Good God Sunday Morning " An Issachar Dowry"

This Good God Sunday Morning is Part 2 *is being released - I pray all are blessed by "Understanding Issachar “from Diane Buker and Sharon Gonzales written January 2005. I believe this lesson is another teaching vital in understanding and moving effectively in the realm of Prophesy!

An “Issachar Dowry” is a part of a godly, anointed gift: A part of an estate, region of land that is bequeathed to appointed heirs. This is a till and toil of your prophetic inheritance. DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU HAVE INHERITED?

Heb 12:25-29 (Phi) So be sure you do not refuse to hear the voice that speaks. For if they who refused to hear those who spoke to them on earth did not escape, how little chance of escape is there for us if we refuse to hear the One who speaks from Heaven. Then his voice shook the earth, but now he promises: "Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven." This means that in this final "shaking" all that is impermanent will be removed, that is, everything that is merely "made", and only the unshakable things will remain. Since then, we have been given a kingdom that is "unshakable", let us serve God with thankfulness in the ways which please him, but always with reverence and holy fear. For it is perfectly true that our God is a burning fire.

May the Blessings of Prophetic Understanding, Joy, Peace and Direction be your portion in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. TO GOD BE THE GLORY, ALL OF THE HONOR AND ALL THE PRAISE! Amen

Prophetess Sandra Dukes

“The word in me is the “BARA “in me and the “BARA” in me is the God in me”.

“Let us be as the sons of Issachar” - The Father spoke to us and said, “Do you really understand the depth of that statement, or what the requirements are to operate like Issachar and his sons?” This prompted us to study the Word regarding this subject

Let us first define the key words in 1 Chronicles 12:32:

“And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.”

· Issachar – The meaning of this name is “he will bring a reward, man for hire” (Strong’s Heb3485 and Holman Bible Dictionary).

· Men – a person, people (Strong’s Heb582)

· Understanding – to separate mentally, to distinguish, be cunning, diligently, deal wisely, be prudent (Strong’s Heb998)

· Times - fortunes, occurrences (Thayer’s Lexicon Heb6256). Fortunes means success, prosperity, estates, possessions, wealth (Webster’s Dictionary). Occurrence means an event, an incident, happenings, circumstance.

· Know - to know or ascertain by seeing. The Hebrew word know in this verse is yada, which is a word that means God gives the personal understanding and revelation, and is not a knowing that comes from reading a book for example. (Strong’s Heb3045)

By virtue of the name Issachar, we see that those who walk in the character and calling of Issachar bring a sure reward to the Lord as well as a reward to the vineyard in which they are working. Their mind is cunning, able to mentally distinguish between that which is wise and unwise. They diligently pursue the understanding needed to live well before the Lord. Issachar men and women receive understanding from the Lord Himself, because they know God in an intimate manner. Because they are wise and prudent, Issachars are able to perceive and seize opportune times of success and wealth.

Another key word found in the above scripture is commandment. Commandment means: the mouth as the means of blowing, particularly speech; to puff, blow away (Strong’s Heb6310/6284). As the sons of Issachar walk in revelatory understanding, born out of an intimate knowing of the Lord, the very words of their mouth will possess great authority/power, providing them with the ability to lead others.

Let us look at the first Issachar, the progenitor of the entire tribe. In Genesis 49, Jacob prophesies to his twelve sons, beginning the prophecy in this way: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days” (Genesis 49:1b). We are living in the last days now, so we want to pay attention to what follows Jacob’s invitation. When Jacob prophesied to his sons, he wasn’t only prophesying to them, but also to the generations that lived within them.

Genesis 49:14-15 contains Jacob’s prophetic word for his son Issachar. These verses yield great insight into the character, calling, and anointing of Issachar as we study them:

(1) Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: (2)and he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; (3) and bowed his shoulder to bear, (4) and became a servant unto tribute” (Genesis 49:14-15).

(1) Issachar possessed strong character that enabled him to effectively walk in his calling: “Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens…”

· Strong - a bone as the skeleton of a body, to be spare, or skeleton-like (Strong’s Heb1634/1633). Today we could translate that as “lean, mean, fighting machine!”

· Ass - a male ass; boil up, to glow with redness, to smear with pitch (Strong’s Heb2543/2560)

· Couching - to crouch on all four legs folded, to recline, repose, brood, fall down (Strong’s Heb7257)

· Burdens - a stall for cattle (where the dung was), to rub or wear off, to waste by friction; fire-places, ash-heaps, to sweep bare, scrape (Strong’s/Lexicon Heb4942/8192). We can certainly agree that this was a hard place!

As the definition of “strong” speaks of the skeleton of the body, with no flesh left on the bone, we believe that Issachar had so seized the character of God that his soulish nature was burned up. There must have been nothing left of Issachar, just God. Certainly Issachar was one who could stand before the fiery God and behold the beauty of His everlasting burnings:

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil” (Jer 33:14-15).

Issachar was dead to himself and alive only to his God. When we move into a place of being dead to self and alive to God, we move into understanding the times because those times are IN God. Jesus spoke about discerning the times:

“And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3)

When Christ rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees it was because they were not abiding in the Lord, but they were operating in the midst of unrighteous governmental and religious systems. They did not yada God, and therefore were without understanding and lacked the ability to discern the signs of the time. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” How are we to know what those seasons are apart from knowing God? Jesus said I do what I see My Father in heaven doing (John 5:19).

