PRAYERS

Welcome to this site. My prayer is that you take a look at the site and as you do, let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart and reveal what God wants you to discover. (in Jesus' name)

God tells us that if we see a brother (or sister) in need we should do that which is within our means to help. Prayer is always within our means but we never know what doors Father may open through them. Should you desire prayer for anything (healing, direction, etc.) or if you want supportive prayer along with your own please feel free to e-mail that request to sharbu3@gmail.com and be assured that there are others who will be praying with or for you.


In this blog, I share what the Lord shares with me. I reference scripture a lot in support of what is being said. I realize that what is in each entry is NOT a complete 'word' (discussion) on what is being said, but is rather enough information to stimulate our spirits to dig deeper (remember the Bereans Acts 17:10-11) thereby gaining a fuller understanding for ourselves.

At the end of each post are the options to share, forward or make a comment. Click 'comment' to respond. Let us know if you like, don't like or are helped by what you read. Comments can be made or read by anyone. All you have to do is select the "comment" at he end of the entry.

Saturday, August 26, 2023

8-26-2023 Why do we Fast?

 

                        Weaken                                                           Submit

As I read Isaiah chapter 58, Father had me focus on several verses, but also had me read the whole chapter to fully understand what was happening.

The first four verses speak of how Israel fasts and prays and honors the Sabbath, but as they do, it is for their own satisfaction.  They ‘do’ the right things, but for the wrong reasons, personal gain.  Then they wonder why God does not hear them. 

Father starts explaining “His” fast in verse 5.  First, He asks us to afflict our soul.  That is to anah (H6031) deal harshly with, weaken or – submit – totally to Him.  

Then to bow down as a bulrush (in the wind).  Bulrush  comes from the Hebrew  gome (H1573) the papyrus plant which is very absorbent, and gome comes from gama  (H1572) which is to absorb, drink, swallow.  When we fast, we are to completely absorb ourselves in the Lord to take in what He wants us to know.

Father then says we should spread sackcloth, sprinkle it with ashes then ‘have a seat’.  The word used for Sackcloth is saq (H8042) which is a porous cloth (like a burlap bag) so water can pass through, not spoiling any grain which it might contain.  It is also used for mourning (showing remorse).  The ashes (epher H665) carries the connotation of ashes being strewn around.  I is also akin to apher (H666) which is using ashes as a covering (literally pouring them over oneself).  We should cover ourselves in submission and receive a cleansing form the Lord as all the negatives in our lives wash down, to and through the sackcloth with nothing sticking (stays) to us as it passes on.  Isaiah asks that if we fast in this way, is it acceptable to the Lord?  Total submission, total surrender.

Then Father asks “isn’t this the fast I have chosen” (v6)?  It will loose the bands of wickedness and unload our heavy burdens.  All who are oppressed shall be set free and yokes shall be broken.  So what does fasting do?  We are freed from the sin that has us bound! 

Should we feed the hungry?  Take into our homes the castaways?  Should we give clothing to the naked?  Hide ourselves from our own flesh (that is not yielding to fleshly desires)?  I think this is being honest with ourselves, who we are and not pretending we’re something that we are not.  And a desire to help others to be free of their bonds. To me, that means cleansing our sins as we fast being totally honest, totally open with the Lord.  Shedding the undesirable so the ‘new man’ can emerge and so, then, we might be able to help others. 

So then what happens?  The light will come on and we shall see as (just like) the rising sun brings light to the world, we will see the answer to that which we are fasting.  We will heal quicker and our righteousness (in Jesus) will walk before us.  Our reward?  The glory of the Lord (v8) will lead our way.

Once we’ve cleansed ourselves and are living as Father intended, THEN He will hear us and answer our call.  We cry, He will say “Here I Am”, when you have shed the yoke holding you down, quit pointing your finger (accusing others) and setting aside all prideful speaking (v9).

When our compassion urges us to feed the hungry and satisfy the needs of those afflicted, then the light will come out of nowhere and make the darkness of night like the noonday sun (V10).”  There is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).  That is when we consider the welfare of others ahead of own. 

Isaiah continues with God’s promises that He will always guide us.  In times of drought He will satisfy our soul.  We will be fully prepared for what comes our way.  We shall be like a garden, fed by springs of water that do no fail (v11). 

We shall be called that (he/she) who repairs things broken and our offspring shall rebuild the wastelands.  We shall raise up a foundation for many generations and restore places where people can live safely (v12).

