A RE-POST FROM MY BLOG, DEC. 9, 2011

​In this week's Torah portion, in Genesis chapter 32, we see Jacob finally leaving Laban and his years of servitude, in order to journey on and meet his brother, Esau. On his way, angels meet and encourage him. What a picture this is of our own faith journey through the mixtures and difficulties of this world! When we finally decide to completely leave behind our old, selfish flesh nature (known in Hebrew as the Olam Hazeh - eating from the Tree of Good and Evil), we arrive at the River Jabbok. Will we have enough strength to cross? We will need angels to meet us there and encourage us!

In Hebrew the word Jabbok (pronounced Yabbok) means "to empty, to pour out." This is the process we must go through - just as Jacob did - in order to take on the new, heavenly nature (Olam Haba - eating from the Tree of Life)! Jacob had to get another man's blessing (Esau), work for another man (Laban), tend his sheep, and do hard labor for 20 years before he was free to take his family and set out on his own. This long time speaks of our own long journeys through the snares of this world. Jacob would not fully enter into the heavenly realm until he had an ultimate encounter with his Creator and wrestled with Him until he came to the end of himself. This struggle leaves him with a mark (a limp) - but it also changes his name!

What is this crossing of the Jabbok? It is not just our salvation - that is only step one! It is the separating out of the old flesh nature from the new heavenly nature. It is our process of sanctification and regeneration by the Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh).

Who has become fully holy, born again and set-apart at the moment he accepted Yeshua as Lord? Genesis 12:1-3 and 17:23 make it clear to us that Abraham was uncircumcised when he received the Covenant from God! The circumcision of both his flesh and his heart still had to be walked out. He was still an old wineskin, needing to be tested and tried in the fire, and then filled with new wine (anointing) from the Ruach (see Matthew 9:16-17). Old wineskins cannot be filled with new wine!

Jacob sent over all his possessions before crossing the Jabbok River, the place of self-emptying. This shows that he realized that all his strength, all his possessions and wealth, and his own good name were not enough to save him! Alone and empty in the wilderness, he wrestles with a man until daybreak. We know this man is Yeshua - God in the flesh. When we are in the wilderness, and God begins to deal with us, we have three options:
1) Stand still (no forward movement, resulting in spiritual death
2) Turn back (back to Egypt, back to the world and the flesh)
3) Press through (become sanctified and delivered, entering the Olam Haba

The wilderness is our place of circumcision, the place where God's promise comes to pass in each of us: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. " (Ezekiel 36:26-28)

It is a one-on-one encounter with Yeshua - and in that place, He alone reveals to us our true identity as Israel - and like Jacob, we will leave that place marked by Him, and we will never walk the same again!

In my great love for Israel and the Jewish people, I have been keeping a close watch over this war in the Middle East. One thing that is very clear is that it is a war of LIGHT VS. DARKNESS. It is, without any doubt, a spiritual war, far above a political war. 

Friends, I hope you will bear with me to the end of this blog, because the ending is an amazing encounter I had with the God of the Universe in my front yard last night and I don't want you to miss it! But in the meantime, I want to share with you some things I have learned this week as I felt led by the Spirit to search out everything I could about the Spirit of Amalek. That name - Amalek - kept coming to me and I knew the Lord wanted me to see something very important at the heart of this current war in Israel. 

In previous blogs I have pointed out that God told Abraham He would give him this land and made a covenent with him, with his son Isaac and with his son, Jacob. God made a clear CHOICE between Isaac and Ishmael and between Jacob and Esau when He bestowed the blessings of the covenant and the land. He did, however, still bestow blessings upon Esau by giving him a great territory that now encompasses modern Jordan and Saudi Arabia (the land referred to as Edom). BUT GOD PASSED BY BOTH FIRSTBORN SONS AND GRANDSONS OF ABRAHAM, AND THIS CREATED A SPIRIT OF JEALOUSY AND HATRED IN ESAU, AND EVENTUALLY IN HIS GRANDSON, AMALEK (see Gen. 36:12).  In Amalek we see a spirit of hatred, rage, and jealousy; and that spirit does not want to take what you have - it wants to TAKE YOUR LIFE.

