The army of the king of Assyria came against Judah, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. 2 Chronicles 33:11-13.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as bright lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life. Philippians 2:14-16.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
What you don’t sow won’t grow. What you focus your attention on will get bigger than what you don’t. If you focus on the problem and not on Me, the problem will control you. But if you focus on Me nothing can control you because when I am with you who can be against you? When you focus on Me, your thoughts are in the highest place they can be.
Abiding in Me does not just happen, you have to be diligent and vigilant to enter My rest. Diligent and vigilant to bar the entrance of unclean spirits, such as depression, anger, bitterness, fear, anxiety, stress, worry, and a host of other spirits of disobedience. Disobedience to My Word can only bring you grief in the long run.
Rest in My arms of love and be free from fear. I have you covered by the shadow of My hand. My left hand is under your head and My right hand embraces you. And in My left hand is riches and honor, and in My right hand is long life and perfect health. You are loved, forgiven, and blessed.
In Me you find the love of a bridegroom for his bride (first love), the love of a husband for his wife (covenant love), and, above all, the love of a father for his beloved son, the love of a mother for the child of her womb. NEVER feel that I have forgotten you. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Isaiah 49:15.
I told My prophet Malachi, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a ban of destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6. But when the angel Gabriel spoke this scripture to Zachariah about the son he was going to have, Gabriel spoke the message from Me this way, “And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:16-17. Do you see the difference? Jesus would turn My heart back to you as My children and He would turn all the disobedient into the righteous with His own righteousness. I made it all about the Father returning to the disobedient and making them righteous. No wrath would fall on you. Why? The sign had come. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and His Name shall be called “ God with us.” And when John was born, Zachariah understood and his tongue loosed when he proclaimed, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people.” Luke 1:68.
Divine justice, wrath for sin, fell on Jesus and He bore it in His own Body for you. He shields you from the wrath to come- the judgment on the wicked. I demonstrated My own love toward you, in that while you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, you shall be saved from the wrath through Him. Romans 5:8-9. You are no longer children of wrath, but beloved, favored sons and daughters of the Most High.
How do you stop being a fool and living a foolish empty life? Well, look at what makes a person a fool in My Word—a fool says in his heart there is no god and that is what all his foolish, impulsive, emotional and lawless behavior stems from. Do you recall Nebuchadnezzar? I had given him much but he came to attribute all he had to his own power and skill, he saw himself as the source of all and, though I had given great wealth and power to him, he lost it all by seeking only himself and denying Me. For a period of time he lost his reason and lived like a beast of the field, but let Me tell you how it all resolved, “I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.” Daniel 4:34. And he goes on with the result, “At that time my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” Daniel 4:36-37. Equal to My majesty is the mercy that I show.
And the same can be said of the king of Judah, Manasseh, the son of My servant Hezekiah, he did evil in My sight and would not repent. He sacrificed his children by making them pass through fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He built idols in My temple and established high places to sacrifice to demons and denied My Name and My Word. He sinned in many ways and led all of Judah to follow him in disobedience to My Word. I sent prophets and warned him that he had pushed Me away and was no longer allowing Me to exercise My dominion of protection over him and his nation, but he refused to listen and hardened his heart in sin. Well, the Assyrian army came in and captured him and imprisoned him in Babylon and he was bereft of his kingdom. But let Me share with you what happened, though he had been a fool and lost all, “When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.” 2 Chronicles 33:12-13. And what did he do then? “He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.” 2 Chronicles 33:15-16. It was My goodness that brought him to repentance. Like the prodigal son, what brought him to come to his senses at last? The goodness in his father’s house. And it still is.
I want to bring My goodness (which is My glory) to the earth through you. Let your light shine, which is Christ in you, your hope of glory (My goodness, presence, and power in you). He is the Light of the world, and no follower of His will ever walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life. You are the Light of the world as His body in the world even now. I lit the darkness in the world by Christ your Light, “for a people walking in darkness have seen a great light, and on those in a land of gloom light has shown, glory in your land,” and now that Light is in you. Each of you carry that Light in an earthen vessel. Do you recall Gideon and his 300 men that conquered the myriads of the Midianite army encamped against Israel? They had torches covered by earthen vessels that they broke at Gideon’s shout and blew their trumpets. They had to break the clay pots for the light to show. In the same way your hardened hearts, your pride, your life of the flesh only that leads to sin and death, must be broken, sifted like wheat, die with Christ and be raised up to new life with Him to shine with My radiance in the world. A clean and sensitive living heart where the Word can implant and grow to a fruitful harvest, filled with My Spirt and sanctified by the truth of My Word. My Light shines best out of a humble, contrite heart. You see that in Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar. They learned in the hard way, profit from their mistakes and do not make the same. The fool says in his heart “there is no god.” He steps into darkness and in darkness you stumble and fall. Pride goes before a fall. But humility raises you up to riches, glory and honor.
Let your light shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and praise My glory in you. Lead others to repentance by My goodness in you. Live for the praise of My goodness, that is, My glory. Be oil lamps as on the Menorah, the golden lampstand which was a shadow of you and Jesus. Light from the anointing.
My servant James calls Me the Father of Lights. It is plural. Why? You are all My children who believe in the Name of Jesus and receive Him as Lord of your life and in you is the Light of life, the Light of the world, and the Word of life. You are all lights in the world offering it the Word of life. Never forget that and do not hide your light under a bushel basket, set it on a lampstand to give light to all in the house. Selah. Do you understand? You will if you have ears to hear and eyes to see.
I love you. Every day is unique and important. Don’t try to rush through life to a “better day.” Each day should be your “best day.” Don’t waste one of them. How? By giving your body to Me and renewing your mind to My Word and living for My glory. Praise, worship, prayer, intercession, and action when told.