HIS Hand - Not Ours

I am 56 years old; I love to write, and fight with words for what I think is right and proper. Christ speaks of "righteousness" repeatedly in the words He spoke while here on earth. I have seen success in many battles fought over the years while coming to the defense of what I deemed a worthy cause.


Before I sit down to write anything I remind myself that the worlds were created with a WORD from God. Things that did not exist from eternities past were created by Him with one breath! What an awesome thought.


Our words have great effect in both the physical and spiritual realm. We will not realize until we stand in His Presence what we have said during our life, and what we should have said and the results of our speech. I desire that God set a guard over the roof of my mouth not once in a while, but daily!


I am not of the "name it and claim it" crew. If we desire anything in His Name, if it is to our benefit, Christ said we can move mountains if we believe. The underlying condition of this concept, this truth, is that it will not happen if it does not bring glory and praise to His Name. It is all about HIM, not us.


I love Psalm 109:26 - 27 ~

" Help me, O LORD my God:
Save me according to Thy mercy:

(why?)

" that they may know that this is Thy hand:
That Thou LORD hath done it..."


I deeply believe that when we struggle in ourselves to make things happen that God in His ultimate wisdom allows us to exhaust every avenue to show us that it will not happen, the answers will not come unless He molds the events and intervenes on our behalf. There are lessons to be learned in unanswered prayers. Events such as this truly reveal what is in the depths of our souls.


When the answer does come, whether yea or nay, we will know that it is really from God; He is the only One who opens a door and no one can shut it; or He closes a door and no one opens it. May God give us the spiritual insight to perceive His answers!


When the answer to our prayers does come what should our response be? As King David again in Psalm 109 says,
" Let them (the enemy) curse, but bless Thou;
when they arise, let them be ashamed: but let Thy servant rejoice.
I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth;
yea, I will praise Him among the multitude..."



It is all of His hand; not ours. Everything centers around Him. He is a jealous God; jealous of His love for us and our love for Him. When Israel greatly sinned and grieved His heart in the Wilderness and on other occasions God spoke of His sorrow in terms of a marriage going sour or a child in total rebellion. He guards us continually from pride, which was Satan's downfall, and will play out events and our prayers to the point that we will know without a doubt that the answer came from Him, not our own efforts.


Job 37:7 says, " He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know HIS work..."


Our duty is to shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause; let them say continually, LET THE LORD BE MAGNIFIED, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. My tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long...." (Psalm 35:27,28)


The LORD loves judgment ( righteousness ) and He does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. This is our duty; to trust, obey, believe and worship the Creator of all things; both seen and unseen. From the very ends of the universe, if there is even an end, to the very hairs on our head, as this troubled planet spins out of control, He is in total control and everything serves His purposes.


We are in good hands! He is our Father and He loves us more than we will ever know. Thank Him today for that fact.

ISRAEL UPDATE=ASHER INSTRATER

Israeli News Update


©1/2/2011 Asher Intrater

Katsav Convicted
Former Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, was convicted on Thursday, December 30, of two counts of rape. Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that this was a sad day, yet also an indication of the honesty and equality of the Israeli court system. Both Justice Minister Yakov Neeman and Supreme Court Chief Justice Doris Beinish quoted the Torah about maintaining justice and impartiality in judgment.

Israeli cases are determined by a head judge and two associate judges. In this case the head judge was George Kara, an Israeli Arab of Christian background from Jaffa; the associates were Judith Shevah and Miriam Sokolov. In light of international propaganda of human rights abuse in Israel, here is an example in which an Arab Christian and two Jewish women sat in judgment over the Israeli President.
In general, cases of sexual abuse without direct witnesses are difficult to judge. There are three factors by which to judge: 1. evidence, 2. testimonies of witnesses, 3. intuitive sense of the judges as to which of the plaintiff or defendant are telling the truth. In this case the judges unanimously felt (#3) that the women were more believable than Katsav. (Those close to Katsav felt just the opposite, and were enraged that such bias was demonstrated against him.) Israeli public opinion seems to agree that Katsav did commit the sexual abuse, even though some of the testimonies against him contained certain contradictions.

