PUSH: Persevere Until Success Happens Through Prayer (9 page)

Everything that is—all we see, are, and have—started from a seed. Not only plant and animal life, but all of the earth’s resources began in seed form. Rain is birthed from seeds, or dust particles, in the womb of a cloud; pearls are birthed from grains of sand in the womb of an oyster; a diamond is birthed from coal in the depths of a mine; while coal is birthed from the seeds of fossilized vegetation in the womb of the earth’s crust. God proclaimed through Isaiah,
“Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!”
(Isaiah 34:1 NIV). Even man was birthed from
“the dust of the ground”
(Genesis 2:7). You never need to be intimidated because of your past—everybody comes from dirt!

All of creation is a testimony of God’s redemptive, regenerative, resurrection power. It is God who makes
“everything beautiful in its time”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11). In the words of author and evangelist Kevin Graham Ford, “No matter how hard we try, we cannot separate God’s work of creation and His work of redemption. Paul makes it perfectly clear the Logos, Jesus as wisdom personified, is the force behind both redemption and creation.” It was the great reformer Martin Luther who profoundly stated, “God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” And it was Paul the apostle who so poignantly wrote:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse
(Romans 1:20 NIV).

All of creation points to the glory and majesty of God. And just as God spoke forth all of creation, so creation speaks forth of God. It is pregnant with His purpose, provision, and redemptive power. The earth is renewed day by day, regenerated by the power of God’s Spirit. Even as the Spirit awakens our understanding to His will each morning (Isaiah 50:4 NLT), so the Spirit of God awakens the earth to bring forth His purpose each new day. The psalmist understood the life-giving power of the Spirit of God when he wrote:

What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with Your wonderful creations…. Take back Your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; send out Your Spirit and they spring to life—the whole countryside in bloom and blossom
(Psalm 104:24,29 MSG).

God created the earth for man—and man from the earth—that he might regulate and be sustained by the earth. All the treasures in the universe come directly or indirectly from the earth. Second Corinthians 4:7 speaks of God’s treasures being found in earthen vessels. Although Paul is referring to our human self as this earthen vessel, the earth is also a vessel of God’s treasures. A vessel is much like a womb in that it channels the life of God in every conceivable form—and those we have yet to conceive.

There is an entire reproductive symphony that is playing throughout the universe. We see it in the animal kingdom and in the anatomical kingdom, and in the atomic and subatomic kingdoms. Creation is in a continual process of birth and regeneration. The whole earth is birthing all of the time, showing forth the resurrection power of God.
“The glory of God—let it last forever! Let God enjoy His creation!”
(Psalm 104:31 MSG).

Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?
—S
T
. A
UGUSTINE
(354-430)

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
—P
SALM
19:1-4 NIV

The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God.… I do not worship matter. I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with His grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me.
—S
T
. J
OHN OF
D
AMASCUS
(675–749)

A nation, like a person, has a mind—a mind that must be kept informed and alert, that must know itself, that understands the hopes and needs of its neighbors—all the other nations that live within the narrowing circle of the world.
—F
RANKLIN
D
ELANO
R
OOSEVELT

G
od has a placed a distinct destiny and redemptive purpose within the womb of every nation. Each nation on earth has been imprinted with a particular God-given DNA and carries the genes of its own unique identity from generation to generation. “You who are wise must know, that different nations have different conceptions,” an Onondaga Indian named Canasatego told an English colonial official in 1744.

A nation is more than an area of land which lies within a set of boundaries, but it is the sum total of the hopes, disappointments, values, and beliefs of its people. As the British actor Anthony Quayle astutely observed, “To understand a man, you must know his memories. The same is true of a nation.” And in the words of former U.S. President James Garfield, “Territory is but the body of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul, its spirit, its life.”

The womb of a nation brings forth people who change the course of its history. It is not nations that impact history as much as the people who are born of them. God impregnates each nation with specific people—individuals He causes to come forth at specific times in history. Acts 17:26 states,
“From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live”
(NIV). There isn’t anything on the earth that is conceived by accident. God has put His seed into the womb of every nation and preordained that each would deliver and fulfill its purpose at an appointed time. God asked through the prophet Isaiah,
“Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?”
(Isaiah 66:8-9 NLT).

God reaches into each nation and pulls forth the gift each was created to deliver. From ancient Greece came poets and philosophers; from ancient Rome came military strategists; from Italy came great painters and sculptors; from England great playwrights; from Spain explorers, from Germany reformers, from France revolutionaries, from America pioneers and industrialists; from Asia innovative managers and technologists; and from India pace-setting entrepreneurs and activists.
“This is the plan, planned for the whole earth, and this is the hand that will do it, reaching into every nation…. His is the hand that’s reached out. Who could brush it aside?”
(Isaiah 14:26-27 MSG).

