A time of destiny
This book is dedicated to all Christians who want to always move forward with the Lord, fulfilling completely His purposes and intentions for their life in their generation!
Introduction
We are living in a time of destiny. The Lord is repositioning His Church into a new place of stature and authority. More and more the Lord is speaking about His kingdom being established on this Earth and His will being executed here, as it is in Heaven, by His saints. All over the world the Lord is releasing messages about His will, purposes, intentions, destiny, inheritance and strategies to win our neighborhoods, regions, cities and nations, and to bring His kingdom rule into every possible area – our personal life, our family, our work, the social and political life as well.
That puts you and me – His saints – in a new place of responsibility and accountability, because there are things we must do and qualities we must acquire, in order for us to qualify for this new move of God. Every new move of the Lord among His people requires new standards of living for them – a new dedication, a new consecration, a new level of a life of holiness and a new price to be paid.
You are not born with no reason to live. Absolutely nobody on this Earth has ever been born just like that – to live and die without fulfilling God’s purpose for his or her life. That may be a fact in many people’s lives, but it certainly is not God’s initial plan and idea for it to be so. You are born with a purpose and you have been placed where you are for a purpose.
Definition of Life
Life itself has three main substances – Reality, Purpose, and Power.
If a person does not have Reality (and by that I mean God to be real to him) – that’s not life, but Mere Existence. Life is an aggressive thing, not stagnant or apathetic. We have to always press forward, so we can catch Him – otherwise we might as well lie down and sleep till we die.
Then comes Purpose – what thing can be called Life, that does not have a purpose? Everything that God has given life to, has a purpose. Every person that has ever been born on this Earth has been born with God’s Divine and Perfect Purpose to fulfill a given mandate in life. And again, we have to do everything we can (pray, fast, seek, knock, praise, worship, adore, magnify, glorify, ask, consecrate, separate, etc.), so we can touch God, and find that Purpose for which He has given us our life.
And lastly, a life full of Reality and Purpose will definitely produce Power – Power to transform us first, and then those around us.
Gideon
We can see that very clearly in the story of Gideon (Judges 6:1-16). Because of the sins of the nation, Israel was suffering greatly under the bondage of the Midianites. Then the Lord chose Himself a man. He was an ordinary man, fearing the Midianites as everybody else, threshing wheat by the winepress, hiding himself and even thinking of himself as being a part of a poor family and the least in his father’s house (v.15). Yet, the Lord has never ever meant it to be like that for this simple, ordinary man, because he had a destiny.
The angel of the Lord went to him and that is Reality, don’t you think? That’s the first substance of our God given life on this Earth. Many times the Lord is sending angels (messengers) of His in our path as well, and it would be good if we pay attention to them. They carry God’s voice and power. The Lord appeared to Gideon in the face of this angel and He assured him that the Lord will continue to be with him from then on. Why? Because He had a Purpose for his life! That’s the second substance – purpose, destiny, calling, and mandate. The Lord’s purpose was to use Gideon as a mighty deliverer.
Who? Gideon? The least of the least? Yes, him. And it’s no different for us. Please don’t think it is. The Lord has a great destiny for you as well. He wants you to be a deliverer. He wants you to bring God’s salvation, healing, deliverance, protection, prosperity, wholeness and total victory everywhere, where the sole of your foot treads upon – your personal life, your family, your children, your church, your ministry, your business, your job, your city, your nation and to the uttermost parts of the Earth.
You think you have no power to do that? Gideon thought the same. Here comes the third substance – the Power. The Lord told Gideon:
“Go in this your might, and you will save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent you?” (Judges 6:14)
Again, please don’t think Gideon was some super hero at that time. Exactly on the contrary – he was hiding, he was afraid, he thought he was the least, he even thought that the Lord had completely forsaken Israel (6:13). Yet, the Lord saw might in him. He saw power in that little man.
I want you to know that the Lord has invested power on the inside of you. The Holy Spirit – the most powerful Person in the whole Universe – lives on the inside of us. He has come to live in our heart with His everything – Person, attributes, qualities, fruit, gifts, power and abilities – all. He has everything we will ever need to accomplish all God wants. We have that power at our disposal and the only thing we need to do is connect it to God’s reality and purpose. Because that power is not ours to use for our own benefit, but it has been invested and installed in us in order that we completely fulfill God’s destiny for our life and enter into the inheritance that the Lord has for us.
