Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
JERUSALEM, Israel -- The recent Russian moves in Syria have many Christians asking, "Where are we in God's End Times timetable?"
CBN Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell discussed the issue with author and Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg in Jerusalem this week.
Click HERE to hear what Rosenberg told us about the book of Ezekiel, how world leaders are reacting to events in light of the Bible, and how Christians should be looking at seeming apocalyptic scenarios.
If you've seen the November issue of Charisma, you know it features Cindy Jacobs on the cover. It's an article about the prophetic, not so much a personality profile about Cindy.
We chose her to represent a bigger movement. That's because over the last 30 years, Cindy has come to exemplify the prophetic movement as it has grown in acceptance. We believe so much in Cindy's ministry that we included her as one of the 40 people who radically changed the world for our 40th anniversary issue of Charisma in August.
Now Cindy is celebrating her own anniversary—30 years—at a big banquet in Dallas tonight.
My wife, Joy, and I have known Cindy and her husband, Mike, for a long time. We've enjoyed many shared experiences, and we have become friends. We were invited to the banquet but were unable to attend, so this is my way to publicly say how much we love and appreciate Cindy and admire what God has done in her life.
I have also featured a telephone interview with her on my podcast today. In it Cindy talks about her recent trip to China and what she taught the house church leaders about the prophetic. She is also starting an initiative for a prayer walk across the United States in preparation for the elections in 2016.
In case you missed the short article on Cindy, I am reprinting it below because Diana Scimone, the author, captured only in a few words the essence of this godly woman's life and ministry.
Cindy Jacobs: Prophetic Intercessor
By Diana Scimone
Generals of earthly armies rarely think about raising up other generals. For Cindy Jacobs, however, the call is clear: Mobilize a supernatural army and raise up and train generals to lead it.
In 1985, she and her husband, Mike, founded an organization now known as Generals International, which works to transform nations through intercessory prayer and the prophetic. That means if it's in the news, Cindy Jacobs usually has something to say about it—not an opinion or commentary, but a prophetic word or a call to militant prayer. Thousands of believers all over the world see her "Shields up!" emails in their inbox and hit their knees in intercession.
"[Generals International] is one of the key ministries in these times, helping to set the stage and get people in their place prepared for the times," says Rick Joyner, executive director of MorningStar Ministries.
This unique call on Jacobs' life dates back to a Bible camp when she was nine years old. God told her He had something special He wanted her to do for Him—which she assumed would be a missionary or pastor's wife. Years later, when she realized He was calling her to be a prophetic intercessor and voice to the nation mobilizing a global army of prayer warriors, her response was clear. "I asked God to use my husband instead of me!" she says. "You know the prayer: 'Here I am, Lord. Send someone else.'" Not surprisingly, the one who relented was not God but Jacobs. No one will ever know how many national disasters have been averted because Jacobs said "yes" to God then and continues raising up generals and calling them to militant intercession well into the 21st century.
If you are interested in more about Cindy, here is a link to a long article about her ministry on her website.
If Cindy has blessed your life or you know of others who are interested in the prophetic, forward this and add your comments. And, join me in congratulating her and Mike on their 30th anniversary of ministry.
Steve Strangis the founder of Charisma and CEO of Charisma Media. Follow him onTwitter or Facebook.
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You just received discernment and believe it is from the Lord. Your concern is: "What do I do next?" My concern is what you didn't do next.
The next step is not taking action on the discernment you received, but testing it. Ask yourself questions such as: "Will this bear fruit and glorify the name of Jesus Christ, or will it distract and detour me from my godly assignment?"
When receiving discernment that you believe is from the Lord, you should stop and verify it is from the Lord, and not your flesh or the enemy trying to distract you. It is wisdom to verify the word (not analyze it) before you take action. Taking the word at face value without seeking confirmation and direction can detour you from the will of God.
