The God of All Hope Will Restore You!

This article is dedicated to everyone that finds God doesn't fit in their box of expectations...for everyone that needs the God of hope to do a new thing for you! Did you know that God loves you so much He doesn't even care who He offends as long as it gives hope to the hopeless and remakes a brand new future for His beloved children?

There are times when everything goes wrong and the enemy sets a plan in motion to kill off the very thing that has our heart's desire. People are left with nothing but ashes of yesterday's promises. God wants you to know that out of the ashes of loss, and out of the pain of your yesterdays, He has a plan to bring new hope. There are more people than we can count that feel this sort of pain every day. I'd like to draw your attention to one couple in the Bible that knew this heartache, too. Their names were Adam and Eve. They lost one son to death at the hands of his brother, and the one that murdered was cast out of the land as a vagabond with a curse all the rest of his days. It caused tremendous heartache to Adam and Eve. Then, after a time of grieving, a seed of hope was planted for their future.

Genesis 4:25 “And Adam knew his wife again and she bore him a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 

With the death of Adam’s first son, Abel, and the expulsion of Cain  being cast out of the land with a curse (read Gen. 4), Adam and Eve faced a loss of hope for their future. They had no son to carry on their line for the birth of the promise of the Messiah. Although they may not have been aware of the Messiah coming from their lineage, and although it was many, many years in the future, God had to have a plan in place to insure that the promise in HIS heart and of His purpose would eventually come to pass. It wasn’t just their hope that had been cut off, but hope for the future of mankind.

I want you to know that when the enemy has set in motion a plan to kill off your inheritance, God always has a seed of hope waiting. God was compelled to bring forth a new son - the hope of a new promise. The name Seth is related to a Hebrew verb meaning, “to place” or “to set” for Seth was appointed to take the place of the murdered son. Even when the enemy has done all he can to kill and destroy what you thought contained all the hope for your future, God always has a plan to restore hope!

Another story worth consideration is found in Joshua 3. It is the story of Rahab the harlot. The Israelite army approached Rahab's city  of Jericho. Can you imagine what it looked like to her, watching the army marching toward the city, knowing full well that the army would bring death and destruction right to her family, friends and neighbors, and into her very home? All of Jericho had heard of the Israelites and the God that fought for them. Now they were on the way to destroy the city and everyone in it. The people's hearts were faint with terror and they had no courage to fight. Even Rahab made the confession that she knew the Lord had given them the land. Her land. Fear had taken over. Have you ever faced a situation where fear and impending doom was stronger that faith? This is what Rahab felt. She knew her hope was about to be cut off, and that of her family as well. Then, to make matters worse, God brought the enemy right to her very doorstep! Two spies came to the house of Rahab because they knew that local news would be readily available in the house of a prostitute. This is where gossip abound and secrets were traded. It was a very strategic move on the part of the spies. When the king heard about their whereabouts, he sent a search party to go find them. But look at how the hand of God worked in this situation: the spies were trapped, and Rahab needed a miracle to save her household. Other people in the city of Jericho may have been calling on the name of their gods, but Rahab knew her only hope was in the God that fought for the Israelites. She had to re-evaluate her loyalties and make an important decision, but it became a life-changing decision. It was the moment of crisis that caused Rahab to reach out to the God of the Israelites and take a step of faith. She offered kindness to the spies, and they in turn offered her the hope of salvation. In that moment of desperation, a miracle was being formed. They came up with a plan. She would hide the spies from the approaching soldiers and helped them escape. They would agree to spare her family from the coming destruction and she was to hang a scarlet cord in her window as a sign of their secret agreement.

Now, Rahab lied and actually gave up her entire city to the destruction. Many from Jericho, if they had known what she had done, would probably have said she acted dishonorably and her actions where those of a traitor. I'm sure plenty of them would have felt very offended, not having an opportunity to make the same deal as Rahab did with the spies! Yet, God chose to honor her act of faith. She was an unlikely recipient of God’s grace and goodness, but GOD CHOSE her because she had already been chosen to be in the genealogy of the coming Messiah. She didn’t know it, but God had chosen her to be the recipient of an incredible miracle. Her hope was not to be cut off. God intervened just at the right moment to give her hope for the future!

Dear friend, know that God has a plan to re-write your future any time it's needed. If the script of your life needs an over haul, He is already in the process of writing it. Don't be discouraged no matter how things may look at this present time. God has a seed of hope just waiting for you! The key here is to ask Him to give you understanding so that you know how to pray. If you are persistent, He will lead you into revelation by His Holy Spirit and show you exactly what you need to know. Pray in faith upon what you know He has shown you and it will certainly come to pass. You never have to fear!

