Teshuvah Teshrei 3, 5783
Return, Repent, Shuv, Turn

Day 33 of the 40 days of Teshuvah
It is said that during the Days of Awe, the time between Yom Teru’ah and Yom Kippur, that the gates of heaven are open.

Teshuvah Poem

Repent confess and start anew
With vows of peace, yes push through.
Into the ways and will of God,
Until at last your feet are shod.
Readied feet prepared in peace,
Appointed times, Gods, Holy feasts.
For there is a way known unto man,
The end destructive, not God’s plan.
Change your mind, rend your heart,
Today is the day for a brand new start.

Laurette Laster © 2017

Joel 2:13 NLT
Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.

Judaism believes it is the time when prayers are heard and answered. This is a long held tradition in Judaism, it’s origins seem to go all the way back to Mt. Sinai:

The Encyclopedia Judaica states that the tradition:
“…..Connects the forty days of (Teshuvah) with Moses staying on Mt. Sinai forty days, Exodus 34:28, which was calculated to have commenced on the First of Elul and ended on the 10th of Tishrei (The day of Atonement).” Volume 6 page 690.
James 5:16 states that the effectual prayers of righteous persons has much power.

This is a time of prayer and fasting for ten days. A time to repent, and possibly turn back judgements, due to sin and missing the mark. A solemn time to seek God and ask Him to forgive our sins and turn back judgement.
It is believed that during this ten day period the gates of heaven are opened to hear the pentinent prayers of sinners and potentially reverse any negative judgements made on Yom Teru’ah.

What Happens When The Floodgates of Heaven Open?
This is where the dead hears the voice of the Son of God and live- John 5:25.

It is where we are changed and foregiven and made whole. Where we are anointed by the words of Jesus Christ, and He commands a blessing on us and we are commissioned to live the life we were created to live. Mark 2:10-12

It’s a place or ‘Turn around’ for ‘NEW’ breakthroughs, where God makes all things new. Revelation 21:5

What must we do to open these Gates of Heaven?

According to scripture, we turn our hearts toward the word of God and obey the word of God.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.
How do we get a blameless heart? We plow our ground which is our heart. We repent, we turn away from sin and toward the word of God. We obey quickly. We take our opinion out of the equation and surrender to the will of God.

Chruch it is time to Take our powerful effectual prayers into heaven. The gates are open and He is waiting to hear from us.
Repent, Obey and Pray.
It is planting time. We pray and sow the word of God and He brings increase.
Our families, our nation and our church needs to lift mighty, powerful prayers to heaven.
The gates are open, let’s enter in with thanksgiving and praise.

Teshuvah Blessings,
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

Fall Colors in View

Something old
Something blue
Something passing
Fall colors in view

Beautiful as they arrive
Stately as they leave
Slowly changing
Continue to cleave

Not knowing how
Listen as gently they teach
It’s all in the plan
Our Master speaks

Change is coming
Yes it is good
Isn’t it glorious
When at last understood

© laurette laster October 31 2020

Repentance in the heart of man is the most rewarding and glorious work this side of heaven.Repentance is the key to the Door, which is Jesus. Repentance, the invitation only event hosted by God Himself. As the leaves begin to change colors I’m reminded it is almost root season. What I once dreaded, now I embrace, and long for. His drawing requires pure abandonment of our will and complete trust.

Time to dig deeply into the plans and purposes of God and nourish these truths at the root. Not a time to do more or be more, but a time to allow His revelations to settle deep in my soul and feed my spirit.

I love the Autumn, so many practical truths learned, simply watching nature. God’s creation is didactic!
Like Hansel and Gretel, follow the signs that lead us safely along this journey.

“Do the riches of His extraordinary kindness make you take Him for granted and despise Him? Haven’t you experienced how kind and understanding He has been to you? Don’t mistake His tolerance for acceptance. Do you realize that all the wealth of His extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and lead you into repentance?”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭2:4‬ ‭TPT‬‬

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

40 Days of Teshuvah

L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu, meaning “may you be inscribed [in the Book of Life] for a good year,”

As we near Rosh Hashanah, also known as Yom Teru’ah, or simply Teru’ah; the blowing of the trumpets, we understand by now…
Or we should understand that we will reap what has been sown.

Elul 25

Elul twenty five
Oh my what a picture
It is my Beloved’s field
We planted with scripture

This harvest will produce
Because we prepared the land
Careful instructions He left
Remain obedient, stay faithful to the plan

There is an enemy lurking
satan wants to snatch away
The word that has been planted
Water with prayer, always obey

If God be for me
Who can be against
With my Beloveds wisdom
That enemy doesn’t stand a chance

© laurette laster September 25 2019
Edited September 2 2021

Moses told God if He was going to blot out the remaining, now repentive, willing to be obedient ones, those that took up a sword, destroyed the disobedient, to blot his name out also.

What a picture.

