CHUCK PIERCE RETURNS TO NEW ZEALAND
Chuck Pierce is returning to New Zealand near the end of September this year for a one night gathering in Christchurch. Venue and details are yet to be confirmed.
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WORD FROM JERUSALEM
Every month we will hear from Norma Sarvis who lives in Jerusalem. Norma is a Trustee of Zion Ministries and is on the leadership team of Succat Hallel, a 24/7 prayer and worship centre overlooking Mt. Zion and the Temple Mount:
Passover this year is Friday 22nd April. It is a wonderful time of year in Israel. People spend the weeks ahead of this Feast cleaning their homes. I love to use this time to throw or give away unneeded items and to organize and clean. There is something refreshing about making order after being inside all winter. As this cleaning happens once a year, it is easy to manage the excess in our lives and be rid of all that is accumulated and not necessary.
It is the same spiritually. It is good before we ‘cross over’ at Passover to look at our lives and see what needs cleaning and what needs adjustment and repair. Is our heart in the right place toward God and toward others and even toward ourselves? Is there any ‘Egypt’ in our lives that we need to walk away from? Is there a wrong attitude that needs to change? Is there someone in my life that I do not treat with love and honour as Yeshua would? Am I in bondage to something that needs to be cut out of my life?
This is a season for such soul searching questions as we get ready for the ‘new’.
After this season of cleaning both in the physical and the spiritual, we are ready to sit down to our Passover meal and recount the journey of Israel from slavery to freedom. We retell the story each year on the 14th day of the first month (Nissan). This is commanded in Deuteronomy 16:1 and then for seven days we are to eat no leavened bread (Deuteronomy 16:8)
During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the seven days that follow the Passover Seder, traditionally Psalms 113-118 are read. These are known as the Hallel Psalms. They are palms of praise for protection and freedom and for His many blessings. Read them through in one sitting. Praise is part of our inner ‘house cleaning’. ‘For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 116:8-9) “From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord’s name is to be praised.” (Psalm 113:3) “God is the Lord and He has given us light. (Psalm 118:27)
I love to prepare this Passover Seder meal, invite our friends and celebrate with those from Israel and the nations. It is a joyous time to remember all that the Lord has done for us since we last gathered around this particular meal. Unlike the original Passover meal, it is not prepared in haste and takes quite a bit of preparation!!! But the joy of reading the story, and sharing the meal and eating the traditional foods is worth all the work!
We read this story on the national level and think of the deliverance of Israel as a nation. We remember too Yeshua’s coming as the Passover Lamb for each of us individually. It is a time of individual rejoicing at His work in our lives.
So we enter this feast on two levels: national and personal. One work has been done in each of our lives as we accepted His one-time sacrifice. The other work nationally is only partially complete. Israel was delivered physically from Egypt but we still await Israel’s national salvation as written in Romans 11: “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved…: (Roman 11:25-26a) “For if their (Israel’s) being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11:15)
We pray that the nation of Israel will begin to recognize this Lamb and that there will be revelation around many tables on this special evening. We pray for ‘life from the dead’ for my nation, Israel. We worship the Lamb and rejoice at His coming to us. We are one in Him in Israel and New Zealand. We ‘echo’ His life across the oceans as we celebrate this season of Passover.
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For more of an understanding of Passover, the link below is to a video done last year (5775) explaining its importance and the significance of the timing of the crucifixion of Jesus.
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THE GIFT OF FAITH
AN EXTRAORDINARY TESTIMONY FROM DAVID AND ELSBETH, LEADERS IN THE HAMILTON HOUSE OF ZION.
Life is unpredictable and sudden changes have the ability to radically affect you. Overnight life can move in a completely new direction, shifting us out of our comfort zone and leading us on a new pathway.
Though it may look like the enemy at work, Father God has a plan. If we will listen for His way through, He will turn the events that the adversary has meant for evil to good.
This is how it has been for David and I these past few weeks. We have learnt to take leaps of faith and trust in all that He does, knowing that there is safety in his arms of love.
Within a 48 hour time frame, together we encountered an unexpected event that left us stunned and in shock! On exactly the same day as this dreadful event, three of our family members ended up in hospital for unrelated reasons. One particular adversity with our son (and his son) involved a road accident with the potential of it to be fatal. My son completely blacked out while driving on a busy road in Perth. We thankfully and lovingly praise the Lord for His miraculous angelic protection on that day.
In the days following these series of events, we sought after God, crying out for His way forward. David and I only desired God’s way.
There is great value at a time like this to know that you are aligned with God’s plan and positioning. We are so thankful to God that we had access to those in apostolic authority over us who activated prayer and decrees that released us and our family into a place of increasing freedom to embrace God’s calling and destiny in this new season now upon us.
Gently the Lord drew near and quieted our hearts with His peace. It is difficult to hear God speak when we are in turmoil but the security of His peace filled our hearts and we heard His voice: “It is time to move. Now it is time to move forward. Now is the time to sell and move forward with faith and confidence. Don’t look back, I am with you.”
Imparted to us was a Gift of Faith. We felt safe in His arms of love and knew He would go before us. We needed to take a leap of faith and interestingly, that was the main theme of the first fruits message given to us in the month of Adar.
When we were commissioned as a House of Zion at Awakening the Destiny of a Nation, we were given a clear word from the Lord, that He would give us the gift of faith as a new day was dawning for us. There would be increased provision to climb higher and see giants fall powerless around us. These words were now alive with meaning for us.
