Word for Now and Into New Year by Joni Ames - Identity Network

Word for Now and Into New Year by Joni Ames

Identity Network

 

I'm very excited that we are now into a brand new year on the Jewish Calendar. Although I'm not one of those that try to put us "under the law," in that realm, I do appreciate knowing our heritage as grafted into the vine. I feel times like this give us a 'new chance' to go forth anew in what He has for us.

 

If you have been experiencing a rough time in the area of your mind, I challenge you in this time and season to allow - and even to ask the Lord - to give to you an "attitude adjustment" so that you can walk in all He has for you in this season. Truly, our attitude can often determine our altitude. The Israelites missed out on their Promised Land due to their attitude. For sure, we don't want that to get in the way of us experiencing what God might have for us.

 

We can choose to operate in the spirit of self-control and thus control what frame of mind to operate in.

 

Cast Down Your Imaginations

 

As the Word of God says, we can "Cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." With all the warfare there is out there, sometimes we just have to lay hands on our own head and declare that scripture over ourselves. And thankfully God's Word doesn't return void.

 

Years ago, the Lord gave me the adage, "If you let anything start stopping you, it will never stop stopping you. So don't."

 

There's nothing worth allowing the enemy to steal our purpose, call, and destiny.

 

Many times we think in terms of "What would we do if money was no object," and we get stuck on our "wanna be" or "wanna haves." But I challenge you to consider today the question of, what would you do if what God called you to do would cost you everything? If we approach with the attitude of "do or die," and we are committed to go forward in all He has for us, no matter what the cost, truly nothing can stop us from walking in victory. If more people took that approach regarding life, marriage, and their purpose, call, and destiny, we would realize that NOTHING is worth forsaking it.

 

There are many times in my life when the Lord has laid an opportunity in front of me and had me give up everything for the vision He gave me. I did that at the beginning of this year when I moved to Arizona. I gave up two mobile homes I owned and all my furniture, kitchen items, and a lot of other things. Not to mention moving over 2,000 miles from my children and grandchildren.

 

Sometimes we go through things like that and what we thought was going to occur doesn't happen. We stand there feeling like a fool and doubting our ability to hear from Him.

 

Trust me, that's where I've been this year as well. Yet I "know that I know that I know" He said to do it. But what I've come to realize is that His purposes sometimes don't match our expectations. But above all, "Father (God) knows best." And truly, you can't out give God. Eventually He restores better than you can ever imagine. Loss is nothing compared to the fact that faith in Him brings great gain.

 

His Timing is Different

 

Another thing is that His timing is usually much different than ours. Doggone it! I wish it was instant just like I want it to be, just to be honest! But sometimes we have to wait longer for the vision to come to pass than we thought or wanted to. But again, He knows best.

 

So are we really going to trust Him? Or give up on the brink of our miracle?

 

I'm going to be 61 in a little over a week. I don't want to pass through this life without walking in all that He has called me to. So that means not missing a chance to take the chance to do it. It means realizing that Kairos moments in time save time when we step through the portal that moment provides for us to do so. Because if we do, all that we have need of will meet us there.

It's all about faith. Which Hebrews 11:1 says is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen. And in verse 3, it says that the things that are made are produced by things that we cannot yet see. So, as crazy as it may sound, it's trusting that what we cannot even yet see already exists and will pass from the unseen realm into the seen realm at exactly the right moment in time. That's what faith in God is all about.

 

We can choose to believe or have faith in Him, or the lies and fears of the enemy. I choose God.

 

Coming Along Side Each Other

 

Another thing is, sometimes we need others in the Body of Christ to come alongside of us - or others need us to do so for them. We are not to be doing this thing called life alone as a lone ranger.

 

I was recently in a ministers' meeting, and they talked about the mighty redwood trees. I was fascinated as they explained that the roots of those trees only go about three feet deep, even though they stand so tall! But amazingly, what keeps them standing tall through winds and weather of all kinds is the fact that, under the surface, their roots grab a hold of each other, and help to hold each other up for hundreds of years! What a wonderful prophetic picture of what we should be doing for each other in the Body of Christ! Helping to keep each other rooted and grounded, and standing tall through all sorts of storms in life.

 

That's Love. The Word tells us that they will know we are Christians by our Love. Because God IS Love.

 

An Eye to See

 

On the Jewish calendar, we are in the 5770's. The 70's portion is called "Ayin," and it means, "eye, to see" and thus be awake. We are in a time of awakening.

 

2014/5774 was Ayin Dalet, the year of the open door. 2015/5775 was the year our eyes saw rescue, and the year that Messiah/Jesus walked through the open door and obtained for the believer the double, triple and quadruple portion.

 

This year, 5776/2016, is Ayin Vav (pronounced "waw"), the Year of the Big Jubilee, the Year of Light and things happening at the speed of light, and is called a time when God will peg, fasten, and secure us to His promises. A jubilee year is a time of great restoration, as Joel 2:25 promises, a time when we will have even lost time restored to us.

 

Ezra 9:8-9 is for this time: And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.  For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

 

My goodness! What a wonderful time of promise! A time when we are fastened to His Promises and we will see the House of God come forth in great glory! Let us not look at the giants in the land, but go forth into the huge fruit that lies up ahead!

 

Walk Forward

 

Time to stop listening to the naysayers and doomsday proclaimers and realize that, even though it's a time of great darkness, God's Isaiah 60:1-2 promise is ours, and a time when His light and glory will rise and shine upon, in, and through us - His people! Glory to God!!!

 

So, lift up the hands that hang down and straighten your feeble knees, and walk forward into all that God has for us!

