Rick Ridings: 21-Day Fast for the "Glory" Prophesied in Isaiah 60 to Be Poured Out on Israel's 60th Anniversary
As we approach Israel's 60th birthday, in the prayer and worship watches at Succat Hallel, (our 24/7 house of prayer overlooking Mt. Zion in Jerusalem), the Holy Spirit has often brought Isaiah 60 to our attention. I believe we are at a unique moment in history, where the Lord is calling us to pray and fast in a focused way for the fulfillment of His promises to Israel in Isaiah 60.
This chapter starts out by predicting: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn."
Israel's 60th birthday will be celebrated on May 8th on the Hebrew calendar (the Hebrew date Iyar 3, 5768) and on May 14th on the Western, Gregorian calendar. Our conference for Israeli youth/young adults will start on May 8th (for information click here). Also on May 11th, our friend Lou Engle, will be leading "The Call" in Jerusalem (for information click here).
As I was praying about issuing this call to prayer and fasting concerning Isaiah 60, I received a phone call from a Latin American prophetic minister, Alejandra Quiros, explaining to me that recently in Spain, the Lord spoke to her heart to gather Hispanics from many countries to Spain this year, and to come by ship from the site of ancient Tarshish and bring gifts to Israel in ships, in direct fulfillment of Isaiah 60:8-9. I feel encouraged that the Lord wants us to seek Him for a great outpouring that would mark a new point in the fulfillment of Isaiah 60.
Why a 21-day fast? Because, at the end of a 21-day fast, Michael the angel who defends Israel, came to Daniel saying that a spiritual battle had been won, and now Michael could give revelation to Daniel concerning the future of the Jewish people and Israel (see Daniel 10:12-14).
Would you ask the Lord if He would have you be a part of this fast? If you would like to fast through the "One Thing Israel" youth/young adult conference and "The Call Jerusalem," you would need to start on April 20th. Also, please forward this call to fasting and prayer to your friends who might be interested.
For more information on our 24/7 house of prayer overlooking Mt. Zion, see: www.jerusalempraise.com.
Grace and shalom,
Rick Ridings
Co-Founder, Succat Hallel
24-Hour Worship and Prayer in Jerusalem
From the desk of Steve Shultz:
This is the Time the Jewish People Celebrate THE PASSOVER. It's what Jesus did at "THE LAST SUPPER!"
As a Gentile Believer, I've participated in probably four Passover Seders. I even organized one very large Passover Seder for over 100 people once. "What's a Seder?" you might ask.
"The Passover Seder (Hebrew: "order", "arrangement") is a Jewish ritual feast held on the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover (the 15th day of Hebrew month of Nisan). Outside of Israel, the Seder is held twice, on the first and second nights of Passover (the 15th and 16th days of Nisan). According to the Gregorian calendar, the holiday usually comes out in April. This year, Passover begins at sundown on Saturday April 19 and ends at nightfall on Sunday April 27.
Families gather around the table on the night of Passover to read the Haggadah, the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. Seder customs include drinking of four cups of wine, eating matza, and partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate. The Seder is a family ritual, although communal Seders are also organized by synagogues, schools and community centers. These Seders are usually open to the general public. With the Haggadah serving as a guide, the Seder is performed in much the same way all over the world."
As Gentiles, we are not required by Scripture to participate in yearly feasts. However, from time to time, I have found it beneficial, both to understand Jewish thought and our Jewish Messiah. It also is helpful to understand the night of the "Last Supper" which Jesus participated in with His disciples on the night before He BECAME the Passover Lamb.
Enjoy this Passover Season and if you get a chance, why not experiment, participating in a Seder. You'll learn great things, I promise.
We've prepared for you two CD's called, WHY IS ISRAEL ALWAYS ON GOD'S MIND? by Jill Austin and Sandra Teplinsky. In addition, we have a book by Chuck Pierce, who often speaks on the feast of God, called, INTERPRETING THE TIMES. It's Chuck's newest book.
