Month 6 – Elul: Preparation for the Day of Atonement
On the Hebrew calendar, Elul is the sixth month of the year. On the 10th day of last month – the month of Av – we began the Season of Comfort. The season of comfort continues seven weeks, until the first day of next month, which is Tishrei 1, the same day as the Feast of Trumpets. So we have seven weeks in the Season of Comfort, Av 10 to Tishrei 1.
Elul 1 also marks 40 days until the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which is always on Tishrei 10.
Deuteronomy, The Book Of Love
What do you see in this image? What you see depends on your point of view, your perspective.
There’s both a white vase and two black profiles, but one of them stands out depending on the way you see things.
This same principle applies when we read the Bible. We read it from a certain perspective. It may be a preconceived notion we have. It may be through a filter of how we’ve come to understand a certain passage. It may be a perspective we were taught. If we’d never read the Bible and pick it up one day, we’ll see things through our own experiences, sensitivities, fears, orientation to life and our notions of God.
The 10 Commandments – A List or a Lifestyle? (1-4)
“He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.” (Deut. 26:19)
Those are blessings I’d like to receive! But before we “name it and claim it”, let’s look at the context. (more…)
God’s Blessing and Provision, Part 1: There’s More Where That Came From
With today’s fears over Covid 19, economic instability, civil unrest, random violence, political mayhem and natural disasters, it seems the Bible’s prophecies are now daily headlines.
Fear of the possibilities, or even fear born from first-hand experience, can creep in and begin to change our mindset and our focus. It’s easy to start making a plan for our security: saving more money, storing up food and supplies, buying additional insurance, making plans for various disaster scenarios, and the list goes on — all good considerations and wise counsel.
But there’s a danger even in our planning: pursuing our own plan for security can take us away from God’s. The very things we amass to keep us secure can begin to replace the true source of not only our security, but the source of all those things we’re gathering. When we take our eye off the Source, the result is more fear of the unknown and more worry about protecting it all. Before we know it, the provisions become our security instead of the One who provided them.
Messianic Sabbath 