This is my first time to write in my journal for 2016. Today the LORD spoke another very powerful word to me prophetically, and also to Cassandra. Today is her birthday!
As we begin 2016, on this very special day, Cassandra's birthday, I want to say THANK YOU, LORD, for calling Cassandra to Yourself. You have always had a very special plan for your daughter, and I'm truly amazed to think that in Your divine love and foreknowledge, you ordained for us to meet for the first time at a 24-hour praise and worship gathering years ago, and spoke to her so clearly of your plan and purpose. Holy Spirit, when I was deaf to Your voice — for I know, that had I been able to receive Your word, I surely would have, but alas I wasn't ready. And thus the long period of time where she had to hold it silently in her heart, with many tears, until such time as You brought forth and ordered all things to unite us, and ‘woke me up’ to the Voice of Destiny that was calling! You ordained my steps, and her steps, so that the day would come when we would serve you together as husband and wife, a team united in heart and passion, purpose and focus, to proclaim Your Name to the world and take true worship to the nations!
THANK YOU precious LORD, for Cassandra Kuban!
To my beloved wife, Cassandra: I pray for you, and wish for you, my dear, every longing of your heart to be filled with Him! Every passion of your life to be satisfied fully in Him. Every dream He has given you, to be realized in this lifetime! And for whichever of those dreams which may yet remain unfulfilled when your mission on this earth is over, to be ultimately realized in Him in Heaven and Eternity! HAPPY BIRTHDAY darling! I love you!
As we begin this new year:
The LORD has been doing a deep work in both our lives, in many ways. It's multi-faceted, with many different aspects. I can only speak for myself, but suffice to say that much of what YHVH has been doing in me, He is also simultaneously doing in her.
About September 2014 (15 months ago) the LORD began speaking to Cassandra through prophecy that He was preparing to join her heart to Israel. This was a confirmation to her. He called her to go with me to Jerusalem, and we obeyed and went together in November 2014, arriving to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the live recording of "The Lord is My Tower" (which we commemorated at Isra-Phil church with Pastora Kezia Garcia's Filipino congregation in Tel Aviv). During these ten days YHVH did a very deep work in her, and in me also, for no one who walks the streets of Jerusalem for the first time ever leaves the same.
Then three months later, in February 2015 (11 months ago) we went together to Israel again, to be students in Bishop Dominiquae Bierman's "Bible School on Wheels" conference. We traveled through Israel, even standing at the border of the Golan Heights blowing shofars and looking across into Syria. Then we found ourselves in the middle of a big snowstorm stuck in Jerusalem on Shabbat! (YHVH has a powerful way to get our attention and hold us still, so we can hear Him!) It was then, through these times, that YHVH, put a huge "hook" into our hearts and drew us both deeply into an understanding of our Hebrew roots. (I had previously sat under Bishop Dominiquae's teaching beginning in 2005 when I first met her in Queens, New York, and then toured Israel together with Bishop Arnold Cabalquinto's group and his group). That was the beginning for me, personally, of this very special journey of learning about my Jewish roots, of what it means to truly be 'grafted in' to Israel.)
But it was during the "Bible School on Wheels" conference in February 2015 that YHVH did a DEEP work in both of our hearts and lives. Having "fallen in love" with Jerusalem about three months earlier (Cassandra and I had spent about 14 days, almost all of them in Jerusalem, other than the concert in Tel Aviv), now YHVH began a deep work in our hearts through Bishop Dominiquae's teaching. It was explosive and life-changing! We learned much about Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. We learned about the LORD's's personal name, YHVH. We learned about Torah (the Law), and about the importance of our Jewish roots and Hebrew foundations. We learned about the tragic expulsion of all things Jewish that was done by the early Catholic Church, especially from the Council of Nicene forward, that effectively divorced "Christianity" from its Jewish roots, and the Jewish people; and how we in these last days are called to bring about restoration of our Jewish roots to the Church. We learned so very much! And this work has continued deeply in our hearts to this day.
In 2013 I had begun studying in much detail the Jewish Feasts. God was giving me so much revelation about their timings and purposes, and how they point to Yeshua.
ments and keeping His laws and statutes (Joshua 1:8).
So, this past 14 months has been, more than anything, a "Journey into Jewishness" for us both. And such we are still on today! And it is wonderful!
