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Firstfruits
Weekend: Moving Through the “Dire Straits!” |
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July 6, 2010
Dear Pressing Through Saints:
I am looking forward to this weekend’s Firstfruits Gathering. This is the time to shift beyond the NARROW PLACE that would try to stop you from advancing. We have a schedule change for this weekend’s gathering, and will now begin on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM. We have entered one of the narrowest times of the year. I think we are all feeling this DIRE STRAIT time. We are “between the straits”. Come join with us on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM. Robert Heidler and I will be sharing on “Getting Through the Narrow Place.” EVERYONE WILL BE ANOINTED TO SLIDE THROUGH AND ENTER! There is no charge or registration to join us – onsite or by webcast.
On Saturday night at 7:00 PM, we will have our Rosh Chodesh Celebration for the Hebraic month of Av. This is our “low point” or “high point” month, and a time when we must be very careful with what we hear as well as the decisions we make. This is a critical time to watch and pray for Israel and Jews in the nations. You will not want to miss this gathering!
Messianic Rabbi Jan Rosenberg will be with us Sunday in the first service! Not only is Jan a Rabbi in New Jersey, he is also a spokesperson for MediFast. He has an incredible testimony of losing much weight. Now he can get through the narrow place.
A Time of the “Dire Straits”
“From the straits I called to Yah. Yah answered me in a wide-open
place. The LORD is for me, I shall not fear. What can humankind do to me...All
the nations surrounded me. With the LORD’s name I cut them down. They swarmed
round me, oh they surrounded me. With the LORD’s name I cut them down…You
pushed me hard to knock me down, but the LORD helped me. My strength and
my might [song] is Yah, and He has become my rescue [Hebrew:
Yeshua/salvation]” Psalm 118:5-14 (Robert Alter translation).
We are presently in the Hebrew month of Tammuz. It is not mentioned in the Bible by this (Babylonian) name—yet most certainly “the Fast of the Fourth Month” in Zechariah 8:19 refers to an ancient memorial on the 17th of this month, a time set aside to soberly remember the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The three-week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av (June 29—July 20 this year) is sometimes known as “the Dire Straits”, after Lamentations 1:3—“All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits” (NKJV).
You can make it through your narrow places ahead. In warring against the enemies of this age, we must learn how to occupy and possess. We each have a portion that we have been given. When we occupy something, we take possession, and keep possession. In Luke 21:19, we are called to possess our souls. When we possess the portion that God has for each of us, we become whole––we are fulfilled and full of peace. This is what we are actually warring to accomplish! We must be a people who settle for nothing less than the abundance the Lord has for us. However, there always seems to be another war in the portion we have been given! The month of Av (July/August) is traditionally an antagonistic or opposing month - a month of destruction rather than reconciliation. Do not listen to carnal desires that would lead you on a destructive path. Rather, listen to God and live within the boundaries of covenant blessing. Continue on and resist every wrong path (Deut. 33:18). You have a good future!
Because this is a month of "Dire Straits", I asked Dr. Robert Heidler to write a perspective of this time in history that has molded the history of Israel. His article on "Breaking the Ninth of Av Curse" is below. Many of you are not aware that we have an Israel Prayer-List through which we provide a clear, concise update from Israel on a weekly basis. This allows you to pray effectively. If you do not already receive these updates and would like to sign up for this list, please click HERE to subscribe to the Israel Prayer Email-List.
Breaking the Ninth of Av Curse
By Robert Heidler
If you study the history of the Jews you discover something surprising. The Jews have experienced many calamities over the years, and most of those calamities have occurred on same day of the year… the 9th of AV. It was on this date that both temples were destroyed, and the final destruction of Jerusalem took place in 135. Many other catastrophes took place on this date, including the expulsion from Gaza in 2005.
Originally, the 9th of Av was intended by God to be a day of joy and celebration. It was to be the day Israel entered the land of promise at Kadish Barnea. Spies had been sent in to the land, and brought back the good fruit of the land for people to taste. But because of the negative report by 10 spies, they chose the path of unbelief, and refused to enter God’s promise. Because of their unbelief, the entire nation came under a curse that persists to this day. Each year, as the 9th of Av comes, the entire nation fasts and prays for the curse to be broken. Yet true repentance has never taken place!
How do we know that Israel has not repented of the sin of Kadish Barnea? It’s because, when Jesus the Messiah came, they again repeated the same sin! They again tasted the fruit of God’s promise… they saw the miracles and heard His teaching… but Israel’s leaders again chose not to enter God's promise.
I believe that one day the 9th of Av curse will be broken. The curse will only break when the nation truly repents of unbelief, and their rejection of God’s promise. When that happens, the fullness of God’s blessing will be released, and the 9th of Av can be restored as a day of fulfillment and celebration.
I believe this day is fast approaching. The evidence is that many thousands of Jews ARE choosing to receive God’s promised Messiah. They are rejecting the unbelief of many generations, and choosing to enter God’s promise! Jew and gentile are becoming one in the Messiah as the promised "One New Man!" Let us pray that the day will soon come when all the people of Israel can truly experience every blessing God gives!
WHEN WE SEE JEW AND GENTILE BECOME ONE—WE WILL OVERCOME the god of this world! Come join us Saturday afternoon and evening and receive the anointing for BREAKTHROUGH! BREAKTHROUGH! BREAKTHROUGH!
Blessings,
Chuck D. Pierce
Resources to Help you Through Your Narrow Place!
God's Unfolding Battle Plan by Chuck D. Pierce
THE SPIRITUAL WAR AROUND US IS UNFOLDING. A people without knowledge perish.
God's Unfolding Battle Plan and the revised Future War of the Church will
help you understand how to stand in victory in the times we are living in.
God's Unfolding Battle Plan: A Field Manual for Advancing the Kingdom of
God will point you into an understanding of the warfare we are presently
fighting and what is ahead for us in the future. This book will also give
you great insight through the next 20 years and beyond!
($13)
The Messianic Church Arising by Robert Heidler
Also available in Portuguese
($12) and French
($12)
This book will help you experience the fullness of Christianity and to know
Christianity as God intended it. Robert Heidler purposes to assist any
Christian in regaining the blessings of our lost inheritance! Once you
see the root you are grafted into, the power of the Life of the root springs
forth in you, and you will bear fruit! Don't miss the chapter on the
Cycles of God which will help you understand how the Feasts allow us to see
our path to future promise.
($12)
Praying For Israel's Destiny by James W. Goll
Effective intercession for God's purposes in the Middle East
($12)
The sound for this season is here! This CD includes the Hawaiians (who joined
us at Starting the Year off Right) and the latest music you have been hearing
from the Glory of Zion International Worship Team. Songs include The
Restoration Song (You Are Not Alone), The
Journey, HE
Knows, Planted By The Waters, Fill
the Room, and more. I have never heard a song that has the sound
of the land and heaven meeting like is demonstrated in Kingdom Come
when LeAnn Squier leads us! Listen to this CD and allow your faith to
be stirred to see the darkness turn and the Glory of the Lord fill your atmosphere.
Special: $12 (regularly $17)
These and many other resources can be ordered by going to www.gloryofzion.org or by calling (888) 965-1099 or (940) 382-7231. Specials valid through July 31, 2010.