"The Sound Of Marching In The Tops Of The Mulberry Trees"

2 Samuel 5:22-25 (NKJV):

²² Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.

²³ Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.

²⁴ And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

²⁵ And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba^[f] as far as Gezer.

When reading this story of David`s victory over Philistines, I was reminded once again the way God allows certain methods, and I would add unusual methods, to be used in one`s life to gain victory and bring out questions. I will explain what I mean by that in a moment.

When I read the way David was able to discern the “sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees” I get a conflicting reaction in my heart and my mind: realization of David`s very close relationships with the Lord allowing him this opportunity to be able to hear and understand the marching of the Lord, and realization of bizarreness of the situation of the way it looks to the people.

Who would pray while on the battlefield to the Lord and want to hear His answer that we see above: to wait until God would march in the tops of the mulberry trees, and that would be the sign to move swiftly forward to defeat the multitude of the opposing army? I would admit I would not want to hear this kind of an answer from the Lord. For once, it sounds bizarre and ridiculous to the people. I can just picture King David standing in front of his army giving out the command:  “Halt, we will wait for the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, and then we would move swiftly to attack”. I can picture the heads of the soldiers turning to one another and questioning if they heard David correct: “we would have to wait for the sound of what marching…………?” Yes, we would wait until we hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees.

Also, this command from the Lord sounded unrealistic. Granted, I never heard the marching in the tops of the mulberry trees in my life, and I have no idea what it may sound like, but the point is—David had to be in the place of being able to hear and discern that it was the Lord Himself giving him this kind of a command first of all, and being able to discern the sound of marching, so he could yell out the order and signal to move swiftly forward.

I hope you realize the whole seriousness and “absurdity” of the situation. Why in the world, would God allow this kind of an answer to David in the peak of the conflict on the battle field? The answer is: David was a man after God`s own heart, and God could allow this luxury of giving David a command as we read above. David had such a close relationship with the Lord that he didn`t care how crazy it may have sounded to the people or to him when hearing this kind of an answer from the Lord; he was able to hear God and was willing to obey whatever the cost.

I hope you see what I see:

- God uses the method of communication to each one of us according to the level of faith one displays

- God challenges our level of faith to produce vivid spiritual growth

- God uses the necessary methods to bless and give victory to those who rely upon Him

- Importance of the close walk with the Lord producing the understanding of His ways and willingness to obey regardless of the way request may sound: too unrealistic or “crazy” in our own eyes

- Making decision to obey the Lord regardless of the price it may cost us

-God never repeats Himself twice but uses unique methods and techniques for the victory to show that the glory is all His (David was told by the Lord to do something different during this battle and was ordered “to circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees”)

-Knowing the time and the place of God`s visitation in order to see the victory and glory of the Lord (David was told to be in front of the mulberry trees, and that was the place of God`s visitation at that moment)

-Always seeking God`s will for each situation we face in life the way David did

This particular passage refers to the war with Philistines that David faced after the fact of coronation as a king over both sides of the kingdom: Judah and Israel. At this point in history David is a king and still fairly young (in his 30-s), as this chapter tells us, so David clears up his territory and asserts his name among the surrounding nations/kingdoms. When he does that, he continues to rely upon the Lord each step of the way. I think this is a very important concept for us to see and grasp on: David, compare to Saul (his predeceasing king), was not blinded by the power and authority over people, but he continued to display a humble and meek heart for the Lord. God in return, honored David by granting him endless victories in majority of the wars he fought and prospered him.

This is something very clear throughout the Bible: that God blesses the humble, but despises the proud. So long as we display humility and humbleness, God would be with us guiding each step of the way (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). This may require us to look “crazy” and ridiculous in the eyes of the others, but that`s just the way it is. This is the choice that we each have to make: whether to care the way we look to the others, or whether to care the way we may look in the eyes of the Lord.

David had to do a few things in order to see a victory in this particular battle:

-He had to wait for the Lord to move ahead of him

-He had to discern the sound of the marching in the tops of the mulberry trees

-He had to be ready to advance quickly at the right time

-He had to obey God`s command in order to see the final result of victory.

This is how it applies to our lives: God always makes us wait for Him to move ahead of us; otherwise, we are doomed for a failure. Patience is the ultimate virtue that is part of the spiritual growth; the realization that we can do nothing apart from God to the point that we would wait and do however long or whatever it takes to follow the Lord rather than attempt to do anything in our own strength.

Peter`s attempt to hack out the servant’s ear during the night of Jesus` arrest always comes to my mind when I think about patience, knowing God personally, and being able to discern God`s time over our own time (John 18:10). If Peter truly knew God`s time, he would have known that this was God`s plan for the salvation of humanity to have Jesus arrested, so he wouldn`t have needed to attack anyone with the sword.