If you turn your foot which has strayed from the Sabbath, quit doing your ow pleasures on the Holy days and (now) call the Sabbath a delight, acknowledge that that which is holy of the Lord and that which honorable, as you honor Him, not seeking your own pleasures (what’s in it for me) nor seeking you own desires or speaking you own words (speaking your own mind, your words not considering their impact (v13).

Then delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride upon high places of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob’s father ((Isaac)(v14).  What was Jacob’s heritage?  Canaan, the ‘promised land (Exod. 3:8).

Keep in mind that the Jews knew how to all the right things – even when their heart turned from the Lord. 

Today, are we any different?  Do we know what the bible says and impress people with our knowledge?  But where is our heart?  Are we content in delivering the Word of God or do we expect “Great preaching, brother!”, praises and compliments?  Do we truly love God above all else (Mark 12:29-31)?  Are friendly with those in our fellowship but ignore all others?  Are we truly concerned about our brothers and sisters in the Lord, much less our ‘neighbors’?  Paul tells us to ‘edify’ those around us (Rom. 14:19) and that means all with whom we come in contact.  Treating each of them with dignity and respect.   

When we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, we are confessing that He has come in the flesh (1 John 4:2) and that He is exactly who He says He is.  Our Lord and Savior!  As we love God, we discover that He truly loves us and because He loves us, He hears us!  When one truly does not love, He has no part in God.  Why?  Because God is love!  We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:1-11).

We love because we are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and God is love!  Image is the Hebrew word tselem (H6754) and means a phantom, illusion or resemblance, ergo a representative or image.  God is Spirit (John 4:24) but we are flesh, made of the earth (Gen. 2:7).  So, how are we made in the image of God.  Back to 1st John.  God is love and we love because we are the image of love so as we love others, we express our imagery of the Father.

So why do we fast?  So we can be true exponents of God’s love.  We also discover as we pursue this image we are changed into a new beginning – each day!

Amen

Saturday, August 12, 2023

8-12-2023 Dry Bones and Today

                                Dry Bones                                                Spiritual Explosion

Back in 2016 Father had me reviewing Jeremiah 1 and Ezekiel 37.  In Jeremiah, a caldron pot is tipping over and pouring out.  This represents Father’s wrath against Israel because of their disobedience. 

Look at today’s church.  How obedient is today’s church to God’s will and word?  I’m talking about keeping to God’s truth and not changing it to man’s ideas.  Especially look at how man’s concept of the bible has changed over the past century.  Too much of the Word has been ‘watered down’ or even changed. 

In Ezekiel, Father explains how He wants Israel rebuilt.  Now, Father wants to rebuild today’s church. 

When I was young I observed that too many Christian denominations believed that theirs was the only true church in Christ Jesus and everybody else was doomed to hell because ‘those people’ didn’t believe exactly as they did.  First, we ARE the body of Christ.   All who profess Jesus as Lord.  We cannot call Jesus Lord except by God’s Spirit (1 Corinth. 12:3, 1 John 4:1-3).  Paul explains a body has many parts, eyes, feet mouth, etc. (1 Corinth. 12:12-27, read the whole chapter), so as Christians, we each have a job to do.      

In the 1/2/2016 entry into this blog, we spoke of the dry bones from Ezekiel 37.

Before we get into Ezekiel let’s back up a bit.  The dry bones in the valley are significant to today’s church.  Jesus called the Jewish church of 2000 years ago a ‘whited sepulcher (Matt. 23:27) because, even though they look pretty good on the outside, there was no true faith in their heart.  If you will, they were the ‘walking dead’ (spiritually).  How many half or incomplete truths, or even lies are shared with today’s ‘churched’ people?  All of this adds up to ‘dry bones’! The true power of the Holy Ghost is seriously lacking.

Fear not.  God always has His faithful (Rom. 11:1-4).  There are those in the church who, when they confessed Jesus, truly believed in their heart that He is the Messiah, our Redeemer and that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9).  Thank God for these folks.  

But, alas, salvation is only the first step.  We also have a responsibility.  Jesus says that if you love Me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).  We now need to show love from within our heart.  When we don’t love, we have no part in God for God is love.  So when we love God, love will flow through us (1 John 4:6-11).  Loving is doing things because we desire to, not because we’re supposed to or ‘have’ to or because we are the only warm bodies available.  This means helping others as we are able, supporting God’s work here on earth and sharing our faith with others.  We have a genuine desire to use what God has given us to do God’s work, in whatever capacity.  Yes?

Love means we need a personal relationship with Father. We have to ‘get to know’ Him.  Father speaks to us through His written word (the bible) and other Christians (pastors, priests or brothers and sisters in Christ).  Oh, and because the Holy Ghost resides within our heart, He also desires to speak directly to each one of us, mano e mano, person to person.  We do have to learn to hear, listen and receive when and how He speaks with us.   

