What does ridicule mean?
- Unkind words or actions that make someone or something look stupid.
- To ridicule is to make fun of, either playfully or with the intention of humiliating: to ridicule a pretentious person. To deride is to laugh at scornfully. To mock is to make fun of by imitating another:
- Remarks designed to excite laughter with a degree of contempt; wit of that species which provokes contemptuous laughter; disparagement by making a person an object of laughter; banter; — a term lighter than derision
Scripture Ingredient
Joshua 5:9 And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.
Psalms 39:8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
Psalms 42:10 [As] with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where [is] thy God?
Luke 1:25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on [me], to take away my reproach among men.
Psalms 34:17-20 The righteous cry and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD…
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Discerning Vision
Nehemiah 4:3 teaches us one of the most important leadership principles in the Bible. One of the first things someone who has discerned a vision needs to learn about is overcoming ridicule.
When God places a vision in someone’s heart, the first opposition they invariably encounter is other people laughing at them; mocking them or their work, and saying such a vision could never come to pass. I think this ridicule probably stops about 80% of the visions we have from even being attempted. We either fear the ridicule we know will come, or we get discouraged when the name calling does come… and the work that God wants accomplished gets stopped in its tracks.
By the time of Nehemiah 4:3, our hero Nehemiah has already discerned a vision from God; to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall around the city, and so protect its residents from their enemies. He’s got resources together for the rebuilding, he’s communicated the vision powerfully, and he’s built up a good team of workers from across the city. But then the name calling begins:
What they are building – if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones! (Nehemiah 4:3)
Such insults are real. Whenever we embark on a vision from God, there will be people who oppose it. And their first tactic will invariably be to ridicule us, or the vision, or both.
When Hudson Taylor first wanted to recruit missionaries to come with him to China, others laughed at him, and asked who was this man, without qualifications or credentials, to try and raise a team of missionaries. When William Wilberforce first spoke out in parliament about abolishing the slave trade, people laughed at him, saying it was absurd to talk about banning the trade. And when John Wesley first started preaching in fields, the first things they threw at him were insults, and potatoes. The stones were thrown later, when they saw that ridicule alone wouldn’t discourage him.
Fortunately Nehemiah pressed on through the ridicule, the wall was rebuilt, and “when all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:16).
Hudson Taylor pressed on through the ridicule, and ended up recruiting nearly a thousand missionaries for the Chinese mission field. William Wilberforce pressed on, and eventually saw the slave trade abolished. And John Wesley pressed on, and founded a church movement that continues to transform lives to this day.
Will you press on through the ridicule, to see the vision that God has placed on your heart come to pass? Read More: Part 1 – Overcome Ridicule
The Prayer Points
1. I command the spring of ridicule targeted against me to dry up in the name of Jesus!
2. Every arrow of ridicule raised against me; be quenched in the name of Jesus!
3. I command the cycle of ridicule, mockery, and derision over my life to shatter unto desolation in the mighty name of Jesus!
4. The wrath provoking ridicules in my life; be silenced by the redemptive blood in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!
5. Thank you dear Lord God for giving me wisdom to overcome ridicule in the name of Jesus!
6. I am not feeble but strong in the Lord to overcome ridicule in the name of Jesus!
7. Holy Spirit encourage my heart against ridicule in the name of Jesus!
8. By the quickening of the Holy Spirit I rise above ridicule in the name of Jesus!
9. Agents of ridicule be subdued and be inoperative before me in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!
10. Anointing that cannot be insulted; manifest in my life in the name of Jesus!
11. Henceforth, my life shall attract God’s favor and peace in the name of Jesus Christ!
12. Now begin to give God thanks for answered prayer!
Make this declaration: Let the glory, grace and anointing of God swallow up every tendency to fall short of the glory of God in Jesus mighty name! Read More here
Prophetic Declaration
Prayer bullets for the bullet-proofed Christian
You have to prophetically speak these words into the atmosphere and upon your life and territory and believe in God for the manifestation of His power. Remember, it is not my might, not by power but by the Spirit of the living God, so as you pray believe the Holy Ghost is enforcing your decrees according to the will of God. The prayer points listed below are taken from the word of God so they are live counter-bullets unless you don’t believe. Release your faith and claim your victory!
- In the mighty, most powerful, wonder-working name of Jesus. Let the words that I speak be prophetically loaded and launch as Holy Ghost missiles into any and every area of my life that requires Holy Ghost fire explosion and disintegration of demonic deposits, debris and poison.
- Oh lord, as I enter into this day and this year because you are my beginning and my end, I start my year strong and will end triumphant with you by my side.
- I double-doze my intellect and faculties with your word and inject my memory with every single bit of refreshment that your word provides.
- I charge the atmosphere with your glory and dissolve every dirty and filthy thoughts projected against my mind.
- I pull down every evil imagination that stands against the knowledge of Christ and destroy the work of the devil over my mind, my spirit, my soul and my body by your blood, by your word, by your fire and by your anointing upon my life.
- Right now, I prophetically claim these words and I speak them over myself, my household and my loved ones. Now let the heavens bear me witness and let the earth hear and respond to the words that I speak into the atmosphere even now…In the mighty name of Jesus:
- I am unresponsive to demonic manipulation
- I am unresponsive to demonic oppression and depression
- I am unresponsive to demonic suppression
- I am unresponsive to demonic attack
- I am more than I conqueror
- I refuse to be defeated or intimidated
- I have the mind of Christ (say this x3) and I love God with all of my heart
- I am a terror to the enemy and his cohorts
- I am strong, I am rich in every aspect of the term
- I am patient, I am kind, I have the nature of Christ in me and therefore I cannot be defeated.
Thank you Lord for filling my day and my year with your presence, your glory and your fire in my life, in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Part 1 is here
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