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I hope that when this settles in your heart it will be something that will move you into realms you’ve seen but not been able to get into. If you can grab hold of what the Lord is speaking it will usher you into realms that many of the prophets of old wished they would have been able to enter into. They weren’t able to because it wasn’t their time. We are blessed that we can enter into them. We are a blessed people if we follow the standards of God. We need to get solidly in us there is a God, that He exists, and He wants to bless and grow His children into maturity so we won’t miss some of the wealth that will be accumulated here from the earth that we cannot accumulate in heaven. The Lord spoke to me one time and said there are things that you can gain on the earth that you will not be able to gain in heaven because once you die there are certain things that are set and you won’t go beyond that. I want to see all of God’s children in a place where they know that if they serve Him they will be blessed. Let’s look in Nehemiah. Let’s start with Nehemiah 1:10, Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. God is in the business of redeeming and bringing back what He created. Every time there is a redeeming and bringing back, there is a price to pay. For instance, the Bible says that because the woman sinned against God, He’s going to cause the woman to have pain in child bearing. Why? Is it punishment? Why would He say that? Why would God cause a woman who had nothing to do with that sin to have pain in birthing a child? I was never in the room while a woman was giving birth but there is something I have always noticed. After a child is born the woman is very quiet. They’ve gone through a process of becoming quiet so the baby can learn to know its mother. But if the mother is not quiet and concentrated on the child there could be things that would be lacking in that child in relationship with the mother and eventually with the father that would not exist unless there was a price to pay to bring God’s children into the world. God wants His child to have the best opportunity it can have, so it required a woman to go through a process or a standard that God wanted the mother to have in her mind after she has that child. After you have gone through that you have a different mindset. In that process it gives the child at least a start in connecting with the world. The Lord spoke to me and said that’s the reason I caused pain to be in child bearing. Not to cause damage to the woman, but to bring the woman into a standard that I want My children to enter into the world in. When I entered into the school of tool design I had a green book that was a book of standards. There were thousands of standards in that book that applied to everything from formulas for math and trigonometry, to types of steel, and what things are made out of, what alloys do what. If you would study that, there are many things that are standards to function and to make the best products. Somebody studied all the different subjects and put them together and made a standard for what we did so it made it easy. All we had to do was look up the standard of that particular thing we wanted to make or do and we could find whether we wanted to use that standard in this application or not. I’m here to tell you there are millions of standards from when God created this world. For instance, when water gets to a specific temperature it boils. Once it is boiling it is rapidly leaving from a liquid to a vapor. When Freon is compressed it becomes cold. The greater the pressure the colder it gets. Another example is propane. When they put it in your tank, if you would have a hose to it and put your finger against that hose and turn it on, within seconds your finger would be frozen. But when it loses it’s pressure it loses the coldness. So you can take cold energy and move it through up to an orifice on your furnace and the fire goes in front of it and as it shoots out it makes heat. That can’t be just a coincidence. That’s another standard that God released upon the earth. We could go on and on with all the different kinds of standards that there are and if you follow the standards that have been proven true you can prosper. We have one standard that supersedes all the standards and that is the word of God. If you will take the word of God and apply it as a standard in your life you will get certain results because God said you would. We can follow all the kinds of standards on the earth that we can see but it’s very difficult to follow the standard of the word of God because it requires giving up the flesh. Every one of you, if you are born again, have experienced being fearful of giving up your flesh because you don’t know what’s going to replace it. There’s where the problem comes in. Everybody knows it says in the Bible that when the enemy comes in like a flood you raise the standard. To raise the standard means that you’re going to change and God’s going to give you a new tool to fight it so you can win. That’s what the standard is. It is to be able to be winners. If a tool and die maker would follow every standard in their book they would defeat ninety-five percent of their problems. With the word of God, if we would follow it, we would defeat one hundred percent of them. So in Nehemiah 1 again, verse 11, O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: We have to have a desire to fear God’s name. We have to have a desire because the fear of the Lord is a standard. We have to choose to want to come into that standard, whatever it is in God. So Nehemiah is praying to enter into God’s standard. …and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. That speaks volumes because way back then they knew if they followed the Lord, they would prosper. And yet they would leave God and follow other gods and lose everything. So here they come back from the nations they were scattered to, and they said, Lord, listen to us. Hear our cry because we have come back and now have a desire to walk in the standard you called us to walk in a long time ago, because we want to prosper in You. We don’t want to prosper in the gods of this world. We want to prosper in You. To get all of the story you would have to read all of Nehemiah and it’s not a hard book to read. But we will jump to Nehemiah 2:11, So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. Now, Nehemiah was not a big brave person. He was just the king’s cup bearer. He wasn’t a warrior, but he knew how kings operated because he was the cup bearer. God called someone who understood how kings operated. Verse 12, And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. He took a few men with him and rode around Jerusalem at night so that nobody knew what was going on. He didn’t want trouble. He didn’t even tell the people who were with him. He said, let’s just go out and see what is going on. He moved around the city and got an understanding of what Jerusalem was like and the mess it was in. Verse 13, And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Verse 17, Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. When some of the leaders of the regions around discovered what they were doing they mocked them. But Nehemiah said, the God of heaven will prosper us. Nehemiah did not allow the leaders of the other nations to help them build because they had no portion in Jerusalem. In those days, when they went out to war, if they left a couple of the tribes at home, they got mad because when they went out to war they had the opportunity to bring home a lot of spoil because they could always win. So these outsiders wanted to be a part of the blessing but Nehemiah said, no you’re not going to be a part of anything because it’s our land, not yours. We have the word from the king that we can do this and you’re not going to be any part of it. That’s still the way it is today. Those