Category: More Manna

Extra Helpings

Returning To Your First Love

Of The Heart…

The fall festival season begins with a 40-day period called, in Hebrew, Teshuvah,which means “to repent or return.”

At this time every year in the Hebrew calendar is a season of self examination.Prophetically: Teshuvah’s 40 days of repentance, Prepares Believers For Messiah’s Appearing.

“I Tell You A Mystery: We Will Not All Sleep, But We Will All Be Changed— In A Flash, In The Twinkling Of An Eye, At The Last Trumpet (Shofar). For The Trumpet Will Sound, The Dead Will Be Raised Imperishable, And We Will Be Changed.” 1 Cor 15:51-52

Create in Me A Clean Heart Oh Lord/Adonai and Renew a Right Spirit Within Me. Psalm 51

Elul is the 6th month of the Biblical Calendar year. This month is set aside for Teshuvah/Repentance in anticipation of the Fall Feasts. The month of Elul is a time to prepare for Yamim Nora’im, The Days of Awe by getting our SPIRITUAL HOUSE IN ORDER.Jeremiah 24:7

This is a time to look into our hearts and ask the Ruach HaKodesh to search our hearts and reveal any hidden sins, resentments, forgiveness, pride, anger, bitterness etc. and to repent, make Teshuvah and work at walking according to the Spirit and not the flesh.The root of this important word is shuv which means to turn back. Teshuvah is as much a state of mind (faith / creed) as it is a step of action (Faithfulness / Deed).

The call to make teshuvah is a call to leave one’s own path and turn to The Lords/Adonai’s. It is a call to submit one’s will to God’s will.Perhaps the most important dimension of teshuvah to grasp, is that it requires more than simply turing from sin. One must be willing to turn to the path of righteousness. The cry of the penitent one says, ‘My soul desires what Your soul desires!’

Primarily, repentance calls for the abandonment of the way of sin and the inner resolve never to return to it, and not the outward acts that accompany it.

Note: In Hebrew a person is called a Ba’al Teshuvah who turns to the Lord/Adonai, from a life of sin. Literally this means, a Master of Repentance. It describes the reality that TESHUVAH IS NOT A ONCE AND DONE ACT! As followers of Jesus/Yeshua we live a life of turning back to The Lord/Adonai.  We are ever turning from self to The Lord/Adonai.

The 40 days of Teshuvah begins on the first day of the sixth month, the month of Elul. Elul last for 30 days, (known as the month of MERCY, the month when The Lord/Adonai draws near to His people.)

It concludes with the 1st of Tishrei, the 7th month, which is also the mo’edim/appointed time, known as Yom Teruah or The Day of Trumpets. (Leviticus 23:23-25)

Ten days later, on the 10th of Tishrei, is Yom Kippur or the “Day of Atonement”. (Leviticus 23:26-27). The days in between these two Biblical festivals are called Yamim Nora’im which literally means the “awesome days”; commonly called the Days of Awe. This 10 day period, coupled with the 30 days of Elul, make up the 40 days of Teshuvah. (Literally: “returning”; a Hebrew term for repentance.)

The Rabbis said that this is the time when “the King is in the field”. The heart of HaShem is for His beloved to make teshuvah.We are the beloved of Adonai/The Lord. It is His love that draws us to repentance thus, in love, He beckons us to return to Him. Deut. 4:30The month of Elul is sometimes called the month of love and compassion based on the acronym formed from,


     I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine. Song of Solomon 6:3This poignant verse alludes to the mystery that God is our heavenly groom and we are his betrothed. God is the great lover of our souls and the greatest mitzvah/commandment of all, is to keep faith in his covenant promise of love. Romans 8:24 Our beloved is coming Jesus/Yeshua our Messiah, will soon be here chevarim (friends), don’t miss the bridegroom’s call. Return to the passion of your first love. Rev. 2:4

Jesus/Yeshua illustrated the idea of Teshuvah which means returning to God, by telling the story of the prodigal son. Luke 15:11–32.

After squandering his father’s inheritance a wayward son decided to return home full of shame and self-reproach. That while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him and he ran to his son threw his arms around him and kissed him.The father then ordered a celebratory meal in honor of his lost son’s homecoming. When his older brother objected that father said, we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found.

In the parable reveals that teshuvah ultimately means returning (shuv) to the compassionate arms of your heavenly Father.God sees you while you are still a long way off. Rom. 5:8

He runs to you with affection when you first begin to turn your heart toward Him. Indeed Gods compassion is so great that He willingly embraces the shame of your sins and then adorns you with a fine robe a ring and sandals.Your Heavenly Father even slaughters the fattened calf Jesus/Yeshua so that a meal that celebrates your life may be served.