All too often, churches put people in ministry who are not yet actually ready.  I’m not challenging a true desire to serve, but this can bring novices and those with personal agendas into positions of authority in the church.  The scriptures do give some basic qualifications for those serving.  Good qualities are being filled with the Holy Ghost, being honest and using wisdom, (Acts 6:1-7).  Persons with these qualities should also be inclined to prayer (Eph. 6:18, 1 Thess. 5:17).  Yet, despite man’s shortcomings, God always has His number (1 Kings 19:13-18, Rom. 11:1-4) of those who are truly living for an in Him, with all their heart.

We are in a ‘new season’.  So, how has Father been preparing His church for this new season?

First was modern man’s decision to make the bible available to the common man.  In the 1300’s, John Wycliffe translated the Latin Vulgate into English and in the 1400’s Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press which could produce bibles (as well as other books) a whole lot faster than the handwritten copies.

Then, in the1500 & 1600’s, Martin Luther inspired what we call the Protestant Reformation which produced men such teachers as William Tynsdale and John Calvin and later John Wesley.  Who, along with other reformist, started a multitude of Christian denominations.  Thinking started to change from traditional Roman Catholic thinking to the common man understanding what the bible was saying.  Unfortunately, it also created unnecessary schisms.  New found freedoms brought the need for greater understanding.

Then, there were the “awakenings” in both the 1700’s & 1800’s, which were an attempt to bring the church back into holiness.  Then there was the Pentecostal Movement of the late 1800’s & early 1900’s, the Charismatic Movement of the 1960’s-1970’s, each which were experiencing a re-connection of the full operation of the Holy Ghost in our lives. Since the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the prophetic movement has entered the picture, focusing more and more on to what the meaning of a  personal relationship is with our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ because the Holy Ghost is alive and well within our hearts.  Jesus tells us that His desire is that we are one, as He is one in the Father (John 17:1-26).  Ergo we all become one (at least in thinking and doing).

All this bring us to where we are today!

Through the prophet Ezekiel, Father promises a new, revived, relationship with Him (Ezek. 37:1-14). 

As we read the bible, we see where today’s church has experience many of the conditions prevalent in the Hebrew church of the Old Testament.  A vibrant relationship with God, then it cools down to where the church has all but forgotten who God is.  Then a renewed passion for our Lord, then a cooling down again and today, a resurgence of desiring a better relationship with our heavenly Father.  Jesus reminds us that in the latter days, there will be a falling away in the church, (2 Thess. 2:3).

Now, today, God is breathing life back into that package of dry bones (we call today’s church) by bringing His children back into a true relationship with Himself.  A relationship He (God) experienced with Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:8) and  which He has desired from the beginning.  His true desire is for us to acknowledge Him as the true, living God (Jeremiah 24:7) and that we not live for Him.   Not only has He given us the power to live this life, but to be witnesses for HIm (John 14:14:12, John 20:22-23, Acts 1:8) and to do the things Jesus called us to do.  This IS what Father is doing with the churches of the New Covenant today!

All of Father’s true churches, all of Father’s prophets are all talking about walking in a closer relationship with the one true God Who created all that is.  Things that I read, things that I hear, people with whom I talk are all in agreement about our striving towards the goal (1 Corinth. 9:24-27) and then God bringing us into a closer walk through Jesus Christ, our Lord because the Holy Ghost abides in us.

Father started sharing with me back in September 2014 (interestingly during Rosh Hoshana) three seven year periods were beginning.  ‘Officially’ January 2015, but Rosh Hoshana of 2014 could be the actual starting date.  Depends if one starts uses the Hebrew or Julian Calendar.  I’ve gone with the Julian, January 2015.  Rosh Hoshana is the Jewish new year (9/2014).  The first seven year period is a foundation period where Father is establishing many of His prophets to be ready for the second period.  The first seven year period ended 12/2021.   

The second seven year period Father starts sending the prophets, who are ready, out, but this is also a growth period as prophets continue to mature and as they are ready, then they are sent out.  As this season grows, what God is doing will become more and more prominent.  You’ve heard about the revival in Kentucky?  There was talk about activity moving into California but I haven’t seen or heard about much that yet.  However, I am hearing about small events taking place in various places around the U.S and how, over the past several years, God has been working in Africa.  The prophets and preachers I do hear have been talking about this revival for about two years now.  Take note: ‘they’ are calling it a revival.  God is calling it a Spiritual explosion.  Why?  Because the Holy Ghost WILL reveal Himself in the actions of today’s ‘prophets’ AND disciples just as He did 2000 years ago!  Jesus said as we follow Him, we will do the same works He did and greater (John 14:12).  Did you hear me?  I said disciples!  That’s not just the famous preachers we know and love.  A disciple is one who follows Jesus and this means you and me will be capable of doing what Jesus did!  It’s a matter of faith.  How close are we willing to walk in Jesus’ love and what are we willing to sacrifice to do so?

