The scriptures state: Is any afflicted let HIM pray. But when the burden I was under seemed to require additional assistance, I requested prayer. And the word of the Lord came to me through the man of God saying: Arise and thresh...O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. (Isa 41:15) Threshing the mountains in our lives is an ongoing lessons. But a subject I believe God wants me to share with you!
Mountains are used figuratively of obstacles. There's a stanza of an old chorus which reads:
Got any rivers you think are uncrossable? Got any mountains you can't tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible. And He can do what no other power can do.
5And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Prior to the flood Noah and his family lived among a people who resisted the Word of the Lord sent to save them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God said: I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people that walked in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts. God wants the inhabitants of the land to tremble at His word, for He looks to the man who is of a contrite heart who trembles at His word. Noah was a righteous man who was not afraid to have people think that he was different. He obeyed the will of the Lord. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2) You, like the 8 people God saved in Noah's day can choose to have a right relationship with God. Noah's relationship with God made set him apart from those that did not know the Lord in a distinctive way. He was born to be a prophetic sign to his generation. God's will for Noah was that he preach and pray and God would work, and this was exactly what happened. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation (Isaiah 52:7).
THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S KINGDOM THROUGH FAITH
This will be a year of God allowing the mountains to be made manifest. When this occurs in your life, or the lives of those that you love, have faith in God. Don't allow yourself to become distraught, because this is the beginning of miracles for you, if you will not become passive. Totally commit yourself to move in the "operation of God, through faith in the power of God's Spirit!" Revelation or insight into problems is a thing that people seek God for, praying: I just don't understand why." And though understanding why is not a prerequisite to a miracle, the gift of faith, revelation knowledge, words of wisdom, words of knowledge are all part of the manifest kingdom of God. God has ordained that His people work together as co-workers together with Him.
A YEAR OF THE MYTHS BEING FLOODED WITH TRUTH TO DISPEL THE LIES
Noah and his family lived on board that ark longer than most people think. Many have a picture of an experience like an amuzement park ride. The universal flood was an ordeal that caused Noah's family to be shut in with God for over a year.
THE TIME SEQUENCE OF THE FLOOD
Our trials seem so long at times. At times people can be tempted to wonder: Does God hear my prayers at all? We don't always see that as God allows things to manifest that it's one of those answers to prayers. In the very manifestation of the evil, you can lean on the Lord and pray for how to deal with the situation. You do not have to feel helpless! Sin prospers under the cover of darkness. Light makes manifest. Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ is the Light of the World God and wants His people to walk as "Children of Light." God wants people to understand His Kingdom better than ever before. Like Gideon worked, only to find the enemy taking what he had, people are discouraged. An angel appeared to Gideon and told him: The Lord is with you. He replied: Then where are all His miracles? This can be a year of miracles for you!
THE RAVEN NOAH SENT OUT
Have you ever read the account of Noah and the Ark and wondered, "Why did Noah send forth the raven?" Seemingly, it didn�t accomplish anything. Noah and his family were confined to the ark for 371 days. Although Noah's preaching helped to bring forth the judgment, he was a man of prayer and great compassion. It had to have been difficult for him to contemplate the fate of those who had been his neighbors for 120 years. This action of sending forth the raven, no doubt told Noah exactly what he needed to know. Ravens will eat almost anything, including carrion (the primary reason that they are classified as unclean. When the raven failed to return it was a good indication to Noah and family that the raven had found something of the "death and decay caused by the flood to feed on." Many times when we fail to discern the actions of others it's because we do not pray and ask the Lord what the truth of the situation is, if we even need to know. Yet have you observed that people can be quite opinionated? Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ said: Judge not after the outward! But judge with righteous judgment. True judgment can only come by revelation from God and His word.