Please don’t say: “I am weak, I am the least, I am incapable, I am not worthy, The Lord has forgotten me, He has delivered me into the hands of my enemies, etc”, because that’s a contradiction of the greatest proportions.
The Lord is living in us. He couldn’t have come any closer. His gifts are with Him in us. His character is with Him in us. His fruit is with Him in us. We have everything we need to be the deliverers the Lord wants. We have the power to be witnesses for Him in such a way that His glory covers the whole Earth and His kingdom gets established in every sphere of existence.
So, the power is in us. The reality of the Lord’s presence will give us the assurance that we are walking on the right path, because we will have His presence with us. The purpose will be the avenue where we must channel all the power, so the Lord’s will can be done through us, not ours. In this way, we have a complete picture of a wholesome, spiritually prosperous and meaningful life on this side of Heaven.
Samson
Now let us go deeper. I believe this is a prophetic teaching for the end time deliverers the Lord is raising and will continue to raise. It is drawn from the life of another great deliverer – Samson. His story is described in Judges 13th through 16th chapter.
The situation is similar to that of Gideon. Again because of sin, the Lord had delivered Israel to their enemies – this time the Philistines.
Now, slavery can produce two main reactions from the ones suffering.
The first reaction is desperation and closing in one self. People in slavery are often people with a damaged mentality, not good for anything. People that have been in slavery too long and have responded in that first way are people that have ruined their life completely. Their spirit has been crushed. Their heart is bitter and aching. Their mind is totally out of date. Their everything has been completely destroyed. Maybe they have lost many loved ones along the way. According to such people, there is no hope whatsoever for them to recover. And naturally that is true. Only the Lord can bring supernatural restoration that goes beyond any human achievement or ability.
The second and better reaction is for the people in slavery to cry out to the Lord for help, out of the deep pain in their heart, placing all their trust in the Lord to deliver them. That’s what the Israelites did in Exodus 2:23, 24 before the Lord sent them a deliverer in the face of Moses. That’s what the Israelites did here, in the 13th chapter of the book of Judges as well and the Lord was about to do something so great in their midst, that hadn’t even come to their minds. He was about to send them a mighty deliverer – a person with such a great supernatural power upon his flesh and blood body, that it’s hardly believable. The anointing of the Spirit would come so mightily upon him, that he would tore up lions like lambs and he would kill a thousand enemies with a donkey’s jaw. He was from the tribe of Dan (meaning: Judge). He was called to be a special servant, a deliverer (13:5). He was born in the right time, as we all are. He was to be dedicated from his birth till his death (13:7). He was to be holy, as the Lord is holy. He was to have a tremendous destiny – one of a deliverer, a judge, a carrier of God’s Glory, an expander of His kingdom, a ruler with God’s scepter of righteousness, a fear in the eyes of all God’s enemies.
Can we see ourselves in that destiny? Because the Lord wants to produce deliverers out of us too. He wants to fill us with His Spirit, His destiny, His power and anointing, His ability and might, His words, His gifts, His fruit, His love, His wisdom and His Glory. He wants us to be witnesses for Him. He wants to extend His kingdom rule through us.
Please don’t say: “I can not do that”. If you do not go, who will? If you do not obey, who will? If you do not speak up, who will? There’s a cry in the Lord’s heart and it’s a cry coming also from His throne: “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8). He expects us to say: “Here I am Lord, send me”. He expects us to prove our love to Him by giving our life for Him.
Somebody said: “If you do not have what to die for, you really do not have what to live for either”. That’s reality. That’s purpose. That’s power. We are living in a real world. Our enemy is real. He is killing people for real. He is deceiving people for real. He is working in the children of disobedience for real. There is so much suffering in this world of ours. So much hatred! So much weeping! So much tragedy!
Who do you suppose will have to change that? Whom will the Lord use? Yes – you! Yes – me! The Lord wants to make deliverers out of us. There’s bondage. There’s slavery to sin. There’s war in the spirit. Who will go for the Lord? Who will receive and accept the call and mandate of the Lord to become a deliverer? Who will stand in the gap, seeing all the spiritual slavery this world is in, and cry out to the Lord to send more workers in His harvest – more deliverers? Who will feel the pain in God’s heart and express it back to God in prayer and intercession?
