Today is a New Moon day, which signifies renewal, rebuilding, and repairing. The sun and moon are signs for appointed times and seasons. They are like flags, signalling that YHVH wants to meet with us and for us to come together as a community. Following these cycles brings us out of spiritual darkness and allows us to understand and celebrate YHVH's plans. Without the sun and moon, we would live in darkness and have no way of knowing YHVH or His appointed times. Following these cycles allows us to receive blessings, anointing, and empowerment from YHVH. It brings us into His light and allows us to fulfill our purpose.
Last weekend was our first Hebron gathering for 2024. And I said then that it was a significant day, that the first weekend of the year was a Hebron weekend of coming together, and it was foundational. And today is our first new moon for 2024, all within a week. And I firmly and sincerely believe that every time we come together is very significant, very significant. And YHVH is saying something to us, He’s wanting to say more and more to us, He’s wanting to open our hearts up more and more to revelation and to understand the times in which we live. And He has said: ‘assemble the troops, gather the people, young and old, mothers and fathers and children and babies, and prepare the fast; the fast of entering into deeper understandings of the truth of the Word.’ YHVH is sharpening the arrows. He is renewing the wineskin, and He is ready to pour in the new wine and to release things that are far, far greater than anything we have seen before.
YHVH wants us to really understand, to really understand that when I call, when the shofar sounds, when the community comes together, come with expectation. Come ready to be moved by the Spirit of God, the Ruach HaKodesh, to open our hearts, to open our minds and to open our mouths in prayer, in prophecy, in words of encouragement and be partial to the gifts – be expecting to receive, because if you are not expecting, you will receive nothing. You will only get what you are expecting, and if we are not expecting anything, we will not get anything, because everything of YHVH is appropriated by faith. And when it's by faith, it means everything is there, we just have to step into it. And stepping into it opens the door to the releasing of it. It becomes part of who we are, and then we begin to flow into functioning in that which we stepped into, and the power of the Almighty is released.
And so we are at that point at time in our history, and we want to see the reality of everything that we have been talking about now for a good number of years falling into place. So, I'm just going to share this thought on New Moon and its message. Exodus 12:1-2. “Now, YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, this month will mark the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year for you.” Amen. So, the word moon there, or the word month, is the Hebrew word Kodesh and it means ‘new moon’. That's the meaning of the word new moon. It implies month, so they write month. But literally, it means new moon (Strong's number 2320) and it's a noun; new moon. The root of that word ‘new moon’ is Strong's 2318, which is a verb. And the root meaning of new moon is the verb ‘to renew, to rebuild, to repair’. And so, we could re-read that verse 2 of Exodus 12 saying, “This new moon will mark the beginning of new moons for you. It is to be the first new moon of the year for you. And this new moon is the beginning of the month and is the beginning of the year of new moons for us.”
So, I'm just reflecting upon the fact that today is new moon day and it's about renewal. It's about rebuilding. It's about repairing and becoming something brand new. Genesis 1:14–19.
“Then Elohim said, “Let lights in the expanse of the sky be for separating the day from the night. They will be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. They will be for lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the land.” And it happened so. Then God made the two great lights—the greater light for dominion over the day, and the lesser light as well as the stars for dominion over the night. God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine on the land and to have dominion over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So there was evening and there was morning—a fourth day.”
The word there translated ‘seasons’ (if you’re reading the same translation as me) is the Hebrew word ‘moedim’, which means ‘appointed times’. So, the specific purpose of the moon and the sun in its cycles is to regulate moedim, to regulate His appointed times. It also regulates days, years and seasons. And of course, all moedim are based on seasons; harvest seasons, from barley to wheat to the vineyards. They all fall on appointed times of meeting with YHVH.
The lights in the sky are for signs, and they are signs. The sun and the moon are signs for moedim and daily and annual cycles. We know what a sign means. I've mentioned this a good number of times, but the Hebrew word ‘sign’ means a ‘flag’, a signal. It means a beacon. It means evidence. So, the sun and the moon are like flags. They’re like a beacon. They’re like signals to the world. I have set in place moedims. I've set in place appointed times. I've set in place cycles and seasons and days and months for you to come together with Me. That's how important they are. It's no wonder Satan didn't want them followed, because they carry so much. But here, the sun and the moon – more particularly for us the moon – it is flagging, YHVH has appointments. He wants to meet with you. And He wants you to come and to gather in His name and in His presence as His people, as a community and to celebrate whatever it is that He has asked you to celebrate on that day or that month throughout the year. He has created these cycles where His appointed times fit in to the seasonal cycles of the earth.
