First Love

Announcer: Welcome to First Love with Dr. Robin Cassis and Dr. Nathan Cassis, where faith meets real life. In this weekly broadcast, you'll discover practical and spiritual keys to reclaim God's story in your life, deep in your relationship with Jesus, and encounter him as your first love, whether for the first time or all over again. No topic is off limits as we make Jesus real, relevant, and relational. Stay with us. Your journey back to First Love starts now.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Welcome back everybody to First Love. I hope you're having a great afternoon so far. My name is Dr. Nathan Cassis, and I'm sitting with the wonderful Dr. Robin Cassis. Dr. Robin, how are we doing today?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Hey, this is Tuesday, isn't it?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It's Tuesday.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, we're still going to talk about the valley of Ela.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Yes. And Dr. Robin, I just want to give you such an encouragement. Yesterday's episode was so powerful. I think it's going to help so many people when you brought out there's only one Goliath.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, there's only one anything and got to see this. There was only one Jesus. So, you know, you can't think there are more and more and more. You've got to see each person is unique.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So, there's only one you and only one me.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And if the devil's got to counterfeit, he's going to counterfeit that.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. My Lord.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: One. Now, we have to find out what the giant we're facing is trying to kill us with.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Ooh. Wow. Wow. Well, we started yesterday to reveal that the giant was also placed there by God.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's what I'm I'm saying.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Prophetically.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes. That's what I'm saying. It has one work.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Many branches, but one work.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. Wow. And so I have a key statement here to get us kicked off, and I think it's going to dive into where we are going and round out what you're saying. So, the giant didn't install David's faith. The giant retrieved it and revealed it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, and activated it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord. Wait. Wait. We got to We got to circle around this for a bit. So, the giants in our lives are not the ones with the authority. God's put them there for us to pull out our authority and activate it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And look, everything I've known in in my Christian walk is that God is fully in control, and the only allowance he gives to the devil is to be a garbage man for us, to put the garbage in the garbage bin.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Oh my Lord. Oh my Lord.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And we have to see it like this. We're going to have to see when you bind and loose and you send that demon where it has to wait, it doesn't come back. The same demon seven times worse comes back, but not that demon. But something of the family comes back seven times worse.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's right. That's right.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: See, we we don't see that. We just don't see that. So, therefore, we think that demon gets to come back, that actual demon. But then the power of binding and loosing, where's that gone? That's part of the keys to the kingdom.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. They are your keys to the kingdom. And David is rehearsing the keys quite a lot in this valley.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Totally.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So, we're going to speak down to We mentioned when we began the valley that we're going to talk about the seven valleys that the Bible really typifies as valleys that we will all go through.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And there are names of these valleys. We have the valley of Jezreel. We have the valley of Ela. The valley of Baca. So, we're going to tie this one into David because Ela is a very important valley because it has a very strong prophetical significance, right?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes. It has Saul as well.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Saul's in that valley too, and we'll get to that because he didn't respond. He reacted.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Reacted.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And reaction always comes through fear. So, Saul was a man of fear, fear of the people and fear of reputation being lost. So, I just like to say something here that's important to understand about Ela if I could bring out a little Hebrew understanding and some revelation here. So, Ela is actually centered around the terebinth tree. And so the terebinth tree, which is tied to Ela, is the location where David confronts Goliath. Now, why is the terebinth important? Because the terebinth actually means strong tree. Okay, so I'm going to go somewhere with this. So, when we do the biblical numerology of Ela, it is a left one, Lamed 30, and Hey five, 36.

So, this 36 is a very strong prophetical significance, okay? And it has theological um connections. So, six is commonly associated in biblical symbolism with humanity, right? On the sixth day, God created man. So, God's work in mankind since mankind is created on the sixth day. So, prophetically, the valley of Ela 36 gives us a fascinating picture, and here it is. David enters a valley marked by six times six and confronts the giant who represented the intimidation of human strength. So, Goliath arrives with height, with armor, with weaponry, a reputation, and what seems to be physical superiority.

