Day 16 of the Fast - 1st Day of the month of Elul

As I fasted yesterday – it became the MOST difficult of the days that I had fasted. I became sick on Monday afternoon and I did receive healing but it was not until Wednesday night. I had been taking an antibiotic and doing that on an empty stomach all day is not a good thing – especially in this kind of heat. I was weak and worn by about 1:45 Wednesday afternoon. I emailed the girls and told them I desperately needed prayer for strength and refreshing and healing. Well I sat in my car praying and worshipping God on my lunch hour – and felt completely RENEWED and mainly HEALED and WHOLE. U can’t convince me that prayer doesn’t work. Here are the words that I received Wednesday night during my study time….

Isaiah 36:4-11
4 The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah,
'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 5 You say you have strategy and military strength—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 6 Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 7 And if you say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God"-isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar"? 8 " 'Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD ? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.' " 11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall."

This led me on to the next chapter – Isaiah 37 to Hezekiah’s prayer to God:

16 "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. 18 "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 20 Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.

Even in doing what seems like a good work (by giving our tithes directly to those who desperately need help) we are STILL tying up God’s hands and feet. We are taking that blessing of gratitude and saying this to God – “God you are so busy and I see that Neighbor Jack desperately needs food for his children – God I am going to take my gift of gratitude for you and just directly give it to Neighbor Jack…. That way it’s one less thing You will have to do God – u know God bc if I give it directly into the church it may never reach Neighbor Jack directly”. – What we were really saying is “God – I DO NOT TRUST YOU to take care of my neighbor and his family. God if I give this money directly to Neighbor Jack – then I KNOW that he and his family are taken care of” – thus tying God’s hands to move in Neighbor Jacks life and family and thus sinning and causing Neighbor Jack to miss out on seeing how TRULY faithful God is!!! All bc me – little Miss Do-Gooder let her fleshly emotions mix in with her Godly compassion and got them confused…..Last night God showed me that and then backed it with verse…..

Deuteronomy 12:5-28 – New KJV
5 “But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— 9 for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. 10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13 Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the LORD chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 18 But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hands. 19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. 20 “When the LORD your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. 21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires.
22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. 26 Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. 27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat. 28 Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.

Genesis 12:11 – The CALL of Abram – Abram used wisdom and Godly knowledge and told Pharaoh that Sarai was his sister instead of his wife…. God heaped out plagues upon Egypt bc of their lust after Sarai. This in turn caused Pharaoh to heap riches and blessings on Abram.

Which lead me to Genesis 15 in which God makes a covenant with Abram.
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. 2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." 4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

And indeed the Lord did give Abram a child, a son – Ishmael – Abram was 86 years old when his wife’s maidservant Hagar bore him Ishmael. God changed his name from Abram to Abraham at 99 years old – and named him the Father of many Nations. HE also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah – and also gave her the ability to have a child after all those years of never bearing children. And thus Isaac was born! But Abraham had to keep his covenant with God – that he and every male in his family and/or household be circumcised as a sign of their covenant with God.

GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS COVENANT WITH US WHEN WE ARE FAITHFUL IN OUR COVENANT TO HIM!!!!

Psalm 27: 13-14
13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Isaiah 41:18-20
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. 19 I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, 20 so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

John 12:9
9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

The priests plotted to kill Lazarus bc he was a living, breathing, walking, talking testimony of the authority and power of God flowing and working through Jesus. The enemy would in the same way set out to destroy us – the more we become living, breathing, walking, talking testimonies of the authority and power of God.

II Kings 5: 1-27
God uses Elisha to deliver Naaman from leprosy. Naaman offers Elisha money but he refuses payment. Only telling Naaman to “go in peace”. Gehazi (Elisha’s servant) ran out after Naaman and lied to receive money and garments from Naaman “in the name of Elisha” …..when Gehazi comes back Elisha questions his servant as to his where abouts – Gehazi stands in his master’s presence and lies to his master’s face telling him that he not gone anywhere…. Elisha’s spiritual discernment knew better. Elisha told him that “My heart went with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet with you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olives groves, and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants”

Because of Gehazi’s greed and lies to Elisha – because he preyed on a vulnerable man that had just been delivered from leprosy – Elisha wanted to make certain that Naaman knew God was the one who truly delivered him – but his servant went behind his back and marred the blessed event that had just taken place. For that reason Gehazi was cursed – in fact he left the presence of Elisha with the leprosy from Naaman and it clung to him and his descendants.

God says – NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO SIN AGAINST GOD OR THOSE GOD HAS APPOINTED AS HIS AUTHORITY IN OUR LIVES.

Luke 4:6
Worship the Lord your God and serve HIM only.

Lucifer was described in Ezekiel 28:13 as the great worship angel
“The great workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created”

It was also describes Lucifer as a beautiful being at the time: Ezekiel 28:13
Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.

Verse 17 goes on to tell of why Lucifer fell from Heaven
“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.”

It was the greed and the attitude of pride that cause Lucifer the beautiful angel of worship to fall from God’s favor and God’s Love.

AGAIN – God says – NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO SIN AGAINST GOD OR THOSE GOD HAS APPOINTED AS HIS AUTHORITY IN OUR LIVES.

During my entire prayer time last night on the front porch – there was white lightning going on all around me in what was a deep night but cloudless sky – no rain in the air….

Lightning means: A sudden charge from a major happening…..charge can mean jolt, emotionally, physically, spiritually = sudden “wake up call” – I believe this speaks to what I said yesterday about “Awakening the Watchmen” and the stirring that we are feeling right now in our midst.