Your Verdict is Freedom!

MATT LOCKETT OF BOUND4LIFE joins us for Wednesday prayer call! 9-10 pm EST. Conference call number: 805-399-1200 access code 552-690. Use *6 to mute/unmute. Invite your friends to join us!

SO GLAD WE ARE PRAYING as we start the weeklong countdown to President Obama’s inauguration–on Martin Luther King Day–followed by the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade. Echoing in my heart and spirit right now is King’s thundering declaration of Amos 5:24, “Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream!”

We have entered into a travail of justice, and this year more than ever I am confident of God’s response. His verdict is freedom–a new birth of freedom.

Dark Legacy–1:22
In Exodus 1:22, Pharaoh commanded all male Israelite infants be drowned in the Nile River. It is hauntingly prophetic that the Supreme Court verdict on abortion was handed down on 1-22-1973. Is this merely coincidence? Or is the Lord prophesying even through the date how He identifies this abortion ruling as a perpetuation of Pharaoh’s cruel hand? And is there a time when God will render judgment?

Note that Moses was born right around the time Pharaoh was stretching forth his hand to kill the firstborn males. As noted before, God often confronts the greatest evil with the travail of a new birth! Makes me wonder about the Moses seed in this generation.

Exodus 2:24–Court of Heaven Perspective 
“And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Exodus 2:23-24).

Lets look at this passage from a Court of Heaven perspective. God’s children cried out before His Throne, and the Lord heard their groaning. He Remembered His covenant.

In this season where God is rendering His verdict, questions resound within my heart. Are we desperate enough to cry? Are we groaning, or entering into travail? And how does this interplay with the release of God’s verdict?

Two Hebrew words help to clarify the interaction between God and His chosen people. First is the word “shama,” the Hebrew word for “hear” or in this case “heard.” One of the primary ways this word is used is to denote a courtroom hearing.

The Hebrew word for remember is “zakar,” and is consistently used to denote remembrance that provokes to action. To take to heart and act… essentially a judicial process of “rendering a verdict!”

Your Verdict is Freedom! 
When God’s people cried, He remembered His covenant–His legally binding agreement with His people. And He rendered His verdict according to their covenant! For this reason–and based on this precedent–Moses, Sampson, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk all sought the Lord to “zakar” and act on their behalf.

With this in mind, lets render Exodus 2:24 accordingly. In a courtroom hearing, God considered the testimony of their groaning. He took it to heart, reviewed the injustice according to His own covenant with Israel, and rendered a verdict that included his action plan for their future.

Travail of Justice
What was that verdict? Freedom. Passover. Let my people go! He would release the most dramatic expression of signs and wonders ever seen on the earth–both to confirm his covenant and enforce His verdict. His very hand would lead them out. All future generations across the entire earth would gain inspiration from this Exodus from enslavement by Pharaoh and his gods.

As we approach the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade, lets understand how God longs to hear our travail for justice. Watch as He renders verdict accordingly. He will add our groanings to 12 years of solemn assemblies, generations of pleas for justice, and countless unheard cries of babies in the womb. He is rendering judgment in favor of the saints.

Not fully sure what this looks like. I just know by the Spirit that we are at a key point of breakthrough. Lets keep the press, and give ourselves to travailing prayer! Your travail of justice is a witness before the Throne, and it will be answered in power.