by Rick RidingsWatch the video, or read the transcript below.
Hello, this is Rick Ridings coming to you from Jerusalem. It is December 30th, coming in on the new year, and we send blessings to you all for your new year. It is very important in this season now to understand and discern how we need to be praying. What season are we in, and what is happening? The call of an intercessor is not just to pray whatever, but to discern what are the scriptures for now, what is God saying now, and what season are we in.
What Season are We in? Ezekiel 36-37
I have had people who have been asking me if it is time now for the war, the great war of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and things like that. I personally believe that it is more a time for Ezekiel 36 and 37. It is a time for fulfillment where God gives a great breakthrough in Israel upon the mountains of Israel.
It is a time where the dead bones come to life. It is a time of spiritual restoration, where there have been many, many years of the dead bones and the physical restoration of them being reconnected and brought back to Israel. I believe it is time for the breathing of the Holy Spirit upon these dry bones.
As He said in Ezekiel 36, it is a time of turning the heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
What God is Doing Right Now
So what is God doing right now? I believe, and I submit this to you to discern, that this is a time where God is delaying many things that Satan would try to push ahead of time.
Satan is trying to push a premature world war ahead of its time. I believe this is a time where God is dealing in a very strong way with jihadism and terrorism in the area around us in Israel.
As you know, it has been on many fronts. We have said over and over from the beginning, from October 7th, 2023, that we felt the Lord said this time it was not to be a time of pruning and setback for them. It was to be a time of uprooting and a clear setback for major plans of the enemy.
So I believe it is time to press in. This morning in the Isaiah 19 watch, we felt the Lord spoke strongly to us that it is a time of birthing. There is something to be birthed, which is a period of time where very strong jihadist plans will be pulled up by the roots.
Groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian regime, and the Houthis in Yemen have seen a lot of progress against them. But at this point, they are severely pruned, not uprooted.
So this is a time to birth a season where these groups and their continual oppression of their people and their continual oppression of Israel will be pulled up by the roots. This will allow Israel to really have a time of greater rest.
As antisemitism arises in the world, the Jewish people can feel free to come home and feel safe to come home. This can become a safe place for them.
I encourage you to pray and say, “Lord, let your birthing anointing come upon me. I want to be part of what you are birthing in the Middle East.” We ask why it is so difficult here and why we have been faced with so much pressure on every side.
John 16:20-21: Time for the Birthing Prayer
This morning I felt the Lord spoke strongly to me from John 16:20 and 21. Yeshua knew that He was soon going to die. His disciples had been expecting him to come more as the son of David, to conquer and drive out the Romans, and to be part of this great kingdom.
They were part of this great kingdom, but they did not realize the kingdom would come first in a very different way than they thought. It would come through His death and resurrection so that the kingdom could go forth to the whole world and the nations could come to know Him.
He told the disciples that they would weep and mourn while the world rejoices. This obviously happened when Jesus Yeshua was killed, when the world rejoiced and Satan rejoiced while the disciples mourned.
But he said, “You will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.” This happened through the resurrection. He said a woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come, but when the baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
I remember when our daughter Esther was being born. It was a breach birth, and it was very difficult. Patricia had such pain that she literally had spots develop where blood vessels burst in her face.
The doctor said that if it had gone a little longer and a little more, she actually would have sweat blood. This is what Jesus Yeshua did before he went to the cross. He was in travailing prayer for the birthing of His kingdom upon the earth.
I believe now is a time for birthing prayer. It is difficult, there are pressures, and there is a lot of pain. It has been a very difficult time for Israel, and yet also a time of some real great victories along the way.
But I believe now is the time for the final uprooting of Hamas, of the Houthi regime, and of the Iranian regime. It is time for us to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit for birthing prayer to birth this forth.
I believe we can believe the Lord that there will be a full uprooting. It seems impossible in the natural world, but with God all things are possible. He has done many huge miracles with major terrorist leaders who are no longer on the scene.
People like Sinwar and people like Nasrallah were not expected to be removed in this timeframe. No one would have thought before October 7th, 2023 that this could happen, but it has happened.
There has been major progress and a major crippling of Hamas, Hezbollah, and all of these groups. But now I believe it is time to birth their uprooting.
This will be a time in the Middle East where the Jews can come home freely. It will be a time in the Middle East where the gospel can go forth strongly into places like Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, and where there can be freedom for believers in Iran.
I was in a Zoom where believers from Iran said that once the regime falls, they want to come to Gaza and lead people to the Lord. They said they understand the suffering and that it came forth from their leaders in their nation.
Jeremiah 49:35-39: Elam’s Bow Broken
I would like to close by praying a specific scripture we have given before concerning Iran, and more specifically the Iranian regime. It is found in Jeremiah 49:35–39, and it refers to Elam.
Elam was the provincial capital of Persia. Susa was the capital, where Esther was. Elam was the district around that, and it represents the governmental center of Persia.
Here is what Jeremiah says, and I will pray into this. “This is what the Lord Almighty says: See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might.”
We thank you, Lord, that you can break what seems like an unstoppable military might. It looked so strong that Iran would get a nuclear weapon and that they had a land bridge to Israel for armies to pour in through their proxies.
But we thank you, Lord, that the land bridge is already destroyed. We thank you that the nuclear program has been severely set back. We are believing you for uprooting and for the destroying of their intentions to annihilate Israel.
Then he says, “I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. I will scatter them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles do not go.”
The same four winds that breathe on the dead dry bones in Israel, bringing the Jewish people back to spiritual life, will also work in Iran. They will scatter and disperse those who stand against the Lord’s purposes.
Then he says, “I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who want to kill them. I will bring disaster on them, even my fierce anger,” declares the Lord.
This speaks especially of the leadership of Iran. He says, “I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.” He does not stop short.
He says, “I will set my throne in Elam, and I will destroy her king and officials,” declares the Lord. We thank you, Lord, that your eternal throne is in Jerusalem, but that you also rule over the nations.
We believe you, Lord, to destroy this regime and these evil rulers who have oppressed their own people. They have put their people into poverty in order to support bloodthirsty terrorist jihadist groups.
But you said it is they who will be destroyed, not Israel. It is the Iranian regime and its officials in Elam who will be removed.
Then you say, “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,” declares the Lord. You are for the people of Persia and Iran, but you are against evil officials who promote systems of destruction, death, and murder.
We pray that if in your mercy any of them will repent, they will repent. But we pray that those who do not repent will be removed from power and fully uprooted.
Let this final birthing season come. Let there be a time for the Jewish people to come home, and a time of freedom for the people of Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran to experience your kingdom power and love.
As the disciples experienced grief and travail like a woman giving birth, let this time of intensity in the Middle East turn into a time of great joy and breakthrough. Let your intercessors receive the birthing anointing to birth this new season into Israel and the region.
We pray all this in the mighty name of Yeshua. Thank you to all of you who pray strongly with us. We thank you for standing with Jerusalem, with Israel, and with God’s purposes here in the Middle East.