THE RETURN OF THE DOVE
Hydroculture is the method of growing plants in an inert medium with water and fertilizer rather than soil. The olive tree lives longer than most fruit trees. I've read of hydro-growing systems used for growing various types of fruit and vegetables. Are we to understand that the universal flood of Noah's day didn't kill all the olive trees? "May your sons be as olive trees around your table..." When Noah sent the dove forth from the ark, it returned with a living olive twig in it's beak. The oil from the olive tree was exchanged in ancient times as a gift to signify fertility, strength, purity, peace and friendship...the most enduring and remarkable testimony of the olive tree tells of the dove which Noah sent forth from the ark, returning with an olive branch in it's beak. The olive branch endures as a sign of prosperity, and peace. People are grateful for the sacred gift that provides not only fuel and light, but also food (olive oil/olives).
GOD'S NEW PROMISE: BELIEVE THAT YOUR GROUND IS BLESSED
After the flood had prevailed many days, and Noah looked for a sign, he sent forth a raven and a dove. It was with the return of the dove, that Noah recognized that God had given him a "sign of life." We must have an ability to hear God and be discerning.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. 22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."The focus is frequently plaed upon the curse God put on the ground at the time of Adam's sin.
17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3)
But here God's promise to Noah concerning the ground is one filled with mercy. "I will never again curse the ground because of mankind, nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done." Are you a believer that has been taught that because the very ground was cursed at the time of the fall, that it's God's will for your life to be hard? God's will is that you live for Him. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. Get into God's word and prayer, strengthen and edify yourself in it's truth. Believe that the ground is blessed for the sake of the righteous.
HOW IS IT THAT A PERSON LANDS IN THAT PLACE?
"I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains, and Mine elect shall possess it (Isaiah 65:9).
Many people believe Mount Ararat is the place where Noah's Ark came to rest following the global flood. That when permitted by the Lord, Noah and his wife and family made their way down the mountain...For the Lord God said: "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you." This assumption is based on the fact that Mount Ararat is the tallest mountain in the region, and the genesis account states the ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat 2.5 months before the tops of the mountains were visible. It is debatable, however, if Mt. Ararat existed at the time of the flood. Some consider it to be a post-flood volcanic mountain.
We hear people say as they contrast their faith or situation with that of others: They are so blessed! Or that person has such great faith! Feeling sometimes that they are inferior in some way. What they observe is that an individual has become grounded in God's word and developed their spiritual senses, to discern between good and evil. When God initially brings us to a location where he wants us to minister for him, it's still crucial that we seek him for every aspect of His will for us. There are indications that Noah and His family strayed from this important perspective. We pray and believe God is leading us to do a certain thing, and we step out by faith based our belief in God and His word. Keeping a journal is a good way to test the words that come to you in prayer. Many times God will show you the outcome, or how the thing applies. The believer's life should exemplify this truth: "The life I now live in the flesh, I life by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me!"
Now after these events Paul resolved "in the Spirit" to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome." "The life in Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ is from God who is without partiality. He states to all men and women: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call. (Acts 2:38-39)
How can the children within one family all be so different? Noah's sons would produce three distinct types of people. By the time Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:32) Of the three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, Shem is mentioned first in scripture, and yet he was the middle son. Of this son Noah prophesied: Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. And Canaan shall be his servant. Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth. Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber.6 (Genesis 10:21)
Japheth was the oldest. Noah prophesied of him that God would enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant. (Genesis 9:27) The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. (Genesis 10:2)
Canaan, the son of Ham was cursed when there was a dishonouring of his father Noah by Ham. Noah gave patriarchal blessings as well as a curse. He declared the following under the prophetic spirit of the Lord: Then he cursed the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham: "A curse on the Canaanites! May they be the lowest of servants to the descendants of Shem and Japheth." (Genesis 9:25) To more fully understand the seriousness of the situation involving Noah's son Ham, one needs only to contemplate the Man Noah's righteous ministry to his generation which extended to 120 years. The family endured over a year in the ark, held to the knowledge of God in spite of living on earth at a time when there was the most severe of God's judgments against sin, and then no sooner landed to begin a new life when this incident occurred. The dishonour of Ham wasn't justified although Noah was found by him to be drunk in his tent. Children must be taught to respect the parental authority God places in their lives. They must be trained to respect their parents privacy. We tell them: You see that door? Knock! You don't just barge in here!
