When Weapons Do Prosper

You read the title correctly.

Some weapons that are forged with the enemy’s intent to harm us actually do harm us.

“But wait, David. You are teaching heresy. The Word of G-d says, ‘no weapon formed against you shall prosper’. What are you talking about? I am so confused.”

Confusion comes when we refuse to read all of what is tied to a particular passage.

There can be a number of reasons why weapon prosper, but I want to focus on one dynamic of Isaiah 54:17 in particular: its immediate context.

So, the text for verse 17 reads:

no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.

Isaiah 54:17 ESV

Many sectors of the Charismatic Movement get so stuck on declaration and decrees, that they do not account for the context that builds into us that sinewy, tough, muscle in the spirit that comes through the process that enables Isaiah 54:17 to become a reality.

They miss that Isaiah 54:17 is contingent on walking well through the sequence of Isaiah 54.

The context for that passage is the set of keys to verse 17.

It reads:

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the L-RD.

“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

“For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.

“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

“For your Maker is your husband, the L-RD of Hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the G-d of the whole earth he is called.

“For the L-RD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off”, says your G-d.

“For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.

“In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the L-RD, your Redeemer.

This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you.

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the L-RD, who has compassion on you.

“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.

“I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.

“All your children shall be taught by the L-RD, and great shall be the peace of your children.

“In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

“If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you.

“Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;”

Isaiah 54:1–16 ESV

I am of the viewpoint that Isaiah 54:17 is meant to be loaded, and, behind verse 17, is supposed to be the following disciplines:

1) Sing in your barrenness while you are giving birth.

2) Enlarge your place unto the boundaries for which the L-RD has designed you.

3) Resist fear. This leads to the removal of shame, but shame is rooted in something deeper: the absence of dignity.

4) Receive dignity first BEFORE YOU RECEIVE HONOR. Honor is for what you do. Dignity is for who you are. This might mean you need your receiver fixed, if it is broken.

5) Receive the honor of what you do.

6) Stand in your office of wife, both men and women. Just like there are no daughters in the kingdom, there are not bridegrooms of Christ. Congratulations, life is uncomfortable for everyone.

7) Recognize the seeming or believed or possibly real desertion and the real gathering of the L-RD. Meaning, recognize and walk through the seasons He gives you.

8) Recognize and be able to discern when we are being afflicted and when we are being borne up and be able to celebrate the King’s majesty in the midst of this.

9) Become life-giving in a deep and principle-woven manner. We have too much shallow life-giving abounding in too many of our churches. Too many preachers with their inch-thick understanding and wisdom, and not enough miles-deep and stone-heavy principles-woven-together Teachers who will enable us to deeply mine more from the Acripture than merely to “stay in love with Jesus: it’s that simple.” It’s not that simple.

Simple solutions do not touch complex problems that have not been understood, nor in woven to discover the principles and the opposite spirit.

10) Allow Him to set your foundations and forge you. No flames of forge and no Paraclete’s hammer, zero success against the weapons forged against you. If you are not tempered, you will break and shatter against those weapons (now you know part of where our blog name comes from).

Thanks to Isaiah the Teacher for helping contribute to this.

After this sequence, much of which will be extremely painful, then the weapons will not prosper against you. You who have been tested.

Be at peace, gang, and ask yourself, “do I want that +80 authority that can only be earned?”

Consider and then do.