March 2012
Welcome to abounding love,
which is an outreach from prison, where
I teach a weekly class. Recently, I've been
led to open the class with 2 Chronicles
16:9, which states:
"The eyes of the
Lord search the whole earth
in order to strengthen those whose hearts
are
fully committed to Him."
When you read the above
verse in context (vs. 7-10), you'll see
that the prophet Hanani rebuked King Asa
of Judah for depending on Syria's army,
instead of trusting in God, as the King
had done in earlier battles. No matter what
battle you are going through today, you
must learn that the eyes of the LORD are
upon you for deliverance from your dependencies.
There are an array of
programs and people to help us deal with
our problems, but none of these are sufficient
without God's help. We must put our trust
in God. Many people in recovery don't want
to hear about God. King Asa threw Hanani
in prison, and put him in stocks. Either
we humbly acknowledge our failures when
someone points out a problem, or we become
angry. If we do the latter, our efforts
in recovery will ultimately fail.
The Eyes of the LORD...
Since "The eyes of
the LORD" search the whole earth in
order to strengthen those whose hearts are
fully committed to Him," you need to
know what "the eyes of the LORD"
represent. This is what the Apostle John
saw as recorded in Revelation 5:6, which
states:
"Then I saw a Lamb
[Jesus] that looked as if it had been
slaughtered, now standing between the
throne and the four
living beings and among the twenty-four
elders. He had
seven horns and seven eyes, which represent
the sevenfold
Spirit of God that is sent out into every
part of the earth."
The Sevenfold Spirit...
The seven eyes are the
sevenfold Spirit of God sent out into every
part of the earth to strengthen those whose
hearts are fully committed to Him. According
to Isaiah 11:1-5, the sevenfold Spirit is
wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge
of the LORD, fear of the LORD, and righteousness
(for additional study, see Zechariah 4:1-14).
The purpose of the sevenfold
Spirit is to reunite us with the LORD for
salvation.
"God has united
you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit
God made Him to be wisdom itself. Christ
made us
right with God; He made us pure and holy,
and He freed
us from sin."1
The Seven Horns...
The seven horns denote
complete and perfect power, now providing
authority for those in Christ. Since creation,
the LORD has never taken His eyes off His
children. He gave His children wisdom at
creation in the Garden, understanding of
our sinfulness by giving the Law, counsel
through the priesthood at the wilderness
tabernacle, might (strength) in Christ,
knowledge of our resurrection in the LORD,
the fear [reverence] of the LORD through
regeneration, and the gift of righteousness
in Christ.
When God finds you, and
you commit to the LORD, you will find a
new strength in your life. The Apostle Paul
writes:
"We now have this
light shining in our hearts,
but we ourselves are like fragile clay
jars containing
this great treasure. This makes it clear
that our
great power is from God, not from ourselves."2
This new strength brings
authority into your life from the Lamb of
the throne with the seven horns. As you
grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ,
you'll find more assertiveness in your life.
This comes as you renew your mind to the
mind of Christ.3
The Spirit of Grace...
All this talk about the
eyes of the LORD, the sevenfold Spirit,
and the seven horns may be a whole lot to
swallow in one setting. But the purpose
of the monthly view is to give you God's
view; the way He sees things. Besides, it
is good to renew our minds with the revelation
of Jesus Christ.
Simply put, I'm sharing
with you the Spirit of Grace from Genesis
to Revelation. There are many definitions
of grace, but here are a couple that I like:
God's willingness to
use His power and ability
on our behalf even though we don't deserve
it.
God's ability to do
by His Spirit what we cannot
do in our flesh.
We are saved by faith
in God's grace.4 Jesus died to provide righteousness
through His blood and rose again to give
us life. Then, as promised, He poured out
the Spirit of grace. There is no grace without
Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth,
and the life. Jesus said, "No man comes
to the Father, but by Me."5 Won't you
receive Him today? He's waiting for you!
A Prayer for You...
Heavenly Father, I turn
from trusting in myself and my own works
for salvation, to Jesus Christ. I confess
that Jesus is my LORD. I believe in my heart
that You raised Jesus from the dead, and
I receive Your gift of salvation right now
by faith. Thank You for revealing Your love
and grace to me. I recognize that I need
Your power to understand Your Word and to
live this new life. I desire to receive
Your revelation knowledge. Please fill me
with Your Holy Spirit. By faith, I receive
the Sevenfold Spirit to overflowing, so
I can be a blessing to those I come into
contact with from day to day. In Jesus Name,
Amen
Ministry Recommendation:
Andrew Wommack
Ministries
Scripture References:
Acknowledgement: A special thanks
to Sherry for transcribing this months view!
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