What is positive is that sexual abuse in public office in Israel is being brought to justice severely. Male leaders in business and politics are feeling a certain fear of sensual interaction with women in their offices; perhaps this is a type of fear of God.
What is sad is the high level of sexual immorality and Jezebel spirits within Israeli society. The case of Katsav reminds us somewhat of King David's affair with Bat Sheva (in that case however, David was a godly man who truly repented with all his heart). Why did God force David's sin to be so publicly revealed and punished? One reason was that David was not alone in his sin. There was sexual immorality throughout the nation. God wanted to use David as an example to increase the fear of God in the rest of the nation.

Ironically, feminists in the country, who rightly fight sexual abuse, also favor the homosexual agenda and sexual immorality, even in the schools. One of our team member's 11th grade daughter was taught "sex education" in her class that included homosexual speakers to describe their "alternative," and the promoting of "safe sex," assuming that all the students will be involved in immorality during high school. This student and her parents asked for permission to share another perspective with the class – to wait until marriage for sexual relations. They were refused by the administration from sharing this as an option.

One item that has not made the headlines: I noticed as the television camera caught Moshe Katsav exiting the courtroom, that he turned to one of his companions and whispered, "Zot Ptirati" – "This is my death." It is not unlikely that Katsav himself is dealing with thoughts of suicide.

Let us pray for:
Right judgment in the courtrooms,
Sexual immorality and abuse to be diminished,
Homosexual and Jezebel agenda to be driven out of the school systems,
Salvation for Moshe Katsav and all of Israel.

Leviathan Gas Field
A huge natural gas field was discovered this week at the Leviathan site, located 84 miles offshore from Haifa in northern Israel. The reported potential is 16 trillion (!) cubic feet, in addition to the 8.4 trillion cubic feet at the nearby Tamar site. The combined sales value for this resource is over 100 billion dollars.

Both sites are run by a joint venture of Texas-based Noble Energy and Israeli Delek Energy. The sea bed lies 1 mile beneath the surface of the water, and the gas reserve is located another 3 miles beneath the sea bed.

There are several challenges facing the production. First is opposition from Islamic extremists in the area, such as Hizballah in Lebanon. The second is the technical difficulty to bring out the gas and process it. The third is the taxation issues.

Israel has had a relatively low tax charge on natural gas production. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz appointed a committee led by Prof. Eitan Sheshinsky to consider tax reforms. Their recommendation was to raise the taxes closer to the European level. This has led to opposition, as expected, from the business investors.

Israel's potentially becoming independent in fuel resources could have an enormous effect on the political-economic balance in the Middle East. Israeli researchers are already speaking of the possibility of switching to a natural gas transportation system. Production at the Tamar site is expected in 2013 and the Leviathan site in 2017.

Snake Government
This week's Torah portion describes the 10 plagues and the confrontation between Pharaoh and Moses. One might think that God's judgments were too harsh. Remember that Pharaoh's regime enslaved another nation in brutal racism, and systematically murdered all the male children of their enslaved people (Exodus chapter 1). God said that He would "harden" Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 5:21), yet that was in response to Pharaoh's continuing sin and refusal to heed God's warnings.
At one point Aaron throws his rod before Pharaoh, and it turned into a snake.

Pharaoh's magicians did likewise (Exodus 7:11), yet Aaron's swallowed the others.
Pictures of ancient Egypt show the Pharaohs wearing a "snake" on their heads. This sign appears in satanic cult leaders today. Egypt's government was led by a man who worshiped snakes and led a satanic cult. Their witchcraft was at such an evil level that government ministers could turn sticks into snakes. The miracle of the staff was to confront this demonism. The magicians' miracle shows that open satanism had totally dominated ancient Egypt. The victory of Moses' rod was to show that God is greater.