Why did Jesus/Yeshua come? He was like the father in the parable who was actively looking for his lost son. He came to seek and save the lost Luke 19:10

Jesus/Yeshua likened Himself to a shepherd who left his flock to search for one lost sheep and after finding it laid that sheep on his shoulders rejoicing. Luke 15:3–7He also likened himself to a woman who lost a coin but diligently searched for it. After she found it she called together her friends and neighbors saying rejoice with me for I have found the lost coin. Luke 15:8–10Jesus/Yeshuas first words of public ministry were REPENT and BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. Mark 1:15

The word repent is metanao meaning to change your thinking and the word gospel means good news. From good and message. We could translate the verse as: change your thinking and believe the message of God’s good will toward you. The good news is that we are to be set free from the curse of the law and futile efforts of seeking self justification before heaven. We no longer need to live in fear of God’s conditional acceptance of us and therefore of our conditional worth.

As Paul later preached, let it be known to you therefore brothers that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Acts 13:38–39The Jews had known about repentance teshuvah for a long time of course. They understood the rituals and mitzvoth/commandments that were required to keep the law and they even devised legal formulas for making your defense before the Almighty. (ie the Kol Nidre service recited before Yom Kippur which was, we exonerate ourselves for failing to keep our word.) If Moses and the law could have saved us we wouldn’t need to be declared righteous by God’s grace through the redemption in Jesus/Yeshua. Romans 3:24  and we would not need the cross. All we’d need to do is work hard at repentance, perform additional mitzvoth/good works but clearly Jesus/Yeshua meant something other than this when He made the call to repent.The repentance that Jesus/Yeshua preached was inextricably connected with the good news that He alone is God’s answer to the problem of sin. Jesus/Yeshua was born to die as the divinely appointed Sin bearer of the world. Hebrews 10:5-7

He came to the earth and emptied Himself of His regal glory and power in order to be the high priest. After the order of Malki –Tzedek and the mediator of the new covenant. Hebrews 5:6; 9:15; Psalm 110:4; 1 Timothy 2:5;

He came to Jerusalem, to Moriah for the explicit purpose of suffering and dying and being raised from the dead. Matthew 16:21 Luke 9:22

Jesus/Yeshua died not only for our forgiveness but also to deliver us from the law of sin and death.i.e. the power that  sin holds in our lives. He died to set us free so that we could become the beloved children of God. Jesus/Yeshua surely was not calling people to become followers of the scribes and Pharisees, who were blind guides and hypocrites Matthew 23:13–36. He did not want people to become slaves to rituals or religion, now he called people to follow Him.

Take up your cross and follow Me.

Turn your thinking around.

Die to your religion.

Be comforted because there is good news from heaven.Gods unconditional acceptance is given to those who trust in the righteousness of Jesus/Yeshua in place of any self righteousness that might be gained by performing the works of the law. Galatians 2:16, Titus 3:5

Jesus/Yeshua is the goal of the law for righteousness for all who believe Romans 10:4–13

 Dying to the religious project of attaining self-righteousness is to admit the need for radical deliverance from the law itself.Jesus’/Yeshua’s message of salvation was rejected by the religious establishment of His day, just as it is likewise rejected by all other karma-based religions and philosophies that believed that good deeds are sufficient for your place in heaven. After all the religious Jews assumed they already understood the requirements for repentance and the means for finding atonement with God through the rituals and practices surrounding the high holidays.Their religion was essentially a meritocracy based on the performance of good works. That were thought to impart zechut and righteousness to the soul.

But Yeshua explained to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, that a person is not justified on the basis of their supposed good deeds or merits but entirely by appealing to God’s compassion and mercy.

It was the despised tax collector not the self-righteous Pharisee that left the temple justified: Luke 18:10-14

The talmud (Hebrew Commentary) draws a distinction between those motivated by:

Teshuvah me-yirah, “return out of fear” (of punishment),

And

Teshuvah me- ahavah, “return out of love” (of god).

Of the former, their intentional sins are accounted as if they were unintentional;

Of those who return out of love, their intentional transgressions become like merits.

The concept is that the human personality is capable of regeneration and renewal.

Thus teshuvah is an experience of transformation.

When performed out of fear, it lessens the burden of sin but does not give victory over the sin.

Teshuvah undertaken out of love accomplishes a fundamental transformation, in which healing and purification are complete ‘for the baal teshuvah, the man who returned.’

During this season of teshuvah, we must always remember that the Lord is for us and not against us.

