This Av first fruit blessing prayer is for the month of Av which starts on July 19th Part 1 insightThis Av first fruit blessing prayer is for the month of Av which starts on
July 19, 2023 – Av 1, 5783 This month begins on a somber note. First, starting in Tammuz which we know speaks of the idolatry, 3 weeks of mourning which starts on 17th Tammuz through to Tisha B’Av which is 9th Av. Jews also fast on the 9th on Av for 25 hours. The month starts off with fasting and repentance. This time of fasting and repentance is to keep the minds and hearts of the Jewish people focused on the Lord. Why? Because this is a season when really bad things happened in their history. Just to name a few: 1) During this time, both Temples were destroyed. I believe there was 585 years between the destruction of the 1st temple and the 2nd temple. What are the chances that both got destroyed during the same time period? 2) This was also the time when the spies returned with the bad report about the giants in the land and God decided it was their last chance and killed everyone over the age of 20. They were not allowed to cross over. Numbers 14:28-30, 36-37 Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the Lord with their bad report-- were struck dead with a plague before the Lord. 3) This was the time when Aaron, high priest and Moses’ bother died. At the age of 123. (Numbers 33:39) If God speaks with you using numbers, then your 123 will start changing to 456 indicating the crossing over. 4) This period of time (3 weeks of mourning) is known as between the straits (Lamentations 1:3) “Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.” A strait is a very narrow area where ships pass through. There’s open waters after they pass through but during this time there is only one direction – forward. What lies on the opposite side of the straits are the promises of God. Therefore, this period of time is critical and I implore you to pay attention. This is not the place to backup because there are other ships lined up behind you. The enemy doesn’t want us to move forward so he will launch attacks or bring about situations to keep us trapped in this place. Stuck. The book of Lamentations is read during this time. Have you ever read it? It’s not the most uplifting book, and it ends on a somber note too. Have you noticed that you go through cycles in your life? It’s like you keep going through the same thing over and over again! Well, imagine that as your ship attempts to go through this strait that pirates come onboard your ship and hijack it and instead of moving forward, they just throttle you and then turn you in the opposite direction. What felt like movement was just you going back in the same direction you are trying to escape. You never got through the narrow place because you were overtaken. Hijacked. I think people miss it because that overtaking is very subtle. It is so subtle that if you are not paying attention, you can miss it. They entered your ship so quietly. What you may not know is that there is actually a time when you can break that cycle, did you know that? Yeah…this time of year. The thing is that we all think that some things are decided at the moment when they happen, which can be true sometimes, but then there are the bigger things that are actually destiny moves that get done at a particular time of year. THAT’S WHEN YOU BREAK A CYCLE-It’s NOW! NOW!!!! This is the cycle breaking month! NOW! THIS MONTH!!! Listen, GOD cut them off at this time of year (those who are not a part of the promise). THEY were not allowed to cross over. Jesus! Change. Something needs to change. It is also the time when the enemy tries to establish something because it is literally that type of month. It’s not in January. Neither is it as the beginning of the Hebraic calendar. Nope. It’s now. Pretend like this is January, whatever you need to get done, do it now. Av is the month when cycles are broken, and things get established. God is going to give you the opportunity to move out and the enemy is going to look for a way to move in. Watch those old connections you disconnected from start to reappear in an attempt to throttle your ship, come aboard your ship and abort your destiny. And, it is so subtle that if you are not paying attention, you will miss it because it comes with no fanfare! You won’t even notice it until months down the road. Throttle = Delay This month is the time when you need to live each day intentionally. When you get up in the morning be intentional about everything that you do. I’m going to challenge you to do something different every week this month! Switch things up! Your brain is going to say “uh oh what’s going on?” This is different. And your brain will actually start to pay attention because you’re introducing something new! You will be better able to discern the pirate. It doesn’t even have to be a person! It could be a bad decision you are about to make to hijack your own destiny. Sometimes it’s you and your self-sabotaging habits! If you stop right now and look back to last year July/August you are going to realize that you DID some things or DID NOT do some things and that’s where a derailment occurred! It’s Now! You’re going to discover something about yourself and others by changing something. Sit in a different chair. Keep in mind that bad things happened in this month too, so when you are more aware and intentional what you may discover