Dear Sisters and Brothers in Jesus the Christ,

“3 And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals, 4 but sought the LORD God of his father, and walked in His commandments . . . 6 And his heart took delight in the ways of the LORD . . .” then Jehoshaphat sent the leaders and the priests who went throughout all of the cities of the land to teach the people the WORD of God (2 Chronicles 17:3-9). During King Jehoshaphat’s reign he made a way so that the people may hear the WORD of God because faith comes by hearing the truth. God’s desire for the nation of Israel was for it to be a “kingdom of priests”. The desire of the people, however, wasn’t the same as the LORD God Almighty who created man (i.e., male, female) in His image with free-will to choose between life and good or death and evil. Neither did they desire God to be up close and personal – speaking directly to them. Rather, they wanted God to speak through a designated individual who would relay the message to them. In the Old Testament or the old covenant between God and man, a significant number of people including Enoch, Noah, Abram/Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, David, and Daniel, desired and walked closely with the LORD God. Nevertheless, in keeping with the desire of the people, God the Father chose through whom His message would be sent. Those chosen by God to hear His voice and relay His message (which wasn’t always welcomed . . . sometimes to the point of death) were called Prophets which included Moses, Deborah, Samuel, Elijah, Micaiah, Jehu, Obadiah, Elisha, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, after whom there would be no true Prophet for a span of 400 years¹ until John the Baptist. The Prophet Isaiah heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for Us?” Isaiah 6:8 NLT; NKJV. Created in the image of God, we have His nature; and to know the nature of God requires hearing the truth which is the WORD. To have the nature of God means we have been given His kind of faith and His kind of love. Faith is powered by (divine) love. Faith believes God and what He says about every good thing given to those reconciled unto Him by the blood of Jesus. Faith is strengthened through revelation knowledge of the information in God’s WORD by the power of the Holy Spirit. By the grace of God and the blood of Jesus, the New Testament or the new covenant has bestowed “power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12 (NKJV) to all reconciled unto the Family of God through Christ Jesus our Lord. That is, we who believe receive everything Abba Father has given our Lord Jesus because we are in Him; we who believe have received the ministry of reconciliation; we are called to speak and do in the way of Jesus who only spoke and did in the way of Abba Father. (Read: Romans 10:17; Exodus 19:6, 20:19; Genesis 1:26-27, 5:1-2; John 1:1-18; Deuteronomy 30:15; Genesis 1:1; Mark 11:24; Ro 10:17,12:3c, 5:5b; Gal 5:6; John 14:26, 16:13; 2Co 5:17-18; 2Ti 1:9-10; Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15; John 8:38 & 14:10.)

Speak the promise . . . Harriet

¹ Zondervan. (2005). Life Application Study Bible: New International Version. (p. 1517). Wheaton IL: Tyndale House Publishers.