You shall reap what you sow: if you don’t give honor, you shall not be honored!

The Bible speaks of another noteworthy group of people who are deserving of “double honor,” the leadership of the Church, called Elders:

“Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching,”   1 Timothy 5:17.

As I was meditating upon The LORD, He spoke to me how important it is to give honor where honor is due!

No matter if the person is saved or not, God is a God of honor; especially to them in offices!

Many people have missed out on blessings all because they have failed to honor those whom God has placed over us.

The LORD took me over to the Book of Judges where Judah went up,

“and The LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.”

You might be wondering, why?  Well because, Adoni-bezek had taken it upon himself to dishonor others placed in authority and because he did, the children of Israel wanted revenge even when God had warned them to kill off all their enemies they wanted Adoni-bezek to pay for his crimes slowly but surely, so they went after him and disobeyed God to do it.

“But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his great toes just as he had done to other king’s who were warriors like him.

And, so Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me.  And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died,”   Judges 1:4-7 KJV.

Adoni-bezek had a spirit of pride, and he wanted to be the only one to rule as a warrior and failed to honor the other kings that he had dishonored, and brought them to shame and embarrassment!

All, because he stole what did not belong to him — the king’s rights to be leaders and men of war!

But, as God began to speak to me in regards to Adoni-bezek’s dishonor of others’ leadership, the more intriguing this revelation became, because for some reason, these occurrances of the king’s mutilation, to me, had to do with warfare and the assumption of each of their authority, and Adoni-bezek, being the only one to lead, be served and in charge of the kingdom!

As I begin to ponder on this, I learned that Adoni-bezek did this to the seventy kings so that they could not be warriors anymore.

You see, the big thumb and the great toe are considered to be positions of authority, power, leadership and balance of power in those days.  And, when an archer drew his bow, he often would uses his fingers and thumb; and without the thumb, he could not shoot the arrow straight, because he lacked the tools to do so.

Similarly, if a warrior had his big toes cut off, he would have trouble running and balancing himself in battle.  Just as it is today when many of our soldiers go off to fight they must get a complete physical in order to pass the exam to fight in war!

Adoni-bezek, because of his dishonor for the authority of others, “reduced the kings to a state of dependency on others,” instead of them walking in the power and authority they were called to — leaving the wrath of God to come against him and Israel, to stoop to revenge!

By cutting of their thumbs and big toes and, therefore, making them null as warriors, Adoni-bezek disgraced the seventy kings and usurped authority over them.

He even made them eat food scraps from under his table like animals.  By doing this, Adoni-bezek was saying, “I’m the most powerful king, for I have shamed these kings and now they’re like pets to me.”

Sounds familiar, like a spirit of Leviathan; a spirit of pride!

There are some people in leadership who have the spirit of Adoni-bezek and they don’t mind you serving and eating the scraps from their table, but as soon as God begins to promote you, and to elevate you, especially if they feel you will supersede them, they will cut off your big thumb and your great toe as a king or a queen in the army of God and demand you serve them and eat the scraps from their table!

Israel was angry at Adoni-bezek and instead of killing him, they wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine , so they came up with a plot and a scheme that God was not pleased with!

“For, The LORD said, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them,’”   Deuteronomy 32:35.

Then he was taken as a prisoner to Jerusalem where he later died.  The past has a way of catching up with those who mistreat others, because God placed you in an office of authority.

But then one allows pride to slip in to hurt others in office, just as Adoni-bezek did to the seventy kings.

I believe that God is saying that the honor that was taught in the scriptures is far different from the type of honor sought after by the world.

You see, honor and awards are heaped upon those with wealth, political clout, worldly power, and celebrity status.  But, those who thrive on this world’s fleeting honor and stature are unmindful that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble,”  (1 Peter 5:5;  Proverbs 16:5;  Isaiah 13:11).

And so too were the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, who sought honor and accolades from men.  But in truth, Jesus rejected them.  For, he said, “Everything they do is done for to be seen of men”  Matthew 23:5.

He not only labeled them as hypocrites, but “snakes” and “vipers,” essentially condemning them to hell for their desire to be honored based upon their flesh instead of their desire to walk after God and to seek after the accolades that come from pleasing God.  (Matthew 23:29-33)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’>
Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”   Matthew 23:29-33 (NKJV).

 

~ Apostle Geraldine Fisher

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Apostle Geraldine Fisher has a World-Wide-Social Media Net-Work Ministry.  As a Missionary, God moved her into the Office of a Prophet, revealing to her the qualities of a True prophet, humility, humiliation, loving others, interceding in prayer, as she keeps her own life clean to accurately hear from God. Since hearing the audible voice of God calling her to ministry, she’s been called to intercede and pray for others in ministry as God speaks, instructs, directs and gives prophetic words for her to give to others. God promised He would bring her to sit and to learn before great men, all of which He did!

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