Handcrafted by God– June 24, 2012

Eph 2:1-10NKJV

2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

  • The book of Ephesians is an amazing book about identity in Christ.
  • Fact #1 – we were dead in our sins, but Jesus made us alive!

2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

  • Fact #2 - We were trapped under demonic oppression and influence, but now we’re set free from that.

3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

  • Fact #3 – we were prone to sin, evil, the lusts and desires of our flesh. Our thinking was corrupted.
  • Fact #4 – because of our sin, we were children of wrath. Meaning we deserved to receive the judgment of God.

4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

  • Fact #4 – God is rich in mercy.

5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

  • Fact #5 – He loves us with a great love! Because He loves us, He saved us from death, by grace & love we have been saved.
  • Grace – means favor. When we have favor, we’re blessed with what we didn’t earn or deserve.
  • What comes next is entirely because God is amazing loving, generous, abundantly, kind, etc towards us!

6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

  • Fact #6 – We’re seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father! That’s a place of significance, authority and stature!
  • Angels aren’t seated there.

7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

  • Grace means favor. Grace is means being blessed with what we didn’t earn or deserve.
  • Started from when we got saved through the rest of eternity, the Lord God wants to show just have extravagantly kind He is toward us. He is rich in grace and kindness towards us!
  • It is His desire and His heart to extravagantly love us for all of eternity.

8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast.

  • It’s because of the favor that God has towards us that we are saved.
  • Salvation is completely the kindness of God to us.
  • It’s not because we deserved it or did anything worthy to warrant it.
  • It’s completely the gift and kindness of the Lord.

10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

  • He made us. We are His workmanship.
  • Original design and purpose.
  • We are each a masterpiece of God.
  • Each one of us was created to display the glory of the creator.
  • We are functional masterpieces.
  • Stradivarius violin
  • Modern technology
  • Cell phones
  • Cars
  • Buildings, homes – not only are things being designed for function, but also for beauty and elegance
  • Tools
  • Parks, malls,
  • Many of us have been traumatized, wounded, damaged by sin.
  • When Jesus gets ahold of us, His desire and intent is to restore us back to what we would have been if sin and devil never ahold of us.
  • We are meant to be God’s handcrafted masterpieces. Each of us unique, individual, reflective of the Master’s brilliance.
  • When God speaks over, releases prophetic words, they often concern who we are and give us clues to discovering just what kind of masterpiece we are in God.
  • We’re functional masterpieces, meaning that when we’re accomplishing the good works He’s given us to do, then it’s seen just how magnificent we’ve become in God.
  • So there are some passages that I felt the Holy Spirit bringing to mind.
  • I believe the Lord is releasing these today to folks here or who are listening to this message.
  • Prophetic words to you and I are declarations and revelations from Lord, releasing and revealing the workmanship of God over us.

Gen 12:1-3 NKJV

12 Now the Lord had said to Abram:

"Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your father's house,

To a land that I will show you.

  • Leave and go where God is showing you.

2I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

  • Great nation – separate and different from who you’ve been with, but connected.
  • Great name – affiliated with God’s goodness and outpouring.
  • Make you a blessing

3I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

  • Everyone who is favorable to you will be blessed by the Lord. Anyone who seeks your harm will be dealt with by God.
  • Make you a blessing to many, affecting even families
  • Son, daughter, the Lord would say to that it is time for you to leave your father’s house. I will do a great thing for you. I will bless and keep you, I will not abandon you. I will make your name great and I will lead you in walking with me and staying by my side. I made you to be a blessing and you will bless many individuals and many families. I am taking you places you never thought you would go and I will establish you as a lighthouse and a beacon of Me.

Fathers and Mothers

Gen 17:4-6 NASU

4"As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,

And you will be the father of a Amultitude of nations.

5"No longer shall your name be called 1Abram,

But Ayour name shall be 2Abraham;

For BI have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

6"I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and Akings will come forth from you.

  • Son, daughter, the Lord would say to you that I am anointing you to be an Abraham. I anointing you to be a Sarah. I am gracing you to be fathers and mothers in the faith. I am entrusting my young ones to you. Be patient, understanding and full of grace. Raise them up with wisdom. Raise them up in the admonition of the Lord. I am commissioning you to raise up my royalty, my future kings and queens in my kingdom. Understand the progression of maturity so as to raise up my sons and daughters well. Children will misbehave and even rebel but I grant you wisdom and anointing to gently and effectively lead them back to Me. And I grant you authority to lead even the prodigals back home.

Kingdom builders. Warriors

Matt 16:18-19 NKJV

18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

  • On the offensive taking the gates of the enemy, tearing down strongholds.

19And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed*in heaven."

  • Keys – access to the kingdom
  • Authority to restrict and to release

Gen 22:17 NKJV

17blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

  • Whatever authority and victory you grab is an inheritance to your children and your children’s children.
  • As you’re victorious in tearing down the strongholds of the devil, you pass that same warrior’s anointing to your descendants. And they will have even greater victories in God.
  • Son, Daughter, the Lord says to you, I am releasing the anointing of Zerubbabel to you. With one hand you will build and with the other hand you will defend and do war. I give you authority to bind and loose. To build my kingdom and to establish strongholds of the Almighty God. Do not be afraid of the enemy’s threats and intimidations. You will possess the gates of your enemies and then establish the manifest kingdom of heaven in its place. I am giving you authority to overthrow even those structures and strongholds that have been in place for centuries. My sons and daughters, I will establish the manifest kingdom of God through you. Build my kingdom well. Establish me as Lord and head of the body. I don’t want any more churches where I am just the consultant or advisor. Establish me as Lord and head of the all!

Intercessors and prophets

Jer 1:9-10 NKJV

9Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me:

"Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

10See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,

To root out and to pull down,

To destroy and to throw down,

To build and to plant."

  • Son, daughter, the Lord would say to you, I have trained you in the secret places and I tested you in the most difficult of circumstances. I have taken you through the dry places and through the valley of the shadow of death. I have tested your hearts to see if you would hold to me and to your integrity in me, even when there seemed to be no reward for doing so. I have tested you in the fire so that you might come forth as pure gold. I say to you now: “Behold, I will put My words in your mouth. This day I am setting you over nations and kingdoms. I give you authority to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. Do not be surprised when I place you in a valley of dry bones. I release you to bring forth life where there once was only death. I say to you that through you, dry bones will live!.

Homers

Ezek 3:5-9 NKJV

5For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, 6not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. 8Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. 9Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house."

  • Son, daughter, I am not done with America yet. My heart is determined and I will keep my promises over America. They are a rebellious house and have turned their hearts far from me. So in response to their stubbornness I send you! I anoint you with a godly stubbornness, with foreheads of flint. I anoint you to stand firmly upon my righteousness, my truth, and my grace and to bear witness to all, that I am Lord. I bless you to be a standard and a monument to America that I will not be forgotten or forsaken and that I cannot be ignored. Though the rebellion and decline seem to be unstoppable and irreversible, know that you will not only stem the tide, but reverse it. There is coming a day when this country will exalt me as Lord once again. Ask of Me, the nations for your possession and I will give it!

Gen 18:16-19 NKJV

16Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17And the Lord said,"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

  • God relates and deals with us according to who we are prophetically! He starts far in advance of our prophetic identity even beginning to manifest.

19For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."

  • God increases relationship and intimacy with us
  • For our children’s sake
  • So we can keep the way of the Lord
  • So He can fulfill what He wants to do in our lives, so we become His masterpiece.

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