Rodney Howard Browne New Years Ablaze

It doesn’t matter what or who comes against you to destroy you if you trust God’s Word. A whole army of the enemy is no match for the army of angels that surround you to protect you! Rodney Howard Browne explains that you cannot see them (unless God supernaturally opens your eyes), but they are there nonetheless.

And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians.” and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host.” and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

2 KINGS 7:3-7

When God is on your side, armies will flee in terror before you. It doesn’t make sense in the natural, but it is a reality. Rodney Howard Brown explains that this is not going to happen for you if you do not believe God’s Word. You must put your faith and trust in God’s Word and angels will work on your behalf.

Notice the last part of verse 11 in The Amplified Bible. They will defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service]. That’s why you want to make sure that you’re obeying Him and serving Him. The angels of the Lord are there, but they cannot defend you in your ways of disobedience. You can’t be smoking crack and asking your angel to play lookout!

Make sure that you’re obeying God. Make sure that you’re doing everything you know how to do to walk in the plan and the purpose of God for your life. Rodney Howard Browne teaches that when you obey God, the enemy cannot touch you, because the hand of God is upon your life.

This is crucial: God’s protection is in His presence. You must stay in His presence in order to be under His protection. Sin removes you from His presence and His protection. Now look to the next verses, Psalm 91:12-14 (AMP):

They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore, I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness — trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].

God wants you to achieve success.

This does not mean he has got an automated plan for you to become rich or famous, though either of these might be included in His final design for your life. God’s idea of success starts at the Cross where Jesus died. Rodney Howard Browne explains that success isn’t measured by what you do in life or what you gain financially. Your love and attention to Jesus Christ measure your success.

In one Samuel fifteen, we read how Saul decided he would provide a sacrifice that only God’s anointed clergyman was commissioned to give. Since Samuel wasn’t present, Saul felt justified in his actions and made the sacrifice himself. Rodney Howard Browne this one act of insubordination cost Saul the dominion. Here is a lesson we want to learn if we’re going to be successful.

God anoints certain folk to do certain things. He has placed leaders in our lives for a reason. If we wish to lead, we must first learn how to follow. If you fail to submit to your God-given authority, then success from God’s perspective will be troublesome to attain. Rodney Howard Browne teaches that a successful person has learned humility to the point that he no longer thinks about whether he has gained it or not. We are called to do the will of God, but this only can be done at the feet of Christ. One more thing.

If I were to ask you how many friends you had, you may mention a large group of people, each of whom you call “friend.” However, if I were to ask how many really knew you—heart and soul—I wonder if anyone in that group would qualify. The sad truth is, genuine friendship has become a rare commodity in this world.

What does it take to be a true friend? There could be no finer example than the relationship between David and Jonathan. These two knew what was required to maintain a healthy friendship, and their commitment to that relationship is legendary.

Three things characterized their friendship. First, they had a mutual respect for one another. This is a point that often gets lost in today’s world. Rodney Howard Browne points out that the reality is that we can never maintain a genuine friendship with anyone whom we do not completely respect.

Second, David and Jonathan shared an emotional love for one another. There was nothing sexual or inappropriate about their feelings; rather, they simply rejoiced in the comradery that God had brought together.

Third, they maintained a genuine commitment to each other. These were no “fair weather friends.” In fact, their bond even withstood the attempts of Jonathan’s father to kill David. (1 Samuel 23:15-17) Jonathan refused to allow anything to come between him and his friend.

Think about your best friend. Do you have a mutual respect? Do you feel an emotional bond between you? Are you both committed to your friendship? One true companion is a blessing from God. (Proverbs 18:24) Praise Him for the gift of your friend.

• 1.
• And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

• 2.
• And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.

• 3.
• Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

• 4.
• And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

• 5.
• And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely : and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

• 6.
• And it came to pass as they came , when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.

• 7.
• And the women answered one another as they played , and said , Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

• 8.
• And Saul was very wroth , and the saying displeased him; and he said , They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

• 9.
• And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

• 10.
• And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.

• 11.
• And Saul cast the javelin; for he said , I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.

• 12.
• And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.

• 13.
• Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

• 14.
• And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.

• 15.
• Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely , he was afraid of him.

• 16.
• But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

• 17.
• And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD’S battles. For Saul said , Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

• 18.
• And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?

• 19.
• But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul’s daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.

• 20.
• And Michal Saul’s daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

• 21.
• And Saul said , I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.

• 22.
• And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say , Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king’s son in law .

• 23.
• And Saul’s servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said , Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king’s son in law , seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed ?

• 24.
• And the servants of Saul told him, saying , On this manner spake David.

• 25.
• And Saul said , Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies . But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

• 26.
• And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son in law : and the days were not expired .

• 27.
• Wherefore David arose and went , he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law . And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

• 28.
• And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal Saul’s daughter loved him.

• 29.
• And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s enemy continually.

• 30.
• Rodney Howard Browne points out that the princes of the Philistines went forth : and it came to pass, after they went forth , that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by .

Rodney Howard Browne points us to Exodus 21:

¹Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

²If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

³If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.

⁵And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

⁶Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

⁷And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

⁸If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

⁹And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

¹⁰If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

¹¹And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

¹²He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

¹³And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

¹⁴But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

¹⁵And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

¹⁶And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

¹⁹If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

²¹Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

²²If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

²³And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

²⁴Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

²⁶And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

²⁷And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

²⁸If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

²⁹But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

³⁰If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

³¹Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

³²If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;

³⁴The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.

³⁵And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.

³⁶Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.

Rodney Howard Browne points us to Exodus 7:

¹And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

²Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

³And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

⁵And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

⁶And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.

⁷And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

⁸And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

⁹When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

¹⁰And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

¹¹Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

¹²For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

¹³And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

¹⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

¹⁵Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.

¹⁶And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

¹⁷Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

¹⁸And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.

¹⁹And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

²¹And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

²²And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.

²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

²⁴And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

²⁵And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.