A Wise Latina Woman?

I don't know...is it just me, or do the people of this nation seem to be focusing more on "race" than ever? I guess I'm naive, but after growing up in the turbulent 60s when all the high prices were paid for racial equality in this country, I had thought we had transcended all that and finally looked at each other simply as Americans. In fact, just after September 11 occurred, I remember a TV ad that used to make me weep. Many people of different ethnic backgrounds and skin colors would appear on the screen and say, "I am an American." Remember that? What happened to that spirit?

Two nights ago while watching a news story about Sonia Sotomayor, the woman Obama has chosen as a Supreme Court Judge, I saw and heard something that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. A journalist was interviewing a group of Hispanic school children. He passed the microphone around the table in this elementary school classroom, and each child in turn told how excited they are to have a "Latino woman" as a judge. Then they excitedly began proclaiming that "A Latino will be the next President!" and "We will rule this country!" Next, the journalist was interviewing Hispanic people on the streets of the city, and similar proclamations were heard, as if this is some kind of common goal, to get Hispanics elected to high offices all over the country and take over!

Just after this, Sotomayor herself makes a comment about a wise Latina woman making wiser choices than a white man. What is going on here? Why was there so much hoopla about electing a black President? It appears to me that once again the people of this nation are focused on skin color, rather than on people and their hearts and values.

Voting for a person because of his or her skin color/race is a travesty! It fosters anger, separation and violence. Encouraging our young generations to want certain races of people to take control and have power sets us up for a future of worse civil unrest and violence than I grew up in.

I wonder...why are we celebrating that a WOMAN and a LATINA has been chosen? If she is found to be a person of strong moral character, impeccable reputation, and strong devotion to God and her country, then shouldn't we celebrate that? What does the Word of God have to say about this? Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

All I can is that those who are elevating ethnic background and skin color above everything else must surely not be in Christ Jesus. Let's pray for them.

The One Enthroned in Heaven Laughs!

The LORD has awakened me in the fourth watch of the night to pray. "What shall I pray?" I asked Him. I heard the Spirit clearly say, "The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against His Anointed One." I knew He was speaking His Word from Psalm 2. So I arose from my bed and began to decree Psalm 2:
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against His Anointed One.
"Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."
The One enthroned in Heaven laughs; the LORD scoffs at them.
Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, "You are my Son, today I have become your Father. Ask of Me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear and trembling.
Kiss the Son lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in Him."

The One enthroned in heaven laughs! Does this not give us hope? For me, it recalls a time when I was on watch on the rooftop on the Mount of Olives, and we were reading this psalm over Jerusalem. We got to verse 4 and we were greatly inspired to go to the four corners of the rooftops, overlooking all the Muslim neighborhoods and the people who worship the false god Allah and wrote "God has no son" inside the dome of their temple. And we laughed! At each corner of the rooftop we let go the laughter of the LORD God of Israel, who knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning! We scoffed at his enemies. He has installed His King on Mount Zion, His holy hill. It IS His land, given in covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. And He has given His Righteous King, Yahshua, all the nations for an inheritance, the ends of the earth for His possession.

In today's news the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain. North Korea has tested a nuclear bomb at least as big as that dropped on Hiroshima, we are told. Iran has released war ships into their waters, "flexing their muscles prior to elections," we are told. Newscasters also report that the Taliban is now overtaking our troops in Afghanistan. It appears that those who worship the God of Israel are surrounded by their enemies. So was King David in his day. And so the LORD then led me to the final verses of Psalm 5 and asked me to pray them over the righteous - those who "kiss the Son," desiring to embrace what is pure and holy: "Let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in You. For surely, Yahweh, You bless the righteous; You surround them with your favor as with a shield."

The threat of war is all around us, and indeed is about to erupt. My spirit has been heavy within me. But after praying through this fourth watch, I hear the laughter of the One who reigns on His Holy Hill. I take refuge in Him and I sing for joy! As Jerry Golden wrote in his post from Israel this morning:
"I can assure you that when that dust [of war] does settle, Israel will be here and God’s Word will ring true to many who have been denying Him for so long. God will bring His people the Jews back to this land that He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the God I serve cannot lie. Many may not be able to understand the things about to unfold in this world but God is in total control and He is sovereign. It will rain on the just and the unjust alike for it is not the temporal things God is concerned about; it is your relationship with Him through the Spirit, and when that is settled we have a comfort and a calm inside that brings shalom."
Amen!

