who You are (That is who You are) That is who You are (That is who You are) oh, it’s who you are, my JesusMiracle worker, promise keeper (Light in the darkness, my God) That is who You areYou are Way maker (miracle worker, promise keeper) Light in the darkness, my God (That is who You are)Oh, his name is above, his name is above depression His name is above loneliness Oh, his name is above disease, his name is above cancer His name is above every other name, listen, listen That is who You are (That is who You are) (That is who You are) (That is who You are) Jesus And that is who You are (That is who You are) Oh, I know that is who You are (That is who You are)Source: MusixmatchSongwriters: Osinachi Kalu Okoro
28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.5 I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols
Have you asked the question, “What is the Cyrus Anointing?” Maybe you’ve heard of this unique anointing. Or perhaps you have read about King Cyrus in Isaiah 45 and wondered how this kingly anointing is active in today’s culture.
What is the Cyrus Anointing? | The Definition
There is more to the Cyrus anointing than most realize. Most of the time, when you ask the question, “What is the Cyrus anointing?” the answer you get is around the subject of wealth and financial dealings. Many focus on the blessings that come from the Lord and how He opens doors to abundant riches when it comes to the Cyrus anointing.
However, there is more to this unique anointing. The answer to the question, “What is the Cyrus anointing?” is found in Isaiah 45. This anointing is released to pull down Babylon, which is a description used in Scripture to describe the world systems.
In order for the Cyrus anointing to accomplish its purpose, there must be resources available to the person or persons carrying it. This is why it is closely tied to the subject of finances and wealth.
Who Was King Cyrus? | The History
Cyrus was a Medo-Persian king who reigned from c. 559-530 BC; taking Babylon in 539 BC. He was a Gentile or pagan king that God used to bring the Jewish people back to Israel after 70 years of Babylonian captivity.
King Cyrus fulfilled a biblical prophecy as described in Isaiah 45. The Lord revealed Cyrus’ decree 150 years before Cyrus was born.
He did what seemed to be impossible. Babylon was a strong and fortified empire. It was believed nothing could destroy or pull it down. However, Cyrus was anointed not to destroy it but to take it over, pulling down its system.
As stated above, the purpose of the Cyrus anointing is to pull down world systems. Many spiritual entities and powers, which have been bound for a time, are being unleashed on the earth during this season.
Why have these powers been released? So that the Lord can do what He does—show His power over all the works of the enemy.
And the purpose of the Cyrus anointing is to partner with the Spirit of God in pulling down the world systems and revealing the power of the Lord.
The Meaning of Cyrus’ Name | The One Who Possesses the Furnace
The name Cyrus means “one who possesses the furnace.” If you have the Cyrus anointing, the fire of God is within you. God will work on your character so that when He releases the Cyrus anointing, it is done in His strength.
He will sharpen your mind so that you can think like Him.
He will work on your patience so that you embrace delayed gratification.
He will give you a passion for the things of His heart.
He will do all this so that He can be shown to others through you.
The Cyrus Anointing and Israel
As mentioned, Babylon took over Israel and kept them in captivity for 70 years. As prophets, Jeremiah and Daniel warned Israel what would happen if they continued in rebellion and disobedience. These prophecies came to pass because they were out of alignment with the Lord. But there was also a prophecy that stated a man would help bring Israel back and break the bonds that held them in captivity.
In the spirit, we know that there has always been a war between the sons of Zion and the sons of Greece—the Babylonian spirit. That is what happened at that time in Israel’s history, and it is happening now.
There is an anointing that breaks the Babylonian spirit—it is the Cyrus anointing. It opens doors that allow those in God’s family to access their inheritance and blessing, giving them the authority that they need in this era.
The Nine Functions of the Cyrus Anointing
Isaiah 45 describes how King Cyrus would be God’s instrument in restoring Israel. There are nine functions or purposes to the Cyrus anointing described in Isaiah 45.
To Subdue the Nations
“Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—to subdue nations…”
—Isaiah 45:1
God held Cyrus’ right hand. The right hand of God represents authority. Because of the authority God gave King Cyrus, he would subdue not just one nation but all the nations. The same applies to those with this anointing.
To Loosen the Armor of Kings
“…and loose the armor of kings…”
—Isaiah 45:1
In other words, there is no Babylonian spirit that can stand against the Cyrus anointing. Any armor used by a king in a world system will be loosened, essentially made ineffective.