He died while we were yet sinners. Romans 5:8

He is the loving strongman who rescued us forever.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Rom 8:31–39

We are literally saved in this hope. Romans 8:24

Peace – Shalom!

Keeping It All Bottled Up – Part 2

God places all the tears we have wept in a special place…  

In a bottle and a book. (Psalm 56:8)

Every tear that we have shed has been saved up.

The ancients who lived in David’s time, had a practice of putting tears which were shed for someone who had died, into a little bottle called lacrymatories.

(lah-krim-ah-torrie)And when they buried their deceased loved one they would place these lacrymatories or ‘bottles of tears’ inside the tomb. The ancients believed this practice actually helped begin the healing process of losing a loved one.

Archeologists who have unearthed ancient graves, commonly come across these ‘tear bottles’ inside the tomb, indicating it was widely practiced in ancient times.This noun Lachrymatory, pronounced læ-‘kree-mê-tor-ee, (also the root of our word crematory).

It comes down through the ages by way of the Latin word ‘dacrima,’ which shares ties with the Greek term dakry for tear, a distant relation to Old High German zahar also meaning ‘tear’, which fashioned the modern German Zähre for ‘tear’, and Old English tæhher which is nowadays, ‘tear.’

These little bottles were made of glass, pottery, agate, sardonyx, or hard baked clay.

The word here rendered ‘bottle’ means a bottle made of skin, such as was used in the East; but it can also mean a bottle of any kind.

Our tears are precious to the Lord, and He is aware of each tear we shed.

Most of our emotions are connected in some way to our crying liquid tears as well as to the physical cavity of the eye itself helping it to stay moist so we can see.There are 3 types of physical tears produced by our bodies:

First the basal variety, which are made as a form of lubrication and protection for your eyes.

These are constantly secreted in tiny quantities (about one gram over a 24-hour period) and coat our eyes when we blink, yawn or water from a dry climate.

This is what a basal tear looks like under a microscope(Above watering eyes in a micro climate)(Above: yawning from exhaustion tears)

There are biological and physiological components that initiate tears from the tear duct, for the purpose of cleansing and washing the eye.It’s a built in automatic window wash!

Second type we produce are reflex tears.(Above: Tears in response to cutting up onions.)

These are also for protection and are released to help wash away particles in response to irritants, such as wind, dust, smoke, cutting onions or that wayward eyelash. (Greater magnification of above.)

The third type of tears – emotional tears.
These tears contain more protein-based hormones than basal or reflex tears. Our tears, no matter what the form, are a combination of salt water, oils, antibodies, and enzymes.Studies have revealed the scientific basis of tears, and show how weeping and mourning tie into the deepest regions of our brains. The seat of the Soul is also believed to be in the same area of the brain.

Tears are intrinsically connected to emotion. There is a whole process that we go through starting at the time of tearing up, yet each one looks vastly different when examined under a microscope.(Above: tears from laughing until we are crying.)Laugh till we cry,frustration,anger,sadnessand griefloneliness

paindepression love reliefexcitementhappinesssuccessecstatic joy

– Seems like every one of the above list could evoke a tearful reaction…

(Above: tears of ending and beginning.)Not all tears are alike; and each person’s tears are unique to them, just as our DNA, fingerprints and retina scan are.(Above: tears of elation at a liminal moment.)

Tears cover the totality of all of our lifes’ experiences

Does a tear of grief look any different from a tear of joy?

Yes!

Each tear is different: when you cry based on the underlying emotion it produces different chemicals which show up in the tear drop. (Above: tears of change.)

Each tear contains the emotion and the pain and hurt caused by an outside influence often through words or actions of others or a physical trauma to the body.
(Reference: Joseph Strondberg.   Emotional Components of the Tear.)

 Interesting Note: The work of the late Dr. Masaru Emoto, a visionary researcher from Japan, studied the impact of human consciousness on water and its crystalline order.Water that was imprinted by love, gratitude, and appreciation responded by the development of complex beauty,

and

water that was mistreated by negative intentions became disordered and lost its magnificent patterning.

Perhaps something similar occurs in our tears?…It’s known, for instance, that tears contain unique substances depending on their cause.If that is the case for water outside a physical body, how much more could the water that is part of us be affected?

Each human body comprises 50-70% water.

Emotional tears, for instance, contain leucine-enkephalin, a natural painkiller your body releases in response to stress.

 The Black and White Photographs in this post can be found in the public domain on www “Topography of Tears,” (photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher of ‘The microscopic structure of dried tears’.)
Tears are the medium of our most primal language communicating from birth to death, hunger and everything in between.

