Friday Morning Scripture (Wk27/2022) – Job 42

Job’s Confession

1 Then Job answered the Lord and said,

2 “I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained.

3 “[You said to me] ‘Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel [by words] without knowledge?’ Therefore [I now see] I have [rashly] uttered that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

4 ‘Hear, please, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct [and answer] me.’

5 “I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my [spiritual] eye sees You.

6 “Therefore I retract [my words and hate myself] and I repent in dust and ashes.”

God Displeased with Job’s Friends

7 It came about that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lordsaid to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him [and his prayer] so that I may not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job has.”

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord told them; and the Lordaccepted Job’s prayer.

God Restores Job’s Fortunes

10 The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lordgave Job twice as much as he had before.

11 Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him over all the [distressing] adversities that the Lordhad brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold.

12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

13 He had seven sons and three daughters.

14 And he called the name of the first [daughter] Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.

15 In all the land there were found no women so fair as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.

17 So Job died, an old man and full of days.

Job 42:1-17 (AMP)

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Restored

I am the God who will restore you. As I restored Job, I will restore you.
I am the God who sees and I am the God of wonders and miracles.
Your time of exile is over. Famine is over. Wilderness is over.
Now is the time where I will turn things around in your life.
I will bless you. I will pour out my oil of joy over you and I will give you double for your trouble.
Start to believe it.
Start to see it.
It is now.

Activation: Ask the Lord to dismantle any wilderness mindsets and patterns that are still attached to your mind and life. Get rid of them as Holy Spirit reveals those things to you.

Also ask Holy Spirit to show you if there is any unforgiveness in your heart about what happened in the last season of your life. Do you need to repent or forgive anybody? Do so as Holy Spirit leads you.
Declare the following Bible verses over yourself and receive the blessing from the Father. It is your time now. Step into the new.

And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Job 42:10 (ESV)

Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion.

Isaiah 61:7 (NIV)

#lionbites

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Prepare The Way

My beloved church, you cry out for a fresh harvest – an influx of souls – but are you ready to receive them? Have you made way in your hearts to receive who I send you? Will you raise a banner, signalling to the lost that you are ready and willing to welcome them?

Clear out the debris and make the path straight.

Prepare your hearts to receive the lost. Send out the signal alerting all – both near and far – that you are ready to receive the lost and the broken. An abundant harvest requires you to step out into the fullness of my kingdom, recognizing that there is room and purpose for all those who would seek Jesus.

I am asking you today to stand in the gap for the lost and the broken in your cities. My heart burns with passion for the ones tossed aside by the world. My love never gives up – even on the ones who have turned away – my eyes are fixed on them. I will not stop pursuing them.

Will you surrender your all and give me room to move? Will you rise up with me in the pursuit of the lost? Will you weep with me for the broken?

Prayer: Jesus, would you search the places of my heart today and show me any areas that need softening. Would you break my heart for what breaks yours? Would you show me today your plans for harvest and how I can partner with you in praying for the lost and broken in my city. Would you show me today how to prepare for the harvest; to be the watchman on the walls, awaiting their arrival.

Walk out of the gates. Get going!

Get the road ready for the people.

Build the highway. Get at it!

Clear the debris, hoist high a flag, a signal to all peoples!

Yes! God has broadcast to all the world: “Tell daughter Zion, ‘Look! Your saviour comes, ready to do what he said he’d do, prepared to complete what he promised.”

Isaiah 62:10-12 (MSG)

#lionbites

Wednesday Morning Scripture (Wk27/2022) – James 4

Warning Against Worldliness

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[1] are at war within you?[2]

2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

4 You adulterous people![3] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[4] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

James 4:1-17 (ESV)

Footnotes

  1. James 4:1 Greek pleasures; also verse 3
  2. James 4:1 Greek in your members
  3. James 4:4 Or You adulteresses!
  4. James 4:11 Or brothers and sisters

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Return To me

Remember this: The lips of a seductress seem sweet like honey, and her smooth words are like music in your ears.

Proverbs 5:3 (TPT)

Oh, my precious bride, many of you have skimmed over this verse, and others like it, failing to see any relevance to you, thinking it relates only to earthly relationships. But, my bride, you have been seduced off the paths of righteousness by tongues that drip poisoned honey. You have been seduced by flattery – by those who seek to manipulate and control – for the sake of position and platform. You have been seduced by the glitter of fool’s gold; by promises of instant gratification.

You have forgotten me, the one who who took you out of slavery, the one who rescued you, delivered you from the hands of the enemy and dressed you in robes fit for my queen. You have believed the seduction, the lies that have appealed to your desire for approval, affirmation, and significance. Oh, my bride, don’t you realise that you have all that and more at my side?

Do not sell yourself short or give up your birthright for a “mess of pottage.” Do not allow yourself to be seduced by lesser loves. Return to me, your first love. Return to the one who knows you, cherishes you, and prizes you as his bride. Don’t be fooled by those who will love you and toss you aside. Return to me, the one who has loved you with an everlasting love.

Activation: Hear the heart of Jesus for His bride as you ask yourself these questions and respond to his answer:
Jesus is there any place where I have compromised my relationship with you through spiritual adultery?
Jesus is there any place where I have been seduced by other “lovers” that have pulled my heart away from you?
Jesus, is there any place where I have “flirted with the world”?

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.

Revelation 2:4 (NIV)

You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James 4:4 (AMP)

#lionbites

Tuesday Morning Scripture (Wk27/2022) – 1 Samuel 18

David and Johnathan’s Friendship

1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.

3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.