How many times do we make decisions or act according to our emotional instinct or an impulse rather than seeking the Lord and wait patiently for Him to go ahead of us to clear up the enemy`s camp? And by the way, our “enemy`s camp” is a spiritual battlefield that the Bible is so clear about in Ephesians 6, so we should never assume that we fight against the flesh and blood because we are not. We should always wait upon the Lord and not move until we are certain that He is with us and that He goes ahead of us to clear the enemy`s camp.

The second thing David had to do was being able to discern the sound of the march. In other words, David had to be in such a tight and close relationship with the Lord that he had to be in tune with when and if the Lord indeed was marching in the tops of the mulberry trees. Sometimes we may have impossible situations, and the answer of the Lord may challenge us to step out of the comfort zone in order to stretch our faith, but this is the way faith grows. It requires our willingness to spend time with the Lord and to know Him personally, so when the day of the “battle” comes, we are able to discern the direction and the sound of the Lord`s marching and the place of His presence.

The third thing David had to have was the preparedness of him and his army to advance quickly once they heard the Lord`s marching ahead of them. The way it translates into our own lives is by our preparedness to wear our spiritual armor being ready for the battle. The Ephesians 6 tells us explicitly clear what we must have in order to be ready to fight the battle:

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (Ephesians 6:14-18 NKJV).

We must have this armor on at all times in order to be ready to advance and combat once the Lord goes ahead of us to deal with our enemy`s camp. I may sound like a broken record, but this is a reminder for me as well. I need to repeat myself constantly that my battle is spiritual, and I must have my armor on every day.

Lastly, David had to choose to obey the command of the Lord in order to see this victory over Philistines. Everybody watched David because he was a king and his word was regarded and obeyed. Being a believer we represent a target of people around us who watch us closely and wait for us to fail during the critical moments. People may mock us, laugh at us, judge us, but in the end it would be God`s word and our obedience to Him over their attitude.

David had a victory because he chose to please the Lord and make Him his protection rather than think about people`s opinions of him. This same David chose to worship the Lord in his undergarment rather than think of what his people (the nation) may think of his behavior as being a king and doing such a humiliating thing (2 Samuel 6:14-23).

²⁰ Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” ²¹ So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. ²² And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.” ²³ Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death (2 Samuel 6:20-23 NKJV).

David`s response to his wife (who was his first wife—a trophy for killing Goliath and who happened to be also a daughter of the deceased king Saul): “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord.” Ouch! “who chose me instead of your father and all his house” was David`s response to such a remark. David didn`t care what people thought of him, be it his wife, his servants, or his best friends because David`s heart was for the Lord. He was called “base fellow, a.k.a. “empty man” by his own wife, yet David knew better than that how not to be provoked by such an empty statement. David chose to humiliate himself, and volunteered to undignify himself even more before the Lord because he lived for God.

How many of us today could say out loud: “I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight” when people make allec remarks of the way we believe in God and make Him our strength and reliance? I will admit that I struggled with this concept for a while because my faith wasn`t refined or grounded in the word of God; I have deviated from the scriptures in my walk with the Lord and subsequently my faith deteriorated. I had to spiritually grow and mature in order to realize that there is nothing greater than pleasing the Lord and making Him my focus in life even if it meant looking foolish in the sight of the others.

I would challenge you today to look at David and the way he chose to honor God`s word to see how much God blessed him in return. God knows our hearts and seeks those who would be men and women after His own heart. It takes a lot, but it`s worth a lot. When we give to the Lord what He wants-- our hearts, He returns them back to us refined and precious. Let us acknowledge that God does use unusual methods to test us, to teach us, and to give us victory, so we could glorify Him in return.

The Healing Of Our "Land"

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV):

¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

This is the ultimate principal that God promised to His people, a.k.a. believers in Jesus Christ, which could be applied to all spheres of our lives: personal life, family and marriage, hometown, place of our work, place of our ministry, etc.

God made it very clear that the following 3 pillars are necessary in order to be right with Him:

-Humbling ourselves before the Lord

-Praying and seeking God`s face

-Turning from the old sinful (wicked) ways

This scripture is a cornerstone of our walk with the Lord. Our relationships with God do not go any further until these three main components take place in our hearts.

Humbling ourselves before the Lord requires admitting that we are sinners and fall short of His glory; we are undeserving of His grace and mercy and recognize that it`s through the blood of Jesus only that we have this boldness before the Lord to come and fellowship with Him. This is why bowing down before God produces such a change in one`s heart if you ever done that in your life. I know that when I bow before God on the floor, I recognize in my heart that I cannot do anything apart from Him and am undeserving of His grace. Humbleness and humility go hand in hand and have to coexist together in order to have this change in one`s heart.

