The year 2023 has begun, not an easy one. The most important is that we don’t remain in a condition where things are going the old way, we are used to it all and there’s nothing that could surprise us. When a man is getting old he comes into this condition. When the church gets weak, it can’t really feel changes and takes it lightly when things change. We must be on watch.
Revelation
Many began to speak of darkness “this is light” and went towards it, and called the light darkness and fled from it. They saw distortedly. Their eye sight was twisted, though they didn’t notice it. They needed sight correction and were given help by those who saw correctly or who had gone through this process. Different kind of correction was needed for those who saw wrongly. Some were simply put mud on the eyes, and after that they began to see correctly. For some they prayed and those began to see. But others required an operation for full correction.
For those who move under the mantle, we all are going a certain way, and we have corporate knowledge, the knowledge of God. Many revelations add to this knowledge in different ways. When the Lord gives His voice, great is the company of those who proclaim it. “A lion has roared, the Lord God has spoken- who can but prophesy?” When a lion roars it’s like a prophecy. So those many proclaim the Word, but I release the lion’s roar, the general revelation through the Word.
Recently we touched upon the Missions history in Europe. There were those Apostolic men in early ages, by whose word many gates were open, they were accompanied by great miracles and preached to nobles.
It is difficult to preach to nobles today so that they would listen to you. Back in those days those missionaries came to nobles full of the Spirit, they had an undamaged testimony, their reputation wasn’t lost.
It is easy to give a pure girl for marriage, but the situation is different when a woman has been in other men’s hands. Likewise with the church today – the nobles wouldn’t listen to her, because she’s lost her reputation.
Therefore, today we need to understand new strategies, which are not actually new, but are hidden in the Gospel, in the eternal Word of Christ, in the power of signs and miracles. As Paul wrote, that God’s goodwill was to reveal His Son through him, and he also performed miracles and signs with great power, in Apostolic patience, suffering with the Gospel.
So we’ve got to take these eternal values and gain new strategies of preaching to the world. It is written “the bridegroom was delayed”, but God is not delayed – this is a strategy. But she turned to the ways of apostasy. The same thing with Israel: He says He will make a New Covenant because “you have broken the former Covenant”.
Three signs that the church must have.
First is Christ likeness
Second is the knowledge of God. Third is the church filled with the Spirit, not with earthly goods. And she must also fulfill the prophecies given about her – preach God’s peace, so that no people remains that haven’t heard about Christ.
Thus, the Lord will give a second chance to the Bride.
What does He want from us today? That we pass this test of faithfulness, after all the deception and abuse, so that this young woman proves her love this time.
The same refers to Israel, because the New Covenant with Israel is the appearance of Christ. The Lord has not abandoned His people, but has take them through the fire and waters and will take them into freedom.
And the two shall become one, Israel and the Bride of the Gentiles, as both go through the test again, and they will pass it in faithfulness, and then the Lord shall make them one, and it shall be a worthy Bride clothed in faithfulness.
Thus, there’s no surprise in God shaking all the nations. And of course, the Lord is occupied with the purl. But we can’t be growing just within ourselves. Christ died for the whole world, in order to take His chosen ones. Today whoever turns his heart can enter in, he is the chosen one. We’ve got to buy this field of the world today for the sake of the purl.
I believe that nations are shaking today so that the Church may shine out. All things are around this, because the earth and all works on it shall burn, all the achievements and songs shall silence down, only the unshakable shall remain.
The Lord said He would shake all the nations and then the Desire of the nations shall come, and the glory of the latter temple shall be greater that of the former one.
We’ve got to realize that the Word is becoming more and more alive. We need a new approach.
There are different approaches and methods, I studied many of them and even received a Doctor’s degree. But as I look back, it gives me absolutely nothing. I can’t have that as a ground neither in my prayer nor within myself, nor in talking with people, nor in evangelism – it doesn’t help me at all.
Education will not save us. It can inform, and knowledge is strength in a certain degree. But our strength is the Lord. The Lord want disciples, not scientists. A disciple follows his master and does as he does.
We need a new approach to the Word. This is nourishment, this is food, this is access to revelation, this is a door. We can have the Scripture work in a much more powerful way.
We can study the Scripture, but those will be human efforts with no revelation, which eventually leads to separating chapters of Jeremiah as to which are from God and which aren’t; and to excluding the Letter of James, because Martin Luther considered it wasn’t from God. Thus we are further and further away from God’s revelation.
But my spirit responds only to what is the truth. It doesn’t matter whether you read certain books or not, but we come to the Scripture, from where God is speaking to you. You pass things where He doesn’t speak and you stop where He is communicating to you. This is like a great sphere that has windows, and wherever the light shines for your spirit, deep calling unto deep – there you’ve got to respond, like a bird that knows exactly the time when it takes off to fly thousands miles over the ocean.
God speaks. And like birds of God we must live knowing the Voice, knowing this divine instruction of the Spirit.
Gifts are meant for something greater than serving inside places. Not even healing in the streets only. But God appearance. This is much bigger, when man breathes eternity and emanates what Adam lost. He has access to the tree of life, he knows the thoughts of the Father, he has the knowledge of God – this is higher than prophesying in a prayer house.