To Open Double Doors
“…to open before him the double doors…”
—Isaiah 45:1
God was going to break down the doors that no other kingdom could open. He does the impossible through the Cyrus anointing.
To Keep the Gates from Being Shut
“…so that the gates will not be shut…”
—Isaiah 45:1
The fourth function secures the third. In other words, not only will God open doors that seem impossible to open, but no world system will be able to close them. There will always be access to the inheritance in and through the Cyrus anointing.
To Make the Crooked Places Straight
“I will go before you and make the crooked places straight…”
—Isaiah 45:2
The Lord is the one making the path straight for Cyrus. For those with the Cyrus anointing, God is creating a shortcut. He is removing the long way. The Cyrus anointing straightens the path that leads to the inheritance.
To Break the Gates of Bronze
“…I will break in pieces the gates of bronze…”
—Isaiah 45:2
The sixth function breaks the things that keep God’s people from moving forward. It breaks the gates that block the inheritance.
To Cut the Iron Bars
“…and cut the bars of iron.”
—Isaiah 45:2
The things that have kept God’s people captive, the things that have kept them from enjoying or having access to the fullness of His Kingdom, the Lord is cutting them off with the Cyrus anointing.
To Release Treasures of Darkness
“I will give you the treasures of darkness…”
—Isaiah 45:3
The treasures of darkness are the things that the enemy has stolen in efforts to keep God’s people from experiencing everything that Yeshua purchased for them. God is bringing to light all the treasures that were in the dark so they find the fulfillment that is theirs.
To Give Hidden Riches of Secret Places
“…and hidden riches of secret places…”
—Isaiah 45:3
There are things that are hidden that the Lord has for His chosen. These are in the River of “Never Seen Before.” There are many wonders in God’s storehouses that those with the Cyrus anointing have not accessed yet, but all that is about to change. When the Cyrus anointing is activated, these things will be revealed.
The Purpose of the Nine Functions
“…that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel my elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me.”
—Isaiah 45:3-4
The Cyrus anointing is for those who recognize that God is still for Israel. He knew Jacob and renamed him Israel. He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. He chose you just as He chose Cyrus.
He is choosing you to release the Cyrus anointing so that what He instituted from the very foundations of the world would happen, causing people to come to know Him and to be redeemed by the power of the blood of Yeshua, who came through the nation of Israel.
Now that you can answer the question “What is the Cyrus anointing?” it is time to understand why the Lord is releasing it in this season.
In short, the days demand it. There was an anointing for…
The 1960s
The 1980s
The 2000s
And there is an anointing for this era.
Things are being turned upside down. Evil is being called good, and what is good is being called evil. This is the Babylonian spirit at work in today’s world system.
But know this: The culture of God and the culture of His Kingdom has not and will not change. There is still power in the name of Jesus, and knees will bow at His name.
The enemy is trying hard to keep us, the Body of Christ, so confused and distracted with everything going on in the culture that we don’t focus on what has been given to us by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
If he can keep us distracted, we will not know the power of God and the authority we have to activate it for His Kingdom.
This is not about your ability to bring about the Cyrus anointing. It is 100% God’s ability. When you begin to see God’s ability and possibilities, nothing will be impossible for you.
What You Should Be Aware of with the Cyrus Anointing
If you have the Cyrus anointing, you must know there will be opposition from the culture or world systems. You may not always be “politically correct” in what you say or how you say it.
Why? Because the world systems—Babylon—is against the Cyrus anointing because it is from the Lord.
The enemy is always against who and what God anoints.
But if you carry this anointing, you must decide to be in alignment with God rather than the world.
The Takeaway
Jesus made a promise to us. He said He had to go away, but He would send us a Helper, Comforter, and Advocate.
He says, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). He said that the Spirit of God, the Helper, would do things in and through you. Everything He hears from the Father He will tell you. He will empower you, and the Word will come alive in you, and greater works you will do—all for the Lord’s Kingdom.
Isn’t that an amazing promise?
It is up to you—to us—to see the promise fulfilled.
