“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines, then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you. Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God. You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfil your vows. What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways. When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast. He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.” Job 22:21-30
A couple of years ago as I awoke on the first day of Spring, God dropped this verse into my heart and said to me that this scripture was the way forward for me. The first of September is a day that I’ll always remember. It was on this day that God spoke to many years ago when I was having a really bad day. More than a ‘bad hair’ day, it was more like a ‘no hair’ day. I was living in Africa and and wanted to come back to New Zealand again. I was fed up with all its problems. We had just come back on a holiday and I was hoping that I could stay but God said ‘NO’ you must return to Zimbabwe. We stopped off in Johannesburg and then Bernice and the boys went on ahead to stay with her parents in Bulawayo while I stayed on in a house in Johannesburg for a week. I was so depressed and didn’t want to go back to Zimbabwe for I had given up my post in Mutare and had no money or future to go back to there. While fasting about our situation God spoke to me on the first day of Spring and gave me these verses. “Surely there is a reward and your expectation will not be cut off.” It’s repeated in Proverbs 23 and 24.
“For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut off.” Proverbs 23:18 ASV
“For surely there is an end; and your expectation shall not be cut off.” KJV
“So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.” Proverbs 24:14 KJV
He was telling me to go back for He had a reward there for me. “What you are expecting from me will happen.” “Your expectation will not be cut off.” His word was a light leading me to go back in a dark situation and gave me hope for the future. This verse is a promise for all of us, to trust God.
I took courage from it and went back to Zimbabwe and consequently had a visitation from God there. That experience was like a fire that ignited the ‘first love’ in my heart. The fire started back then although at the time I didn’t understand what was happening. It’s now been quite a few years since that dark day, but every year I remember those verses that I received on the first day of September and how God was faithful back then and still will be today. There are some promises that I’m still waiting to be fulfilled and these verses keep me confident for my future. ‘Your expectation will not be cut off,’ What you are expecting God to do for you? God is faithful and will bring it to pass if you obey Him.
As I wrote this message down I was reminded that the pathway to my destiny is to be found in these verses so I’m sharing them with you.
Job Chapter 22:21-30
1. “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.”
We need to stop fighting with God and so be at peace. Trust Him for your future no matter how difficult the assignment, for He promises prosperity for the future and delights in all His children. When I went back to Zimbabwe then I had no money or job to go back too for I had given up my post as a pastor in Mutare. There is no benefit in Zimbabwe either, so if you have no money you can’t just depend on the government for help. God came through for us with jobs at a Christian School and also gave me itinerant preaching on the weekends and we were also given a car. On top of that I had a visitation from God which ignited a fire in my heart. When you risk your all for God, He will never let you down. Again and again the Lord keeps coming through for me still, and He will for you too. He is the God of 2nd chances, 3rd chances and beyond.
“Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favour my righteous cause; And let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” Psalm 35:27
2. “Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.”
Oh that we would value His word more than anything else, even our necessary food, for God’s word can be life to us and health to all our flesh. Job did just that, for he said.
“I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” Job 23:12
The answer was the word for him back then and is still for us today, to lay hold of His word and hide it in our hearts and minds. Start today, filling your treasuries with the word of God and you will have plenty of verses to praise God with and use as weapons against Satan on those dark days that will come. Jesus was full of the word and used it against Satan in the Wilderness to resist temptation.
3. “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored.”
‘Returning to the Lord’ was a key verse for us as a family to go back to Africa. It was the verse that told me to return instead of staying in New Zealand. It’s still a word for me even today to go back to what God has told me earlier. He will stop speaking to us if we don’t do what He told us to in days gone by. So often we hear from God when in a spot, but as the years go by we forget what He said and then start drifting, sometimes getting ourselves into unnecessary trouble. I had been given a verse in New Zealand even before that day to go back to Zimbabwe and stay there until He gave me the green light to return with His blessing.
“Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.” Jeremiah 15:19 KJV
Even after all this, many years later while here in New Zealand, I had a dream in which I was walking with a group of pastor friends, when I noticed that I had my shirt on ‘back to front.’ It was a blue sports shirt and they were all wearing more formal gear. I prided myself in the fact that I was not bound by tradition and enjoyed my liberty. I told them to keep on going while I went to change in a restroom that was nearby. When I took my shirt off it suddenly fell into the toilet and became unwearable. What do I do? I decided to go home and get a new shirt. The home in the dream was back to Zimbabwe. When I awoke I felt the Lord say to me that I needed to repent of the path I was travelling on and turn around. The shirt I was wearing was all wrong, too casual and even if it was turned around the right way it was still wrong in God’s eyes. I needed to go back to Africa? Surely not literally? Back to what He told me in Zimbabwe in 1993. I thought that visitation back then was just to make me into a ‘worshipper’ but I can see now that it was the also a revelation of His holiness. I stopped watching suspect movies back then and had tidied up my life and language but I had gradually drifted back again from all that God had shown me in Africa and I needed to repent. (Turn around). God did bring me back to New Zealand as He promised, He hadn’t forgotten His promise. He is always a faithful God.