We can prematurely act on a word because we feel it makes sense and we have comfort proceeding. We think, "I can do this." We are comfortable because it makes sense to us in the natural, but the question is: Do we have peace proceeding forth in the spiritual?
We are not natural people; we are spiritual beings. Moving forward with an idea because of our natural comfort is one of the main ways the enemy and our flesh can cause us to proceed in a wrong direction.
When you receive revelation, a prophetic word or an answer to prayer, take the next step. Discern it. Dissect it. Don't overthink and don't analyze. Test it. Bring it back to the Holy Spirit through prayer and test it against the Word of God.
We hear from three sources. We can hear from the Spirit of God, our own thoughts and the enemy. We hear God more clearly than we think. The challenge is sometimes we hear Him so clearly that we doubt what we heard and then we ask a person their opinion—leading to confusion. The enemy can send thoughts, which are lies, into our minds to confuse and distract, and our flesh can get involved by being analytical and letting our imagination take over.
God's Thought Downloads
God speaks to us through thoughts dropped in our spirit. When God speaks to us, we need not try to figure out the revelation, but rather receive the revelation He is giving.
You may have heard God's voice before saying, "Don't do that," "Take this road instead today" or "Give this much as an offering." You have heard God as you have prayed and felt you received your answer. However, don't just feel you have received the answer. Rather, know you have received the answer.
When you receive discernment, ask yourself, "Is this the way God usually speaks to me?" Verify it. He may speak to you in different ways, but He usually speaks to you the same way for a season. Ask God, "Why do you want me to head in this direction?"
Test the Scriptures to confirm if the revelation aligns with or contradicts God's Word. God will not tell you to do something that is against His Word. I once knew a woman God had been convicting regarding giving. She felt led to write an offering check for $5,000. She wrote the check in advance of a business transaction that was being completed. The deal fell through and she ended up in debt! That contradicts God's Word. If she would have tested the discernment, she would have stayed out of debt.
The Flesh Blocks Revelation
Our flesh gets involved in receiving revelation because we think about it instead of pray about it. When thinking about whether a thought is from God, we tend to overanalyze it and get impatient waiting on God for an answer.
Analytical people can plan out the answer instead of praying and receiving the answer. During prayer time, analytical people have difficulty shutting down their minds to receive from God. When analytical thoughts come into your mind, transfer those thoughts to your heart, to the place of love, where the Father is.
When you receive discernment and you are unsure about it, or even when you think you are sure of its source, ask yourself, "Is this the way I would think?" You may think you heard from God when really what you heard were your own thoughts.
Deceptions and Distractions
The enemy speaks to us with thoughts such as: "They don't like you; they are over there talking about you," or "You'll never lose weight; you can't do it." We have all heard the lies of the enemy. If you pay attention, you will be able to discern when and how the enemy speaks to you. When he speaks to me, I will hear, "Listen to me," in the sentence. God knows I hear His voice and doesn't have to say, "Listen to me."
If confusion is present in times of discernment, it is from the enemy. "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace" (1 Cor. 14:33).
The enemy will attempt to distract. When we don't pray about things in advance, it leaves the enemy an open door to sidetrack us.
Testing the Spirits
When testing the spirits, ask yourself if you are feeling convicted or condemned. Conviction from the Holy Spirit is quick and calls you to action. He presses you until you confess or act. Condemnation is from the enemy and makes you feel numb. Feeling heavy and bad about yourself produces complacency.
When you are confused, under pressure, scattered, stressed, oppressed and going through heavy trials and tests, your soul is highly activated and you could be experiencing demonic opposition.
As spiritual warfare occurs, you cannot automatically assume that you can hear God with the same clarity as in other times. All of us have heard wrongly at one time or another, and have regretted the decisions we made in the flesh.
In 1 John 4:1, the Word of God instructs us to test the spirits. If we are instructed to test the prophetic words given by prophets, then shouldn't we also test our own words and discernment?