So, we know of course that without these lights (as they were called) in the sky, we would live in darkness. And we would have no way of calculating life's longevity, or how long we've been here or haven't been here. That may not be so important, but that's how it works. And we would also have no way of knowing Elohim Himself without these “lights” flagging appointed Feasts of coming together to meet with Him; memorials and celebrations portraying that which is to come. It is a matter of understanding that YHVH put these things in place so that we would know Him; how and when He wanted to be worshipped, what His plans are and how it would bring salvation to the rest of the world - all of that's in His Feasts. The sun and the moon are a light for the natural comings and goings of humanity, for the growing of crops, for summer, autumn, winter, spring to do their thing. But it's also about spiritual darkness and spiritual light. If we don't follow the cycles of the moon and the appointments YHVH has for us, we're in spiritual darkness. We know nothing about Passover (Pesach). We know nothing about Shavuot (Pentecost). We know nothing about Sukkot, (Tabernacles), Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets) or Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). All of the messages and truths built into those Feasts are lost. The Gospel doesn't give you that message. The Great Commission does not give you that message. Everything that Christianity puts in place of the Feasts results in everything in Scripture being lost.
Christmas doesn't give you the right message. Easter doesn't give you the right message. None of the traditions of man bring us into the spiritual light out of darkness. They don’t bring us out of the kingdom of Satan, who runs this world, into the kingdom of Yeshua and of His Father. And He is saying the sun, the moon, the cycles and the appointed times never miss their phase. They are always, always on time, and if we follow them, we will always be having appointments with YHVH. And He will be continually wanting to impart something into our lives each time we come into His presence. Every time we come into His presence He wants to bless us, He wants to anoint us, He wants to reveal Himself to us. He wants to show us something new and more, He wants to empower us, He wants to anoint us, He wants to gift us, He wants to use us in ways that in the natural we can't be used. We can only move in the power and the anointing that He wants us to have from coming into His presence and receiving something from Him. In the flesh, we can't do it. In the flesh, we'll be functioning in a wrong spirit, a different spirit. And so New Moon reminds us; “I have an appointment and I want to anoint, I want to empower, I want to bring you out of darkness into light and I want to do wonderful, wonderful things in your life.”
Without the Moon and Sun there would be no seasons and no time frames in things spiritual or natural. We're very good at knowing times and seasons in the natural, but He wants us to be very good at knowing times and seasons in the spiritual. Where are we at? You can read the weather well, boys, He says, but you're not reading the signs of the times. You don't know the spiritual implications of where you are at. Here I am, standing before you, and you don't even know who I am. You're in spiritual darkness. There is no light because you're doing things man's way, your way, your religious traditional way, but I'm wanting you to do things My way and to deal with the idolatry that's in your lives – and in our lives, or anyone's lives. Idolatry is the biggest factor and the biggest problem in receiving what Y’Hovah wants to give us, because idolatry is a state of the mind. It's a state of the heart. Idolatry is what I think. If I don't do what Y’Hovah asks me to do, then that's idolatry, because I'm doing what I want to do. Y’Hovah says “I want you to do this, and I need you to change that”, but we don't because we're disobedient, we're rebellious, we're doing what we’re comfortable with, we're being what we’re used to being and we don't want to break out of that. That's idolatry. And that is trying to serve Y’Hovah with mixed seed, and it doesn't work.
Y’Hovah has brought us to the point where He is saying “the party's over, the nice times, the good times”, the times when He says “once I winked at that, but I wink at it no more”. Now the rubber hits the road. You're with Me or you're not. You'll be anointed and empowered by Me or you won't. You'll move in authority and signs and wonders and the richness of the ability to reveal Me to others or you won't. That's where we're at. Y’Hovah is saying “no more disobedience, no more rebellion, no more fleshly self. When I ask you to do something, you repent.” The first thing you do is repent. We get down on our knees, and we say “Y’Hovah forgive me, forgive me. I have been too selfish. I have been too lazy. I have been too comfortable. I have been too self-centred. Forgive me, forgive me, and change me.” That's dealing with idolatry, because Y’Hovah will destroy the golden calves and the idolatry in our hearts and minds, crush them to dust, and then He'll make us drink it. So, we do it His way, or we do it the hard way – because that's the easy way. We've reached this point in our history where Y’Hovah says “now I'm ready to go.”
The seasons are here. This year. This year, My appointed times are going to be times wherein I'm going to be imparting something into your lives more than before. Deeper revelation, new understandings, greater richness of the Ruach and empowering and a boldness to be who I've called you to be. For many years He's been preparing us. For many years I've been saying all of these kinds of things, and Y’Hovah says “now is the time.” Now is the time for such a time as this. This new moon is the beginning of all new moons, all appointed times where there will be greater flows of his anointing and power and we will be the beneficiaries. We will be enriched. We will be prospered in every way: body, soul and spirit. We will be a people who will have giftings, anointings, wisdom, understanding, revelation and authority that multitudes won't have, don't have and will never have, believers or not. Y’Hovah is preparing a people. I know He's doing these kinds of things all around the world – but I'm only responsible for this part of His world, this corner of His vineyard, and this is what I've lived my life for. This is His season. This is His point in history, the history of mankind – and apart from what the Ruach is saying in the spiritual, the conditions in the natural world are telling us that. The Gaza war is telling us that. The multitude of nations, too long for me to list, that are at war with each other. Civil wars, rioting, people in Western nations, in America and wherever, revolting. The people are revolting against government, against law and order. They're signs of the times. Forget about earthquakes and volcanoes and climate change. Look at humanity. Look at the rebellion. Look at the way in which people are taking things into their own hands. In Africa, in places all over the world, people are coming against their government. They are standing against their government. Even in Islamic countries, they're willing to die for their cause.
