NO MORE

Several weeks ago I was reading in the Old Testament book of Nahum (one of those tiny books that’s hard to find), and I read the most beautiful verse at the end of chapter one! The chapter is pretty abrasive, actually. It speaks of the wrath of God coming down on the city of Nineveh. Remember, the place God called Jonah to go preach to? Pretty wicked city. (A lot like America today.) Well, your emotions run the gamut as you read those fifteen verses, sometimes wanting to run and hide from the terror of an angry God to symbolically feeling Him wrap His arms around you as your Refuge.

For us today, although these verses speak of God’s wrath falling on a sinful city we can visualize and rejoice in reading this as a picture of how God fights against our enemies in the supernatural (unseen) world. Are we tired of watching innocent young people taking their own lives? Being possessed and oppressed by the enemy and his demons? Do we care at all about those whose bodies are diseased and have been given the sentence of death? Does anything rise up in you and say NO!! This has got to stop? I’m not saying that suffering is never God’s will when it comes to sickness and disease because clearly in scripture there are times it is (Philippians 3:10). But, I do believe we are called as believers in Jesus Christ to pray for healing, deliverance and freedom for the oppressed. Isaiah 61 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners.”

I also understand that the individual we pray for has their own will, the freedom to decide if they want to be well. Read the accounts in Scripture when Jesus met someone with an issue. He almost always, if not always asked them what they wanted Him to do for them. What does that say? First of all, He wanted them to admit their need. Number two, they had to desire to be well; and three, they had to believe that Jesus had the power to make them well and that they couldn’t do it on their own. Interestingly, not everyone truly wants to be well. So, we pray for that too.

Nahum 1:15 says, “Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace (that’s Jesus!)…NO MORE will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed.”

Oh my goodness, hear that! Believe that! Pray that! NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE will the enemy steal, kill and destroy precious lives that belong to the LORD. Every living thing was created by God and belongs to Him. We are not our own. We were not only created by God, but we’ve been bought back…with a price. A very costly price; one neither you nor I would have paid. I pray that you know this One who gave His life for you. Not just passively, I pray you know Him passionately and that you’re growing in your knowledge of Him! And that you won’t allow the enemy to steal your warrior spirit when it comes to fighting back to keep or reclaim what he is trying to take from us. Our own lives, our children, our friends, our neighbors, the nations - our world!!! Join with me and let’s say NO MORE!!!