The Many Ways God Uses to Deliver His People
As I look at the history of God’s Old Testament people (Israel/Judah) I find that there are three ways the LORD has his people act in various troubling circumstances. I think these are instructive for the Church, for us as God’s people today.
(By the way, there is a reason I draw parallels between Israel and the Church,
but not Israel and the nation. It is because I believe that, while the Kingdom of God was manifested in a nation that had a government and a religion in the Old Testament times, after the coming of Christ, the Kingdom of God is manifested in the Church. The Church is a real visible institution on earth, that transcends all nations and nationalities, whose government is the spiritual rule of elders and whose religion is faith, worship, and practice established by the Apostles in the light of the coming, person, and work of Christ. I am here trying to be clear about what I do and why I do it, but I am not trying, by these few sentences, to convince anyone who thinks different.)
(1) Sometimes God has his people do something that he uses for their deliverance.
Abraham (Genesis 14) raised an army and fought the alliance of kings from the north to save his nephew Lot and the other hostages that the alliance had captured. Abraham fought, but as Melchizedek said, “Blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hands.”
When Joshua (the whole of the book by his name) led the people into the land of Canaan, they took possession of the land promised to them mainly by military action. Before Joshua ever fought a battle, a man (the angel of the LORD?) appeared to him who was “the commander of the army of the LORD” so that Joshua would never doubt who won the victories for Israel.
God used David (1 Kings 16 – 2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 11 – 29), sometimes singly (David against Goliath), and sometimes with an army, small or large. It was a relatively small company who joined with him in his wilderness years, but he had the whole army of the nation to use later. But, as David told Saul, before he ever put a stone in his sling and faced Goliath, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Abraham, Joshua, and David are examples of God’s delivering his people by armed force. But who does the delivering? The Scriptures make it clear that it is God working through individuals and groups to accomplish his purposes.
(2) Other times God has people do something that does not have any direct bearing on the outcome. There is no cause and effect relationship between what God’s people do and what follows, as there is when an army of God’s people fight against and kill their enemies. During the reign of King Jehosaphat (1 Kings 22:41-50; 2 Chronicles 16 – 20) of Judah, a coalition of Moabites and Amonites and some others invaded Judah. Jehosaphat was afraid, and along with the people asked the LORD to deliver them. The LORD sent a prophet who told them what to do: “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s…Tomorrow go down against them…You will not need to fight this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid, do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go up against them, and the LORD will be with you.”
The prophet told them to go out against the enemy army. The next day the King told the people, “Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” Jehosaphat ordered singers praising the LORD to lead and the army to follow. But the army never drew a sword. Their enemies ended up attacking each other. When the King and his people came to the location of the attacking army, they found nothing but dead bodies and the spoils of war. They did what God told them to do. The singers sang, the army marched, but neither of these caused the defeat of the enemy. God did it by other means.
(3) On other occasions God has his people do nothing. When Hezekiah (2 Kings 18 – 22; 2 Chronicles 17 – 20) was King of Judah, Sennacherib and Assyrian army invaded Judah. Assyria was the dominant empire and had already defeated and deported Israel to the north. They had come into Judah, won victories, and now threatened Jerusalem. Messengers from the Assyrian king, called upon Hezekiah to surrender Jerusalem. King Hezekiah went to the temple and laid before the LORD the threatening letter he had received. He also called together the army he had in Jerusalem, and told the men: “Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyrian and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and fight our battles.”
The LORD said of Sennacherib, “’He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it, or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into the city,’ declared the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.” The army of Judah never left Jerusalem. One night the angel of the LORD attacked the Assyrian army and killed 185,000. The next morning people from Jerusalem went out to where the Assyrians had been encamped and found it strewn with dead bodies, as though a great battle had been fought there. Sennacherib went home in shame, and later when he was worshiping at the temple of his god, his sons assassinated him.
Sometimes we face situations where it is clear there is something we can do. You can have the operation; you can put money into your retirement plan; you can arrange a job interview. These are means available to us, which God may be pleased to use to help us. As a general rule, anytime there is something you can do to try to help your situation, so long as it is lawful (does not do what God forbids, or not do what God commands), we should do it. It may be that the LORD will choose to bless our use of the means. They will be secondary causes used by God, the Primary Cause of everything. In these times, we must remember that God did it and give him the praise and thanksgiving for it.
Sometimes we face situations where there are things we can try to do, though we do not know if they will have any effect. You decide to take the chemotherapy; you put an ad in the paper that you have a car to sell; you get couples counseling for your marriage. These are things that may have some role to play but may not. God may work through them or through some other means. You put the ad in the paper, but nobody calls. Later someone asks you, “You wouldn’t have a car you want to get rid of do you?” You did what you could think of to try to sell your car, and you sell your car, but it turns out that your action had no direct impact on the outcome.
Sometimes we face situations where there is nothing we can do, or, we have tried everything we know to do and nothing has worked. These situations can be very frustrating. The plant closes, and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to save the jobs. You do everything you know to bring your child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but despite all your efforts, he grows up, turns away from the Lord, and there is nothing more you can do. These are times when there is nothing we can do except put the whole situation before God, tell him if anything is going to happen he will have to do it, and ask him to be pleased to help you.
When faced by challenges or crises in life, do what you can, pray, and see that the Lord will do.
It is not only as individuals that we face challenges and crises. We have the same experience as the Church, as a community of people called out from the world to be in covenant with the Lord. We must not forget that God has permanently placed in the Church’s hands three powerful weapons, the public means of grace – the church hearing the Word of God, the church celebrating the sacraments, and the church lifting up its voice in prayer. The world is not much impressed by these weapons. Sometimes the Church herself is not much impressed, thinking, “Surely these weapons are not enough.” But remember what Paul said, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10: 3,4).
As you encounter the hard things of your life, as you think about the nation in which you live, as you are concerned about the economy and the election, and as we as the Church universal and the church local seek to serve the LORD amidst the world’s opposition and our own weakness, we are not helpless. That is, we are not without help. “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the
LORD. ( Genesis 6:8 )
My Dear in Him,
Please follow me to study this words of hope from
the beginning to the end of the messages so you can found grace in the eyes of
The Almighty Father in obedience to The Divine direction to His prophet.
The word “grace” appears for the first time in the Bible in this verse. Noah
lived in the midst of the most heinously evil society the world had known, but
because he had found grace, God favored him with personal instruction about the
coming catastrophic judgment and the details for a new beginning on earth.The language of Genesis 6:8 gives us insight into Noah’s character. “Found” is a simple active perfect verb, not a passive one. Thus, Noah found favor—grace—in God’s eyes because he was actively looking for it. Likewise, Adam found no helpmate from among the animals that was suitable for him (Genesis 2:20), and Noah’s dove did not find rest for the sole of her foot (Genesis 8:9). Laban did not find his household images that Rachel had stolen and hidden (Genesis 31:35), and Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses
(2 Chronicles 34:14-15). God could have used a passive verb in reference to Noah, but He did not.
What can we learn from the life of this great man?
Evidently, God intended for us to know this key factor: Noah’s life was righteous—in spite of the horrible condition of the world of his day. He was looking for God’s direction and for the answers to his heart’s cry. Noah wasn’t merely hanging around waiting for the inevitable destruction that he sensed must come as a result of the awful rebellion that surrounded him. Noah was anticipating a response from God—and when God finally did give him instruction, Noah “found” the favor that he sought!
Captain of Industry
Many centuries later, God warned Ezekiel of future judgment that would happen to the land of Israel because of its wickedness. God identified three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—as examples of the best “righteous” men in history (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). If that comparison has any meaning, Noah was much more than a mere chance recipient of God’s grace.
Job was “the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3). His livestock resources (mainly those for caravan duty) were enormous. That certainly meant that he was a successful trade broker and possibly a source for prized stock. He had multiple houses and land—so much so that “bands” from nearby nations were necessary to destroy his wealth.
God had labeled Job “my servant...there is none like him in the earth, a perfect [blameless] and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth [shuns] evil” (Job 1:8). Job was much more than a “nice guy.” He was probably the wealthiest man of his day, and yet he was of such godly character that God used him to teach Satan a lesson!
Daniel was one of the king’s descendants and nobles from Judah taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 1:3). The account of Daniel and his three godly friends is well known among Christians, but the young adult experiences of Daniel often overshadow the long life that he led as the leader of the “scientists” (learned men) of that day. He was commissioned as a “great man” by Nebuchadnezzar and “sat in the gate of the king” (Daniel 2:48-49). Daniel served in some form of senior political and advisory position for six kings over some 70 years. Not bad for a captive!
God identified Daniel as a “man greatly beloved” (Daniel 10:11). He was privileged to have unusual spiritual insight, which he could have used to his personal advantage. But he always made it clear that he was gifted by God’s grace—to whom he always gave credit. Furthermore, God used Daniel to record several of the most remarkable prophecies in all of Scripture. Scholars are still discussing the book of Daniel. He was a significant person indeed!
If the comparisons of the righteous men listed in Ezekiel 14 are to be genuine comparisons, Noah must have been a person of significance in his region—if not well known throughout the world of his day. He clearly possessed or had access to the resources and skills needed to accomplish the monumental task that was assigned to him. Since God’s instructions to build the Ark are somewhat general, it is not beyond reason to assume that Noah ran an architectural and contracting business of some kind.