More tomorrow in part two, "Your Hope Will Not Be Cut Off!"

The Key to Overcoming Leviathan

It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. This one was posted on Yahoo news.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/amazing-image-eagle-snatches-crocodile-riverbank-134802910--abc-news-topstories.html


 I believe God gives us pictures like this one to inspire prophetic thoughts and communicate spiritual messages. We just have to look for the clues He uses in our everyday life. This picture is amazing. (Read the article at the link above). Eagles don't normally choose crocodiles as a part of their diet, but this one did. The photographer that shot the picture said he's never seen anything like it. What I love about this picture is the fact that the eagle's talons are wrapped around the mouth of the crocodile.Its mouth is in a vice grip! Yet this picture comes just two days after I had prayed that the mouth of the enemy would be silenced. I had spoken out declarations against the spirit of pride and taken authority over the spirit of Leviathan. I feel that the picture portrayed with this eagle clutching the predator in it's grip is a confirmation of what was just declared in prayer! In the Bible, the eagle is symbolic of the prophetic gift. Crocodiles are symbolic of predators or the spirit that seeks to make prey of others. In the Book of Job, the great sea creature Leviathan is compared to a crocodile, and then a fire-breathing dragon. It is symbolic of chaos, evil and destruction. Leviathan "laughs" at the threat of javelins. He looks down on everything haughty, and beholds every high thing. Leviathan is king over all the children of pride. (Job 41:34).

God told Job that no one would be so foolish as to stir up Leviathan. He was that intimidating of a beast. His scales were impenetrable. His teeth were fierce. He had such a hard exterior it was impossible to pierce him with the javelin, and he laughed at anyone that tried to overcome him in a battle. This is the nature of pride. "His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal; one is so near another that no air can come between them; they are joined to one another, they stick together and cannot be parted." (Job 41:15-17) There are some very good insights into how this devious spirit uses things such as shame, unhealed emotional wounds, anger, inferiority, insecurity, fear and blaming others to reinforce his "plates of armor" and literally keep people trapped inside. That is what this monster does. Inferiority and Insecurity are the two main demonic spirits that hold all those plates together. Pride is like the seal that hardens the heart and keeps others at emotional distance. Leviathan keeps people in bondage and captivity and uses pride as shield to keep people from getting too close. Unhealed wounds in the individual makes self preservation the main motivator; the person remains guarded and keeps a safe emotional distance so as not to get hurt again. Predator spirits never want their captives set free. They devour and seek to make victims of anyone that dares to get close. When you are praying for others to be delivered, it can seem like you are battling a spiritually impenetrable force field. It seems like a truly impossible situation and you may even wonder if the person you are praying for will ever get free or healed. The battle can get very hot and tiring as Leviathan does not give up easily, but keep holding on to the promise, because the Love of God and the Word of God will never fail you! (It's Jesus, and Jesus never fails!)

In Job's argument with God, it was Job's pride that had been exposed. When God answered Job out of the whirlwind, He came not to destroy him but to overwhelm him into submission in order to restore Job to his proper role as the Lord's servant. God started asking Job a lot of questions, demanding Job to tell him the answers if he dared. When God shows up and starts asking questions, He doesn't just randomly get off topic and switch to a new conversation. He doesn't get bored of our rambling and complaining. When God asks a question, there is a reason and a purpose behind it. So, in chapter 41 when God starts asking questions about the great beast Leviathan, it wasn't just to help Job realize his own frailty in light of this great predatory beast; that was only part of it. God was leaving a clue behind for us to understand something important about Leviathan. Job got caught up in his own defense. This spirit doesn't just keep others in bondage; it seeks to make prey out of anyone it can pull into a battle, and it does it by attacking our weaknesses. Every person contains some sort of pride. So, what does the crocodile do? It attacks, it latches on, and then it pulls. It pulls it's prey into it's own comfort zone because it is there that it can overwhelm the prey and overcome it. Pain, disappointment, emotional wounding, shame, injustice, and unwarranted attack from others can cause a person to get caught up in their own defense. People might even rise up to take up someone else's offense. Friends, never get baited into fighting a battle God hasn't asked you to fight. Never take up an offense on behalf of someone else no matter how much you might love them. It's a dangerous place to put yourself and you might just end up in a struggle with Leviathan. We may be able to recognize when others are being held captive by this spirit, but the problem is that people often don't recognize that spirit is the one that is provoking a battle with them. A predator spirit will taunt, harass, instigate or agitate, using anything it feels will trigger a prideful reaction from others. One response of pride is to judge. Those that are in subjection to it may not even realize they are being used to "bite" or inflict pain to others. Leviathan uses it's "tail" to whip up emotions, create chaos and destroy relationships. It will taunt people into provoking others in a devious game of ill will.

