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Sandie Freed: A Season of Provocation: Rise Up and Remain On Guard!


by Sandie Freed
Mar 21, 2011

Steve ShultzFrom the desk of Steve Shultz:

Have you felt provoked lately... and even at the hand of the enemy? I know many of you have gone through a tough season, I've been there myself, along with you.

This word by Sandie Freed will help you understand what provocation is about and how God causes our breakthrough in it. We are being provoked to give birth to our destiny! Read on for more.

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Sandie Freed

Believers, I want to write to encourage you in this season. This is a season of great adversity and spiritual warfare, but we must not lose courage nor allow hopelessness to bring distraction. God will allow seasons as these to strengthen us for the future. Also, He will use the enemy to provoke us into engaging with our destiny. What do I mean by this? Allow me to explain.

Passivity is an obstacle as well as a temptation to God's army. It would be easier to put on "rose-colored glasses" and simply quote Scripture and expect the mountains of opposition to disappear. Though confession of the Word and accurately using the Sword of the Spirit is always beneficial to the Believer, there is often more action required. We must also be "doers of the Word."

One of the deceptions with which many of us are challenged is discussed in James 1:22 (NKJV):

"But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

James is warning us that we are deceived and deluded if we believe we can hear the Word and not act upon it! All too often, many Believers hear the Word of the Lord or prophetic messages and don't respond with action. A-c-t-i-o-n is required when we are doers. Much of this a-c-t-i-o-n is adding the ingredient of "faith," but there is still more!

The word "doer" is a Greek word, poietes (pronounced poy-ay-tace'), which relates to someone who "performs." I am not referring to performance that is connected to religious legalism – keeping the law. Nor am I referring to a performance-oriented person who believes that performing for God will insure His love. I believe God requires obedience, yes! But, we are obedient because we are certain of His love for us and we know that our obedience is for our own benefit and the benefit of others. Plus, we are simply to desire to please Him – still knowing that He loves us unconditionally.

So, let's take a look at what the word "doer" does mean for us, according to James. The Greek word poietes is connected to the word poieo (pronounced poy-eh'-o) and means "to make or do" (do something!), but is also used to refer to a "doing" by "abiding, agreeing, committing – without delay." In other words, we must "abide" in Him so that we can "agree" with His Word, so that we can remain fully "committed" to our destiny and His expected end for our lives. There are many other words that I could use to encourage you, but for now I believe that this is godly direction for our season.

The only way to know God and His perfect will for our lives is to abide in Him. In our recent First Friday Empowerment service in Hurst, Texas, I prophesied that God had a new door before us. However, our vision was clouded and it was difficult to see our future. The Lord had me prophesy that, yes, there was uncertainty and that we could not see clearly right now. He said that He had caused the cloudiness. If He showed us our future, we would judge our future by the past. God was saying to us that we must let go of our past and, as we do, our future will become clearer and we can step into it. In this process, we must go ahead and make faith steps forward even though it is not clear. As we step forward, He will continue to cleanse our vision.

When my husband and I arrived home, even that night, I began to seek the Lord more on my own future. I now realize that purity of vision comes from abiding in Him. Let's observe what John says about abiding in Him. I have used the Amplified Bible for clarity:

And now, little children, abide (live, remain permanently) in Him, so that when He is made visible, we may have and enjoy perfect confidence (boldness, assurance) and not be ashamed and shrink from Him at His coming. —1 John 2:28 (Emphasis added)

Notice that the Word states that when we abide in Him and He is "visible," we have confidence. So we can say that when we abide in Christ, we are able to "see" more clearly, and when we have vision we can also be bold and assured, knowing that we will not shrink from Him. I realize that most interpretations agree that this is referring to Christ's second coming. However, I believe it also has a present-tense application.

Since we are His temple, we need to continue to draw near so that we are empowered to see Him more clearly. The more we pray, "Thy Kingdom come," the more His presence comes, right? I do not want to abandon Him simply because I do not see clearly, and I am certain that you do not either! Therefore, let me continue to encourage you to abide and live permanently in Him. In fact, the only way that we are truly empowered to be "doers" of the Word is to remain permanently in Him!

Provocation

Now, let's discuss the opposition that we face when attempting to abide in God and walk in victory. As I stated earlier, the Lord will use the enemy to provoke us – especially if we are "passive" and not "doing"!

