Archive for the ‘Hebrew Months’ Category

Instead of Shame You will have Double Honor

Psalm 27:6,And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:”

We are now at Day 15 of the 40 days of preparing our hearts for the Fixed Appointed Times on God’s calendar, also known as the Feasts of the Lord (Lev 23). 15 days from today will be Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah. This is the Head of the Year, the Jewish New Year when the year changes to 5776.

What will this year bring for us? We need to confess Psalm 27 to prepare our hearts because this next year will be ‘the best of times‘ and for others, ‘the worst of times’. What you focus on the longest will become the strongest so let us focus on the Living Word of God and bring the promises into our New Year.

Isaiah 61:7, “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.” Now that is a great promise! Grab hold of this for your next year.

The beginning of August, I attended a gathering at Glory of Zion in Corinth, TX with Dutch Sheets and Chuck Pierce. They both said several times that this next year (5776) will be the most historic in the past 70 year, it will be the most important year of our lives. But we will have to press through with faith to face the giants. But there is 2 kinds of faith depending on what you have been focusing on- faith in the negative or faith in God based on His Word.

Our King is a conquering King! When a king would overthrow another king in battle, the back of his garment would be cut off and his back side would be exposed. The word ’embarrassed’ comes from this warfare tradition. The conquered king would be paraded through the streets with his ‘back-side bared’.

We can hold our head high because the battle has already been done and the enemy of God has been paraded the enemy of His in disgrace.

Colossians 2:15 tells us, “[And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” In Greek ‘made a shew’ means to ‘expose in disgrace.’

HISTORY MERELY REPEATS ITSELF!

Psalm 27:5, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of  his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.”

The Bible gives us answers to every problem before they happen. That is why we need a constant, steady, daily Bible reading plan.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 in the Amplified Bible reads, “The thing that has been—it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.”  The New Living Translations reads, “History merely repeats itself.”

  • Pavilion– Hebrew cok (soke), root word means a hedge, fenced about or shut in.
  • Tabernacle– Hebrew ohel (o-hel)– nomad’s tent, dwelling place, sacred place in the Wilderness
  • Rock– Hebrew tsuwr (tsur), rock, cliff, rock (protection of God)

The first one I want to look at today is ‘pavilion’. Where do we find the safety of pavilion in the Bible? Cok is the root for cukkah (sukah) , where we get the word Tabernacles, booths.

Leviticus 23:34 instructs, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month [shall be] the feast of tabernacles [for] seven days unto the LORD.”  The Jewish people continue annually to make booths outside their homes once a year to keep them in remembrance of the 40 years in the Wilderness, when their shoes did not wear out, or their feet swelled. The daily rehearse before their children and their children’s children how God fed them for 40 years in the Wilderness, how God protected them from their enemies.

Jehovah is the same, He never changes. Take this Shabbat today and remember how He protected you in your personal wilderness. Then, thank Him! Praise Him! Magnify Him!  He is worthy of all praise and glory and honor!!

Psalm 27:3 (CJB) If an army encamps against me, my heart will not fear; if war breaks out against me, even then I will keep trusting.

That may be easy to say when you are sitting safe in your home with your needs me. But that would be the ‘selfie’ mentality we are to resist. 2 Timothy 3:2 tells warns us of the perilous times are living in right now, “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.”

Consider praying for Israel right now during these perilous times. The old city of Jerusalem is averaging 10 terrorist attacks each day. In July alone, 137 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. There is a terror agenda planned against Israel, sent to wear them down, to daily bring terror against their daily lives to steal any sense of peace and joy.

Israeli Rabbi Amram Vaknin says “War is imminent.” The Bible promises us a blessing for praying for Jerusalem, but let’s come in the opposite spirit of the selfie generational prayers.  Psalm 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: They shall prosper that love thee.”

I will pray, “Father, let not an army encamp against Israel. Help them not to be terrorized. And if war does break out, I pray that their full trust will be in You, for You are their very present help in time of trouble. Remember Your covenant of love with a thousand generations of those who love you. Remember your covenant with your land, remember your covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Bring peace to Your people, Your Promised Land, the Holy City of Jerusalem. Help the leaders of Israel be strong and seek Your face, ask You for help, trust in You alone. I pray this in the name of Yeshua for you alone are Israel’s Salvation.”