One can never subdue the mighty Leviathan if pride is a factor.  Pride caused Job to feel self righteous about himself and his own good works. It made him feel as though God owed him recompense or at the very least, an explanation for the pain, disappointment and hardship he had experienced. Remember, this was a battle the enemy picked with Job. Job didn't do anything to provoke it, but pride still became a stumbling block. Pain and disappointment in life will expose pride, and Job found that out. Have you been there? Has pain or discouragement about some circumstance in your life triggered a sense of indignation, self righteousness or anger to rise up? Many people have warred against the enemy, wanting to command God to do their bidding; yet it is this sense of pride that can often put God at a distance. Have you been pulled into a battle you never should have entered into? Have you accused God of not handling things to your satisfaction? Accusation often takes the form of hopelessness and despair. A spirit of accusation will turn your voice into a voice of wailing and complaining rather than a voice of respect and faith towards God. It can be a fine line between genuine grief and accusation. Sometimes that line becomes blurred. It isn't that God doesn't understand or feel compassion towards our pain, but we do need to be careful about the words we speak. We need to be careful about the emotions we entertain. Pride accuses; humility believes through brokenness. God withstands the proud. Pride will never overcome your opponents. You cannot fight Satan on his terms or by his methods. Humility is the only thing that will prevail. Job, once corrected, realized his argument with God was invalid. God did not owe him anything. God is God. He could do what He pleased and He did not have to answer to Job. That is why repentance was Job's ticket out of his struggle.Perhaps it is the ticket out of your struggle, too.

The key to overcoming the spirit of Leviathan is to take the position of humility. Don't let the fiery darts from the enemy bait you into taking a position of defending yourself in pride.

Leviathan, like the crocodile, may seem like a very intimidating foe. Make no mistake; it will come after you and it does want to kill you, especially if you are praying for someone else's freedom and deliverance from this spirit. You will not always win friends by speaking truth and exposing the works of the enemy. It will get you attacked. Your enemy may not be able to touch you physically, but he will do everything he can to kill your reputation and discredit your name. He will try to shut you down any way he can. This is what the enemy does. He does not want people listening to your words or receiving them as credible truth against his deceptive works. Rest in the Lord and know that God will not forsake you. The battle might get hotter or last longer than you ever thought it would, but God does not forsake His covenant with His people. ou must know your enemy before you can overcome him. You must overcome before you have authority to recognize and deliver a sure word against it. God will not give you words of truth to speak and then not rise to your defense.

Although the enemy may have gloated for a season, the time has come for him to once again be put to an open shame. God never leaves His people without an answer to even the most formidable opponent.

The harder the battle, the lower you have to go. It's the position of the cross. It's crucifying to your flesh. It's humbling. Sometimes it means being rejected, misunderstood or enduring others mocking you. Yet, despite it all, if you will hold on to love, love never fails, because genuine love is demonstrated out of humility. 

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek it's own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." 1 Cor. 13:4-8 

There is a set time for every battle to come to an end. I believe the picture above is truly worth shouting about! God has given us a picture of a natural occurrence  to show us the predator spirits are being dealt with. Even while they are hunting for more prey, they shall become prey. It is the prophetic word released against them at this strategic time that calls those things that are invisible, into the natural. We declare the armor of pride is coming off. Like the arrow that pierced King Ahab's armor in his most vulnerable place, God is able to direct his archers to release that specific word that will pierce the pride and release truth. The arrows of truth are being released.

According to what You have already done, Lord Jesus, we bind the spirit of pride. "Let the evil works of Satan be bound," in Jesus name. Father, dispatch your angels to put a hook in Leviathan's nose and pull him into the abyss. We render the works of the enemy silent, impotent and paralyzed in Jesus name. We ask for You to release the Spirit of Truth and revelation that will unravel the lies, heal what's been hurt make people free. We ask for the Spirit of Grace and Repentance to be released all over the land. Let the Spirit of Liberty and the Spirit of Adoption be released now, in Jesus name.


Father, You said, "For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me." You asked, "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the righteous be delivered?" We say, "YES, LORD!" Today we release the decree against the spirit of pride and Leviathan, and all the works of the enemy.

According to Your word in Isaiah 49:25, "Thus says the Lord:"

"Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children." I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. All flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." 

We declare this is the day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, has punished Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent, and He has slain the reptile that is in the sea, according to Isaiah 27:1.

We declare this is the day the heads of Leviathan is broken in pieces, according to Ps. 74:14.

We declare Your arrows have pierced the armor of pride and Your hand presses Leviathan down.

We declare the arrogance of the proud has been halted and the haughtiness of the terrible has been brought low, according to Isaiah 13:11.