The pre-Flood civilization would certainly have been advanced enough for such an enterprise. The evolutionary cloud has mesmerized most of the world into relegating the “ancient” world into some sort of pre-human existence—living in caves and grass huts with animal skins for clothing. The Bible paints a much different picture! There were cities during Noah’s day, as well as developed technology that included metallurgy and the skills to build and market musical instruments (Genesis 4:17-22). Somebody had to construct the habitations for the growing population, and someone had to coordinate the distribution and development of those manufacturing places that produced the products needed by that society.
The world of Noah was very wicked, but it functioned with much the same needs as our current world. When the Lord Jesus wanted to emphasize the suddenness of the destruction in the coming end-times judgment, He did it by drawing a comparison with the “ordinary” life of the populations around Noah.
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be
also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married
wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the
ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27)
Noah was an important man in his day. Whether he was a general contractor,
an architect, or a business baron is pretty much an educated guess. But the
fact that he found grace is important. Noah was fully dedicated to the
work of God during his life.Walked with God
The Bible says that Noah was one of only two men in all of history who “walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). The other is Enoch, who may be more well known since he was taken up into God’s presence without dying (Genesis 5:24). Efforts by some to portray Noah as a bumbling, drunken hypocrite are simply not true. God’s commentary is that Noah was “just” and “perfect” (upright, without blemish). The Creator entrusted him with a monumental task that is unique in all of history.
Noah was “just.” That simply means that he was known for his equitable dealings with others. Even in the wicked world that disgusted the Creator, Noah was “justified” in his dealings. He charged reasonable prices for his work. He gave a good product (whatever it was) to those who employed his services. His honest dealings gave rise to his influence in the community. He was proven to be a man of integrity (Genesis 7:1).
Noah was “perfect.” That precious reputation, at least from God’s perspective, means that he was a man without condemnation. His “just” dealings resulted in a “blameless” record. Whatever the wicked people of his day may have said behind his back, they knew that Noah was above reproach. Just as folks today often resort to rumor-mongering and distortion of facts to cover their own guilt, those around Noah no doubt employed some of the same practices to discredit righteous Noah. He may well have had that kind of treatment, but God saw that he was “perfect.”
Preacher of Righteousness
Peter called Noah a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). Think of what that means in the context of Genesis 6! The whole earth was “filled with violence” and “every heart” only thought of evil. The social milieu must have been a real mess. Yet Noah had the guts to stand up publically for the righteous behavior that just about everyone else openly and loudly rejected.
Perhaps his extended family members, and even some or most of his employees, were under his influence. But by the time the judgment of God fell, only Noah, his wife, and three of their sons and their wives were willing to follow his leadership into the Ark. Many would consider a ministry with such results a failure today, and yet God insisted that Noah’s faith not only “saved” his family but the future world from extinction (Hebrews 11:7)!
We are not told in Scripture what Noah preached about. Enoch (the other man who walked with God) preached about the return of the Lord in judgment (Jude 1:14-15). Noah may well have preached about the coming judgment of the Flood and the desperate need of the world’s people to turn back to their Creator for salvation. Whatever he may have preached and however he implemented his heart’s desire, Noah was labeled a “preacher of righteousness” by the only Judge that ultimately counts.
God’s grace is always available. It is not hidden from anyone. But it must be “found” by God’s servants as we “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
My Most Beloved,
If you look for God with your whole heart you will find Him and He
will remove that affliction out of your life, family, marriage and business.
God is great and also the wisest personage in the
universe. Your decision to look for Him today as the solution to the problems
that have weighed you down in this life is the only key to the problem.
You might be among those who are searching for God but
not with your whole heart. You might also be searching for God and at the same
time going to the places you know from your heart that is not pleasing to God
Almighty.
God is everywhere you go though not accessible from all
places you have fixed your heart for the solution to your needs.
So many people have looked for this God through many
gods of various religions and yet they are still confused of life and why they
even came into existence.
Others have believed that joining different kinds of
Self Realization organizations is the key to actualize and realize what they
are looking for.
I have seen others who are tired of other gods of other
people but now they have decided to create their own gods to worship. Can a man
create God?
Yet many men have created gods and deceived you to
worship them.
Many are calling upon the names of other gods they do
not know about simply because they want to try a certain kind of worship and see
how it can be with them. Some others are
busy looking for a place to discover another strange god which is not yet
discovered by any other man. If we move
a little into the Bible book we will discover the exact message of God
concerning searching and developing gods in any other scientific method which
the Bible rightly stipulated, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve
them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me;
And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me,
and keep my commandments.” – EXODUS 20: 3-6.