Praying and seeking God`s face is another major pillar in our lives recognizing that relationships have 2 parts: us praying and God making the necessary changes. The main fact I`ve learned in the past year is mighty things can do a strengthened prayer of the righteous.

¹⁶ Confess your trespasses^[e] to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16 NKJV).

Again, God doesn`t give promises blindly without conditions to direct our paths. God`s ears are closed to the prayers of those living in sin, so He makes this explicitly clear to confess trespasses, a.k.a. sins to one another, so the prayers of the righteous could avail much. We become effective for the Lord when we don`t have this hindrance being in His presence. Sin cuts us off from the true fellowship with God.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. ² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. ³ For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity (Isaiah 59:1-3 NKJV).

This going right back to the third pillar: Turning from the old sinful (wicked) ways. God will not hear our prayers so long as we live in sin. Period. This is one of the stringiest conditions that God ever imposed, and something that Jesus was scourged for, spat on, flogged, and crucified for. He suffered for us, so our sins could be forgiven when we do Turn from the wicked ways, seek the face of the Lord, and humble ourselves recognizing that we need Jesus to save us.

These principles God showed to Solomon when he completed the building of the Temple and his house. Solomon was obedient in his ways to the Lord and asked for God`s blessing. God, knowing Solomon`s heart, blessed the Temple, his house, and his life like no other king. If we could see these principles work in the life of the most powerful king, why not take this Word of God and apply it to our own lives to see the difference?

God calls us to confess our sins, turn from them, seek His face, and have a humble hearts. All these things are only possible through the strength in Jesus Christ and commitment of one`s heart to the Lord.  

If this is today your situation that you feel desperate and hopeless—this is our hope outlined right here, in these three main conditions, which would bring healing and restoration into our lives, families, land, etc. God requires partnership: there are things we have to do, and when we do them, they avail God to complete His part which is something He yearns for: to bless us and to guide us. So let us commit our hearts to walk the humble line submitting to His word, and we will see the change. I saw it in my life, so I guarantee you that you will see it too if you will submit to the Word of God.

Look at what Jesus fulfilled from the scripture in prophet Isaiah 61:

¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,^[j]
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”^[k]

²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:18-21 NKJV)

Jesus searched the scripture in the book of Isaiah to point the people to this particular passage to confirm to us that He came to fulfill these promises of restoration and blessings. He hung on the cross, so He could bind up our wounds (Psalm 147:3) and heal the brokenhearted, so He could proclaim the liberty (of sin and addiction) to the captives, and recovery of sight (spiritual and physical) to the blind. Our Savior is the only One capable to heal “our land” if we would turn our hearts to Him and submit in due humbleness and humility in the same manner He humbled Himself to the death and the death on the cross (1 Peter 3:18). He didn`t deserve to die, but we did; then why not look up at Jesus and admit that we will accept Him as our Lord and Savior and will change our ways of living?

I would encourage you today to make this commitment to surrender your life to Jesus once and for all. If this is something you thought you`ve done in the past, but your life doesn`t align with the Word of God, I would encourage you to examine your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to move you into the right direction. Remember, God desires relationships: our part- to humble and confess, and His part- to save. Let us allow God to heal our “land”, so we could testify of His power and goodness!

The Source Of The Living Water

John 4:7-14 (NIV):

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?

¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,

¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus has risen indeed! The reason why God reminded me of this scripture is because recently (last week), I was contacted by my husband who initiated the conversation regarding the status of our relationships—it`s called: “In Limbo”. We met and both agreed to resume our marital counseling with the pastor from the neutral Calvary church in our area, but to our dismay, we found out that he was no longer available for counseling sessions for a variety of reasons. Subsequently, we were left off without the willing pastor to take up our case and guide us through the potential reconciliation process.

I will admit, that I had anger and frustration steeping inside, but I let go of all that simply because I knew that since my husband did not display a genuine remorse and repentance, that means God has something else in store. This is not to say that what`s taking place now will not work, but simply put, God does not repeat His design twice, and He does that with the purpose to provide a unique testimony for each one of us in order to make it valuable and useful to reach out others.

One of the scriptures God used to console me with was in Isaiah 66:9 (NKJV):

Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord.“Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.

The reason why this verse was so vividly clear to me is because being in labor with my daughter for 3 days and not having any strength to push her out in the end, I had to rely on God and pray for Him to give me strength to finish the labor to the end. God miraculously gave me enough strength to make it to the end. This is my God-- in Whom I trust that He finishes off what He started, and He doesn`t allow for the womb to close up at the time of labor to cause the death of the newborn.

