The Fire of God

The Feast of Shavu’ot began at sundown last night and ends at sundown tomorrow. The meaning of the word Shavu’ot is 'weeks', so it is also known as The Feast of Weeks. That is because it is celebrated seven weeks after the second day of Passover. As Believers in Yahshua, we know it as Pentecost, which in Greek means “fiftieth,” referring to the fact that it happens 50 days after Passover.

You will know if you have joined our online teachings at His Fragrance or have had the opportunity to listen to them online, that this is a very significant time for us as believers! And not more so I believe, than in this season right now!

Shavu’ot celebrates God meeting with His people in a powerful way. He made a covenant when He came down on Mount Sinai in fire, yet now it is a celebration of the new covenant and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who comes to each of us as a fire!

We need that fire, more than ever before we need the ‘dunamis’ power of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, His fullness, counsel, guidance and leading!!!

When the disciples waited as Yahshua had asked them in the upper room, 'suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.'

Of the hundreds in Jerusalem that day, they heard the sound of the mighty rushing wind, they heard the disciples speak in in their own languages, some were perplexed and some mocked. Peter stood up and said:

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’

I pray that this Shavu’ot, if you haven't already been baptised by the fire of God, that you would cry out to God for this! Those of us filled with the Holy Spirit, that we would be filled once again by the fire of the Holy Spirit! That He will fill us with His fire and the power that we need in these last days to walk in His purposes and to do even the greater works God has called us to!

"..For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Let us earnestly desire it, as our Father gives liberally and I pray you will take time to call out from your innermost being to the Lord this Shavu'ot....

Have a blessed, peaceful and Holy Spirit fire filled Shavuot!

In His love Michèle 

His Pavilion

For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

In the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:5

The royal pavilion was the place of the king in the midst of his army, it was erected right in the centre of his armed forces, right in the heart of everything. And all around the pavilion his army and all his mighty men kept guard at all hours of the day and the night. Without the king’s permission, nothing and no one could get anywhere near his royal pavilion.

Honoured friends of the king, those closest to him who kept devoted and loyal counsel, were the ones brought into the pavilion.  In that place they were hidden from view, they found out about the king’s plans, the battle strategies they were to be part of, they grew closer to him and they understood his thoughts.

The pavilion of Almighty King Yahshua is set up in our midst and He calls us to join Him. He invites us to be hidden by His divine power and to be with Him in that place. To come into the holy of holies, the place that is at the very centre of His encampment. His glorious holy tabernacle, the place of His peace and anointing, the place where His glory dwells – in His perfect holy presence.

The treasury of David says: ‘….thus in that divine sovereignty which almighty power is sworn to maintain, the believer peacefully is hidden, hidden not by himself furtively, but by the king…’

BY THE KING HIMSELF!

By the invitation of Yahshua Himself, we can come into that place and be with Him. Surrounded by His angelic host, His mighty warrior angels and His angel armies. In the midst of it all we are with Yahovah Ts’vaot, the God of angel armies – the Lord of Hosts!

We can get closer to Him, He will share His plans with His loyal ones, we can know His thoughts which are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9) and He will show us great and marvellous things (Jeremiah 33:3).

No one of old, except the High Priest once a year, would dare to enter the holy of holies on pain of death. If the Lord Himself hides us there, what enemy can enter in?

And in that place He sets us on a Rock, a sure foundation. And that sure foundation is Himself, Yahshua, Unchanging, unending, we cannot be shaken in that place. How blessed we are when we are placed high above all our enemies, when we are set up above the cares of this world and of this life.

Yahshua is our Rock that can never be shaken, the Rock that is higher than I (Psalm 6:12). This unconquerable Rock of our salvation can never be overcome by a siege, because no attack will overcome and be successful against the eternal Rock.

Lay all aside and enter His pavilion, and in that place let His peace overwhelm you, let His presence strengthen you and let Him lift you to new heights in His glory, where He will place your feet on the firmest of foundations forever…….

In His love Michèle

A Golden Host

I am reminded by the Lord of the daffodils I saw along the roadside verges, as I took a walk this afternoon. So quintessentially English. And yesterday I was reminded of Wordsworth poem " I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o'er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils." How beautiful in the breeze, how stunning God's creation which is yearning for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

As I walked today with the Lord and thought about what we are going through, a cry went up to the Lord from my heart, for the people of my village as I prayed for them. A cry which I believe mirrors the cry from God's heart for our Nation.

And as I looked at His Word, I felt this cry is a 'roar' coming from the heart of God, even in the midst of all He is allowing..... in the midst of all that is being shaken, in the midst of judgement.

I read this quote today by Abraham Kuyper, theologian and Dutch Prime Minister (1901-1905)

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” 

And I felt deeply in my spirit He is roaring.....MINE!

In God's mercy He is waking up His church from their great sleep!

“Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,

And Christ will give you light.”

Ephesians 5:14

His desire is that we would ready ourselves. The harvest is coming and we need to be the light! We need to get our house in order, get our eyes off ourselves and onto our King! We need to hear His roaring and align ourselves with it!

We do not need to be afraid... He's The King!

The verse in Ephesians above goes on to say this:

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17

It is time to spend time with Him, to align ourselves with His will and to arise and shine! (Isaiah 60). To be bold, to stand out like the daffodils, for us to be a great golden host for the glory of our Father! That He would see His desire on this Nation!

Love to you all in Christ Jesus....

OH HOW HE LOVES US

God, our loving heavenly Father, who is perfect in all of His ways, created for Himself a family.

His desire always was to fill His Royal Household with His own. He determined to make His family in His own likeness and desired they would be filled with His own attributes, walking freely in these for eternity.

A family filled with love for Him and each other, knowing boundless joy, with a deep inner peace because they know to whom they belong. Those who are patient in the waiting. Who are exceptionally kind, full of goodness and unswerving in faithfulness. A family overflowing with gentleness and self-control.

To such as these He gives His entire kingdom! His desire is to share everything with us and reveal all His hidden mysteries. Mysteries hidden not from us, but for us from time immemorial.

His longing has always been to shower us in His love, this God who cannot hate, who loves us with an everlasting love. Who has made unfathomable provision for us and who holds all things in His hand.

His desire for us is greater than our desire for Him! His desire is not only that we would come to Him, but that we would walk with Him and come to know Him in deeper and deeper ways.

This God who has from the beginning been all about love.

His story is the ultimate love story, there is no other! He has longed for us to turn our hearts towards Him. He has longed for us to see what He has planned for us. As we make that choice to say yes to Him and turn our hearts towards Him, we step into eternity. We become true royalty as part of the Royal Household of our God and King. We become a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

We are transformed and we go from glory to glory.

He wants all to turn towards Him, but sadly they won’t.  But those of us who have and who will, step into the love story of all eternity and are caught up in the everlasting mystery with our beautiful heavenly Father forever….

For this reason [grasping the greatness of this plan by which Jews and Gentiles are joined together in Christ] I bow my knees [in reverence] before the Father [of our Lord Jesus Christ], from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name [God—the first and ultimate Father]. May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith.

And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].

Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do super-abundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3

In His love Michèle