Psalm 27:1, The LORD is my light…….

Light is the first thing God brought forth in Genesis 1, “Let there be light”- In Hebrew it reads, “Hayah owr”, Light be! It was a command! ‘According to the Midrash, the original light was of an intense spiritual quality… ‘ (Chumash commentary by Rashi)

The first thing mentioned in the Bible is called “the law of first mention” and is very important. This is the first words  recorded that was spoken out of Creator God’s voice as a command, “Light Be!”

The Apostle John had such an incredible revelation of the power of the love of Jesus that they could not kill him. They even boiled him in oil and he did not die. He opens his Gospel of Good News, according to his time while Jesus ministered with these words: John 1:1, In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and He was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. (4) Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. (5) The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (9) The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was going to come into the world. (NLT)

Jesus is the Word and when you set your desires to spend time reading and meditating on the Word of God, you are fellow-shipping with Jesus. Cleansing yourself of unrighteousness is not such a hard thing to do, you don’t have to tarry long at the altar, weeping, begging to be cleansed. Just purpose to spend time in the Word of God and the light will dispel all the darkness. The more you walk in the light, the freer you will become.

I John 1:9, But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

ONE THING

Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.”

I have heard several people say when their laptop was in for repairs, “I was lost without my laptop”.

When we experienced Hurricane Ike on the coast we were without power for quite some time. We desired our air conditioning back. We desired hot water. We desired to used our stoves and have our refrigerator back. We desired to watch TV, use our telephone, check our emails. When you are without something you have a strong desire to have it back.

For Americans, our desire to spend time with God is lost and almost non existent because of our constant feeding on junk food. That is why fasting is so important, to fast all else and only get the meat that your spirit, soul and body really need.

Get quiet before God and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to get that ONE THING desire for Him back. Each of us are unique with separate finger prints, each have a different walk with God.

We have all left our “first love.” This is all part of spiritual housecleaning, getting rid of things we don’t need and making room for what is most important. There is nothing more important than our spiritual walk with our LORD.

To the Church in Ephesus: Revelation 2:2, (AMP)  I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars. (3)  I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary. (4) But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love]. (5) Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

Repent in Hebrew is ‘shuv’. These are the days of Teshuvah, these are the days when we turn back to our first love.

The LORD is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear.

Now is the time to settle it in your heart- The LORD is your salvation.  The government is not your salvation, the doctor is not your salvation, the banker is not your salvation, Wall Street for sure is no your salvation – The LORD alone is your salvation.

The Hebrew word for salvation here is yesha, meaning ‘deliverance, salvation, rescue, safety, welfare, prosperity and  victory. This word is used in the 1st & 9th verse of Psalm 27.

Does it make a difference to our lives what we say? Our body is made up of 60% water and recently science is proving what the Bible has told us regarding words.  Here is a sample of that scientific study done by a Japanese doctor, Dr Emoto. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIX76QZ-d58

Proverbs 18:21 tells us “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit“.

Matthew 12:27 records Jesus saying, “The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.” (NLT)

James 1:26 records Pastor James instructing, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. (NLT)

In Rabbinical teaching, holding one’s tongue is called “Shmiras Haloshom“. Below is a comment from the devotional, Chofetz Chaim, A Lesson A Day:

“It is HaShem’s desire to shower His people with His limitless store of mercy. When people act compassionately by using their words for good, they allow HaShem’s compassion to flow from its Source into their lives. Shmiras Haloshon not only opens the gates of Heaven to one’s prayers, it manifests HaShem’s protection upon His beloved nation by drawing upon them generous measure of His limitless mercy.”

Today is a good time to begin sowing your words that our Lord Jesus Christ is our Salvation. Our body and life will respond best to our words. We are designed to be the prophet of our own lives.

The Stock Market is taking the same path as before the end of the Shemittah Year 2008. September 29, 2008, the intense drop of 777 was on Elul 29, the Day of the Lord’s Release (Deut 15:1-5),  but the loss began building momentum weeks before. Seven years ago we had Fannie Mae  and Freddie Mac mortgage bailout that caused investment firm Lehman Brothers to file Chapter 11 prior to Elul 29. The rest is history. Now seven years later, we are seeing the Chinese market crash affect our financial system on what they are already calling Black Monday.