But David arrives with another six, covenant, territory, rehearsal, and absolute dependence upon God. So, why is this important to the listener? Well, what the enemy is doing in one six, God can override with another six what he's doing in you. Cuz see, six is God's work in humanity. It's not the devil's work in humanity, and we always describe six as a demonic number because of revelation, six six six. But even that is God's work in humanity. So, this is the key. Human strength reaches its limit and covenant strength takes over. And this is exactly what we see, Dr.

Robin, in the valley of Ela. This is where Saul's human strength to keep himself on the throne by pleasing the people, by doing what he does best, you know, by being a compromiser, it has reached its limit. And that six has now got to be overpowered by another six, which is God's work in humanity, not man's work in humanity.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes. Yes. And so David didn't have the devil Oh well, let's say the giant didn't install David's faith. It retrieved his faith.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: No. Exactly.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But Saul was there.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And Saul was finished.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Ooh.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He was finished.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Ooh, that's a big word.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And he was playing out the finish.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord. Wow. So, I want to read a couple of things here again, just giving you a little Hebrew lesson here. So, a left, we know, is the number one in Hebrew in the Aleph Bet, and it means oneness, firstness, strength, and it represents Father God. So, here we have Ela, and I just want you to look at this from right to left. So, the first letter of Ela is God. Okay? Not man, God. And then the next letter is Lamed 30 in Hebrew. Okay? And Lamed is representing learning and teaching and replacement of old knowledge.

So, here we have Aleph Lamed in the middle. Aleph Lamed. So, God is replacing, teaching, and he's getting someone to learn. And then here we go. Last letter before we go to the break, Hey. So, from right to left, we have Aleph Lamed Hey. And Hey is the Holy Spirit, the number five, grace, and it represents breath, revelation, grace. So, the valley of Ela put on a prophetic significance is God is teaching you to live via grace in his Holy Spirit, and that revelation versus your human strength. See, he's teaching Israel because David lives via covenant, he interprets the same thing that you see not as fear, but as a covenant challenge.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, but but I want to look at Saul. Saul broke that covenant.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Ooh.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You see? And therefore, he wasn't living by the covenant.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He was living by fear.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Fear of losing out because what you know and I know what

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, fear of the people.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: and what he did when he was supposed to kill Agag.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Agag, yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, Agag. And he left him living.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And see, that continued on and continued on. And so he broke the covenant. And when you break the covenant, it keeps on going on and on and on.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Until someone comes back into that covenant via the Aleph Lamed Hey being taught by the Holy Spirit how to live in covenant and not live in compromise.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And that was David.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord. We have got to take a break, and we will come back and give you the other differentials that God takes you through with the valley of Ela. Everybody has an Ela, Dr. Robin.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, there's that one place again. There'll never be another Ela.

Announcer: Looking for a real relationship with Jesus? Join Dr. Robin Cassis and Dr. Nathan Cassis every weekday for First Love where prophetic insight meets real theology. Learn how God's voice activates your mind, body, soul, and spirit, helping you renew your mind, transform your life, and return to the one who loved you first. Catch First Love Monday through Friday 5 to 5:30 p.m. Learn more at torcc.org.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The one who loved you first is still loving you best.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: is still loving you best.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: All righty everybody, we are back, and I'm going to throw it to Dr. Robin cuz she's busting. I can see it on this desk right now. Go for it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It's really just the fact that I want to come back to this. You only face it once. But the key is you will be in that place until you do faith. That's that one experience. That's why I say about you need to get the reality. You will repeat until you do cuz once you leave that valley, you're not coming back there again.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord. Somebody needs to clap and thank Jesus that's listening to this. If you're in that valley, you're only going to face it once when you face it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And but you must even if you repeat to you repetition, why do you think the repetition has to bring this home to you so you can move from this valley?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. Yes. Yes. Wow. Wow wow wow. And again, I like to tie in the numerology cuz this is my forte. I want to show people God is such a great screen writer, story teller. He's got it in every detail of this chapter. Okay? So again, Ela is the terebinth, the strong tree, right? But here the strength is not in their military power. The strength is not in how much size they have. The scripture actually sets it up by saying they are outsided. They are outnumbered. And Goliath here He's Even his armor is bigger, and no human man can carry it.