This has been one of the most important aspects of what's happened to us this past year and a bit, which is literally permeating our entire lives. It's truly changing us! We stopped eating pork and shrimp which (for someone who loved 'sinigang na hipon' and shrimp as much as me) has meant a big change to our eating habits. We began keeping and observing "Shabbat" from Friday at sundown till Saturday sundown. We began to understand how the Torah is God's Law, not just for the Jewish people, but it's His law for all of us today, who know and love the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach. And so, so many other things. When we were in Yerushalayim this last time for Sukkot (a day before the knifing of the young men in the Old City, which was the start of the intifada in Israel that is still happening as of today), I walked the streets of Jerusalem wearing a kippa (Jewish skull cap). There's a deep love in my heart for my Jewish heritage and my Jewish roots, which come through because of our Jewish Messiah Yeshua!
So today, we are experiencing many blessings that are coming out in our lives in ministry as an outflow of this major paradigm-shift of the past 14 months. (For me, it's been 10 years of growth in these areas, and actually 32 years of growth after my first connection with Israel through the ICEJ (Friends of the international Christian Embassy Jerusalem) from 1983 to 1985. I praise Yah for his wondrous ways of working in our lives!
YHVH has been deepening my calling to be a prophetic musician. This began to take deeper root in 2010, as I began to record some of our late night praise and worship sessions. As God gave me new songs, I'd record them. Many of my early prophetic video and audio files go back to 2010 in this regard. He gave me some very beautiful melodies and songs like, "I'm Calling Out to You" and "She's With You, Lord" which He birthed spontaneously the night Cassandra's mom died.
Then in 2012, the LORD began taking us much deeper, with many prophecies about "the Lands of the Sands." He was calling us to the Middle East! That was tough because of my travel situation, but YHVH undertook miraculously and provided the means whereby we began to go to the Islamic countries of United Arab Emirates and Qatar, then Bahrain and Kuwait. And we have kept going until this day. It's been an amazing ride! A "magic carpet" ride! Thank you LORD!
Then on August 10, 2012, after coming home from two months of intense ministry in Qatar and United Arab Emirates, YHVH called us to dig down deep and meet him in the mornings — every morning — for prayer and worship. I set up my camera, and a recorder — and God began giving me many very intense prophetic songs. Then He gave me the 45-minute prophetic song called "Battle School" — a warning in musical prophecy, where He took over the keyboard and began speaking and of things that would soon happen in America (He kept stressing “The lines are drawn in the SAND”— then Hurricane Sandy hit the USA) and that the devil was going to specifically target and kill ‘the women and the children’ (remember the ‘SANDY Hook’ shooting in Connecticut, where 26 women and children were murdered? This musical prophecy came before this) and spoke of other troubles that would soon come about in the Middle East (descriptions were given of things that would soon become commonplace stories in world newspapers). This prophecy was of an entirely higher level, and marks a major transition point into my prophetic ministry.
So from August 2012 onward we would meet Him every day, and the release of the prophetic became more and more powerful! After 100 days I heard Him say to write a book, "100 Days in His Presence" incorporating the prophecies of the first 100 days (the Lord said, "You have everything 'in the can' - meaning essentially I didn't have to 'write' anything more for the book to be done, because it was already written, through the prophecies He’d given). I’m still working to finish this, may the LORD give me grace to do so.
I have so much more to tell. But Cassandra is now ready to meet with the LORD, and for us to receive the "new song" He has for us today. It's very wonderful, that since December 22nd, 2015 (14 days ago) YHVH has given me powerful anointed songs every single day! (Most are 30 to 50 minutes in duration.) And Cassandra has been transcribing the words and posting the "raw" (unedited) videos on my YouTube site. It's really amazing to see how the LORD just "flows" each time I sit down to play and sing for Him. He's given me hundreds of songs since 2010, and most of them are very anointed, but what’s happening now is really a very special evidence of His love and provision (I pray I can finish and publish many of these in the days ahead! They’ll be a great blessing to so many, especially those who love the Name of Yeshua and Yahveh/Yahweh)
Cassandra has "grown into" her role in this ministry — she's setting up the lights (she even urged us to purchase proper studio lights), and using her new iPhone 6+ to record video. She's heard and received from YHVH that one of her roles and responsibilities is to be a modern-day Baruch, and me a Jeremiah. And now she's taken on the responsibility to be a "publisher" of these good tidings which God is bringing forth through my hands and lips (as well as the performances in various places). This is such a blessing! She's declaring—she's saying unto Zion—"Your God reigns!" and publishing these songs and prophecies to the world! Wow! May Yahveh bless her! What a great day in which to live! The technology and tools that are available to us, to send the gospel of Yeshua to the uttermost parts of the earth, is unprecedented — and we must make every effort to do so, while there is still time!
