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10-22-99

This word is submitted by Petru Prinsloo (saip@cis.co.za)

BLESSINGS THROUGH A SIEVE

PERSONAL WORD

Last week I had a vision of a sieve being removed from above my head. I never knew that it was there and only saw it as it was being removed. It was sifting blessings that were being poured on me from heaven. Only the fine powder blessings fell on me. The sieve blocked the big chunky blessings. It was the sieve of disorder and disunity.

To understand this fully I must first share the following with the list: Father has shown me that in a certain area of my life, I was not being totally obedient. For 20-odd years I was a super independent, high-powered career woman who called the shots. I was also a wife and mother who wanted to call the shots in the home. After a long battle, Father has set me free from the control trap. It was only after I repented, and after FATHER TESTED ME ON IT that I saw the sieve being removed. Father told me: "I AM your Maker. I made you, I know you and I love you. You have submitted your life to Me and I have established an order in My Kingdom according to which you must live. Put your house in order as well." (Eph. 5:22 "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.")

2 Pet 1:3 says: "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence." (RSV)

Through my disobedience, the flesh was sifting and straining and selecting only the "basic need"- blessings. Since then however, we received a new car and my husband was offered a new job with and a higher income. Of course, we also have a new improved relationship and atmosphere in the house!

CORPORATE APPLICATION

In meditating on this, the sieve also reminds me of God's judgement and the harvest.

Judgement:

Isa 30:28. "His breath is like an overflowing stream, which reaches up to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of futility; and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err."

"Sieve" in Isa (nuwph) speaks of a vibration, rocking, waving, shaking, striking. Brethren, is this a warning being given to those "....who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority...."?

2 Pet 2:9-10 "......then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgement, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries......."

Harvest:

Amos 9:9 "For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground."

"Sieve" (naphah) in Amos, refers to the sense of lifting; a height. Its primitive root (nuwa) speaks of going up and down, be movable, be promoted, reel, remove, scatter, set, shake, sift, stagger, to and fro, be vagabond, wag, (make) wander (up and down).

Although the harvest is a picture of judgement, Jesus also used this metaphor for the gathering together of those who believed in Him. (Matt. 9:37-38; Luke 10:2). The final harvest has already begun with His first coming:

John 4:35 "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" (NKJ)

The harvesting process, which began with reaping, ends with the final sifting during which the kernels of the wheat are sifted from the straw and stored. (Mt 3:12)

We all know it is harvest time. However, do we all realize that we are nearing the final stages of the harvesting process?