Shed Light on the Problem Using a Decree

Job 22:28 NKJV

You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.

We learned last week that declare is the work pre-decree meaning “the thought and the plan” that comes from a heart and mind conviction that what you speak is yours. Thing is “what is spoken.” And establish is arise and that means “to come into being, appear, originate.”

Now I want to discuss the light that is released from the decree.

Light is “that which is contrasted to darkness.” In some contexts it can having an “associative meaning of guidance, health, life, prosperity, enlightened judgment, and other positive things” It is also “bright countenance…an appearance of the face that shows positive, happy attitude…favor…favorable circumstances and relief from trouble and danger.”

associative meaning of guidance, health, life, prosperity, enlightened judgment, and other positive things

It is also “bright countenance…an appearance of the face that shows positive, happy attitude…favor…favorable circumstances and relief from trouble and danger.”

Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Shine is “the giving of light of knowledge.” And ways is “path, route, road, highway, journey from one place to another WITH A DESTINATION, AND USUALLY PLANNED ROUTE, conduct, way of life, what is done, i.e. behave in a particular way, in the manner one conducts one’s life, including habits.” It is often used with another Hebrew word panah to convey the idea of “making ready, cause circumstances to be prepared for some event.”

If we take all of these definitions together, you see a process for promise. Let me give them step-by-step:

He casts vision or shows you a picture of the life He wants you to have in a certain area. It’s usually in a time of unfavorable circumstances and when things are at their darkest and you’ve cried out for change.

For example, Moses was sent to deliver the Israelites because 1) the prophetic promise to Abraham was ready to be fulfilled and 2) their prayers to God to rescue them from slavery. The circumstances had gotten so uncomfortable that the Israelites were ready for change. UNFORTUNATELY, WE OFTEN ARE NOT TRULY READY FOR RADICAL CHANGE UNTIL THINGS ARE SO BAD THEY DEMAND IT.” Wisdom is embracing change and challenging yourself in the absence of the need to do so. And, on top of that, they were physically fit due to the labor to handle the hardship of the wilderness.

Moses shows up with the vision—it’s time for your freedom. Moses then “proved” that his words were true using signs and wonders. But to the surprise of the Israelites, their affliction increases! This is the TIME OF TESTING THE WORD OF GOD. This happens with us all of the time. We pray for change. God casts vision. We believe and then all hell breaks lose.

He gives knowledge to direct your path to the promise. Light is symbolic for revelation. Revelation is an unveiling, a disclosure, a laying open for view. This is the KNOWLEDGE YOU NEED TO MOVE FROM ONE PLACE IN YOUR LIFE TO ANOTHER. THE VISION GIVES THE DESTINATION AND THE SHINING GIVES YOU THE “HOW” TO GET THERE. It’s the planned route, the habits that you need to change or develop, the how you conduct your life that makes it ready for the promise. All of this is given in the midst of affliction and dark times so that 1) you don’t give up and 2) you do whatever it takes to prepare for the promise—things you would normally dismiss in good times. Again, WISDOM IS DOING WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO BEFORE YOU HAVE TO DO IT.

This is a time of intense prophetic downloads, strategy downloads, and revelation of soul issues that are not conducive to the promise. REMEMBER THAT IT’S THROUGH THE PROMISES THAT WE SHARE IN THE DIVINE NATURE meaning that the fulfillment of a promise in our lives means that we’ve done the work by cooperating with Holy Spirit and a part of soul now looks more like Jesus.

3 John 2 NKJV

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

3 John 3 NKJV

For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.

The word “prosper” is “rare outside the Bible. It literally means “easy to travel through.” It’s “to show a good way,” “to lead on a good path,” and “to guide well.” It’s also “TO CAUSE TO SUCCEED,” “to bring a way to a good conclusion,” and “to make a journey successfully.” It’s obvious this is closely related to the word “ways” in . God wants ALL THINGS in our life to be a good path, success, good conclusions, and easy to travel through. But John then uses the phrase “just as.”