Let the Holy Spirit move through you. Let Him wash you with a Cyrus anointing. Expect and anticipate that God is going to move in this era.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Tools Available to Withstand Evil(NOTES)
1 Peter
5:8 King James Version
8 Be sober,
be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour:
2
Corinthians 11:14 New International Version
14 And no wonder,
for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
1 John
2:16-17 King James Version
16 For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.
1 John
2:16-17 New International Version
16 For
everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and
its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
It happens every October. The first cold front comes through, college football kicks off, and I remember fall was the time of year my life fell apart.
For years, it embarrassed me that the sadness would quietly bubble up when I wasn’t expecting it. It happened in moments that should have been innocuous, fun. Who feels triggered walking into a college football game? It was as if my body remembered old grief before my brain realized what was happening.
But it would happen any time I walked on the college campus where I’d imagined so many of my childhood dreams. At birth, my mom had swaddled me in the school colors and taught the fight song alongside my ABCs. It was a given that I’d graduate from there, keeping the family tradition alive—until a chronic illness kept me from even filling out the application. Years later, I still felt it:
Loss of community I was never a part of.
Frustration over physical symptoms we couldn’t control.
Disappointment that life had taken such a radical detour.
People like to say that time heals all wounds, but what if old aches can always be reactivated? Is it possible to think back on unfulfilled dreams without feeling the sting of disappointment?
The Pain of Past Hurt
If you walked into a stadium with fifty thousand people, you wouldn’t be able to go more than a few steps without bumping into someone with a bruised heart.
Some struggle to sit in the stands because cheering on the home team was a tradition with a family member who’s no longer able to attend. Some can still picture the seats where they sat on their first date, the beginning of a relationship that didn’t end with an engagement. Others hear a ringtone in the crowd that reminds them of the night they got the news that they had been betrayed by someone they trusted, an act they’re pretty sure they’ve forgiven but don’t think they’ll ever be able to forget.
As long as we live in a world impacted by sin, our stories will have sore spots. You may share my embarrassment and not have mentioned how you still feel about it to anyone except God. He not only sees, but He cares, and He’s able to ease the ache.
One of the great comforts of studying Scripture is getting to see how God has healed those who have come before us. We see that in the familiar story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50. Joseph suffered deeper and wider pain than many of us can even comprehend. It would have made sense for him to have been held captive to the losses he experienced his entire life, but what Joseph reveals in Genesis 41 shows that God is able to set us free from the painful memories of past hurt.
A Painful Past
You may already be familiar with the main plot points of Joseph’s life: betrayal by his brothers, slavery in a new land, false accusations, imprisonment, disappointment after disappointment. He had been away from home for thirteen years when his life finally started to trend in a positive direction. Joseph got a job promotion, essentially becoming prime minister under Pharaoh (41:40) and married Asenath, an Egyptian woman who would give him to two sons (41:50).
It’s hard to imagine what went through Joseph’s head when he found out his wife was pregnant for the first time. If ever there was a time for the memories of his own family to come flooding back, wouldn’t it be then? No matter how many times he had tried to forget what had happened, wouldn’t he feel the loss of all the normalcy he’d missed over those thirteen years? All the family dinners, the weddings, the nieces and nephews. All the conversations, the arguments, and the advice from his father about how to (and how not to) grow little boys into godly men.
All of those simple moments had been replaced with years of suffering. After everything he’d experienced, we might expect Joseph to be bitter and resentful—or even hostile to God. But the insight we’re given into his heart reveals something different.
Forgotten and Fruitful
Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh and said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and my whole family.” And the second son he named Ephraim and said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” —Genesis 41:5–52
In Israelite practice, it was common for the mothers to name their newborns, but Asenath didn’t name their boys. According to Genesis 41:51, Joseph named them.
It wouldn’t have been that surprising if the names he had chosen sounded similar to the one Naomi later called herself in Ruth 1. “Call me Mara,” she had said, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. . . the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me” (vv. 20–21).
Instead, the names Joseph chose focus on two ways Joseph had seen God work in his own suffering: how God had made him forget his hardship and his family (Manasseh), and how God had made him fruitful in his affliction (Ephraim).
Could Joseph have really forgotten his family? It’s clear they haven’t been fully erased from Joseph’s mind. Despite spending his entire adulthood in Egypt, despite marrying an Egyptian woman, Joseph didn’t give his sons Egyptian names. His Hebrew heritage would be on his lips from the first time he spoke to them.