God is warning you from this portion of the scripture
to stop developing any form of worship that will
entice you to worship other gods.
God is also warning you in particular to remove and
throw away those gods you kept in secret places which men do not know you are
worshipping.
Stars and other things in the skies are not made to be
worshipped by The Almighty Father and the Creator of universe. God commanded
you also never to worship gods of woods, silvers, gold and iron.
God
spoke to us through Moses and said. “And
the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye
might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
Take
ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on
the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Lest
ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any
figure, the likeness of male or female,
The
likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl
that flieth in the air,
The
likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish
that is in the waters beneath the earth:
And lest
thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon,
and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship
them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations
under the whole heaven. - Deuteronomy 4:14-19
God is angry with you as you are bowing down to them
and this is the source of those problems that refuses to go out of your life.
The Almighty Father does not want you to worship the gods of your land.
Some people do carry the gods of their lands in wooden
form to another country for worshipping purposes but The Almighty Father cannot
be carried in a wooden form because He is accessible from any place and any
condition you can call Him in truth and in Spirit wholeheartedly.
There is no good gods in seas and oceans. There is no
marine good gods that is capable to do what Almighty God cannot do for you.
He warned you never to bow down to any of them. Your
destiny is purely in the hand of The Almighty Father. None of your blessings
comes as a result of worshipping idols.
God is jealous and will not be happy if you are giving
the glories that are due to His Most Holy Name, Jehovah to other gods of
nations and other gods who have ears but cannot hear.
If you believe me today, and decide to drop those gods
you are serving and to come to The Almighty Jehovah through His Son, Jesus
Christ.
The
Bible warned, “As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold,
I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
To
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches. The Revelation of Saint John 3:19-22.
Why not decide right now as you are reading this
message and give your entire life to your Creator so it shall be well with you,
your family and all your businesses?
Will you continue to serve the gods that demands for
the blood of your children for ritual purposes and sacrifices so as to bless
and protect you?
Will you serve the gods that takes away your fertility
in other to give you unrealistic financial blessings and fame?
Reason well before you go.
God is telling me that some group of people is trying
to initiate you into a cult, an occult group, a satanic system of worship.
Please beware and run away for your dear life so you
will not regret the final outcome of it.
There is nothing absolutely good in Satan. He is a liar
and father of all liars.
If you believe this message is for you in particular
and you wants to be saved before it is too late. Why not call my attention for
my direction to establish your faith in Jesus Christ?
Accept and Confess the name of Jesus Christ so He shall
come into your life and be your God as you have totally dropped all form of
other gods with sincere heart.
Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.- JOHN 14:6-7
Am available to assist you to develop your faith in God
and also to pray with you for instant divine solution to those problems that
has taken you far and wide without hope for solution.
“And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy
father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the
LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the
thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him,
he will cast thee off for ever. - I CHRONICLES 28:9.
God bless you for giving a listening ear to this
message of God that is specially made for you today for your upliftment.
If you are moved by the Spirit of God to
support this work. Please don’t hesitate to tell us of how you are led by God
to assist. Or you can send us your Check to our office below for our mission to
Africa and building of schools for Orphans and Orphanage .
We need an offering and a monetary donation
motivated by the Spirit of God for the poor and less privileged because God
loves a cheerful giver.
Please
kindly send us Check of the amount placed in your heart by the Spirit of Most High
GOD JEHOVAH to- Bishop Uchenna Celestine Okonkwor
472 Amherst St
Suite 732225
Nashua, NH 03063
U.S.A.
Tel:
781-569-0201.
Alternatively, I will also suggest that you
forward your donation to us for the poor through Our Payoneer Bank Account
details below to make the deposit…
Bank Account Holder: Uchenna
Celestine Okonkwor
Bank Name: Bank Of America
Account #: 00003503352939167
ABA (Bank Routing) #: 061000052
Account Type: CHECKING.
Bank Name: Bank Of America
Account #: 00003503352939167
ABA (Bank Routing) #: 061000052
Account Type: CHECKING.
You may as well send your financial
donation in support of this missionary work through our paypal account at
zionagency@yahoo.com.
You can visit our outreach and ministerial sites below
for perusal to enable you understand our mission practically well. We need up to $2,ooo,000 to facilitate the
schools building project for the poor and less privileged. This will have
primary, secondary and University educational system. We are pleading that you
give us your financial contribution and support as you are capable and also led
by The Spirit of The Almighty God.
God bless you.
Bishop Uchenna C. Okonkwor
472 Amherst St
Suite 732225
Nashua, NH 03063
Suite 732225
Nashua, NH 03063
781-569-0201.
U.S.A.
JESUS CHRIST IS THE LORD.
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