4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

5 And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

Saul’s Jealousy of David

6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.[1]

7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,

“Saul has struck down his thousands,

and David his ten thousands.”

8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on.

10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand.

11 And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people.

14 And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him.

15 And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him.

16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

David Marries Michal

17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

18 And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”

19 But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.

20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

21 Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time,[2] “You shall now be my son-in-law.”

22 And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’”

23 And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?”

24 And the servants of Saul told him, “Thus and so did David speak.”

25 Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired,

27 David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife.

28 But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him,

29 Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually.

30 Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.

1 Samuel 18:1-30 (ESV)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 18:6 Or triangles, or three-stringed instruments
  2. 1 Samuel 18:21 Hebrew by two

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Divine Relationships

I am bringing new people into your life.
New friendships.
New relationships.
Divine connections.

You have been longing for deep and real friendships for such a long time. Now is my time to bring those people into your life that you have been praying for. I heard all of your prayers!

No more loneliness.
No more isolation.

You will be connected with like-minded people and you will feel at home. You will flourish and grow together. This is a season of building healthy, strong, and divine relationships.

Activation: Ask Holy Spirit to reveal if there are any ungodly, unhealthy relationships in your life. Is it time to let go of some past relationships so God can add new people into your life?

Let the light of Jesus Christ shine upon your friendships, partnerships, and alliances. Pray in this season for the right people to come into your life.

1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.

3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.

Samuel 18:1-3 (ESV)

A dear friend will love you no matter what, and a family sticks together through all kinds of trouble.

Proverbs 17:17 (TPT)

#lionbites

Monday Morning Scripture (Wk27/2022) – Galatians 5

Walk By The Spirit

1 It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed].

2 Notice, it is I, Paul, who tells you that if you receive circumcision [as a supposed requirement of salvation], Christ will be of no benefit to you [for you will lack the faith in Christ that is necessary for salvation].

3 Once more I solemnly affirm to every man who receives circumcision [as a supposed requirement of salvation], that he is under obligation and required to keep the whole Law.

4 You have been severed from Christ, if you seek to be [1]justified [that is, declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing with God] through the Law; you have fallen from grace [for you have lost your grasp on God’s unmerited favor and blessing].

5 For we [not relying on the Law but] through the [strength and power of the Holy] Spirit, by faith, are waiting [confidently] for the hope of righteousness [the completion of our salvation].

6 For [if we are] in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but only faith activated and expressed and working through love.

7 You were running [the race] well; who has interfered and prevented you from obeying the truth?

8 This [deceptive] persuasion is not from Him who called you [to freedom in Christ].

9 A little [2]leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].

10 I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view [contrary to mine on the matter]; but the one who is disturbing you, whoever he is, will have to bear the penalty.

11 But as for me, [3]brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision [as I had done before I met Christ; and as [4]some accuse me of doing now, as necessary for salvation], why am I still being persecuted [by Jews]? In that case the stumbling block of the cross [to unbelieving Jews] has been abolished.

12 I wish that those who are troubling you [by teaching that circumcision is necessary for salvation] would even [go all the way and] castrate themselves!

13 For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the [5]sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through [6]love serve and seek the best for one another.

14 For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].”

15 But if you bite and devour one another [in bickering and strife], watch out that you [along with your entire fellowship] are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the [7]sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts].

17 For the sinful nature has its desire which is opposed to the Spirit, and the [desire of the] Spirit opposes the [8]sinful nature; for these [two, the sinful nature and the Spirit] are in direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict], so that you [as believers] do not [always] do whatever [good things] you want to do.

18 But if you are guided and led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.

19 Now the practices of the [9]sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control),

20 [10]idolatry, [11]sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies],

21 envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the [12]sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.

25 If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit].

26 We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:1-26 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. Galatians 5:4 See note 2:16.
  2. Galatians 5:9 Leaven (yeasty dough) represents the man-made tradition and false teachings that obscure the truth regarding salvation through personal belief and faith in Christ.
  3. Galatians 5:11 Lit brethren.
  4. Galatians 5:11 Paul’s opponents in Galatia were trying to support their own arguments for circumcision by claiming that Paul was actually in favor of it. They probably knew that he had circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3) and were taking advantage of that fact.
  5. Galatians 5:13 Lit flesh.
  6. Galatians 5:13 The key to understanding this and other statements about love is to know that this love (the Greek word agape) is not so much a matter of emotion as it is of doing things for the benefit of another person, that is, having an unselfish concern for another and a willingness to seek the best for another.
  7. Galatians 5:16 Lit flesh.
  8. Galatians 5:17 Lit flesh.
  9. Galatians 5:19 Lit flesh.
  10. Galatians 5:20 Including prostitution, which was often part of pagan ritual.
  11. Galatians 5:20 Including such things as occult practices, witchcraft, worship of evil powers, drug-induced trances.
  12. Galatians 5:24 Lit flesh.

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Take Off Control

My dear beloved one, I am coming to expose the areas of your life where you do not trust me. I am coming to highlight the areas of your life where you don’t feel that I can meet your need because fear has come in.

I know this is a painful thing to face but my dear beloved ones, you have made a partnership with the spirit of control. This has been holding you back, causing you to fight on your own. The spirit of control has limited the kingdom of God moving in and through you because you believe you need to make things happen in your own strength.

Today, it is time to break your agreement with the spirit of control; tell that lying demon to be silent and come and lean on me again.
Trust in me again!

It is time to lay down all the best plans you have made and allow me to move in your life.

I feel your longing to be free; it is time and I am offering freedom abundantly

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

#lionbites