Both names are a description of God at work in Joseph’s life. The Lord was the one responsible for changing his fortune and helping him to prosper in affliction. The years spent in a land filled with suffering and uncertainty were the backdrop against which God had been with him and God had blessed him. Or super-blessed him, as his second son’s name implied.
Joseph didn’t forget the evil that had been done to him. It wasn’t that he no longer remembered his family—we see that a few chapters later when they unexpectedly arrive, and he identifies them first. But in the birth of these sons, we see that the memories of the past do not have a hold on him. As Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll explains: “God made him forget the pain, the anguish of what had happened . . . God removed ‘the stings’ in Joseph’s memory and replaced them with waves of gratitude.”
From Grief to Gratitude
Thousands of years have passed, but God is still able to remove the stings from our stories. You may not even be aware of the ways He already has.
I realized it earlier this month: God has taken away some of the stings I thought would follow me forever. About thirteen years ago, I spent October in the guest bedroom at my grandparents’ house—too sick to attend school, too sick to dream about the future. I thought I’d always live there, in that hard and hopeless season, where every memory of October would bring the heartache of what was lost back then.
But November always comes—and I’m reminded of all the ways God has brought blessings into the places where I was afflicted, even in areas that haven’t seen full resolution. Year after year, the painful memories have been filled with comfort from the Lord and replaced with perspective: God has been faithful.
Those tender points in your life? God is able to heal their sting. One day, you may wake up and realize your heart doesn’t hurt the way it used to. When that happens, give thanks for God’s grace in your story. Give thanks that November always comes.
A2J Addicted to Jesus Mathematical Miracle (Awesome – must read)
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and fed, that is what he did, according to the Quartermaster General in the Army.It is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day.Do you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each a mile long, would be required!
Besides you must remember, they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. And just think, they were forty years in transit.
And oh yes! They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water! And then another thing!They had to get across the Red Sea at night.
Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So, there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.
But then, there is another problem. Each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long…think of it!
This space just for nightly camping. Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt?I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him. Now do you think God has any problem taking care of all your needs? I believe anything is possible for my Lovely God. He is doing great miracles in our Life.
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Made for a Purpose(NOTES)
Genesis
3:15 New International Version
15 And I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and
hers; he will crush[b] your head, and
you will strike his heel.”
Romans
3:23 New International Version
23 for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans
6:23 New International Version
23 For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus
our Lord.
John
19:30 New International Version
30 When he
had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit.
Psalm
34:2 King James Version
2 My soul
shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.
1
Corinthians 1:31 New International Version
31
Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Philippians
2:13 New International Version
13 for it is
God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Philippians
2:12-13 New International Version
Do
Everything Without Grumbling
12
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence,
but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear
and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to
fulfill his good purpose.
1-2 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
7 “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9 “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.10 “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.Salt and Light
13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.LikeCommentShare
2. Weaknesses prevent pride and act as a governor in your life.
3. Weaknesses cause a greater dependence upon other people.
4. Weaknesses expand our capacity to minister.
Admitting our weaknesses brings us closer to others, giving us the ability to minister more compassionately. In fact, admitting your weaknesses probably needs to be written on your resume if you’re going to minister effectively to others.
“If you’re going to have a Christlike ministry, it means that sometimes other people are going to find healing in the wounds that are in your life”.
Who can better help an alcoholic than someone who is a former alcoholic? Who can better help a childless couple than a childless couple? Who can better help than the person who’s been there?
I believe that our greatest life messages come out of our deepest hurts.”God wants us to live dependent on him. God wants us to be people in touch with our limitations, aware that we can’t do everything on our own, conscious that without Him and others we are weaker”.
”What about you? What weaknesses are you trying to hide today? Look for opportunities to reveal those weaknesses in order that others might see your dependence on God and be encouraged to do the same”.
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Wisdom As Enlightenment of the Heart(NOTES)
Luke
22:32 New International Version
32 But I
have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have
turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Luke
23:34 New International Version
34 Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they
divided up his clothes by casting lots.
John 17
New International Version
Jesus
Prays to Be Glorified
17 After
Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the
hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you
granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all
those you have given him.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing
the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with
the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jesus
Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have
revealed you[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours;
you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that
everything you have given me comes from you.
8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with
certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray
for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for
they are yours.
10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me
through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in
the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b]
your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name
you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that
Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am
coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that
they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your
word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than
I am of the world.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect
them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into
the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that
they too may be truly sanctified.