I have never enjoyed conflict. I am sure that many of you can relate to the fact that we will not go to war unless we have to. But, the Lord loves us too much to allow us to remain passive. The enemy is a thief and he seeks to steal, kill and destroy. Satan is cunning, seductive and sly. He wants us to remain passive so we are easy prey. However, we are to remain sober and vigilant because he roams about as a lion. Lions do most of their hunting at night – and satan desires to keep us deceived and in darkness.

My point is this: The Lord will allow a challenge to occur so that we are provoked to rise up and remain on guard! It is time for war – we must not allow a spirit of slumber to overtake us in this hour.

Just recently I went through a physical battle and, I have to admit, I had so little strength I could barely get out of bed to walk over and get my Bible. I decided one day to just lie in bed and feel sorry for myself. The problem was that the next day I felt worse. So, there was proof that self-pity doesn't heal – it hinders healing. The voice of the enemy was whispering into my ears and telling me I was going to die. So, as I said, I would lie there and listen to the voice and continue to feel sorry for myself.

This went on for days. One day I felt so much worse and realized I had started running a fever. Suddenly, a righteous anger arose within me. I jumped out of bed, sped across the room, grabbed my Bible and started telling the devil to "Shut up!" Then, I turned to healing Scriptures and declared health and healing over my body. I was provoked into being a doer! This is what I mean about provocation: God allows the enemy to provoke us so that we will rise up and fight for victory.

Jezebel, Ahab and Passivity

Over the years, I have written much on the Jezebel spirit. In one of my recent books, Breaking the Threefold Demonic Cord: How To Discern and Defeat Jezebel, Athaliah and Delilah (order through The Elijah List), I discuss in length the wicked Queen of Israel (see 1 Kings) who led an entire nation into idolatry and apostasy. I strongly believe this spirit is active today and is affecting our lives in many ways through ungodly control, murder, idolatry, perversion, abortion and ungodly government.

When a Jezebel spirit is active, potential Ahabs are cloaked by their own passivity. If you remember correctly, Ahab was a passive king who allowed his wife to bring her idols into Israel. When Jezebel seized illegitimate authority, even had Naboth murdered to possess his vineyard, Ahab complied because he wanted that vineyard, yet allowed his wife to assume illegitimate authority to get what he desired. Ahab's passivity actually made room (released authority) for Jezebel's atrocities. Dear Believer, when we also are passive, it opens the door to demonic control and persuasion!

First Kings 16:33 (AMP) says that "Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him." Talk about provoking! When God is provoked...well, devil – look out! God was provoked at Ahab's passivity and compromise and, as a result, he sent Elijah the prophet! Wow! I believe that our passivity might be provoking God to empower the prophetic people to declare that it is indeed our season for war, but also to "arise and shine!"

Hannah Was Provoked to Give Birth

I am reminded of Hannah who prayed for a son. Her husband's other wife, Peninnah, had many children, but Hannah had none. As a result, Hannah and Peninnah became extreme rivals. Peninnah began to ridicule Hannah and provoke her. This provoking, or provocation, caused Hannah to pray earnestly for the Lord to give her a child. In her intense praying, she was also attempting to abide in Him. By this I mean that she had concluded that she was going to tap into Him, the Vine! Well, evidently she did because Eli thought she had been at the vine drinking wine! He thought her to be drunk!

As a result of her "doing something" (praying and abiding), she conceived and the prophet Samuel was born. Yes, Hannah was provoked into action! She birthed the desire of her heart due to a season of provocation. Believers, I believe it is the same for us. Many of our breakthroughs are about to come forth because, like Hannah, we are being provoked in order to give birth to our destiny! God will allow provoking to get us to "do!" He knows also that to be effective "doers," we must also be "abiders."

A Lifestyle of Doing

I have concluded that I will always be a doer of the Word. How about you? Will you accept the challenges of provocation and rise up to "do"? And, at the same time, know that "doing" requires the sweetness of our "abiding"? There is no clear-cut formula for doing – otherwise we get into works. But, I'm certain that if we "abide," we will "do" what we see the Father "doing" just as Jesus did! I know you want to remain in His presence. Let's make a fresh commitment today, shall we?

Allow me to pray with you: Father, I pray for every reader today. I ask that You empower each one to become determined to rise up and become a doer of Your Word. Fill each of us with divine boldness. Clean off our eyes today as we continue to step forward into our future. I bind the spirit of Jezebel and all passivity, including a spirit of Ahab, that would desire to hinder our destiny. I take godly authority over every hindrance that would hold us captive to our past. Lord, I thank You for a fresh measure of divine grace to move forward into our future and experience victory on every side.

In the name of Jesus. Amen!

Sandie Freed
Zion Ministries

Email: zionministries1@sbcglobal.net

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