A Few Thoughts on Prayer

​Philippians 4

We are walking in today:  A Few Thoughts on Prayer

Witness prayer throughout the Bible:   H8605 tĕphillah--prayer, pray a prayer, house of prayer, intercession, supplication

2 Samuel 7:27 For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer H8605 unto thee.

The Torah .........……

--
The prophets ..................
Nehemiah 1:6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer H8605 of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy
servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

The writings ............
1 Kings 8:28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer H8605 of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, H8605 which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:


Attuning your heart before the Most High....
Prayer is essentially a response to the Most High's call for us, a kind of teshuvah, or turning a shuv to the Most High. It is His love for us, that is the question and our turning of the heart toward Him is the answer. I t is not about finding the right words. When you pray, rather letting your heart be without words than thy words be without heart. Inwardly bow in awe before the throne of grace. Keep praying until you are able to let go and trust in the Most High's heart.

The Most High wants your heart, and prayer is the means by which your heart is offered to Him. Set you affections upward, lift up your soul, and inwardly bow in awe before the Presence of the King who sits upon the Throne of Grace. Pour out your concerns before Him, since He cares for you. Our prayers are answered when we are able to let go and trust the Most High's heart for us. Philippians 4:6-7

Since prayer is the expression of the heart, it is vital to understand that it means far more than reciting certain 'religious' words in formulaic petition. The Most High is not interested in empty prayers any more than He desires heartless sacrifice (Isaiah 29:13, Hosea 6:6, Matthew 15:9). King David said in Psalm 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. Some of our prayers are conscious words spoken to the Most High, whereas others are unconscious expressions of inner heart attitudes. Be careful how you think!! It is sobering to realize that our thoughts are essentially prayers being offered up before the Most High. When we will the good of others we find the Most High's favor, healing and life. Yeshua spoke of 'good and evil treasures of the heart' that produce actions that are expressed in our words.

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. A midrash states that if someone speaks well of another, the angels above will then speak well of him before the Holy One.

Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). The Holy One, the Most High of Israel I bade you to pray in the assembly of your city, but it you cannot pray there, pray in your field, but if you can not pray there, pray on your bed, but if you cannot pray there, 'be still and know that I AM the Most High'. Therefore pray often and sometimes use words.

Henri Nouwen wrote, I am beginning to see that much praying is grieving, since the confession of the truth when we come to ourselves (Luke 15:17) is often painful. When we pray to the Most High, however it is obvious that we are not imparting to Him any information since the Master of the Universe knows all things. As King David wrote, in Psalm 139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Yeshua taught us to abstain from using 'vain repetitions' in our prayers, since our Heavenly Father knows what we need even before we ask Him (Matthew 6:7-8). Some people think that the Most High is impressed with a large crowd of people who are praying for the same thing, as if this were not another form of 'vain repetition'. The same can be said of being part of a large prayer list. No, there is no need for the crowd to offer prayer, since the Most High regards the individual heart of faith as sufficient to move a mountain and cast it into the sea (Matthew 21:12). One heartfelt prayer that makes real contact with the Most High is better than thousands of people praying for someone or some situation of which they know next to nothing on a prayer chain.

True prayer, then is a means of reverent listening, or quieting ourselves, so that we might hear what the Sprit of the Most High is saying. When you pray, with all of your heart, your apprehend the Most High's glory and express your desire to Him. You are then enabled to intercede for others by means of the Holy Spirit with 'groanings too deep for words' (Romans 8:26).

Finally, we must remember that a prayer is essentially a response to the Most High's calls for us. In that sense, prayer is a kind of teshuvah a word better understood as turning to the Most High in response to His call. The Most High's love for us is in question, and our turning of the heart toward Him is the answer. We are able to turn to the Most High because the Most High first turned to us!

The heart of a child, the Most High prefers sincerity of heart, passion borne of mercy, the 'weightier matters' of Torah, more than religious rites or sacrifice. The Most High of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, hear my voice. My heart is filled with love for you, but I am not a learned man, and I am at a lost for words before You. The only thing that I know is the letters of the Hebrew alef-bet, so please Master of the Universe, accept these letters from me and combine them to be words of blessing and praise to your Name!! Alef, bet, gimmel, dalet….

Just as the Most High, at the beginning of creation, made the world, out of nothing, so His creative power continues unchanged. The Most High takes what is infinitely nothing, what is worthless, despised and dead, and creates it new, for the sake of His glory. He is able to take a dead heart, a heart of stone, and make it tender and soft through the breath of His Spirit. Therefore His eyes look upon the lowly, the humble and the poor in spirit, but He disregards those who lift themselves up in pride.


Shema Selah we must consider that even our thoughts are prayers before the Most High!!

The Season of Elul!!!! The Importance of Truth

Song of Solomon 6

We are walking in today: The Season of Elul!!!! The Importance of Truth

Witness truth throughout the Bible: H571 emeth--firmness, faithfulness, truth, true doctrine

Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, H571

The Torah .........……
 Deuteronomy 13:14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, H571 and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;

The prophets...............…
 Isaiah 43:9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. H571

The writings..........
 Psalms 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, H571 and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.


The Importance of Truth
Many people love falsehood and only a few love truth. For it is possible to love falsehood truly, but it is impossible to love truth falsely. May The Most High of truth help us to love truth truly, then, with all our hearts, since love and truth characterize The Most High’s rule: As it is written, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and truth go before you” (Psalm 89:14).

Truth springs up everywhere; righteousness shines down over all the earth. This primarily concerns the sacrificial work of the Messiah, of which it is rightly said: “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10). Because of the great reconciliation we have through Yeshua, the truth of The Most High shall prevail among men. The “Seed” that was planted in Zion and becomes a Tree of life throughout all the earth. “Deliverance goes before the LORD, and prepares a pathway for Him” (Psalm 85:13).

We have a moral imperative, given by The Most High Himself, to receive the truth and to live according to the nature of spiritual reality. Those who reject or suppress the truth, however, are responsible for their actions, as it is written, “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes” (Psalm 101:7).

Note that the word tamim, translated “blamelessly,” might better be rendered “perfectly,” that is, complete in all its parts; where no part is missing. The person who walks perfectly, then, means one who is wholehearted in their faith and trust. Note that this person does what is right, that is, practices tzedakah and performs good deeds; he uses the “good eye” to bless others. Speaking truth “within the heart” is critical since it implies that the person is sincere, honest, without ulterior motives, and so on. He is a “true” person with a heart that can be trusted. The phrase also implies the person is free from self-deception or the need to pretend to be something he isn’t.

The Hebrew word for truth is composed of the first, middle and last letters of the alphabet, whereas the three letters that spell “falsehood” stand next to one another. Truth creates a firm foundation, secure, strong, and trustworthy, while falsehood is unstable. As it is written, “truth stands forever, falsehood has no legs.”

It requires moral courage to speak the truth to others. A hypocrite is one who wears a mask, who pretends to think or feel one thing when he really thinks or feels something else. The law, “you must not set a stumbling block before the blind” (Lev 19:14) includes the implication that you must not hide part of your intention while giving someone advice or when offering someone a benefit. It is important to understand that a sin of omission regarding speaking the truth is as serious as practicing deceit itself.

There are many ways to offend against the truth. One way is to deny it: the way of the liar. Another way is to keep silent when the truth should be spoken: the way of the coward. At the other end is the cruel use of the truth, pointing out failure when silence is the way of honor, or by distorting “little truths” for the sake of a supposed capital “T” truth, that is, lying for the sake of an ideology or dogma: the way of the politician”.

May The Most High help us never to “trifle” with Him, to play “religious games,” and thereby fool ourselves. The Most High chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and faith in the truth. (2 Thess. 2:13) It is the truth that sets us free, and for the truth Yeshua gave himself up for us: “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). May it please The Most High to fill us with the spirit of Truth and to help us be honest with ourselves at all times. Amen.
Shema Selah we must consider are we thinking, living and walking in truth?!?

The Season of Elul!!!! Why Do We Read Psalms 27?

Psalms 27


THE KING IN THE FIELD: The Season of Elul!!!! Why Do We Read Psalms 27?


Psalm 27 in its entirety focus verse 1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

The Psalm To Read Before Rosh Hashanah
Elul is the month of preparation and shofar blowing. The name of the month has been understood to be an acronym for the Hebrew verse “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine.” During Elul we read Psalm 27, “To David – the Lord is my light,” twice daily. This practice is relatively new, evidently some 200 years old. But it is a wise practice, even essential.

The first half of the psalm bespeaks assurance. The psalmist, while describing the enemy from a distance (from whom will I be afraid), approaching (as evil men come near), preparing (should an army besiege me), and attacking (should war come against me), nevertheless is calm, above all danger, sacrificing and thanking the Lord. The opening structure reflects both the growing threat and its total disappearance. The first three verses increase numerically: two parallel phrases of five words each, then six, then seven (that number hinting at completion). There follows the central word of the psalm, One. Facing all these threats, the psalmist feels the peace of unity, and throughout this first half the reader senses no doubt, no real threat.

