From the desk of Steve Shultz:
We have just entered the weeklong Jewish Holiday known as the Feast of Tabernacles. This is a celebration of unity, joy, rest, restoration and ingathering. It's a time for the saints to come together and celebrate the goodness of God amongst us.
I like these two words by Chuck Pierce and Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda. JOY is the word of the hour. I like what the Chavdas share here: 2010 is a year that small beginnings will end in great rejoicing! Seed the heavens with your praise!
Yes, no matter if you celebrate this feast or not, it's always good to praise the Lord in ALL things and at ALL times.
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Chuck D. Pierce:
Receive Joy and Strength!
Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles!
Enter the week of Feasting and Celebration! The Feast of Tabernacles is a weeklong celebration of "rejoicing in the Lord." It's a time to put aside our regular activities and feast on His goodness. It's a time for a fresh experience of His Glory. It's designed to be a foretaste of Heaven!
This is a prophetic Feast for God's people in every nation. This is how the sheep and goats will be determined in the future. The Feast of Tabernacles is filled with feasting and celebration. We must begin with Praise, move into Presence and then end with JOY and celebration!
The Tabernacles celebration is a unique feast recognized by temporary shelters (sukkot, or booths) being constructed and lived in during the week of the festival. The English word "tabernacle" means a temporary or movable building or shelter. The relatively flimsy sukkah is a striking reminder that our lives on earth are but temporary, and our reliance and trust are not in our material possessions but in our faithful and loving Father and in the One who "tabernacled" among us - Yeshua, His Son and our Messiah.
Sukkot, also called the "feast of ingathering" (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13), is the third of the great annual festivals outlined in Leviticus 23:33-43. The Feast was designed to be a memorial of the wilderness wanderings when the people dwelt in booths (Leviticus 23:43), as well as a joyful harvest thanksgiving (Nehemiah 8:9-18). The ingathering of fruits was a prophetic picture of the spiritual harvest that is coming. This Feast is a forerunner of the glorious Wedding Feast to be celebrated when our Heavenly Bridegroom returns for His Bride!
Here are some special Scriptures to read: Numbers 29:12-16, Zechariah 14, 1 Kings 8:2-21, Nehemiah 8, John 7-8, and Revelation 21:1-4. John 1:14 says, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us." Here the Apostle John uses a verb form of the same Greek word that is used to translate the Hebrew word for "booth" (sukkah).
May He be your shelter and tabernacle you in the midst of the shaking structures in the world (Joel 3:16-17).
Chuck D. Pierce
Glory of Zion International Ministries
Email: chuckp@glory-of-zion.org
Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda:
Seed the Heavens with Joy!
With joy you will draw from the wells of salvation! (Isaiah 12:3)
Joy Inexpressible
We are in the season of the most joyous Hebraic feast of the year – The Feast of Tabernacles. It is the Feast that points to the great ingathering of the end of the age and the return of our Messiah to tabernacle among us. It was the time that the Jews celebrated the harvest and prayed for the latter rains that would come and water the seeds for the next year's provision.
It culminated in the great ceremony of the Water Libation, where Jesus said in John 7:37-38, "Anyone who is thirsty, come to Me and drink, He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" pointing to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the celebration of Simchat Torah, literally, the Joy in the Torah that God gave to the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai. We have the fulfillment of this Law written in our hearts through Jesus Christ.
When Israel celebrated her God with praise and rejoicing, God responded by opening the heavens and pouring out His rain for the coming harvest. As we fast and pray for awakening in America, one way we open the heavens is with our "praise and rejoicing." Our spiritual mentor and father, Derek Prince, always taught that joy is a decision. We may or may not feel the emotion, but it's a decision that we make as we worship and praise the Lord.
1 Peter 1:7-8 says, "The genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory."
There is a joy inexpressible and full of glory. It is bubbling over; it's hard to describe what it is. This joy is full of glory. When you're around the glory, you get joy, and we get around the glory through our praises.
God's address is praise – He is enthroned on the praises of His people. And where He is, He answers prayer. He is Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace. He is Jehovah Rohi, the Lord our Shepherd. He is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our Banner; He is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who hears; He is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals us. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Praise the Lord, and give heartfelt thanks to the Source of all our provision and blessing.
2010 Will End in Great Rejoicing!
We cultivate a heart of praise and rejoicing through our relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of joy in your life, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…" (Galatians 5:22). The Kingdom of God is our peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Pray in the Spirit, let His river of joy bubble up and release His song through you. Spiritual forces of darkness will try to pull you down, but the antidote to any attack whether emotional or in our circumstances is to praise the Lord. This is the antidote to spiritual and natural drought, famine and lack.
Zephaniah 3:17 says, "The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing." Begin to praise the Lord and sing in the Spirit. He will save you, rejoice over you, quiet you, sing over you and deliver you. Deliverance comes as we sing to the Lord.
A watchman at our church is a small business owner who has experienced this first hand. For three years she and her husband have not been able to take a salary from their business just to keep it from going under. They had come to the end of their savings and were in danger of losing everything as we came into the slowest time of the year. She took hold of this prophetic word and began to declare God's praise over her situation. Last week she came with the report: Her business had had the best summer sales quarter in its history! She and her husband are getting a paycheck this month.
2010 is a year that small beginnings will end in great rejoicing! Seed the heavens with your praise! As Israel celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles, may we all experience the "rivers of living water" and come into a fresh season of joy, revival and harvest. Drink deeply, and let His Spirit fill you with His praises and joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda
Mahesh Chavda Ministries
Email: info@maheshchavda.com
