The Weapons of Our Warfare, Part 8

When we first heard we could command God to do things it sounded like heresy or something. There it was in black and white, Isaiah 45:11, "...And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me." God is telling us to command the work of His hands. Surely there is some theologian or exegete out there who can tell us God did not really mean exactly what He said. Until we hear from that person, let us just go with what we have--the eternal word of the unchanging God. God is telling us to command the works of His hands. Certainly He knows what to do without us telling Him? Of course He does. He wants us to be His partners in doing things on the earth. He is waiting for us to figure that out. That is why we are to command the works of His hands. In case you are inclined to think this verse is isolated in all of God's word, keep reading. You are likely to have an "ah ha" moment just as I did.


We have all read the Lord's prayer--or the disciples' prayer if you like. It is repeated probably millions of times a week around the globe. The prayer is found in Matthew's Gospel and in Luke's Gospel. We are quoting from Luke 11:2-4:


"So He said to them, 'When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.' "


We think it was Yonggi Cho--remember him, Seoul, Korea, pastors the largest church in the world--who first began teaching that prayer in earnest. We think it was in the mid '70s. He noted the imperative mood in the prayer. For those not familiar with the imperative mood, it would be one person telling another what to do. It is not a begging or a pleading, but rather a command. Did I say command?


Look at the verses above from the lips of Jesus. Your kingdom come, your will be done, give us this day, forgive us our sins, and deliver us from the evil one are all in the imperative mood. Note that "hallowed" which actually means "be kept holy" is also in the imperative mood. The difference is the passive voice. (I know, grammar is a little confusing, even in English.) The rest of the phrases in the list are in the active voice. Jesus is telling us to tell (yes tell) God to do those specific things. How would it affect our prayers if we knew our heavenly Father was just waiting for us to tell him to "go ahead and do something" so He could get busy doing it? The fact is, at least according to Jesus, if we believe Him, God is doing exactly that. He is waiting to hear us tell Him what we want so He can do it for us. We do apologize if that messes with anyone's theology. You might have noticed we do not have a lot of respect for bad theology.


Interestingly, when Jesus started the model prayer by saying, "When you pray, say" He did not use the imperative mood. He was not telling us to pray. He was expressing His desire that we do. Well, I think it is interesting anyway. I am not the jumping up and down and shouting type, but in my mind, that is something to jump up and down and shout about. Let me say it again. Jesus suggests that it would be good if we were to tell God what we want Him to do for us. I believe I have just written myself happy.


Now that we know what God wants us to do, let us consider the ramifications of doing it. We know that God is not going to tell us to do anything that is bad for us. In fact Jesus told us how foolish we would be to think that just a few verses further down in Luke 11. We already knew where the real power in the universe resides, in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We might as well use our real life situation as an example. We are interested in ridding the area of a religious spirit. We do not have the ability to do that. We know God wants to move. God is going to move in response to our prayer, praise, and worship. In fact, He is already moving or we would not even be having this discussion. It is time to begin to command the work of God's hand. Right now is not too soon to start. Let us agree together to, at least once a day, say something like, "Father God, we command the works of Your hand against the religious spirit in the Santa Maria valley." You can then go on and speak against the manifestations you see. Refer back to the series on the manifestations of the religious spirit if you need to.

When you have a chance, give us some feedback as to what is going on and anything the Holy Spirit might show you. Do remember we are not speaking against people. We are speaking against the religious spirit. If you do not think you are quite ready to discern the difference, do not start until after you have at least read the next post. God bless.