We declare that those who walk in pride You are able to put down, according to Daniel 4:37.

We declare the pride of man brings him low but the humble in spirit retain honor, according to Prov. 29:23.

We declare the pride of the haughty is brought down according to 2 Sam.22:28.

We declare that those that are hardened in pride are deposed from their kingly thrones and their glory is taken from them, according to Daniel 5:20.

We declare the crown of pride has been removed. We declare the humble are exalted and the exalted are humbled, according to Ezekiel 21:25.

We declare the arrow of the Lord's deliverance is released, 2 Kings 13:1.

We declare that You shall save Your flock, according to Ezekiel 34:22, and that they shall no longer be a prey.

We declare blessings to the Lord, for He has not given us or our children to be as prey to the enemy; we have escaped as a bird escapes from the fowler's nest; the snare is broken and we have all escaped. We declare help is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name of the Lord, according to Ps. 124:6-8.

We declare the Lord's voice has thundered from heaven, that You have sent out Your arrows and Your lightening bolt to vanquish the enemy. We declare the Lord's rebuke according to 2 Sam. 22:14-16.

We declare the Lord's deliverance according to 2 Sam. 22: 18-20.

We declare the enemy has been destroyed according to 2 Sam. 22:38-41. You have given us the necks of our enemies.

We declare a release of the Spirit of Truth, and that truth is the arrow that will find it's mark.


The answer we have is the prophetic word that releases the voice of God into the earth. He sends out His voice, a mighty voice; the God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people. Psalm 68:11 reminds us that when the Lord gives the word, great is the company (an army of people) who proclaim it!! The prophetic voice, released by a company of people will declare God's will into the earth. "Leviathan, today you are defeated," in Jesus name! 

Today we declare the prophetic word against the spirit of Leviathan. "Leviathan, your pride has brought you low!"

I can't help but look back to the first chapter of Job where Job prayed for his family. It begins with Job praying for his children that were caught up in worldly ways. God was dealing with pride all through the entire book. In Job's family, in Job, and in His friends. The desire of Job's  heart is that his children would know God and serve Him. He was afraid that his children had gone the way of the world and cursed God in their hearts, and so he prayed for their salvation and deliverance. This is the point in Job's story where the enemy, Satan, showed up before the Lord looking for someone to devour. It wasn't that Job was perfect; none is perfect. It was the fact that God saw Job as someone that wouldn't give up in the time of trouble. Job had his faults, but God saw the finished work of righteousness in him and knew that after a time of testing, Job would come through the fire of adversity even stronger and with more humility of character. He would be like gold that had been refined in the fire. The spirit of Leviathan found willing accomplices in Job's friends. All the enemy had to do was incite them to judge their friend and use their words to provoke him to defend himself. Yet, in the end, God judged the whole matter fairly and set each of them on a course of recovery and restoration. Each act of obedience unlocked the next step to future blessing.

I feel the Lord's heart to many people is that He wants to encourage you. Perhaps you took on an enemy that was much stronger than you ever thought. It may have cost you much. You may have lost your children, your spouse, or your friends. You may have lost those that you thought would be in your corner. Perhaps you were judged unfairly, or you lost a battle that you thought you should have won. Maybe you lost your job or prosperity for a season, or perhaps it was something else. I don't mean to make light of your pain. But, you need to be able to see beyond that one moment in time. It was for your training, but it was only for a moment.  There may yet be a turn around waiting for you. GOD IS LORD OF ALL YOUR IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS!! You need to know that God looked down the corridor of time and saw you as the finished work of Christ. He knew you would come out the other side of the trials as one who would rise up out of the ash heap just like Job. He saw that it was an unfair fight. He knows your weaknesses, but He also knows who HE IS, inside of you. You are God's child. Your are redeemed with a plan and a purpose. You had to walk through the darkness and learn to know your enemy in order to overcome him. The season and the battle have been long, but I come to tell you in the name of the Lord, "Lay down your weapons. The only weapon you need is LOVE. Do not fight for your rights. Do not fight for what you think is owed to you. Surrender it all. Confess it all. Lay it all on the altar of sacrifice, for I AM Your victory!"

There is one way, and only one way, to victory. It is through the path of humility. It is through the path of confession. It is through the path of love. God's grace is sufficient for you. You need only to walk through that door of humility that leads through the next phase of hope, restoration and so much more. The question is, "Will you surrender your pride?"

When you lay it all down, then and only then can the fire of God consume your sacrifice. Then and only then can the Lord bring forth the sacrifice He has prepared. He has an appointed day for your turnaround, and it's coming forth even as you obey what He has put in your heart to do. THIS is the day of your turn around!!