The Manna Tree
“Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.” (Genesis 21:33; NASB)
We have said a good bit about tamarisk trees the past few days. They are an evergreen tree. For millennia evergreens have symbolized covenant. I write about them in my book, An Appeal To Heaven:
“Always maintaining green leaves or needles, depending on the tree, evergreen trees have symbolized eternity as far back as Abraham. At times, this symbolism was expanded to include an everlasting or lifelong commitment to a covenant. At the time of our nation’s founding evergreens carried this significance to the Iroquois Native American nation. At a significant time in their history, a great leader united five native tribes (with a later addition of a sixth) establishing a confederacy among them. According to the Iroquois Constitution, the covenant began with the planting of the ‘Tree of Peace.’ Their peace treaty and everlasting covenant was then sealed by the symbolic act of burying weapons underneath a great evergreen tree. Some historians believe this covenantal ceremony is where we get the phrase, ‘bury the hatchet.’”(1)
The tamarisk evergreen tree planted by Abraham symbolized covenant, his covenant with Yahweh. Many believe, myself included, that the tree placed on the Appeal To Heaven flag represents covenant. It certainly represented covenant in the dream I was given in 2007, in which I knocked out giants with special boxing gloves, one of which had the word “Evergreen” imprinted on it. And in Gina Gholston’s dream we have spoken of in our posts for the last two days, demons trying to destroy America were defeated with staffs made of tamarisk wood. The dream was telling us that declaring our covenant promises and alliances with God is a powerful spiritual weapon.
The tamarisk tree, chosen by Abraham to represent his covenant with God, has other unique and interesting features. It is a wonderful shade tree and lives hundreds of years. However, tamarisks are also slow-growing. They grow only an inch per year and take 400 years to reach their full height. “Because the tree is so slow growing, no one would plant a tamarisk for him or herself; he or she would never personally benefit from it. By planting this slow-growing, long-living, covenantal tree, Abraham was thinking of his descendants, making a powerful declaration to them for generations to come, ‘I am in covenant with Everlasting God, and you will sit under the shade of my everlasting covenant with Him.’”(2) Amazing!
Tamarisk trees are known as those which produce the coolest shade in the desert region were Abraham lived. The explanation for this is fascinating. “The tree grows needles rather than leaves. Often the needles excrete salt on their surfaces which give the needles a white color. Because the tamarisk excretes salt, it is sometimes called a ‘salt cedar.’ At night, moisture increases in the cool air. Water vapor adheres to the salt particles excreted on branches and needles, forming droplets. In the morning, as the sun warms the air, the water droplets evaporate and cool the tree and shade below it.”(3)
In the dream we discussed yesterday and Tuesday (which you can read by looking at yesterday‘s post), the magnificent tree representing America was also producing wonderful shade. America’s Founders planted an incredible “shade tree” for future generations, saying through their actions - just as Abraham did to the generations to come - “You will sit under the shade of our covenant with God.” They formed a nation under God, a land in covenant with Him, one that could endure. America has been incredibly blessed because of their faithfulness and partnership with Yahweh. Millions of people here and around the world have enjoyed the “shade” of these covenant blessings. We must save the shade tree called America for our children and grandchildren, and for the world.
Another interesting fact regarding the tamarisk tree was sent to me by a GH15 listener a couple of weeks ago. I have verified the information and find it fascinating. “An edible white honeylike substance known as manna forms drops on the stem of salt cedars, or tamarisk trees. This sweet material is sold in the form of flakes (flake manna), fragments (common manna), or thick droplets (fat manna).”(4)
Do you find it fascinating that Abraham’s “covenant tree” produced shade for his offspring hundreds of years later and fed them with a substance called “manna”? What a picture! And yet, why wouldn’t God lead him to do this, giving us such a profound picture? After all, Abraham’s offspring produced Christ, heaven’s manna, the Bread of Life. Abraham was told from the very beginning that God’s promised blessings were not only for him, but for the world:
“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3; NASB)
Sadly, many believers cannot (or refuse to) see that the current ideological war in America is for the soul of a nation, raised up by God for spiritual purposes. It is truly a spiritual war. America IS called to be “a shining light, a city on a hill.” She IS to be a trumpet for God, taking and sending the gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth. And, though some don’t like the following, our nation is called - with proper discretion and humility, of course - to be a deterrent for the spread of evil rule around the world.
The great leader Ronald Reagan said of America: “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”(5)
Covenant with God produces life and blessing and with that comes responsibility. As America returns to her covenant roots she will once again prosper. We, the praying church, must facilitate this by using the power of covenant (the tamarisk tree staffs in Gina’s dream) to war against the evil forces attempting to destroy America. One of the ways we do this is by declaring the covenantal declarations made by our founding leaders. We have been doing this for the past three days. Let’s use some of these declarations of the past few days and declare them again.
Pray and decree with me:
We decree that America was raised up by God to be a city on a hill, a beacon of light to all nations.
America was called to preach the gospel of the Kingdom to all nations of the earth, and to serve all nations.
We decree that America was founded by God, under an appeal to heaven, and an appeal to heaven will give us a rebirth!
America is one nation, under God, a Christian nation. We have put our trust in Him and no other. We have no king but Jesus.
The “Laws of Nature and of Nature's God;” an appeal to the “Supreme Judge of the world;” “the Creator;” and “divine Providence” are all in our Declaration of Independence. We decree that, as a part of this legal document beginning our nation, they remain true today. We declare them into the atmosphere of America!
Leviticus 25:10 is on the Liberty Bell: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.” This verse, describing Christ as America’s Jubilee Redeemer, rang out at her birth announcing our faith and destiny. We declare its message over America again today: Christ is our Redeemer! Proclaiming His message is our purpose!
We decree that Yahweh is our Lawgiver, our Judge and our King, and that our three branches of government were founded under this truth! They will return to this!
We decree that His mercy over America endures forever, that His mercies are new every morning!
We decree that He who began a good work in us will complete it, that He had a plan for our restoration before we even turned against Him!
We decree that nothing can stop this turnaround because our trust is in God! It’s even on our money! We agree with it!
We decree that God’s redeeming power is greater than satan’s deceiving lies, that His truth will prevail!
We decree that salvation belongs to God and that He loves to save, taking no pleasure in judgment!
We decree that satan is under our feet and that we are seated with Christ, far above all principalities, powers and rulers of darkness!
We decree that we are Christ’s Ekklesia/government on earth and that we have His keys of authority to bind and loose, open and close.
We decree that no weapon formed against this nation, nor against the purposes of God in our generation, will prosper!
We decree that AMERICA SHALL BE SAVED!!!
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
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Sheets, Dutch, An Appeal to Heaven, (Dallas, TX: Dutch Sheets Ministries, Inc., 2015), p 47.
Ibid. p 51.
https://lilianausvat.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/bible-plants-tamarisk/
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/301222-you-and-i-have-a-rendezvous-with-destiny-we-will
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