VICTORY IN TIME FOR PURIM

Dear Friends,

I am in israel, and in my home here, praise God! I only came for four weeks and have been here for almost two weeks already. It’s amazing how quickly this time has gone. I have spent most of my time restoring my home, but I’ve also spent time in the Galilee working on the music for “Goshen.” It’s been beautiful. My house had been vandalized badly by tenants who stole most of the kitchen appliances and dishes, the refrigerator, oven and stove, most of the beds and linens, and left things a wreck. And also … I had a major flood when a water pipe broke on the top floor, where nobody was staying, and nobody discovered it until the water came dripping down into the floors below… And more, the walls of the house absorbed so much water from the rain that the rooms became wet, wet, wet. Mold, mold, mold. The walls had needed to be replastered and repainted because the concrete had become quite porous and the plaster was no longer protecting them, but when covid came I could not get back to Israel, and thus, liquid chaos ensued … “Let It Rain” became quite literal inside my house …

So there was much I needed to throw out and much was surprisingly intact. There were papers, drenched through and through, glued to each other because of water, that were fine when they dried. Some clothes, sitting in water for months, were not moldy. Others did not fare so well … I have been busy restoring order, throwing out, giving away, buying, cleaning and then doing it all over again, receiving a lot of help, praise God! But now, the moment is shifting. Now I am preparing Beit Tiferet Yeshua, Home for Yeshua’s Glorious Beauty, my home, to bless a team of dancers and physical theater experts who will be arriving soon to work on scenes from Goshen. Two weeks ago, I could only trust that God would get me and this place ready. Now, it feels so sweet again, better than it did before.

In the meantime, in South Carolina, in the United States, Beit Tiferet Emunah, Home for the Glorious Beauty of Faith, is emerging. The land is now mine, and my not-for-profit board members are moving ahead with putting in the infrastructure for our truly wonderful, God-breathed, vision, a retreat center focusing, of course!, on the arts, but not exclusively. We are planning a self-sustaining community, with livestock, vegetables, a worship center, creative spaces, prayer gardens, a tent-of-meeting, teaching venues, very “natural” accommodations, (modern teepees, good for four seasons, tree houses, also good for four seasons, and cave dwellings carved into the hills.) We have two beautiful springs/streams on the property, countless, endless trees, lots of blackberries, wild roses and bulbs, and several gorgeous peaks with 360° views.

My friends, I could have collapsed when I saw my home in israel. I could have just cried and cried. I could have gotten furious at my tenants, or at others who were involved in the situation. I could have focused on what was wrong. But God gave me the strength to focus on what was POSSIBLE. He sustained me, gave me vision, and put me to work. He gave my body enough strength to accomplish the seemingly outrageous. He also gave my board the vision and enthusiasm to continue the work in South Carolina without me.

Our global challenges could demoralize us. Our global problems, insurmountable in the natural, could shock us into immobility. With God’s prophetic clock seemingly past midnight, we could get lost in terror, depression, disbelief, cynicism or resignation. The imagined, approaching, catastrophes could cause us to freak-out, get angry, get sad or… or … or …

OR they could inspire us into HOPE, WELL-BEING, and TRUST in the God of the Universe. He has allowed these things to happen, and when we take His Cue as to what He wants us to do next, we can GO AFTER HIS GLORY WITH INCREDIBLE JOY AND VIGOR. We can discover ourselves having supernatural abilities to accomplish the seemingly impossible, the seemingly outrageous. We can become insurmountable in GOD ALONE. Since I first returned to faith, as an adult, God has asked me, again and again, if I want the kind of faith-filled authority demonstrated by the Two Witnesses. I have repeatedly said “yes,” wondering what I was getting myself into. Now I know … I was getting myself into God.

I think we all want to get deeper into God, to have His kind of authoritative Love, where no word we speak ever comes back void, where everything we do brings forth God’s Glory, where “our” love never cracks. Through trusting, accepting and appreciating the degree of surrender and authority we already have, that God has already given us, by always hungering, in peace-filled trust, for internalized increase of His Being, by being willing to sacrifice ourselves more and more for God, we increase our capacity for His capacity to fill us.

Our every word or thought, outside of God’s Will, misses its target. Our every action, outside of God’s Will, falls short of His Righteous Holiness. Only Yeshua’s degree of submission and servitude hits the bull’s eye every single time. We are the Bride. God’s Bride obeys and lives for her Bridegroom, all the time. He is our destiny, our opportunity and our invitation. He is our bull’s eye.

Every night, the LORD apprehends my soul’s strongholds, those places not completely conformed to His Will. Every night, He asks me, again and again, am I ready to let something go. I always have the freedom to say “Yes” or “No.” I also always experience the consequence of my choices. I succeed in saying “Yes” about 70% of the time. The other 30% I choke up, freeze, and can’t say anything. When that happens, God takes His time during that next day to show me the value of surrender. It works almost 100% of the time.

How about you?

Where are you in your process of submission and authority with the LORD?

Do you freeze up, or blame the devil, when something, or “everything,” goes wrong?

Do you muster the faith and strength in the LORD to trust Him and surrender to Him and watch Him work miracles?

When I blow it, I really blow it, and I have to do some mop-up. That’s for sure! But I am getting quicker and better at trusting God and doing it right. How about you?

There are more music videos to listen to: