By Apostle Aje Pelser, Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town
Base Scripture
Isa 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;
Isa 44:25 Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness;
Isa 44:26 Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’ To the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’ And I will raise up her waste places;
Isa 44:27 Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’;
Isa 44:28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ‘
6 Restorations that build and restore the church.
1. ‘I AM’ is revealed
When God speaks about our being formed in the womb – it speaks of the initiative that He had to bring our church and ministry into existence. His word was the seed that impregnated a generation to birth a new kind of church that is built on Jesus Christ the Chief cornerstone with the foundational doctrine of apostles and prophets according to Ephesians 2:20.
Eph 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Eph 2:20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Eph 2:21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
Eph 2:22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
God makes all things – Jesus is the One building His church and when this happens, the gates of hell will not prevail.
God showed me we are slaying 5 giants – I preached about this. The key to slaying all the giants in the land is discipleship – David slayed Goliath, his brothers and disciples – his mighty men carried on with the mission and finished it till God raised up Israel as the dominant force in the region. I see this for this church and I see God raising up such mighty men and women of the faith that function with anointing and grace through faith and the giants are being delivered into our hands by the Lord!
I am loving the process and I am no longer worried about the giants, because God has raised up my brothers and sisters and dimples to fight with us until the battle it won. What are the giants? Anything that lifts itself up against Christ in you. Bring it down like David and conquer and then pursue till there is no trace left of your spiritual enemy.
The amazing thing about God stretching out the heavens is that in astro-physics scientists still have not figured out how space is expanding at such a rate without another force in between, They are still figuring out dark matter and do not know what it is, so God in his wisdom helps us to exist in this expanding cosmos and keeps it together with forces beyond our comprehension.
2. Enemies are frustrated
When God raises you and your friends up, the enemy is frustrated!
Isa 44:25 Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness;
‘Diviners’ are those who do not speak form the counsel and oracles of God, but from their own opinion and further from a spirit of divination. That spirit works with fear and condemnation versus faith and it brings about calamity for those who practice it. If you need to repent of trusting in fortune telling spirits, do so quickly and God will set you free. He will give you the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, who will comfort you and lead and guide you into all truth.
In the book of Acts Apostle Paul dealt with a spirit of divination and we acted it out in our Prisoners Musical. That slave girl had to tell fortunes for her masters, but they took the money. Divination spirits abuse their hosts. When Paul drove out the demon, she was free but the masters were angry.
Often when you touch the supernatural there is a backlash, but you can be prepared for it by faith and God can work it out for you good. Apostle Paul and Prophet Silas were beaten and stripped and thrown into the inner most prison, even though they performed a good deed of setting the girl free from and evil spirit. They started to sing hymns at night in the prison and the prisoners listened. When you are going through hell on earth, start to sing – get your song in the night form God and sing it out loud so other prisoners can hear you! People will enjoy your song as you go through your crisis and see your God act on your behalf. People will put their hands over their mouths and repent for doubting Christ in you, your hope of glory. God heard their song and received their faith and turned it into an earthquake that shook their shackles off and set them free. When the jailor tried to take his own life Apostle Paul told him to do himself no harm for they were all still there. But Paul and Silas led him to the Lord and the whole family was saved and baptized.
Then the authorities realized they had unfairly jailed them and tried to let them go in secret.
“Act 16:37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”
3. God confirms His Servants
God will confirm His Word in your life with signs and wonders and this will restore the power of your church in the spiritual territory you occupy. When Apostle Paul and Silas were vindicated the whole town knew what had happened and God established a church in Philippi that helped Paul with missions for the rest of his life.
Col 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Php 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Php 1:4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,
Php 4:10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.
Php 4:15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.
Php 4:16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.
Php 4:17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.
Php 4:18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
Php 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
4. God dries up the ocean before you
When Israel had to cross the Red Sea, God opened it with a breath of His nostrils! That vast ocean before you that you think is impenetrable, uncrossable, just wait…
Exo 15:8 And with the blast of Your nostrils The waters were gathered together; The floods stood upright like a heap; The depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
Exo 15:9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them.’
Exo 15:10 You blew with Your wind, The sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Exo 15:11 “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
5. God raises up the Cyrus Anointing
Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure,
“The astounding fact of Isaiah’s prophecy is the naming of Cyrus about a hundred years before Cyrus was born. Isaiah worked during the reigns of Uzziah, also known as Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, all kings of Judah. So he prophesied during a period probably spanning from circa 740 to circa 680. Cyrus ruled from 559-530 BC. ( From MBTC Major Prophets 1 Subject Manual.)
Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10 fulfilled in Daniel 9:2,11; Ezra 1:1
“Here in Jer. 25 the punishment of Babylon is foretold by Divine inspiration and in Jer. 29 God promises that the people will return to their land; also fulfilled in Ezra. Daniel understood by the books of prophecy that the seventy years were nearing completion and set his face towards God in repentance to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Someone needed to earth this seventy-year-old prophetic frequency. God had to shift the superpowers of the time to fulfil His Word, and He did. Cyrus ruled Babylon, and later Darius, in whose first year Daniel stumbled upon the prophecy.”
6. Rebuilding and foundations Decreed
Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’ To the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’ And I will raise up her waste places;
We shall be built! God will raise up our waste places. What areas in your life have been laid waste? Allow the Lord to restore that today in Jesus name.
What oceans do you face ahead? Let God blast it with a breath of His nostrils!
What enemies are pursuing you? Let God blow with his wind and let the sea cover them now.
What anointing do you have to build God’s kingdom? Make sure you rise up in your spirit like Cyrus and start fulfilling your prophecies instead of waiting for things to happen one day in the sweet by and by – or ‘now-now’ like South Africans like to say.
With God it is not ‘now-now’ but faith is now!