TODAY’S PROPHETIC NUMBER – September 5, 2023
Genesis 9:5 – Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast, I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.
Do you truly understand the power of the blood? The Lord says life itself is in the blood. When a baby is born, there is blood. When death comes, blood stops flowing. The spilling of a man’s blood is a big deal in God’s eyes and required the death penalty. Yet in His kindness and love, He let His Son, Jesus Christ, take that punishment upon Himself so no more blood had to be poured out to cover the horrible things people choose to do. Have you tapped into the power of redemption through the blood?
Declaration: I am not my own master. I was bought and paid for with the precious blood of Christ. I serve only Him.
WHO TOLD YOU LIFE IS FAIR?
Years ago when were were first married, Leanna and I were too poor to afford a movie, so our entertainment was driving through the swanky neighborhoods in Colleyville, Texas.
Looking at the mansions, we would imagine what was behind the doors and dream of having a nice, big house someday. Our own house, used to store hay for 20 years before cleaned it out and moved in, didn’t have glass in some of the windows. We couldn’t afford it and I didn’t know how to fix it even if we did have the money.
We loved driving down the tree-lined streets ooh-ing and aah-ing at the multiple rows of million-dollar homes. For us, it was cheap entertainment and we needed all that we could get!
One day, we were with a bandmate of mine, and we had time to kill before a gig. With nothing better to do, I asked him if he wanted to check out the mansions with us. His answer surprised me.
“I can’t go look at those houses because it makes me sad,” he said.
Puzzled, I asked this 40-year-old man why looking at nice houses made him sad. His answer now astounded me.
“Because it’s not fair.”
God help us! What kind of socialist thinking had crawled up from the depths of hell and wrapped itself around his head? Let’s get honest here – a godly person should never get sad, angry or jealous when someone else prospers. There is no place for envy in the church!
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. – Romans 12:15
The question is, who told him life is fair? It sure wasn’t Jesus.
I got into a fight with my friend that day. I was young and didn’t know how to handle myself, but I did know this: in all the times we had driven through those ritzy neighborhoods, it had not occurred to me, not even once, to hate the people who had nice things, or even to want those things. They didn’t belong to me.
I have a saying, “You may see their glory, but you don’t know their story.”
You see, many of those homes were owned by doctors and surgeons. I pointed out to my friend that if he wanted a house like that, all he had to do was dedicate years and years of his life to the relentless pursuit of being a surgical specialist, then sacrifice more years to paying off the monstrous debt accumulated during that pursuit. After that, he could buy a big house and make those payments, pay those taxes and be sure to get a good security system, because it might make someone else sad.
There is no way you can be happy, or have actual joy in your life, if you subscribe to the thinking pattern of “NO FAIR!” Jesus never sinned, but He took our wrongdoing upon Himself and died to give us life. Now that’s not fair – it’s sacrifice.
From my book: Soul Invasion