One of the greatest moves of God took place in 1727 on the estate of Count Zinzendorf. Count Zinzendorf was a strong believer who was deeply influenced by the faith of his grandmother and aunt. At the tender age of 22, he opened a portion of his estate to refugees seeking asylum from the religious persecution throughout Europe.
Charles William Eliot, former president of Harvard University, had a birthmark on his face that bothered him greatly. As a young man, he was told that surgeons could do nothing to remove it. Someone described that moment as "the dark hour of his soul." Eliot's mother gave him this helpful advice: "My son, it is not possible for you to get rid of that hardship…But it is possible for you, with God's help, to grow a mind and soul so big that people will forget to look at your face."
The Book of Daniel prophesied in this passage, that the Messiah will come and be cut off, and then the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary (the temple) will be destroyed. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army led by Titus in 70 AD.
This parable in Matthew 25 is a warning to the entire body — be ready with your oil! Each of these virgins was anticipating the Lord's return; none were atheists, or non-believers. They were all virgins who claimed to be awaiting the Bridegroom's arrival. But notice carefully that only half of them were truly ready.
Roughly 3000 years ago during this month, King Solomon dedicated the Temple he had built for the Lord. So it was in the Hebrew month of Tishrei, the month of the fall feasts of Israel, that the presence of the Lord fell and the glory of God was displayed in the Temple.
Another aspect of Mashiach ben Yosef, is that the world would resist his authority…
It was a stormy night in Birmingham, England, and Hudson Taylor was to speak at a meeting at the Severn Street schoolroom. His hostess assured him that nobody would attend on such a stormy night, but Taylor insisted on going. "I must go even if there is no one but the doorkeeper." Less than a dozen people showed up, but the meeting was marked with unusual spiritual power.
The Hebrew word for a dried up river bed is "Nachal". Israel has many of these. Here, in Israel it rains in winter, but not in summer. In the summer, these places stand as a testament of the rains that once fell and of the rains yet to come. Then, when they do come, the Nechalim (nachal plural) almost instantly fill with water. This is what the Scripture means when it says, "I will give you rivers in the desert." There is a promise in that for us.
As we celebrate Shavuot this Saturday night into Sunday, my spirit is anxiously awaiting what God will do! Each Shevuout season during the counting of the omer, I love to study past revivals and in studying them, there's two recurring themes that stand out.
There are times in our lives that we are going through a spiritual valley and we want to get victory — we want to have answers — we want God's power to flow through us again.
If you are not familiar with Jewish tradition, this is fascinating. There are two principle figures in the ancient Hebrew marriage. The "Khatan" is the Bridegroom and the "Almah" is the virgin who becomes the bride. Almah also means the veiled one, the one who keeps herself hidden…
This is the touching story of how Yeshua (Jesus) was anointed before His crucifixion. But there's one thing about this passaage that stood out to me as I read it again.
An estimated 500,000 tons of water go over Niagara Falls every minute. On March 29, 1948, the falls suddenly stopped. Those who lived near enough heard the overwhelming silence, and immediately they thought it was a sign – the end of the world had come! However, after thirty hours had passed…
by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Finally, we got some rain here in the Land, after a long winter with very little. It [...]
I could tell you about countless difficult and drawn out circumstances over which we have tried to stand firmly in faith until they finally came to pass. Sometimes we made it and sometimes we were weak and began to doubt. But God mercifully came through for us on most of these things, despite our lack of strength to stay faith-ful.
Every time we go to the States it seems I gain about 20 pounds! It’s really not that difficult – being a guest, and receiving the generous hospitality of American Christians for 3 months — which means being fed like a king. Feasting like this is really fun…until you get on the scale 3 months later! So now I’m back in Israel, eating right and knocking off what I call speaking weight. Those (women) who have experienced pregnancy weight, know just what I'm talking about.
We've just returned to Israel and the region seems to be nothing but a boiling cauldron ready to erupt. In just a few days, we will celebrate the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, in Hebrew. Most Christians recognize this holiday as the Feast of Pentecost — the time when the Holy Spirit descended and empowered His saints to accomplish the mission of global witness to Yeshua (Jesus).
One of my favorite ministers of the Gospel is D.L. Moody. He tells a story about having heard Pastor Henry Varley once say that, "The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him."
Our little Elianna, now seven, loves flowers. Every time she sees one, she has to get down and take a whiff. It's so adorable.
If you keep a grain of wheat in your pocket, it will look exactly the same ten years from now. But place it in the right environment — some good ground, enough water — it will sprout into a living sheaf of grain!
