Ron Sawka Ministries
July 19, 2023; 1 Av, 5783
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“May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord” (Ps. 104:34).
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer” (Ps. 19:14).
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Pet. 1:6).
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).
“Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9).
How to Thrive in the Dire Straits*
Four Strategies from the Holy Spirit
1. Be sure to speak out (testimony) whenever God answers your prayer or does something for you. Don’t be silent. Don’t be like King Saul and keep it to yourself and lose it. See Rev. 12:11; 1 Sam. 10.
2. No striving—When you come into His presence, be at peace and calm. This actually releases the Holy Spirit to begin to work in us. See Ezek. 44:18; Gal. 3:5.
3. Bless the Lord. No plan or prescribed method. Just pour out your heart. He will pour back to you—cleansing and healing you. See Luke 7:36–50; 2 Cor. 2:14.
4. May your meditation be sweet to Him…
Strategy 4—May Your Meditation Be Sweet to Him
We are still in the period known as the “dire straits” (see footnote below). The Lord wants us to shine brighter and brighter. He also wants us to know this can be a time of birthing of new opportunities, new connections, and new ministries.
Today I want to share what I feel is another strategy—number four in this series from the Holy Spirit on “How to Shine.” In Psalm 104:34, David writes, “May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord.” I have compared this with many other translations, and the message is always clearly the same—may my thoughts and that which I am mulling over be sweet to the Lord. In other words, may He be blessed by what and how I am thinking.
Just think back to a time when you found out that another person highly regarded you. You didn’t know it, but then found out they thought you were honorable, dependable, and a person who kept your word. Just to find that out caused you to feel good—to feel blessed.
On the other hand, sometimes we hear the opposite. Sometimes we hear that a certain person thinks we are unreliable, or wonders if we can be trusted or will keep our promise. When we hear that they have disparaging or doubtful thoughts toward us, we are hurt. We are grieved.
This is exactly what David is talking about in our text—he wanted to make sure that when God heard his thoughts, He would be blessed and not grieved. David determined—I want those thoughts of my inner man to be a blessing to God.
This is a major key to victory for us, especially in times of crisis. When a huge problem comes, we easily begin to worry. We begin to think of others who had the same problem and suffered from it, or who weren’t healed and died. We can worry and fret and can be bound by fear. “Will God help me? Others suffered from this and didn’t recover. Most likely the same will happen to me.”
That kind of thinking/mulling/fretting can’t be described as meditations that are sweet or pleasing to the Lord. No. Not at all. In fact, they grieve Him.
This is where I must choose and even force myself to not think negatively. If in the midst of that crisis I choose to think thoughts that please Him, I will find myself thinking thoughts of faith. “God is always faithful. God will always do the best for me. God is a God of miracles. He loves me and will never abandon me.”
In other words, thoughts or meditations that are sweet to the Lord actually cause faith, boldness, comfort, and peace to rise in me. Amazing.
This is what God wants for all of us. If we can learn to discipline ourselves to think thoughts that are pleasing to the Lord during times of crisis, then we will find that we have faith for anything and everything. This is exactly what Apostle Paul had to learn. He wrote, “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9).
So, may the meditations of our heart be sweet to the Lord. We will find ourselves able to trust Him at levels that we never could before. We will shine.
Thanks for praying,
Ron and Teddy
*“Dire straits” refers to a three-week period beginning on Tammuz 17 (July 6) and ending on Av 9 (July 27). Tammuz 17 was the day Moses smashed the original stone tablets because the people had already abandoned their covenant with God and were worshiping and dancing around the golden calf (see Exod. 32). And Av 9 is infamously known as the day Israel refused to enter the Promised Land (see Num. 13–14).
Since then, this three-week period has been referred to as the “dire straits.” Israel’s history is peppered with disasters that all occurred around this time. A few are as follows: destruction of Solomon’s temple in 423 BC (Av 9); destruction of Herod’s temple in 69 AD (Av 9); expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290 (Av 9); expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 (Av 9). World War 2, which resulted in the deaths of six million Jews, happened because of World War 1, which began on Av 9 in 1914.
The Lion of Judah is Roaring—Rise Up and Roar with Him
Av—The Fourth Hebrew Month of 5783
July 19–August 17, 2023
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 (see Joel 3:16). 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.
Blessings for the month of Av may be found here.
Travel/Ministry Schedule
July 19, Kuala Lumpur, Tabernacle of David
July 21–22, Hong Kong, Catch The Fire
July 31–Aug. 3, Incheon, Korea
Aug. 4–5, Seoul, Korea
MPP (Mondays–Fridays, 6:00–6:45 a.m.)
Weekly Broadcast Schedule (Times are listed in Japan Time, UTC+9:00.)
Apostolic for Russia—Fridays, twice monthly: July 7, July 28, 7:00–8:00 p.m. Join us on Zoom or watch on YouTube.
Apostolic for China—Saturday, July 29, 8:00–9:30 p.m. Zoom: ID: 823 7276 5237, Code: 878174 Topic: Now Is the Time for Healing and Harvest
Apostolic Center Training—Tuesdays, 8:30–10:00 p.m., English/Chinese, registration required.
Prophetic Praise with Pete—Sundays–Thursdays, 10:00–10:30 p.m. YouTube
MPP—Mondays–Fridays, 6:00–6:45 a.m. YouTube
Note, I usually post links to my public Facebook page.
Resources
Ron’s new book, How to Activate Prophecy and Revelation Gifts, the first title in our new “Apostolic Center Training Series,” is intended as a tool for training others in prophetic activation. It is now available for Kindle. Print copies can also be obtained from our office in Sano. Contact info@rwsministries.com for information about ordering copies, or to obtain any of the four books from the “Building Apostolic-Prophetic Foundations” series, which are also available on Kindle:
• Judah Goes First: The Power of Apostolic-Prophetic Praise
• Activated to Prophesy: The Essential Experience for This New Church Era
• Apostles and Apostolic Anointing: Raising Up the End-Times Believers
• Apostolic Centers: Wineskin for the New Era
For English or Japanese books, contact info@rwsministries.com.
For Chinese books, chinese@rwsministries.com
For more information or to connect with our ministry team, please write us at info@rwsministries.com or info@mppjapan.com.
Giving
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