We may be successful in our personal lives; we may be prosperous in every way; we may be whole; we may have achieved our goals, but if our heart does not beat (pulsate) with God’s heart; if our mind is not filled with His thoughts; if our spirit is not activated with His dreams, purposes and intentions; if our body is not ready to fast, pray, commit, consecrate, separate and deny certain things, which could hinder our going forward in His will; if our talents are not used for His purposes and dreams to be fulfilled; if our gifts are not motivated by His love; if our fruit is not the Holy Spirit’s fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance – what are we talking about? We will just have used the Lord’s heart, mind, gifts, fruit and resources to meet our own needs, satisfy our own desires and fulfill our own agendas.
We have a call. We have a destiny. We have a mandate. We have a purpose, and that is to be a deliverer where we are. Maybe that’s your family who needs a deliverer. Maybe your church you are leading. Maybe your job. Your business. Your block. Your neighborhood. Your city. Your nation. The nations of the world.
Naturally, we all say: “But Lord, we can not do that. We are the least of the least.” Of course we are. Who isn’t? We must all wake up to the fact, that it’s not about who we are, but about who He can become in and through us if we let Him in obedience. You see? We could never ever possibly do it ourselves. Nobody can, but Him. That’s what we are talking about – His Reality, His Purpose and His Power. We only have to say: “Yes”.
The Womb
Now, how can that come in manifestation? In order that a deliverer can be born, there must be a womb that will produce him. In the case of Samson, that of course, was his mother’s womb. Spiritually speaking, there is a womb that produces this type of Samson deliverer’s anointing.
There were requirements toward the womb of the mother of Samson. There are also requirements for the spiritual womb that is about to give birth to something new – something more powerful that ever before. Every new time and season of God, every new move, every new wave of the Lord’s presence coming with a new purpose, requires a new kind of womb – a new kind of wineskin. You can not use the old wineskin for the new wine – the wineskin will burst and the wine will be lost, not going in the right direction and not being used as it should.
The angel of the Lord warned the mother of Samson that she was not to “drink wine, nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.” (Judges 13:7).
In other words, when the Lord wants to produce a new type of deliverer, He also sets a new standard of holiness. The higher and deeper we go in God, the more we must keep ourselves holy and undivided in our focus.
The womb is the Church – the Lord’s BODY. The womb is in the body, right? The Lord’s Body is producing men and women of destiny. The Lord though, is setting new standards for His Body, in order that it can be positioned rightly, so it can give birth to people of unusual power and anointing, willing and able to turn the world downside up for the Lord.
The Church of this time must be holy. It must not “drink wine”. Wine is a symbol of everything that intoxicates us. It is the major weapon of the Harlot of Babylon from Revelations 14:8, who made the whole earth drink of the wine of her fornication. Wine takes away your focus.
“It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Strong drink is for him that is ready to perish, and wine for those that are of heavy hearts.” (Proverbs 31:4-6)
Wine is a symbol of all that the world has to offer, that will blind us from our real purpose in life, and will engage us in the things of the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” (Proverbs 20:1)
The church must be holy. The womb must be holy. The people of God must be holy. They must not be given to “the wine of Babylon”. They must be dedicated from the time of their new birth till the time of their going home to be with the Lord.
God’s Wisdom
We see from the above verse that wine will try to destroy God’s wisdom in us. It will try to deceive us. That’s why, a prayer for wisdom is crucially important in such a season as this. Apostle Paul prayed for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that the eyes of our understanding can be enlightened and so that we can see the Lord’s calling, destiny, purpose and inheritance He has prepared for us (Ephesians 1:17-19).
In Judges 13:8, 12 Samson’s father prays to the Lord to give him wisdom and instruction on how to raise the child to be born. He was a wise man. He knew if the Lord wanted to give them such an incredible promise of power and might, he would need all the wisdom to channel it properly.
When the Lord gave all Israel in its best state ever to Solomon, he knew that such a great responsibility and burden could only be carried with God’s wisdom and that’s why he prayed for wisdom when the Lord asked him what he wanted (1 Kings 3:5-10). That prayer pleased the Lord then and it continues to please Him, because it shows our complete dependence and reliance on Him and Him alone.
The Lord does want to produce deliverers out of us, but we must be wise enough to pray for wisdom and revelation, because we would otherwise use the Lord’s power and anointing for our own self gratification and promotion.
The Good part of the Story of Samson
Well Samson was born, grew and was blessed by the Lord.
“And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol” (Judges 13:25)
Another translation says that the Spirit of the Lord began to excite him whenever he visited the parade grounds of the army of the tribe of Dan.