How strange it is that the second half of the psalm depicts a world so totally opposite. (Many scholars even conclude that these are separate psalms!) Here we find a desperate search, a constant request, a pleading before the Holy One (“do not hide Your face … do not thrust [me] aside … do not forsake me, do not abandon me”). The author is abandoned by parents and surrounded by enemies. At the apex of this section, the psalmist cries out in agony, with a sentence he cannot finish, for it depicts the worst of all: Had I not the assurance that I would enjoy the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living …. His faith is his sole remaining thread connecting him to the land of the living. If he did not have this faith, then.

But the two psalms are indeed one. Hebrew roots carefully repeated in the two halves testify to unity, as does the clear inclusion: the name of God opens and closes the first half (The Lord is my light … a hymn to the Lord) and the second (Hear O Lord … look to the Lord).

The psalm demands oneness, reflecting an integration of most difficult circumstances together with security. The psalmist is model, puzzle, and challenge to us, for he did not hide from life’s troubles on one hand, and yet lives within a framework of faith on the other. Reciting this psalm demands that twice a day we struggle with ourselves and our faith, in expectation that we will arrive at the Days of Awe ready for repentance, ready to celebrate on the holiday with a full heart before the Lord.

In Elul, we renew our faith through search, as is also reflected in the modern midrash on this psalm, “One have I demanded of the Lord, that I shall seek: I seek only that forever I will demand the one, demand the oneness, demand the unity, from the Lord.”

Be Strong, Be Trusting: Reading Psalm 27 in Elul
There is a ritual this time of year that takes a bit more than 50 days. We have been reading a particular psalm that is not otherwise part of the siddur—Psalm 27—every morning and every night through the month of Elul, and we will continue this until Simhat Torah. Through our daily reading of Psalm 27—so like the daily counting of the Omer—we make this autumnal period, with its linear narrative of atonement, redemption, and the renewal of Torah, into a second version of the vernal Pesah-Shavuot narrative and give each year not one, but two special, sacred Sevenths.
There is no right or wrong way, only more or less interesting ways of understanding Psalm 27 or any other deep text. For example, in the eyes of the Anchor Bible, a work of serious scholarship from another tradition, this psalm’s roots lie in earlier texts in other Semitic languages, and they show that it is entirely about the Afterlife, but that’s not what I see. In sharing my interpretations here I intend only to share my way of experiencing these Holy Days. How then do I read Psalm 27? Let’s take a look.
It is—first but not foremost—beautiful poetry. Having even a little Hebrew helps a lot, because the poetry that lies in the sounds, their resonance and dissonances, gets lost in translation. I’ll transliterate the Hebrew where necessary; otherwise I’ll refer to this translation from the Jewish Publication Society’s 1999 Tanakh.
David was a King of many voices and moods. I read this entire psalm as a stream of thought in David’s head, not as a spoken or written text, until the last line, 14, where I see and hear a vocal outburst that summarizes the whole psalm. To my eye the psalm breaks into five silent stanzas before then, each with its own emotional tone: lines 1-3, 4-6, 7-10, 11-12, and 13. The stanzas get shorter as the poet’s introspective mood gets at once more agitated and elevated, so that when the last line comes, an astonishing optimism breaks through the dark cloud of David’s self-doubt.
In the silent, inner cycle that oscillates between the intensity of personal prayer and the relief of communal worship, Psalm 27 falls completely on the side of the personal; it is profoundly moving, even disturbing, in its ability to convey an inner voice in intimate communication with Adonai. Certainly it is the right time for us to be given this chance to hear David as he struggles. It is a daily reminder of this obligation we are all under, this time of year, to get past our cleverness and confess our hidden thoughts and secret actions to Adonai. As Moshe says in Parashat Ki Tavo [Devarim 29:28], “Ha’nistarot La’Adonai Eloheikhem / Concealed acts concern the Lord our God.” Like confession at any other time of year, fully feeling the meaning of this psalm, while theoretically possible at another time, might just be too painful outside of this special seventh of the year.
1-3
Here David is someone trying to convince himself of something he wishes he could believe. The very first words, the beginning of line 1, set a high standard for density and depth, even for a psalm of David: “Adonai ori veyish’i, mimi eera? / Adonai is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear?” Ori/eera; light/fear: it is a great example of the distinctions we are supposed to seek, and the words look and sound enough alike to make each illuminate the other. But then, in line 2, the fear breaks through: “When evil men assail me to devour my flesh / ’l’ekhol et-b’sarai’ ” … they will stumble and fall.” Devour my flesh? Maybe a hyperbole, maybe not; in any event, line 3 concludes that even so, “B’zot ani boteah / In this I would still trust,” that is, that David would trust in Adonai’s salvation, no matter what.
4-6
Here David daydreams: He will live in the house of the Lord, Adonai will shelter him, raise him high. All will be well, better than well: “V’ata yarum roshi al oi’vai s’vivotai/now my head is held high over my enemies surrounding me.” How then will David rejoice? With “sacrifice in Adonai’s tent with shouts of joy / V’ezbakha b’ahalo ziv’khai t’ruah,” and with singing and chanting a hymn to Adonai. Three possessive words now snap into sharp focus: “B’sarai; S’vivotai; Ziv’khai / my flesh; surrounding me; my sacrifice.” S’vivotai is the critical link: In Vayikra 1:11, intended to be read every morning at prayer even today, we repeat that the Kohanim were to take the blood of the animal sacrificed at the Temple in Jerusalem and dash it “upon the Altar, all around / Damo al ha’mizbeah saviv.” The daydream teeters on the edge of a nightmare: Is David dreaming of being the sacrificer, or the sacrifice?
7-10
Another jump in the narrative. Away with the daydream, back to the reality: David calls to Adonai and cries that he is not sure his call is heard. And who of us does not know that feeling? Here the words in English and in Hebrew convey panic and fright with blunt force: “Do not forsake me, do not abandon me, do not hide your face from me;” nothing subtle here, nor particularly poetical. The worst fear breaks through in line 10: “Ki avi v’imi azvuni, va’Adonai ya’asfeni / though my father and mother abandon me, Adonai will take me in.” Given the previous two lines, do we really think David is certain of this? I am told by good friends that the root of ya’asfeni is to receive in order to guide or teach, and that the line should be read as saying that even if I am so rotten that my parents give up on me, Adonai will find a way for me to become a good person. I wish I could feel the force of that interpretation, but that is not the effect this line has on me. As I am an orphan, the simpler meaning overwhelms me.
11-12
David pulls himself together and tries to focus on difficulties at hand. False accusers surround him, and his head is not at all held high above them; he needs a way out and asks Adonai to show him that path, past his watchful foes. These two lines are reasonable, practical, and altogether different from anything that has come before. It is as if David has snapped to attention, seen that time is short, and gotten to the point. But, there is no answer!
13
The strain of Adonai’s silence is too much; back to the daydream: “had I not the assurance that I would enjoy the goodness of Adonai in the land of the living … / Lulei he’emanutai lir-ot b’tuv-Adonai b’eretz Kha’yim… .” In the Hebrew, Lulei is surrounded by the sort of dots that mark of a word troublesome to the keepers of this text a thousand years ago, and rightly so; this is a wholly ambiguous line. The Anchor Bible translates Lulei as “The Victor,” based on linguistic overlaps with other cultures, but to me this line is simply David in a voice of great anxiety. What, for instance, are we to make of “b’eretz Kha’yim / the land of the living?” Is that this world, the world to come, or—as the Artscroll commentary concludes—the land of Israel? David is as broken as this line is broken; he is not sure that he is going to survive this moment.
14
The mood shifts again, dramatically: David will not give up and die. He remembers the b’rit between Adonai and his—and our—ancestors and knows he will prevail. Here comes the most powerful line in the psalm and perhaps the most dense line I have ever come across, anywhere. “Kavey el-Adonai, Khazak v’ya’ameitz libeha, v’kavey el-Adonai. / hope in Adonai, make yourself strong and give your heart courage, and hope in Adonai.” This line is all by itself a cycle, the tightest of the cycles I have come across in our ritual, the cycle that is the b’rit. From the very beginning of the Book of Joshua, Adonai tells Joshua “Khazak v’ ematz / be strong and resolute” many times, and of course Joshua is, and so we are alive today as Jews. But do we really think that this strength is what won the day for Joshua, or for us?
Psalm 27 teaches us, instead, what the entire narrative of these days—from Selihot through Simhat Torah—teaches us: that as Jews we are to hope in Adonai; and then we are to do everything we can to strengthen ourselves as if we were wholly left to our own fates; and then we are to continue to hope in Adonai despite having acted as if we were wholly on our own. That’s all we can do for our side of the b’rit; Adonai will respond to us in ways neither David, nor I, nor you, can know, nor need to know.

The general premise is that we recite it as long as we are being judged for the new year. Thus, some have the custom to say it until Yom Kippur (the day when Moses secured complete forgiveness). However, others continue until Shemini Atzeret (or Simchat Torah). The Chabad custom is to recite it until Hoshanah Rabbah, since that is when the judgment is “sealed.”

Since the customs are numerous, each individual and community should embrace their unique traditions, in the sincere hope that we all be inscribed and sealed for a sweet new year!

Shema Selah let us seek and consider our thoughts and ways during the month of Elul leading up to Yom Kippur!! 

The Season of Elul!!!!