Martin Luther King, Jr. posed this idea: “The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be? …The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”

Mahatma Gandhi was one such creative extremist. Born in Porbandar, India on October 2, 1869, he turned the modern world on its ear. The very mention of the name “Gandhi” has become synonymous with the concept of peaceful resistance and nonviolent change. He was the father of independence and cottage industry, uniting a culturally diverse India, liberating her from British rule, and bringing the hope of self-sufficiency to the poorest of her poor. He famously stated, “We must be the change we wish to see.”
³⁷
He was also quoted as having said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” He believed in freedom and truth and wrote, “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within,” and, “Man cannot be untruthful, cruel, or incontinent and claim to have God on his side.”

God positions people in a nation to bring light and revelation, to reveal Himself to the world. Like Christ, each person in Christ He
“has prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations”
(Luke 2:31-32 NLT). It’s as if God is saying to the world, “
Draw in close now, nations. Listen carefully, you people. Pay attention!”
(Isaiah 34:1 MSG). God is speaking to the nations through the people He brings forth out of those nations. Gandhi said, “My life is my message.”

Nations give rise to leaders, thinkers, artists, and activists who propel the eternal purposes of God forward. Each is born into a specific nation at a specific time for a specific reason. All are called to give an account of the message they have been given to share. For example: Italy gave us Marcus Arellius; Canada gave us Aimee Semple McPherson; The Netherlands gave us Van Gogh; South Africa gave us Nelson Mandela; England gave us Sir Winston Churchill; Corsica gave us Napoleon Bonaparte; India gave us Gandhi, and Jerusalem gave us Jesus. There is no one too small, too poor, too lost, or too privileged to escape the call. Every voice counts. The eternity God has placed in every heart can have a profound impact on the course of a nation. As Queen Elizabeth II once said, “The upward course of a nation’s history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.”
³⁸

What course is your nation on? How is it being directed by the condition of your own heart? What is the message God has created you to be? Can you discern the time and season in which He has positioned you—and the nation in which He has incubated you?

He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
—D
ANIEL
2:21

It may be long before the law of love will be recognized in international affairs. The machineries of government stand between and hide the hearts of one people from those of another.
—M
AHATMA
G
ANDHI

The seed is a gateway through which the future possibility of the living tree emerges.
—P
ETER
S
ENGE

W
ithin the loins of a man lies the seed of all future possibility. The male loins carry the hope of all human potential. In many ways, you are who you are because of who your father was. Even though the woman carries the baby, it is the seed of the man that determines the child’s gender and genetic blueprint; it is the father who carries within his loins some of the most important determining factors for every human being.

We are each divinely ordered. We originated from a single seed among possible millions, each racing, fighting through the crowd and breaking through the barrier between eternal oblivion and divine procreation. We end up as the seed that beat out every other seed for the sacred prize called life. We are the result of the power inherent in a singular seed to survive and succeed against all odds. This speaks to me of our resiliency as individuals. None of us would be here if it weren’t for that intrinsic resiliency. The seed from which we emerged actually carries within it a generative power that reaches beyond a single lifetime, extending forth from former and beyond future generations.

It is from the seed of man that nations are birthed. From a single seed springs forth not only an entire nation but also multiple nations. Look at Abraham. God promised Abraham that He would make him a great nation, but three great nations were actually born from Abraham’s seed. From the seed born of Sarah came Isaac, who became the nation of Israel; from the seed born of Hagar came Ishmael, who became the nation of Islam; and from Keturah, whom Abraham married after Sarah died, came the Assyrians, Persians, and Midianites.
³⁹

Later on, these nations are represented in the prophetic vision of Isaiah where he proclaimed, “Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord” (Isaiah 60:6 NIV). We know from Genesis 25 that Midian was Keturah’s son and Ephah was Midian’s son. We also read in that passage that Sheba was Keturah’s grandson by her son Jokshan. In the end, there will be one epic family reunion of all the descendents of Abraham.

Abraham was faithful to the call of God upon his life. It was through his obedience that his descendents were blessed and multiplied. One man’s seed determined the destiny of generations, a lineage extending from Genesis through Isaiah all the way to those born of the Spirit in Christ.

It is the father who prays, obeys, and establishes a covering over his descendents. The man provides an inheritance not only materially, but he also sets forth a vision and direction, a course in terms of values, attitudes, faithfulness, and honor. We understand from Genesis 26:18 that a righteous man establishes intergenerational blessings and wells of prosperity:
“And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father.”

All that you and I are today is a direct result of the blessings, or the lack of them, set in motion by our forefathers. There is supernatural empowerment in generational blessings, as well as a supernatural bondage inherent in generational curses. You must pray for discernment and in Christ take authority over any disorders passed down through your family’s spiritual heritage. You can do spiritual gene therapy and reorder, or realign, your life in Christ. You can stand firm as Joshua did when he challenged Israel to make a choice:
“Choose today whom you will serve…the gods your ancestors served…or will it be the gods…in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”
(Joshua 24:15 NLT).