4. “If you remove wickedness far from your tent and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines”
This verse says not put too much value on the treasures of this life. All those things that are valuable to you now could be rubbish in God’s eyes and even be harmful. Those ‘things’ are those items that are more precious to you than God. They can take His place and become idols - throw them away. Put them back where they came from. They are nothing compared to the value of Christ. It’s like a child holding onto a toy. When asking them to give it up it’s like the end of the world for them. You can never lose when God asks you to throw something away for Him. God is not against us being prosperous but our relationship with Him and His presence is true prosperity.
5. “then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.”
God wants to be your most valuable possession - your exceeding great reward. When He becomes just that, it ignites a fire inside of you and you glow from within. It’s an eternal fire. Your greatest delight is to then think about Him. The excellency of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul says everything else is as dung compared to Christ.
“But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life]. 8 But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequalled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ,” Phil 3:7-8 Amplified
In the book of Revelation it speaks of those who have the name of Jesus written on their foreheads. When this happens to you the first thing you think about when you wake up is Jesus. In the Song of Solomon it speaks of Jesus becoming a seal upon your heart. In other words the greatest desire you have is Jesus.
6. “Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.”
This word ‘delight’ used here is a powerful word and only used in one other place in the Old Testament.
“Take ‘delight’ in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
This word in Hebrew is ‘Anag’ and means to ‘pamper, treat luxuriously, delicate, effeminately.’ It’s to highly value something and make it extremely precious to you. To treat something very delicately because it is fragile and precious. God delights in you as a young man delights in His new bride and He asks us to delight in Him in the same way. He doesn’t want to be just a ‘mate’ or ‘the big man upstairs’ or merely your ‘bro.’ He wants to be your most precious possession, someone you highly value. You can hardly speak His name, for you are over awed by His presence. He melts you, He consumes you and you are amazed that He wants anything to do with you. What a God!! What a love!!
7. “You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.”
When He is precious to you, you will find it easier to keep your vows and do what you had previously promised God. This passion within will stop bad habits in their tracks and you will be able to keep your promises to Him and others, because you love Him and His word with all your heart. When making decisions the word of God will always be your first port of call. Unfortunately in these days the word of God is our last option.
8. “What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.”
This verse is a big one. We are inclined to keep begging God to do something for us when He has done everything already. To keep begging is fine but there is a better way for maturer Christian. You have the answer and it’s found already in your mouth. “Life and death is in the power of our tongues.” Proverbs 18:21. You have everything when you have Christ and you are filled with God in union with Him. You have all things that pertain unto life and godliness. By His stripes you were healed.You are seated in Heavenly places with God. Its not something we are waiting for, but something that we have already in Christ. I like the way that the King James version puts it. You are not a beggar anymore but a commander.
“Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.” KJV
Because we are seated as Kings in Life and reigning with Him, we can decree things with our mouths. We know hat the word of God says about a matter. Life and death are in the power of our tongues. Mark 11:22 says that we can speak to our mountains and command them to shift. In the light of this we need to speak more to our mountains about our God and not so much to our God about our mountains. By the power of the Spirit we can develop more confidence in our words and not be so careless with them. There is power in our tongues. Begin to believe more, that what you say will come to pass and that your words are forerunners of a future event. It says that where the word of a King is there is power. “For the king's word is supreme. Who can say to him, "What are you doing?" Ecclesiastes 8:4. You are a King reigning in life through Christ. “How much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” Romans 5:17
9. “When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast. He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
This verse gives confidence to those who are praying for unsaved family members, children and friends. Because of the authority that you have, sinners can be rescued because of your prayers for them.
“When others are disgraced, God will clear their names in answer to your prayers. Even those who are guilty will be forgiven, because you obey God.” CEV
The Prophet Daniel interceded for Israel, confessing their sins to God for them and they were saved from Babylon because of Him and not so much because of their righteousness. With the power God has given you your family can be delivered through your prayers. I believe as we get ourselves right with God it will affect those around us. We need to do all that these verses say, cleaning up our act and then we will be prepared to deliver others. I like what happened to Jacob and his family when they came out of Mesopotamia. When Jacob’s family threw away their idols and cleansed themselves, the fear of God fell upon the people around them.
“So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.”..“Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.” Genesis 35:2-5
This is a spiritual principle, that when you clean up your act, God will use you to affect those around you for good. “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household;” 1 Peter 4:17