Mensa Otabil - Deliverance from Oppression
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Welcome to day number four of the 40 days of power. If you’ve been following the process, I believe that you’ve completed three days of prayer and fasting already, and congratulations on your faithfulness to the Lord. Now we are on the fourth day, with 37 days left to go. The Lord of the three days is still the Lord of 37 days, and He will help us through. So we go back to our readings from the book of Joel, chapter 2, verse 20.
«But I will remove far from you the northern army and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea. His stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise because he has done monstrous things.»
Now, if you remember, yesterday we talked about God’s promise to give grain to the people when they sought His face in prayer and fasting. He says, «I will provide; I will provide. I will give you grain,» because the locusts are eating the grain. But today, the Lord is saying something different. He says, «I will remove the northern army.» The same God the people are praying to is doing two different things. He gives some things, and He takes some things away. The Lord who provides is also the same Lord who removes. In other words, some things that God does for you in a time of prayer and consecration He adds to you, but in another sense, God also takes some things away. So in this season, expect God to put some things into your life and take some things out of your life.
He speaks about the security and safety of the nation. It’s not just enough to have grain; you need to have safety and security. God talks about the northern army. What had happened in those days was that they had faced a catastrophe with locusts, and now they hear that an army is coming against them. The land is already languishing and famished, and now there is a military conquest coming against them. So God says, «Listen, I will solve the first problem; I will give you grain. As for this second problem, you are looking at this enemy coming, I’m going to remove him.» I believe that God is saying to each of us, «There are some things I’ve done for you, and there are some things I’m going to do for you, and the enemy you see today will be seen no more.»
So what is God going to remove from us? First, He is going to remove those who oppress you. Anything that presses you down—whether it’s a system, a person, or a structure that is sitting upon you—God will dethrone it from your life. That which has sat upon you for years will be removed from your life. There is liberty from oppression coming to God’s people.
Secondly, God will remove those who have stolen from you. In the case of Joel, the enemy stole from them and took away their grain. God says, «I’m going to remove this new threat that wants to take away from you.» It could be an individual; it could be a system, but anything that has robbed you and siphoned your resources away, God says, «I’m going to take them out of your life.» Do not be surprised when God moves some people and some things out of your life because there are some things that must go for the resources of God to stay in your life.
Thirdly, God will remove those who fight against you. The northern army was coming against Israel, and God said, «They are better armed; they are better equipped. You are a hungry people; you don’t even know how to fight back. But I will remove them.» God says, «When I do it, I will do it in such a marvelous way that their stench will be felt all over; people will smell their disgrace and dishonor.» May the Lord God, who gives us grain, also remove every army that has come against us in Jesus' name.
Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, remove every thief and destroyer from our lives and properties. I declare victory in Jesus' name. Amen.