Smashing the Iron Gates of Gaza

By Christine Darg

Jerusalem Channel

This week’s Torah portion is called "Lech Lecha" (Genesis Chapter 12),  one of my favorite Torah portion titles because it means "Go forth!"

Lech Lecha contains Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So the world is hopefully learning an object lesson of whom to bless.  Each choice has consequences!

In a dream during a fast in the 1970s, the Lord commissioned me saying I must stand with the Jewish people when all the world turns against them. In my prophetic dream the Lord showed me a word on a pillar ,and I didn’t know its meaning—I had to look it up in the dictionary after the dream. The word was hegemony [meaning domination over all the land]. Indeed there’s a hegemonic principality that COVETS all the Land of Israel and it manifests as the spirit of Amalek, Israel’s ancient enemy, with which the Lord says he will have war from generation to generation. This hegemonic spirit is completely irrational —we see on a map the tiny sliver of Israel being demanded to give up more of its meager territory to a massive Islamic confederation of nations.

I’m so grateful to the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) for the opportunity to pray corporately and globally via Zooms for Israel’s defense and the Arabs’ deliverance from its perpetual enmity against Israel and its jealousy over the land of Israel that goes all the way back to Esau’s grandson Amalek. Esau’s bitterness is over his disinheritance which he brought upon himself by selling his birthright to his twin bother Jacob. Exodus 17:16, declares, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.” These presumptuous enemies are not just touching the apple of God’s eye, they are daring to touch even the very throne of the Almighty.

Concerning the soldiers who are singing and worshiping God before going into battle,  Isaiah 30: 32 is a principle of the power of music and worship in spiritual warfare. That verse states that when the Lord attacks Israel’s enemies in battle, with each strike, it will be to the music of tambourines and harps. With every anointed strike….. stripes are laid on the back of the enemy; in great battles of shakings the Lord shall overthrow and rout them. 

Now concerning the global ESTHER FASTS ("Strikes") during this war, somebody wrote in the Zoom Chat yesterday, that three days without food and water is a bit challenging, and they asked for some direction. I can personally testify that throughout my life various three-day emergency Esther fasts have brought deliverances in both family and ministry situations that wouldn’t have happened without the crisis fast. As Derek Prince wrote in his book “Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting,” some answers we receive through prayers but other answers only come when we add fasting to our prayers.

In Isaiah 58: 6 God describes the purpose of a fast, "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to break the chains of wickedness [and we’ve certainly seen the bonds of wickedness in Hamas— they even used demonic drugs to heighten their savagery according to a report in the Jerusalem Post]. . . . [this is God’s Chosen Fast] to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every enslaving yoke?” So it’s worth it to fast to see the abused set free from prison!

Jews and their Israelite ancestors have lived in Gaza since Biblical times. 

Back in 2005 the former Israeli settlements in Gaza called Gush Katif, meaning Harvest Bloc, were cruelly uprooted by the Israeli government and 9000 Jewish residents from Gaza were resettled. During biblical times, Gaza was part of the land promised to the Jews but it was never fully conquered by them. In 2005 as intercessors we took an armored busload of the Battalion of Deborah along with my Texas friend Jodie Anderson of blessed memory and we said to the despairing Jews of Gush Katif, “You are not alone. ” Most of the Jewish settlements within Gush Katif were situated on the sand dunes of the coastal plain. 

[Illustration: Public domain map of the Gaza Strip in May 2005, a few months prior to the Israeli withdrawal from Gush Katif. The Gush Katif settlement bloc was the blue-shaded region in the southwest of this map.]

We prayed on the Gaza beach organized by Col. Moshe Leshem, who told us, “This is the area where Samson tore the gates off of Gaza,” and even now I believe our prayers are tearing off the spiritual gates of Gaza. 

As in the days of Jehoshaphat, our singers and praisers were led by Merv and Merla Watson who were some of the founders of ICEJ along with trumpeter David Bogenrief. We blew shofars, raised banners with the memorial name of G-d in Hebrew and knelt on the beach to repent for the ungodly pressure by our governments for Israel to forfeit Covenant Land. 