God Is Not Mocked

Late last night my dear sister in the faith, Tina Brown, called me. She said she had had a vision of a deep blue star of David - and suddenly it was violently ripped in half. She was alarmed. She asked the Lord about it - and He brought to her remembrance that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had meet with Pres. Obama in Washington yesterday. As expected, according to the Jerusalem Post, Mr. Obama forcefully mandated that Israel divide up her land, creating a "two-state solution" for the Palestinians. Has no one noticed that when Israel gave up the Gaza it became a launching pad for Hamas rockets? Are we so stupid that we do not realize the objective of the Palestinians is to infiltrate the Land and "send the Jews into the sea?"
Obama further stated that he would continue to pursue "diplomatic discussions" with Iran, believing that by the end of this year they would peaceably agree to discontinue their nuclear ambitions. How is it that we have a government so blind that they still think we can use diplomacy with terrorists? As Joel Rosenberg so accurately wrote in his blog today, "Yes, it appears a diplomatic train wreck is coming between the U.S. and Israel in the not-too-distant future given that Netanyahu understands Iran’s leaders are part of an apocalyptic, genocidal death cult and believe it is their God-given mission to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it, and the American President and his team clearly do not."

AS AMERICA DOES TO ISRAEL, SO YAHWEH WILL DO TO AMERICA: "As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall. You who have escaped the sword, get away! Do not stand still! Remember the LORD and let Jerusalem come to your mind." (Jeremiah 51:50)

As America forces the division of GOD'S LAND, so it will come back upon us. The prophetic words going forth right now from those who hear the Voice of the Lord are all speaking in unity. They are prophesying a great earthquake or disaster that will divide this nation of the United States of America in two, down the middle, and they are crying in the wilderness that we will see the beginning of these sorrows in June 2009. As Israel is divided, so shall America be divided.

Historically speaking, every time this nation has come against Israel, even discussing the division of the land, given to the Jewish people in the Abrahamic Covenant, great disaster has come upon us, whether by financial ruin or "natural disasters." It did not escape my notice that an earthquake hit Los Angeles the day Netanyahu arrived on our soil! The excellent book As America Has Done to Israel by John McTernan documents each of these events throughout American history. Do we learn nothing from our history?

Take heed, brothers and sisters! Be watchmen on the wall in this hour and cry out to our God for mercy. As our President pretended to crack jokes last week, saying "I will do my next 100 days in 72 and on the 73rd day I will rest..." I heard Evil mocking God and the Spirit within me grieved. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." (Galatians 6:7)

It is difficult to post this word - but some will have ears to hear, and will prepare for what is coming. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem - may they prosper who love you! (Psalm 122:6) Pray for P.M. Netanyahu to stand strong in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and pray that the leaders of the U.S.A. will change their hearts and minds.

One Defining Thing

I had an utterly defining moment in my spiritual walk this past weekend. I know you have had those too; but I wonder if like me, you find that the defining moments of revelation turn out to be the simplest of all?

We study the Scriptures, probing for the deepest levels of understanding. We gather together to study and midrash, looking for the hidden meanings. We listen to teachers who claim to have "new revelation." We wonder if we're doing it all "right." Pray with a head covering or not? Fast from just meat or from all foods? Begin counting the omer in the week of Passover or on the Shabbat after?

Suddenly I heard the voice of the Apostle Paul ringing in my ears: "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). In all things, brothers and sisters, we must seek to be the worshipers that Yahweh seeks: "worshipers in Spirit and in Truth" (John 4:23). We must find and keep the balance of Spirit and Truth as found in the prophetic picture of Yahshua, transfigured into the fullness of His glory on the mountain. Moses and Elijah were there with him because they represent the Truth (Torah) and the Holy Spirit - and it is not possible to be in the fullness of the Kingdom unless we have both in equal balance.

I spent the weekend with a woman who lives in Israel and has an under-cover ministry to the Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem. She is an intercessor who has prayer-walked their neighborhoods by faith for 12 years, and is just now seeing the fruit of her labor. Even some rabbis are coming to belief in Messiah Yahshua, but then go through unspeakable persecution, beatings, torment, and separation from family. This woman who helps to bring them out of darkness and into the light and freedom of Messiah knows the hopelessness of all their years of "keeping and doing" in the flesh. When these modern-day Nicodemuses are born again of the Spirit, they are free to keep the Torah by the Spirit, in the fullness of love and joy. And in hearing about this entire painful birthing process, I came full circle back to my First Love! One verse from the transfiguration story was quickened to me in a passionate way I have never seen it before: "Jesus came and touched them and said, 'Arise! Do not be afraid.' When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only."

