Welcome to Teshuvah Elul 15

Welcome to Teshuvah Elul  15

Teshuvah Day 15

What an exciting morning

Elul fifteen we meet

Time to prepare for planting

The plowing is now complete

 

Set the plow for deep

He ask what I had learned

Excitedly I answered

It is depth that does discern

And I thought I’d like to share

My Lord, I get it about water retention

Because after this hard grueling work

It insures against crop prevention

 

Furrows dug within my heart

What a sweaty mess I’ve been

Digging plowing and hauling

Hasn’t seemed so difficult with Him

 

I’m glad I didn’t think

To go this on my own

Without His grace and love

No telling what I would grow

 

He is bringing seeds to show

I have the opportunity to choose

These Teshuvah truths

Oh, I never ever want to lose

 

© laurette laster 2019

 

Welcome to day 15 of the 40 days of Teshuvah

 

Why should we repent, turn or shuv?

When we Teshuvah, or RETURN to The Lord, His word comes alive and draws us closer to His heart. It is during repentance our spiritual life is awakened, or renewed, or even reborn. We are given a new heart at the initial act of repentance and conversation that brings us to salvation. He will remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. How amazing is that?

Many years ago I began to realize that if someone hurt me or was callous, I would unintentionally harden my heart and act like it didn’t hurt me. If we deny pain or hurt it is actually hardening our heart. We may do this due to ignorance or fear, ignoring the pain because we have not learned or been taught to effectively deal with pain. This was an old survival reaction that I had to learn to guard against. When I got this weed plowed up I don’t give it opportunity to grow back. Today I am secure enough to address the hurt or damage without that old nagging fear of rejection. If rejection and fear are not dealt with it can choke out the good seed God wants us to plant and harvest in our heart. But it can choke out the very thing we are desperate for, His love. After the initial hurt would subside I would realize I was hurt and not angry, but still continual hurt that is not dealt with causes us to harden out heart. Denying damage to our heart can cause us to pull back; and we may unintentionally pull away from all the good The Lord has for us, and believe He has pulled away from us. We have so many promises of His faithfulness found in scripture.

 

When reading our bible we find Our Father is long suffering, not willing that any should perish but longing for ALL to come to repentance.

How often does He call us? How many scriptures is God Himself wooing us to RETURN, or to come back to Him, to TESHUVAH? To meet with Him face to face.

The acronym for the Hebrew month of Elul is said to be Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, which is, I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine. This is what The Lord desires, He gave all and He desires we give all in return.

This is the season He is drawing His people. It is a mo’ed or an appointed time to meet Him face to face. He has set appointments for us. We don’t want to miss this special time by not preparing our fields and plowing under anything that is hindering our closeness with Him.

My prayer is that you feel His heart calling to you as you read these scriptures below.

 

We can begin to trust!

Joel 2:13 And rend your heart and not your garments ” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness And relenting of evil.

 

We learn sin has not disqualified us if we confess!

Hosea 14:1

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

 

We come to understand He cannot be our God no matter how He longs to be, until we return to Him!

Zechariah 1:3

“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the LORD of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.

 

We will find safety, we come to know Him as our, Good Shepherd if we are obedient.

Nehemiah 1:9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’

 

And there is so much more.

More Verses on Returning To God

We are restored!

Job 22:23

“If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent,

We are given an undivided heart!

Jeremiah 24:7

‘I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

We become safe enough to look at our sins and confess them openly!

Lamentations 3:40

Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

 

We realize the breaking we experience is to make us aware of our need for a Savior, and that He has come to heal us and reveal Himself to us!

Hosea 6:1

“Come, let us return to the LORD For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

 

We learn to wait and to be patient!

Hosea 12:6

Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually.

 

And as we study these verses, hearing the heart of our Father we become intimate with Him, secure in His presence. We begin to understand His love for us. We realize He is for us, calling us, and that He will continue to lead and guide us.

Teshuvah is returning to the Torah, His word and learning and then doing what pleases Him. This is a time for prayers and doing acts of kindness. After we have plowed under dead works, cut down deadly thorn bushes allowing them to be burned, we begin to see that we have missed the closeness with our Lord. Our landscape begins to take on a new look, or a brand new outlook.

 

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

Teshuvah Blessings