 

One more thing - a prophetic sign - the Super Bowl this coming year is number 50. That's the number of Jubilee. And God said to tell you to expect to see HIS Super Bowl come forth for you in this coming year!

 

As it says in Rev 8, the bowls of incense, mixed with the prayers of the saints, will bring forth much fruit, and we will see the works of the enemy be destroyed and His people come forth in victory. Yay God!!!

 

Don't let the conspiracy theorists mess up your theology. Stick to God's Word and walk in His power and victory. For those called by His Name, the BEST truly IS yet to come!!!

 

Love & Blessings.

 

Joni Ames

www.joniames.com

 

Go here to read more articles by Joni Ames.

 

 

 

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Ancient Prayer Book Highlights Judeo-Christian Heritage

By Julie Stahl and Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau

Friday, September 19, 2014

JERUSALEM, Israel -- A rare Jewish prayer book is on display for the first time ever. It is part of an exhibit highlighting the Jewish-Christian heritage of the Bible and the Jewish roots of Christianity.

The 1,200-year-old Hebrew text can be seen at the in Jerusalem.

"It touches the hearts and souls of every Jew everywhere in Israel, everywhere in the world because it is the oldest known document, written document of a prayer book," said Amanda Weiss, director of the Bible Lands Museum.

CBN News received a private look at the prayer book as it arrived for exhibition.

"This is part of their heritage and we are excited to bring it here and we are excited to be able to do a lot more study on it because it's part of their tradition," said Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby and chairman of the Museum of the Bible, which will one day house the Green Family Collection of biblical artifacts.

The prayer book will be part of a larger exhibit called "The Book of Books," which includes some of the most important biblical texts ever seen in Israel.

Most of the exhibit comes from the Green family, who owns one of the largest collections of biblical artifacts in the world. It traces the written word from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Gutenberg Bible and beyond.

"It tells us about roots of history of the Jewish people, which obviously is where Christian foundation is built upon, Hebrew scripture," Green told CBN News.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu viewed the ancient book before its unveiling and became one of the few people to ever read from it.

"This prayer book is a most important find," Netanyahu said at his office. "It is written in Hebrew and contains the prayers that the people of Israel say to this very day. It is a connection between our past and our present and that is something of great value."

Green also presented Netanyahu with a rare parchment from his collection of religious texts as a gift. Originally found in the Cairo Geniza, the parchment dates from the 12th and13th centuries. It includes a dialogue written in Arabic about the relationship between man and his creator.

Weiss said the book was dated by carbon-14 testing to the year 820 and there's still a lot to learn about it.

"We know it comes from the Middle East for sure," she said.

The 50-page compilation was written by four different scribes. It is opened to the Shacharit prayer. Based in large part on the Book of Psalms and other scriptures, it's the same prayer Jewish people around the world still pray in the morning.

Prayers like, "Bless the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say 'Amen. Halleluyah!'"

"It helps them understand more of its roots," Green said.

Interest in "The Book of Books" exhibit has been overwhelming.

"I have never experienced an exhibition so globally appreciated by everyone that's seen it," Weiss told CBN News.

With the condition of the world today, Green says the message of the Bible is more important than ever.

"There's not a better time than today than to have people take a look at this book," Green explained. "When you have a book that says that the summation of this book is to love God and to love one another, I think that's a message for this world today and has been a message for the world since the beginning."

Israelis Speak Out on Jesus

Tuesday, September 09, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff

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Yeshua

Canadian-Israeli journalist Corey Gil-Shuster has for the past couple years been conducting a very interesting campaign titled “Ask an Israeli / Ask a Palestinian” that recently focused on local Jewish views on Jesus.

As part of the effort, Gil-Shuster accepts questions from abroad regarding some of the more burning issues in the region, from the peace process to Islamic extremism to faith in Jesus.

Earlier this summer, Gil-Shuster took to the streets and pointedly asked a random sampling of average Israelis (both religious and secular) who Jesus is to them, and why Jews typically don’t accept him as their messiah.

A common theme appeared throughout many of the responses in that most Israelis acknowledge Jesus’ Jewish heritage, but believe (as a result of Christian history) that he broke away from Judaism to start a new religion.

A number of respondents expounded on this theme, noting that because, in their view, the religion of Jesus (Christianity) teaches that the Torah commandments are no longer valid, it is not an acceptable faith for Jews.

Watch the video (hat tip: Rosh Pina Project):

This wasn’t the first time Gil-Shuster took these questions to the Israeli street. Last year, he more broadly asked Israelis what they thought of Jesus, Mary and Christianity:

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Antioch International Church & Christians For Messiah Ministries to buy Heritage Barn & Studio (Fort Mill, SC)

Love For His People Editor's Note: On Feb. 17, 2014, Peter Wyns and Jesse Enns, pastors of Antioch International Church, took the board members of the church and Peter's ministry, Christians For Messiah Ministries, through these facilities in Fort Mill, SC. My wife Laurie and I have been members of Peter's ministry since its beginning in 2004.

Last week it was publicly announced that they are purchasing the property, along with The Studio, class rooms (formerly Heritage School and later Crown Christian Academy where my kids graduated from - Josh and Ben), and 16 acres. 

Having been PTL Lifetime Partners in 1985, with our three membership, and seeing the "former glory" of these grounds, we are excited to witness and share in the Lord's ongoing restoration of the property, for His purposes and will in the nations.

Blessings follow!

Steve & Laurie Martin

Founders

Love For His People, Inc.

THE BARN at Heritage (formerly PTL/Heritage USA)

More later!

Steve Martin