THE COMPASSIONATE HEART

THE MESSAGE OF ZIPPORAH: THE COMPASSIONATE HEART

If you think you can function with the presence of God and still lie on the laps of Delilah, you’ll soon discover that the Spirit of God has left you “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.” (Exodus 4:22-26). Circumcision of the flesh is a physical token of the covenant God had with father Abraham in Gen. 17:9-11 “And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.” As soon as Abraham received the message, he circumcised all that were born in his house beginning from Ishmael, his son, including himself (Gen. 17:22-25). This message of circumcision was passed to the next generation till it got to the generation of Moses. Meanwhile the children of Israel were under bondage in Egypt for four hundred years and God decided to deliver them as he promised Abraham. Hear what the Lord said: “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” (Ex.3:7-10) Can you see that? The Lord said, he has surely seen the afflictions you are facing and he has decided to deliver you from all oppressions of darkness. If the LORD could do it then for the physical Israelites, He will surely do it for you being the spiritual Israelites. Therefore I prophesy every afflictions of darkness in your life to cease in the name of Jesus. Afflictions may come in form of sickness, frequent disappointment and failure, spirit of failure at the edge of success, demonic oppressions in the dream and physically but today I decree that the mighty hand of God Almighty to deliver you from them all in the name of Jesus. Psalms 3:17 says “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” My brethren, the Lord God understands and sees every attack you have experienced but you should know this that without these persecutions and trials, you cannot reach the top of the ladder of success. Dr. Uma Ukpai said “The road to success is still under construction” this means that you must face things that will test the quality of your faith in God and God will allow them to come in order to see whether you will hold on to Him or deny Him. Therefore, count it all joy when you go through divers’ temptations. Rom. 8:37 says “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” The word of God has declared you more than conqueror! That is your true identity but it must be “…in all these things…” What are all these things? These are persecution, afflictions, famine, sword, etc. it’s in the testing of a gold that its true identity will come out. So rejoice it is turning out for your good. After Moses the prophet had received God’s message to be delivered to pharaoh, the king of Egypt, the bible says while on his way going the Lord sought to kill Moses He has just sent to deliver his message. Why? This is because Moses had not fulfilled the covenant which is to circumcise every male child in his house. So he was not qualified to deliver that message. Thank God for his wife, Zipporah; immediately she got the signal why God wanted to kill her husband, she circumcised the child and threw the foreskin at Moses’ feet. It was for this reason God left him. “Along the way at a [resting-] place, the Lord met [Moses] and sought to kill him [made him acutely and almost fatally ill]. [Now apparently he had failed to circumcise one of his sons, his wife being opposed to it; but seeing his life in such danger] Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it to touch [Moses]’ feet, and said, Surely a husband of blood you are to me! When He let [Moses] alone [to recover], Zipporah said, A husband of blood are you because of the circumcision (Exodus 4:24-26 AMP). We are in the new covenant where we don’t circumcise the physical flesh but the circumcision of the heart. The message of Zipporah to you this hour is: have you circumcised your heart? Is God your motive for praying for that breakthrough or you want to get it so that you can show people that you have something? What is your motive behind your actions? Search your heart and tell God to help you circumcise your heart from selfish ambitions. The psalmist said, “Search me, o Lord and know my heart and know my thoughts and see if there’s any wicked way; lead me in the way everlasting.” The circumcision of the heart is a must if you want to experience God’s ultimate help. For if Prophet Moses in the Old Testament could not be permitted to deliver the message of liberation to his circumcision in the flesh, how shall we escape if we neglect to circumcise our heart for God. Matt. 6:21 says “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The question is where is your treasure? Are you a kind of person that all the ‘promotions’ you have gotten came from so-called ‘god-father’? You’ve never truly experience a divine breakthrough which made God to be all in all. Know this, not all healing are divine healing. For instance, a man was sick of malaria fever and he took a medicine that cured him. Is that healing or divine healing? That is healing. Divine healing or breakthrough is that which is empowered and instituted by God only in any case or situation. Col. 3:2 says “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Are you someone who can easily for physical gain suspend God’s work to do your will? Repent now and set your love for things above. I want you to know there’s no