Therefore, today we need this new approach to the Word – to plunge into it like an ocean; drink from this living river, taste of Him. You can live by one verse for a month or more if you’ve truly received it. Or you can read chapters and see nothing, just torturing yourself with much reading, but it doesn’t help, there’s only disappointment.
I want to move in what pierces me the most, which, of course, is not in the head, but in the heart.
You live not by what you know, but by what you love. We all know how to behave, but we don’t behave like it, but the way we love. Therefore, love is needed, cultivate and direct it.
When we come to the Word this way, the Lord begins to speak to us from this Word, not in terms and notions, but there’s His voice behind it – we read His voice to our heart, and the heart starts to blossom. Even if it is washed with tears, let it be so, it is all meant for blossom, for life.
“And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!” (Gen.48) Jacob already berried his son, but he is revived as he sees him.
“So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth” – Joseph had not “egyptised”
“And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn”.
Joseph was all tense anticipating the father’s blessing.
Today we need to understand the nature of blessing. It’s not just “may the Lord bless you”. The ancient gave a conscious blessing with a specific purpose. Because they were prophets. Look at Jacob’s blessing:
“God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless the lads;
Let my name be named upon them,
And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
Jacob embraces the two sons into Israel, though they were 13th. He blesses them with the name of Abraham and Isaac and doesn’t go to Terah, because Terah didn’t live in faith. Abraham was lead into faith, so he names his fathers starting with Abraham, only those who entered Canaan according to the prophecy and lived in faith. And this was only grandson, not any further descendants, but with Abraham started new calendar.
“Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused” – because he saw it all in a vision and did everything the way it had to be. Whatever man tries to turn around, God puts it all into its place.
… and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.
So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh”.
This is such a depth of treasures.
Christ taught about blessing, and we need to learn it today: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew: 44-48)
Do not perceive this topic of blessing as if you knew it. I’ve come to the point of taking blessing seriously, weighing my words as I bless.
Many times we use “stamp” kind of words, but the ancient never did so. We’ve got to understand what it really is. Yes, there’s Aaron’s blessing, but it can’t be said generally all the time.
Blessing always come personally, prophetically, it comes from the heart.
Both blessing and curse worked, we know it from the Bible: what was said about Jezebel was fulfilled, and the house of David was blessed as the Lord blessed him.
But today often our blessing has no effect. Why? Because it is given lightly, “stamp” type; also we give what we don’t have ourselves. How can you bless with what you don’t have?
Blessing as a prophecy implies the nature of the ancient as they did it, the prophecy of God’s goodness and truth.
Therefore, we need to learn and gain the power of blessing, as well as be careful with saying bad words of other people – word has a great power. Let our mouths be kept pure. Let our sward of the mouth not be rusty metal, but let it shine like the sun.
It is very important today to bless nations.
It is very important to bless the enemies and those who curse you. These are the words of Christ, Christ teaching, which to be fulfilled.
Ephraim was once set in the Bible like a model of sin: “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim…” (Isaiah 28:1) – people who were deceived and lost.
But the blessing, which was given to the righteous down to a thousand generations, still has the power of redemption.
It says in the book of Jeremiah:
“They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn”. (Jer.31:9)
This is not Jacob speaking, this is already God speaking.
The youngest son of the twelve, the very last of the twelve that entered the name of Jacob as patriarchs. There’s a mystery there, which we have not yet understood, why there’s Joseph, but yet there’s Manasseh and Ephraim…
But the very last Ephraim is now the first born. It’s neither Judah nor Joseph, but he takes Ephraim.
“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’ For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord— for wheat and new wine and oil,
For the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all. “Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow. I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.” (Jer.31:10-14)
When the Lord declares these words, He also says:
“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself – there was a lot of wickedness associated with Ephraim, but
‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, for You are the Lord my God. Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’”
– There is this time of twisted paths, but today we are coming to the maturity
And further on the Lord responds:
“Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child?” – that very last one with Jacob’s hands crossed.
Here it is revealed, why Jacob insisted on his crossed hands.
“For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.”
There, brothers and sisters, the Lord is our Refuge, He gives refuge, the Lord is the Redeemer! As soon as we turn to Him with a cry of repentance…
This is a door, this is a portal. Reflect today on God the Redeemer, God the Refuge. He never abandons His children. He shall give a second chance to the Bride. He is giving a second chance to Israel.
I love Israel not with the love of the soul, but the Lord revealed once her spiritual beauty, which is impossible to describe with words, but I realized – this is how the Father loves.
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
This is about Ephraim. Remember these words “Ephraim is My firstborn”.
The very last son of the Patriarchs – it is already fifth generation, this is beyond the measure, this is grace upon grace; the Lord takes him and puts him first.
This is what the Lord does. The same was with David, when He killed the first child, who had no name even, from Bathsheba, but from the same man and woman Jedidiah was born.
This is the way our Lord is. And I engrave it upon the tablets of my heart – “Ephraim is My firstborn”.