For those who know Yeshua as Messiah, the month of Elul, though a time of examination and repentance, becomes a time of wonder over fear.
My friend, Sandi Herron, writes of her own experience of turning from fear to wonder in her book called PROMISES AND PRAYERS. The chapter of her book called Finding Rest In the Chaos speaks of such a moment. This is one of the things we are practicing as we step into the month called Elul. In finding rest, we also are able to discover wonder. We are learning how to live further into God's perfect peace.
The season of Elul helps us to realize the wonder of God as he speaks to us, comforts us with his mercy and forgivenes, and healing. In the whole process he brings us to peace, even as we live in a world full of chaos.
How strange to notice that right in the middle of this vivid and beautiful season of fall, so many worldly things and pagan practices still fill the earth. These things emminate from those who do not know God. We can't help but notice how evil and wicked the world has become.
It isn't our job to worry about the things that others do. That is God's place. It is our place to be looking to the inward workings of our own souls. We must determine how much of the world has slowly accumulated upon our hearts when we were not paying attention over the past year. God will hear our confessions. He will wash our feet of the dust of the world.
This simple annual examination will bring us out and through the world's times of the chaos.
Our hearts will grasp God's wonders and learn how to dwell in peace and love.
Elul comes to us during the time of the fall harvest.
We are all busy pulling in the profits of the year, storing up our barns, putting away for tomorrow, getting ready for one year to turn into another gift of God's time. It seems important these days to be as prepared as possible.
Often in all of our business, we forget to consider the fact that there is a greater harvest going on; one of much more importance and wonder.
It is a spiritual harvest of the souls of the earth.
That harvest is the one that God considers to be the most imporant.
As my friend continues to share from the comments of her book she quotes Psalm 4:7-8. "You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord will keep me safe."
The ancients must have feared the coming famine that the prophets had warned them about. Their fears were mostlly physical. Today's world faces both physical and spiritual fears.
In remembering this scripture, my friend's heart had found the secret of coming out of the world and coming closer to God. What safer place could exist? He knows the beginning from the end. God sees what we cannot. This is what we are considering during each annual season of Elul and the Days of Awe when we do Teshuvah.
As I opened my laptop to write this article the screen-saver showed me a scene of an amazing night sky containing the beauty of the aurora borealis. It was a dark sky filled with awesome colors from bright swirling curtains of light forming against the darkness.
I visualized a scene of God painting. Art was his creation too and he is excellent with this craft. In my vision he was creating an abstract portrait of the world that He loves so much.
At first the canvas is nothing but the black nothingness of the darkness. I realized this represented the chaos and confusion of the universe before the creation. With one breath and the power of his Word, God then formed the beautiful light. This light stands out from the darkness as a constant and positive symbol of the hope and the restoration of the Kingdom to come.
The aurora borealis is what he was painting. Since he had created it, he alone understood the whole meaning of the deep, vivid, colorful show of these lights in the sky.
Perhaps this makes the aurora borealis a symbol which is much like the rainbow. It is interesting to note that God uses the sky much like we use our cameras. He sends us short snapshots and messages that we can look up and see whenever we want to hear from him.
God gives us yet another constant and meaningful message in the sky with this beautiful display which says despite the evil minds of wicked men, he is still in charge. When we can't see the way or know the signs, God is always out there keeping his promises. They are never forgotten. The timing of each promise is always perfect. Even when we cannot see this or know it; he is there for us behind the scenes writing our stories.
Though the wonders of the auroras have been happening continuously from the beginning of the creation, we can't always see them. The conditions that display the interactions of solar particles with our earth's atmosphere must be just right in order to be visible to the human eye.
To see properly we need to be positioned properly (for the aroara this means above or below the Artic Circle) and the sky must be clear.
It is the same with our spiritual lives.
To see the wonders of our Great God we must be positioned properly within his will for our lives. It is only when we live into the purposes that he has designed for us that things become clear.
If we are breaking his laws and the covenant we have made with Our Father and Our Savior at our baptism, the skies of our soul become foggy and our vision becomes blocked. When we begin to walk in his laws and keep his ways, the blurriness goes away and the true colors of life shine through.
