Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1:5

This verse brought great comfort to me during a pretty rough patch I was going through about 2 years ago…”Look around you Habakkuk, replied the Lord, among the nations and see! And be astonished! Astounded! For I am putting into effect a work in your days such that you would not believe it if it were told to you.” Habakkuk 1: 5

It came to mind while I was having coffee with a friend, so I decided to go back and read the context…the book of Habakkuk is pretty short – 3 chapters, to be exact, and it’s pretty awesome!

It’s a dialogue between God and the prophet, Habakkuk. Habakkuk is concerned and crying out to God because the Judean leaders are oppressing the poor and committing violent, destructive crimes. Habakkuk prays, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and You will not hear? Or cry out to You of violence and You will not save?” H 1:2

The Lord answers: V5 – “Look around you, Habakkuk, replied the Lord, among the nations and see! And be astonished! Astounded! For I am putting into effect a work in your days such that you would not believe it if it were told to you.”

God goes on to reveal that His plan is to fix the situation by sending the Chaldeans, who were known for, well, here is a description – “..terrible and dreadful, their justice and dignity proceed only from themselves. Their horses are also swifter than leopards and are fiercer than the evening wolves, and their horsemen spread themselves and press on proudly …they come for violence; their faces turn eagerly forward and they gather prisoners together like sand.” 1: 7-9

So, the Lord says to Habakkuk, “I am going to fix this by sending these horribly violent people to invade and take over the Judeans.” Habakkuk is perplexed, troubled, and wonders how this can be a better thing, but the Lord replies again.

God’s reply is that His children will live by faith, they will have the confidence that the Chaldeans will be judged and that God’s people will prevail in righteousness and justice. This will happen when the Lord returns and shakes the nations. This is described in chapter 3 - Habakkuk’s prayer back to the Lord, but it is more of a psalm at the end, that indicates his remaining faith and confidence in God’s promises.

He asks that God would revive His works, make Himself known, and in His wrath to remember love, pity and mercy! Isn’t this what we long for today? A breakthrough? A revelation of God’s power and mercy? This is what our intercession is today! This is the role of a forerunner! To remain confident in God’s love even while things are falling apart, to be able to explain God’s justice and the goodness of His judgments to those who are confused, to intercede on behalf of the lost and God’s children.

This is such a perfect explanation of the justice and mercy that is coming with the Lord. I love this! “You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled and threshed the nations in anger. You went forth and have come for the salvation of Your people, for the deliverance and victory of Your anointed people; You smote the head of the house of the wicked, laying bare the foundation even to the neck. Selah.” Habakkuk 3:12-13

And so, as Habakkuk understands the shaking and judgment that will afflict his people, he remains faithful, and praises God: “Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, though the product of the olive fails and the fields yield not food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation! The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk, not to stand in terror, but to walk and make spiritual progress upon my high places of trouble, suffering or responsibility!” Habakkuk 3:17-19

Calling All Prayer Warriors!

Calling All Prayer Warriors!

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. In as much as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ, the messiah, the Anointed One.” II Corinthians 10: 3-5

We serve man before God when we fear the rejection of men, when we do not speak of God and His salvation, the prophesies that warn of death. Who will shout these things in the street other than those whom we see as MAD? Are we really the estranged ones, we who cower to ungodly men, and run from fellow believers, we who hold God’s word close to our heart, but never hold it out as our strength and shield? This is a time of great spiritual warfare. Look and see what is going on around us…and see these things for what they really are! Over and over God warned His people in the old testament of things to come, but like us today – they never thought those things would really happen, never NOTICED that they WERE really happening. See and be aware of the enemy and God’s warning signs.