There’s a good key here, which most Christians overlook. It says that he got excited in the spirit and anointing of the Lord when he visited his army – the army of his tribe. That is very important. He didn’t go to watch the other armies – he went to his tribe’s army and got excited about spiritual warfare. The anointing would fall on him as he watched the army getting prepared for battle.
If you have ever watched an army, you have surely seen the beauty of it, which is extremely inspiring. To see the whole order, everyone in his place, not breaking ranks, moving as one, yelling as one, and determination in each one – it’s just awesome. It is exciting indeed. Many Christians though can not get excited when they watch their own army (their family, their Church, their ministry, etc). They watch other “armies” and like them better. Often they jump from “army” to “army”, never satisfied and never ending up in one permanently. That destroys their inner potential. That destroys the opportunity for them to be produced, formed, shaped and born into what the Lord has for them, because the womb is missing.
Samson began to get excited when he watched his own army. Maybe it wasn’t the best army of all the tribes of Israel. But he didn’t see that. He allowed the Spirit to move him, to excite him and he began to see himself in that army, chasing God’s enemies out of the territories of his people. He began to dream, he began to fill his heart and mind with God’s power and anointing and that moved him and excited him extremely much.
Don’t look at the other armies! They have their own destiny in God. Of course, we all have a higher destiny in God as a whole Body (Army), but jumping from one section of that corporate army to another will certainly not get the job done, especially when that jumping happens without God’s leading. So, go watch your own army and get excited. Imagine yourself being an active part of it. Fill your heart and mind with God’s power and anointing for victory. Get excited and let the Lord form and shape you, being humble and waiting for your time to come out of the womb and be a mighty deliverer.
Unfortunately, here ends the good part of Samson’s life. That was the part in which we could see what the Lord’s dream for Samson was – His calling, purpose and destiny for him. There is also our part in every vision from the Lord though and here we must put our greatest effort.
Samson did many mistakes and it would be worth it, if we open our eyes, ears and hearts to see what they were and how we can avoid them.
Samson’s downfall
In Judges 14:1 we see him going to Timnath and making an attempt to marry. Now marriage is a covenant. It is a good thing for a person to marry. Except if he searches in the wrong place.
Timnath means: a portion assigned. That itself speaks of covenant. The problem – it was a portion assigned, but not for him.
His parents confronted him, but he wouldn’t listen. That was his 1st big mistake – not obeying fatherhood. There’s wisdom the Lord is releasing through natural and spiritual fathers and leaders. It can save us from danger and from entering wrong covenant relationships (14:3).
Samson acted stubbornly. This spiritual warfare deliverance anointing will require humility, submission and sensitivity. The Lord has placed fathers above us. These could be our earthly parents, or they could be our leaders – apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers the Lord has placed above us. Having a spiritual covering of protection can save us from so many unnecessary pitfalls. Besides, it’s not about us only, but when we act stubbornly, the whole army suffers. Our mistakes affect not only ourselves, but the ones that are fighting shoulder to shoulder with us. The Lord is a Lord of authority and order. The kingdom of God is not a democracy. It never has been and never will be.
Being responsible and accountable before another person has always been the Lord’s will for each and every one of us. Every one of us must be a part of a Body of believers, and the Lord has placed spiritual leaders above all of us. They are placed in their positions to watch over our souls:
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” (Hebrews 13:17)
Now that is the Lord’s deed and responsibility lies with us to accept it or reject it. But we better accept it, because otherwise we will follow in the mistakes of Samson, which destroyed his life.
That is especially important in the times we are living right now. We have already seen the restoration of the five-fold ministry of the evangelist, pastor and teacher. Those are gifts that have been, are and always will be so needed in the Body of Christ, so it can reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Those are gifts that help us all to find our individual identity in God – to receive salvation (the forgiveness of our sins) through the finished work of Christ on the Cross; to find out who we are in God and Who God is in us; to learn how to prosper spiritually, emotionally, physically, socially and materially; to get healed and stay healthy; to abide by God’s principles and rules; to live holy and with integrity; to develop Divine habits and so much more along these lines.
