We said last week that every parent is tasked with the challenge of passing on to the next generation, a world that is better than they received it. That task began with Adam and Eve and continues to be the mantle which rests on every generation. There is much being said now about protecting the environment, saving the animals from extinction, the greenhouse effect, and reducing pollution…. But there is so much less importance placed on Spiritual values, and Godly principles. We now face a generation where less than 6% of the population attends church at all and less and less of the population claim to be Christian in the Biblical sense. There has been a breakdown in the home that is reflected throughout our society and culture.
In the bible, we read much about the Father’s blessing… The dad would lay his hands on his children’s head and pronounce a blessing over and upon them….. He would speak blessing over their future wife and their children. He would bless their finances and their career. He would bless their standing in the community and their influence and reputation… Dad would impart wisdom to them from his own experiences, from God’s word and instill kingdom values in them. I encourage our husbands and wives to do this, not when the kids are not around, but so they can hear you do it and they can feel the blessing you impart over them and their lives. Let me tell you, they will believe it if they hear you speak it enough…. God will honor it and He will back it up! (some form of the word “Father” and that important place in the home, appears in the bible 1708 times….
God began this birthright blessing by speaking a blessing over Adam and Eve…..He spoke a blessing over Noah, then over Abraham and also over Isaac… but It was Isaac who was the first reference of a patriarch speaking the father’s blessing over his children…. It’s as though when it came to Isaac, God the Father, decided to impart the blessing through an earthly father. We should begin imparting the blessing…..
When Jesus called Zacchaeus down from the tree and said “Today I’m coming to your house”… it was not the performance which Zacchaeus observed as part of the crowd that day, that changed him, but it was the Lord’s presence that transformed his life….(Jesus said “I’m coming to your house”) Just the performance of the birthright will never do what the blessing of His presence can do….Intimacy with God is a vital part of our birthright blessing…. When David’s men were out, killing off Saul’s descendants and David found out about it, he stopped them and commanded that they bring Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was lame in his feet and could not walk, to the palace, where he would live the remainder of his life. He was to eat at the king’s table as well. David kept his promise to Jonathan and blessed Mephibosheth with intimacy with the king. He would be in the King’s presence every day. How overwhelming this must have been for Mephibosheth, that the blessing of his father Jonathan was being imparted through David. It was a great privilege to live in the king’s house and in the king’s presence. David included this in the 23rd Psalm, as our relationship with the King…..
Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. v6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever”. The real blessing is about having God’s presence with us in our daily life….in all our dealings and situations… Making all the difference… because in all of our dealings and circumstances… to know He is with us! I’m thinking of the words of Moses, when He said to God, “I will not go unless Your presence goes with me”….
What is it that would be our bowl of Esau stew, that would cause us to make the trade-off … for our amazing birthright? What would Satan be able to use to cause us to give up all that God has for us? Actually, it’s anything that we choose, that leaves Jesus out of the equation. That’s the point in which it has become a trade-off we are making and scripture calls it idol worship, because it takes the place of Christ in our lives…. Is it success, popularity, money, our friends, our job, our reputation, or it might be just fitting in or grabbing the gusto while you can….
I used to sit in church as a teen and say to God… “Not now God. Right now I’m having my fun, and I won’t be young forever. When I’m old, then I will serve you, then I will live for you and really make a commitment to you”….Thank God I recognized that this was all my bowl of Esau stew, and I didn’t fall for the lie! I had to decide not to settle for soup when God says I could have steak!
From the dawn of time, Satan has tried to illegally insert himself into the birth right program. He said “I will ascend to the throne of the most high”, but he was cast out of heaven, and failed. He inserted himself into the Garden of Eden and got the first man and woman kicked out of their inheritance. He tried to kill Jesus as a baby to block our inheritance, and then again he attempted the same through the cross, but he found out that it’s not that easy to kill God! And now he continues to insert himself as an illegitimate heir as he tries to steal our birthright still today! He knows that we are the rightful heirs of the Father’s authority in the earth, and that we have received a double portion of His Spirit… For ourselves and the release of others as well….
A Parabola is the path of that which moves between two dimensions….Jesus said that we were “in the world but not of the world”… We need to be able to know how to live in the spiritual realm in a way that redeems the natural realm. There are things of this world’s culture, that will not fit in God’s kingdom culture, if we are to live in such a way as to bring His kingdom into the realms of this world. We must not be content to only celebrate how the spiritual realm effects ourselves… but to live in a such a way that we bring His Kingdom culture into our homes, our neighborhood and our city.