There are times our flesh gets involved in the outcome. Increase discernment and cast down your flesh by being in the Word, praying and being around prophetic people who know how to test the spirits—people whose discernment produces results that are evident through the fruit of their ministry.
When you receive revelation from God, keep it in front of you and consistently pray it through.
Ask for His will to be further revealed and for Him to give you the spirit of revelation, knowledge, wisdom and understanding (Is. 11:2).
Be in tune and sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading.
You can and do hear from God. You just don't know how simple and clear it really is.
Kathy DeGrawis passionate about releasing and empowering people to share the love and power of God. She is the founder of DeGraw Ministries, a prophetic healing and deliverance ministry. DeGraw has written several books, including Flesh, Satan or God?: Who Are You Hearing From? Follow her on Facebook or online atdegrawministries.org.
Kathy DeGraw teaches you how to declare and decree your prayers so you can unleash the power of God through faith at degraw.charismamag.com.
NEW - Life in the Spirit is your Spirit-filled teaching guide. Encounter the Holy Spirit, hear God speak to you, and enjoy timeless teachings on love, mercy and forgiveness.LEARN MORE!
The growing hatred for Israel and for Jews is simply unfathomable. (Reuters)
You Won't Hear This on the Evening News About Israel
Last Wednesday, my family's WhatsApp group was buzzing. Daughter No. 1, away at college, heard news of a terrorist attack near our home. Knowing it's where we go grocery shopping, she wrote:
"Did something just happen at the grocery store?Everyone OK?"
Daughter No. 3 wrote, "What! Something happened at the store?"
Daughter No. 1, "I just heard that there was... nobody's there, right?"
Daughter No. 4, "No."
Daughter No. 2, "Where did you hear that?"
Daughter No. 1, "On the Internet."
Daughter No. 4 posted the article from the Internet.
Indeed. Something bad had happened.
Of course Dad No. 1 was away, far away from home. In fact, several thousand miles away. Between TV interviews and a presentation to Christian business and civic leaders trying to explain the situation, my family was feeling fear, and I was feeling guilt at not being home.
Shortly afterwards, we all learned that it was our neighbor Yaelle who was not only a witness to the incident but played a heroic role. Later that day, she shared her thoughts.
"Today was a day I will never forget. Wednesday is always (shopping) day. I left at my usual time and did my usual shopping. With all that's going on, I took one of my kids with me to look around the parking lot while I packed the car. As I pulled out of the parking lot, my daughter asked if I was scared to go to the grocery store. I said, "No." A minute later, my life was changed forever.
A woman was walking in front of my car. She was carrying many bags. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye I saw a man with a brown coat running to her. He raised his hand and stabbed her in the back. I immediately honked my horn and screamed to my daughter what was happening. We both started screaming hysterically. As soon as I started honking, the terrorist ran.
I got out of the car and started screaming for help. I ran to the woman who was on the ground. I told her, "It's ok. You are going to be ok." She stood up, but I saw she was weak. I held her and all of a sudden I saw soldiers running with their guns and the shooting started. I brought her to my car and told her to sit. There was blood all over my hand. My daughter ran to the bakery and was hysterical. She was surrounded by amazing women who wanted to help. Thank God my neighbor, who is a doctor, was in the area. He heard me scream and ran to see what was going on. I needed to go and see if my daughter was OK and I asked my neighbor to stay with the woman while I go to my daughter.
I was still hysterical at this point. Crying. Shaking. Amazing women helped me and my daughter, Someone called my husband who got a ride and was by our side in no time. I was questioned by the secret service, police and the army. I felt like I was in a movie. How could this ever happen to me? My daughter was in trauma and she was taken to the hospital. I was still being held for questioning. They told me that the woman was OK and that she was being taken to the hospital.
After going home and seeing my family briefly, I went to the hospital to check on my daughter. They were keeping her overnight for observation and counseling.
I was also able to meet the husband, son and other family members of the woman who was stabbed, Nirit. They told me she was recovering from the surgery and doing well. They asked me to tell them the story and were so thankful that I was there.