Jesus
Prays for All Believers
20 “My
prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me
through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are
in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe
that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that
they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be
brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have
loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see
my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation
of the world.
25
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they
know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will
continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in
them and that I myself may be in them.”
Romans
8:34 New International Version
34 Who then
is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was
raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Ephesians
1:3-14 New International Version
Praise
for Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Praise be
to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in
him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love 5
he[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship[b] through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace,
which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
7 In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with
the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and
understanding,
9 he[c] made
known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their
fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
11 In him we
were also chosen,[d] having been predestined according to the plan of him who
works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order
that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise
of his glory.
13 And you
also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of
your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the
promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until
the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
John
10:28 New International Version
28 I give
them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of
my hand.
Matthew
6:33 New International Version
33 But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.
As an adult, the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon remembered hearing his mother pray for him and his siblings like this:
Now, Lord, if my children go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold of Christ.
He recounted how deeply her prayers and warnings had shaped him, writing, “How can I ever forget her tearful eye when she warned me to escape from the wrath to come?”
I too grew up with a mother who warned me of my sins and their consequences. Once, after observing a pattern of sin in me as a teenager, she called into question my sincerity toward Christ, reminding me of the deadly hypocrisy of acting one way at home and another way at church. Her words stung deeply, revealing my cavalier attitude toward God. I didn’t fear him as I ought, nor did I honor him.
Those hard words, although painful, were like a meat tenderizer to my heart, softening and sensitizing it. The frank and pointed way she spoke to me throughout my childhood left me no room to hide in vague half-truths or nice-sounding platitudes or Christless good-girl behavior. She was God’s ambassador to me, and as such, she regularly created a fork in my road: follow Christ or go your own selfish way.
Rare Gift of Warning
The longer I live, the more I realize how rare it is to have a mother, or anyone at all, who earnestly warns those around them of the deadliness of sin.
Many women are simply terrified by the prospect of speaking hard words to someone they love, like their child or a close friend. They are terrified of the possibility that a relationship could be damaged or undone if the person won’t receive a biblical warning. It is easier to offer vague encouragements to grease the wheels of relational ease than to say something truthful that you know could offend.
“Good job, Mama” or “You did the best you could with what you knew” are just a couple among thousands of common encouragement-memes that get shared and reshared among women. They’re tailored to quell an anxious conscience, never mind whether they’re true or not. Yet we rarely hear similar speech when it comes to the warnings of Scripture, particularly warnings shared from women to women.
Off-Limits Sins
It seems many today — not just fellow women, but even pastors — have taken a hands-off approach when it comes to applying hard truths to the lives of women. Some of this may simply be because well-meaning teachers feel ill-equipped to understand precisely how they might faithfully apply some passages to women. Some of it may be because we know so many women who are in a self-professed hard time, so we worry that they might hear a hard biblical word and wince, taking it in a way it wasn’t intended.
Yet the Scriptures are full of fork-in-the-road sayings, some of them aimed directly at women. Sometimes I like to picture what might happen if we regularly heard these sorts of biblical imperatives without all the hemming and hawing and caveating and ducking:
Be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to your own husband so that God’s word isn’t reviled (Titus 2:5).
If you’re a younger widow, don’t be an idler or busybody, but seek to get married and serve the Lord (1 Timothy 5:11–14).
Stop worrying about how you look or being vain; instead, be gentle and quiet in your spirit (1 Peter 3:3–4).
Just as the church submits to Christ, you should submit to your husband in everything (Ephesians 5:24).
If you do not obey the Son, the wrath of God remains on you (John 3:36).
Do you know what I picture in churches where verses like these are stated clearly and unashamedly? Not a mass female exodus or a bunch of mad-crying women (although that’s a possibility) — I picture women receiving a precious gift and becoming strong in Christ.
Hard Words That Heal
Why speak hard words to women about their sin? Because if you believe women can be co-heirs, then you also believe they are fallen in Adam and in need of the salvation found in Christ. Their sin must be dealt with — repentance, faith, and conformity to Christ are the only way.
If the Scriptures rebuke parents for not disciplining their children, calling it hatred, then what must our Lord think of those who refuse to address the damning sins of women with the hope of the gospel? How much do you have to hate women to ignore their culpability for their sins?
