THE MONTH OF AV 

(The Month of Simeon)…from Sorrow to Joy

A MONTH FOR CHOICES/A MONTH TO HEAR AND TO ACT

• This is the month to see the PLAN OF GOD overwhelm the PLAN OF THE ENEMY!!!

• This is the 5th month of the spiritual Jewish year….5 in the number of GRACE…..there is GRACE this month for CHOICES….. This is a month where you will either TRANSFORM or DISINTEGRATE…..YOUR CHOICE!

• How do we know which decisions to make?  How do we know which choices are the right choices?....THE ANSWER IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US…in the name of this very month…..AV

• AV is actually a more formal version of ABBA…..AV means FATHER……FATHER GOD is the SOURCE of our DISCERNMENT and very life!

• AV……

• ALEPH/1-FATHER/Strong Leader

• BET/2-Into His House/Blessing/Abundance/DISCERNMENT

• We HAVE to know God as our ABBA FATHER!  We HAVE to CHOOSE HIM!  He has given us free will to make this most important decision of all…..but when we DO choose Him…John 1:12-13 says that we then become CHILDREN OF GOD!

• We need to be at the RIGHT PLACE at the RIGHT TIME!

• We want to be INFORMED and not taken by surprise.  Seasons are on the calendar so we will be prepared…….the calendar speaks to us…it’s PROPHETIC…..God said that we would KNOW THE TIMES AND SEASONS…and we do…..we know what’s ahead…we know what to expect…we know what to look for and what to celebrate.

• The early church observed the Biblical calendar until Constantine took the church and the world off GOD’S calendar and put it on the Roman or Gregorian calendar…..He got the Jews and the rest of the world OUT OF SYNC with the TIMING OF GOD…

• PAGAN gods and idols are honored with the Gregorian calendar…the months are even named after false gods. …..Constantine didn’t want the Jews to celebrate and observe the FEASTS OF THE LORD because those feasts brought them into ALIGNMENT with the AUTHORITY, BLESSING, PROSPERITY and FAVOR of GOD!

• But because we have an understanding of the significance of GOD’S TIMING and the blessings that are built into it…we can say that we are entering into this new Hebrew month FULLY AWARE that this month could be a “GAME CHANGER” month for us

• We are in a “MOMENT”…..we are SEIZING THE SPHERES and TERRITORIES that HE has assigned to us.

• We are gaining INSIGHT into how to shift to an APOSTOLIC DIMENSION in our DECREES…..we can’t do that if we are in agreement with something other than what GOD has said!

• We can look in Bible history and see what NOT TO CHOOSE!....We are SMACK in the middle of THREE WEEKS that is the LOWEST POINT HISTORICALLY for the Jewish people.

• There is no time more tragic, no period more painful, no suffering more intense than what has befallen the Jewish people, throughout history, during the THREE WEEKS that fall between the 17th of Tammuz (June 27 ) and the 9th of Av (July 18).  

• THEY even proclaimed it to be a time of MOURNING and FASTING and REPENTENCE…we are right smack in the middle of these 3 weeks of MOURNING

• The LOW POINT came for Israel when they chose the VOICE OF UNBELIEF rather than the voice of FAITH when they literally had their TOES ON THE EDGE OF THE PROMISED LAND…….THEY WERE RIGHT THERE!  VICTORY WAS IN THEIR SIGHT!  THEY COULD “SEE” THE PROMISE…..BUT THEY REFUSED TO WALK IN FAITH and enter in!!

• There were 2 TURNING POINTS during this time for Israel….….The Golden Calf EVENT that happened on the 17th of Tammuz (which started the 3 Weeks of Sorrow) and the Report of the 12 Spies EVENT that happened on the 9th of Av (which ends the 3 Weeks of Sorrow)

• They CHOSE to toss aside the PROMISES of GOD and go after what their FEELINGS were dictating to them….they CHOSE to HEAR and believe UNBELIEF instead of FAITH….

• UNBELIEF is BELIEVING SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT GOD HAS SAID. UNBELIEF is accompanied by a curse.  What do I mean by a curse?

• FEAR and UNBELIEF create an IDENTITY CRISIS which can hold us back from the BOUNDARIES of our COVENANT BLESSING!.....THAT’S. A. CURSE.

• JESUS redeemed us from the curse.  Galatians 3 says that HE was MADE A CURSE for us that we might receive the promise!  So we need to ACTIVATE what JESUS has ALREADY done for us BY FAITH!!!!!