Song of Solomon 2


We are walking in today: The Season of Elul!!!!

Witness recompense throughout the Bible: H7725 shuwb-- to be returned, be restored, be brought back

Numbers 5:7 Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense H7725 his trespass with the principal thereof,
and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.

The Torah ............…
Numbers 5:8 But if the man have no kinsman to recompense H7725 the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed H7725 unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.

The prophets ..................
2 Samuel 22:21 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed H7725 me.

The writings ............
Psalms 18:24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed H7725 me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

Jeremiah 18:20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away H7725 thy wrath from them.

Selichot Services
The Hebrew word selichah colloquially means forgiveness through in the Hebrew scriptures it refers exclusively to the Most High's offer of pardon and forgiveness of the repentant sinner. For instance, in Psalm 130:4 we read, ' But with you is forgiveness (selichah), that you may be feared.

The plural form of the word selichah is selichot, a word traditionally used to refer to additional prayers for forgiveness recited before dawn, before the daily shacharit (morning) service. The list of the Thirteen Attributes of the Most High's Mercy (Shelosh Esrei Middot shel Rachamin). In general Selichot services are intended to inspire us to consider the direction of our lives and to under go teshuvah.

In the Sephardic tradition, Selichot services begin at the start of Elul and run until Yom Kippur (similar to the 40 days that Moses spent on Mt. Sinai). Some of the prayer and music for Selichot service are taken from the services of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kipput, providing a transition between the old year and the New Year.

Appealing to the Most High's Compassion
After Israel had commit the grievous sin with the golden calf, Moses despaired of Israel ever being able to find favor in the Most High's eye again. In the tabernacle the Selichot service is built upon a recitation of these thirteen merciful attributes that the Most High revealed in Exodus 34:6-7

The Most High, the Most High, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children's unto the third and forth generation.

According to the various traditional interpretations, these thirteen attributes of the Most High's name may be understood as follows:

1. Adonai--I the Lord am the Compassionate Source of all of the life and Ground of all being; I am the breath of life for all creation. I am the God of all possible worlds and Master of the universe. Everything that exists is an expression of my loving will and kindness. The world is built with chesed Psalm 89:3. Since the relative difference between existence and non existence is infinite, the Most High's creation represents infinite kindness, and since you exist, you likewise are an expression of the Most Highs kindness and love. You do not exist because the Most High needs you but solely because your life is willed by the Most High as an expression of His love.

2. Adonai--Though the Most High created the universe 'very good' He remained the Compassionate Source of life even after mankind sinned and therefore the Name is repeated to refer to His loving relationship with alienated, fallen creation. I the Most High, am also compassionate to one who has sinned and repented (i.e. the Creator gives us free will and the good gift of teshuvah). The Most High created mankind for the sake of teshuvah--that is , our return to Him. The Most High desires atonement with mankind even after sin and therefore continues to give existence to the world. 'He makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends out rain on the just and the unjust." Matthew 5:45 Moreover, as the Saviour and Redeemer of the world through Yeshua, the Most High reveals kindness even to the evil, and even partakes of its presence by means of His sacrificial love at the stake. Since tesuhvah can only exist after the advent of sin, Yeshua is call the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev 13:8, Eph 1:4 and 1 Peter 1:20

In this connection, it should be noted that while the Most High 'wills' evil (in the sense of allowing the actions of the wicked to occur), He does not desire it. The sages note that while the Creator supports the existence of both the wicked and the righteous, and only their actions are desired by Him. Psalm 1:6 The Most High wills the brokenness of the sinner so that the soul can return to Him by experiencing His salvation, love and blessing.

3. El- I the Most High am the Almighty and Omnipotent;

4. Rachum- I the Most High, am merciful

5. Chanun- I the Most High am gracious, I pour out my favor freely to all of creation;

6. Erekh Apayim-I the Most High am slow to anger and patient

7. Rav Chesed- I the Most High am abundant in love to both the righteous and the wicked;

8. Rav Emet- I the Most High am truthful and faithful in carrying out promises;

9. Notzer Chesed la'alafim- I the Most High retain chesed (love) for thousands of generations, taking into account the merit of our worthy ancestors

10. Nosei Avon- I the Most High forgive iniquity, defined in the tradition of wrongful deeds committed with perverse premeditation;

11. Nosei Pesha--I the Most High forgive transgression, defined as wrongful deeds committed in a rebellious spirit;

12. Nosei Chata'ah--I the Most High, forgive sin (chet) defined as those wrongful deeds that were inadvertently committed;

13. Nakkeh--I the Most High will not cancel punishment, but I will clear the guilt for those that genuinely return to Me in teshuvah.

In addition to the Shelosh Esrei Middot, the chanting of a number of Psalms and prayerful poems are recited during the services throughout the month of Elul. the tone of the Selichot service is sent in Psalm 130:


Psalm 130 King James Version (KJV)

1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.

2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

For believers in the kingdom of the Most High we affirm that forgiveness is obtained by exercising emunah/faith in the offering of Yeshua as the kapparah for our sins, and by the evidencing wholehearted teshuvah in our daily life.

Sin in Hebrew is chet and means failure in our relationship with the Most High. Our goal should be to continually move closer to the Most High but chet causes us to move away from Him. Teshuvah means return and the period of Selichot is therefore set apart as a means of returning to the Most High!

Micah and the Attributes of Mercy
In reference to the name El, the prophet Micah does not refer to the One “who made heaven and earth, sea and all that is in it” (Exodus 20:11) nor to the One “who counts the number of the stars and calls them all by name (Psalm 147:4), etc., but rather to the One who forgives and who delights to restore what is broken by means of His mercy and love. The work of redemption is greater even than the work of creation.

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love” (Micah 7:18)

Like the first redemption of Israel out of Egypt, where The Most High was exalted above all so-called gods, in the future deliverance of Israel. The Most High reveals His grace and compassion, which is the grace of the gospel of Yeshua the Messiah when the remnant of Israel shall be saved at the End of the Age.

The passage from Micah continues: “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old” (Micah 7:19-20)

What is Teshuvah?
The theme of the Hebrew High Holy days is Teshuvah, a word often translated as “repentance,” through it’s more accurately understood as turning back (shuv) to The Most High. The root of this verb occurs nearly 1,000 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and first occurs when God told Adam he would “return to the earth” (Gen 3:19). In spiritual terms, shuv may be regarded as both a turning away from evil and a turning towards the good, though Hebrew thinking regards turning to The Most High as the means by which we turn away from evil. This act of turning has the power to redirect a person’s destiny. It effects the whole life of the soul.

The Greek word sometimes translated “repentance” is metanoia, which literally means “changing your thinking”. It is often the word used to translate the Hebrew word nacham, often associated with the emotion of regret.

While it is important that we “regret our thinking” and embrace the authority of The Most High as the first principle in all our reasoning, it is equally important that we exercise our wills by turning to The Most High through acts of repentance.

The Four Steps of Teshuvah
1. Forsake the sin--Prov 28:13 Sincere repentance is demonstrated when the same temptation to sin, under the same conditions, is resolutely resisted.

2. Regret the breach in your relationship with the Most High and others,--Psalm 51

3. Confess the truth and make amends with those we have harmed--Proverbs 28:13, 1 John 1:9, James 5:16, Matthew 5:23-24

4. Accept your forgiveness and move forward with the Most High through faith Philippians 3:13-14, 1 John 1:9. Be comforted by the Presence of the Most High in your life --Isaiah 40:1

Finally, it needs to be said that authentic repentance is a lifestyle, not a one time deal. We must never get past it. Although there is some certainly spiritual progress as we walk in grace, all genuine progress comes through an ongoing teshuvah. We may repent from a certain action at a given point in time, but that does not mean that no longer need to do a teshuvah. Teshuvah is perpetual and timeless, since it corresponds to our spiritual lives rather than our temporal lives. Indeed, a true penitent is called baal teshuvah, a master of returning who is always turning away from self and toward the Most High. We never get beyond the call to repent and believe the gospel, Mark 1:15. That is why this season of teshuvah is always timely. The message of Elul and the High Holy Days is meant to be carried over throughout the rest of the year.

Confession means bringing yourself naked before the Divine Light to agree with the truth about who you are. Indeed, in the modern Hebrew teshuvah means an answer to a shelah or question. The Most High's love for us is the question, and our teshuvah or our turning of the heart toward Him--is the answer. Teshuvah is one of the great gifts that the Most High gives to each of us, the ability to turn back to Him and seek healing in our brokenness.

Shema Selah will we return to the Most High and turn away from the things of this world?? That is the question being asked of you!

THE KING IN THE FIELD: The Season of Elul!!!!

Song of Solomon 1

We are walking in today:  THE KING IN THE FIELD: The Season of Elul!!!!

Witness inquire throughout the Bible:  H1875 darash--to resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require

 
Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

The Torah ............…
 Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek H1875 him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

The prophets ..................
 Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well; seek H1875 judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow.

The writings............
 Judges 6:29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired
H1875 and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek H1875 him with the whole
heart.

Zephaniah 1:6 And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired H1875 for him.