Something's shifted. Something's changing and Y’Hovah is saying that now is the time for us to rise in faith and understand it more fully and embrace it; because you are ready for it. Each and every one of us, we are prepared for it. Don't think we're not. We are. If we don't think of ourselves as He thinks of us, there's a problem. If we don't accept ourselves as He accepts us, there's a problem. If I don't think about myself the way He thinks about me, there's a problem. If Y’Hovah says “this is My call on your life” or “this is what I am doing in you, and this is how I see you”, then that's how we have to see ourselves. Otherwise, we will never ever enter into what he has for us. Never. If I thought of myself as in the natural I would see myself as insecure, too afraid of people to speak out and say things they don't want to hear. I can’t just hide in my own shell and crawl in the corner, which I love to do (and half of us probably do). We cannot think of ourselves in negative terms any longer, any longer. We must be bold, we must be brave and we must say Y’Hovah, You trust me, therefore I will trust You in me. This is how You see me. You see me as this person doing that and being that for You. That's how I see myself.
We're not talking about exalting ourselves above our station. We're not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We're just thinking of ourselves as highly as Y’Hovah thinks of us. We're thinking of ourselves in His terms, not fleshly, proud, bombastic terms. No, we're thinking of ourselves in positive, concrete terms that the Father thinks about us. He chose us because He knows us. He chose us because He trusts us. He chose us because He knows He can use us. He chose us because He knows we are willing to walk in His ways and to do what He asks. He never chose us without good reason. He chose us because He knew He could trust us and have confidence that we would make the changes, do the turnarounds, get down on our knees, repent and open our hearts and open our doors for Him to come and manifest himself. Are we clear? Are we truly and fully aware that that's what e's saying to us? Because He is. And it gets far, far deeper than that. Y’Hovah has been speaking to me every day, giving me new things every day. I'm talking about every day for the last several weeks.
Father's preparing us because there are multitudes out there. There are lost sheep in the house of Israel and in Christianity that are lost on the hills of this nation. And He's looking for shepherds. He's looking for prophets. He's looking for overseers. He's looking for elders. He's looking for people. Apostles and prophets and teachers. He's looking for a people – it doesn't matter how young, it doesn't matter how old. He wants a people that He can use on the hills of Israel and across the nation, our nation. And He hasn't spent all this time and all these years getting us together because He can't trust us o because we're going to fail. No, because He knows. He has a channel through which He can move. And He will. Very quickly, we have to become, and be becoming, a different people with a different mindset, a different heartbeat and a different prayer pattern. Because Y’Hovah's doing something new. And now it's time to start moving in that authority.
We see in the instructions given to Moses that New Moon was flagging the message in Exodus 12. That was Y’Hovah talking to Moses about the first Passover, the first time of coming together,slaying the lamb and putting the blood on the doorposts. They'd never done this before. It had never been outlined or mentioned. It was a whole new beginning, a whole new comprehension and understanding. And here Y’Hovah was flagging the message; the sign of deliverance, of redemption, of salvation and coming out of the bondage of Egypt. They were being released from the slavery of Pharaoh and from under the power, domination and dominion of Satan. Satan was crushing them through Pharaoh, throwing their baby boys into the River Nile and wanting to wipe out the reproductive capacity of that nation. And Y’Hovah said He heard their cry. He was waiting for their cry of desperation. And He sent Moses. Moses was a man that was transformed in the moment at the burning bush. And he went. His staff became the power and symbol of authority as he threw it down at Pharaoh's feet. And thus began the most amazing ministry of that man, Moses. That is the very thing that gave him the confidence as Y’Hovah moved in his response to obedience, obeying what the Father was saying. Now every Pesach, every Passover, there is this celebration every year at the same time, every month, on the same month of every year. Every new moon calculates that for us. New moon calculates so we don't get it wrong. Y’Hovah says on this month, on this new moon, you celebrate this particular moedim, this particular feast. On this particular new moon, calculate when you start worshipping, celebrating, remembering how I brought you out of bondage and how I brought you out into the place of deliverance and salvation and authority and power.
