06/11/12

God gave rulers to oppress and vex

Ezekiel 22:6,7,8 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.


This message goes out to all those who are praying for the right people to govern them. They have been troubled with bad people governing them, who have caused great hardship to come into their lives. In today's message the Lord is saying there is the reason why this is happening.

The Sunday before last in our church service we were told to form groups and pray for our country to get good elected people who will govern well and bring peace and prosperity to come to our nation. And when we started taking turns I was not praying what they were praying instead I started praying to the Lord that the Christians of India be a holy and righteous people who lift your Name high and the nation knows they are different from rest of the people and the nation knows that their God is God.

The reason I started my prayer like this is because the Bible in simple words says when the people sin against the Lord and go against His Word the Lord will cause rulers to rule them who will rob them, oppress them, and lead them to great hardship and cause bondage of gloominess to come over them.

Many Christians have a very wrong thinking, as Christians they think God wants them to rid evil from the whole world. It shows the lack of understanding they have of the Word of God and of the Kingdom of God. They do not know the basic reason of Jesus's sacrifice.

Although Jesus bought the message of salvation to all mankind, yet He did not come to save all mankind. He came to save His people, the sheep of the Lord. He also comes to punish the goats (those who accept Him but reject His Word) and those who rejected Him.

Our mission as Christian should fall in line with the mission of Jesus Christ; that is to take the message of salvation (Gospel) to the entire world, but to save only those who are the children of God. As Christians we are called to rid evil, not from the world but from within us. The Bible says evil will be there and in fact will grow great in the last days. To rid evil forever the Lord says the Son of Man Jesus Christ will come again with His Angels.

The Lord is telling us as Christians to stopping looking at other people or the situation around us to blame for the cause of our troubled life and is telling us to look inside and see where we as Christians have been going wrong.

Let us correct our lives and the Lord will do the remaining. Peace and prosperity does not come from people but comes from the Lord alone. It is only when we have peace and prosperity from the Lord will we experience it in this world.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord You called us to be a blessing unto others and not to be blessed by others, for our blessings come from You alone. Lord, You alone are Father - our creator and provider. Lord we are always looking out for excuses to blame others for all our problems and we never look inside to see the real reason of our problems, we do not trust your Word or understand Who You are; that You are able to keep our boat perfectly still even in a stormy weather. Lord, we pray for your people that they may open doors of blessing unto the nation by being your people, by keeping your Word and abiding by your Spirit...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Deuteronomy 30:1-3
1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

Deuteronomy 28:12-15, 36-40, 43-44, 48-52
12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

Deuteronomy 30:15-18
15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

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