Ephesians 1:19 “I pray that you'll begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe. This is the same mighty power which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church".
“Dispossess” is a word which is used in God’s command to the Israelites when they were about to enter the promised land. It literally means to bring the rulership and government, the values and culture of another place into the place you have come. To replace the way of life that is there, with the life and culture of God’s kingdom. Jesus told us to believe, expect and make it our mission to bring His kingdom into the earth as it is in heaven…. We call it the Lord’s prayer, but it’s actually the disciple’s prayer because he told us it was what we were to pray for and believe for….
Notice that this authority which comes through out birthright is Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and every name that is named!!! You can have power without authority, but you can’t have authority without power! We have been given a name above every name that is named in heaven and in earth… Be a name dropper! When we operate in the authority which Jesus has given unto us, when we speak his word and send forth the powerful truth that is imbedded in it… it’s as though Jesus Himself is speaking since as the firstborn, we have been put in charge of His legacy.
God will even use the Devil’s own plans to bless His kids…
I heard that a young sixteen year-old boy had been praying and confessing that he could get a new SUV. Soon, he came home with a new Chevrolet Avalanche and his parents began to yell and scream, "Where did you get that SUV02?!" He calmly told them, "I bought it today…." "How would you get that kind of money?" demanded his parents. "Well," said the boy, "I bought it for just fifteen dollars." "Who would sell a new SUV like that for fifteen dollars?" they said. "It was the lady up the street," said the boy. I don"t know her name - they just moved in. She saw me ride past on my bike and asked me if I wanted to buy a Chevrolet Avalanche for fifteen dollars." So the boy’s father walked up the street to the house where the lady lived and found her out in the yard calmly planting petunias! He introduced himself as the father of the boy to whom she had sold a new Chevrolet Avalanche for fifteen dollars and asked why in the world she did it.
"Well," she said, "this morning I got a phone call from my husband. "I thought he was on a business trip, but learned from a friend that he had run off to Hawaii with his mistress and had some problems getting back. He claimed he was stranded and needed cash, and asked me to sell his new Chevrolet Avalanche and send him the money”. So that’s what I did." God will use the devil’s own plans to get you the blessing! That’s why Romans 8:28 Tells us “All things work together for good to them who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose”.
Today, I want us together to speak the blessing over our families… Would you join me….
Father God, I come to You today to intercede on behalf of my family, and I declare that they shall serve You all of their healthy, prosperous, and victorious life, for it is You Who works in them both to will and do Your Good pleasure! I thank You for saving, healing, protecting, loving, forgiving, and delivering them. I thank You for the Holy Spirit, Whodaily guides them and imparts wisdom to them, revealing the importance of following You every day of their life, and enjoying a fulfilling and productive personal relationship with You. I decree that they shall be bold wand courageous witnesses for you, in all areas of their lives. I pray that they would understand what you would have them do, and do it, that they would know who you have destined them to be and become, because they are led by the Inner Witness of Holy Spirit.
I pray that you would have them at the right place at the right time, and that they would not be deceived by other voices. Thank You, Father, for giving them the right friends, and the right relationships. I decree that they shall grow and develop spiritually and love and cherish You, with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their mind. I thank You that they are redeemed from all sickness, disease, poverty and lack, and they are delivered from every work and snare, device or trap of Satan. I bind Satan away from my family, you can’t have them. I break your power and influence over their life, in Jesus’ Name! I have authority over you, for it is written in Matthew 18:18: Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Satan, you can’t put anything on my family, you can’t hurt or harm them in any way. I decree that their circumstances, their body, their mind and their thoughts are off limits to you, in Jesus’ Name! Lord , thank You for protecting this family, and for the angels of the Lord being encamped around them. I thank You for the hedge of protection around them. Lord You have promised that “He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. My family will say of the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress: my God; in You will I trust”. Lord, Your truth shall be their shield and buckler. They shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day; nor for the pestilence that works in darkness; nor for the destruction at noonday. A thousand may fall at their side, and ten thousand at their right hand; but it shall not come nigh my family. Because they have made the LORD, even the most High, their habitation. You shall bear them up in your hands and You will deliver them and promote and prosper them. With long life your will satisfy them, and shew them Your salvation. In Jesus mighty name!!