Elul is the 6th month of the Biblical calendar which is late summer or early fall. The month of Elul is set apart for repentance also known as teshuvah in Hebrew. It is a month in which preparation begins for the High Holy Days--Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If you count from the first biblical month of Tishri to the month of Elul as you would count in Rabbinic tradition, Elul would be the last month of the year- a time to make “New Year’s Revelation” and turn away from sin before the start of The New Year. The month of Elul is therefore a time each year to prepare for the Yamim Nora’im, also known as the Days of Awe, by getting your spiritual house in order.

The Background at Sinai
Every year the “Season of Teshuvah” runs for forty days from the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul to Yom Kippur. During this time we make every effort to repent or turn which is also “shuv” towards The Most High. The 40 days are also referred to as Yemei Ratzon in Hebrew also known as the “Days of Favor.” Some have likened these 40 days to the number of weeks it takes for a human fetus to be formed in the womb. Teshuvah is likened to a death and a rebirth. A death of the past life and the birth of a new life and a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).

But you may ask the question, why forty days? Do we really need that much time to prepare ourselves to repent and make confession for our sins? 40 days came from Israel’s experience at Sinai as well as Yeshua also spent 40 days in the wilderness.

Forty Days of Teshuvah
The month Elul represents the time that Moses spent on Sinai preparing the second set of tablets after the making of the Golden Calf. Moses ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul which is the Head of the Month of Elul and then descended 40 days later on the 10th of Tishri, the end of Yom Kippur, when the repentance of the people was complete. The month of Elul therefore represents the time of national sin and forgiveness obtained by means of teshuvah before The Most High.

Listening to the Shofar
Beginning on Rosh Chodesh Elul and continuing until the day before Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to blow the shofar which is also known as a ram’s horn every day except Shabbat. The custom is to first blow tekiah, a long single blast which is the sound of the King’s coronation, followed by shevarim, three short wail-like blasts which signifies repentance, followed by teruah which is several short blasts of alarm to awaken the soul and to close with tekiah hagadol which is a long final blast.

Theme of Repentance
The following appeal from the prophet Isaiah is considered thematic for this reason:
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near (Isa. 55:6)

The passage continues “Let the wicked man forsake his way and the perverse man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (Isa. 55:7).

About the name “Elul”
In the Torah, the month of Elul is simply called the sixth month. It is well known that the name Elul is thought to be an acronym for “Ani L’dodi Li”- “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine in Hebrew. Take note that the end of each letter in this phrase is a Yod (in the Hebrew Alphabet), which has the numeric value of 10, so the phrase itself can be combined to the number 40, reminding us of the forty days of teshuvah that lead up to Yom Kippur.

There are other allusions to the word Elul found in the scriptures. In Deuteronomy 30:6 states that The Most High will circumcise “your heart and the heart of your offspring” which is said to be an example of Elul. The Most High’s favor rests upon those who genuinely turn to The Most High.

In Exodus 18:7 we read about how Yitro and Moses were reunited after the Exodus and asked about one another’s welfare. In Hebrew the phrase, “And each friend asked of the other’s welfare” can be rearranged into an acronym for the word Elul. This allusion has led to the custom of inquiring about the welfare of family and friends during this season, and the practice of sending ‘Shanah Tovah” cards wishing them a sweet and good New Year.

Psalm 27 The High Holy Days Psalm
It is an old custom to read or sing the book of Psalms during the month or Elul. In the famous song of Moses, it is written and they spoke saying 'I will sing to the Most High' Exodus 15:1. This phrase can be formed into the acronym for Elul, and the sages therefore reasoned that hearing the Psalms were vital during the season of Teshuvah and Days of Favor
Of all the great Psalms, however, Psalm 27 is considered the central one of the season of teshuvah. The midrash of Psalms states that the word ori my light refers to Rosh Hashana based on Psalm 37:6 where as the word yishi my salvation refers to the atonement given on Yom Kippur. King David also mentions that the Most High would hide him in his sukkah in the time of trouble, referring to the holy days of Sukkot, Psalm 27:5. Therefore since it alludes to all three fall holy days Psalm 27 is regarded as the thematic Psalm for the High Holy days of the Hebrew year.
Psalm 27:1(KJV) The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Finally, Psalm 27:13 contains a textual oddity. It is often translated, 'unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living'. The word translated unless lulei which read backwards spells Elul. This is to said to suggest that salvation comes from faith that sees the goodness of the Lord. Repentance is only really possible if we believe in the goodness and love of the Most High in the land of the living.

Selichot Services
The Hebrew word selichah colloquially means forgiveness through in the Hebrew scriptures it refers exclusively to the Most High's offer of pardon and forgiveness of the repentant sinner. For instance, in Psalm 130:4 we read, ' But with you is forgiveness (selichah), that you may be feared.

The plural form of the word selichah is selichot, a word traditionally used to refer to additional prayers for forgiveness recited before dawn, before the daily shacharit (morning) service. The list of the Thirteen Attributes of the Most High's Mercy (Shelosh Esrei Middot shel Rachamin) are the primary focus of the prayers, based on the Talmud's statement that, whenever the nation of Israel sins, let them pray this prayer the thirteen attributes of mercy and I shall forgive them. In general Selichot services are intended to inspire us to consider the direction of our lives and to under go teshuvah.

In the Sephardic tradition, Selichot services begin at the start of Elul and run until Yom Kippur (similar to the 40 days that Moses spent on Mt. Sinai), through in the Ashkenazic tradition they are recited late (i.e. midnight) on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashana. Some of the prayer and music for Selichot service are taken from the services of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kipput, providing a transition between the old year and the New Year. A Chassidic tradition holds that the twelve day of the year--Elul 18th through 29th correspond to the twelve months of the closing year, on each of these twelve days the people should review their deeds and achievement of the corresponding month.

Appealing to the Most High's Compassion
After Israel had committed the grievous sin with the golden calf, Moses despaired of Israel ever being able to find favor in the Most High's eye again. The Most High however as explained in the Talmud donned a tallit and in the role of a chazzan showed Moses the thirteen attributes of Mercy. In the tabernacle the Selichot service is built upon a recitation of these thirteen merciful attributes that the Most High revealed in Exodus 34:6-7

The Most High, the Most High, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children's unto the third and forth generation.

According to the various traditional interpretations, these thirteen attributes of the Most High's name may be understood as follows:

1. Adonai--I the Most High am the Compassionate Source of all of the life and Ground of all being; I am the breath of life for all creation. I am the Most High of all possible worlds and Master of the universe. Everything that exists is an expression of my loving will and kindness. The world is built with chesed Psalm 89:3. Since the relative difference between existence and non existence is infinite, the Most High's creation represents infinite kindness, and since you exist, you likewise are an expression of the Most High's kindness and love. You do not exist because the Most High needs you but solely because your life is willed by the Most High as an expression of His love.

2. Adonai--Though the Most High created the universe 'very good,' He remained the Compassionate Source of life even after mankind sinned and therefore the Name is repeated to refer to His loving relationship with alienated, fallen creation. I, the Most High, am also compassionate to one who has sinned and repented (i.e. the Creator gives us free will and the good gift of teshuvah). The Most High created mankind for the sake of teshuvah--that is , our return to Him. The Most High desires atonement with mankind even after sin and therefore continues to give existence to the world. 'He makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends out rain on the just and the unjust." Matthew 5:45 Moreover, as the Savior and Redeemer of the world through Yeshua, the Most High reveals kindness even to the evil, and even partakes of its presence by means of His sacrificial love at the stake. Since tesuhvah can only exist after the advent of sin, Yeshua is call the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelations 13:8, Ephesians 1:4 and 1 Peter 1:20

3. El- I the Most High am the Almighty and Omnipotent;

4. Rachum- I the Most High, am merciful

5. Chanun- I the Most High am gracious, I pour out my favor freely to all of creation;

6. Erekh Apayim-I the Most High am slow to anger and patient

7. Rav Chesed- I the Most High am abundant in love to both the righteous and the wicked;

8. Rav Emet- I the Most High am truthful and faithful in carrying out promises;

9. Notzer Chesed la'alafim- I the Most High retain chesed (love) for thousands of generations, taking into account the merit of our worthy ancestors

10. Nosei Avon- I the Most High forgive iniquity, defined in the tradition of wrongful deeds committed with perverse premeditation;

11. Nosei Pesha--I the Most High forgive transgression, defined as wrongful deeds committed in a rebellious spirit;

12. Nosei Chata'ah--I the Most High, forgive sin (chet) defined as those wrongful deeds that were inadvertently committed;

13. Nakkeh--I the Most High will not cancel punishment, but I will clear the guilt for those that genuinely return to Me in teshuvah.

In addition to the Shelosh Esrei Middot, the chanting of a number of Psalms and prayerful poems are recited during the services throughout the month of Elul. The tone of the Selichot service is set in Psalm 130:

1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
For believers in the kingdom of the Most High we affirm that forgiveness is obtained by exercising emunah/faith in the offering of Yeshua as the kapparah for our sins, and by the evidencing wholehearted teshuvah in our daily life.

Sin in Hebrew is chet and means failure in our relationship with the Most High. Our goal should be to continually move closer to the Most High but chet causes us to move away from Him. Teshuvah means return and the period of Selichot is therefore set apart as a means of returning to the Most High!  Shema Selah we must turn from our ways to become face to face with the King, He is in the field during this time, the month of Elul!