At that time the sum of exports from the greenhouses of Gush Katif, owned by 200 farmers, came to $200 million dollars annually and comprised 15% of the agricultural exports of the State of Israel including 95% of bug-free lettuce and greens, 70% of organic vegetables, 60% of cherry tomatoes and 60% of geraniums to Europe.

The combined assets in Gush Katif were estimated to have been at $23 billion but Israel was once again ready to give this up for illusive peace. As the situation became more intense, we issued a call for a 3-day CRISIS ESTHER FAST that hot August of 2005 but on the 9th of Av, when the Temple was destroyed and when many other tragedies befell the Jewish people, even the Jewish graves in Gush Katif had to be transferred. The synagogues, yeshiva and beautiful Israeli greenhouses were destroyed. We also fasted as a penance for all the times Christians had turned a deaf ear to Jewish aid throughout the Church’s history. We said to Gush Katif, “This time we identify with you and share the weight of your burden.”

The definition of an ESTHER FAST is found in the Book of Esther when the Jews were threatened with destruction and Queen Esther gave an edict that they would neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: and afterwards she would petition the king: resolving, “if I perish, I perish.” Therefore an ESTHER FAST is for an emergency and is a total fast—no food and water. But according to the Chabad website, to lessen the severity of it, a one-day Esther fast is traditionally held before the otherwise joyous holiday of Purim.

For those who for various reasons cannot participate in a total ESTHER FAST, as you are individually led of the Holy Spirit, you may decide to fast on water or juice or soup while you continue in your places of work or daily routine. Some rabbis have suggested that you can fast on the evening of the first day, fast the entirety of the second day and then fast on the third day until the afternoon, and in that way you will have touched all 3 days with your fasting efforts.

Now for those praying or participating in a sequential corporate CRISIS ESTHER FAST here are some prayer points:

—Pray that God Almighty will show himself strong with great signs, wonders and a miraculous deliverance. Is there anything too difficult for the Lord?

—For the hostages keep praying the verse we shared yesterday from Psalm 124: “The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD.”

— Proverbs 21 declares “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD.” 
Pray that God will guide PM Netanyahu, the government and the IDF and make a way out of this crisis where there seems to be no way. Godly timing and decisiveness are paramount.
—Pray that Israel will be shielded from actions in the North, East or any other direction that may suddenly demand attention
--Pray Psalm 91 as an antidote to fear and intimidation
--Pray for the release of angels to protect the Lord’s people and to hold back the shedding of blood. We are standing on holy ground and we know that there are angels all around.
—Pray that the Lord will give warnings and direction in dreams and visions to all leaders and fearful visions to all terrorists that they may repent.
--Pray for exposure of terrorists’ intentions to spread global jihad. We must contain their operations in prayer to avert many disasters. Throw a mighty net in prayer over every jihadist cell and pray for governments to make good on their threats to expel jihadists from our midst.
—Pray for professing Christians and liberal Jews worldwide under the delusion of the woke spiritual virus, to wake up and understand the serious and prophetic ramifications of the times
— Esther fasted because she perceived that occult powers were involved in the attack against her people. This last point I will make as a proclamation: We nullify the ungodly death curses that have been hurled against Israeli leadership either by right-wing rabbis or by Islamic leaders. Lance Lambert of blessed memory, one of our prayer mentors in Jerusalem, often warned us not to foolishly make railing accusations against Satan or against principalities. Rather we proclaim Zechariah 3: 2, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!” 

And so now we pray Psalm 25: 22, “Redeem Israel, O Elohim, from all their troubles!” With the striking of the tambourine and the musical instruments of warfare we believe You are laying stripes on the back of intractable foes. We lift up the arms of leadership. LORD, be a very present help in the battle. Be a very present help in the tunnels dug by Hamas. Be a very present help with the hostages. Be a very present help on land, sea and air. Lord, rebuke the powers of darkness. Rebuke the accuser of the brethren. Rebuke the lies and false narratives in Jesus’s Name.

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