They are listed just below (here) and also at the bottom of this word by Reuven Doron:
Blessings,
Steve Shultz
Reuven and Mary Lou Doron:
"PASSOVER--
Our Everlasting Deliverance"
"For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." I Corinthians 5:7-8
Passover is all about Jesus' sacrifice and our deliverance. Consequently, the Word of God admonishes us to celebrate this reality with a genuine and sincere heart of reverence and worship, taking in the full measure of grace and truth that the feast points to. God believes in refreshing our salvation experience knowing that the world, the flesh, and the devil war against the new creation within us and will wear us down unless we remember and practice the truth. The Biblical Feasts are our reminders.
The entire Jewish world, as well as many Christians who recognize the Lord in the Biblical Feasts, will be immersed once again in the celebration of Passover. On this special evening, millions of souls from the four corners of the earth will engage in elaborate ceremonies including Scripture readings, singing, dining and teaching God's Word, all focusing on the saga of Israel's great exodus from Egypt.
Remembering Our Journey
God commanded Israel in Deuteronomy 16, "Observe the month of Abib (Aviv--spring) and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God...you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd...seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction...so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt...You shall remember that you were a slave..."
The Passover Feast is intended to inspire God's people to remember where they came from and Who their Deliverer is. Against the dark background of the oppression, hardships, futility and desperation of slavery, God's work of deliverance shines brightly, dispensing fresh hope and assurance from one generation to the next. Passover tells us that God knows our fallen estate, that He hears our cries, and that He will come to deliver us.
When things go from bad to worse and when all hope is gone--Passover points to our Savior, our beacon of hope and anchor of faith. It is the testimony of His rescue mission; leading a people who are storm-tossed, helpless and lost, to a safe harbor. Don't you need a Passover reminder every so often?
Feast of Freedom--Freedom For What?
The key message of Passover is, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me" (Exodus 8:1). Israel was set free from Egypt's oppression for the purpose of service and worship. Freedom, in this respect, is not an end unto itself, rather a means to a godly life of service and fruitfulness.
In fact, a careful study of the pre-exodus events in Egypt reveals that the Passover miracle was offered to a people who barely wanted it. Yes, the children of Israel cried out to the Lord for help in their affliction, but their concept of help was not what God had in mind. All they wanted was RELIEF. God, on the other hand, was accomplishing DELIVERANCE!
Many of God's children are in the same place today. We beg God for help in our CIRCUMSTANCES, while at the same time we resist His deep work of deliverance in our HEARTS. The message of freedom may be popular and politically correct in western culture, but very seldom do the advocates of "freedom" ever lead those "freshly freed" into a life of substance and meaning. Often the newly acquired freedom, be it political, economical or ideological, merely opens the door for the next trap.
Freedom for the sake of freedom is insufficient. Freedom is but a license to become--the rest is choice! Once freed from oppression, whatever a person or a nation may become is entirely subject to their choices. The nations that the USA has liberated in recent decades are in that very balance today. As is obvious to any honest observer, freedom alone, without taking on the yoke of God, is not the solution for anybody's problems. In fact, the Lord warned us sternly that a freed soul which is not filled with godly substance will eventually end up seven times worse than its original state (Matthew 12:43-45).
What is True Deliverance?
As Israel was in Egypt, likewise are many today. We wallow in oppression in the enemy's grip, we cry out for relief, God sends deliverance to break our yoke and our propensities to become enslaved again, we fuss and complain for fear of change and loss of the familiar, God "turns up the heat" to help us make up our minds, and finally, we are delivered, almost in spite of ourselves! Some of you are in this very quandary right now "negotiating" with God how delivered you really want to be. Pray that when you entreat God for RELIEF, you will also be made willing to accept His full DELIVERANCE. That is what Passover is all about.
True deliverance, as the Passover teaches, does not come without conflict and drastic changes. Newly acquired liberty always calls for responsibility, faith and accountability. In Israel's case, deliverance from slavery necessitated an initial deterioration of their conditions and extreme changes in lifestyle, location and priorities. The nation was evacuated overnight from its 400 year old roots in the fertile land of Goshen and was thrust into an extended wilderness trek. Eventually, true deliverance will lead the liberated souls into purposeful and intentional warfare in order to clear the Promised Land and take possession of God's promises, as was the case with Israel in Canaan.
