12 March 2025 AWAKEN S.A. Week 4 PRAYER & REPENTANCE
Week 4 – Your Message to S.A.
What is your message to S.A. right now?
The Holy Spirit has something to say about & to S.A. What is His message to this nation; wrapped in disarray & discord?
Are we positioned aright in Christ’s righteousness? D we clearly hear – to declare, the message from God that South Africa needs to hear right now?
If you have the opportunity to stand before a South African crowd now – What would you like to say to them?
Isa 40:9-31 The Greatness of God
(9) O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem. You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
(10) Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand. And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.
(11) He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm. And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.
(12) Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand. Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance?
(13) Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has taught Him?
(14) With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, And showed Him the way of understanding?
(15) Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales. Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
(17) All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
TO Whom Do You Compare God?
(18) To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
(19) The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains.
(20) Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution Chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks for himself a skillful workman To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
(21) Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
(22) It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
(23) He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.
(25) “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
(26) Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things. Who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.
(27) Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD. And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
(28) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
(29) He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
(30) Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall.
(31) But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
1. God’s Righteousness & Judgement
Joh 16:7-11
(7) Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you.
(8) And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
(9) of sin, because they do not believe in Me.
(10) of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.
(11) of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
Psa 94:15
But judgment will return to righteousness, And all the upright in heart will follow it.
Isa 5:16
But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.
2. God’s Discipline
Act 28:25-27
(25) So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word. “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers.
(26) saying, ‘GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY: “HEARING YOU WILL HEAR, AND SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND. AND SEEING YOU WILL SEE, AND NOT PERCEIVE.
(27) FOR THE HEARTS OF THIS PEOPLE HAVE GROWN DULL. THEIR EARS ARE HARD OF HEARING, AND THEIR EYES THEY HAVE CLOSED, LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS. LEST THEY SHOULD UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEARTS AND TURN, SO THAT I SHOULD HEAL THEM.” ‘
Jer 4:1-4
(1) “If you will return, O Israel,” says the LORD, “Return to Me. And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight. Then you shall not be moved.
(2) And you shall swear, ‘The LORD lives,’ In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in Him, And in Him they shall glory.”
(3) For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground. And do not sow among thorns.
(4) Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, And take away the foreskins of your hearts. You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it. Because of the evil of your doings.”
3. God’s Restoration – Forgiveness, Mercy & Love
Jer 9:23-24
(23) Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches.
(24) But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me. That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.
Jer 22:3
Thus says the LORD: “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
Isa 49:8-9
(8) Thus says the LORD: “In an acceptable time I have heard You. And in the day of salvation I have helped You. I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth. To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.
(9) That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth’. To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves’. “They shall feed along the roads, And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.
4. Christ – In Covenant with us – His Godliness
Isa 42:6-9
(6) “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand. I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles.
(7) To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison. Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
(8) I am the LORD, that is My name. And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
(9) Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare. Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
1Ti 3:16
(16) And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles. Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
5. We Regret the Failures of the Body to reach out, love & restore
A big burden on our hearts is that the hope, love & reconciliation that we as Christians have in Jesus, our only hope – by grace given & revealed to us, have not been portrayed accurately to believers, the backslidden & the lost… the leaders & citizens of this nation.
Have we maybe portrayed the Lord Jesus in half measure, in half the gospel for the lack of collaboration & unity amongst the fivefold ministry of Christ? Are we yet so focused on ‘me’ that we look way past the HE that it is all about – The Christ that has come to build His Church on the Five fold SERVICE of Christ to the World…?
Eph 4:10-16
(10) He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
(11) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
(12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,.
(13) till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
(14) that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
(15) but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
(16) from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Isa 61:6-8
(6) But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast.
(7) Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
(8) “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering. I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
6. The Watchmen’s Call – Keep up your Faith, Hope & Trust that God is Who He said He is
Isa 62:6-7
(6) I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent
(7) And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
7. Our message & declarations of hope over the peoples of S.A.
Isa 49:22-23
(22) Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations. And set up My standard for the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
(23) Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that
I am the LORD, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”
From : Mathew Henry’s Commentary of the Whole Bible
Those ( kings, nations & individuals) “who stand it out against the church’s interests, will be forced to yield and to repent of their opposition. They shall bow down to thee and lick the dust. The promise to the church of Philadelphia seems to be borrowed from this (Rev_3:9). I will make those of the synagogue of Satan to come and worship before thy feet.
Or it may be meant of the willing subjection which kings and kingdoms shall pay to Christ the church’s King, as he manifests himself in the church (Psa72:11). All kings shall fall down before him.
And by all this it shall be made to appear, (1.) That God is the Lord, the sovereign Lord of all, against whom there is no standing out nor rising up. (2.) That those who wait for him, in a dependence upon his promise and a resignation to his will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope.
For the vision of peace is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak and shall not lie.”
Isa 60:1-5
(1) Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
(2) For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people. But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
(3) The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
(4) “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
(5) Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy. Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.
Psa 102:12-18
(12) But You, O LORD, shall endure forever, And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
(13) You will arise and have mercy on Zion. For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come.
(14) For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, And show favor to her dust.
(15) So the nations shall fear the name of the LORD, And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
(16) For the LORD shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory.
(17) He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, And shall not despise their prayer.
(18) This will be written for the generation to come. That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
Be encouraged to just keep on Believing!
Final Declaration:
Isa 11:2-5
(2) The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
(3) His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes. Nor decide by the hearing of His ears.
(4) But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth. And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
(5) Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
Isa 54:17
No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.