Now the Lord has set in His heart to bring restoration to the other two five-fold ministry gifts in the Body of Christ – the ministry of the prophet and the ministry of the apostle. We have seen Him do it the last 20 years or so, and that’s just the beginning. The Lord will continue to do that more and more, because those two ministries are so crucially needed today. Those ministries are the ones that help us all to identify God’s purposes, intentions, goals, dreams and destiny. They focus on the larger picture of what the Lord wants to do universally in and through His Body. They help us find our corporate identity in God’s purposes for our generations. Those ministries are also the ones that bring back God’s order in His Body and they are the ones that deal with our sins, self-centeredness, ego, selfishness, pride, hypocrisy and character flaws, so we can take our eyes off of ourselves and all about and around us, and focus on the things that the Lord is interested in – the dreams in His heart; His desires and purposes, which He wants fulfilled in each and every generation.
Of course, that does not mean to say that some ministries are more important than others. No! Ephesians 4:12, 13 clearly shows that we can never reach our potential in God unless we have all these five-filed ministries working together. Only then the saints will be fully equipped to do the work of the Lord’s ministry.
Samson was destined to become the judge of Israel and a mighty deliverer, but, because of wrong covenant – he started playing games with his enemies. He gave them a riddle to solve. Can you believe that? God’s mighty deliverer was challenging the enemy with a riddle on the feast of his wrong wedding ceremony. Whew!
One thing is good – challenging the world, like Elijah did. He challenged all the wicked false prophets of Baal and Asherah – 850 of them – to a spiritual battle for all the people to see whose god is the LORD. But Elijah didn’t challenge them with a riddle – he challenged them to an open demonstration fight on a spiritual level. One prophet of the Lord against 850 false prophets of the chief wicked demonic being worshipped at that time – Baal. And because of this one man of God, all these magicians could not perform their magic tricks to bring down fire from their god. The presence of one man of God blocked all their natural knowledge, wisdom and tricks, and supernatural power and demonic support.
The Importance of Character
That was incredible. Samson though, tried to challenge his enemies with a riddle and the sad part was that he wasn’t strong enough in his character to even endure such a low level challenge. He was actually playing games with the world, thinking that he could do that, because the anointing of the Spirit was upon him. He had to first make sure he had the character enough to endure the temptation. He had the power and anointing, but no character whatsoever.
That is a thing we must beware of. We must always try to grow in character and not only in the anointing of the Lord, because the gifts and the anointing are given to us freely, but the character and fruit must be produced and formed by experience and going through different situations. The worst thing is when we go through something and just disregard it, without drawing the necessary conclusions so we don’t do it again, like Samson did. His first “wife” betrayed him after taking advantage of his weakness and obviously he never even gave it a second thought, because later on, his last “wife” used absolutely the same weakness of him again and outwitted him so easily.
The Purpose of a Deliverer
The Bible says in Judges 15:20 that Samson judged Israel for 20 years, but the Philistines still ruled the land.
But what is that? What is our purpose? What is the purpose of a judge and what is the purpose of a mighty deliverer?
Would Moses be called a deliverer if the Egyptians still ruled over Israel? Absolutely not! The purpose the Lord sends a deliverer is so that His kingdom can prevail and rule.
Samuel
Maybe the best example in this area is the prophet Samuel. He was the last judge of Israel, before the kings’ era came about. He was mighty in word and deed. The Lord wouldn’t let any of his words fall to the ground without being fulfilled (1 Samuel 3:19). His mother had given him for the Lord’s service all the days of his life (1 Samuel 1:11) and see what the result was:
“So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of the life of Samuel.” (bold added by the author) (1 Samuel 7:13) Can you believe that? The Lord’s protection was over the whole nation of Israel because of one single man of God, dedicated to serve Him as a deliverer. His heart attitude was the following:
“For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake: because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He has done for you.” (bold added by the author) (1 Samuel 12:22-24)
We should have the same attitude if we will be used by the Lord as mighty deliverers. We must allow the Lord to place our nations in our heart and we must believe the Lord for them. We must pray for our families. We must pray for our cities. We must pray for our nations. We must pray for the world. We must feel the heart of the Lord – His pain and burden. That must be our priority. Samuel considered it a sin not to pray for his nation. Apostle Paul said the same thing, with different words:
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
That kind of prayer and intercession attitude is connected with the salvation of the world. Many Christians choose to criticize everybody from the “king” to the “pauper”, while at the same time, the Lord has chosen them to pray and stand in the gap for their nation. Yes, there may be unrighteousness; yes, there may be lawlessness, but if we – the ones the Lord has placed as a spiritual covering – do not take our positions as such, there’s no other hope for our people.
The Lord has not forsaken your nation. His hand is not shortened and His name is greater than any other name trying to rule instead. He wants all people to come to the knowledge of the truth.
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