Early Morning Manna

This is the continuing narrative of our last Operation Imminent Trumpet into Israel. Sit back and meditate on these examples for implementation in your current situation. Remember…our comfort zone is our worst enemy in this hour! It is time to keep up the pace and keep training for this 911 hour! Watch out for the lure and seduction of innocent amusements as these dog days of Summer start to conclude! Keep the faith!

It was difficult to sleep the last few hours with all of the sounds of high tech war happening around us. Behind our Kibbutz was the obvious explosive sounds of Israeli artillery batteries relentlessly and systematically sweeping the area of dug in Hizbollah positions just over the ridge. Earlier that evening we watched as fire would silently flash from their raised canons…then moments later, the sound of the shell rifling thru the air above us and then the jarring air concussion would hit. That was the sound of outgoing Israeli shells. However, the sound of incoming was all together different. The incoming sound of katyusha’s was more of a swirling thru the air above your head with no preceding sound and then a few seconds later the muffled thud and explosion. The thought would immediately come to mind, “Somebodies neighborhood was just hit up here in the Northern Israel. Was it Shlomi, Maalot, or Carmiel this time?” That was the psychological terror behind these attacks…where would they mysteriously hit next? I felt righteous indignation building within my heart knowing that these highly trained terrorist were purposely targeting civilians areas in their blood thirsty long range plan to take back more Israeli real estate…inch by inch until they envisioned marching right back into Jerusalem.

A few hours earlier, the Kibbutz we were staying on (in which only had 10 people left since all others had evacuated to the South) sounded the emergency siren to run to the bomb shelters. After less than one hour in one of these concrete coffins I could stand it no more! I wanted out and it was not because of claustrophobia but because of the driving need for SLEEP! It was here that I noticed a hidden character flaw emerging in my prayer armour. It was the strong drive to sleep in my natural man…even though my spirit man wanted to pray and fight! When the things around us had the possibility of swirling out of control…it seems like the flesh marched to a different drum beat and would seek a comfort level and then fiercely drive to override this fear by going into hibernation and sleep. Escapism from reality was as easy as heading back to your comfortable hotel room in Tel Aviv…find a comfortable position…and going to sleep. The Commander and Chief was teaching me a lesson of spiritual warfare He wants all of His special units to learn. Like the Garden of Gethsemane example, we must Watch and Pray to have the strength to navigate in the dark valley of the shadow of death that comes before the resurrection of the new thing in our lives (Mark 14:32-42). I have read about the greatest battle in war a soldier has to face is not just the flying bullets, but the war within that arises from stress, tiredness and sleep deprivation as he goes days without proper sleep. Could this explain why there is so many verses in the Scriptures that deal with God’s people waking up from spiritual slumber in the last days when dark times will be swirling things out of control?!

As dawn approached, I was relieved to feel the joy and strength of His manifest Presence again as we meet for group prayer outside the bomb shelter. As my shame evaporated of not fully conquering the “sleep demon”, I knew we all needed the anointing and joy…because this morning was the reason we came to this battle line! Eight weeks earlier Dalit and I with three other young men came to this area to sound the shofar against terrorism that the head of Goliath to be taken off (see video archive page at http://flashfloods.com/database.ihtml) and now look at all that has happened here in Israel since those shofars were sounded! We must not just start strong but also finish even stronger and do our part in this battle that was raging in the Spirit realm…. The excitement in the Spirit realm of unseen angelic activity was reaching new levels in my heart as the sun kept rising higher and higher on the Eastern horizon.

Due to ongoing security concerns we were not sure if we were going to make it into the Hizbollah border road with Israel. Yet, our driver and myself were persistent to get as close to the epicenter of this valley of the shadow of death that started this war. The exact area where we were heading was a few days earlier the same area a Hizbollah commando team had compromised the Israeli border security fence, laid in wait on Israeli soil for over 24 hours, and then at the right time shrewdly lured out and then ambushed an Israeli patrol killing all and kidnapping the two wounded back into Lebanon. This was not just the epicenter of that vicious crime and act of war but also the manifestation of the Prince of Persia scheming to test the new Prime Minister of Israel’s government and probe for fears and weaknesses. Would there be a massive military operation or just the same-old-same-old predictable military response and then a return to the status quo? I personally believed that the devil had overplayed his hand once again and that it was time for the violent and ruthless to be brought to justice that love the smell of innocent Christian and Jewish blood. There was the sound of war in the throne room of Heaven!

As we passed the Kibbutz Zara’it and into the rugged wadi’s (seasonal riverbed) of the border area…we were again greeted by frightening and sudden artillery fire right over the top of our van. Everybody jumped and then breathed a sigh of relief when we realized it was friendly outgoing rounds. When we came to the security zone you could see that the road pavement was torn up by the huge weight of many tank treads and as we followed their riveted trails we entered into a open barrier to the front lines. This is no man’s land and this is exactly where we are supposed to be…vulnerable in the natural yet protected by legions of warrior angels! Somebody had left the military gate wide open (angels?) so we could surprise the kingdom of darkness and sound the shofar of victory right in their encampments! ( I wonder if the terrorists could see and hear our shofars sounding as they electronically eavesdropped on us from their fortified bunkers just a few hundred meters away! Remember that they were still hiding here and it would not be for another two weeks before Israeli commando’s units would have routed them out! The most savage fighting in Israel’s modern history of warfare was about to begin! And it was our job to neutralize the legions of demons that had possessed many of these terrorists like the Gaderene demoniacs of old in the gospel accounts that were so exceedingly violent in the way they held onto territory? How else can the Israel military explain for all the supernatural evasive abilities, supernatural fighting strength, and supernatural intelligence this small group of Hizbollah fighters would soon exhibit!)

We would now take this special military road all the along the entire Israeli/Lebanese frontier with Hizbollah all the way up to Kyryat Shmone sounding the shofar and meeting along the way with Israeli tank brigades and special units to encourage them in the battle that lie ahead. What a incredible fruitful morning of Holy Ghost disruption to the enemy it has been! What an incredible fruitful morning of bring love and comfort to all these young solders about to go into harms way!!!

(To be continued….)