God reminded me of these valid points when looking at the Source of the Living Water— our God Jesus Christ:

- Jesus always initiates His relationships with us and makes all available attempts to reach out to our hearts (verse 7). He was the One who spoke to the woman first, and He did that on purpose knowing that she may not feel worthy to speak to the Jew being a Samaritan woman.

I trust that God would initiate the conversation with my husband to lead him to the cross and bring his life to the complete surrender to quench this thirst for the “living water”, which could only be found through the personal relationships with Him.

- God shatters these barriers between our inabilities to reach out to Him and points us to the sole source of access: Jesus Christ. Jesus approached the woman and asked for water showing that He was not afraid to speak to her nor did he abhor her. Our God makes whatever necessary sacrifices in order to reach out to us and save us, and so many times we come up with excuses to blow Him off. This is just a reminder for us to harken to Him because He waits every day for us to seek Him and to search Him.

- Jesus doesn`t care about the heritage and the discrimination that people impose because He cuts through the barriers of ethnicity (verse 9). Our God doesn`t care whether you are a Samaritan, a Jew, or a Gentile- we are all made equal in His sight, and we are all made deserving of His grace, so let us not forget about that (Galatians 3:28).

- Jesus is the only One who is capable to fill our hearts with this “living water” and bring meaning into our lives. We don`t have to search for other places or people, but all we need is to come directly to Him. I don`t have to spend thousands of dollars on worthless counseling that doesn`t bring resolution because only God can fill this void and bring meaning into one`s life. I cannot tell you how much money was wasted on marital counseling only to be pointed to the wrong direction. It is God, and God alone who can build the house:

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it… (Psalm 127:1 (a) NKJV).

- Jesus always exercises patience and love to explain the meaning of His words in order to give all the ample opportunity to repent and get saved (verses 11-14). The Samaritan woman referred to this well being dug up by their forefather Isaac and Jacob later on, as we read about it back in Genesis 26:18-19 (NKJV):

¹⁸Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. ¹⁹ Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there.

This is the well that the Samaritan woman is referring to; however, it is no coincidence that the well of living water is mentioned back in the Old Testament as a prototype of the upcoming Messiah- Jesus Who is the only One capable to satisfy our thirst with the springs of the “living water” because they could only be found through the personal relationship with Him.

What`s more, I believe this is an important emphasis that the spring water had to be dug up, and it required a good amount of effort and physical strength. The same way in our personal walk with the Lord, it requires an effort and spiritual stamina to dig up these springs of the “living water” which could be only found through Jesus Christ and the daily study of God`s Word diligently.

Jesus is the sole well of the living water, and He is the only one Who can satisfy my thirst and my husband`s, so it`s not the counselors or the pastors, but my One and only Good Shepherd who guides and directs those who come to Him.

God once again reminded me that it`s not the expense of going through the elaborate counseling sessions or trips that would save my marriage, but our drive to know Him personally. This is what I`ve been praying for all along: God-centered family, so I could say that: as for me and my house, we would serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15)!

God already showed me that the request for counseling would be turned down while I was hitting the button “Send” for the email to our neutral pastor because Jesus wants us to find the ultimate source of the “living water” in Him and not in human strength. Only He knows the extent of our circumstances and all the pain, so I give it all up to Him.

I proposed a new way for counseling, and my husband agreed to that. This is the day when God continues to hold everything under His control, so all I need to do is to pray as never before to see my victory to the end. When God closes one door, He is faithful to open another. This is exactly what happened to us: we did get a volunteer pastor from the California (thousands of miles away, yay!) who agreed to provide us with the counseling assignments to work on separate and as a couple. All I can say is that God is in control!

Another consolation was in today`s devotional by Jon Courson where he said:

Paul would write, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).

Your salvation is going to be worked out or exercised a little bit differently than the salvation of the person sitting next to you or of the generation that went before you. Oh, we’re all saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But it’s all going to work out a little bit differently in each of us.

This allows me to give freedom to people whose salvation is being worked out a little differently than mine might be. We can give each other lots of space because, within the parameters of grace and faith, God deals with each of us uniquely.

Thank you, Lord, for your word being on time and with purpose. I don`t know what would happen next, but I do know that God would give strength to “deliver” to the end. Jesus is the Provider of the living water, and I thirst for more. I know that God would use this opportunity to create a unique testimony capable to reach out to the "untouchables", and this is something I am grateful for.

I would encourage you to seek God as your sole source of the “living water” because He is the only One who can direct, save, and mend the pain. People could never understand the extent of everything that`s going on in one`s heart, but God knows our hearts, and this is all the more reason for us to come directly to Him without creating extra layer of mediation between us and Him. This is what Jesus suffered for: so we could have this direct access to the Lord. Let us not ignore and trample this opportunity to know Jesus personally. 