Tears cover the totality of all of our life’s experiences.(Above: tears of remembrance.)

Each tear will carry a composite of the events of a human life amounting to one drop of the oceans expanse.

Crying is to the emotions within the soul, what soap is to the body, it truly a cleansing thing.

It contains all that is ours as is represented in our DNA, so no wonder He keeps our tears.

It’s a unique record of each of us.

The shortest sentence in the new Testament speaks of Messiah’s tears:

John 11:35

Va•yivch Yeshua.

 Yeshua wept

However when Jesus wept wept in the garden of Gethsemane, the sum total of all the tears shed by humanity on the whole planet, from the Genesis in Eden to the completion of time in the future at the end of the age. They were being borne in His body when He shed His tears for every soul, prior to the shedding of His blood on Calvary’s cross.

Jesus who as the Son of God, bore all the tears for the sins committed by and to mankind.First came the water and then the blood.   Heb. 5:5-9 

The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us of, ‘His strong crying and tears.’ These are tears which we cannot fully understand; but they were tears for the sins of the world, the weight of which in that most mysterious agony He was then bearing.There is no telling just how many tears have been shed throughout history, yet all our tears, the sum total of human existence was put on the cross.

Untold multiplied billions of tears were covered that day by the blood of Jesus. Each tear we shed has a purpose.  Tears are unique to each one of us and they are designed to give us comfort when we our souls are overwhelmed with emotion and conflict.All our perceptions and all our lives experiences are contained within the tears of failure, joy, etc., and every human emotion we have experienced in our lives; good, bad, or indifferent.

It changes when we come to know Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, because He changes us from within.(Above: tears of momentum)

Tears of agony, rejection and defeat are changed into tears of relief, acceptance and hope.(Above: tears of possibility and hope)

There is coming a time for all righteous believers when God will wipe away the tears for ever.  They are poured out upon his altar as a one-time offering to God.

(Its an interesting thought that it in some way it could be connected to the water libation performed during the Fall Appointed Times?!)

In Isaiah 53, when Jesus/Yeshua, bore our griefs and sorrows, every emotion, and every response since the time of Adam and Eve. All our life’s experiences, that is what Jesus took upon Himself. That is when He wept and why that statement is so powerful.

Our emotional hurt often isn’t our own fault, but rather caused by the wrong-doing of others.Weeping actually brings a healing power to those who have been wronged and helps us heal emotionally.

One day for some of us our need for tears will come to an end –

O Lord my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. Ps 30:3

Adonai Elo•hai shi•va•ati e•le•cha va•tir•pa•eni.

 

He Knows!

A  vast receptacle, brimming over with our weeping.

However… 

One day our need for tears will come to an end –

A new day is dawning.

A new beginning is coming.

A new joy is arising in our hearts, because His Word declares that although

One day God will wipe away every one of those tears and there will be no more crying.   Revelation 21:4

He will replace all our tears of sorrow with pure joy because ALL the OUTWARD causes of TEARS will be absent.Never again will we shed a tear over losing a loved one or a beloved family pet;

or weep by the casket or graveside of a departed family member;

 or shed a tear for a departed loved one or friend, for these are the former things of this life that will pass away.(Tragedy: tears of awe and sorrow)

Never again will we hear tragic news(Above: tears for what could not be fixed.)or see a flag-draped casket of a soldier who lost his life in a war.(Above: tears of Grief.)

Never again will we experience any physical pain, for God is going to ‘wipe away all of our tears’, that were caused by the outward things in this life.
God will wipe away all the INWARD causes of tears.

There will be no more tears of LONELINESS.DEPRESSION.FRUSTRATION.GUILT and SHAME.

No more tears of Remorse(Above: tears of Remorse.)

or DISAPPOINTMENT.(Above: tears of those who yearn for liberation)

(Above: Tears of timeless reunion.)

All there will be in the Presence of the King of Kings, the Creator of the universe isJoy unspeakable and full of glory as the everlasting arms are wrapped around us..

Rejoice, mending broken hearts is His forte.Jesus quoted and said that He came to bind up the broken hearted and only God is able to do such a thing.

And sadness and sighing will flee away leaving only happy smiles!Joy WorshipReliefLoveHappinessAcceptanceSecurity

On a lighter note as the scriptures say, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine; so here is a small dose…

Sometimes holding back the laughter is too muchand the tears fill our eyes

…sometimesor in Lucy’s case both together!

Whatever our situation in life’s journey lets never forget…

God keeps it all bottled up so we don’t have to!When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry..show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile  because SHALOM!