The ​Hebrew​ Heart​: The Secret of Elul

Song of Solomon 6
​

We are walking in today:  The ​Hebrew​ Heart​:  The Secret of Elul
​
Witness beloved throughout the Bible:   H157 'ahab--to love, human love, for or to God, act of being a friend, God's love toward man 

Song of Solomon 6:3
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.

The Torah ..................…
 Deuteronomy 33:12 And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.

The prophets ...............…
 Isaiah 5:1 Now will I sing to my well -beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well
-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

The writings .............
 Song of Solomon 2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

Song of Solomon 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Love. It is the most powerful of human emotions. We all crave it. We cannot live without it. And yet it is so overwhelming, so all-encompassing, that there is no way to measure it, prove it, define it, or even describe it.

When we speak of the intellect, it is represented by the mind. And when we speak of the emotions, specifically of love, they are represented by the heart. But why?

When our back is turned, we have no idea of the state of the other​. ​

The symbol of the heart is probably one of the most well-known symbols. Spanning continents, cultures, religions, languages, that little red heart means love. It is used to sign letters, to represent the word “love” itself, and has inundated the buyers’ market by being plastered on cards, T-shirts, necklaces, balloons and just about everything else.

How is the image of the heart, as we most commonly know it, the symbol for this passionate experience of love?

The month that we are now in, Elul, is the key to unlocking the inner and most potent meaning of the heart. As is well known, the Hebrew letters that make the word “Elul,” aleph, lamed, vav and lamed, are an acronym for the phrase (from the biblical Song of Songs) ani l’dodi v’dodi li, which means “I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me.”

This beautiful and romantic phrase is that which represents our relationship with our Creator, which is often paralleled to that of a husband and wife, a bride and groom, in our individual lives.


​At the beginning of Elul we are achor el achor, meaning “back to back,” and by the end of Elul we are panim el panim, “face to face.” But how can it be that we are back to back? Wouldn’t that imply that the Most High has His back turned to us as well? How can we say such a thing, when this is the month in which—“the King is in the field”? Is it not the month when ​the Most High is more accessible than ever, when He is waiting for us to greet Him, when He is there for us in the “field” of our everyday lives?

The fact that we are described as “back to back” and then “face to face” is an incredible lesson. Often, when we feel angry, hurt, abandoned, whatever the root of our pain may be, we turn our back. When our back is turned, we have no idea of the state of the other. And it is often easier to believe that we are not the only one with a turned back. It is easier to think the other also turned around, that the other isn’t facing us at all, because if that is the case, then even if we turn around it won’t help, so why bother. Why make that first move only to turn around and see the back of the other?

But this rationalization is the cause of many unsettled arguments, hurt feelings, and broken relationships. How classic is the scene, played out endlessly in movies, of the couple who walk away from one another. At some point the man turns around, wanting to call her name, ask for another chance, beg for forgiveness. He is about to speak, but realizes that her back is turned. She is walking away. He tells himself that it is too late, she just doesn’t care. So he turns back around. Seconds later, she turns to look at him. She doesn’t want this to end. She wants to say something, but can’t garner the courage, doesn’t have the strength. And why, why should she, when his back is turned? The month of Elul teaches us the necessity of being willing to turn around. She looks at him longingly, but it just doesn’t matter—she assumes he couldn’t care less as he continues to walk away from her. And we, the viewers, sit on the edge of our seats, hoping that maybe they will both turn around at the same second, that they will finally realize that the other does care, that even though they appear to be back to back, they really want to be face to face. Sometimes that fairytale ending does happen; other times they simply continue to walk in opposite directions, right out of each other’s lives.

It is the month of Elul that teaches us the necessity of being willing to turn around. The King is in the field, our Creator is there, and no matter how we may feel, He has never had His back turned. All we need to do is turn ourselves around to realize that He is there and waiting for us. The “back to back” that we experience in the beginning of the month is based on our misperceptions, our fears, our assumptions. Only when we turn around do we realize the truth, the inner essence, and then we are “face to face,” which does not only mean that we can finally look at each other, but more so, that we can look in each other—for the root of the word for face, panim, is the same as pnimiyut, which means “innerness.”


So now the question is how this lesson is taught to us, not only in the month of Elul, but through the name “Elul” itself. A Hebrew name is not a mere way of referring to something, but actually represents its soul.  ​To uncover the essential meaning of a Hebrew word, we need to analyze the letters that comprise it, their numerical value, their form and their meaning.

As we said above, the word “Elul” is comprised of an aleph, followed by a lamed, followed by a vav, followed by the final letter, another lamed. The first letter in “Elul” is also the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The letter aleph is numerically equivalent to one, which represents the idea of
​the Most High's total unity.

So now we must answer how all of this is related to the heart. Here is where our lameds are once again defined. At this point it is important to think again about the symbol of the heart and to question its origin. And so it should come as no surprise that the meaning of this symbol will once again be found in the word for “heart” itself.

In Hebrew, the word for heart is lev, which is spelled lamed-beit. ​T​he word lev, lamed–beit, needs to be understood as two lameds. This is because the letter beit is the second letter in the alphabet, and is numerically equivalent to two. So he explains that the word needs to be read and understood as “two lameds.”

But it is not enough to have two lameds.  I​n order for their to be a relationship, the two lameds need to be connected. They need to be face to face. When we turn around the second lamed to face the first, we form the image of the Hebrew Heart. While the heart, as we are used to seeing it, is quite clear in this form, an entirely new part of the heart is also revealed.

The heart and the love it represents can thrive, can flourish, only when there is a totality in connection.This is because the letter lamed is the tallest of all the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The reason is because the lamed represents the concept of breaking out of boundaries, of going beyond your potential, of entering the superconscious from the conscious.

The lamed also means two things simultaneously. It means both “to learn” and “to teach,” which shows us that the two are intertwined and both are essential. In a relationship, I must be willing to learn from the other, thereby making myself a receiver. Yet the other person also must be able to learn from me, which then makes me the teacher, the giver.

Furthermore, the image of the lamed can be broken down into three other letters. The top part of the letter is that of a yud, the smallest of the Hebrew letters, and the letter that represents the head. The head contains the mind, the intellect, and also the face.

The next letter in “Elul” is a vav. In Hebrew, the vav serves as a conjuctive “and.” As a word, vav means “hook,” and in its form it looks like a hook. So in this case the vav is the hook which is connecting the yud, the mind, with the bottom letter, the chaf, which represents the body. Physically speaking, it symbolizes the neck, which transports the flow of blood from the brain to the heart.

This teaches us that the heart, that the love that it represents, can thrive, can flourish, only when there is a totality in connection. The ​Hebrew heart, true love, represents a mind-to-mind, face-to-face, eye-to-eye, body-to-body, soul-to-soul connection. The vav, the connection between the head and the heart, must always stay healthy, with a clear flow. If anything cuts it off, the relationship cannot continue. As we all know, one of the quickest ways to kill a person is a slit right across the neck. The neck is our lifeline. It ensures that our head, our intellect, rules above our emotions, and that there is a healthy interchange between the mind and the heart.

The heart that we are all familiar with, the symbol that represents love throughout the world, lacks the yud and the vav; it is missing the mind and the neck. The popular symbol represents only the physical connection between bodies.

So this is why and how Elul is the month that begins back to back and ends face to face. At the beginning of the month we are unaware of the reality that “I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me.” However, by working on ourselves during this month, by being willing to turn around and make changes, we come to realize that our Creator has never had His back turned. He has always been facing us, and just waiting for us to turn around. And once we do, we are then like two lameds that are face to face, which form the ​Hebrew heart and which are the essence of the month of Elul.

Elul then must be understood as an aleph, representing ​the Most High, followed by a lamed, vav, lamed—a lamed that is connected (vav) to the other lamed. And the Hebrew heart, this idea of love as a totality of connection, is not merely the work for the month of Elul, but is the entire purpose of our creation. This ​Hebrew​ heart is a symbol for why we were created and what we are meant to accomplish. For the Torah is the blueprint of creation, and the guidebook of how we connect to the divine. And it is not a book that has a beginning, middle and end, but rather a scroll, since we are taught that the “end is wedged in the beginning, and the beginning in the end.”

So what do we find when the Torah scroll’s end rolls into the beginning? How does the Torah end and begin? The last word of the Torah is Yisrael, Israel, which ends with the letter lamed; and the first word is bereishit, meaning “in the beginning,” which begins with a beit. When we join the first and last letters of the Torah, we have lev, the Hebrew word for heart.

May we be blessed with the ability to tap into the powers of the month of Elul, to recognize and reveal our ability to both learn and teach, and through that, to come face to face with ourselves, with our loved ones and with our Creator, as we are taught through the
​Hebrew heart.

Shema Selah we must look inside ourselves to see what needs to be corrected, cleaned and reordered while in the field with the King! 

KINGDOM PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL INCREASE: The Power and Purpose To Get Wealth!!!!

Deuteronomy 8

We are walking in today:  KINGDOM PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL INCREASE: The Power and Purpose To Get Wealth!!!!