The Cycle Of Death To Resurrection

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 (NKJV):

⁸ For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹ Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,

¹⁰ who delivered us from so great a death, and does^[a] deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,
¹¹ you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our^[b] behalf for the gift granted to us through many.

Whoever said that Christians would not have sufferings... In The New Testament the fact of suffering and conforming into the image of God are interwoven and go hand in hand.  God allows whatever necessary sufferings into our lives to kill our self-reliance in order to resurrect us into His co-dependence.  Each one of us who claim to be a follower of Jesus would experience this cycle of death to resurrection.

Sufferings are the producers of the death to oneself and resurectors of the new life for the Lord. This is a very important fact to grasp and accept for those who claim to be true believers and followers of Jesus. Jesus Himself promised that we would have tribulations in this life because the world didn`t recognize Him and neither would it recognize us since we are no greater than our Master:

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. (John 15:18-20 NKJV).

The main indicator that we are the followers of Jesus is if the world hates us. That is because people don`t know the Father nor do they recognize Jesus as a result because Jesus came to this earth to do the will of the Father. Jesus gives this warning that if the world does recognize us, than we are not His followers.

Paul writes to the Corinthians that they carry the deadness in the body recognizing that the world afflicts and persecutes them. The reason why this is so important for us to comprehend is because going through this cycle of dying to oneself in order to be resurrected by the Lord for His will requires being rejected by this world. It certainly is painful when the loved ones that we care about so much mock us and cut us off for preaching the Gospel and choose to obey the Word of God. They cut us off whenever we refuse to drink with them, or watch R rated movies, or lie on taxes, or whatever other things that we may experience causing us grief and sorrow as a result of being rejected by those who we care about.

That`s why it`s encouraging to see and understand this cycle in order to be more cognizant of the reasons for sorrows that we face:

1. God allows us to be “burdened beyond measure, above strength” in order to kill our self-reliance.

I was struck by the vivid picture of the battle when watching a movie “Patriot” last week, and in that picture I saw the defeat of the battle when the army attempted to win the battle with whatever little weapons and arsenal that they had against the exceedingly abundant opposing army. The battle was lost, and there was abundance of the dead bodies lying on the ground motionless.

This is when the Lord spoke to me and explained the reason for the defeat that I have experienced in the court. I had a flash in my head of me standing in front of the firing squad being shot at, and God was just standing on the sidelines and watching me die. This is exactly what happened to me in the court on the day when I walked out with the final decision of the shared custody over my daughter. I felt like God abandoned me and forsook me for good. Little did I know that God allowed me to die to myself that day, so He could resurrect me in order for Him to use me to serve Him, and this is exactly what He spoke to me when I watched the movie.

God allows us this kind of failure (mind you it looks like a failure in our eyes, but in God`s eyes it`s part of the vistory), so we could recognize that our rational thinking doesn`t bring us victory; rational and common sense become our own enemy because God doesn`t use common sense, but he uses uncommon sense in order to mock the intelligent and wise. Being a shrewd woman, I really had to struggle with forsaking my own intelligence and surrender common sense in exchange for God`s character.

As humans we are very good at using our own intelligence and skills to accomplish what we want, and we place God on sidelines by doing that. He would only be a spectator when we rely upon our skills and strength. As much as I tried, but I could not let go of control over the legal process because my daughter`s life was at stake, and God knew that. I literally had to pray: “I believe, Lord, but please help my disbelief”.

2. That enduring “beyond measure and above strength” brings us to the “sentence of death in ourselves” which we could never obtain by any other way but through severe sufferings of failures and defeat.

I was dying to self-sufficiency in order to be able to carry my “sentence of death in me”. I no longer live my life for this world, but I live it with the hope to get to heaven one day. As I write this, I realize how bizarre to the world these words may sound, yet this is exactly what the Bible teaches us would happen to those who follow Jesus: we would experience the dying to self-sufficiency in whatever capacity necessary in order to be resurrected with Him to solely rely on Jesus.

The best example of this scenario that comes to my mind would be examples of Joseph or Moses. Joseph was given a foreshadowing dip of the kind of a glory he would receive by having his brothers and his father bow down to him, but he had to go through the “death sentence in his body” and be placed in the circumstances of death to self-sufficiency in order to grasp on the fact that it would not be by his own strength that he would be glorified, but only by relying solely on the Lord. 20 lengthy years of his life were spent in circumcision of his heart before the Lord brought to pass all the dreams that He showed Joseph so many years prior to his success. Joseph died to himself, and as soon as he did that, God “resurrected” him by bringing to pass all the dreams and naming him the second man after the Pharaoh.