is a plot from the enemy that you will be able to stop because you are now paying attention!!! The enemy loves to get us when we are doing the same ole, same ole. When you are aware, it is much harder for him to pull some stunt and catch you off guard. This is why I tell you Mary needs to switch to Martha and the Martha’s need to switch into Mary mode. There’s nothing wrong with either person but the shift will allow you to see things that you would never see. Sometimes it is as simple as switching up the time when you do things. Now, you need to know that you may not like everything that you see this month but know that you discovered it because God wants you to take care of that pirate…once and for all! Time to break the cycle, you’ve been throttling long enough! Do not be surprised if you start to realize that you agreed to some stuff earlier in July that you are now saying “what was I thinking?” Well, you weren’t! You were on autopilot which is why God wants you to pay attention, clean it up, cancel that and change how you do things! You might still have time to change the decision. Click the undo button. Fix it. While the month of Av started off on a somber note it actually ends on a very good note! 5) The 15th of Av, is the equivalent of Valentine’s Day. This is when a lot of weddings occur, and people find their spouses. Yay! For the single people! The women get dressed up in white and go out into the vineyard to dance and the men pick their wives (Proverbs 18:22). Yes, the men are the ones who do the picking, not the women! Selah It is the grape harvest season. Fruitfulness. 6) It is a time for joy and happiness and restoration!!! 7) Do you know the story of the daughters of Zelophehad? It happened around 15th of Av! Numbers 27:1-11. I also wrote a prophetic word about them before as well. You can read it here. The bottom line is opening your mouth and asking for what you want because it is a season of God granting your requests, even the impossible! ASK BIG. You have not, because you asked not! Ask. 8) This was also the time when the tribe of Benjamin was invited back into the community and allowed to intermarry with the other tribes because all the women of that tribe had died and this was necessary to keep the tribe going. They were excommunicated prior to this because of what they did here Judges 21. This speaks to how God restores us after we’ve made mistakes. Don’t you know He forgives us when we ask for it? And, He is more than willing to restore us and give us even the things we think we don’t deserve! Stop walking around in guilt and shame because of your past mistakes. God wants to restore you. You are forgiven, in Jesus name! The tribe for the month is Simeon Here is the words spoken over Simeon by Jacob Genesis 49:5-7 “Simeon and Levi are two of a kind. They are men of violence and injustice. O my soul, stay away from them. May I never be a party to their wicked plans. For in their anger they murdered a man, and maimed oxen just for fun. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and cruel. Therefore, I will scatter their descendants throughout Israel.” Hmmm, this sounds like Simeon was a bad guy! I’m wondering if Simeon was the “ringleader” in what happened to Joseph? Devising wicked plans and angry enough to murder a man. And you know you are dealing with a different type of person when they hurt animals for fun, right? That’s generally when you know someone is troubled. During the famine, and after Joseph was already the Prime Minister of Egypt, when the brothers went to get grain (Genesis 42:24), Joseph chose to keep Simeon in jail while the other brothers went back to get Benjamin. I find it interesting that he would chose to keep Simeon. Could it be that he was the ringleader and the one who had the ability to sway the others to come up with wicked schemes? We all have that person in our family that has the ability to sway the others, whether it is for good or evil. As a result, Jacob didn’t really pronounce a blessing on Simeon because of his behavior which shows that your actions can affect what you will inherit, your blessings. As a matter of fact, he was excluded from the blessings that Moses spoke over the tribes in Deuteronomy 33. It was like Moses didn’t even want to speak the name Simeon. We know that the tribe did get an inheritance in the land and it was a part of what was given to Judah. Here is a map so that you can see what it looked like… We see Simeon’s land was inside Judah’s land. Also reading Deuteronomy 33, Moses’ blessing to the tribes, we see the first blessing was given to Rueben who is the first-born son and the second born should’ve been Simeon but instead he blesses Judah. It sends a very powerful message that jealousy doesn’t pay. And, in the end Joseph’s son Manasseh got double the inheritance. So the jealousy, caused the object of the jealousy to receive double while the person who was carrying the jealousy got less. Wow! This is something to keep in mind as we see people start to get blessed and restored this month and into this year. Guard your heart. Your turn is coming. You don’t need anyone else’s blessing because God has something just as special in store for you. And, you should celebrate when others succeed because obviously jealousy will only cause God to give them double and also reduce what you were supposed to get in the first place. If you are the object of someone else’s