“Sometimes, in our good desire to minister to women, we can begin to treat them like hypersensitive car alarms.”
Sometimes, in our good desire to minister to women — to meet their needs, to build them up — we can begin to treat them like hypersensitive car alarms, tiptoeing around their sin, rather than loving them enough to help them obey, and to make them unflappable in him. The truth is, when you read an online “encouragement” that declares you’re doing a great job as a mom, it’s possible that it is true. But it also could be completely false. You may be doing a poor job, and that’s why you’re on the Internet looking for someone to tell you you’re doing great. Yet when we read the hard words of Scripture, they are always true — and they are always truly good for us. There is always an application. We always need to repent and believe. We always need to deny ourselves. We always need to obey God.
We love women with the truth. We speak truthful words that upset, that cause pain, that produce guilt, that pierce, but only because we know his healing and forgiveness and comfort is found no other way. I often think about the hard words my mother spoke to me — they were God’s appointed means to preserve me and keep me from making a shipwreck of my faith. How many daughters have wandered from the faith for want of such a mother?
Make Hard Words Normal
Another statement my mom was not afraid to say to me was, “You’re being too sensitive.” This is true for scores of women today — they are sensitive to their own feelings and reactions and therefore quick to take offense. And we need to hear, in truth and love, from other women when the gift of our sensitivity is becoming sin.
“Flat-out refuse to let yourself be offended by anything God says to you.”
Most of all, the way to desensitize an easily offended or disquieted spirit is by regular exposure to the unfiltered word of God. We can’t survive on a Bible diet of uplifting bits only. We must not let ourselves get skittish and squeamish around direct and discomforting truth. Try saying out loud the parts of the Bible you find most difficult. Put God’s own words in your mouth and start to get used to them. Say them in love to a friend. Make them normal.
Lastly, flat-out refuse to let yourself be offended by anything God says to you — whether his words are on the page of your Bible or rightly handled in the mouth of your husband or friend or pastor (2 Timothy 2:15). You may be wounded by God’s word, but his words are the faithful words of the truest friend you’ll ever have. And they are the only words whose wounds can make you whole.
Colleen Chao is living under the shadow of terminal stage four cancer, and she’s learning how to suffer with hope. It’s stunningly beautiful.
“Here’s the thing about suffering (at least in my own limited experience): none of us are good at it. None of us have the capacity to suffer well with hope and joy.”
But the secret to slowly growing into a hope-filled, joyful sufferer has been shockingly simple: Go to God. Again and again and again.
I go to Him when I’m angry at His will for me. I go to Him in the middle of the night when grief threatens to undo me. I go to Him when I’m weary to the bone, or when I’m throwing myself an epic pity party.
By ‘going to Him’ I mean I turn my thoughts to Him and tell Him exactly what I’m feeling, all the nitty-gritty, gory details. I ‘pour out my heart like water in the Lord’s presence’ (Lam. 2:19)—and with the smallest mustard seed of faith, I believe that He’s listening to me and that He will be able to do something about my suffering (Isa. 64:4).
That rhythmic act of going to Him softens my heart to listen to Him, to hear His voice, to end my self-absorbed monologue and begin a beautiful dialogue with Him.
And here’s what I’ve become increasingly convinced of through this process over decades now: I cannot hear from Him or dialogue with Him (and thus cannot suffer well) apart from His Word.
Through the pages of Scripture He speaks exactly what my heart needs to hear. He reveals himself (sometimes in ways I don’t immediately recognize), and those revelations change everything—my thoughts and desires and perspective and all.
And herein lies one of the most sacred gifts of suffering: the sufferer has a unique capacity to experience God through His Word in ways that cannot be experienced through days of comfort and ease.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I’ll sing this song to my last day: in the hands of a good God, suffering is a gift.”
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To God’s holy people in Ephesus,[a] the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,
9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
11 In him we were also chosen,[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Chosen(NOTES)
Esther
4:5-17 NIV
5 Then
Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and
ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6 So Hathak
went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s
gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the
exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the
destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for
their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and
explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s
presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathak
went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed
him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the
royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the
inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put
to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their
lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
12 When
Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not
think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will
escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for
the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will
perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a
time as this?”
15 Then
Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who
are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.
I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the
king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
17 So
Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.