that are of the world have no part of the blessing that God will give His servants who labor for Him. They have no portion, no right, no memorial, only those that follow His standard. If you study all through the scriptures you will find from the time when Adam and Eve sinned that two kinds of people developed. One is those who wanted to work and prosper, and the other is those who wanted to sit around and wait until the first group prospered and then they would come in and take it. Different times during the history of the children of Israel they had to work with one hand and have a sword in another. That’s what happened with Nehemiah. In Ezra 4:2, Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. Assur was a city that was built by Nimrod. They worshipped things that weren’t God. They worshipped spirits that had fallen. They wanted to come up and join with them in the building. Verse 3, But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. Another lesson in this whole thing is that when you try to raise the standard you’re going to get resistance from the satanic world and the worldly people. It doesn’t matter what stage it is, from the beginning to the end. When Jesus came to change the dispensation, John the Baptist prepared the way and when he prepared the way for Jesus to come, John the Baptist had his head cut off. He was never married, never had children, he came and did a job but left no heirs to anything. Jesus did the same. Abraham had to sacrifice Isaac until God stopped him, which was just before he killed him. Anytime you change a standard in God to a higher standard, you’re not going to have an easy time. Just because we are serving God doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Not only was it not easy for those in Nehemiah’s time, they had to have a sword in one hand and their building equipment in their other hand. When Jesus came to change everything we know that Peter had a sword because he pulled it out and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Now it’s coming back again. There was a time you didn’t have to lock your doors or worry about anything. People just didn’t steal when I was young. Now they do everything, and they do it in broad daylight. Then in Nehemiah 8:9, And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. They heard the word of the Lord that they hadn’t heard before and they began to weep, knowing they had committed sin against their God. As they wept, Ezra and Nehemiah said, quit mourning for what happened. You need to be thankful and rejoice that you have been brought out of bondage into the hope and you need to praise the Lord for the new hope that we have. So for seven days they ate the fat and drank the sweet and they also sent portions to those who didn’t have anything. Verse 11, So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. They kept teaching the law and celebrating the standards that were being brought to them. Then in verse 18, Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner. Nehemiah 9:1, Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them. After they saw the standard and understood it, they were strengthened and there was joy in their heart because they were going to come into the standard and they were going to prosper. That’s when they began to be broken because they had a hope set before them. Until you have a hope set before you, it’s not going to endure. Paul said, I’ve run the course and I’ve fought the fight and I’ve won. If you don’t have that in you, how are you going to make it? Only the strong can make it. All of us need to realize that the standards of God are absolute and they’ve not changed. If you choose to fear the Lord and choose to follow the standard, God will give you the strength if you can take joy in your heart that God exists and that God will reward those that diligently seek Him. You can make it through. In God there is no favoring or respect of persons. God took me away from the favoring. I used to think somehow God was going to maybe overlook me being naughty and somehow He was going to let me come in. He did let me come in, but He did it by bringing His standard to me and bringing me to a place that I wanted Him. I was in captivity for six years and the prosperity that I had drained away until there was nothing left. Then God wiped away the old and planted a new tree. And if I stay faithful to the simple word that brought hope to me I will make it through to the end. Verse 2, And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. They didn’t publicize their sins and iniquity. They pushed everybody out who were strangers and together they repented. Verse 3, And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God. Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God. I hope that each one of you will read Nehemiah and let it open up to you more. If you want to prosper, remember the standards. We have earthly standards of how the creation was made and we have standards of how God expects us to walk. Zachariah prophesied that it’s not by might nor power, but it’s by the Spirit of the living God. I’m thankful today that I can stand here and say I’m beginning to see God pour out His Spirit on all flesh and He’s beginning to cause them to make decisions. That’s the beginning of breaking down the power of satan because of the prayers and warfare of His people. That which will be done will be done in such a way that God will get the glory and not man. He said, I’m not going to give My glory to someone else. We have to be very careful how we handle everything because the standards of God are not understood in the world today. In fact even in this epidemic period of time they are trying to gain power over the church. But I also know that if you follow the standards, you will be protected. There are a lot of people in a lot of places that have been devastated. But the biggest reason they have been devastated is because they worked, they made money, and they spent it. Even Dave Ramsey says you need to have money set aside to cover at least six months of expenses, in case something happens and you do not have income. That’s part of the wisdom of God, so that no man owns your soul. I hope that when this settles in your heart it will be something that will move you into realms you’ve seen but not been able to get into. If you can grab hold of what the Lord is speaking it will usher you into realms that many of the prophets of old wished they would have been able to enter into. They weren’t able to because it wasn’t their time. We are blessed that we can enter into them. We are a blessed people if we follow the standards of God. The standard is also a covering. We are covered. When you have the seven eyes of God it’s like being fed by God because He blesses us by His Spirit which is the manna from heaven. That’s the manna that Jesus spoke of to His disciples when He said I have bread which you don’t know about yet. But they learned. God loves His people and He wants us to grow and increase and prosper more than what we do. One of the biggest struggles that I had was being afraid to give up another part of my flesh because mankind hates the unknown. When you walk by faith you have to come to a place that you don’t have to know ahead of time what God is going to do to you or require of you. You have to have in your heart the knowledge that He wants to increase you and He won’t give you or ask of you more than you are able to bear, but He will give you everything He’s promised if you walk in His ways. We need to keep going. We need to go to new standards. We need to go to new realms to complete all that He’s asked us to do. And when the enemy comes in, you raise the standard. That means you get a new tool to fight. God is ready and willing if you desire to walk in the fear of the Lord. 
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AuthorLarry Troyer |
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