Question: Where is your faith? Read Psalm 27 out loud daily during these 40 days of Teshuvah (repentance) and you will increase faith ‘for such a time as this’.

Psalm 27:1, A Psalm of David. THE LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27 is read aloud every day for the 40 days of turning ourselves back to the things of God, and God Himself with our whole heart. It is a time of cleansing ourselves of anything that would draw us away from His perfect will and presence.

First of all, we see this as a Psalm of David, known as a ‘man after God’s own heart’.

Acts 13:22 says, “But God removed him from the kingship and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, `David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to.’ ‘” (I Samuel 13:14)

We have read how David failed, but after he returned to the Lord he was cleansed of all unrighteousness and brought back to a place of new mercies. This morning when you woke, you woke to new mercies. God is faithful. He loves you and wants to make all things new in your life, a fresh beginning. Return to the Lord where there is forgiveness, safety, love and healing.

David got to know his covenant LORD through his trials, battles, successes, failures and worship. David killed a giant while he was bragging on his LORD’s ‘Battle’ name. (I Samuel 17:45) The Lord of Hosts, the Lord of the Angel Armies, the Lord Almighty that has everything at His disposal when you call upon His ‘battle’ name!

He understood how the LORD was his shepherd and took good care of him as a helpless little lamb. (Psalm 23)

Magnify God– make Him the biggest part of your day today! Make God bigger than your mountain and see what the Lord of Hosts will do!!

All it takes to dispel the works of darkness is light. He is your light! Allow Him, let Him shine in your life today.

In 2010 and 2012 I wrote a daily devotional in this blog site for each of the 40 days, and today at church I felt prompted to finish this season with daily devotionals relating to preparing for the upcoming prophetic September events.

So much is unfolding right before our eyes! The end of the Shemitah year, new Hebraic Year 5776 (many are calling the ‘year of the Messiah’), Yom Kippur – could it be the Jubilee year?; Pope Francis speaking to the Congress and United Nations;  the last Blood Moon of the Tetrad September 28.  Are you ready? I think this devotional might help prepare you daily for what is upcoming.

Every day for 40 days of Teshuvah the shofar is blown and Psalm 27 is read aloud. The shofar awakens those who are asleep and the reading of Psalms 27 prepares the heart. Ephesians 5:14, “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

First of all, what is Teshuvah? Teshuvah is a 40 day season of time for introspection, judging yourself. It begins  on the Hebraic month of Elul 1 and ends Yom Kippur. (8/16/15 – 9/23/15) The last 10 days are known as The Days of Awe.

The Hebrew root for Teshuvah is shuv, number  H7725 in the Strong’s Concordance and it means to return, to turn back, to restore, to cause to return. Spiritually speaking it is turning back to God. He never changes and if you feel distant from Him it is because you have distanced yourself by your own desires and choices in life. It is now an open portal to return to the Lord.

Jeremiah 24:7, ‘Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return (shuv) to Me with their whole heart.

It has been said, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Please learn from the history of this Hebrew month and pray. This is going to be a very challenging month world-wide.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Israel’s enemies acknowledge historical dates and plan attacks on those dates.

The 3 week period between Tammuz 17 and Av 9 (Tisha B’Av) are called ‘bein haMetzarim’, aka “Between the Straits”, “Dire Straits”. Lamentations 1:3, “Judah has gone into captivity, under affliction and hard servitude; she dwells among the nations, she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.” Fear is strong during these 21 days because of the historical events connected with these two dates.

Zechariah 8:17,  “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth [month], the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth.’ Each one of these Jewish fasts are memorial times, causing them to examine themselves so they would not repeat the sins of the past.

This year the 4th of July, our national Independence Day, coincides with the Hebrew fast day of Tammuz 17. Both have a connection of independence, one for the good, one for the bad. This past week, nine Supreme Court judges signed independence against God and the biblical view of marriage. This happened on the anniversary of the Jerusalem wall being breached by the Nebuchadnezzar’s troops. Four weeks later,  Solomon’s Temple was destroyed and the Jews murdered or carried off to Babylon.