Issachar possessed tremendous fervor, a passion and drive for His God which caused him to glow with redness, just as it was said about John the Baptist: “He was a burning and a shining light” (John 5:35). For those who operate in that place of obedience and giving themselves over to God, men are prompted to follow and obey them, just as it is said of the children of Issachar, “all their brethren were at their commandment.”

(2) Let us understand Issachar’s “vision”: “And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant.”

· Saw – advise self, appear, behold, discern (Strong’s Heb7200)

· Rest - repose peacefully, consolation found in marriage, abode (Strong’s Heb4496)

· Land - the earth, country, field, ground, nations/people (Strong’s Heb776)

· Pleasant - to be agreeable, be delightful, be sweet, pass in beauty (Strong’s Heb5276)

Issachar advised himself that resting in the Lord was a wise choice. He discerned that having an intimate relationship with the Lord, a bride/bridegroom relationship with Him, was good. His vision was for the Lord Himself and His land, the field of harvest. He discerned that the nations (people) were delightful and pleasant. His eyes were upon the fields that are “white for harvest.”

(3) Because Issachar found true rest in the secret place with the Lord he could “bow his shoulder to bear.” Again, let’s study the key words:

· Bowed - to stretch or spread out, to bend away (Strong’s Heb5186)

· Shoulder - the neck (between the shoulders) as the place of burdens, to incline the shoulder to a burden, to load up on the back of man or beast (Strong’s Heb7926/7925)

· Bear - carry or be burdensome (Strong’s Heb 5445)

Issachar was called to be stretched out in the service of burden bearing. Because he received his strength from the secret place with the Lord, he was able to shoulder burdens. Throughout scripture we see that the shoulder represents carrying a burden of some fashion. The place of the shoulder represents different realms of authority and responsibility:

· Governmental- “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder…” (Isaiah 9:6).

· Priestly – “And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD” (1 Chronicles 15:15).

· Costly – “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’” (Matthew 16:24).

· Shepherding – “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing” (Luke 15:4-5).

· Harvesting – “Thus saith the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders’” (Is 49:22).

(4) Issachar fully yielded to the Lord and “became a servant unto tribute.” Here we find two key words:

· Servant - to work, to serve, to till, enslave (Strong’s Heb5647)

· Tribute - a burden as causing to faint, to waste with disease, to faint with fatigue, fear or grief (Strong’s Heb4522/4549)

We can see that Issachar was a humble burden bearer, a willing servant, fully submitted to the Lord. Because of his radical obedience, he gained authority over disobedience (2 Corinthians 10:6). He didn’t give up, regardless of the strain or potential loss of life. Nor did he allow sickness or weariness to turn his head from the focus God had called him to. He didn’t operate in his own power and might, but by the Spirit of the Lord. He loved not His life even unto death.

The Value of the Issachar Anointing

God called all of us to function as an Issachar, whether our call is to bear His burden in a governmental arena, or a pastoring/shepherding arena. Maybe for some of us the burden is the harvest. Whatever our burdens are, God wants us to understand the times and what ought to be done in midst of that situation and season.

The Issachar anointing brings the understanding of times and the knowledge of what to do; this anointing brings with it vision and counsel. The Issachar anointing puts in proper timing the plans of God. Every vineyard is in need of this anointing. Imagine a mule loaded with several satchels/burdens. Those satchels/burdens could contain water, food, tools, blueprints, a decree from the king. It is what the mule brings to the vineyard that enables the people to prosper in their mission.

When we bring God’s wisdom and understanding into a situation, we bring enrichment to the work of that vineyard. The Issachar anointing brings revelation and prosperity to whatever vineyard it operates in. Vineyards that embrace the Issachar anointing become abundantly fruitful fields.

Issachar was able to bear burdens because he operated from the place of being in his God. Jesus told us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Issachar rolled his burdens onto the Lord and took up the Lord’s yoke, not his own.

Issachar is a picture of the costliness of intercession: “…and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute.” Our model and source for this is found in Christ: “But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). We are grateful to have a dimension of this depth of burden bearing.

Understanding the Times

We hope this study helps us operate like the sons of Issachar operated. We want to understand the times and know what to do. For us in the United States, we need to know what to do in the midst of extreme discourse and hatred between our political parties. We need to understand what to do in the midst of the battle of homosexuality. What is God saying to us in allowing extraordinarily unusual weather events?

Do we understand these times: Alan Greenspan, the Director the Federal Reserve, will this year retire; James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, is preparing for retirement. With many calling for the resignation of Kofi Annan, will the United Nations soon see a new Secretary-General. The Pope is in severely poor health; Will the Roman Catholic Church (the largest religious segment in the world) soon be faced with a change in its leadership? What is implicated by the removal of Suddam Hussein from his powerful political position? These men sit in global leadership positions. Changes in those positions will create a major shift in the political, financial and religious arenas across the globe. Are we understanding the times and do we know what to do?

Let us be as the sons of Issachar,

*“Issachar Winds Are Moving” -Unite

Good God Sunday Morning Praise- August 29, 2010