I must give some credit to Peter Tsukahira, co-pastor and teacher of Kehilat haCarmel in Haifa, Israel. Some of the points made here I gleaned from his excellent teaching. But most of it comes from Scripture itself! In Exodus 17:8 we see the well-known battle of the Amalekites against Israel when Joshua and Hur held up the arms of Moses so that Israel could win the battle. I note that Scripture says they overcame the Amalekite army "by the sword" (Exodus 17:13) and that really struck me since Israel has named this current war "Sword of Iron"!  Here is what Almighty God had to say about the ancient war in Exodus 17:14: "Write it on a scroll that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."  And then in Exodus 17:15 the LORD says, "The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation."  This is the ONLY enemy of Israel that causes God to make this ominous declaration. 

Moses speaks to the people of Israel again about Amalek in Deut. 25:17-19: "Remember what Amalek did to you when you came out of Egypt. When God gives you rest from all the countries around you, in the land He is giving you as an inheritance, you shall BLOT OUT THE MEMORY OF AMALEK. DO NOT FORGET!" 

Now, beloved, in the Hebrew year 5784, this same SPIRIT OF AMALEK is rising up again all over the globe, just as it rose powerfully over Germany and Europe in the late 1930s and resulted in the deaths of six million Jews. This spirit of Amalek is driven by deep-rooted jealousy and envy. It rages at the Jewish people, "How do YOU have this promise from God?" Again, it does not seek to steal the promise OR the land, but to eradicate the chosen people. 

In 1 Samuel 15:2, God says to Saul, King of Israel: "I will punish the Amalekites. Now go, attack the Amalekites and TOTALLY DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT BELONGS TO THEM - MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN, INFANTS AND ANIMALS. " But Saul disobeyed the Lord. He did not wipe them all out; and this was a great mistake. This allowed that spirit to continue on throughout the ages.  Ezekiel 35:3 clearly shows that this spirit is an ancient hostility. As Peter Tsukahira said, "This spirit does not negotiate. NOTHING will satisfy this spirit. It is a spirit of DARKNESS and we are called to fight against the darkness with the light of Yeshua that dwells in us. We must examine our own hearts and see if we harbor jealousy against anyone."

In Ezekiel 35:3 the LORD says, "I am against you, Mt. Seir (Edom or Esau). I will lay waste your cities and then you will know that I AM THE LORD because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered Israel to the sword at the time of their calamity." This is why Israel MUST wipe every trace of Hamas (as well as Hezbollah, Palestinian Jihad and Iran's Quds Forces) off the face of the earth. The Lord God warned ancient Israel "BLOT OUT THE MEMORY OF AMALEK! DO NOT FORGET!" So this time, they MUST hear and obey the word of the Lord!

Admittedly many in Israel were not walking with God. They were allowing darkness to come in and they were at great odds with one another (just as it is in our own nation). This lifted their covering of protection and allowed the "ancient hostility" to attack. But oh, the great UNITY it is now bringing to the people! I have seen videos of IDF soldiers praying together and praising God in song together, on the battlefield. I have seen the "synagogue" they created by using four huge bulldozers to surround them, and then worshiping inside it on the Sabbath! God IS bringing His Light into the darkness, and He IS lifting the veil from Jewish eyes, as many begin to seek their true Messiah, Yeshua. 

So that great news brings me to what happened in my front yard last night. I had heard that there would be a great show of meteor showers in the sky (the Leonids) from about midnight to just before dawn. I asked the Lord to awaken me if He wanted me to see it, and I did wake up just before 4:00 a.m. I put on my warmest robe and some shoes and tip-toed out to my front yard.  Though I kept my neck craned back for at least fifteen minutes, I did not see any meteors. But just as I was about to give up, there it was! One single meteor, one falling star flashing brightly across the night sky and then disappearing. And then a little song came immediately into my head. You would have to be as old as I am to remember this old Perry Como song, but I heard it very clearly:
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away

"Catch a falling star," I mused. What are you saying, Lord?" Then I heard this: "Catch a falling star and save it for a rainy day. A day of darkness. It's coming! A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness" (Joel 2:1-2). Then He directed me to Isaiah 8:21-22: "Distressed and hungry they will roam through the land, when they are famished they will become enraged and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom and they will be thrust into outer darkness."

I pondered the verse and thought about the demonstrations of hatred and violence I see from Gaza to Lebanon, to Syria, to Iraq, to Yemen and England, to Denmark, Sweden, and America - people cursing God and spewing their hatred of His people, the Jews.  And I inquired again of the Lord, "I know this darkness is coming and I know these things will happen, but why are You singing me this song?"  Then I heard the Spirit say to me, "I am singing this to you because the falling star is the WORD OF GOD and your pocket is your heart." Keep My Word in your heart, never let it fade away, and your light will dispel the darkness!