Those, who are already talking, are talking about restoration and restitution.  Are we willing to actually seek the Kingdom of God first (Matt. 6:33) and then abide in God’s love – true love – agape love?  God is our strength to run this race (Phil. 3:14).  All we have to do is be obedient to the leading of the Holy Ghost and then do it (John 14:14-17)! 

Father showed me three numbers which are pertinent to what is currently going on and that which is yet to come.

Several years ago, Father had me check out the biblical meanings of numbers.  I looked at seven or eight lists and they all pretty much agreed with the two lists I mention here:

Biblenumbersforlife.com

http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net/teachings/books/secrets-of-time/appendix-e-the-biblical-meanings-of-numbers/

My definitions are taken from these two lists.

We are now in the second year of second seven year season. 

2    =    union, division, witnessing

The church is two, coming into the place where God intends for us to be, that is one in Spirit.

The division represents the various talents and callings He has placed on each of our lives.  That is our capabilities or our God-given ‘gift’.

Witnessing, again we are being prepared to witness for Jesus Christ as never before, not just in word, but in deeds as well.  To be true, living representatives of His Word.

The blessing, restitution and restoration is to develop us into those true witness for Jesus and which has already been taking place.  That is Father has already been establishing souls and growing them spiritually and this continues throughout this season. 

This season is bringing a great evangelical outbreak, an outreach explosion, a soul harvest.  Not just getting ‘saved’, but now, learning to live for and in Jesus Christ!

The total of both seasons equals fourteen years

14  =    Deliverance, salvation, spiritual perfection.  Also take note the end year of the second period is28 which represents ‘eternal life’.

By the end of the second season, fourteen years in all, Father will have accomplished most of the soul harvest.  Again, it will be happening throughout season two, but by that season’s end, Father will have grounded His church so they are living for Him through Jesus Christ, no doubts, ready for the harvest.  Souls will be delivered from all sorts of oppressive demonic influences and they will know they now belong to Jesus Christ, lock, stock and barrel.  There will be no doubt about our salvation (1 John 5:13-15) and how to show love towards Father through Jesus as well as our neighbor.  Our hearts will be knitted with God. Through the operation of the Holy Ghost in and through our lives, souls will be rocketing towards spiritual perfection.  We won’t reach this perfection until we are literally with Jesus, but souls will be walking as close as possible until the day Jesus does call us home, whether through natural death or rapture.

Twelve years have almost passed since the onset of these two seasons

12 =     governmental perfection, God’s power and authority

The perfect government resides under King Jesus, the perfect King and Christians will experience His power an authority.  God is perfecting His Spiritual government!

Unless your eyes are closed and you have earplugs in your ears, you should already be seeing and hearing a shift.  Yes, the world seems to be getting worse and worse, but underlying that turmoil people are getting hungrier and soon they shall realize that Jesus is the only answer -left. 

Don’t be surprised at the world’s condition.  Whenever God moves, Satan does his best to counter attack so people stay embittered and disillusioned and refuse to come to the Lord.  As children of God, He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).   Remember the footprints in the sand.  It is  He carries us.   We are bound with Jesus through His yoke (Matt. 29-30).  He is helping us to overcome (Luke 10:18-19).  Jesus gave disciples authority over sickness and to cast out devils (Luke 10:1-20).  Resist the devil, he will flee (James 4:7).  ().  And remember God always has the final say (Rom. 13.1).

So what is the third seven year period about?  Could it be the beginning of tribulation leading to Armageddon?  Don’t know.  Father refuses to clue me in on that third period is about.  But it doesn’t matter because Father is always in control.  I just know He’ll do things according to His timing and be assured that Father is bringing all of His children into a deeper relationship with Himself that we can be all that we can be in Christ Jesus, doing all that we can do for His glory, serving and ministering to the needs of the people whom we encounter.  Loving others is the least that we can do.  He is preparing His children to truly live for and abide in Him.  AND there is a magnificent evangelical explosion, no, a Holy Ghost explosion,  coming to grow the body of Jesus Christ into its fullest. And this generation can and will be, wholly or in part, involved in this explosion. 

Amen