Moses was raised in the Pharaoh`s palace, but one day he was taken to the desert where he spent 40 years circumcising his heart and learning of the Lord before God brought him back to “life” and called to fulfill the mission of leading the Israelites out of Egypt, that Moses was aware of for so many years prior to it passing.

Every Bible story that we take, we can see this cycle of dying and returning back to life. The cycle is not physical death to resurrection, but a spiritual death to resurrection.

3. This “sentence of death in ourselves” accomplishes the main purpose of the Holy Spirit in our hearts: “that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.”

As we clearly see in all these Bible stories of Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Gideon, David, Apostles (especially Peter), we see how God allowed all the sufferings and hardships in the lives of people in order to bring them to this realization that our strength is only in the Lord, and we can do nothing apart from Him.

God allows failures on purpose, so we could humble ourselves and recognize that this world and this life is not for us but a temporary passing place; our lives are to live for the inheritance in heaven to glorify God. This is why it`s important to realize and to prepare ourselves that if we choose to follow Jesus, we will have suffering and lots of them. God allows that to purge us from ourselves and to fill us with the Holy Spirit to do His will.

4. Only by experiencing the drastic despairing circumstances we are able to test and see this trust in the Lord and faithful deliverance as a continuance that never seizes. God was faithful to deliver, is faithful, and will always be faithful to deliver whatever the circumstances are. The condition for the deliverance is our realization and acceptance of carrying this “sentence of death in ourselves”, a.k.a. complete surrender to the Lord for Him to do whatever He pleases with us. Not us questioning Him “why?”, but accepting whatever we must endure in order to glorify Him—this is the condition of deliverance that Paul so testifies to the Corinthians of.

5. This deliverance is impacted through the faithful prayers and intercessions of the saints in order to produce praise and glory to the Lord.

I think it`s really said that the churches or believers don`t communicate with other churches and sometimes feel burdened to share their prayer requests. This month become so painful and dreadful for me that I`ve taken some drastic measures: I contacted the churches from all over the country and all over the world requesting to pray for specific resolutions in my life and in my family. I will admit that I was afraid in sending these requests because I expected to either get ignored with my requests, or get blown off by the silence in response, or get some quick meaningless response such as: “our thoughts and prayers are with you”.

I was so wrong, and I am so glad that I contacted all the churches and continue to reach out to even more places for prayer support. Not only did I receive an encouraging and supporting phone calls right on the days when I was desperate the most, but also the emails with reassuring scriptures and pledges that I was placed on the prayer chains was just overwhelming for me. This is what I really call coming together as one in the body of Christ and standing in the gap for each other regardless of the proximity to the church location or the relevance to the particular church`s ministry, but without asking any questions, people just lifted me up in their prayers as one interceding for me and my family to see this major breakthrough.

I have to testify that today I saw the main snow precipitation that we`ve experienced throughout the entire winter season this year. As I was driving to work today, I was overwhelmed by this tangible evidence of God`s continuing battle for my life as He promises to secure the treasuries of the snow and hale for the days of war and battle (Job 38:22-23). All this praying support that I continue to receive throughout the world does matter, just like Paul points us to in verse 11:

¹¹ you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our^[b] behalf for the gift granted to us through many.

We are helping together in prayer when we stand in the gap for each other despite the distance to each other or the church location and affiliation, so that God could be worshiped and glorified by many. I am obligated just the way I continue to send these prayer requests on behalf of my needs and my family, I will have to contact them to testify of the Lord`s answer in my life, so they- “many” could praise and glorify the Lord.

Satan really hates it when we reach out to each other for praying support and this is why he likes to sow these thoughts of deceit and doubt in our hearts just like I had them: that we don`t matter and nobody would waste their time praying for me when they have their own problems, and the church only cares for their local people. This is so wrong, and I am really grateful to the Lord that he dissipated this myth for me, so I don`t fall into this trap of Satan’s deceit that my prayer requests would go unresponded.

On the flip-side, God reminds us just like Mordecai reminded Esther to answer to these praying requests for the others, so God could use us as the vessels of help to one another.  God would always find alternative ways to bless you and me, but if we ignored God`s call for prayer or help, we are the ones who lost the blessing. By standing in the gap for the others, we allow God to bless those who we pray for and us.

¹³ And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14 NKJV).

I was stunned to see responses from the praying teams with words such as: “we are honored to be entrusted to be praying for you and your family”. We are truly honored to be given this opportunity to minister to one another, and it`s up to us to choose whether we accept this call, just like Mordecai reminded Esther of her appointed and predestined place being a Queen in order to save the Jews. We too, are entrusted this opportunity to “save” through our interceding prayers those who entrusted our prayer requests to us.

