Overcoming Fruit From the Tree of Life

By Beth Auman and JoBeth Kested

 The Hebraic month of Tevet begins the evening of December 29 and lasts for 29 days. The beginning of each new month, in the new moon cycle, brings opportunities for new beginnings on our “Quest of the Overcomers.”

Tevet starts in the beginning of the winter season in the northern hemisphere, including Israel. It is the season characterized by colder weather and shorter daylight when the evidence of life in nature dies, shuts down, withdraws and hibernates. The winter season often symbolizes bleak dormancy, isolation, hopelessness and depression. Or, we can embrace winter as a time for reflection to identify and overcome the problems, mistakes and failures of the past; and to make plans with preparations for the future in the next season of growth. LORD, help our roots grow deeper and stronger in You in this winter season.

This tenth month of Tevet is the month of testimony. Our testimonies open up portals of grace for others to walk into the anointing to overcome. It is important to evaluate how far we have come in our Journey of the Overcomers and take time to praise the LORD!

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:11 

What is the fruit from the Tree of Life that the Lord is offering to us in this month of Tevet?

Clue – Vigilance!

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” I Peter 5:8

 The Tribe of Dan is associated with the month of Tevet. Dan was the 5th son of Jacob and first son of Rachel’s maid, Bilhah. Dan means, “God has judged” with broader meanings – to rule, judge or to execute judgement.

“Dan shall judge his people As one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path, That bites the horse’s heels So that its rider shall fall backward.” Genesis 49:16-17

The Tribe of Dan was given promising declarations of God’s divine purposes to judge the people and to be overcomers against their enemies. Sadly, we discover in Judges 18 that descendants of Dan destroyed and burned the undefended, peaceful city of Laish where they stole a priest with idols and established a place of false worship in idolatry. It would seem that their failure to turn from idolatry is the reason the Tribe of Dan is not listed in the book of Revelation where 12,000 from each tribe are being sealed as overcomers. What a grievous lesson we must learn from this in our “Overcoming Journey.” We have to make sure that we are those that defeat our enemies instead of allowing our enemies idolatrous plans to defeat us!

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:7-8a

 “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” Titus 2:15 ESV

What is the significance of the number 10 in the month of Tevet?

Clue – Godly authority!

Tevet is the tenth month on the Hebraic calendar and the number 10 Biblically signifies completion of godly authority, law, order, responsibility and testimony. The greatest example is the Ten Commandments that were carried in the Ark of Testimony and represented man’s responsibility to keep God’s law; thereby, establishing God’s order and authority on earth. It is essential to pray for our leaders this month, for godly authority to be established and directed in the divine pursuits of Gods plans to subvert the enemy’s strategies to corrupt nations through entrapment of leaders to evil.

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” I Timothy 2:1-2

What is our spiritual warfare assignment in Tevet?

Clue – Watch and pray!

Tevet is the month of Ayin which is the 16th letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. The ancient picture for the letter Ayin is an eye. The letter Ayin represents seeing and watching. The eye is also considered the window to knowledge. We are to watch and pray that we are not led into temptation and to overcome traps and snares of the enemy in our realms of authority.

 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:10-12 

 So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer. Ezra 8:23

 We learn in Esther 2:16-17 that Tevet was the month that Esther was taken captive. “So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.” It’s important for us to remember that Adonai redeemed her from captivity when Esther was chosen Queen for such a time to overthrow the evil plot of Hamann to annihilate the Jewish people.

 The 10th of Tevet also commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in the year 3336 (425 BCE), which led to the destruction of the first Holy Temple two and a half years later on the ninth of AV. This day is commemorated by fasting over the destruction of the Temple by the Jewish people. During this month of Tevet we must be watchful and vigilant, standing our guard so that the devil who walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, does not devour us. We must draw the blood line of Jesus, Yeshua our Messiah around all of our areas of delegated authority and forbid him to encroach the boundaries of our habitation.

 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” I John 4:4

How do we avoid the traps of fear and anxiety this month?

Clue – Prayer with thanksgiving!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7  

 Tevet is a month to be balanced and to submit all things to the Lord. Remembering that although bad things happen, when we submit them to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us. Submit your past to God and allow Him to reconcile your past to your present and prepare you for your Overcoming future. In everything give thanks!

Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Psalm 4:4

 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7

 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5:16-18 

This month of Tevet is a major transition on the Gregorian Calendar into the new decade of 2020. Yes, in the natural we will want to see more sharply with 2020 vision, but we are to ask Adonai to look through His lens and see from His perspective what this new 2020 decade on the Gregorian Calendar means. Many are speaking, but not all are speaking with His wisdom and understanding. We must know that the Gregorian Calendar does not supersede God’s timeline  that is always from the Biblical Hebraic perspective. We will want to gain His wisdom and understanding in order to rightly discern what He is doing. For He alone will always provide and  perform in our lives for what He is saying.

Adonai, in His infinite wisdom, has ordained and set each of us into this time. He did so, because everything that He does is with divine intent to fulfill His purposes on the earth. We cannot truly understand correctly without yielding ourselves to the LORD, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to see from His perspective. During this amazing season of discovery, we’ll need a higher level of discernment more than ever before. Only by learning to love what Adonai loves and moving forward in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, can we go where He is calling us to go; and to be the Overcomers that He is ordaining for us to be.

“Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ ” Isaiah 46:9-10

 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.” Isaiah 40:28-29

Never fear the future, because Adonai has already been there! He knows you. He purposed for you to be here on this earth during this time. Listen for His voice and know that you have been redeemed out of the enemy’s hand from the curse by the blood of the lamb – Yeshua, Jesus our Messiah, for such a time as this. He will show you how to move forward and help you to hear His voice as you become more and more aware of His time from His perspective. You are Overcomers through Yeshua, Jesus our Messiah!

 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27 

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” I John 5:4-5

Adonai, may we increasingly, more clearly, hear Your voice and see all You want us to see; to follow You more closely in order to go where You are calling us to go. We dedicate ourselves to You and we are trusting You to teach us Your wisdom and give us Your understanding that we may prevail in our Journey of the Overcomers. We want to be the mature trees which provide shelter to others during their storms and Your light to those lost in darkness. Oh LORD, we desire to be filled to overflowing by the Holy Spirit that we might be vessels that pour out Your Rivers of Life to all of those that You have placed on our well lit path. In Jesus Name Amen.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”Luke 4:18-19 NIV

 

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All scriptures from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

Reference credit: “A Time to Advance” by Chuck Pierce with Robert and Linda Heidler  © 2011

(Photography purchased or taken by Beth Auman and JoBeth Kested. Photo Art by Beth Auman)

© Beth Auman and JoBeth Kested 2019