jealousy, that means you will receive DOUBLE!! Not because of anything you did but because it’s a spiritual law. They couldn’t stop Joseph, and they can’t stop YOU. This is a full circle moment, now Remember you just learnt that this is the month of the daughter’s of Zelophehad? Well, check out who their great, great, great grandfather was…. (Numbers 27:1) “One day a petition was presented by the daughters of Zelophehad—Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Their father, Zelophehad, was a descendant of Hepher son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph.” Come one now!!! The daughters were NOT supposed to receive an inheritance, because only the male child should get it, but the laws were changed for them and they got it!! Because they ASKED. Because of the daughters, laws were rewritten. This is the favor and grace that was upon them. The next thing during this time period marriages were arranged, but they were told in Numbers 36 that they can marry whomever they choose as long as it was someone within that same tribe! They were given the freedom to marry whomever they chose and also given an inheritance that they were not legally entitled to! DOUBLE!! This is important because it shows you that the blessing that was on Joseph was given to his descendants for years to come. That double portion didn’t just stop with him. The favor and grace that was upon his life was transferred to the generations that followed him. Praise God!! Okay let me circle back a little more right here: Let the Lion Rise Up Inside of Us So We Can Surge Ahead 1. It’s the month of the constellation of the lion, and therefore also the month the lion roars. The Lord, the Lion of Judah, is roaring for us (Joel 3:16) [1]. We are still in the “dire straits” (Tammuz 17–Av 9 [July 6–July 27]), but we must shine brighter and brighter. Notice the Lion of Judah is roaring. It is symbolic of declaration of ruling and even attacking and conquering the enemy. Paul said that in all these tribulations, we are “more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37), and Daniel prophesied that we would shine as the end approaches (see Dan. 12:3). If the Lord is roaring, then so should we. Let the roar—the shout of victory—rise up in you. 2. The month of Simeon, which means “to hear; to be concerned.” We want to be concerned that we will be able to continue moving ahead. Simeon messed up, just like Reuben (the previous month), who was unstable. Simeon was called an “instrument of cruelty” (Gen. 49:5). Also, there seemed to be instability, perhaps from his mother, Leah, who felt that bearing him would earn her husband’s love (see Gen. 29:31–33) [2]. We are grafted into the great inheritance God has for us. However, when there is instability in our bloodline (as was the case with Simeon—and as is the case with most of us), we need to develop spiritual discipline, as demons will try to convince you to align and agree with them. Therefore 1) roar, 2) keep testifying whenever God does something for you, 3) and keep remembering we are in covenant with Him. 3. The month that you decide on what you have heard. You need to make a decision. “Will I just hear what God has told me, or will I actually do it?” He is saying, “Let the Lion rise up in you.” Do that by calling on the warrior/overcomer anointing. One of the best methods of meditating is to declare what God has said. Keep declaring that you are a warrior and a conqueror in all things. And yes, keep declaring and testifying the wonderful things God is doing for you. Verbalize them. 4. Av is called the “low-point month.” Historically, bad things have happened to Israel on the 9th of Av. A few examples follow. First, Av 9 (July 27) is when the Israelites agreed with the negative report of the ten spies and declared they wouldn’t enter the Promised Land. Second, the first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians on Av 9 in 423 B.C. Third, the Romans destroyed the second temple on Av 9 in 69 A.D. Fourth, the Jews were ordered out of England on this date in 1290. Fifth, the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 on this same day. Sixth, even the Holocaust is connected in that the stage and conditions for WW2 were set in motion by WW1, which started when Germany declared war on Russia in 1914 on the 9th of Av. The point isn’t to be fearful, but to be aware of the disaster that can happen when we abandon covenant with God and refuse to believe His promises. I believe this is the best context for 1 Peter 5:8, which states, “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” In other words, we’re not to fear, but are to have a sober understanding that our hope must always be in God and the covenant He made with us. 5. Av is also known as the “high-point month” because of Av 15 (August 2), the day the last Israelite of the old generation died in the wilderness. Thus, Israel was once again poised to enter the Promised Land. Be of good cheer. God always restores and gives us another chance. 6. The month of the Hebrew letter tet [ט], which resembles a womb. The struggles during Tammuz and Av are like birth pangs. They are not something to be merely endured, but know that God wants to birth something. Tribulations are preparation for more blessing. Paul writes, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). 