On Mt. Sinai, he gave us all of the best ways to live. They are the recipe for joy on this earth. Few understand that was his perfect intention. Each commandment shows us love.
The opposite of this stands in stark contrast.
Like all worldly things, my computer software spoke of the Greek myths surrounding this type of message from the sky which was showing off through the northern lights. The totally false message (that is what a myth is) told me that this sky was said to be the reflection of the amour of the Valkyries (female warriors of Odin from the legends of the Vikings who are riding on horses through the skies.)
Legends say these women come to retrieve the souls of the fallen warriors to take them to Odin's Hall called Valhalla. This is where we first came to notice witches and witchcraft, from these false legends and pagan stories of old. It is a concept that is celebrated by most of the world on other holidays proclaimed by men during the month of October.
I am reminded of all of the pagan things of the fall season. Sadly, the world likes to celebrate their self-proclaimed days with great fanfare. The Vikings were pagans through-and-through, but our current culture seems to have this surreal fascination with them. Our televisions, movie screens and books are filled with such ideas. Could this be from the return of the end-time demons from Egypt that we have been warned of who will one day come to help the antichrist?
Have we forgotten who made the sky, the stars, the moon and the planets?
It is his message that we should be paying attention to in this season; not that of the pagans and their demons.
Have we taught our children the difference?
Do they know TRUE history?
Can they distinguish differences between the godly things and the pagan things; or have we taught them how to get a clear vision of God's Kingdom which never includes such things?
If we fail to teach them the world will come to fill the blanks.
When you position yourself correctly, you can see clearly.
You can see the wonders of creation which God hung in the sky. You can see his kingdom unfolding properly into the days of your life. Your eyes and ears will see and hear his messages. He never wastes his breath.
There is no Valhalla. The only One coming on horses will be the four horsemen of the apocalypse and then that White Horse that will be ridden by Jesus Christ upon his return to earth again. Those are the true horsemen, and they will be presenting the messages of The Kingdom of Heaven.
Letting go of the pagan imaginations of men gives you a much more beautiful world to live in.
So when you look up at the bright swirling colors of the night skies from your correct position on the earth, you might begin to think of the scripture found in Romans 10:12. They contain the words of the Apostle Paul.
He said; "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."
Paul speaks of the time just before the morning when the birds begin to stir as the sun breaks the horizon. This time is comparable to the time of the resurrection of Jesus. He makes all things new. Yeshua brings us new life, a new day and new hope for a better world.
My friend telling the story in her book speaks in one chapter of her sleepless nights. She describes how on that particular morning she sat on her porch in the early hours to watch the sun rise and listen to the sound of the waking birds. She was dealing with a cancer diagnosis and pondering how chaotic her world had become in the midst of it.
In this prayerful early morning moment, she reflects on how other servants of God handled times of crisis in their lives. She notes Philippians 4:6-7.
It is a good verse for all of us going through chaotic end-times days to remember: "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and reflect on all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and your mind as you live in Christ Jesus."
Unlike the pagans of all the Greek myths, my friend had discovered the truth of being positioned properly under the will of God. Once she arrived in this place she found peace. Not just any peace, but the peace that passes all human understanding.
This is a wondrous thing to know. Maybe this wonder is even far above the beauty and the awesomeness of gazing upon the beauty of the aurora borealis. To see and know the evidence of God at work in the precious moments of our own lives is priceless.
So whenever you look up into the sky and see the light against the darkness just take consolation in the beauty of the light.
Drop your fears and anxieties and ponder the wonder of The Light of The World; Jesus Christ.
Forget the myths and know the truth.
Get yourself into the right geological location that lets the light of God shine into your world.
It isn't that hard; just look up.
The Light will remind you to put on your armor for the coming day. The armor of God will defend you from anything that tries to block the light. The Light of Christ will chase away all of the spiritual darkness of this world and align our souls with the peace of God that passes all understanding.
It is time to walk in the Kingdom we have been born into.
It is a kingdom of spirit and truth.
All of God's children must keep looking up and following the light.
We must keep walking further into the stories that he has written for our hearts to bring forth.
Note to readers: If you wish to read more of Sandi Herron's beautifiul book we mentioned in this article called Promises & Prayers, it is available at Amazon.com and on Sandi's blog at sandi.herron.com.
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