I have to thank all of you who`ve been praying for me and my family because I can assure you that these prayers are what make the difference and bring victory in my daily life. Some things are not as noticeable as others, but they keep me afloat and get me going every day. We have to be this praying tower of security for one another, so we could give many praises to the Lord and share this joy of God`s deliverance in each other`s lives.

¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:12-13 NIV).

To me this scripture carries all the more significance because it was written by Peter who suffered much after he repented of much. Peter, of all the apostles always boasted of his devotion to Jesus and how much he would do for Him until one day when he had to face his first fiery trial of faith: he denied Jesus 3 times before Jesus was crucified. Peter had to experience the cycle of death to resurrection by Jesus in order to glorify Him as we read he did in the book of Acts.

These fiery trials and sufferings reveal the substance of our faith, and this is why they go hand in hand with our choice in following Jesus. God cannot use unreliable and untried people, so He tests our faith through variety of circumstances.

I would encourage you today not to estrange the fiery trials and sufferings recognizing that we are partakers in Christ`s sufferings when we pass these trials and glorify Jesus.  God never allows circumstances for no reason, but He continues to hold everything under His control. It`s only for our own good that God allows us to live through this cycle of death to life, so we could be purged of our sinful stains and be conformed into the image of God. Don`t make God a spectator of your life, but make Him a Commander, and you will see the difference!

Who Is Hoshea?

Numbers 13:1-2, 8, 16 (NKJV):

And the Lordspoke to Moses, saying,

² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

 

⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea^[a] the son of Nun;

¹⁶ Theseare the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea^[b] the son of Nun, Joshua.

 

These are not well traversed verses, and this is what I like so much about the Bible is that we could read it day in and day out, and there would still always be something that speaks to our hearts anew. This is one of those scriptures that a lot of times gets ignored because we tend to skip over the lists of names or counts, but my attention really stopped on these verses the last time around when reading the book of Numbers. I`ve learnt my lesson to never omit any word of the Lord because every jot and tittle God uses to speak to us.

In this section we see that Moses sent out the spies to the Promised Land to evaluate the strength of the enemies, so they could prepare for the war using the right strategies and methods. God commanded to select a man from each tribe, so there were 12 spies who were elected for the trip. The part that we should heed to is the verse 8 where it says that “from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun” was selected as one of the spies. We further read in the verse 16 that this is actually Joshua who became a great leader succeeding Moses, and there is a particular reason as to why Moses sought it important to change his name from Hoshsea (which means “salvation”) to Joshua (means “in Him salvation”). At first it may seem like a plain game of words because the root of the word stayed the same in Hebrew, but the first letter in the name made all the difference. That first letter changed from “me being a salvation” to “God being my salvation”.

God has a plan for each one of us, and He chooses sometimes those who rely upon their own strength, like Joshua did, claiming that he was salvation and transitioning that self-reliance into God`s co-dependence. This is His plan for each one of our lives: to make us dependable upon Him, so we would recognize that our salvation is solely in Him and not in our own strength.

 

This is no doubt that Joshua was a prominent strong man with high intelligence because out of each tribe there had to be selected only one man, so the people when selecting “Hoshea” for the mission, they had to recognize that he was the best fit for the job. Hoshea, who was a salvation, had to be highly qualified for the job.

He had another attribute to him that was the most important one: he went everywhere with Moses. Whenever Moses went to the mountain to speak to the Lord, Hoshea would stay at the foot of the mountain and wait for Moses to return. Hoshea`s heart was cleaved to the Lord, and he sought God personally.
 

¹³ So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God (Exodus 24:13 NKJV).

Back in Exodus we read that Joshua was Moses` assistant, his servant, so he had a firsthand experience monitoring Moses` relationships with the Lord and seeing God`s glory. I think it`s very important to note this for our hearts because it`s not that God seeks some special talents or characters, but to God the most important trait is one`s heart. That`s all God needs in order to take that person and to move the mountain the way God used Moses, and Joshua, and David, etc.; it wasn`t their physical strength, because those skills could be easily acquired through the everyday training, but it was their hearts that promoted them from within by the Lord Himself to use them to make the difference in history.

 

Joshua`s heart was opting for serving Moses and the Lord; he wanted to be near the nation`s leader because he wanted to be closer to the Lord. This is what I want too for my life: to be closer to the Lord to see His glory like nobody else. My inner plea with the Lord has always been to be one of the vessels in honor to be used for His glory; I`ve prayed that prayer since I was a teenager. It`s not my skills, or experience, or knowledge that`s valuable to the Lord, but it`s my heart that God wanted all along in order to complete my plea.