Keeping It All Bottled up-Part 1

We are familiar with the Book Of Life where the name of every redeemed soul is recorded.     However the scripture records that God also has a book/scroll of remembrance

Malachi speaks of a book or scroll of remembrance written in the presence of God, a record of the words spoken by those who feared the Lord.

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon and esteemed his name.

Az nid•be•roo yir•ey Adonai eesh el-re•e•hoo va•yak•shev Adonai va•yish•ma va•yi•ka•tev se•fer zi•ka•ron le•fa•nav le•yir•ey Adonai ool•chosh•vei sh`mo.

David cries out to God in the Psalm 56:8,

“put my tears in your bottle” and then declares “are they not in your book?”

He asked that his tears be kept in Heaven’s permanent record.

Psalms 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book? “Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record?”

No•di sa•far•ta ata si•ma dim•ati v`no•de•cha ha•lo be•sif•ra•te•cha.

God has a book of remembrance that tells of our wanderings, our tears and sufferings. Is this book the same one from Malachi, or yet a different book kept by Adonai?

Everything that people are doing in speaking, communing together in their love for God is chronicled. Everything about us is recorded. (Psalms 139:14-16)Either way, God keeps books full of our life’s stories…the costly victories won in the secret place, the sorrows and pains endured in silence, the joys celebrated in God’s presence, all are witnessed and forever recorded.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
 all the days ordained for me were written in your book
 before one of them came to be. (psalm 139:16)

Rom 12:15. Sim•choo eem-has•me•chim oov•choo eem-ha•bo•chim.

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

דמעות Tears Dim-ati   D-M-A/B-KH-HTears of joy are the sunbeams piercing the soft and gentle rain drops of refreshing summer showers.

Bottle – בקבוק (pronounced bahk-book) 

My tears in Your bottle.There are several Hebrew words related to the act of weeping. These range from (bekhi), crying, to (dema’ot), tears, with several interposed onomatopoetic words that imitate the sound of crying: for example, (yevava), (yelala), and, accompanied by a sigh, (nehi).Tears cleanse the eye and also the soul.

For his anger lasts but a moment; in his favor is life; weeping..

Tears may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning Ps 30:5

Ki re•ga be•a•po cha•yim bir•tzo•no ba•erev ya•lin be•chi ve•la•bo•ker ri•na.

Even those who maintain their life is without many problems, have experienced times of great sadness, loss of a loved family member or friend, to all four legged ones with whom we share our lives. Death is a great physical separator, but in Him it is only the doorway to eternity into His presence, to be with Him and the scriptures say we shall be like Him. 

We all cry tears, they are an integral attribute of being human. After nine months it’s our first response to leaving the womb. Tears bring forth life, crying doesn’t indicate that you are weak because since birth it has always been a sign that you are alive.A first dramatic and traumatic transition from darkness into light and it kick starts our bodies to begin doing things on our own, like breathing. The act of crying fills our lungs with air and our life in this realm begins.the first of many tears we would shed over the course of our lifetime.Scripture has plenty to say about tearsThe Lord SEES Our Every Tear All of the passages in scripture teach us this one very important truth and that is, we have never shed a tear that GOD didn’t see.

God has seen every tear we shed…on our pillow at night and every tear we have cried behind closed doors…when hurtful or hateful words were spoken to us and crushed our spirit…when someone has betrayed us or trampled all over our heart…

when our loved one died, and every tear we have shed since then when we think of them…when we have miserably failed and lost all hope in ourselves…every tear we have shed over a wayward son or daughter who has gone astray…

God has put our tears in His bottle and recorded them in His book.

Ruth Bell Graham, the late wife of Billy Graham, once said…… “In every pew sits a broken heart.” It would seem that there’s a lot of truth in that statement. 

To every bruised and broken heart reading this today, realize God has put your tears in His bottle and recorded them in His book. 

He knows each and every one…

and His promise to each of us is that “weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”Why would He keep our tears in a bottle and record them in His book if they were not precious to Him?

In recent years, science has proved that each tear contains our unique DNA, they represent the sum total of our lives. They are in a sense, a liquid record of our existence and emotional experiences.In the bottle, is all our pain and joy etc. combined, it is each one of us and our whole lives.

That’s why He keeps them.