Witness power throughout the Bible:   H3581 koach-- strength, power, might, ability

Exodus 9:16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; H3581 and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth

The Torah ..................…
 Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power H3581 to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

The prophets ...............…
 Nehemiah 1:10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, H3581 and by thy strong hand.

The writings.............
 Psalm 111:6 He hath shewed his people the power H3581 of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.

Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power H3581 and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

Power and Purpose To Get Wealth
“But you shall (earnestly) remember the Lord your God; for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.” (Deuteronomy 8:18)

We’ve already seen from The Most High’s Word that He takes pleasure in seeing us prosper in life. But as we’ve just discovered, prosperity is up to us. In other words, The Most High isn’t the One who gives wealth! The Most High didn’t say in that verse, “It is I who gives you wealth.” He said, “I give you power to get wealth.”

The Most High is in the Power- Giving Business
A lot of people mistakenly seek The Most High for wealth. They beg Him, “Lord, give me money! Give me money!” never realizing that The Most High isn’t in the money-giving business. He has no bank and he’s not waiting to throw a moneybag down from the sky. No, The Most High is in the power-giving business.

The Hebrew word for power in Deuteronomy can be translated as forces, abilities and fruits. In other words, The Most High has given us laws and principles that have the force or ability behind them to produce the fruit of wealth. It’s up to us to simply find out what those principles are and then to walk in them.

Notice that one of The Most High’s instructions to us is that we earnestly remember Him as the One giving us the power to get wealth. Why does he tell us that? I think it’s that when people experience a little success and things are going well in their lives, they tend to forget The Most High. Many actually begin to think their financial increase came as a result of their job, their business, or their own skills instead of by the grace and ability of The Most High.

The Purpose Behind the Power To Get Wealth
You can never teach on The Most High’s principles of financial increase without teaching on His purpose for financial increase. If we forget The Most High’s purpose for giving us power to get wealth, we’ll have a real problem applying His principles of prosperity to our lives. That same verse in Deuteronomy tells us the nature of His divine purpose: “It is He who gives you power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers.” (Deuteronomy 8:18)

This verse tells us two things: Number one, if we get wealth but don’t establish His covenant, we are out of His will. And number two, if we don’t seek to learn His principles of getting wealth for the purpose of establishing His covenant if we are just content to stay broke, we are out of His will again. The Most High gives us the ability to produce wealth for one main purpose: to reach out all over the world with the Gospel.

Now we don’t want to make the same mistake the Israelites did, neglecting what The Most High has commanded us to do. And what has He commanded us? Yeshua commissioned us to preach the Gospel throughout the world (Mark 16:15). You see, He didn’t die for just one nation or for a chosen few; He died so people of every nation could have an opportunity to become kingdom citizens.

The Precious Fruit of the Earth
The time is short. There is a work that needs to be done quickly before Yeshua returns, and we’re not waiting on Him to do something; He’s waiting on us. James 5:7 says The Most High waits for the precious fruit of the earth, which comes as every person on this planet has the chance to hear about Him and accept Him as Savior.

Now is also the time for The Most High’s transfer of wealth to come to pass according to Proverbs 13:22: “The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.” And I believe such a transfer has already begun.

So don’t tell me The Most High can’t get you the necessary funds. Just line up your purpose with The Most High’s purpose, and believe Him for what you need. His covenant guarantees that He’ll find a way to get wealth to you. And because you have His heart and motives on the inside of you, you can go to Abba and ask Him for anything you need.

As you begin to prosper financially, never forget your mandate to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. If The Most High can get money through you to fund the end-time harvest, He will get it to you. So be a river, not a dam. Stretch beyond your own personal needs, and make it your highest priority to establish and share The Most High’s covenant with people of this earth.

The Most High Will Keep His Part of The Covenant
There is another meaning to the promise that the Most High will give us the power to get wealth. He is also saying to us I will give you the principles and abilities you need to produce wealth because that's my side of the bargain. If you choose not to apply those principles or use those abilities, you won't prosper. Nevertheless, I will fulfill my part of the deal by making them available through my covenant.

This is the covenant that the Most High made with Abraham, which included that He would make him the father of many nations Genesis 17:4. We know that promise came to pass with the birth of Abraham's promised son Isaac.

Number 2 the Most High said, I will greatly bless you, Genesis 12:2. Then in Genesis 13:2 says that Abraham was not just rich but very rich.

Number 3 He told Abraham not only will I bless you, Abraham, I will make you a blessing to others Genesis 12:2. And the Most High did make Abraham a blessing to others even his own nephew Lot.

The Most High cut covenant with Abraham, not with Lot, yet the Most High made Abraham so rich and such a blessing that Lot also prospered because of it. In fact, the two of them couldn't even live in the same area together because they had so many possessions, livestock and servants Genesis 13:5-12.

The Most High fulfilled His part of the covenant once Abraham did what he was supposed to do--obey the instructions found in His principles. And the Most High will do the same for us when we fulfill our part of the covenant we are to obey the instructions of the Most High as heirs of the promise that the Most High gave to Abraham, who is the father of obedience. This promise is extended to us as we walk in his principles in obedience to His instructions.

Preparing Your Heart for Prosperity
Let me make it clear that the Most High doesn't mind if you own an abundance of material things; He just doesn't want those things to own you! He is looking to the day when you have matured spiritually to the point that you rely completely on Him. And not on material gain, because then He can flood finances through you to get His Gospel out to the world and that time of spiritual maturation prepares the heart to receive prosperity.

You see, preparation for prosperity begins in the heart it’s like the farmer, he doesn't throw his seed carelessly on just any kind of ground, and then expect it to grow. No, he carefully prepares the ground, making it as fertile as possible to receive the seed so he can ensure a good harvest.

Similarly, the Bible says your heart is the soil into which the word of the Most High is sown Mark 4:14-20. In order for that supernatural seed to take root and grow into abundance, you must prepare your heart, keeping it pure before the Most High.

Too many believers aren't seeing the hundred, sixty, or even the thirty-fold return on their giving that the word tells us we can expect. Why is that? Often it is due to the poor condition of their hearts.

On the other hand, you may look at some prominent minsters of our day and wonder, 'why are their ministries exploding? Why are they experiencing such a huge inflow of finances to help them fulfill call? I'd be satisfied with any return on my giving!

Then the Most High says, wait a minute how many years did those ministers prepare their hearts? How long did it take them to learn how to walk in integrity and purity before they could possess material wealth without that wealth possessing them?

It may have taken twenty, thirty or forty years before those seasoned ministers financially explode. However that doesn't mean you have to wait that long before you're prepared for prosperity, by diligently hungering after the Most High's word, you can tap into the acceleration I know is taking place in the Spirit these days.

The heart of preparation that took years in the past will take months now. What took months will take weeks, and what took weeks will take days or hours.  But determine daily to keep your heart pure before the Most High and line up your purposes with His purposes so He can do His quick work preparing your heart.

What Is Your Motive
Consider your own heart. What is your motive for increasing in the realm of finances? Is it the motive that the Most High has? Remember, that the Most High sees the motives of your heart long before He takes a look at the rest of you. The nature of those motives determine whether or not our Heavenly Abba can prosper you as He desires.

The Most High will not give us financial increase if we are not mature enough to handle it properly. Someone once told me do not believe the Most High for $10,000 unless you are prepared to do with it what the Most High would do with it.

It isn't your money, you're just a steward. Remember, everything you own belongs to the Most High anyway--in fact Yeshua paid the cost for you with His blood. So if you are not willing to do with your increase what He would do, in a sense you don't have the right to ask Him for it.

What would the Most High do with that $10,000? He would find a way to bring more souls into proper Hebraic understanding of His word!! That is what His heart's desire is. But if your heart's desire doesn't line up with His, don't hang around waiting for your finances to increase. If you want His power to produce wealth, be prepared in your heart to obey Him with that wealth.

Let me illustrate my point: let's say that you worked as a manager in a company that I owned and gave you money with a specific instructions about what to do with it what would happen if you did what you wanted with the money instead of following my instructions? You wouldn't be working for me anymore.

Too often we are only interested in increasing our lifestyle. That's not a very popular statement, but it is the truth. The bottom line is, we should always ask the Most High, 'what do you want me to do with this money?'

I encourage you to get the Most High's purpose deep on the inside. Keep your motives pure as you apply the Most High's principles of financial increase. You have been placed on this earth at this time for a reason and a purpose and you play a vital role in the work to be done the Gospel to be taught and the people reached.

The Most High is not teaching you all of His principles to just sit on the pew, He is calling you to get involved in the return of many people to the truth of His word! Whether you are a pastor, or minister or neither--you are called to teach the Gospel!! The Most High has given us all the ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor 5:19. That ministry includes teaching the kingdom of the Most High for the sake of the truth being returned in proper context and content!

As we receive more and more revelation of His word and become doers of His word--we tap into His power to produce wealth ad become prosperous in every realm of life.

Fiveamprayer, continue to seek and establish the Most High's covenant on the earth. We will witness the turn around that the Most High has planned from the beginning. Instead of struggling on Barely-Making-It Street, all of our defeated lives, we will shine forth as the salt of the earth the glorious citizens of the Most High's kingdom. Which will draw those in the world to us for answers they deeply need!

Shema Selah when we truly consider the power He has given us, are we moving in His motives and instructions??