amount of things that you do for God or for humanity, if it doesn’t come from your heart, IT WILL NOT LAST. There will be no eternal reward for it. Therefore don’t allow anyone make you give or do things for God compulsory or without your heart in it. The voice of Zipporah is still crying in his generation. O men of God, circumcise your heart! O brothers and sisters, circumcise your heart! Rend your heart and not your physical appearance, turn to the Lord your God for He will abundantly pardon your sins and send unto you the blessings of refreshment. In March 2005, the Lord gave me a message which is THE SIN OF HYPOCRISY. This sin has eaten deep like a cancer worm in the church. He told me that “if you preach the greatest truth and do not live in it, you will only become the greatest hypocrite and the most tormented soul.” I tell you my brethren what we need more in the church are the circumcisions of the heart. When our hearts are duly circumcised, we will see the raw power of God. Pastor Kenneth Hagin of blessed memory was praying to the Lord on the issue of the power of God in this generation. He said he was asking God “why the power of God is not effective now as it was during his youth?” Then the Lord answered him “It’s because the level of consecration of the people has decreased.” When the hearts of members in a church are fixed on God, even before the service starts, diver miracles would have taken place. Most of the time, the determinant factor for miracle is not from the giver but the receiver. There’s a way the receiver will behave that will provoke the giver to release what he or she has, even if it was not in his or her budget. King Solomon in the bible did not become the wisest man because his father David or because he offered a thousand (1000) burnt offerings in the high place of sacrifice but because He loved the Lord with all his heart. I Kings 3:3 says “And Solomon loved the Lord…” That was the determinant factor for God’s visitation to him that night. He first of all loved God then demonstrated it in his giving. It’s only the heart-felt prayer and giving that can make tremendous results and not head-felt. Your mind may feel like doing the Word but when your heart joins it, God will step into that situation. Circumcise your heart from the impurities of self, the worldly lust and the properties of the devil. Thank God for wives like Zipporah who understood the problem and acted before it was too late. I tell you if you acted like Moses at that time, you may not enter into the promise land. No matter the prophecy given to you by God himself, if you don’t circumcise your heart to seek the Lord, the promise will only exist in your dream. Many years ago, I was talking to a minister on an issue and he said “your heart is not as harden as mine”. This means he was boasting that he had a stony heart, to good. And I concluded in my heart no wonder the grace of God has diminished in his life. See, no matter how great the anointing of God is on your life, if you allow sin to continue to reign in your heart which is your spirit, it will dry out and you will fall after the order of Samson. As a minister of God by His grace, I’ve seen and heard of great ministers that functioned in highly blessed prophetic grace and anointing being reduced to the minimum and many of them end up to be teachers which were not their calling. If you think you can function with the presence of God and still lie on the laps of Delilah, you will soon discover that the Spirit of God has left you. Don’t play with God! Using God’s property to enrich yourself will backfire one day. Be not deceived God is not mocked; for whatever a man soweth that shall he reaps (Gal. 6:7). Therefore consider yourself and your ways, if you know that you have been using God to satisfy your selfish ambitions. Repent before God’s judgment falls upon you. The late blessed Kenneth Hagin was praying during one of his days on earth while he was young in the ministry. And God answered him, “it is because the level of consecration of the people has decreased.” This generation needs to go back to the message of the cross which is the message of Holiness- holiness from the spirit-man and not with hypocrisy. We must repent and turn to the Lord our God and tell Him to give us the heart to love and obey Him. We must call upon Him to circumcise our heart, for until this is done, we can’t see the ultimate Help that the Lord- Jehovah Ebenezer has prepared for the last days church. 2 Cor. 7:1 says “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” From today I prophesy that the Lord will make a surgery in your heart and take away the filthiness in Jesus name. He will put His Spirit of holiness in you and cause you to do His good pleasure. Therefore receive the grace to live a holy life in the name of Jesus. As you put the message of Zipporah to work, God will empower you with all the backing that you need to fulfill your calling in the name of Jesus. Pray these prayer points with me: 1.     O Lord my God, I repent from the sin of loving the things of the world more than I do to you in the name of Jesus Christ 2.     O Lord my God, forgive me for the sin of hypocrisy in any of my dealing in the name of Jesus 3.     O Lord my God, from today circumcise my heart to love you wholly without partiality in Jesus name.