The Hand of GOD

[Blien]

This is concerning the things about the HAND of GOD. I am having trouble understanding the following passage so maybe some of you can answer my question not through our human understanding but by the spirit of God dwelling in you.

Now we know that through Jesus our authority and kingship has returned to us and that we are the sons of God again by becoming, Born Again, Born of the Spirit. So with this comes our authority and God our father always answers our prayers in our times of trouble and affliction. Just like how GOD by the strength of his Hand delivered the Israelites out of the Land of Egypt. And just as how by the strength of his Hand delivered the land of milk and honey to the Israelites as their place of rest.

Moses and other great men in the Bible always talked about the Hand of God at work. They are many examples of this in the Bible and even God talks about the works of his hand repeatedly. Now.. I'm having trouble understanding the meaning of the passage below. In some translations it seems that GOD is telling us to ask or commission this Hand in our lives, we who are born again. But.. in others it seems the total opposite, lets take a look at a few translations with this confusing verse and we'll talk more about it below.

Isaiah 45:11 (KJV)

11Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker,

Ask me of things to come concerning my sons,

and concerning the work of my hands command ye me .

Isaiah 45:11 (NIV)

11 "This is what the LORD says—

the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:

Concerning things to come,

do you question me about my children,

or give me orders about the work of my hands?

Isaiah 45:11 (AMPLIFIED)

11Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Would you question Me about things to come concerning My children, and concerning the work of My hands [would you] command Me?

The more I read all of this, the more I read the different translations (including Youngs Literal, NKJV, New Living Translation).. It seems that GOD is giving us (Born again Chrisitans) the ability to use his Hands on Earth! I'm not saying this because I am excited about excerising his power, nor I am trying to bring in some New Age idea... Look at all the people in the Bible who did use his Hand and what God has said about his works! Examples:

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (King James Version)

9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

Have we forgotten about the Hand of God?

Acts 11:19

19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.

20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the LORD Jesus.

21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.

The Hand of God expresses 2 things, it expresses Gods Power in:

1. Judgement and

2. Blessings.

Now the above verse looks like it means that the presence of God is with them and that is true, but it looks like something more is involved here. Because when the Hand of God is involved in jugement his hand is involved in the root of the matter and the root of the matter in all things that are going to be judged is Satan. So in Jugement the Hand of God is going to be against satan. Because Satan works through people, he needs a body to do his works and have authority. It is God's desire is that everyone repents and becomes saved, and so everyone that has to go through something because of Satan is going to be recompensed. So lets go back to the Book of Acts

Acts 13: 6, 9-11

6And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:

9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.

10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

How many times have you heard in the Bible, someone say The Hand of the Lord be upon you to cast out a demon? We have heard "in Jesus name get out" and "Begone by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazerth"

Exodus 3:20

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty.

Notice, when God's Hand was released, someone was Jugded and someone was Compensated (or Blessed)!

Exodus 3: 13

3 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.

Moses is saying Remember, Remember this day and remember the Hand of God!

Exodus 3: 9,14

9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD's law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

Why is Moses reemphasizing the Hand of the Lord? Its like he doesn't want them to forget a very important point here. Lets continue...

14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:

There are lots of more examples in the Bible of this. But I dont know does this mean, we can commission the Hand of God in our lives? It looks to me certainly YES!

[stan4257]

does this mean, we can commission the Hand of God in our lives? It looks to me certainly YES!

For me, it is not we who commission God but God who commissions us, but perhaps that is nit-picking, which I would not wish to do, particularly about a serious question and a serious subject.

Would it make more sense if we who are commissioned thought of ourselves acting as and being the 'hands of God'?

[shepherdsgrace]

I have to say that when you talk about commissioning God I draw back. It is God who does the commissioning.

Through prayer and leaning upon Him alone we certainly do experience "his hand" in our lives. But we are the seekers and the believers and the created ones. He is the Sovereign One. He is in charge.

Jesus did all things that the Father told Him. He spoke as the Father would have him to speak. (book of John) In other words if we want the hand of God in our lives and ministry we have to be completely submitted unto him and his ways and his doings. Our Heavenly Father is commanding us and leading us. We are following.

[Blien]

Rufus, I dont understand what you are saying can you please say it again?? I am refering to Born Again Christians here..