KINGDOM PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL INCREASE--Your Prosperity Is Up To You!!

2 Corinthians 1

We are walking in today:  KINGDOM PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL INCREASE--Your Prosperity Is Up To You!!

Witness vow throughout the Bible:  H5087 nadar -- to vow, make a vow 

Genesis 28:20 And Jacob vowed H5087 a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

The Torah ..................…
 Genesis 31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst H5087 a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

The prophets ...............…
 Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. H5087 Salvation is of the LORD.

The writings.............
 Psalm 132:2 How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed H5087 unto the mighty God of Jacob;

Psalm 76:11 Vow, H5087 and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.

For all the promises of God in him [Yeshua] are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Even though your Heavenly Father is The Most High of too much, He isn’t the One who controls how blessed you are in this life, you do. The Most High has already done everything He is ever going to do to provide your abundance. He has given you His Word, and His promises are yea and amen.

Two Sides of God’s Promises
You see, the issue is no longer what The Most High can do for us. He has already provided for every need. Just as surely as Yeshua died on the crucifixion stake so our sins could be forgiven, he also died on the cross so you and I could be redeemed from the curse of poverty. Now the issue is what you and I must do to be more than conquerors.

To Him That Overcometh
Yeshua said that experiencing victory in life is our own responsibility: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21)

The Most High won’t ask you to do something you can’t do. For example, He wouldn’t tell you to become a bird, because there is no way you could do it. The Most High will only tell you to be something that you can be. So if Yeshua said you can be an overcomer, you can!

Not only can you be a conqueror in life, but you can be more than a conqueror! You can overcome every yoke that binds you and every symptom of lack that threatens your financial security. You can overcome every one of the enemy’s strategies to steal, kill, and destroy The Most High’s blessings in your life.

You see, we do not need to change in some situations. One good definition of insanity id “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” So you must think differently, act differently and speak differently if you want your problems to change.

So if you experience financial problems, don’t wait for Yeshua to do your overcoming for you. Humble yourself before The Most High and say, “Lord, what am I doing wrong? Whatever it is, I’m willing to change. Show me what to do differently.” That’s always your first step to overcoming.

The Prosperous Soul
So our first step is knowing it’s up to us to overcome poverty and lack in our lives. But what is the next step we take towards accomplishing that? We find an important key in something the Apostle John wrote to believers: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (3 John 2)

What then does John mean here? “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things…” One of the meanings of the word prosper is a progression or a journey. The Most High wants us to keep moving forward moment by moment, year by year out of our limitations. In any area of life, if we’re not in a better place today than we were six months ago, then we’re not prospering in that area.

Notice John doesn’t say we are to prosper or progress in two or three areas only. No, we are to prosper in all areas of our lives-physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially. You see, prosperity is not just an abundant supply of money, although it does include that. But many in the world possess great riches and still don’t find happiness. True prosperity is success in every area of life, including finding happiness. But then John offers the conditions: “prosper… and be in health, JUST AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS.” That’s talking about the measure of The Most High’s Word that you’re actually living, not just the number of Scriptures you know. If your soul isn’t prospering, don’t expect your pocketbook to prosper. You, see if you become financially prosperous without developing corresponding soulish prosperity, you may eventually lose your wealth because you may not understand the spiritual laws and principles that affect the financial realm.

The Most High wants to make sure you don’t change your focus as you become prosperous. Therefore, it’s His will that the prosperity in your pocketbook grows in proportion to the prosperity in your soul.

Man in Three Parts: Spirit, Soul and Body
In order to learn how the soul is to prosper in proportion to our finances it is important to understand the three parts of man: spirit, soul, and body.

Remember, I said there is a man-ward side and a Most High-ward side to every promise from the Most High. Until we fulfill the man-ward side, we won't see the Most High-ward part of the promise manifested in our lives. But if we do our part, the Most High does His.

So what is the man-ward part according to 3 John 2? How do you make your soul prosper? To answer those questions according to the Word of the Most High, you first must understand the three part nature of man. 1 Thess. 5:23 says may your Spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete and found blameless at the coming of the Yeshua, the Messiah.

This scripture indicates we are spirit beings who live in a physical body and have a soul. The body is nothing more than the outward clothing we wear during this earthly life.

You see, the Bible says that the Most High creates man in His own image, Gen. 1:26 the Most High is a spirit John 4:23-24, so if He created us in His image, then we also are spirit beings.

Renew Your Mind by the Word
For far too long, Fiveamprayer we have allowed our bodies to dominate us, telling us what to do and when to do it. So how do we both take control of our bodies and cause our souls to prosper? We do it by renewing our minds according to Romans 12:2.

To be in the perfect will of the Most High, you must learn to dominate your body through renewing your mind. Renewing your mind is essential because unless you do, you won't perceive what His will is! And how can your soul prosper when you are not walking in the light of His perfect will?

You see, revelation must cause a revolution. You have not truly received revelation from His word unless it has caused a revolution in the way you think, act and speak.

No matter how you were raised, the word of the Most High should completely determine your thought life--not experience or circumstances. You must think in line with His word in order to cause your soul to prosper.

That's why so many kingdom citizens continue to think the same way they did before they crossed over. All due to not having a renewed mind, and making the wrong decisions which adversely affect their souls' prospering.

A regular diet of the word is more important than your natural food that you eat. The Holy Spirit is your teacher and guide, He desires to direct you in every move in life. But He has a tough job when there is very little Word in your heart to bring to remembrance. His ability, your diligence to renew your mind by feeding on the Most High's word.

Until you get serious and commit yourself to renewing your mind with the word, your will be like the average believer who can quote lots of scriptures but just don't ask them to live them!

The only way you can walk in the light of the truth you know regarding financial increase and your soul's prospering is to change the way you think. And there is only one way you can do that by renewing your mind with the word of the Most High.

The Deciding Vote
With every daily decision, the three parts of our nature, spirit, body and soul conduct a voting process on the inside of us.

Now that simple formula for success is this learn to make every decision the right one. When we make right decisions to go to the right school, marry the right person, get the right job, start the right business at the right time is is easy to succeed. The problem is, often we make wrong decisions, we don't even know why.

So in order to be successful in life--to prosper just as our soul prospers, we have to know how this decision process works on the inside of us. Here's what happens, in any given situation the spirit man says I want to do this in line with the word. But the flesh says, no I want to do it my way!

Then there is the soul or mind. Whichever way the mind votes determines the outcome of the decision, because the third vote creates a majority.

If your mind decides, I want to go with how my body feels and then you make decisions based on what your flesh and mind have decided and you won't walk in the realm of the spirit.

You see, your financial success is not determined by your circumstances but by your response to circumstances. In a sense, it doesn’t matter what is going on around you, you can still succeed. It makes no difference whether or not your pocketbook or bank account is empty; you can still become prosperous.

What I mean simply is this. If you respond to decisions according to the flesh, you will remain in the natural realm, where circumstances can defeat you. But if you will renew your mind with The Most High’s Word in order to respond according to the ways of the Spirit, you will always triumph over the circumstances of life as an overcomer.

Making Right Decisions with Your Finances
When you get a revelation that your financial success totally pivots on the renewal of your mind, you’ll study the Word daily! It’s most important step you will take on the road to prosperity. It’s the man-ward side to fulfilling The Most High’s promises in your life.

So feed on the Word, renew your mind and change your thinking. Refuse to let anything keep you from the Word of The Most High, because only the Word will change your life and help you walk in The Most High’s victory for you. The Most High has given you everything you need to prosper- now your prosperity is up to you!

Shema Selah we have to renew our minds with His word that we walk out His instructions!!  

Shift In The Spirit: Great is Thy Faithfulness--He Has Promised!!

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Lamentations 3:23
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

We are walking in today: Shift In The Spirit: Great is Thy Faithfulness--He Has Promised!!

Witness promised  throughout the Bible:   H1696 dabar--to speak, declare, converse, command, promise

Exodus 12:25 - And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, H1696 that ye shall keep this service.

The Torah ..................…
 Deuteronomy  27:3 - And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised H1696 thee.

The prophets ...............…
 Jeremiah 32:42 - For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised H1696 them.

The writings .............
 Joshua 23:5 - And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised H1696 unto you.

Jeremiah 33:14 - Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised H1696 unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah
He is faithful and has promised!!  Fiveamprayer we have to wake up in expectation for what the Most High will show us in this day, especially as we approach Elul--the month when the King comes down off of the throne to come meet us in the field!!  This is a rebirth, you are expecting!!  We have action steps to take as Hebrews that show that we know Him to be faithful who has promised!!   Hold fast to His word for it fails not!!  It will accomplish all that He sent it to do!!

Exodus 12:25
And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.


Deuteronomy 1:11
(The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)

Joshua 23:10
One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

2 Samuel 7:28
And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:

Psalm 36:5
Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

Psalm 40:10
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

Psalm 89:1
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 89:2
For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

Psalm 89:5
And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

Psalm 89:8
O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

Nehemiah 9:15
And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
Shema Selah Awake, awake Israel in expectation of the Most High, for great is His faithfulness!!!  Part one  Part two
https://www.facebook.com/fiveam.prayer/videos/1760902940654481/?l=2623024724822492120
https://www.facebook.com/fiveam.prayer/videos/1760954933982615/?l=4928542650638656888

KINGDOM PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL INCREASE: Prosperity, The Most High’s Will for You!!!!