Just as is a word that marks similarity of events and states meaning “TO THE SAME DEGREE.” It’s the comparison of two objects that are in the same degree of similarity. John is saying THAT YOUR JOURNEY WILL BE SUCCESSFUL, GOOD, AND EASY TO THE DEGREE THAT YOUR SOUL IS SUCCESSFUL, GOOD, AND EASY.

Not only is your current life condition due to your decrees but it’s predominantly due to the current state of your soul. WANT TO CHANGE YOUR SITUATION? WORK ON YOUR SOUL!

Soul is “the seat of the senses, desires, affections, appetites, passions, the lower aspect of one's nature.” Complete Word Study Dictionary, The - The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament.

I’m sure you can see that because it’s the lower aspect of our nature the need for it to be renewed. I’m sure you can also see that, again, promise fulfilled is divine nature shared. And the faster we submit to the process of preparation, the faster we walk in our promises. Remember that these good changes occur in degrees meaning that God revisits areas to go deeper. HE THINKS IN CYCLES NOT LINEAR.

God guides you out of bondage into the wilderness. What?! Yep, again, we see soul work occurring but also a preparation for the battle that’s coming up. The wilderness is where you’ve made the initial changes to habits, thought processes, etc. that kept you in bondage but now He wants to do a deeper work of trust inside you. He knows that you can’t win the battle for the Promise Land until you first win the battle of trust. Because in the possession of the promise comes the greatest conflict! It’s in the Promise Land that you encounter giants. It’s during this time that you learn authority and how to fight the enemy. It’s during this time that you see God fight your battles. It’s during this time that you see Him do crazy, outrageous things on your behalf that others see. It’s a time of increased intimacy and care from Father.

Exodus 14:1–4 NKJV

Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

Notice that Father LED THE ISRAELITES TO THE SEA where the impossibility of God HAD to show up! It tricked the enemy into his own defeat just as he did by crucifying the Lord and a nation learned that God is LORD!

Exodus 14:15–18 NKJV

And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Do you see that? This is not the time to cry to God. It’s the time to take your authority and use it! YOU DIVIDE THE SEA OF IMPOSSIBILITY. You’re ready! You might not know that you are, but you are!

TPT

The Passion Translation: New Testament Chapter 10

Now you understand that I have imparted to you all my authority to trample over his kingdom. You will trample upon every demon before you and overcome every power Satan possesses. Absolutely nothing will be able to harm you as you walk in this authority.

Exodus 14:27 NKJV

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

After this, the Lord took them on a circuitous journey with varying tests for the basic needs of life like food and water. This was to prepare them for the things that go beyond need. GETTING NEEDS MET IS NOT THE PROMISE LAND AND WILL NOT TAKE TERRITORY FOR HIS KINGDOM. It’s only in the overflow—the more than enough—that you can establish His covenant in the earth.

(WuestNT) If you maintain a living communion with me and my words are at home in you, I command you to ask, at once, something for yourself, whatever your heart desires, and it will become yours. In this my Father is glorified, namely, that you are bearing much fruit. So shall you become my disciples.

LIGHT IS REVELATION. PROMISE LAND CONFLICT PRODUCES MATURITY TO HANDLE IT. THE PROBLEM IS INTERNAL. PROSPER TO THE DEGREE YOUR SOUL IS HEALTHY.

This could be the most crucial part of the process because if you don’t allow Him to mold you, you just might die in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 10:1–11 NKJV

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

1 Corinthians 10:1

It’s crucial to overcome intense craving of things even those you need (like meat in the wilderness) in a way that causes you to despise God’s provision and what He’s doing, idolatry, which is putting your trust in another person or plan other than God’s or giving up and going back to what you knew before, sexual immorality, testing the Lord by asking, “Is He among us or not?”, and complaining, which invites destruction from the destroyer.

God guides you into increased sanctification. Once the Israelites that left Egypt died except for Joshua and Caleb, the new generation was ready. But there had to be a deeper consecration not because that made them more pleasing to God but because they were about to engage in spiritual and physical battle and there couldn’t be anything landing strip for the enemy to take them out, which he did at the battle of Ai.