Since Dec. 22nd (which was the 33rd anniversary of God’s calling upon me to leave my music vocation and enter ‘full-time ministry’) Cassandra has written down and transcribed every song, in its entirety, and post them online. (And before that there were times she transcribed hundreds of prophecies YHVH gave us. We need prayer for the protection of her hands, and mine too, because with all the typing we both get sore wrists and fingers and it's very painful. There indeed is a price which we are paying in all of this!)
So we are both very excited at the flow of the prophetic that's taking place! Cassandra has in the past two years taken on the role of being a publisher of our many photos and videos during our travels. She has uploaded thousands of photos onto Flickr and Facebook, and taken on the role of editing my website www.SteveKuban.com. This is really wonderful. She's become a huge help to me to "Take worship to the nations". And I'm seeing her in a different light than before. I’ve often seen myself as a type of “David”, and now I see Cassandra as truly a Jonathan to me. She's so much more than 'my wife'. She's my covenant-partner, who is intensely focused so that we might both fulfill God's call and mandate upon us in our lifetime.
So today on January 4th, as I finish writing this first journal entry for 2016 (which is also Cassandra’s birthday), she bids me "Come" to the studio, to play and prophesy. Everything is set up, ready to go. My keyboard, the microphone, the speakers, the lights, the recorder, her camera (of course) mounted and ready...my Bible—my KJV study Bible, which I love to use, with all its informative marginal notes and Hebrew words—is in place on its stand. And the beautiful curtains of gold are all set, thanks to her!
As we begin 2016, on this very special day, Cassandra's birthday, I want to say THANK YOU, LORD, for calling Cassandra to Yourself. You have always had a very special plan for your daughter, and I'm truly amazed to think that in Your divine love and foreknowledge, you ordained for us to meet for the first time at a 24-hour praise and worship gathering years ago, and spoke to her so clearly of your plan and purpose. Holy Spirit, when I was deaf to Your voice — for I know, that had I been able to receive Your word, I surely would have, but alas I wasn't ready. And thus the long period of time where she had to hold it silently in her heart, with many tears, until such time as You brought forth and ordered all things to unite us, and ‘woke me up’ to the Voice of Destiny that was calling! You ordained my steps, and her steps, so that the day would come when we would serve you together as husband and wife, a team united in heart and passion, purpose and focus, to proclaim Your Name to the world and take true worship to the nations!
THANK YOU precious LORD, for Cassandra Kuban!
You spoke prophetically this morning that everything of the past (which served its purpose to propel and lift me higher, like a booster rocket, into your Destiny for my life) I must relinquish and allow to fall away. For if the booster-rockets that lift the rocketship are not jettisoned immediately after they have finished their portion of the mission, it will drag the rocketship back down crashing on earth, and destroy the entire mission. So LORD, I say thank You for everything in my past that you so graciously used. Thank you for every person — they are also bless-ed in my heart, and I am so grateful for each and everyone. And today I say, "THANK YOU for Cassandra!" whom You have used to aid and rescue me in my waywardness (and often meandering journeyings). This unity of spirit and purpose — this drive and delight that you have put in both of our hearts, separately and yet together — propels us skyward, and also draws us Heavenward, toward the Mark of our High Calling in Yeshua HaMashiach, Whom we both love so dearly and seek to serve faithfully.
This unity comes from you, O LORD! May we treasure this! And may we guard carefully this well-spring of life that you have so graciously given us, knowing that out of our hearts spring forth the issues of life. Father, LORD Yeshua, my Love forever, I pray you will make this day as special as it can be for Cassandra! Thank You for creating her "just the way she is" (and so beautiful! Indeed, I'm not worthy LORD of such beauty!). May you fulfill her dreams and desires to be evermore united with you, Father, Yeshua, in Your Holy Spirit's power — so that she can fulfill her days and her mission given by You. Together we lay our all on the altar! — that we might be worthy vessels of the High Calling which you have ordained for each of us in your foreknowledge and purpose.
To my beloved wife, Cassandra: I pray for you, and wish for you, my dear, every longing of your heart to be filled with Him! Every passion of your life to be satisfied fully in Him. Every dream He has given you, to be realized in this lifetime! And for whichever of those dreams (like Abraham's city) which may yet remain unfulfilled when your mission on this earth is over, to be ultimately realized in Him in Heaven and Eternity! HAPPY BIRTHDAY darling! I love you!