He promises that one day, there will be no more tears or crying. Then we will be complete in Him and the human emotions will be matured into those of who He IS, and those emotions will no longer be required for a life in eternity with Him.The most painful tears are not the ones that fall from your eyes and cover your face, they are the ones that come from your heart and overwhelmingly envelope your soul. They are the components of the ‘bricks’ with which we build the protective wall around our hearts and the fabric of the shell into which we crawl in order to prevent any further hurt.Many times, crying is the only way that we can speak, when our mouths can’t explain how things broke our heart; when our eyes release tears, they are the words the heart is unable to form or utter.Sometimes we feel like crying for no apparent reason and it’s often to make up for the days we suppressed our tears of sorrow and hurt.Rain falls because the clouds can no longer handle the weight. There comes a tipping point of overflow when their contents can no longer be contained in the same way, our tears fall because the heart can no longer handle the pain.Anyone can make you smile, many people can make you cry,
 but it takes someone really special to make you smile with tears in your eyes.Tears are good! What flows is alive. Crying is like a thunderstorm for the soul, the air feels so wonderful after the rain. Your tears herald a change in your life like the summer rain and they wash away the pain

Tears are like prayers too, they travel to God when we have no words to communicate. Psalm 56:8
A forensics expert explained that when they chemically tested the tears from people who lost loved ones from natural causes, accidents and suicide; those tears showed to contain poison when analyzed in a chemical reaction.

As believers, when we hear that, we think about Jesus crying and realize the enormity of what was contained in His tears in the Garden of Gethsemane. The mental anguish of the extreme stress of the combined sins of the whole world were upon Him. Esau sought with Bitter tears …the poison is in the bitterness. Hebrews 12:15-17 and there are warnings about the root of bitterness in Deut. 29:18 and Lamemtations 3:15,19

Surely at one time, we have all probably had some tears ‘burn’ our eyes.

 Luke 22:62 says, “So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”On hearing this explanation, it becomes clear how important our healing is from others actions, as they can become a poison in our bodies. There are records showing how many survivors who aren’t believers in the Lord, became sick with cancer and other life threatening diseases.

So crying does bring healing and tears bring life. Our tears have an important purpose.
The Bible teaches us there are three things that cause us to shed tears:it’s because of PHYSICAL pain EMOTIONAL painSPIRITUAL painContrary to what many people believe, tears aren’t a sign of weakness, tears are a sign of strength. Its the ability to humble ourselves and allow the reality of our situation to be seen by others.

Crying brings the release of emotion, allowing God to replace all the inner pain with JOY, HOPE and LOVE and to fill our hearts and minds with His Shalom/ the PEACE that passes ALL understanding. 

It has been said that … an interesting observation.

Remember we are greatly loved and cherished and  Coming in Part 2: 

A look at some amazing images showing the intricacies in the designs of tear drops from different emotions.

Seeing Stars Or…

just simply over the moon?

Animation above shows moons shadow cast on earths spinning surface.

The previous post focused on the smallest components and patterns in the most intricate of God’s creations.

Time to look up once more.

Our worldview is rooted in our limited comprehension of the earth around us and depends very much from what vantage point we are viewing everything. Many things affect our outlook, such as the position of our dwelling place, the location and calibre of our lifestyle, as well as how we observe and process information, and interact with the world around us.

For one moment instead of thinking of ourselves standing on the earth looking up at the stars in the sky; embrace the reality that from any point on the surface, we are in fact actually staring down into the infinite abyss of the universe, with only gravity holding us to the surface of the earth.

(That’s where we instinctively reach for a seatbelt!) Every day we see the sun and almost every day we see the moon;this is because God said in Genesis 1:14 that He created the sun, (greater light) for day and the moon, (the lesser light) for night, for the seasons and for a way to measure and count the days, months and years.

After the Exodus God set the Israelites back on a lunar calendar to help them leave behind the Egyptian sun worship and solar based calendar.The size of our Earth and Moon in comparison to our Star, the Sun.

Today our calendar is again solar-based. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582, (which is not all that long ago). The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It was adopted from the Julian calendar involving a correction to the length of a year. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe. The last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923.

The Gregorian reform contained two parts: a reform of the Julian calendar as used prior to Pope Gregory XIII’s time and a reform of the lunar cycle used by the Church, with the Julian calendar, to calculate the date of Passover, (Easter).

From the lunar month cycle he extended the days of each of the 12 months and it is there that we lost the Lord’s original set days which were based on the lunar moon cycle.

The orbits of the Earth and Moon around our star can be accurately forecast and thus depended upon to give those observing it a specific time each year.

