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My journey in the study of God's law, part 3

I was called back into full-time ministry in 1991-1993. On May 28, 1991 the prophetic word was spoken that I was to fulfill the will of God that I had failed to do in 1986. One major reason why I did not leave the Net of Prayer in 1986 was because the word of God was repugnant to me. The word was, “Call the New Net of Prayer to prayer.”

Leaving was bad enough, but to establish a rival NOP was worse. My non-compliance cost me a few years of hard labor under Cursed Time, where I had to learn more lessons in obedience. When I was able to repent and resign in October of 1989, God began to move me back to the state of obedience where I would be able to hear and obey that call.

This reached a culmination point on May 28, 1991, when I was asked to meet with friends an hour’s drive away. These were some of the witnesses from 1986 who knew that I was supposed to leave the NOP, friends who also gave me the word stated above.

As I awoke that morning, God said to me, “Study the laws of devotion.” I got up, dressed, and then began to study the words devote, devotion, and devoted. If a field is devoted to God, it cannot be redeemed by the one who had devoted it to God. In other words, He cannot change his mind later and take it back (Leviticus 27:28).

Laws of Devotion

Devotion can take different forms. Jericho was devoted to God, which meant that the city was to be destroyed and that all of the spoils of war were to be given into God’s treasury. But fields set aside for God were not destroyed but utilized for God’s purposes. Sheep might be sacrificed, but they may also become part of the priest’s flock, since he represented God’s inheritance. Jephthah’s daughter was devoted to God, but I do not believe she was executed.

Here the New Testament principle of death is applicable. Our old man is put to death without requiring us to die physically. Jesus referred to this law in John 10:27-29,

²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸ and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

In essence, Christ’s sheep are devoted to the Father and become part of the flock of Christ, our High Priest. Once devoted, “no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” The overcomers are the devoted ones, who have died to self and have taken on a new identity as the new creation man. This law relates to the doctrine of “eternal security,” though most who believe that way do not understand the law on which it is based. Hence, their understanding is limited.

I also took note of Micah 7:1, 2, which speaks of the law of devotion.

¹ Woe is me! For I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers. There is not a cluster of grapes to eat, or a first-ripe fig which I crave. ² The godly person has perished from the land, and there is no upright person among men. All of them lie in wait for bloodshed, each of them hunts the other with a net [haram, “devotion”].

The law commanded that men should devote to God the first fruits of the harvest and the flocks. These represent the firstborn sons of God. But the people had refused to do so; hence, “the godly person has perished from the land.” Where there are not first fruits, “there is no upright person among them.”

At the time, I thought it curious that the word haram was translated “a net.” The word has a double meaning, and I then understood why the wives in a king’s harem were veiled (with a net). Their veils signified being devoted to their husband. But in Micah’s prophecy, they hunt with nets, that is, they devote themselves to their hunting.

That was as far as I could take it at the time. I left home about 11:00 a.m. and began driving to the scheduled meeting. But half an hour later, as I drove through Jonesboro, AR, I heard God say, “Stop at Shoney’s; I want to show you something.” So I stopped for lunch at Shoney’s restaurant with my pen and tablet.

“OK, Father, what’s on Your mind?” I asked.

He said, “I am calling you to establish the new Net of Prayer. This is My called-out ones, My devoted ones who shall drag My net of devotion and gather up My people into one body, My Kingdom. These shall bring righteousness to the earth and bear witness to My Kingdom wherever they go. United, they shall exercise the power of My authority more than any have done since the beginning. Drag the net over the earth to receive My elect ones. The clean ones shall you gather in; the unclean you shall decide what to do with, for My discernment shall be given you to know.”

At last, I understood what “the new Net of Prayer” was. It had remained undefined in 1986. When I finished my lunch, I continued on my way. When I got to the meeting, I discovered that the same key people who had given the prophecy in 1986 were there. It was the first time in five years that we had all met together in one place.

So we declared the establishment of the new Net of Prayer on May 28, 1991 and thus embarked on a new path, having the vision of the goal, but not knowing the path to achieve it. I was, after all, still in my 12-year training period that would not end until November 12, 1993. I still had 900 days to go, reckoning inclusively.

The number 9 is the biblical number that means Visitation. As I showed in my book, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers from One to Forty, the number nine describes the visitation of Jerusalem, first through John’s ministry and then through Christ’s ministry (Luke 19:44). It was their final test to see if they would bear good fruit or if the axe would chop down the tree (Matthew 3:10).

In my case, establishing the new Net of Prayer was the first day of a 900-day time of visitation to see if I would bear fruit. The earthly Jerusalem failed to bring forth the first fruits to God, because “the godly Person has perished from the land” (Micah 7:2). In other words, they rejected the Messiah and killed Him as a blasphemer.

But the new Net of Prayer was not to follow that pattern, because it was to be founded upon the Chief Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20) and based on the heavenly Jerusalem in the time of the second coming of Christ. Though I had refused for five years to enter that calling, God worked in me to cause me to repent and to comply with His word.

That is how I learned the law of devotion and how that law prophesied into my life within the overall plan of God in our time. Since 1993, we have seen a continual flow of evidence that the devoted ones will indeed bear fruit, and that the heavenly city which Abraham foresaw will fulfill its name, the City of Peace and the City of Righteousness.

This ministry is known to the public as God’s Kingdom Ministries. However, from a prophetic standpoint, God calls it the New Net of Prayer, as this sets forth our purpose and calling insofar as bearing fruit is concerned. I acknowledge the name that God has spoken, but yet I do not want to compete with the original Net of Prayer.

I will just say that in the New Testament there were two occasions where Jesus told the disciples to cast forth their nets. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He told Simon Peter to “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4). When he did so, “they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break” (Luke 5:6).

Three years later, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, He appeared to the disciples once again and told them to “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch” (John 21:6). John 21:11 says that they “went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.”

The first net broke; the second did not break. My understanding is that the new Net of Prayer will prove to be strong enough to bring in the sons of God (beni h’elohim, which has a numeric value of 153). Whether or not anyone else believes this, I believe it, because God worked upon my unbelief for five years to instill this in me.

I find comfort in the fact that God did not give up on me but treated me as one who had been devoted to Him. So He would not allow me to be plucked from His hand. He exercised His sovereign will and took the responsibility as my Father to turn my heart.

The Divine Court Revelation

Our first prayer campaign (November 21-29, 1993) was the Jubilee Prayer Campaign. This was when I discovered that our prayer campaigns were not to be pictured as military battles but as court battles. The outcome did not depend upon how many fought for each side. The outcome depended on which side of the law we were in the divine court.

Our righteous Judge is not swayed by the multitude (Exodus 23:2). Our righteous Judge will do justice impartially to the poor or the rich (Exodus 23:3, 6; James 2:9). He cannot be bribed either by money or by promises (Exodus 23:8). Neither is He partial in any way toward Israelites, for He does not oppress foreigners (Exodus 23:9).

He is not merely a great Judge; He is also a good Judge who knows how to apply both justice and mercy in an impartial manner.