The word of God exhorts all of us: 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. (Eph. 5:15-18)
God cares how the members of a family end up. This is why various people "land where they do." But God is a forgiving God and will heal and restore when there is repentance and a change of behaviour and life style.
In the final settling down of Noah's ark upon the top of a mountain following the univeral flood, it was the providence of the Lord that caused the floating ship to land where it did. In our lives, but especially in all of our trials in which we pray like Noah to be delivered, we trust that God is with us. We pray to be lead of the Lord, for He said "It is not within man to direct his own steps."
DESTROY IT NOT FOR A BLESSING IS IN IT
Thus says the Lord; "As the new wine is found in the cluster And one says, 'Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,' So will I do for My servants' sake, That I may not destroy them all."
(Isaiah 65:8)
The command in Isaiah 65:8, to "Destroy not" is reminiscient of Psalm 9, inscribed: "Muth-labben," meaning "Destory Not" -- a title occurring only in the title of Psalm 9. Some interpret the words as meaning "on the death of Labben," some unknown person. Others render the word, "on the death of the son;" i.e., of Absalom (2 Sam. 18:33). Others again have taken the word as the name of a musical instrument, or as the name of an air to which the psalm was sung.
A gardener was about to cut down a dried up vine, when the owner of the vineyard passed by and noticed a cluster of new grapes on it. He cried out to the vinedresser, "Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it!" The vine looked worthless. It appeared to be needlessly occupying space. Ugly and dried up, the gardener would have cut it down, thinking that was the only thing to be done with it. Nothing in the field is uglier than a dried up vine. But the owner saw a blessing in that which appeared to be worthless. Then the Lord says, "So will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all." The blessing of God is often found in that which appears to be good for nothing.
Noah's son Ham was not destroyed like David's son Absolom was. Rather Ham was rebuked and Ham's son was made to serve his righteous brethren.
Isaiah 65 contrasts the "promised seed" with those that forsake the Lord, worship idols, whose name shall be left as a curse unto the Lord's chosen, for God's word says that "the Lord will slay then and call His servants by another name." In the Days of Noah, God spared a family of 8 people, because of Noah's obedience to divine command. Noah did what was right in God's eyes even though his neighbors continued doing evil. Genesis 6:9-12. So what was the world like at that time? Sin had permeated the world because of Adam and Eve's disobedience in Genesis 3. Their own son Cain's murdered his own brother Abel in Genesis 4. As the mystery of iniquity worked, there was a degeneration of mankind in Genesis 6. (Genesis 6:12) The human race at that time did not come of of their sins, though Noah, called a "preacher of righteousness" preached for 120 years. When God judged the world, he placed Noah and His family in a place of safety, for their faith pleased God. The Lord sent a universal flood upon the earth. The flood waters prevailed and covered the earth for 15 cubits and upwards, till the very tops of the mountains were covered. God gave Noah a "sign of life" that in due season these same mountains would be uncovered.
SHUT YOUR DOORS ABOUT YOU: THERE'LL BE GLORY ON THE TOPS OF THE MOUNTAINS IN 2008
The Lord shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great. He is strong that executes His word. Come My people shut thy doors about thee. (Isaiah 26:20)
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4. He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:1 NKJV)
Intercessory prayer is what causes us to even be able to see the glimpse of the light and the glory on the tops of the mountains. Without obedience to God and His word, we won't see ourselves "land in that new and wonderful place that God desires for us. May you see God's glory illuminating in a fresh new way that trial you've found yourself or your loved one in.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. As we seek the Lord through praying in the Spirit, He brings things into view, in their proper perspective. It's here more than any other place, that those enemies that have appeared to you in the natural like "giants in the land" shrink to the size of grasshoppers, as you stand and behold the glory of the Lord.
And six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were conversing with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.' For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, 'This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!' And all at once they looked around and saw no one with them any more, except Jesus only. And as they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead. And they seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead might mean." (Mark 9:2-10)
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