Trusting God: Empowered to Soar!

Trusting God: Empowered to Soar!

Tracey L. Green

Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.” 2 Chronicles 20:20 (NLT)

This passage of scripture begins with King Jehoshaphat and the nation of Israel facing an eminent attack from the Ammonites and Moabites. These were nations that God spared in Israel’s exodus from Egypt and journey to Canaan, which were distant relatives of the Israelites. However, they now had set themselves to war against Israel. In his fear and desperation, King Jehoshaphat began to cry out to the God of Israel to protect them with His Mighty Hand. He began to testify and bring God into remembrance of the greatness of His might in times past. He also began to recite unto the Lord the numerous acts of His goodness and gracious mercy. In confidence, Jehoshaphat knew that the Lord God of Israel would arise again to defend and protect His precious inheritance in the earth!

First Things First

Believe the Lord thy God – believe what He has said.

What has God said about you? Our original Kingdom mandate in Genesis 1:28 issues a decree, and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. The original design for Mankind to become conquering replicas of the God-kind in the earth. Has it changed? What did God say about you first?

The "Law of First-Mention" is the principle in the interpretation of Scripture which states that the first mention or occurrence of a subject in Scripture establishes an unchangeable pattern, with that subject remaining unchanged in the mind of God throughout Scripture. An example of the "Law of First Mention" is when God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and made him the father of many nations. He then changed Sarai’s name to Sarah and made her the mother of nations. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and made him the first Israeli. He also changed the name of Simon to Peter and gave him primacy over the other apostles. Therefore, it was established that whenever God changed the name, the person was also given great honor. And, there are some things that God has first spoken to us or revealed to us that have not changed.

What was it that God said first about you? When He first revealed His heart and will for your life, He established an unchangeable pattern of an identity of you that remains unchanged in His Mind. Go back to the beginning and begin to identify and recall your earliest recollections and acknowledgements of the greatness that He had deposited in you. Take some quiet time alone and begin to remember who you really were before life and chance occurred. Due to the contamination process of the enemy of our soul, the original intent for our lives has been distorted, misrepresented, and altered. But the Spirit of God inside knows the assignment and purpose that was released from God. Ask Him to bring those things back to your remembrance.

Remember Who You Are!

But, don’t remember just to believe again. Begin to see it again. Believe so that you will become firm and settled in what God has spoken over you. In this passage, the words, believe and established are the same in the Hebrew; which means to support, upheld, and undergird with trust. So, the Word of God reiterates that as our trust and confidence is firmly established in the Lord, it works as a two-edge sword.

As we grow in faith towards God, a confidence is also being fortified in us that can be built upon. When the Word of the Lord for us is established in our hearts, then we are able to receive what others are saying especially when it is in agreement to what God has spoken over us. When prophets or prophetic people begin to confirm what God is saying over us, we can truly and freely embrace and walk in that truth without hesitation.

The second clause of the scripture exhorts us to, Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.” The Hebraic word for prosper is tsalach (tsaw-lakh) which means to push forward, to breakout, to come forth mightily - literally and figuratively. When we are rooted and grounded in our God-given identity and purpose, then the winds of prophetic ministry can thrust us in a new place and break out us out of the ties that bind us. This is why it is so vital for the saints of God to receive the heart and counsel of the Lord for us. Again, this may require us to think back and ask the Holy Spirit to bring those things back to our remembrance. However, we cannot just get stuck at the point of memory recall. We must remember and then reclaim those precious whispers and secrets that the Spirit of God once divulged to us. Only then can we ride the momentum of God as His counsel propels us into our next level in Him. Don't miss the wave!

BridgeBuilders Ministries International of Grand Rapids, MI USA