It was through Moses, through Aaron, through Miriam, through the elders, through those that were assisting him that Father opened the seas. He built a tabernacle. He established a system of worship. He came down in a cloud and lived in the cloud on them. It never parted, day or night, for 40 years. The cloud of His presence was ever enveloping that nation and that people. And they moved forward for 40 years under the power, the anointing, the richness and the overseeing wonder of the Almighty Himself. That cloud is ours today. And every new moon keeps calculating which thing we are celebrating and what it tells us.
For Israel, new moon on Abib was their deliverance message and release from that bondage. This new moon speaks of new beginnings. Every new moon speaks of new beginnings. It speaks of the rejuvenation, the rebuilding or the refreshing of the moon in Father's message to us, of spiritual and physical life in the Kingdom of Y’Hovah. So every new moon, each month on new moon, we celebrate or enter into a renewal, a refreshing, a rebuilding, a re-establishing of our faith and our commitments to His call, to His power, to His presence and to the richness of the meaning of new moon. And so the spiritual truth of what the Feasts, the signs in the sky, are for must impact us. New Moon is a light that prevents the darkness of the night to taking over and controlling. New moon is saying “I am bringing you into a new spiritual power. I am refurbishing you month by month.” We can lose much in a day. In a month, we can lose total contact if we are not careful and not spending time in His presence and His Word. But every new moon, I am being rebuilt. Every new moon, I am being refurbished. My faith and my comprehension, love and understanding of who Y’Hovah is and these appointments that He makes with us for days and seasons, months and years, every one of them is an appointment with the Almighty to impart something into our lives.
So let's think about and reflect upon the fact that when new moon comes and we gather, we are rebuilding, we are re-strengthening, we are refurbishing. We have reached the end of the month and now we are entering into a new month. What does this new month have for us? Strengthen, rebuild our faith, strengthen our confidence, do a new work in our lives and let us begin to shine brighter until we get to full moon. And full moon is the celebration date. Full moon is always Passover. Full moon is always Tabernacle, Sukkot. Always at the brightest moment, Y’Hovah is saying on new moon, you are rebuilding; you are rebuilding till your light shines forth in all its power and in all its majesty, as at full moon. So, we want to see something of the purpose of these things. They are signs, signals, and messages to us. New moon is about our resurrection into new life, month by month. The moon disappears, it's gone, it doesn't exist. Of course we know it does, but we also know the meaning of the cycles. And all of a sudden there is a resurrection; it comes into new life. Every new moon, see it as a resurrection. See it as something that Y’Hovah is doing anew in my life. This month He is going to reveal new things to me. He is going to prepare me for a greater new moon, for a greater moving and outpouring of revelation and understanding because He’s got so much to show us. We haven't got enough lifetimes to learn it all. So, let's take advantage of what we do have and get more.
New moon keeps us focused on what lies ahead, on the favour and the blessings that this month's season has for us – and so that it's not just about today, the fact that we are celebrating today. No, we are not just celebrating today. We are celebrating what this month is going to bring us, what Y’Hovah is going to do throughout this month, how Y’Hovah is going to rebuild, restructure, anoint afresh and pour out Ruach upon me that I may see something that is greater this month. Whatever you have for me Father, I'm pushing into it. It's a rebuilding, a reaffirming, something good in my life. So, our relationship can be deepened and strengthened each new moon as we celebrate Y’Hovah in our life. And His name will fill us with authority and power that's found in Him, because the moon is a type of Y’Hovah Yeshua; our Redeemer, our Saviour. And in His name, we are empowered, anointed and readied for full moon in all its glory, majesty, authority and power. He wants us to flow in that authority and power and do miracles and signs and wonders. He wants us to move in gifts and anointings. He wants us to see things by revelation and not just by knowledge based on human understanding. We're entering a whole new era of revelation knowledge, of the impartation of faith that enables me to walk into what He sees in me and to be clothed upon with that which He promises us.
Y’Hovah Ruach has gifts for us. Otherwise, they are meaningless. They're just words on a page. Unless those words on the page become life, they're of no value. We can read them and say, “what wonderful thoughts, what wonderful promises, what wonderful things”. No, that's useless. We have to be clothed with them. We have to enter into them. We have to have those words imparted into our lives so that we become what it says on those pages. We have to walk in them, not just think about them and appreciate them and love them. They have to become part of us. We have to become what those pages say. Father wants to do that. He wants to impart that. He wants to anoint us. He wants to enrich our lives. He wants this wine skin to be so filled with the new wine that we are one with that new wine. What is in us and who we are is bubbling forth with the anointing of the power of the Spirit. The Word becomes personified in us. That's faith walking. That's faith believing. That is entering in. That is saying “yes, Father, that's what I want to be. That's what I will be. That's what I am going to exercise my faith in. And it doesn't matter how many times I fall on my face. It doesn't matter. I will get up and I will do it again, believing.” Amen.