COMMISSIONED FOR GLORY

[Albert Finch]

Zechariah 9:12,14 - "Return to the stonghold, you prisoners of hope even today I declare that I will restore double to you......The the Lord will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning."

Many believers – especially young people, ask about commissioning -- they want to know who should commission them, when they should be commissioned, and, spiritually speaking, are they already commissioned?
The truth is, it's God that actually commissions His people. And when God opens doors that no man can close (see Revelation 3:8), you will be released through them like an arrow.

In Isaiah 49, God commissioned Isaiah to call the people of Israel back to Him so they could be His servants and bring Him glory. "Servant" throughout this passage refers to Israel, to Isaiah, and prophetically to Jesus. And since this is a living word, which means it is for us today, we can put our name in there as well. The Lord is commanding the nations to listen. God is commissioning us for the Great Commission!

"Listen to me, all you in distant lands [nations]! Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb He called me by name. He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of His hand. I am like a sharp arrow in His quiver.
He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, and YOU WILL BRING ME GLORY, I replied, "But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord's hand; I will trust God for my reward."
And now the Lord speaks – the One who formed me in my mother's womb to be His servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to Him. The Lord has honored me, and my God has given me strength. He says, "You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring My salvation to the ends of the earth." Isaiah 49:1-6 NLT

Remember that wherever you turn, you are surrounded by a shield of favor (see Psalm 5:12). Learn to walk behind that shield and become a magnet for the favor of God!

God says to His servant, "You will bring Me glory." Now, glory is the revelation of God's power and attributes, sometimes accompanied by visible phenomena. Because this is a word for us today, if you quiet your soul and listen carefully, you can hear the Father saying: "You will bring Me glory." Oh, my goodness! God is going to use us in mighty ways, causing the nations to glorify Him.

WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE

Isaiah goes on to proclaim: "For the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed" (Isaiah 50:7 NASB).

Flint in this passage indicates a smooth, hard rock like an arrowhead. God wants us to be set like flint, not giving in to discouragement, and certainly never ashamed in our pursuit of Him and our proclamation of Him to the nations, fulfilling the Great Commission. He is going to give us both strength and resolve in our commission.

The "sword" (see Isaiah 49:2) is the Hebrew word "chereb". It is not a normal sword per se, but is a knife or tool used for cutting stone. It corresponds to a TEACHER in the Church, which is you and I – a double-edged knife. So the sword, which is the very words of Christ upon our lips, has power and authority inherent within it. We don't need a brandished weapon to show God's authority in the earth. We only need to speak the words of Jesus, letting them fly, and letting them penetrate truth to the core of our hearers.

The Master has handcrafted each one of us for a specific PURPOSE and a precise time, making sure we've been carefully polished and are ready to soar. Jesus was hidden for years before being fully revealed in all His glory. He was hidden, waiting in the quiver of God, for a specific purpose and a particular time.

With practice comes the testing. This will happen until what the psalmist said of Joseph's testing in Genesis will be true of us: "Until the time that [God's] word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him (Psalm 105:19 NASB).

But God is always faithful, and everything He promises will always come to pass, thus thrusting us into our DESTINIES as we bring glory to His name! The apostle Paul reminds us of this:

"For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding 'Yes!' And through Christ, our 'Amen' (which means 'Yes') ascends to God for His glory. It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything He has promised us" (2 Corinthians 1:20-22 NLT).

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