Until the printing press and almanacs became available, the phases of the moon were the only worldwide source of seasonal information for agricultural/farming and planning ahead. Nowadays we hardly notice the phases of the moon as we rely so much on modern technology.ECLIPSE FEVER IS TAKING AMERICA BY STORM AND EVERYONE IS, ‘SEEING STARS’ AND IN THIS CASE our moon is PASSING IN FRONT OF OUR VERY OWN STAR, the sun.In less than a month, on 21st August, the orbital paths of the earth and moon will converge during the daytime. As the moons orbit takes it between the earth and the sun, its relative distance will block out the sun for a short period of time as its shadow transverses the surface of the earth. It will only be seen along the mapped path above.
There is much excitement about the upcoming heavenly spectacle. For the first time in 100 years (99 to be exact) that an eclipse can be seen over a 70 mile wide track by people living in the continental United States.Eclipses occur more frequently than every 100 years and are seen more commonly from other locations due to the orbital path of the moon.Having experienced several, it is indeed a unique experience and very strange, as the moons mass passes between earth and the sun and blocks the suns brilliant light from reaching our planet.

Then daylight turns to dusk and the birds stop singing.

All of nature thinks that it’s night-time and there is an eerie silence.

But it doesn’t last long!

The brevity is rooted in the movement of the dark shadow of the moon known as the umbra. When you are inside the umbra, the entire solar disk of the sun appears to be covered by the dark disk of the moon.

In short the moons umbral shadow will take a leisurely trek across the USA covering 2,496 miles (4,017KM)

It will take just 90.7 minutes for the moon to pass fully across the sun, whizzing by at an average speed of 1,651 mph (2657km)/h.

During its path across the sun, the moon allows the corona of the sun to glint briefly looking like a gigantic diamond ring in the sky. 
A corona is an aura of plasma that surrounds the sun and other stars.

The Sun’s corona extends MILLIONS of miles/kilometres into space and is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but it is also observable with a coronagraph.

The word “corona” is a Latin word meaning “crown”, from the Ancient Greek κορώνη.

The diamond-ring effect occurs both at the beginning and end of totality.Second diamond-ring effect at end of totality August 11, 1999 during a total solar eclipse.

Where the last rays of sunlight pass through the valleys on the moon’s limb, and the faint corona around the sun is just becoming visible, this is when it resembles a ring with glittering diamonds.It’s a most spectacular sight, which lasts only seconds.The highly transient diamond ring effect really shows that the universe is not as static as it appears to be.

There are other stunningly visual moments during transition called Bailys Beads.In itself the eclipse is nothing more than the heavens that God created doing exactly what He set them in place to do.

They have followed His directive for millennia and have been viewed by multiplied millions of human eyes over the centuries. The Scriptures speak of them and astronomers have mapped their orbits. All the visible constellations have names and tell the greatest story of all time. His-story.

The Scriptures tell us that God put the heavens that we see in place for signs and for seasons and Jesus reminded us of that in the book of Matthew.

In 1 Chron. 12:32 The tribe of Issachar and his children were noted for their knowledge and observations of the heavenly bodies and the times and seasons that their movements indicated. Maps were made of the heavens millennia ago, for they were a living calendar for agriculture and especially for God’s people Israel to follow His Appointed Times.

The birth of Jesus was written in the starry sky and led the Magi from the East to Him as they saw ‘His star’ in the constellations and understood it’s significance. They paid attention, should we be any less interested?

Jesus Himself told us of the signs to look for prior to His return in Matthew 24.

The Revelation of Jesus to John also speaks of many signs in the skies above.

In recent years there have been many unusual sights in the heavens. During the years 2014/5 there were four ‘blood moons’ and eclipses occurring ‘coincidentally’ on exact days of the Appointed Times of the Lord celebrated during the calendar year.

There is no specific Hebrew word meaning coincidence, as all things in the Hebraic mindset and Hebrew thought are designed and orchestrated by God/Hashem. In Hebrew nothing ‘just happens’ there is no luck, no chance, it is all by His co-ordinated design and planned from before the foundation of the world.

That being so, it may behoove us to pay attention to the skies above, look to the heavens for our redemption draws nigh. We are not told to look down and at our circumstances but encouraged to look up to where our Father exists in the heavens.

Shamayim in Hebrew (שָׁמַיִם).

In the Greek ouranos οὐρανός, οῦ, ὁ.

The Hebrew word shamayim a plural form meaning ‘heights’, ‘elevations’. It is constructed of two parts: sham (שָׁמַ) derived from Akkadian samu meaning “sky” or “lofty”, and Hebrew mayim (מַיִם) meaning “water”.

In Genesis 1:6 Elohim separated the “water from the water”. The area above the earth was filled by sky-water (sham-mayim) and the earth below was covered by sea-water (yam-mayim).

The Hebrew word for the sun is shemesh. It follows the same construction, where “shem” or “sham” (Akkadian: samu) means “sky” and esh (Akkadian: ish) means “fire”, i.e. “sky-fire”.