• All through history, we can see that during these 3 weeks….it has been TRULY a time of SORROW for the Jewish people….they are caught in a CYCLE OF DESTRUCTION that opens over them during this period of time…year after year

• During that period of time through history is when the 1st and 2nd Temples were torn down, the Jewish people were driven into exile, the Holocaust took place, the Warsaw Ghetto, millions of Jews executed….and on and on the list of tragedies goes…

• The MAIN THING to know here is the reason WHY these things were happening….WHY the CYCLE OF DESTRUCTION????  Because of the CHOICE to listen to the VOICE OF UNBELIEF!!!

• See…God had originally designed this month to be the month His children entered into the Promised Land and to celebrate His Goodness…BUT because they CHOOSE to listen to the voice of UNBELIEF from 10 of the spies, they spoke a NEGATIVE CONFESSION and they put themselves under curse…they SAID  “The enemy is too strong for us. WE WILL ALL DIE!”

• Hebrews 4:12 says “they refused to mix the promise with FAITH.”….so the result was the month of Av has been one of mourning and destruction

• Don’t be like the children of Israel when all MILLION of them chose to listen to the EVIL REPORT of the 10 spies……!!!!  BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU HEAR THIS MONTH…LISTEN CAREFULLY!  God will give you KEY IMPRESSIONS this month!

• They had tasted the FRUIT of the land but REFUSED to enter…they held back in UNBELIEF

• Because of their sin on that date, Israel spent 40 YEARS in the wilderness….where ALL of them died except for Caleb and Joshua….

• BUT…because God is the God of second chances…, in His grace, at the end of the 40 years in the wilderness….He gave His Children another opportunity to enter the Promised Land…BUT, they never TRULY REPENTED…so every year, the cycle repeats itself and the window of destruction opens again

• We know they didn’t truly REPENT because we find that 400 years after the first Temple was destroyed, they are still doing the same things they were supposed to have repented of…

• Ezekiel 8:12 God asks Ezekiel “Have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness?”

• God SAW what they didn’t think He saw…He SAW their IDOLATRY…He SAW their REBELLION…He SAW their “SECRET” SIN…and it was NOT OK with Him

• But one thing we know about our God…..He ALWAYS HAS GIVES US A WAY FOR REDEMPTION!  God doesn’t want the enemy to have a door open to our lives…but we have to CHOOSE to close the door to sin by REPENTENCE

• These guys were on the BRINK OF A BREAKTHROUGH… HOW MANY OF US HAVE BEEN ON THE BRINK OF A BREAKTHROUGH only for it not to happen?.....and then we end up seeing THAT PATTERN over and over and over again…that’s the sign of a CURSE

• Proverbs 26:2 says “A curse without a cause cannot land.”…..it’s like birds flying around looking for a place to land…a CURSE has to have a CAUSE…it has to have LEGAL RIGHT to operate against your bloodline…..that’s why you see certain types of attitudes, behaviors, sicknesses, addictions, and depressions, or whatever being passed from generation to generation…never able to come into the destiny ordained by God.

• If you are a blood-bought Christian, you are grafted into the covenant of Abraham…in that covenant there are INIQUITIOUS PATTERNS….through the blood of Jesus all things are RECONCILED, BUT the devil will try to ACTIVATE these iniquitous patterns and cause them to manifest.  

• The devil doesn’t play fair…if his demon workers see you are having a bad day, they will swarm you.  They don’t back off just because you are struggling…they take every opportunity to try to convince you to align with them.  They understand iniquitous patterns.  When you come into agreement with them, a ROOT forms.

• We have to deal with the ROOTS in our GENERATIONS…BUT GOD deals with us all year long and gives us opportunities to REPENT and be DELIVERED…..

• When we come into AGREEMENT with the ENEMY…that ends up FASHIONING OUR IDENTITY….look at this in the Bible…

• In Isaiah 6, Isaiah experiences the glory of God and he says “I’m undone. Woe is me, I ought to be destroyed.”…..that’s literally what he says….BUT….once his INIQUITY is CLEANSED…he says “Here am I. Send me. I’m a prophet.”…..

• His COMPLETE IDENTITY CHANGED once the INIQUITOUS PATTERN was recognized and BROKEN and DEALT with in his life.

