Elul

7th August to 4th September 2013(5773)

We have now reached the final month before the new Hebrew year which begins in September in the month Tishrei .  It marks the time to get things right before the new season starts.
It is in Jewish tradition a month of repentance and forgiveness .

“Elul” in Hebrew means search . This is a time to seek and search for God with all our hearts.

According to Jewish historians the month “Elul” was the month in which Moses received the second set of tablets of the ten commandments . He smashed the first tablets because of the sin of the children of Israel who had been impatient and turned aside to making a golden calf.
Exodus Chapters 32 - 34.
They wanted a natural image to worship. God had so much better for them if they had only waited. It is the same warning for us today . We can get impatient and make prophetic words come to pass. We don’t wait the allotted time  and we get out of God’s timing. This is a very dangerous thing as we get out of step with God’s ordained plan for our lives.

In the natural a man can reach retirement age and be in a position financially to give up his secular employment . The big but here is this ...did God say it was time to retire from that vocation or not ? God has glorious plans and wants to use us where we are to manifest His kingdom purposes through us. It may be that this vocation is part of God’s strategic plan in a specific time for certain things to be called forth and imparted . Who are we to do God a disservice by being selfish about our own ways . 
Stay until you are given permission from God to leave that post ! Otherwise you will be absent without leave ..AWOL !

Isn’t it interesting that this month according to the Bible in Nehemiah 6:15 is the time that the wall that Nehemiah was building around Jerusalem was completed.

Nehemiah 6:15

15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.

If we study this chapter we will see that there was much opposition to the building of the wall. Sanballat and Tobias were continually harassing Nehemiah to side track him from this God ordained function and requirement. God wanted to bring restoration to the city of Jerusalem so that it’s security , governance and worship could function effectively again.

Our lesson is to know that God has such big plans in motion and some of them include restoration of lives . We too will have enemies of the vision God has released to us . These can be well meaning friends who don’t understand God’s timing or purpose and want to try and persuade us to leave that particular project alone. Beware of such friendships or relationships . Re-examine the integrity of your relationships this month . Don’t be afraid to set yourself apart and remove yourself from their presence or influence. It might mean cutting off communication in all it’s various ways..i.e. Email,social networking , texting ...these can all be a source of great comfort but also a great source of influence. Remember ..listen to God not man ! God will always give confirmation by His word and through two or three witnesses of the specific direction he is leading you in.  

2 Cor.13:1

1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Another place in the Bible which gives specific mention of this month which is the sixth month is in Haggai chapter one . Here God releases a prophetic word for Haggai to speak forth to Zerubbabel , Governor of Judah ..it is for the people .

Haggai 1:4-10

4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
9 Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
 
Here is a message not just for these people but for us as well . We need to ensure that we do not neglect God . We must keep in good relationship with Him and most of all be obedient to Him . Here we see how disobedience has caused God’s favour to be turned off . Everything that would normally work for good is not . Because of disobedience !

Whenever we approach the completion of something about to enter a new phase we must take stock of ourselves and do a good self check. We need to audit ourselves spiritually and naturally.

This month is the final month of 5773 and on completion we shall enter into 5774 .

A great Bible principle is “ how we leave a situation is how we will enter the next situation “

Let Holy Spirit direct your heart attitude . This by tradition is a month of repentance and forgiveness In Judaism . We too can learn something from this . The finest way to get right with God is being open to Holy Spirit to guide us in repenting of sins of omission and commission.
In other words what we should have done and didn’t and what we should not have done and did!

Acts 3:19 Amp

19 So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord;
 
Keep short accounts with God at all times. As we get serious about our relationship with God at the end of this Hebrew year we accurately position ourselves for God’s favour to come upon us for the new year which He has planned for us to walk in .

God wants to continually bless us with His favour and how we receive it or not depends on where we are in relationship with Him. Our obedience to God determines which place we walk in .
We position ourselves accurately through obedience or put ourselves out of position through disobedience .

Proverbs 3:5-6 Amp.

5 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
6 In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.