I think it`s also important to note that Hoshea was from the Ephraim tribe. Ephraim was the son of Joseph, and Joseph had an Egyptian wife, so Joseph`s children were not 100% Jewish. Although God made a very specific emphasis on the Jewish heritage and all the blessings that were associated with that through their father Abraham, but I believe God made these specific exceptions on purpose in the Old Testament to show the succeeding generations that it`s not the heritage, it`s not the skills, but it`s the heart of a person that matters. God doesn`t discriminate against our backgrounds and all passed luggage when we come to Him, but He uses our passed experiences and skills we`ve acquired prior to us getting saved for serving Him.

 

What`s more, I believe Hoshea`s heritage represents a split between believer and non-believer: Egyptian and Jewish. Egypt represents a sinful life, and in the context of the New Testament Egypt represents our old sinful lifestyle before we got saved. A lot of times after people get saved, they continue to feel unworthy to serve the Lord because of their past. This example of Hoshea`s heritage (having Egyptian as one of his grand-grand-grand… parents) makes a strong statement that for those who once were“Egyptians” and led a sinful lifestyle, now, through the blood of Jesus are saved by the Almighty God, and none of the past matters. Even if in the past Hoshea had an Egyptian grand-parent, that`s in the past, but his present is founded upon the salvation in the Lord. It`s only going forward and our relationships with Jesus that makes a difference for the Lord. God made this emphasis to show that YOU and I MATTER regardless of our heritage, upbringing, or sins we`ve committed in the past. The only thing that matters is if we accept Jesus as our salvation and surrender our hearts to the Lord the way Joshua did.

This conversion of Hoshea into Joshua is a prototype of our new life in Christ Jesus, and just the way he was given a new meaning in life relying completely and solely on the Lord, we too, have access to our heavenly Father through the precious blood of Jesus. We can get a new “name”—new identity in Jesus Christ because God promised to cloth us with the robe of righteousness when we accept Jesus as our Lord (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

We cannot do anything in our own strength because we are short-sighted, but God always has far-sighted plans for our lives to bless us. In order for us to allow blessings in, we must recognize that we matter to the Lord, and that our salvation is only in Him. When we do that, God would be faithful to “re-name” us and promote from within to bring glory to Him. Once Hoshea committed his heart to the Lord and surrendered his own strength, “his own salvation” to the Lord, God called him Joshua—in God salvation! God seeing Joshua`s heart pre-planned to promote him into the leader of Israelites, but He first had to assure that Joshua recognized and learned to believe that in God is salvation only.

Out of all 12 spies who returned from the mission trip, only Joshua and Caleb were the faithful servants of the Lord who trusted God to deliver the Promised Land into the hands of the Israelites the way He promised them all along. The rest of the 10 spies, they faltered in their belief and brought rebellion through murmuring against God (Numbers 13:26-34). Joshua and Caleb tried to subside the mob by shifting their focus back on the Lord while the Israelites prepared to stone them (Numbers 14). I think it`s important that we keep our focus on God`s character and on His promises especially when the adversaries are significantly larger than our own strength.

 

Every time I think of the entire economic downfall that America experiences now, I think of the engraved Biblical statement that governed the nation for centuries: “In God We trust”. This belief was substituted by people`s own salvation instead of keeping their focus on the One who is salvation. Only God could save Israelites and give them the Promised Land, and only God can save you and me. The difference is in our hearts: do we make God our strength, or do we make ourselves our strength when dealing with problems.

God chose Joshua because of his heart`s desire to serve the Lord, and that`s the only thing that mattered to God. When looking at the multitude of the people who needed a strong leader, God was looking for only one main character trait: “salvation in God” belief and He found that in Joshua. You and I matter to the Lord, and He wants to use us regardless of our heritage or the back load that we carry from the old sinful life, but God would only be able to use us if we would agree to surrender our own strength and claim Him as our salvation.

 

I believe that when Joshua got saved, he claimed God as His salvation. We to, have that today in Jesus Who is our salvation. He died and rose again, so we would be saved from all the “giants”that we face in our lives. When we get saved, we commit our hearts to the Lord making Him our salvation and strength.

I am facing “giants” in my life, and it`s only by casting my problems and concerns to His feet that I survive. If you think that you are unworthy for God`s purpose, I would encourage you to reconsider and look at someone like Joshua who was selected by the Lord to lead the entire nation of Israelites into the Promised land because he chose to cleave to the Lord. That`s all that God wants from us—our hearts and right motivations because He is capable to equip and train with the necessary skills, but the heart is something that only we can choose to steer to the Lord. You matter to God, so choose to make Him your salvation, and He would honor you in return by using for His glory.