“So, see to it that you do not reject Him or refuse to listen to and heed Him Who is speaking to you now. For if they, the Israelites, did not escape when they refused to listen and heed Him Who warned and divinely instructed them here on earth, revealing with heavenly warnings His will, how much less shall we escape if we reject and turn our backs on Him Who cautions and admonishes us from heaven. Then at Mount Sinai His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake and make tremble not only the earth but also the starry heavens. Now this _expression, yet once more indicates the final removal of all that can be shaken – that is, of that which has not been created –in order that what cannot be shaken may remain and continue. Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe: For our God is indeed a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12: 25-29

His heart for ALL of the world is such that He will use the least severe means to get the attention of man and bring us to His love and salvation. But think for a minute about how the Lord has tried in the past to get our attention – locusts, famine, and war, and when the Lord saved His people they praised Him, but soon after forgot of the war that was being waged in the heavens, forgot that they were His BRIDE, His Children, sent to be His blessing to others in the earth. God’s power is greater than the darkness that permeates where we can’t see, but He wants His bride with Him, He wants people who love Him, to seek Him, to vie for the salvation of others, to stand in the gap because their hearts break when they see those who hurt. The Lord longs for a people after His own heart, whose first love is God, who war against the powers of darkness.

I Peter 4:17 says, “For the time has arrived for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news of the Gospel of God? And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the godless and the wicked?”

We are here to do war, to fight in God’s love for the salvation of our enemies, for those who don’t know the love of God. It is done by intercession, by praying, and loving others, by standing firm in our faith, mo matter what our circumstances. Our prayers and fasting are worth something to God! He hears and loves when we speak to Him, when we are so in love with Him that we can’t stand it that anyone else doesn’t know that love too!

In Daniel 10, Daniel received a word that revealed the coming of great tribulation for His people from Persia. He began to pray, and he fasted for 3 weeks, seeking the Lord, calling on God to protect His people. An angel appeared to Daniel, and this is what the angel said: “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind and heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come as a consequence of, and in response to your words.” Daniel 10:12

God sent an angel to war with the dark prince of Persia on behalf of Daniel’s prayers! That is how our prayers play a role in warfare. The next words from the angel though, should remind us of the power of satan – it is not something to take lightly.

“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for the 21 days. Then Michael, one of the chief of the celestial princes (the Archangel, Michael), came to help me, for I remained there with the kings of Persia (satan’s evil angels).”

In verse 20, the angel reminds us that satan has set up his evil angels in specific areas of the earth. “And now I will return to fight with the hostile prince of Persia; and when I have gone, behold, the hostile prince of Greece will come.”

This is the urgency that is before us! Therein lies the importance of unity in fasting and prayer for the nations and leaders and governments and kingdoms of the earth. God is calling His church to return to Him wholeheartedly, to really believe in His power and our role as intercessors on earth. Just as we who live in this generation have not seen the actual man Jesus, but have faith in the salvation that came in His bloodshed, so too, we cannot see the spiritual battle being fought, but know that it is there.

Our armor and our victory lies in Him, in having faith beyond faith, in walking in His light that points to truth, His light that uncovers the plot of the enemy, brings clarity in a time of confusion, and peace to our hearts when war rages all around us.

“But when anything is exposed and reproved by the light, it is made visible and clear; and where everything is visible and clear there is light. Therefore He says, Awake, O Sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ shall shine upon you and give you light.” Eph. 5:13-14

And so, as God loves you and me, let us go out and love one another and war for one another, for the lost, for the poor, let us find our strength in the One who created us and VIE for nations and governments and kingdoms, that they will not come under attack, but be brought into the light and warmth of Jesus. Let us pray and hope that every man would know the love and peace that surpasses all understanding, that ALL may rest in Him.

“In conclusion, be strong in the Lord, be empowered through your union with Him; draw your strength from Him, that strength which His boundless might provides. Put on God’s whole armor, the armor of a heavy-armed soldier that God supplies, that you may be able to successfully stand up against all the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For we are not wresting with flesh and blood, contending only with physical opponents, but against the despotism, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of the wickedness in the heavenly supernatural sphere. Therefore, put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day of danger, and having done all the crisis demands, to stand firmly in your place.” Eph. 6: 10-13