by Reuven and Mary Lou Doron
email: OneNewManMail@aol.com

"My beloved responded and said to me, 'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!'" Song of Songs 2:10–13.

The other day we welcomed back a flock of birds who returned to nestle in our trees after a long and cold Minnesota winter. They flew a long way to reach their summer home, some of them returning to the very acreage they left last fall. It seems that almost overnight the last of the snow drifts have melted, branches are budding all over the place, and the songbirds are practicing their endless symphonies to the glory of God with myriads of creative variations.

It never fails. Every year, the appearance of the signs of spring overtaking the frozen wintry landscape always sparks wonder in our hearts. Something about the power of the resurrection and of God's miracle of new beginnings raises up renewed faith and hope in our own hearts as we remember our own long winters and the emerging of God's springtime in our lives.

This also is the wonder of the Passover season. Having been "buried" in Egypt for 400 years culminating as being the empire's forced labor, Israel's spirit was chained in oppression to slavery, defeat and hopelessness. Even Moses' powerful voice with all of the attending signs and wonders speaking of freedom and of divine purpose couldn't shake off the slave mentality. It actually took 40 long years in the wilderness following the dramatic exodus for the unbelief and cowardice to die off with the generation of those who were enslaved in Egypt. As death gradually cleansed the camp, a newly created generation was birthed and prepared to enter the Promised Land. This generation was made up of those who were born and raised free in the wilderness. This generation is alive today among us.

All of us who have been born again into the living hope of God's anointed, Jesus the Savior, are journeying between Egypt and the Promised Land. It is during this life that we are being sanctified, equipped and prepared to live with God in His Kingdom. Feeding on His Manna, following the pillar of cloud and of fire, we too must keep our backs to Egypt and our eyes upon the Promised Land. It is a long and dangerous journey fraught with challenges and tests, yet one that is well worth the effort!

This Passover season of 2007 is filled with fresh graces, deliverances, and new doors opening up before God's people. There is plenty of both peril and opportunity ahead, and, just as it was in that first Passover, God will deliver His people in the most dramatic and incredible ways. However, there is a price to pay and there is a way to follow to receive all that this season offers.

The Passover Lamb paid the price of the Exodus. A perfect blameless lamb was slain by each and every Hebrew household the night before the great escape. Its blood had to be applied by faith as the families were packing up to leave in haste when morning dawned over the tormented Egyptian Empire. However, though physically delivered, Israel was not a free nation yet. Battles had to be fought; the sea had to split open; Pharaoh had to be utterly destroyed; the Manna had to fall; the Law had to be given; and the young nation had to learn to lean on God in all things.

That incredible transition from slave to free, from defeat to victory, and from vagabond to blessed took time. In fact it took an entire generation before Israel could face the giants and take their land. Likewise for us, Passover's promise of a new beginning is contingent on our transformation, and that, as we well know, requires both death to the flesh and new life in the Spirit. Take courage then, and look to God who is the author of this season, and listen to the voice of His Spirit as He speaks softly in your inner man to guide your path.

A time of new beginning is offered to many in Christ's Body these days. Some will find it in freedom from addictions; others in restored relationships; while others yet will be led across a sea of turmoil into vast professional and business opportunities. The Spirit of God has been raising up an army of powerful intercessors all across the world who have not neglected their calling, and the balance will soon tip in favor of the saints.

As during that first Passover, great dangers and challenges will again be coupled with enormous opportunities for new beginnings, and God is preparing the stage to glorify Himself in His delivered people. Be sure that the blood of the Passover Lamb is applied daily; that your household is in order and ready to move on; and that your "stuff" is packed with your eyes looking to the Deliverer. When His cloud moves – we march! When His trumpet blows – we follow!

Just as the Israelites had to experience daily death in their camp as they were being transformed from a slave nation to a free people, we also need to embrace the apostolic cry, saying, "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." Romans 6: 11-13. As death to self and to the flesh cleanses our camp daily from the old "slave-life", the life giving Spirit of God is poured out upon us daily as well. On this journey, both death and life are at work in us simultaneously.