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Weds morning live zoom battle prayer 5/31/23
Starting in 10 minutes......
Weds morning zoom battle prayer link:
5:00am-6:00am. Come and go as you can. See you in the morning.
Battle music link for the morning:
Battle prayer notes are available after session:
Good morning brother,
Day two: Peacemakers. God will make Peace.
Judges 8:13-24
Gideon's punishment for the town of Peniel is to destroy the tower that protects the citizens of Peniel during siege and to kill the men. Pretty harsh! At Succoth he obtains the names of the elders of the town who are responsible for the decision to deny his army food. Though we aren't told exactly how he punished them, apparently he whips them with thorns and briars until they are bloody. The author says he "taught" them, in the way that a spanking might teach a child. Many scholars see it as "a form of torture which almost certainly ended in their death."
Gideon deals harshly with Succoth and Peniel. They compromised with the enemy. They may have lived as trader to Midian. Back handed deals. God gave these cities an opportunity through Gideon to repent and come back to him.
To make peace there has to be consequences. I think of Esau when He wept bitterly for his birth right.
Make Peace with ourselves before we become bitter in sin.
When sin gets out of control only God can bring justice and peace. And you won’t like it.
Peacemaking will not be easy, maybe not even possible. However, we are still called to seek it. We remember Paul’s words for peacemakers in the Bible, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18, NIV).
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9, NIV). What Jesus calls good, and who Jesus calls blessed, is striking because his values seem to be upside down from our own. Many affirm this blessing with their lips, but in tumultuous times, we have tended toward the pragmatism of the fight.
LORD where am I compromised and where is it where I need to be more like you.
Many of us don’t want to be discipled and not disciple others.
When you are discipled yourself you have more grace for others.
True Gideons yes Israel experienced peace for 40 years. Be careful not to make peace with sin. To break off sin takes blood, sweat and tears.
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21
Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner. Proverbs 13:6
I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Malachi 3:6
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Psalms 23:1
Don’t make peace with the enemy.
““You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Matthew 5:43-45 NIV
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Matthew 5:9
Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
James 3:18
““You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Matthew 5:43-45 NIV
I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! Psalms 22:22-23
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Hebrews 4:15-16
The Word is a sword against the enemy and his advancement in our lives.
LORD why do you ask me to love my enemies? How can I make peace with enemies.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:12-15
You go around carrying two Buckets water and gasoline. We are going into fires everyday. Which one will we choice?
The whole point of this passage in Hebrews is that we must be careful and take heed, to “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness spring up and trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsal of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Heb. 14:14-17).
The usage of the story of Esau, when looked at in context, is to illustrate how we must not forfeit our own blessing to indulge our flesh because there will come a day when we may seek that blessing from God and cannot persuade Him to give it, just as Esau sold his birthright to indulge his flesh and then afterwards could not persuade his father to give him the blessing. It is not a perfect analogy, since Esau choosing to indulge his flesh was not directly associated with the loss of his father’s blessing, since the birthright was sold by choice and the blessing was stolen by deception. Still, the point the writer of Hebrews is making is that we can lose our blessing by indulging our flesh, and a day will come when God’s mind will not be changed.
This passage does not teach that repentance is not within man’s control. And to use it to teach that man’s repentance is without the realm of his control is to misuse and misunderstand this passage entirely. It would contradict all the many other passages in the Bible which clearly teach that repentance is in fact within man’s power.
Thank you for another great day of zoom battle prayer.