With understanding we took the leap of faith and proceeded to prepare our property for sale. The three open homes we held flowed with people coming to see the property and as a result there were three very keen buyers who attended the auction day. Competition was high and the Father blessed us with a home sold at a very good price.
Originally the auction date for our home was set for 13th April but was brought forward a week to 6th April. None other than God orchestrated this change. The sale of our home was completed and went unconditioned before the end of the 12th month of Adar and the beginning of the Biblical New Year (1st Nissan) and the new feast cycles. With an ending and a beginning and Passover just ahead we saw this as another sign of God’s perfect timing.
Our testimony does not end there. God’s abundant blessing has been present at every turn. Our new home is not ready to move into yet, so we were in need of a rental for the time being. Suitable rental properties are not easy to find at this present time in our area but as soon as our sale was completed and dates were finalized the Holy Spirit led David and I to an amazing almost new, beautiful home to rent for as long as we need and at a very reasonable price.
Again God’s abundant provision was there for us right on time. What a blessing it was when we visited our rental home we found it was exactly the same house plan that we had planned to build at an earlier stage. We now have the joy to live in this dream home until our new home is ready for us. God’s smile was shining down upon us. Wow!
Our hearts are humbled as we experience His loving kindness and grace of favour. There is such unspeakable joy in total surrender and as a result new doors are opening wide before us. We are excited to see what God has in store for our future. We feel so secure amidst the constant change and have a strength that connects us with the Heavenly realm where we are seated in a place of trust with Y’shua.
In March Chuck Pierce recently shared this prophetic word at Glory of Zion, which perfectly describes our experience over these past few weeks:
“The next six weeks will be time of un-downing your nest. For many of you have grown accustomed to the place where your nest is, but I will be removing the down in the nest you are in. This removal will be the preparation of propelling you into the future I have for you.”
Isaiah 40:31 say, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles (with youth renewed). They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
The wind of the spirit is blowing and we are all being called to a higher place. All that holds us down will be lifted off so we are free to fly.
All praise and glory to our God! “He alone gives us the power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12).
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GOOD GOOD FATHER
This song, Good Good Father by Casting Crowns, is one that Hamilton House of Zion, like many people, have been playing constantly.
The lyrics ring true to us everyday and we are in awe of His continuous love, strength, peace and favour:
'You're a Good, Good Father
It's who You are, it's who You are, it's who You are
And I'm loved by You
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am'
'You are perfect in all of Your ways
You are perfect in all of Your ways
You are perfect in all of Your ways to us'
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PROVISION FOR TAUMARUNUI
The eye of the Lord is on Taumarunui. At the beginning of this month we caught up with James and Jamie who had planned a trip to Auckland. With them were four boys aged 14 and 15 who have a testimony of power of God. Turned from a life of crime to a journey of knowing and worshipping Jesus, the story of these boys is all inspiring and encouraging. They have been filled with the Holy Spirit, experienced deliverance and are looking forward to water baptism.
With the provision of God, we were able to load up Jamie and the team’s van with 40-50 boxes of food, sports equipment, clothes, taiahas and patus, which will help the Breakthrough Wellness Centre look after families in their community.
On Friday 22nd April, we will be among 30 people gathering in Taumarunui to celebrate Passover for the first time, putting a stake in the ground and claiming this town for Jesus through the power of the blood of the Passover Lamb.
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RICE, RICE AND MORE RICE!!
Long grain, calrose, jasmine, brown, sushi, short grain, low GI …..
1300kg of rice was picked up at the beginning of this month in 82 bags ranging from 1 to 25 kilos each. Deliveries were made to a South Auckland based Pacific Island Charity, a South Auckland Christian food bank and families in Glen Innes, Randwick Park, Whakatane and Taumarunui. 1300kg goes a long way, but it’s not a “oncer”, we receive this about every two months.
Praise God for excess and unwanted product that gets into the hands of needy families including furniture, appliances, house lots, clothes, shoes and food. The Lord honours good stewardship and pours more into the hands of those who hold everything with an open palm.
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David, one of our Randwick Park Breakfast Club kids, came to see us one day. He was going on a school camp and needed some shoes and clothes. We gave him what we could, including tramping boots and other useful things. We took David to Rebel Sports to buy him a tee shirt and he ended up with a very smart black Nike shirt as a treat. On the way home he said: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have some Nike shoes to go with my Nike tee shirt”.
The next day we had a call from a West Auckland gym to pick up some lost property. Three black rubbish bags were opened and on the top of the first one was a pair of size 10, black Nike shoes, looking like they had never been worn. This was a perfect gift from God to David and demonstrates His provision in every day action!
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One of our volunteers, a grandmother looking after her grandchildren for family reasons, asked to be taken to hospital for a cancer scan. The reason she asked is that if she caught the bus “there and back”, it would take several changes, a total of six hours travel, and she would need to take a day off from her part time job and wouldn’t get paid. On the way she mentioned her washing machine had broken down and for the last month she was washing the family clothes by hand. Could we look out for one for her?
She was dropped off at the hospital, and five minutes later we were called by a friend asking if we knew anyone who would like a Simpson Commercial Washing Machine!
It was delivered to our friend the next day, with loud exclamations on how our God knows our needs before we ask.
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May you be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. May your decisions on earth agree with the decisions in heaven over your life, your family, city and nation. The blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, is crying out on your behalf. Allow the Lord to realign your past, deal with all the loose ends in your life and get ready to “pass over” into the new season that lies ahead!
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