Wake up, shub, turn, come back, return, Teshuvah

Luke 10:20, Jesus alluded to the Book of Life when he told the 70 disciples to rejoice because “your names are written in heaven.” Whenever a believer accepts Christ’s sacrificial atonement for sin, there is nothing more, Jesus fulfills the Feast of Trumpets

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

Teshuvah a special time. A season to turn [shub] our hearts [back] to The Lord.

Jesus said, “Let him that hath ears to hear, hear what The Spirit is saying. A time to listen.

To Shuv is to turn. Repentance is a change of mind and yet so much more than a change of mind. Repentance is a change so deep, surrendering to a life altering force that literally turns our lives in the direction God desires. It is an intimate encounter with the Life Giver, our Living Loving Soter. An encouner that makes us say; what would you have me do Lord?

Elul nineteen

Nineteenth of Elul during Teshuvah
I’ve learned to love this season
We’ve done it together, side by side
He said we will see it unto completion

Learning how to sow
Something new I have learned
He said in plowing and planting
Become ‘doers’ is the term

The strongest kind of seed
He said “is truth sown in my heart”
Then it becomes rooted
Down in my innermost part

How I love His wisdom
Bags of seeds pallets high
He told me think and imagine
As tall as the sky

I wonder what He means
He makes it sound so grand
And then the work begins
Back to earth to cultivate the land

Every where I set my foot
Step, believe, begin sowing
This work has eternal value
Persistence is the going

© laurette laster Sept 19, 2019

Teshuvah is A life altering, heart rending change.

\ ˈrend  \

verb rent \ ˈrent \ also rended \ ˈren-dəd \ ; rending

Definition 

• transitive ​verb
• 1: to remove from place by violence : WREST
• 2: to split or tear apart or in pieces by violence
• 3: to tear (the hair or clothing) as a sign of anger, grief, or despair
• 4a: to lacerate mentally or emotionallyb: to pierce with sound

Hebrews 4:12 TPT. we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy…

John 1:1-2 TPT In the very beginning the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God. They were together — “face-to-face, in the very beginning

Teshuvah; invitation only experience, extended to those He chooses. He is beckoning, calling, wooing, and waiting. This encounter and invitation is an RSVP. You must respond. Are you ready?
Have you had a real encounter with Jehovah Jireh?

Teshuvah, my favorite time of the year!

Don’t miss this special and sacred time of the year. The King is in the feild. An encounter awaits.

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and 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

Never Forget

The shock the horror
Utter disbelief
Dear God what has happened
The shock, the fear, the grief

A moment in time
That rocked the world
Some cheering for evil
As the Eleventh of September, 2001 unfurled

An attack on our country
An attack on our soul
The heart of our nation
Suffered a horrible blow

Had we known then
What we know now
What would we do different
Why not now

Return to God
Embrace His covenant
Retrace the sacred
Remove this evil government

Stand up tall, unite
Speak up loud
Square our shoulders
Bring back American proud

It’s not enough to remember
If we do not learn
The church has a duty
Our nation’s government is our concern

Given a charge
By Christ alone
Before departing into glory
I can almost hear His tone

If they hate you
They hated Me first
I have chosen you
The work disbursed

Remember and Never Forget
To the end of the age
I Am is with us
Church Reengage

© laurette laster September 11, 2022

Deuteronomy 32:7
Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.

The Lord 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

Day Twelve

September/Elul
Twelfth day Of this season
I’m beginning to see
Teshuvah has deep reason

The kingdom work
Created quite a stir
I am more than excited
Yet exhausted for sure

Working together
Side by side with Him
My Teshuvah Experience
Is like a spiritual gym

The work so rewarding
Though hard and dusty
We are breaking new ground
Never feels unjustly

He said we can talk later
About what seeds to sow
But first prepare the field
Or our harvest won’t show

© laurette laster Sept 12, 2019

A visitation from heaven, an encounter with Adonai, the Lord God, is serious business.

Why would The Lord visit? What invokes a visit? Is a meeting required? What can we find out?

Many visitations came through prayer, a time of pleading intercession, while lifting up our petitions to heaven. However “our” sense of timing is not ours. Time belongs to our Father. Time belongs to His kingdom creation. Our Sovereign Creator painstakingly set the purposes, the plans and every appointed time, for His people.

Encounters detailed in the Bible show evidence. Evidence of people, places, promises, landscapes, and destiny’s changed.

Rearranged and changed, plowed under, then freshly planted, sown with seeds of purpose, brought into right, and eternal alignment.

God said, and God saw.

Don’t miss your appointment. Eternal assignments are hidden in His glory. Our work is either eternal or futile, light or dark, good or evil.

The plow has been set for deep.
Plowing under what no longer is producing, exposing fresh new ground. Ground that will receive and nurture seeds, and produce fruit that will remain.

“Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li”

“You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you!”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:16‬ ‭TPT‬‬

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

Day Eleven of the Forty Days of Teshuvah

Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li

September/Elul
It’s the eleventh today
We are meeting early again
No time for delay

The work is serious
No time for games
Every seed He shows me
Has a specific name

The kingdom He said
Begins when we repent
He keeps bringing this up
He won’t budge or relent

I don’t completely understand
But I’m following all of His orders
The tall and the short
Expanding my borders

© laurette laster September 11, 2019

An appointed time, a call to prepare. A mo’ed or mo’edim, a set time, a kairos, a time for eternal purpose with the purpose of God clearly felt, but still unknown. A desire so deep I can’t articulate, but so near I sense Him. Feelings of the heavenly realm wrapping around us like righteousness that can’t be shaken or penetrated by the world. A time for renewing our vows.

Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li

Felt like a drought in a thirsting soul, calling like hunger pangs, etched in our innermost being, calling out to the God of our salvation. Crying out as a lost child, bleating as the wayward sheep about to fall off the cliff; but knowing somewhere the answer will come. Why? Because Love always answers.

“As the crowds emerged from the village, Jesus said to his disciples, “Why would you say, ‘The harvest is another four months away’? Look at all the people coming—now is harvest time! Their hearts are like vast fields of ripened grain—ready for a harvest.”
‭‭John‬ ‭4:35‬ ‭TPT‬‬

[“Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li” is a phrase often quoted in reference to love and Judaism, and it is a quote from the Song of Songs, written by the wise King Solomon. It translates to “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” But what is the meaning behind it? Why is this specific passage such an iconic symbol of love?

The meaning behind the passage starts in an unexpected place. The first letters of each of the words of “Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li” spell out Elul, in Hebrew, the month before the high holidays, a time of repentance and self examination. What does that have to do with love though?

As it turns out, a lot. The love referred to in this passage is that of our relationship with God, a compassionate relationship, full of understanding and forgiveness, a love that understands that life is a work in progress, and nobody is perfect from the start. The month of Elul gives us a chance to re-focus our attention and ensure that we are making progress in the right direction, towards letting the bit of God within us shine out in a beautiful way.” Quoted from Israel-catalog.com]

Elul, the seventh month, was first recognized, and used while in Babylonian captivity. What a blessing to hold deep in their hearts. A wayward people longing for their God and their land. And God…

And what a wonderful loving, long suffering God.. Exodus 34:6-7

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

(Excerpt from Now the Tenth)

Tonight over dinner
He ask something strange
If I had ever considered
The depth of change

Time for equipment
Set the plow for deep
My Teshuvah Date
I’ll need extra sleep

© laurette laster September 10, 2019

“For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you [in favor], and you shall be cultivated and sown.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36:9‬ ‭AMP‬‬

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon 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

There is no place
I’d rather be
Than beside the One
Who first loved me

Called and summoned
Invitation of return
So long gone
Hardened to yearn

Thirsting and waiting
Unquenchable desire
Christ alone
Hearts love, life supplier

No other place
I long to be
Than bedside the One
Who first loved me

© laurette laster September 6, 2022

Have you been gone so long, you’ve forgotten? Have you tired of thirsting, and given up? Have you decided it won’t work? Have you?

May I encourage and challenge you? Will you believe once more? Will you agree like Esther?, if I perish I perish, but I must go and meet The King, for my people.

Like the woman pushing through the crowd, can faith speak again, cause you to rise up, and to believe, if I can but touch the hem…

The King is available, The King is in the field.

Make your condition known to Him, show Him the enemy attacking and advancing against you and your family. Run to the One who first loved you. Reach out and Run to Him! He is there, and waiting!

“But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for Me at the beginning. Think about how far you have fallen! Repent and do the works of love you did at first.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:4‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Teshuvah- the Return- the Appointed Time!

Run to Him!

Ani l’dodi v‘dodi li

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

Day 9 of 40 Days of Teshuvah

Season of Return- my favorite time of the year!

return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day];”

September/Elul
Today is nine
He said our work schedule
Is right on time

We rise early
Then meet and go
If it weren’t for my Lord
I wouldn’t know

So much to learn
About deadly weeds
I didn’t realize the danger
Or know about seeds

He’s begun teaching me
About multiplication
Good or bad
And soil saturation

Words have power
Check the seeds sown
Once in the ground
What is planted is grown

He speaks in parables
While explaining this stuff
Is my Teshuvah Date
Making this rough

He said it is given to me
The mysteries To know
We have much more work
Before we can sow

© laurette laster Sept. 2019

Hard work on a hot day causes us to sweat. It is then we truly appreciate the cool breeze against our skin…

Don’t miss your appointment. Preparing fallow ground is hard work, but harvest brings untold joy! The apostle Paul reminds us;

“The harvest you reap reveals the seed that you planted. If you plant the corrupt seeds of self-life into this natural realm, you can expect a harvest of corruption.
These are the roots we are digging up, plowing under, burning and destroying.

And then we are free and taught by His Spirit what to plant. We are free from the dead, and can choose our new and future crops-

If you plant the good seeds of Spirit-life you will reap beautiful fruits that grow from the everlasting life of the Spirit. And don’t allow yourselves to be weary in planting good seeds, for the season of reaping the wonderful harvest you’ve planted is coming!”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:8-9‬ ‭TPT‬‬

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