A few hours later I received a call from Nirit. She said she was doing well and kept thanking me. What could I say? 'You're welcome' doesn't get it. I just kept telling her that I was glad she was OK.
All I know is that God puts us exactly where we are supposed to be. This is where I was supposed to be, with my daughter. It played out exactly the way it was supposed to. Even though I was scared, traumatized and freaked out, my faith is as strong as ever. I still love my country and would never change it. I'm so grateful for all my family and friends that were there and offered to help.
Thank you, God, for all the greatness around me."
Traveling away from home is hard for anyone who strives to be an active parent. Traveling away from our home in Israel is even more difficult. Israel is a place that's not home by chance of birth or a career move, but rather it is a birthright. Being away from Israel during times of distress is, ironically, even more distressing.
My saving grace is that everywhere I went and among all the people with whom I met, comfort, support and prayers were abundant. This included several formal events as well as more random or "chance" meetings. I even received a call from Pastor Wade who invited me to share an update by phone with his entire church during last Sunday's worship.
Our website, www.savinglivesinisrael.org, was particularly active with people sending financial support to provide resources to save lives throughout Israel, and with people sending prayers for Israel's life savers who put their lives in harm's way to help others.
Sharing "mundane" things—such as Daughter No. 4 being scared to go to the mall with a friend for her birthday, Son No. 2 having his basketball game canceled because the other team couldn't make it because of Arab rock throwing on the road and Son No. 1 attending a preparatory army program for high school boys in his grade—added a real perspective to the limited and often superficial media reports.
While packing to come home, I heard reports of another attack involving another friend and neighbor not only witnessing, but becoming a stabbing victim. Thank God, she'll be OK. Her husband praised the immediate EMS response as part of that.
Yet amid the violence, the terrorism and the fear, we are resolved and resilient. Life goes on. And, as Yaelle noted, we put our trust in God and are thankful for all the greatness and blessings around us.
Jonathan Feldsteinwas born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six. Throughout his life and career, he has been blessed by the calling to fellowship with Christian supporters of Israel and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. He writes a regular column for charismanews.com's Standing With Israel. He can be reached at FirstPersonIsrael@gmail.com.
NEW - Life in the Spirit is your Spirit-filled teaching guide. Encounter the Holy Spirit, hear God speak to you, and enjoy timeless teachings on love, mercy and forgiveness.LEARN MORE!
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The number of religious Jewish women volunteering for the Israeli army has almost doubled in the past five years. This according to a new report published by the IDF noting that while just 935 religious Jewish women signed up for military service in 2010, over 1,800 had already done so in 2015.
On Tuesday, the IDF put on a special presentation for young religious Jewish women who were interested in the possibility of military service. Some 1,600 women attended the event.
The head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Hagai Topolanski, addressed his audience’s various fears, chief among them the concern over restrictions on their religious lifestyle.
Gen. Topolanski stressed: “There are so many religious women with amazing qualities that can be put to use by the IDF. There are many opportunities [for these women].”
Brig.-Gen. Rachel Tevet-Wiesel, advisor on women’s affairs to the IDF chief of staff, made note of the “increasing number of religious women serving with us. They serve in elite units, training facilities, technology and communications. They can be found in the Air Force, the infantry brigades and the Armored Corps. Anywhere they are needed!”
Israeli women, just like men, have been conscripted into the IDF since 1949. Besides Eritrea, Israel is the only nation in the world that requires military service for women. However, there are exceptions. Religious Jewish women have traditionally been exempted, as have Arab men and women.
Currently, just over 40 percent of Israel’s fighting force are women, and it is a great encouragement to see more and more religious Jewish women joining that number.
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My wife, Joy, and I have known Cindy and her husband, Mike, for a long time. We've enjoyed many shared experiences, and we have become friends. We were invited to the banquet but were unable to attend, so this is my way to publicly say how much we love and appreciate Cindy and admire what God has done in her life.