• God wants AV to be a month of BLESSING and CELEBRATION of HIS GOODNESS!....Av is a month that presents us with a CHOICE!

• BUT…This is the month that we can CHOOSE:

• We can Choose to RECEIVE a curse…or we can choose to BREAK a curse.

• We can choose to BELIEVE God’s Promise, and we can choose to ENTER God’s Blessing!

• Based on OUR RESPONSE to a sovereign God, WE change the atmosphere around us.

• When Jesus died on the cross it was the greatest LEGAL TRANSACTION of HISTORY….the verdict was rendered to the enemy that he was defeated….BUT a verdict that is NOT EXECUTED into place has no power…..according to John 16 it is the power of the HOLY SPIRIT that EMPOWERS us to EXECUTE THAT VERDICT into place so that we get everything Jesus died for!!!

• John 16: 8  “And when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

• SO LET’S REPENT:  “We repent and renounce the sin of unbelief that caused the curse to come.  We mix our faith with the promises of God and who we are in Him.”

• God’s people even declared over themselves a time of fasting during this time…to mourn and repent…..but look what GOD says was ALWAYS HIS PLAN for this month…..

• Jeremiah 8:19 promises us that these fasts of mourning and repentance of the 4th and 5th months…as well as the fasts of the 7th and 10th months will ULTIMATELY turn into a time of JOY and GLADNESS!

• THIS is the month that God had set for His children to STPE INTO THE PROMISED LAND…He wanted them to have FAITH that was BEYOND REASON!  Faith that went BEYOND their FEELINGS or what they SAW with their eyes in the natural!

• The ORIGINAL POTENTIAL for this month is STILL THERE FOR US!!!!  This month has the POTENTIAL to be the HIGH POINT month for our FAITH and PROSPERITY!

• This 21-days of mourning began on the 17th of Tammuz (June 27, 2021)….the number 17 in Hebrew is numerically equivalent to TOV, which is the Hebrew  word for GOOD…this is a GOOD that is concealed within the darkness…it is a GOOD which WILL BE revealed.

• In his prophecy to the children of Israel……Jeremiah even eludes to the fact that GOOD THAT WILL BE REVEALED  …..God had just told him about the destruction and exile that was ahead BECAUSE of their CHOICE to walk in UNBELIEF and IDOLATRY……but in Jeremiah 1:11 when God asks Jeremiah what he saw and he replied, “I see a staff of almond wood”

• The Lord replies to him in the next verse …”You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that My word is fulfilled.”

• See…the ALMOND takes 21 days to blossom until it ripens...this corresponds to the 21 days (the 3 WEEKS) between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av.

• ALMONDS also start off BITTER and become SWEET as they develop….which shows us that not only are we able to NEGATE the BITTERNESS of these days…BUT we are capable of turning our bitterness to SWEETNESS…transforming these days of MOURNING into days of REJOICING and GLADNESS!

• There is a statement made by the Jewish people as this month begins…”When Av enters we decrease, IN JOY.”

• How do we decrease?.....IN REPENTANCE FOR IDOLATRY…in REPENTANCE FOR turning from God….in REPENTANCE for pushing Him aside as a NATION, and as a people…REPENTANCE for BLOODSHED and PERVERISTY……REPENTENCE BRINGS JOY!!!

• 2 Chronicles 7:14  “If My people, which are called by My name, shall HUMBLE themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

• EVERYTHING…..no matter how dark or how seemingly bad, has the ability to TURN AROUND!

• REPENTANCE IS KEY!  It’s OUR choice

• Each month of the Jewish year has a letter that represents it….the letter that represents the month of Av is TET which is the 9th letter in the Hebrew alphabet…

• its numerical value is also 9….9 is the number of DUALITY…of CHOICE…we choose either HARVEST or JUDGMENT….

• As the first letter of the word TOV, (which means GOOD) , the TET represents the concept of CONCEALED GOOD WHICH IS WAITING TO BE REVEALED…it also represents the concept of PREGNANCY, both in its form, with its rounded, introverted shape, and numerical value, alluding to the nine months of pregnancy

• In Jewish thought, PREGNANCY represents a STATE OF CONSTRICTION…for it is a time when HIDDEN GOOD is CONCEALED and CONSTRICTED within, until the moment comes for it to be birthed and revealed into this world.

• PREGNANCY does not just exist on a physical level…but rather both men and women—are considered to constantly be in various stages of pregnancy, be it spiritual or emotional or intellectual.

• BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY does not just mean to PHYSICALLY have children, but also that we are commanded to be CREATIVE, to use our GOD GIVEN TALENTS to create within this world

• The state of PREGNANCY, the constriction, the state in which we are not able to fully manifest the hidden good that is within us…BUT….as we often find, it is the WORK we accomplish WHEN ENSLAVED or CONSTRICTED that ALLOWS us to TRULY APPRECIATE our freedom!

• And so…THIS is the very key to our CELEBRATION, our REDEMPTION…it is found in this time of CONSTRICTEDNESS

• The 9th of Av is the TET day…the PREGNANT day of the PREGNANT month….(its the end of the 3 Weeks of Sorrow that usher in the 7 Weeks of COMFORT!) July 18, 2021 (Tisha B’Av).  

• That day is a day of REVELATION…. It reminds us that we have the ability for REBIRTH!

• As that rebirth and ARISING happens….. God’s people will ROAR LIKE A LION…and as we roar…a prophetic covering is created.  We shout and declare “YOUR Kingdom come, YOUR will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!!!”

• Do you know what CONSTELLATION God put in the sky over this month….it is THE LION!!!  The STARS themselves declare the GLORY OF GOD!  They are there to show us the TIMES and SEASONS we are in

• When we look up in the nighttime sky and see the constellation of the LION this month….and we can be COMFORTED as ABBA FATHER roars over our heads…..HE LOVINGLY PROTECTS US and GUIDES US and ENCOURAGES US to CHOOSE WISELY

• Amos 3:8  “The lion has roared—who will not fear?  The Sovereign Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?”

• Let’s say what Caleb said when faced with a NATION full of unbelief…”Let us go up at once and possess it.  For we are well able to overcome it.”

• DECLARE:

• I am well able to overcome…ANYTHING!

• I will enter into God’s promises for me

• I believe what God has spoken and what He is speaking!

• I am bold and strong in the Holy Spirit.  My faith is ready to take me BEYOND!  I am on my way to my promise!

• I will listen carefully to the Lord.  I will hear KEY IMPRESSIONS from God this month!

• My discernment is being refined this month!

• I am looking to the FUTURE ULTIMATE RESTORATION that God has promised His people!

• Even while I am in exile in this world, I WILL ARISE!

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• God PROMISES a DAY OF RESTORATION, even though there has been judgment, there will be restoration.  God will bring us to our Promised land…He has put a NEW SPIRIT IN US, we have been given a HEART OF FLESH, and we are HIS PEOPLE

• Through the destruction of the first two Temples…God was giving us a VISION of the future that is awaiting us…it is meant to spark a DESIRE and LONGING within us so much so that it AFFECTS OUR PRESENT REALITY! … 

• He wants this VISION OF THE FUTURE to become a PART OF US…when we really “get this”…it keeps us from remaining STAGNANT, HIDDEN BEHIND THE WALL…it FORCES us forward…to embrace the TRANSFORMATION He has for us!

• The EXILE…the LABOR is hard, painful, and long…BUT every moment of it, every difficult test, every CONTRACTION serves a PURPOSE!

• SO….during this month of Av….you have a CHOICE: Work with God to BREAK THE WALLS DOWN in your life and let what was once CONCEALED  be REVEALED and HEALED…OR…..you can STAGNATE and then DISINTEGRATE! 

•  Let the LABOR PAINS happen…so NEW BIRTH can manifest so that you can ROAR!!

• The DARK DAYS that are upon us are NOT times to shrink back in FEAR, but times for the CHURCH to ARISE in STRENGTH and DIGNITY and to LAUGH without fear of the future!

• BROADEN your vision…have FAITH…stay FOCUSED .  Soon the pain will end, and a new era, a new LIFE will be born!  What an exciting time we are living in!

• Call to the four corners of this nation in unity declaring “YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!”

• Let the church ARISE!!!  So RECEIVE His PROMISE and mix it with FAITH this month!!!

• THINK about the CHOICES that are before you….WHOSE voice are you listening to concerning those choices?  

• POSITION yourself to HEAR His TRUTH!

• BELIEVE the GOOD report of the Lord!

• Unbelief has SEVERE consequences!

• YOU ARE STANDING RIGHT AT THE EDGE OF YOUR PROMISED LAND!!!.....you are presented with a CHOICE…

• CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE!!!