They would be way down just carrying that 600 shekels.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But they had to realize, and I would ask you, what did they have with them? They had God.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And this is who David contacts through covenant. He said the God of Israel is going to give you into my hands, and he's going to give me your head.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So, David's faith is retrieved through this experience.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Not failed, but retrieved. We can retrieve faith

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: by facing our giant.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. Wow wow wow. And to go back to the tree analogy, Ela is the terebinth strong tree, but at Ela, God did not make David bigger than Goliath. He actually revealed who was rooted more

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And look,

Dr. Nathan Kassas: in his truth, the ancient truth.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And David knew how big Goliath was. He wasn't looking at Goliath's size. He was looking at what was coming out of his mouth.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. He says to his brother Eliab further back, who is this thing? My paraphrase, defying the God of Israel when he comes to give him food. And I I've always tied that in with some kind of real spiritual strength. He's not saying, who's this guy coming against our army? Who's this guy coming against King Saul? He's saying immediately, who is this guy blaspheming the name of the God of Israel?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And that is the the key.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's the key, people. That's the key. What is that giant that you're facing, that's saying, who is this person?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Who is this man that that uh defies God Almighty, that speaks

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: so evil?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, make it personal about God.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Who is this?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Start making the giant personal about you and make it personal about God.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But recognize this and then you will come out of the valley.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow of Ela.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. Well, Dr. Robin, there's another important number here that pulls on some hebraic importance because David He doesn't speak to this giant and defeat it. He connects with something, five stones. And these five represent what a Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4:13

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: the prophet, the apostle, the pastor, the teacher, and the evangelist.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes. Fivefold Fivefold ministry.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: See, it's a fivefold pouch that knocks out the giant.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes cuz otherwise you just poke their eyes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Ooh.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You see, you got to have the key, key punch, you know, key hit.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Cuz when somebody's going down, and I don't know too much about boxing, but I know you have to get the enemy so close to you that you can kick, hit him with the fivefold punch.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And if you're missing some of that, what are you going to do? You're going to be missing being able to make that fist.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So, you will only get to poke at their eyes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And then if you do that, they're going to get back up again.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You got to learn. You got to learn something in the spiritual realm. You got to learn principles of spiritual laws. We are unique.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But the devil has things that he has to submit to God.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He cannot go beyond God.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And so therefore, each experience is that one only. If we would get it right, we would only need to do it once, and then we'll face the next thing. And guess what? We'll get better at it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. All right. You You're staring at me. I got to read some things here that we've got down. The valley gate brings you into the place where apparent strength or human strength is tested against rooted strength.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's that terebinth tree. Goliath had size without covenant. David had covenant without size. Goliath carried the weapon everyone feared, 600 shekels by the way, very heavy. David carried the testimony nobody could see. Goliath stood above everyone. David was rooted beneath what everyone could see.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: These are all keys that

Dr. Nathan Kassas: These are the keys, and here's the key, the clincher. David could not defeat the giant without a five stone loaded pouch. If you ain't got five stones, then you ain't going to have the victory.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And then this supplies to the church. If you haven't recognized and activated the fivefold ministry, you're missing something, and that's a part of missing that role of Jesus in the church.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And that's why you swing in, but you miss in.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But you have to get him close.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Talk about this. Talk about this.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You have to get him close, and most people don't want to get the enemy close.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: But you have to get him close to knock him out.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Oh my God, Jesus is king. We going there today, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes you stay further away from your giant than you should really be in proximity to him. God has to bring you right up to the face of the thing that you need to knock out with that fivefold punch.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And that's what David did.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Absolutely.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: He literally That That giant had to come close to David. I don't care how big he was. If it wasn't within range of David, he couldn't kill him.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So, we had to come right up in his face. And then what happened? Through the rock up in the air, it went up to heaven, come down and kill Goliath.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's the key. Five stones, but only God could use one.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And he chose which one.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And God chose which one of that fivefold punch would be the knockout. See, here's another thing that we do in church. We have the fivefold, but we want to choose the stone.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: No, we can't.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We can't choose the stone. We just got to load our pouch and then through faith by swinging. And again, the Hebrew sages and the rabbis messianically teach that David had such confidence in the covenant that he was swinging, and he didn't mind swinging behind his head, in front of his head. He could have thrown it to the side cuz he knew it was going to hit Goliath because covenant was so great in him. And this is an important thing. When you've got covenant rooted in you, that you you're not afraid of running towards the giant.

