You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows. Psalm 45:7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
How do you protect yourself from the evil of a hardened heart? It took down John the Baptist, it condemned Jesus to death, and it took James life and many other believers. The answer is prevailing prayer.
Do you recall that Herod planned the same for Peter as he had done to James? But the church got wise and they stopped the next casualty.
Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. Acts 12:1-5.
And how did prayer change it? It was a very different result. Authorized by their prayer to intervene with My angelic host, I commanded the angel forth to deliver Peter out of jail and put all the guards in a deep sleep. And out he came, and Herod did not understand how that happened but presumed it was one of the guards and put them all to death. This I also addressed.
Prayer that prevailed over the stronghold Satan had in Herod changed the outcome that Satan had in mind to get Peter, the one he had sifted like wheat and found the chaff gone and the wheat remained. And you know it was the calling out in the prayer of the believers that changed things because remember what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” Matthew 26:53-54.
Your prayer of faith of a righteous man prevails. And in Jesus you are righteous with My own righteousness and Jesus has given you His authority.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.
You are not prevailing against Me, I am for you and give you good things as soon as you ask, but here I am talking about pursuing the outcome I want in any situation, getting My Will done on earth as it is in Heaven. YOU ARE WORKING WITH ME TO MOVE THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE OBSTACLES TO MY WILL BEING DONE AND PULLING DOWN THE STRONGHOLDS THAT THE DEVIL HAS ERECTED IN VARIOUS PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS.
Prevailing prayer is using your faith (which comes from knowing My Word which defines My Will in what you are facing) with Me to overcome hindrances from the world, the flesh, and the devil to obtain a miraculous result that requires other people to further your purpose that you know is My Will from My Word.
Why were the people of Israel so abused after Jesus died and Rome came and burned down their city and they were scattered throughout the earth? When Jesus was presented before them by Pilate as their King, they rejected Him and proclaimed they had no king but Caeser. In rejecting My Son you reject Me. There was nothing I could do. Would no one say “restore”?
When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44.
Without the Name of Jesus you have no protection. There is no other name under Heaven by which you can be saved. My Name is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and escape. I catch them away.
There are many today that Satan has captured to do his will by hardening their hearts and making them like himself—murderers, liars, thieves, and destroyers. It is time for the body of Christ to rise up and set the captives free. But avoid getting to close to their flesh-stained clothing and getting drawn in by their doubts, fears, and sins that your heart too may harden against Me.
Do not let the evil in the world make you doubt. Do not let life become a burden to you. The devil, if you note, has made everyone very busy today, many with things they have no business getting into, but still, he has loaded most people with projects, assignments, clients, family, ministry so that it is no longer anything but stress and no time to pray. What do you do when you just feel the burden is too big for you to bear? That is a warning, that your heart is getting hardened.
Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:12-14.
What is the answer? Rejoice in Me. Count it all pure joy.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:3-4.
If you make it a burden, you cannot bear it, but if you make it a joy I can share it and you can wear it. Put on the garment of praise, put on love, put on Christ and sing!
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 312-17.
Clothe yourself in My Word as joy. And that is what My armor that I give you is all about.
To comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
Hardened hearts are not happy hearts. They pull all the life out of you. They are the living dead. They are jealous yet proud.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:27-28.
The anointing lifts the burden and destroys the yoke. And with what was Jesus’ anointed? Yes, the Oil of Joy.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows. Psalm 45:7.
But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.” Hebrews 1:8-9.
The reason Jesus heart never grew hard despite all the rejection and hardness of heart He encountered was because He was filled with joy. For the joy that lay before Him He endured the cross despising the shame. It was the joy He had in the Holy Spirit of knowing that He had come to do My Will, which was His delight, and My Will was that all men would be saved and come to know the truth. He came to seek out and save the lost and undo the works of the devil by His own death and resurrection. And My Will prospered in His hands. Isaiah 53:10. His joy was bringing the work I gave Him to do to completion and giving to all men the opportunity to be saved by the gift I gave you in Him.
At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Luke 10:21-22.
I love you. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give constant thanks and you will NEVER have a hardened heart and you will never be harmed by one who does. Come share My joy!