Lift up your heads : Part one
Psalm 24:7”Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!”
On a day when I just felt ‘hopeless and down’, the Lord spoke to me from the above scripture in a very profound way, I hope you receive the same healing that I received from God. May His Hands comfort you!
Due to continuous prolonged delay over a particular prayer request, I got unsettled a bit and was visibly very upset; however, God met me in a mighty way. While people around me expected me to be ‘steady and proper’ all the time, the day when I was ‘unsteady, wobbly and confused’, God reached out without condemning, mocking or rebuking me for my anxiety and doubts. That’s the difference between our Heavenly Father and the world! Anybody listening to me? What can Bala speak to us from the above verse anyway, you may ask? Loads and loads, wait and see…..
In the above verse; the doors and gates are to be thrown open, thrown wide open, to give admission for the King of kings, for behold he stands at the door and knocks, ready to come in! Are you listening? There’s a kind of urgency in the demand….yeah, He demands the gates to be opened, not for His own needs to be met but for our sake, are you there? The next verse also talks about who is the One who stands at the door: It is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle, the Lord of hosts. Wow! Just imagine, how your life would be when the Lord mighty in battle occupies your heart! Enough of keeping your heart half open for the Lord, give Him complete occupation - Monday through Sunday. He is the rightful owner! Don’t be rebellious to deny entry for the Lord and thereby forfeit blessings, because He is the One who is able to lift your head. Stop leapfrogging and jumping from one place to another for your answers and confusion, settle at the Feet of the Lord Jesus! Repair those creaky doors and open it for God!
Lift up your heads : Part two
Psalm 24:7”Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!”
Those of you who have been humiliated, mocked, persecuted, ignored, abandoned and forgotten for long should receive today’s word with open arms – there is a purpose for everything that happens in our life (good and bad). Stay with me…
During my childhood days, my family was going through severe poverty, I am eldest daughter of three girls in our family and we all studied in presentation convent school, the very famous group of schools that offer excellent education. Well, my parents sacrificed in many areas to do this, everyday I would hide in a corner and eat my lunch because my lunch box contained very simple food compared to the elaborate buffet my friends were having every at the school compound. Most of the them were from affluent family background hence their lunch was very rich; however, I carried the scars of being deprived of good food for long but God had a ‘greater purpose’ of using this pain to feed several poor school children everyday in our Abide School. As type this portion from my office room in school, the menu today is dhal sambar with mixed vegetables and boiled egg. Every pain is an experience to take you to a higher level with God!
God a greater purpose when the two workers from Pharaoh’s palace, who had offended the king, were thrown in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. Observe this, ' the same place where Joseph was imprisoned!’ Ah, even the prison is not a punishment if God is there with you! Glory to Jesus! Do not fear, don’t be afraid, do not worry, do not allow present circumstances and confusion to deter the glory that God has prepared for you! I am simply excited in sharing this message with you because this is HOT BREAD direct from heaven; however, I had to undergo some severe pain in order to get this download – worth it though.
Lift up your heads : Part three
Psalm 24:7”Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!”
Genesis 40:5 “the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation.”
When God gives you a dream, He would also see to it that you get the revelation for it; however, the devil also sometimes confuses people with dreams, so we got to be careful in this area and depend on godly people to interpret dreams for us. Well, Joseph encouraged them to share the dream, so the chief cupbearer shares his dream , listen carefully, because I am going to now change the focus of your attention to a different character now other than Joseph. This is the dream of the cupbearer:
• there was a vine in front of him,
• on the vine were three branches,
• it was budding, its blossoms came out,
• its clusters produced ripe grapes.
• Pharaoh's cup was in his hand;
• so he took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup,
• and put the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
This looks normal for normal eyes, now look how Joseph interpreted:
• within three more days
• Pharaoh will lift up your head and
• restore you to your office; and
• you will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand
• according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer.
In a nutshell, God was going to lift the head of the cupbearer who had lost his job, accused for some wrong done and thrown into the prison. Restoration was prophesied! Today, I prophesy that God would restore all the things that you had lost and stolen by the devil!
Lift up your heads : Part four
Go to Joseph!
Genesis 41:55”So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do."
After prolonged sufferings, betrayals, pain and losses, you tend to lose hope and the sheen begins to wear off from your life, is that how you feel now? Sit up for a powerful word! This is for some who have been rejected and cornered, who feel they are being treated insignificant and small. Don’t take it to heart, this is preparation ground to take you to higher levels, did you catch that? Ah! Not higher level but higher levels! There is no promotion without humiliation! Stay with me…
Imagine a person inside the four walls of the prison, locked up for 13 years for no fault of his? Terrible is not the word, but how could then the Bible say that ‘God was with Joseph?’ This is here you must understand that the ways of God are different from our ways, someone out there needs this Word today. I remember a young lady whose young husband was loitering with another woman say, “at this young age, I have lost precious years with my husband because he has left me for another woman”, I replied, “God would restore and make up to you for the years That the swarming locust has eaten..”(Joel 2:25) Yes, He did it for her, God would do for you too! Lost joy, peace, happiness and years would be restored back to you in the name of Jesus! You know what, I had never worn proper clothes while studying back in college but after many years, God not only enabled me to wear good clothes but also provide clothes and uniform freely to poor children of our school. Every pain has a purpose!
The great day arrived for Joseph when he had to meet the king to interpret the dream for him ; God organizes everything perfectly! The king was stunned by the wisdom of Joseph and his perfect explanation so he was promoted and lavished with gifts. Further we read that when the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread, he said, ‘Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do." You would be sought-after and in great demand one day!
Part 5 – Do not believe in outside power!
Esther 6:12”Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered….”
No one can demote you when God has decided to promote and exalt you! Are you listening? This message is for someone who has been treated wrong, everything would be alright soon, God would set things right, stay brave. In the above scripture we read about a wicked man called Haman who was trying to kill Mordecai the righteous and godly man because he was not respecting Haman by saluting him. How wicked are the plans of the ungodly, but trust in God who would bring justice for you. Somewhere in our lives, there are these wicked ‘Hamans’ plotting to destroy us, but trust God to protect you and your family.
Haman listened to the advice of Zeresh his wife and all his friends and made a gallows fifty cubits high to hang Mordecai, wicked people listen to wicked counseling, this bird-brained man did not pause to think for himself, but immediately got the gallows ready overnight. Did you know God has got a great army of angels and heavenly workers to fight on your behalf? Relax. While Haman was making the gallows God stirred the heart of the king to look into the records to promote Mordecai. Did you see that? Haman planned to cover the head of Mordecai and hang him but God lifted the head of Mordecai and promoted him but the evil plans of Haman were exposed and he was hanged on the very gallows that he prepared for Mordecai. The above verse says, ‘Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered..’ When you silently allow God to work for you and fight on your behalf – victory is guaranteed.
If you depend on your muscle power, talents and gab-power to win the enemy with your strength then do not expect God to endorse you and be with you – when you surrender one hundred percent then God would do great things for you. One particular Christian family when they came to me for prayer regarding a family issue they had already filed a police complaint before coming to me, they said, ‘we did this just to frighten the other party’, so there are ‘such’ people who believe in outside power rather than whole-heartedly surrendering the issue to God.
This is prophetic word for some people who are going through deep seated wounds because of rejection from husband, wife, family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, church, school, college…wherever…and however deep the pain may be, God has walked up to you through this WORD to heal you. Close your eyes and allow Him to minister to you! Please feel free to write to me for counseling, advice and healing, you are not alone in this friend, God cares for you!
HE IS THE LIFTER OF YOUR HEAD!