It’s during this time that motives and quick obedience get tested.

Joshua 3:5 NKJV

And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

This is the first sanctification.

Joshua 3:14–17 NKJV

So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

Joshua 3:14-

They had crossed over into the Promise Land. Yippee! Woo hoo! Yay!! It’s time to possess the promises!! Wait, what?!

Joshua 5:1–12 NKJV

So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord—to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

Joshua 5:1-

This is the second deeper sanctification. It’s where the Lord begins a deeper work of healing your heart from any wounding that caused fractures in your soul because THE WEIGHTINESS OF PROMISES FULFILLED CAN CAUSE THE FRACTURES TO WIDEN AND SPREAD EVEN TO THE POINT OF DESTRUCTION OF YOU AS A PERSON AND HE JUST WON’T ALLOW THAT.

This is the time when you can feel how close you are to your promise. You can taste it and yet, out of nowhere, it seems there’s a pause. THAT PAUSE IS FOR YOU TO FOCUS ON YOUR HEART CONDITION AND ASK GOD TO REVEAL ANY AREAS THAT NEED A DEEPER WORK. Allow Him to cut away scar tissue that makes you hard and cut out infection that can spread like disease. LET HIM ROLL AWAY THE REPROACH OF YOUR FORMER BONDAGE!

Reproach means “disgrace, contempt, state of dishonor and low status, scorn, insult.” It’s shame. Here He shows you the areas you need to be free from shame that if you don’t deal with, could cause you to mistreat His people, use blessing for your own selfish gain, become prideful, etc. all due to shame. Saul didn’t do this. He felt shame because he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin—the smallest due to violent homosexuality before he was even born. Once promoted to king, that shame turned to jealousy and pride leading to horrible atrocities committed at his command and his eventual death and his son’s.

SHAME NOT DEALT WITH BECOMES THE VERY TOOL OF THE ENEMY WILL USE TO DESTROY YOU AND OTHERS.

You then engage giants and become the instrument God uses to drive them out. I don’t have time nor do I want to distract from the message today, but the main goal of God was to destroy the giants, which is why that only in a few instances, He directed them to annihilate an entire people group.

Remember how God told Abraham that the “iniquity of the Amorites” was not yet complete, but when it was, He’d deliver his descendants from bondage to destroy them from Canaan? Amorites were giants. Giants are the defiling influence in a land.

Amos 2:9–10 NKJV

“Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, Whose height was like the height of the cedars, And he was as strong as the oaks; Yet I destroyed his fruit above And his roots beneath. Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, And led you forty years through the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amorite.

The giants are any defiling demonic entity that prevents the kingdom of God from being established in the earth in your sphere of authority. And I believe it can be any defiling influence in your family line that prevents the fulness of the generational calling of a family.

THE PROMISE LAND CONFLICT ALSO PRODUCES MATURITY TO HANDLE THE BLESSINGS THAT COME WITH LIVING IN THE PROMISES. All battles are won first internally and then externally. AND WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR PROMISE LAND, YOU CAN THEN LEAD OTHERS TO THEIRS.

All battles are won first internally and then externally. AND WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR PROMISE LAND, YOU CAN THEN LEAD OTHERS TO THEIRS.

WHEN YOU WIN THE BATTLE INTERNALLY, YOU CAN HELP OTHERS WIN THEIR BATTLES.

LIGHT IS REVELATION. PROMISE LAND CONFLICT PRODUCES MATURITY TO HANDLE IT. THE PROBLEM IS INTERNAL. PROSPER TO THE DEGREE YOUR SOUL IS HEALTHY.

. The question is what promises is Peter referring to? Specific ones or all that have ever been spoken? If the Holy Spirit is the whole and He’s the one that brings an end to every aspect of the curse, then the promises must be all that reverses the fall. GO INTO THE LEGALITY OF DECREESAnd how when you decree you’re decreeing the Word in the Person of Jesus.