July 4, 1776, the leaders of the 13 colonies of America formed the Declaration of Independence with 27 grievances against the injustice of Britain and claimed their independence from King George and Britain. Each of the 56 signers were signing a death warrant as they stood for the freedom of this new nation. On the Hebrew calendar July 4, 1776 was also Tammuz 17. Ecclesiastes 1:9 in the NLT reads, “History merely repeats itself.

Exodus 32 records the sin of the Golden Calf as the new nation of Israel at Mount Sinai tired of waiting for Moses and ‘declared their independence’ from Moses and his God. Aaron formed their new god, a Golden Calf. This date was Tammuz 17.

Bob Jones and Paul Keith Davis wrote a great article in the Elijah List June 21, 2007 called The Season of the Basilisk. www.elijahlist.com  This season for 2015 will be July 4th through July 25th. The teaching is lengthy but worth reading. Bob Jones visions of this spirit were 7/23/96 and 7/23/97- the vision of ‘97 was multiplied hundreds of times larger than the previous year.

That three week period of time cause great dread and fear in the hearts of the Jewish people. We understand that faith draws from the spiritual to the natural realm. Faith in the negative brings into reality what you fear or dread. Job 3:25, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.” Faith in God and His Word brings what we greatly desire to come to pass.

We must not forget that prayer changes things, that our God will give us songs of deliverance. We must never forget that if God be for us who can be against us. We must never forget that the Covenant making and Covenant keeping God never slumbers or sleeps, He preserves and protects His chosen people and His Promised Land.

BUT HE NEEDS TO HEAR OUR PRAYERS!! Isaiah 62:6, “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent. (7) And give Him no rest til He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Here are some historical events connected with this the 17th of Tammuz

  • 1312 BC, Moses descended from Mount Sinai and found the people worshiping the Golden Calf, breaking the 2 tablets containing the Ten Commandments
  • 2 Kings 21:7, evil King Manasseh of Judah set up an idol in the Holy Sanctuary of the Temple
  • 586 BC, Jerusalem were breached after many months of seige by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces (1st  Temple was destroyed 3 weeks later on Av 9)
  • 70 AD, Titus & Rome breached the walls of Jerusalem. Beginning of the end of the Second Temple, which was destroyed three weeks later on Av 9)
  •  135 AD, Second Jewish-Roman War. Roman military leader Apostomus burned a Torah scroll prior to Bar Kokba’s revolt
  • 1239, Pope Gregory IX ordered the confiscation of all manuscripts of the Talmud
  • 1391, More than 4,000 Spanish Jews were killed in Toledo and Jaen, Spain
  •  1559, The Jewish Quarter of Prague was burned and looted
  • 1944, The entire population of Kovno ghetto was sent to the death camps
  • 1970, Libya ordered the confiscation of all Jewish property
  • 1981, Israel attacked the Tammuz-1 nuclear reactor at Osiraq in an attempt to scuttle Iraq’s nuclear program
  • 1994, Shoemaker Levi Comet began to break up, ending with bombarding Jupiter with 16 fragments on Av 9, each with an impact of a nuclear bomb
  •  Tammuz 24, 2002, one week following the 17th of Tammuz fast, water started to come out of the Western Wall. One of the stones, 15 meters up the wall, has suddenly become dripping wet with no earthly explanation
  • 2006, Lebanon and Israel went to war after Hezbollah kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers. (Chuck Pierce prophesied January 29, 2006, “watch Lebanon. I will bring conflict into Lebanon, because it is the boundary that I will deal with this year concerning My promised land of Israel. The warlike tribes of Lebanon will once again arise. But in the end, I will win this war, and the riches that have been withheld from My Kingdom plan will be released.”)
  • 2010,  GAZA STRIP – The U.S. has asked Hamas not to talk about contacts with Obama administration officials, a source close to Gaza-based Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh told London’s Arabic-language al-Quds al-Arabi, according to a report in YNet news. The Washington paper said the U.S. administration has decided it must work with Hamas because of its status in the Arab and Islamic world (now look what the US alliance with Hamas has caused Israel)

Isaiah 62:1, “For Israel’s Sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not hold my peace”

 


November 22, 2014 at sundown began the Hebrew month of Kislev. It is the 9th month on the sacred calendar that counts the months and the 3rd month on the civil calendar that marks the year. The name Kislev comes from a Hebrew word that means ‘security, hope or trust’.

