Command Ye Me

“Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” (Isaiah 45:11)

I love this verse because of the empowering it gives God’s children, His men and women who walk boldly in their anointing. It has also caused quite a stir within the Body of Christ as we wrestle with the weight of its meaning. For the next few moments I would like to consider some of the richness of this declaration directly from the mouth of God.

God is revealing in this verse (and in the historical setting from which it was written) the relationship He desires to have with us and men and women of God. Going back into the Garden we read God’s command to Adam (and Eve) to go forth, multiply, and have dominion over the earth. They were created specifically to represent the Presence and the Power of God upon the earth. They were to walk and talk with Him daily in the Garden, learn from Him, absorb His Presence, then go out in that power and wisdom to carry out His will. They were direct-line descendants of the very God of heaven Himself. He personally created them, He breathed His life into them, and He delegated His power and authority to them. Period. Only after they mishandled and disrespected God’s plan for them by giving Satan their allegiance did they lose that authority, they lost the ability to fellowship directly with God, and they lost the pure innocence of obedience. Because they had become divided (or two) from God, they were no longer qualified, no longer privilege to His access, wisdom, or authority.

The entire rest of the Bible is the story of God’s plan to redeem mankind, to restore it (mankind) to this former glory, to return the center of power back into the hands and men and women who would submit themselves completely by rejecting any counsel or guidance from Satan – the unholy one. Everything from Genesis 3:15 forward tells of God’s elaborate plan to restore the sanity, the clarity, and the understanding Adam and Eve had once enjoyed. It seems strange to think we could do just that; however, with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Who perfectly fulfilled the demands of God’s justice and righteousness and opened the veil for us to enter God’s Presence we have the opportunity to do that very thing.

What does that look like in a practical way? I can only describe it in moments, because I, like you, waver back and forth between earthly knowledge and understanding and godly wisdom. I like to profess my faith in Jesus Christ and His ability to heal my body (which, if you follow me, you know He recently has done) while reaching for the bottle of ibuprofen for my headache. I like to profess that He Is my Source, but scramble to find extra income when I come up short. I know I have seen the hand of God work mightily in my life many times before and have often fantasized about what it would be like to walk in that all the time. But you know what happens when I start thinking that way, right? Pride pops up and sets my imagination ablaze with thoughts of my own glory and the visions of people coming to me. Great. Just when I get a vision of what I understand God had in mind from the beginning my flesh gets in the way. In the words of Paul, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24)

Yet, knowing this is the natural “bent” of our fleshly spirit, God offers us the opportunity and challenges us to inquire into His plans – to ask about what lies in the future, to seek out in His Word and through His supernatural Holy Spirit hidden things. Based on that He challenges us to command Him concerning things to come – to direct Him to work in this world according to His plans and desires. We become a conduit for His Power, we are earthen vessels filled with the precious oil of God’s healing, the water of His Word, and His walking talking representatives on the earth. How crazy is that? He knows our hearts, He knows our desires, He knows what He has placed within us. But He also knows that sometimes I can be a loose cannon and unpredictable.

My challenge to you, my friend, is to seek out God’s will and desire concerning an issue in your life. Seek His Word, seek His Face, pursue His Holy Spirit within you in order to determine God’s true heart about this thing that would rise up against you. Once God has given you a word, a revelation, a guidance about it, I furthermore challenge you to direct the power of God in that matter. In case you think this is an unusual thing or unheard of, I direct you back to Joshua 10 and read of the exploits of Joshua based upon God’s promise to him. Oh, and I would direct you back to Genesis 4, where you will find the cry of Cain after he had killed his brother Abel and was banished. God sends him out to wander the barren and uninhabited places and Cain pleads with God that his punishment is greater than he can bear. In response, God places His mark on Cain’s forehead that all who meet him will allow him to live. And let’s not forget King Hezekiah (in 2 Kings 20) who asked God to provide a sign of his healing. The sign he asked of God was that the sun would reverse back on itself by ten degrees. Think about that: Joshua stopped the entire movement of the universe in order for God to fulfill His promise to him and King Hezekiah did the same thing! And they were mere men just like us except they took God at His promise and then commanded the hand of God for the fulfillment of it. Whaaaat?

If God would roll back the Red Sea, if He would still the mouths of the lions, if He would pull the sting from the fires, if He would literally turn back time (or stop it), if He would send down fire and brimstone from heaven to destroy Israel’s enemies in combat, if He would raise Lazarus from the dead, if He would release Peter from prison (as well as Paul and Silas), all these and thousands of others, then He will do it for you, too! You just need to get to know Him, you need to walk and talk with Him daily, you need to know “thus saith the Lord”, and you need to know He loves you just as much as He does me. THEN you can direct (or as God said it – command) Him concerning what you’re are up against. This is the call for the Church in these last days. This is our commission. This is our command – our call to action. Will you rise up and join us? I pray you do.

Be blessed.