As for using the Hand of God. Are we not all annointed with the Holy Spirit when we became born again? Is not the spirit which is in us greater than the one in the world? So when Jesus said something like what he did in Luke 11, then I belive that there is something happening here. Because yes it is God who does his will on Earth and we are his vessels. But did not God say to go an cast out demons and preach the word? How is it we are doing this of our ability if not commissioning the Hand of God? However, this is not to say he will let us use his Hand for evil!

Luke 11:20

But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

John 14:12

12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

I admit, when I first thought about this, I didn't belive it but when i started thinking more and more about it... certainly, there is something here that Satan is trying to cloud our eyes over! This is something he wouldn't want us to know!

[Guest]

I admit, when I first thought about this, I didn't believe it but when i started thinking more and more about it... certainly, there is something here that Satan is trying to cloud our eyes over! This is something he wouldn't want us to know!

God Is Able!

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 7:25

It Is God

It Is God's Pleasure

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1 Corinthians 1:21

It Is God's Work

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13

It Is God's Spirit

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6

It Is God's Love

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

It Is God's Church

Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Acts 2:47

It Is God

I Am Convinced That The Acts Of The Lord Jesus Christ Through His Church Are Still Going Fourth With Power.

I Truly Believe There Is No Limit To The Power And The Might Of The Holy Ghost.

As The World Goes Spiritually Dark God's Light Shines Even Brighter.

God Will Not Be Mocked By Man Or Demon.

God Will Is Not To Be Obstructed.

Man Proposes But God Laughs

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

Psalms 2:1-4

Be Blessed Beloved Of The KING

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them. Numbers 6:24-27

Love, Your Brother Joe

[jesusiskingofkings]

Aren't we making a comand in Jesus's name when were rebuke satan in the name of Jesus? I believe this is how we comand His hand, not in any other way. We comand by having faith that His word is true, that He gave us this power to stand on His word. In faith we can have the signs follow us as they did Paul, and Peter, and other deciples of the past, only we don't comand satan in God's power (comand ye me) as He gave us the power.

[mead]

Nice post brother.

[jesusiskingofkings]

Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Aren't we "comanding" His hand when we rebuke satan in Jesus's name? We have faith to stand upon His word, and believe we have authority over satan, in Jesus Christ. We can't comand Him in any other way, but the same evidence of the power of God's hand that the deciples used should be ours today, but how many really have the faith required to stand upon this truth? How many are healed when we lay hands on them, like Paul and Peter? How about the casting out of devils? Where are these signs today? Thats the truth satan is trying to hide from us. Today we pray for someone and say if it's Gods will they will be healed, is this the same boldness that the deciples had? Aren't we indwelled with the same spirit of the Holy Ghost they had? God is not a respector of persons, and is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. So what changed, was it Gods promise, or is it our faith, holding back His hand against satans power?

[Matthitjah]

Grace to you,

There are two different interpretations of this passage. One takes it literally to command God, or to ask by His divine and Holy Spirit in accords with His Word to Glorify His name, and He will provide for your every need. Mind you, your every need is not neccesarily your every desire.

Then there is the opposite of that and it is taken then as interrogative on Gods part. Whereas He is taking the sarcastic ironic interrogative tone of, "Will you dictate to me, or will you presume to question the work of My hands?"

I have to agree with Rufus here though, that we must take the Scripture in it's context to gather it' meaning.

The Lord is addressing Cyrus of Persia from the beginning of this passage.

Isa

[stacey c]

Blien, you are surely on the right track! This study is one of the most powerful lessons I have learned over the last twenty years of my christian walk. So I will try to keep this as clear as possible. This lesson is our faith in action. There are many levels to our faith. The first faith in Christ, then our faith grows and strengthens. The Bible tells us but to speak the Word. and life and death is in the power of the tongue. Now all this goes hand in hand. We know God is a God of faith, and He speaks those things that be not as thou they already are. It's by His word that He created everything. John 1 tells us (paraphrase) that the Word was with God, and the Word is God then the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That is the God of faith, He speaks, it becomes manifest. Now He tells us but to speak the Word. Thats our faith in Him in action. How does this go with the op? Because when we begin to speak the Word (who is God), into different areas of our lives we are asking Him to loose His power into that situation. It's not by our own power but His. We are just acting on our faith. It's not so much we're telling Him what to do. It is us using the authority He has given us to loose Him in our lives. "Whatsoever shall be loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven, and whatsoever shall be bound on earth shall be bound in heaven." I have seen this manifest in my life and others many, many times over the years.