Applying these principles to our lives, one can better understand why the Apostle Paul charged the disciples to "...celebrate the feast...with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth..." He said so, knowing that our instinctive carnal tendencies will always follow the "path of least resistance," keeping us content with temporary relief rather than genuine deliverance and transformation. Is your Passover experience one of lasting deliverance or merely temporary relief? The Holy Spirit is not another fix!
Jesus--the Lamb of God
The historic Passover, though nearly 3,500 years old, is rich with relevance for those who live today in the reality of Christ's work of redemption. The ten plagues which brought down Egypt's gods, speak of the spiritual warfare that is constantly raging in the Heavens on our behalf. Pharaoh's calculated hardness of heart still serves God's purposes in magnifying the power of the Lord while drawing His people to His "exit strategy."
The bitter herbs; the roasted meat; the blood of a perfect lamb; the unleavened bread; the terrible night when the angel of death passed over the Hebrew homes; the exodus on the following morning carrying Egypt's treasures, and the enemy's last ambush by the Red Sea all testify of God's great work of salvation in Christ. Ultimately, they all point to Jesus, our Great Deliverer!
The Beginning
Not only is the Passover a defining event in Israel's identity, it is also at the core of the Lord's own calling and mission when He came to earth to save us. Of all of the Lord's majestic names and titles, He was prophetically recognized and celebrated as the Lamb of God when He first emerged from his hidden Galilean life and stepped onto center stage in Judea.
Baptizing the Jewish nation at the Jordan River while preparing the way for the Lord, John saw Jesus coming down to the river bank and declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!...I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God" (John 1:29-34). Led by the Spirit into His public ministry on earth, the Son of God revealed Himself first as the Lamb of God preparing for the great and ultimate Passover.
The Culmination
Jesus identified Himself as the Lamb of God not only at His initial public appearing by the Jordan, but also at the closing of His earthly mission in Jerusalem three and a half years later. It was during the Passover meal at the upper room that our Savior lifted up the cup, broke bread, and announced the New Covenant that was soon to be confirmed in His own person and at His own expense. "...He said to them, 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God'" (Luke 22:15-16).
Though slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), the Son of God had to step through the portal of space and time to shed Holy Blood on our behalf at Jerusalem. His sacrificial death was determined from all eternity, but had to take place precisely on the Feast of Passover in order to fulfill all prophecy and righteousness. It is the Blood of God's own Passover Lamb that delivers us from the ultimate Egypt--our slavery to sin and the curse of death.
The Lamb in Eternity
The Lamb has not disappeared following His death and resurrection. He is in Heaven, and His Blood is still fresh upon the altar which is made without hands. Caught up in the Spirit, John described what he saw, saying, "...every created thing which is in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea...I heard saying, 'To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, (be) blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever'" (Revelation 5:13).
Even more, not only was the Lamb of God in the heart of Heaven's worship at the time of that vision, but John further prophesies that He will be there forever! Seeing the holy city in eternity, John testified, "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband...Her brilliance was like a very costly stone...I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp (is) the Lamb..." (Revelation 21).
For all eternity, the Lamb of God lives to make intercession and He is the King of kings. For all eternity His sacrificial work will continue to uphold and secure God's new creation. Passover, the Feast of sacrifice, deliverance, and freedom is our everlasting celebration.
Worship the Lamb
This is the season to celebrate Jesus our Savior and worship Him as God's perfect Lamb. He, who brought Israel out of Egypt, sustaining her during 4,000 turbulent years, is well able to save and to deliver you as well according to His word of promise. Passover is meant to help us remember!
Remember God.
Remember His love and faithfulness.
Remember the Lord's sacrificial death at Calvary.
Remember His power and intervention in your life yesterday. Remember to trust Him for tomorrow for:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8
Reuven and Mary Lou Doron
One New Man Call
Email: OneNewManMail@aol.com