יָרֵחַ ‘yareach’ meaning ‘moon’  Phonetic Spelling:  (yaw-ray’-akh)

אָ֫רֶץ  ‘eretz’ meaning ‘earth’  Phonetic Spelling: (eh’-rets)

By some scholars calculations we are in the year 5778 and other scholars say that there are some 200+ years missing from the calendar having been miscalculated by some rabbis and scribes.

If that is correct we could be nearer the year 6000-16!

It is good to remember that it’s not just 2017 years that have passed in total, that it simply the number of years since Jesus came the first time and was on the earth physically. There is some 4000 years prior to that as the story contained in scripture from Genesis began approximately 6 thousand years ago. If this is correct and we look at the reference to a day as a 1000 years; we are right in the cusp of entering the 7000th year which is symbolic of His Rest, (Shalom) indicating the start of the prophesied 1000 year reign of Messiah as He returns.

The only question is, are we ready, are we prepared for His return? Where are our hearts Focused?

It may not be in our lifetime that He returns, but what If it is?

Are these heavenly signs pointing to His soon return? Will He fulfill ‘the appointed times’ this coming September?

Even if it’s not this year, being ready and prepared spiritually is up to each individual and to make certain we have shared the good news of salvation and forgiveness through Jesus blood with everyone we can.

We looked at Israel, 70 years the nation. 50 years with Jerusalem as its capital and the significant date recently, when Jews were once again able to pray freely on the Temple Mount. We are now counting down to the first of the 3 fall Appointed Times dates and the 40 days of Teshuvah. Teshuvah is a time of repentance and soul-searching in preparation for the time of repentance that immediately precedes Rosh Hashanah.

It is always good to remember that numbers are important to the Lord and that every Hebrew letter has a numerical value. Nothing is insignificant or coincidental in God’s plan of the ages. Let as keep our eyes on the Lord and on the heavens where He is and on the apple of His eye, His beloved Israel.

Perhaps it is significant that 21st day August, day of the eclipse, is exactly one month to 21st September, which this year is Rosh Hashanah.

Jesus said no man knows the day nor the hour of his return but the Father only. Does this indicate it’s possible to know the season or the year?

All we can know for certain is what the scripture says

One thing is sure, it’s time for us to look up and away from the things that so easily draw us away from the Lord and from His presence. It’s time to focus on Him and not ourselves. We need to be as Jesus said, ‘about our father’s business’, pleasing Him by our lifestyles and our obedience to His commandments.

There’s only one sunset and its been going around the earth since God created the sun. (Gen.1:14-19)

and as you are watching that sun set…someone on the other side of the earth is watching the exact same sun rise!It takes the whole ocean and the moon to erase one footprint in the sand

 and everything we eat is processed sunshine…

Your shadow is a confirmation that light has travelled nearly 93 million miles without interruption…

only to be prevented from reaching the ground in the last few feet by your presence! Consider that we have never actually been in the same place twice, as the earth and the solar system we are part of and even the entire known galaxy, are all in constant motion through space.  

Not all starlight that we see is the same age, some of it possibly millions of years apart even though it reaches our eyes at the same moment.

Many of the stars we see in fact no longer exist, so we are literally looking back through time.

This being true, the night sky isn’t simply a single moment in the universe but rather a patchwork, a compendium, a compilation of countless years in the breadth of eternity. The Song of Solomon speaks of the bride as the moon but finishes by speaking of her as the sun. The final picture and mystery of the bride goes from moonlight to sunshine.The moon and the sun are two different kinds of light.

The moon is a light that shines conditionally. There has to be nothing blocking its face, nothing hiding it from the sun.

The sun shines regardless of where it’s facing, or anything blocking it, because its nature is to shine.We are the ‘bride’ and we are still in the moon phase, reflecting our Saviour’s glorious light.We’re rejoicing, but oftentimes our joy is conditional. The real victory comes when you move from the moon stage to the sun stage. Then the light of the glory of God is coming from within our being and we have completed the transition from glory to glory.

It’s when your joy moves from being conditional to becoming unconditional, then you truly praise Him, not just when things are good, but when things look terrible – at all times.You shine not just because things are shining around you, you shine because you are a light to the world.That’s what a light does – it shines.

You’re the bride, and the bride begins as fair as the moon, but ends as bright as the sun.Commit to being the light of Messiah today and shine like the sun!(The above image of a partial eclipse in 2012 was taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.)

Final caveat.. although it’s tempting to stare at the sun during a solar eclipse, if you try to do so without protection, you could damage your eyes.

Shalom family and friends, be safe as you continue to enjoy the wonders of our Fathers Creation.