Hello September-Welcome Teshuvah
Elul 1 began at sundown Saturday August 31
When September comes
Will I be changed
What is the difference
Between months and names
When September arrives
Will I just know
Is it in the morning
Or at evenings glow
What do I wish
For September to bring
It’s the first of Elul
This month will be so amazing
Journey with me
In heartfelt lamenting
Into reflections
And pure repentance
Clearing the way
Cutting out brush
We have forty days
No need to rush
Sit and reflect
With The Father’s heart
In sweet Teshuvah Time
What will He impart
“I am my Beloveds
My Beloved is mine”
Forty days of our repentance
Blessed Teshuvah Time
Copyright © laurette laster 9/2019
And now here we are again, my favorite time of the year. Teshuvah is a sacred time, a time to come away with The Lord and clear the books from this past year.
A time to seek His heart and learn the deeper truths from time spent with Him.
Join me in forty days of Teshuvah or turning/ turning back or returning to the heart of God. We think nothing of taking a shower every day, or at least I hope you do J so why wouldn’t we think our souls and minds need some deep cleaning.
In this busy, work a day, hectic, dangerous, world we live in we can get caught up in the cares of the world before we know it. These worries will keep the word of God from producing a harvest in our due season.
In the parable of The Sower, Jesus calls this receiving the word among thorns. Explaining that the word was sown but they were concerned with the cares of the world and the word was choked out by the thorns.
We are in the world but not of this world. We do not think like the world, nor do we put our hopes in the things of this world. Believers are referred to as the just, and the just shall live by faith.
Jesus tells us that we are not to run after these things like the gentiles do. He DOES NOT say we cannot have them. We wait, pray, seek, and knock, then The Lord provides the opportunities. When we wait for His timing He is all in. He is our partner.
1John 3:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. The word used here is the Greek word tsalach and means to push forward. This word is used in various senses. (It is used literal, figurative, transitive, and intransitive)
I recently finished the rough draft of my first book, and have learned so much about transitive and intransitive verbs. My time spent with The Lord during the forty days of Teshuvah last year, I felt The Lord impress on my heart to write a book and include many of the poems He has given me. I believe repentance, real repentance is where the rubber meets the road for a “mature” Christian. I was very excited but I must confess this has been a labor of love. I’ve labored and I’ve loved.
My plan was to have the book ready to print by August of this year. I however just finished my rough draft and am now writing my manuscript. We may find it very interesting that a transitive verb has to have a direct object or objects to work with, expressing a doable activity. Many of the instructions given to us throughout the pages of scriptures are speaking to us, we are the object of our Lord’s affection, expressing doable activities that please Him. Like if you………..I will, says The Lord.
So back to the meaning of prosper, to advance, to push forward, to be profitable.
When The Lord is in it with us, we cannot help but go forward, we will advance; push forward if we study to know His ways.
Hosea 6:3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of The Lord, His going forth is established as the morning. He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth. Read Isaiah 55:10-11.
His word is likened to rain that “maketh” it bud. So if we understand seedtime, and harvest, and seasons, we could be in for some hard work and some very exciting times.
Will you take a forty day journey with me during Teshuvah, the Time of our Repentance; Teshuvah is my favorite time of the year.
God is worried about our souls. When we get our soul, our mind, will, and emotions, fixed on the things of God we are moving and advancing and being prosperous in everything pertaining to life and godliness.
Teshuvah is a Hebrew word containing the Hebrew root word shuv. Shub, often pronounced shuv, which literally means to turn. Repentance is to turn back or Te(shuv)ah – return to The Lord and His ways.
This is Hebrew month of Elul. The acronym is from Song of Songs 6:3 This is information from the Talmud: the authorative body of Jewish tradition and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible.
“Elul” can be understood to be an acronym for the phrase “Ani L ‘dodi V’dodi Li”- “I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine”.
The forty days of Teshuvah include, study of the Torah, or teachings, which is the bible. Prayer and acts of kindness, repentance leading to redemption; I’m sure each of us know we cannot spend time with our Lord and not be changed and then offered His forgiveness for the redemption of our souls.
God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.
Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette
Through All Seasons 