Each month on the Jewish calendar has a Hebrew letter, Constellation and Tribe associated with it. This month all three of those have to do with ‘security, hope and trust’!! Kislev is also known as “A Month of Hope”.

The Torah portions for the month of Kislev include 9 of the 10 dreams of Genesis. All are from the Throne of God and carry heavenly strategies that help us get back into alignment with His purpose for each of us.

  • Jacob (2) ladder to heaven, cattle mating
  • Laban (1) don’t speak to Jacob good or bad
  • Joseph (2) sheaves and stars bowing
  • Butler (1) vine with 3 branches
  • Baker (1) 3 baskets on his head
  • Pharaoh (2) 7 good ears devoured by 7 thin ears

Each of us have thoughts constantly going through our minds that are either positive or negative. In the times we are living in we need to purpose to be positive based on what the Word of God says. Jeremiah 29:11says that our Heavenly Father has a good plans and a good future for each of us. Day Dream on purpose that things are going to turn around in your life.

  • When Dottie Osteen was told she had a short time to live she put pictures of herself with scriptures and kept seeing herself living and strong. She is alive today and ministers at Lakewood Church in Houston.
  • When Gloria Copeland had nothing but bills she began a scrapbook of pictures of what her home would look like and began to dream about her new home. She is now living in her dream home.
  • When Dr Cho of South Korea had nothing he began to dream on purpose, visualizing about his ministry. Little by little his nothing became one of the largest churches in the world.

What can you lose? Begin a dream book or a dream board and dare to dream. Keep a journal by your bed and expect Throne Room strategies in this divinely ordered month when heavenly dreams are in season!

Kislev is also known as the month of darkness, when the day become shorter and the nights of darkness longer. The Festival of Lights, aka Hanukkah, begins in this month. Hanukkah is a great time to rekindle and light up your faith. Hanukkah is the 8 day remembrance celebration of when the Maccabees rebelled against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and got the Temple back. A great miracle happened 1 day’s purified oil for the Menorah lasted 8 days, long enough to refine more holy oil. Hanukkah always begins on the 15th of Kislev and ends on the 2nd of Tevet, being the only Holy Day to join 2 months.

LETTER: Samech. This is the 15th letter of the Hebrew Aleph Bet and has the numerical value of 60. When I think of 60 I think of the clock of 60 minutes. We have been given another hour today as we turned our clock back! We don’t have to redo the past but we have a fresh start! The letter literally means ‘trust, complete, support or coming full circle’. Dare to trust God’s Word completely that your circumstances are about to shift and your best is yet to come!

CONSTELLATION: Sagittarius, ‘the archer’.  This represents our Redeemer has already triumphed and is coming back as the Son of God & Son of Man with great quickness. (Rev 6:2)Dare to dream that your turnaround victory has already been won and will come quickly.

TRIBE: Benjamin, represents Abundant Grace.

  • 12th son of Jacob
  • Only son born in the Promised Land
  • Spoiled, protected and provisions freely provided
  • 5 times more food and clothing given to him in Egypt
  • King Saul, Paul the Apostle and Queen Esther all from the Tribe of Benjamin
  • Began his life with selfishness, but ended his life as a great giver

Dare to dream that you are going to be lavished and spoiled with heavenly grace this month and everything is shifting to your favor. A video from the evil one has been playing in your head that you will die, your will be homeless, you are fat and will always be fat, you are a failure, nobody likes you, etc.

Read the promises written in our Father’s love letter to us and dare to dream that your best days are coming quickly. Your children are coming home, your back wages are being restored, your house is supernaturally paid off and you are giving testimony to your divine healing!! JUST DARE TO DREAM & DREAM BIG.

DON’T LIMIT GOD WITH YOUR SMALL THINKING!!