Tabernacle 2018 Newsletter Update

The night I sent out the newsletter, I found an article in the Jerusalem post about one of the skeletons found at Solomon’s Pillars in the park. Archaeologists discover rare remains of pregnant woman in King Solomon’s Mines http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Archaeologists-discover-rare-remains-of-pregnant-woman-in-King-Solomons-Mines-510965

I found other interesting articles as well, some of which I will include here.

‘Jerusalem’s lost theater’ and 8 ancient stone courses discovered under Western Wall http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Jerusalems-lost-theater-and-8-ancient-stone-courses-discovered-under-Western-Wall-507544

Archeological find in Jerusalem’s City of David may answer ancient mystery http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Archaeological-find-in-Jerusalems-City-of-David-may-answer-100-year-old-mystery-431895

Israeli archaeologists uncover rare 1,500-year-old Jerusalem mosaic http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israeli-archaeologists-uncover-rare-1500-year-old-Jerusalem-mosaic-503199

It’s interesting that every time there are new finds, they confirm the accuracy of the Biblical record.

I have gone from “Full Steam Ahead” to “Full Stop” in one moment. It is surreal. I have the memories of all the things I have to do, lists that I re-wrote as I finished things but not all, so they headed up a new list. My house is littered with papers full of lists of things to do. I knew I was in a trap that I felt I couldn’t get out of, when could I find time to sit down and work through this trap; the tyranny of the urgent took over. I knew I needed to learn to say NO to some situations, requests, expectations, etc. that came my way. My Modus Operando was to put everyone and their situations ahead of me and what I may need, at all cost, whether I had the resources to do so or not. I had to be a good girl and do as I was told. My name for myself was “Miss Compliance with Defiance” because I would drop everything and go do things I was asked even if I hated it and often fumed with anger inside me while I worked. The weird thing was that even if the people said I had a choice and didn’t need to say yes; I always interpreted that as ‘I must do it’. This, in fact, turned into self-hatred. The Bible says to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. I wasn’t showing love, I was showing obligation without love. That was how I viewed myself, obliged to do; a door mat. God has shown me that I allowed words spoken to me, in my childhood and young adulthood, that were not true, to take root in my personality and control my reactions to situations. It’s interesting how Satan re-enforces his lies through other people, by words (as happened in my work at Fisheries Research in Eilat) or by innuendo or implication, all throughout our lives, year after year.

I keep telling people that Christ paid for our unintentional sin. We are totally paid for, but when the Holy Spirit reveals a specific stronghold of thinking, behavior, area of disobedience against God, etc. then we need to confess, renounce it and ask for forgiveness. We are released from the sentence of death in sin by the Blood of Yeshua, but the holy Spirit is going through and cleaning up the mess left behind from our previous lifestyle. God loves us, and He will not willingly leave us full of the enemies’ strongholds but will reveal them one by one so we can allow Him to deal with them. He doesn’t do it all at once because we couldn’t cope. He knows the timing and is patient but insistent.

My father used an illustration to teach us about learning discipline from God. If we insist on circling the same mountain (stronghold) He will touch us with a soft reed to get our attention. If we didn’t listen the first time around, then He will use a stronger stick. If we continue to ignore His discipline the next time around it would be a hit from a 4 by 2 (a reference to building material, a wooden beam 4inches by 2inches). God disciplines in Love and not out of hate and frustration. He whom God loves, He disciplines as a son.

I don’t blame anyone from my childhood until now. I was the one that permitted the stronghold to remain, when I had the power that raised Christ from the dead, dwelling in me and able to rout out every stronghold of Satan. I didn’t take time out to seek God for deliverance from the trap I knew I was in. God has used my circumstance (heart attack) to spring open the trap and again reveal the root. God just says ‘Forgive’. I can remember the words and the circumstances that started and fed this stronghold. I need to take every thought (and spoken word) into captivity in Christ. He is the one who knows what is true and to be accepted, and what is false and needs to be rejected. I can remember some of the people but not all; some are just shadows speaking. God just says ‘Forgive’, He knows the people and what they were going through themselves, not realizing what they were saying or doing.

Why am I writing this? It’s on my heart to share what happened to me (I’m still in the process of allowing God to clean out the rot) and encourage any believer in the messiah to allow God to expose any stronghold(s) in your life. So, if He has revealed something to you (don’t go looking for demons under every rock) or as He reveals strongholds to you; don’t wait. Take time out and seek His deliverance. Don’t be ashamed about how long, how many times you’ve been around the same mountain, God loves you so, so much that He wants to clean out the stinky mess. He told us how much He loves us and cares for us; that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Sorry I didn’t add this to the newsletter, but I will not wait for the next one. I’m sending this out now in the spirit of “today, if you hear God’s voice.”

Yours in the Messiah, Alimae.