You're only afraid of running away from the giant when you don't know who puts you in the valley.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And then you don't get to pick the stone.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: See, whether it be prophet, uh apostle,

Dr. Robyn Kassas: pastor,

Dr. Nathan Kassas: evangelist,

Dr. Robyn Kassas: teacher,

Dr. Nathan Kassas: teacher.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: God's the one who chooses

Dr. Nathan Kassas: what stone

Dr. Robyn Kassas: takes down your giant.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Takes down your giant.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Oh my Lord, Jesus is king. This is so This is helping me cuz I need to find out the stone. I know the stones. I operate in all those stones as our church does, but there's a specific stone

Dr. Nathan Kassas: for each experience you have. Oh my Lord. Somebody better say, show me the stone, Lord. If we were at church, I'd say, turn to your neighbor and say, show me the stone. Wow, so powerful, Dr. Robin. So again, a couple of key statements here that I think will tie in with what we're saying. Ela is the place in your life and David's life. So, let's tie it into you as you're listening. How does this apply to me? Well, the valley of Ela that everyone will go through at least once is the place where intimidation has to be overcome by remembrance.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Remembrance is the key.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It's the key.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: You've got to walk out of Ela with remembrance overcoming intimidation.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Remembrance of the rehearsal

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: so that when you come to face you have the five stones that God will choose which one will bring that giant down.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But guess what? Saul had no stones. He just had what he thought was his forever.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord. We're going to get to Saul. So, another key statement here that I think Dr. Robin would agree with, you do not need to become bigger than your giant. You don't need more resources. You don't need more equipping. You don't need more training.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Don't need the armor.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: You need to become more rooted in who God has called you to be.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's right. The only armor you need is the armor of God, not the armor of man.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes cuz man's armor will weigh you down. David said, I can't wear this. I got to be able to be agile and move. He said, guess what, Saul? I've got all I need because I've been rehearsing, all I do is take me and my little sling, get me five stones, and I'm going to put it in some, you know, modern terminology, and we good. Give me five stones and we good.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He said, here you have the stones.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: You don't even know what they mean, and especially you have the armor, Saul. You need to be covered from head to toe. You're so fearful.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: My God. Another key statement. Oh, I got to take that one in. Goliath had stature, but he's just going to help somebody, but David had history with God.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Amen. Your history with God will always overpower the giant's stature, stamina, and size in your life when you come to face that Goliath. What history do you have cuz that's the rooted terebinth. That's the strong tree that will stand against the spirit of intimidation. Wow. All right, Dr. Robin, one more, and then I'm going to throw it to you as we get ready to wrap up our final words. The valley gate strips away borrowed armor and restores the weapon God has always trained to be in your hand. And that goes to what you said about Saul.

The borrowed armor we think from other people, borrowed principles, borrowed keys, borrowed prophetic encounters. We We do a lot of borrowing in the church. But until truth is real for you, it's not real. I've always taught this in counseling. Truth has to become real for you. I hate that saying my truth, but this is how I would tie it in. It's not your version of the truth. It's your reality has to be real for you for it to be a truthful experience. Otherwise, you won't activate it if it's not real for you. So, Dr. Robin, as we come to the end here of the valley of Ela, what is the final key statement that you want to leave the people with as we come and wrap up?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, I'll go back to rehearsal again and remembrance. Those two words work together. What are you rehearsing?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That you will be able to defeat the giant. That one giant that you'll never have to face again. Remember what God has been doing with you to show you this is how you win the battle.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. I think someone needed to hear that today. Go back, listen to this again, and we'll see you tomorrow for First Love. God bless.

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