Ron Sawka Ministries
November 15, 2023; Kislev 2, 5784
www.rwsministries.com
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision” (Ps. 2:4).
“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’” (Ps. 2:7).
“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
Celebration—Our Greatest Weapon in Dark Times
I want to talk about the power of celebration. Recently, I heard a well-known and highly respected church leader speak about celebration as one of the most important and pivotal things for us to do. When I heard it, immediately I knew he was right. Yes, God wants us to be a celebrating people.
It’s easy to see we are in times of increasing darkness. The savage, murderous war in Israel and the almost unfathomable rapid rise of anti-Semitism are exclamation marks that the anti-Christ spirit and its works of darkness are increasing around us. What are we to do? Celebrate and rejoice! Some explanation follows:
1. God Himself laughs. Psalm 2 describes how principalities and powers (see Ephesians 6) deceive human leaders of this world to join an anti-God agenda and further the work of the powers of darkness. We read, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed” (Ps. 2:2). How does the Lord respond? He laughs. In fact, He mocks them. Psalm 2:4 states, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision.”
This reminds me of Elijah when facing the 450 false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (see 1 Kings 18:27). He mocked them. The Lord wants us to have the same attitude. No, not a mocking of people, because as Christians we choose to respect everyone. But when the bad news flashes across our screens, we need to remember that God on His throne is laughing at and mocking the feeble, powerless attempts of the enemy, and we are to do the same.
2. Celebration enables us to discern the enemy. As we choose to celebrate, we will increasingly see it is first of all a spiritual war, and that all attempts of the enemy are feeble. We will more and more become mockers of the enemy!
3. Celebration firmly cements our relationship as sons of God, and empowers our declarations! Not only does the Lord on His throne laugh at the enemy, but He also does something else. In response to what the enemy is doing, He speaks/declares! We read, “Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure” (Ps. 2:5). He simply declares, “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion” (Ps. 2:6). Think about that. Almighty God counters the enemy attacks with: “Hey, Jesus is My Son. I have set Him as King of the world.” That declaration causes the enemy to cower. He goes on to say that Jesus shall “break them with a rod of iron; [He] shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps. 2:9).
The devil wants to be the ruler—thus his evil machinations in the world. God stops this by simply declaring Jesus is His son, and that Jesus is King. There is such power in declaration. Connect this with what Jesus told the Seventy: “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20, emphasis added). In other words, celebration leads to declaration that lifts us to a higher level. Because our names are written in heaven, then just like Jesus we have all authority and power over all the work of the enemy. This is not only to drive out demons and heal the sick, but also for every circumstance.
4. Celebration allows us to receive our inheritance. Look at Psalm 2 again. To the enemy, God declared Jesus, His Son, was now King. Jesus Himself must and does repeat the declaration. Jesus is then given permission to ask God, His Father, “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession” (Ps. 2:8). Right then, in the midst of all the raging, Jesus receives His inheritance of all the nations of the world. This is an example and pattern for all of us. Be sure to celebrate. You will know what to ask and believe for. God has a great inheritance for each of us. It will be far greater than our human thinking.
5. This is one of the main purposes of the feasts of the Lord and the monthly first fruits. They teach us to celebrate so we can have a continual mindset of advance and victory in the Lord.
Thanks for praying,
Ron and Teddy
Pray for Israel
The Lord is raising up intercessors worldwide to pray for Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East. The devil wants to war—to kill, steal, and destroy. God wants peace and harvest and blessing. Not long ago, I took part in the daily fifteen-minute prayer session led by Patricia Bootsma (CTF), which I highly recommend. You can join via Zoom: http://prayer.jhisrael.com/pray; passcode: pray.
Daily 11:00 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time
Kislev: The Ninth Hebrew Month (Nov. 14–Dec. 12)
Be Sure to Celebrate
God wants us to be joyous, celebrating people. Most of us know that perhaps God’s greatest purpose in giving us the feasts is to help change our mindsets. He doesn’t want us to be worried and fearful, but wants us to be full of joy because we’re doing life with Him. Thus, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles are all feasts. They are celebration times. The same is true of the monthly feast of first fruits. Yes, each month has some specific things God wants us to focus on. But each and every monthly first fruit celebration is, in fact, a celebration. A joyful time. This is the mindset God wants us to have. As we look at all the problems in the world, our response must be joy. Remember what Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, emphasis added). The complete article may be found here.
Travel/Ministry Schedule
Nov. 17–19, The Resting Place (CTF), Locust Grove, VA
MPP (Mondays–Fridays, 6:00–6:45 a.m.)
The next scheduled off days are as follows:
Thursday, November 23
Monday, November 27–Friday, December 1
Monday, December 25–Friday, January 5
Weekly Broadcast Schedule (Times are listed in Japan Time, UTC+9:00.)
Apostolic for Russia—Fridays, twice monthly: November 24, Dec 8, 22 7:00–8:00 p.m. Join us on Zoom (Meeting ID: 840 2016 0640, Code: 219951), or watch on YouTube.
Apostolic for Chinese: Harvesting in the End-Time Harvest—Saturday, Nov. 25, 8:00–9:30 p.m. Join us on Zoom (ID: 823 7276 5237, Code: 878174)
Apostolic Center Training—Tuesdays, 8:30–10:00 p.m., English/Chinese, registration required. Please contact chinese@rwsministries.com.
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
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.
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