No one but Jesus only? Then Moses had disappeared! The great leader of Israel! How will we keep the Torah? Elijah had disappeared! How will we learn to walk in power? This is how: We close our eyes in prayer; and when we open them, we see Jesus. Only Jesus. And the Father tells us to do one thing. ONE DEFINING THING. That one thing is what the Father told Peter, James, and John on the mountaintop: "This is my Son. Listen to Him!"

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you will abide in the Son and in the Father. (1 John 2:24)

From Barley to Wheat

There is still more to share with you about this season we are in. As mentioned in my last blog, this is an "in-between time." We are between the barley and the wheat; between the Old Covenant and the Renewed Covenant, between the two tablets and the two loaves!

Barley in the times of ancient Israel was a rough grain mostly used for animal fodder; wheat, on the other hand, was used to make fine flour for baking bread.

The journey between the feast of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost is a journey of spiritual refining; it is a journey from the flesh into the Spirit. We move from trying to keep the Torah in our own flesh to keeping it by the power of the Holy Spirit, who writes God's commands on our hearts! "A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and move you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36:26-27). In these "seven sevens" (seven weeks) of the counting of the Omer, we should be maturing spiritually. Shedding the "old man," we are moving toward becoming new creations by the Power of the Spirit, and this means we are desiring to keep God's commandments, rather than feeling they are a burden. We should be experiencing the "rod of correction" with which our Father lovingly disciplines us.

These two connected celebrations of the first fruits of the field are indeed a picture of Yahweh renewing His Covenant with Israel. We wait with the rest of creation for the completion of Messiah's work in restoring all Israel. We look forward to the Fall Feasts, at the time of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles, all pointing to the Return of Yahshua our Messiah, His righteous judgments, and the establishment of His Kingdom Reign in Jerusalem. But for now, we are still on the wilderness journey: from barley to wheat, from flesh to Spirit, from sin to restoration.

Ask the Holy Spirit to do a cleansing work in you. As of this Sabbath there will be four more weeks left to count. "So, Father, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

Counting the Omer

Yes, I know. It has been a long time since I've written! In fact, it was Passover. Following that joyous feast we begin the counting of the Omer as commanded in Leviticus 23:15-17: "And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord."

The word omer literally means barley. We count fifty days between the barley harvest at Passover and the wheat harvest, which culminates in the Feast of Weeks, or Shavu'ot, also called Pentecost. Indeed, the first fulfillment of the fifty days was probably the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai when Yahweh gave His katubah (His marriage covenant) to Israel. This is said to have occurred fifty days after the people of Israel came out of their bondage in Egypt. The second fulfillment of this feast occurred after Yahshua's death and resurrection when the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room and the Holy Spirit was poured out in power upon them, with 3000 added to the Body of Messiah that day. I personally believe the third fulfillment of this feast will occur when the 144,000 are sealed by the Holy Spirit, as it says in Revelation 14:4-5: "These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. these were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb."

And so, with an agreement to pray and fast during this time, we are in the midst of counting the Omer, marking off the fifty days, looking forward with great anticipation to the celebration of Shavu'ot and a new refreshing and outpouring of the Spirit on each of us. During this time, just as the Israelites were in the wilderness, we take a journey toward the heart of God, learning obedience. We learn to stay when the cloud stays and move when it moves. And He is sharpening and refining us, teaching us to truly be a family (a mishpocah) that can and will dwell together in love, humility and forgiveness.

As part of this journey He has given us some profound surprises along our way. We've been given a large community center to meet in each Erev Shabbat at no cost! The Lord's timing is perfect; we had just reached the point of having too many people to fit in homes and at small dining tables! Then, in our prayer time, He gave us His mandate for our ministry: "Gather together the families that I bring you each Erev Shabbat. Teach them to keep my Sabbaths on the seventh day beginning at sundown, and to set this time apart to be with Me. Teach them to bless one another (husbands blessing wives, wives blessing husbands, parents blessing children), and to forgive one another for the past week's offenses. Teach them My Word. Teach them to worship Me in Spirit and in Truth. Families and marriages are broken. Provide for them a safe place to heal and to be restored."

As we count the fifty days, we are indeed making a journey toward something new and beautiful that the Father is preparing. With great anticipation we expect that when we reach the fiftieth day, as at Pentecost, the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) will be poured out, opening the eyes of our understanding for this New Thing He is doing among us. Yet I wonder, "Is it new, Father, or is it old - the ancient path you told us to look for?"

Are you counting the days? Is your heart beating in anticipation of what the Lord is about to do? Are your eyes fixed on Him instead of on the world? He said, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16)