7. The month where God destroys so that He can reconstruct. The forty years in the wilderness can also be viewed as a destroying of old, wrong foundations of mistrust and unbelief. So for us, the more we choose to shine, the more we can trust God is destroying old hindrances. 8. The month where the earth begins to contract. Watch for earthquakes. The secret of the pregnancy begins to move into the earth realm. When you hear of earthquakes, know that God is getting ready to birth something. 9. The month that also means “there is an iniquity.” However, we don’t need to let it continue. You must change for the better, or you will gradually get worse. Pray, “Lord, show me my iniquities so they can be uprooted.” Choosing to shine in praise and worship, and choosing to declare you are His warrior will do much to uproot iniquitous patterns. 10. The month where the kingdom advances through partnership and connections. Be very aware of your partnerships. If we’ve been responding with more praise and worship, and if we’ve been faithful in making declarations, then we can expect the Lord will have birthed new connections for advance. Watch for them to come now. 11. The month of the left kidney. Develop a new level of discernment, or you will unwittingly oppose God’s counsel and advice. Note Psalm 32. He takes hold of the reins (of our kidneys). Don’t resist the leading of the Holy Spirit. Again, I recommend meditating on what God has spoken or shown. As we do so, we’ll see an increase of His wisdom in us, as well as an increase in discernment. Declaration I decree and declare that the same anointing and blessing that was upon the life of Joseph and his posterity will be granted to me so that laws will be changed on my behalf! Because I ASKED. Rules will shift because I ASKED. Exceptions and exemptions will be made because of me. I declare that blessings and an inheritance will be granted to me, like a train changing tracks, the tracks of favor will change in my direction! The road marked with blessings will shift in my direction, streams will flow where once there was dry land in my direction. Every deserted arid path that leads to me will flood with the blessings of God and my generation will eat the fruit of it, because I ASKED. I decree and declare that my posterity will enjoy the overflow of my life for generations to come, in Jesus’ name, Amen! I decree and declare I have nothing to be jealous of in another person!!! Because my Father who owns a cattle on a thousand hills has so much that He’ll never run dry on blessings for me! Jealousy comes from a poverty mentality. Lack. What it is really saying is that you think God’s blessing may run dry and if He gives something to someone else there’s not enough left for you. And you know that is not true! He is ENDLESS, what He has is ENDLESS. His blessings can never run dry. You don’t even have the capacity to hold what He has for you, much less to want what someone else has! Expand your own capacity so you can contain all that there is for YOU, be free of jealousy in Jesus name! There’s more than enough for all of us. Any other thinking is a lie from the pit of hell and must be rebuked. His blessings will never run dry. It will never run dry! Just open yourself to receive what God has for you this month. And picture Him pouring into you an endless supply. And as He pours it into you, it will overflow from your life into the lives of others. Because He is Endless. You don’t even have time to look at what someone else has because you can’t even contain what He’s pouring into you!!! All you can do is give it away to make room for what He keeps pouring. Hallelujah! Av First Fruit Blessing Prayer (pray it aloud!!) Lord, keep me alert this month. Take me out of this stuck mindset. Show me where I’ve allowed the subtle pirate to come in and steal what you are about to do for me this next year. I pray for the courage to do something different. Remove the fear of failure from me. Grant me boldness this month to make moves that I wouldn’t normally make. Grant me boldness in my speech to ask for things that I generally wouldn’t ask for. Anoint my words so that what I ask will be in line with your will for my life. Lead me into a place of success and cause me to go through these straits this month successfully only carrying what you want me to carry through it into my Promised land! I pray for a victorious month in You! No more throttling or delays in my life but bring movement into my destiny. I bind the spirit of jealousy and I cast it out from my life in the name of Jesus. I bind up lack and poverty and I cast it out in Jesus name. I loose ABUNDANCE of God and the OVERFLOW into my life. Lord forgive me if I’ve ever encouraged a jealous spirit. Whatever was lessened I pray it be expanded and that I will walk into the fullness of what you intended for me. Make all things new God. May my generations experience favor, grace and a double portion in Jesus name, Amen!
1 Comment
Irma
7/20/2023 07:30:26 am
I decree and declare this prayer over me this year . That I will move forward and I have overcome that spirit of jealousy I will celebrate those who are blessed because I know that my father in heaven has all I need and that it will overflow unto me!! I decree and declare that I’m moving forward in the things of god and doing things intentionally in my life this year! I will not be stuck but move forward. In Jesus name! And I will raise a ROAR !!! 💥
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