Ephesians
3:1 NIV
God’s
Marvelous Plan for the Gentiles
3 For this
reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
Ephesians 4:1 NIV
Unity and
Maturity in the Body of Christ
4 As a
prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling
you have received.
Ephesians 6:20 NIV
20 for which
I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I
should.
Acts
18:19-21 NIV
19 They
arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into
the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to spend more
time with them, he declined. 21 But as he left, he promised, “I will come back
if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
Hebrews 9:22 NIV
22 In fact,
the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Romans 8:17 NIV
17 Now if we
are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
“Jezebel” is a name synonymous with evil; she is the epitome of the wicked woman. So infamous is her name that, to this day, no one names their baby daughter “Jezebel.” To call a woman a “Jezebel” is the greatest insult imaginable.
Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, a priest of the cruel, sensuous, false god Baal. Ethbaal, the priest-king of Tyre who murdered his own brother to take over the throne, was hardly a good father figure. But Jezebel followed in her father’s footsteps and was herself a power-hungry murderess who stopped at nothing to get what she wanted.
The king of Israel at the time was Ahab, a weak, self-pitying man who abdicated his authority to his bride, the princess Jezebel. In spite of God’s laws forbidding idolatry and the worship of any god but the Lord, Ahab married this princess who brought to Israel with her hundreds of priests of lewd Baal worship, a cult that tended to destroy manhood and drag womanhood into shame.
Jezebel was such a domineering person that she soon became master over her weak husband. One of her first acts was to order the extermination of the prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 18:4, 13) and set up altars to Baal. So pervasive was her idolatrous influence in Israel that Jesus later used her name to refer to a woman who led the church at Thyatira into immorality and the worship of false gods (Revelation 2:20).
Jezebel’s strongest enemy was the great prophet Elijah, who defied her and opposed her evil rule. First, he pronounced the punishment of God upon Israel in the form of a drought which lasted three years (James 5:17). This culminated in a contest on Mount Carmel between the powers of Israel’s true God and the Baals.
After the 450 priests of Baal and 400 priests of Asherah spent the day beseeching their gods with wailing and self-mutilation to end the drought, all to no avail, Elijah prayed to his omnipotent God who responded by accepting the sacrifice, having the false prophets slaughtered, and providing an abundance of rain (1 Kings 18:16-46).
Instead of acknowledging the awesome power of the one true God, Jezebel was enraged and vowed to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-2). Elijah fled from her wrath to the wilderness (1 Kings 19:3-8).
In the meantime, Jezebel was proving herself to be the greedy, murderous, evil woman she truly was. A righteous man named Naboth owned a vineyard next to Ahab’s palace. Ahab offered to buy the vineyard, but Naboth, honoring God’s command to keep inheritances within the family, rightly refused to sell.
Ahab became “sullen and angry” and went home to sulk on his bed. Jezebel ridiculed him for his weakness and told him to cheer up for she would get the vineyard for him. She plotted with two lying scoundrels to have Naboth falsely accused and denounced, then put to death.
Then she calmly declared to Ahab that the vineyard was his (1 Kings 21:1-16). Here we see the formula for a disastrous marriage: a weak, childish man who allows his evil, domineering wife to rule the home. This is the exact opposite of God’s plan for marriage: a loving husband who leads his family, and whose care for his wife mirrors that of Christ and His church (Ephesians 5:25-26, 28-29), and a godly woman who submits to her husband “as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22), each submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21; Colossians 3:18-19; 1 Peter 3:7).
As with all who defy the Lord, Jezebel’s end was not a pretty one, although it was more gruesome than most, perhaps as an object lesson to all who set themselves up against the one true God. Her doom was sure, having been prophesied by Elijah in 1 Kings 21:23.
Even as she saw her death approaching, she remained defiant to the end, painting her face and adorning herself in queenly garments. She looked out the window and shouted her defiance to Jehu, the next king of Israel who came to take his throne (2 Kings 9:30-37).
Jehu commanded her to be thrown out the window to her death, where she was trampled by the horses’ hooves and almost entirely consumed by dogs. Her thirty years of tyranny over Israel had ended. The terror visited upon Jezebel was a testimony to the Israelites, and to us, that God’s power is supreme and those who defy Him will meet a terrible end.
5 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.2 And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord.12 They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not your’s.20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:22 Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?LikeCommentShare