Ephesians 3

We are walking in today:  KINGDOM PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL INCREASE:  Prosperity, The Most High’s Will for You!!!!


Witness incresse throughout the Bible:  H8393 tĕbuw'ah--produce, product, revenue, product, yield, crops (of the earth usually), income, revenue, gain (of wisdom) (figuratively), product of lips (figuratively)

Genesis 47:24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, H8393 that ye shall  give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of
your households, and for food for your little ones.

The Torah ..................…
 Deuteronomy 14:22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase H8393 of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

The prophets ...............…
 Jeremiah 2:3 Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: H8393 all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

The writings .............
2 Chronicles 31:5 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase H8393 of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.

Isaiash 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase H8393 of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.



Money is a tool, a trial and a test. If you want to expose a man’s true character, give him access to large sums of money. Money reveals the heart of a man and the quality of his character. The great King Solomon said, “Money answers all things.” In essence, money explains everything. The poor want it. The rich hoard it. It will control those who do not control it, but the wise man makes it work for him. The subject of money is almost taboo, especially for the religious, yet the bible speaks more of money than prayer and fasting.

Having the correct understanding and appreciation for this very illusive component of life is critical and must be based on biblical principles.

The Most High has chosen this generation as the runners of the last leg of His great spiritual relay race. It is up to us to accomplish what The Most High has called us to do in these last days and to finish the race. However, that will only be possible if we learn to succeed financially.

This is why The Most High is raising up teachers in the body of Christ. As you teach the Word line upon line and precept upon precept, the anointing in the Word will go forth to break every yoke of financial bondage. The truth is financial miracles are beginning to explode throughout the body of Christ. You may ask, “But why isn’t that kind of financial breakthrough happening in my life?”

That is the question I want to answer for you. The Most High wants to perform financial miracles in your life as well, and He is capable of doing infinitely more than you can ask, think, or dream (Ephesians 3:20). And not only is He capable, He also desires to perform those miracles for you.

Sometimes we limit The Most High by how little we believe Him for, and if we settle for less than His best, then less is all He can do. I’m going to do all I can to convince you not to settle for less. Let’s go after The Most High’s highest and best in the realm of prosperity!

You can’t just read about The Most High’s principles of increase and expect anything to change in your financial situation. You have to do what The Most High says in His Word to do.

If you want your financial situation to change, you need to be just as diligent to learn The Most High’s principles for financial increase and apply them to your life. As you do, His spiritual laws regarding finances will ultimately govern the way you think, what you say, and how you act. And you will operate in these godly principles of prosperity as a way of life.

God’s Will for You
“Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:17)

You see, if you want to become financially successful, the first step is to firmly grasp that it is The Most High’s will for you to prosper. Once you know that truth in your heart and grab hold of it in faith, nothing can shake your confidence that prosperity is yours to claim!

It is possible to know The Most High’s will, because The Most High put His will in His Word. Therefore, we can know The Most High’s will. In fact, Paul wrote, “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:15) The entrance of The Most High’s Word brings light and reveals the knowledge of His will.

Of course, at certain times in our lives we have to seek The Most High in prayer to find out His will in a particular matter. We may have to pray, “Most High, please tell me specifically which job to take,” or “Lord, which house should I buy?”

But there are many other matters we don’t have to pray about because The Most High already revealed His will on those subjects in His Word.

As a Kingdom citizen you probably don’t get up every morning and quote Romans 10:9 ten times for salvation: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”. More than likely, the truth of that scripture is already so alive in your spirit that if I talked to you for hours trying to convince you that you’re not a Kingdom Citizen, you still wouldn’t believe me!

That’s how firmly you must grasp every one of The Most High’s blessings in your life including prosperity.

Thy Will Be Done on Earth
You can see a particular phrase in the Lord’s Prayer in a whole new light once you realize prosperity is The Most High’s will for His people. Yeshua taught His disciples the Lord’s Prayer before He went to the cross as a guideline on how to pray.

So many people pray this all the time and don’t realize what they’re saying! They pray, “Most High, we want Your will to be done. Whatever is going on up there in heaven, we want it down here on earth.” If you and I want The Most High’s will to be fulfilled on earth as it is in heaven, then we must find out what His will is in heaven.

If you aren’t prospering financially, you are out of the will of The Most High.

The knowledge that it is The Most High’s will for you to prosper must become so strong on the inside of you that the moment you begin to experience lack, you refuse to accept it because you know it isn’t from The Most High. Instead, your first reaction should be to confess in faith, “Most High takes pleasure in my prosperity. He wants me to be successful and prosperous. He has given me abundant life. So according to The Most High’s will, I believe I receive abundant provision for my every need!”

The Most High Takes Pleasure in Our Prosperity
We as parents want to see our children do well and be abundantly blessed. It grieves us when our children struggle and go through hard times. So it shouldn’t surprise us to find out that The Most High feels the same about His children. We’re certainly not better parents than He is!

The Most High is a good father, he doesn’t find any joy in seeing His children live on Barely-Make-It Street. He doesn’t derive any pleasure from watching them struggle financially all of their lives. What makes The Most High happy and gives Him joy, fulfillment, and excitement is to see his children prosper. In fact Yeshua said:
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11)

Now if you tell me that you’re broke because you haven’t taken the time to pray or study The Most High’s Word, I can accept that explanation. But don’t ever say that The Most High is the one keeping you in lack, because then you’re actually claiming to be a better parent than He is!

Yeshua came to give us life! That in itself is a blessing but He did not stop there! He was not satisfied with giving a little, but giving to His special treasure a life of overflowing abundance.

When we come to fully understand that Yeshua has overflowing abundance prepared and ready for us--how dare we life and expect anything less??!

Romans 8:37 (KJV) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Malachi 3:10 (KJV) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

There are too many believers in the Most High's word that are not living up to the provisions in His word! His children were never to live in lack. He is the King of Kings and is the Creator of the universe.

Psalm 50:10-12 (KJV) 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.

Haggai 2:8 (KJV) The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.

Do those above scriptures give you an idea of the wealth and prosperity of the Most High?? We are made in His image and likeness would He want His children to live at a level less than His best??

Genesis 15:5 (KJV) and he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

When the Most High told Abraham to look at the stars and to number them that would be the number of his seed and generations that the Most High would bless and watch over for the obedience he had to the directions of the Most High. In this counting of the stars we could suppose that Abraham counted for a while yet we now know that there is billions of stars in the night sky. He is the Most High, the God of way too much!! Ten thousand stars would have easily made His point yet Abraham is looking up at ten thousand upon ten thousand upon ten thousand stars!!

While we are coming to the understanding of the Most High being the God of too much, He is also our Father, our Source and supply of everything! So what is it that He is showing us right now?! He is abundance, plentiful, all surpassing provision yet too many of us accept far below what He has waiting for us. As we keep studying His principles we determine His will for us is to never be in lack in any area of our lives! Anyone teaching anything else is just misunderstood in the scriptures!

Here is an equation: how does the Most High of too much, who's word speaks of His plentiful abundance have children of too little? Are there believers who are living in lack and say that they serve the All-Sufficient One? How does that add up? Where do you find a scripture that says that His children are to be in any kind of insufficiency? In His Son coming to walk and teach us His ways and paid the greatest price with His life--would the Most High hold back anything from us--whether bills or any other needed provision?

John 10:10 (KJV) The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Now let's take a look at what determines our prosperity--there are three key points that give us His desired outcome. The Most High tells us that He is constant and changes not! He does not bless some and not others--He is the Most High of Love that He has for everyone! His mercies are renewed every morning and He is no respecter of persons.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV) 22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Acts 10:34 (KJV) Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Point number two is that His word is unchanging! It does not work for some and not others! When you are in His understanding and proper interpretation--you will receive exactly what it is that His word says!! So in the first two points we have the unchanging, infallible God, the Most High and His unfailing constant word!

Matthew 24:35 (KJV) Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Numbers 23:19 (KJV) God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

The last and final point is us. We are the last factor in this equation. So what is it that we have and are missing? The time has come to totally dismiss the idea of getting a check from the sky--all of our provision is here for us on the Earth. So when the first two parts are unable to fail or cease from working we find we are the hold up to our no longer being in lack. How do we overcome such a condition? With the first keys more than covered where is the breakdown?

1 Peter 5:5 (KJV) Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

When our vision clears we see that we are the problem it is not with Him nor His word. If we would humble ourselves to learn what He is willing to teach us in His word. We would be renewed in our minds and obtain His understanding to walk in His abundance in our lives and be the example of His children that we were meant to be. The question is do you desire to have His grace and favor operating freely in your life? You have to be willing to change everything in your life to line up with His word!

That is the three ingredients for success, the Most High, His word and our obedience to His instructions leads us to His purposed provision! We have to know that the Bible that just sits on the shelf does just that sits. This word was to be a constant mediation in our mouths and minds.

Joshua 1:8 (KJV)  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

This is when wisdom comes in, the application of the knowledge that you have obtained from the study and search of His word. The learning of the principles should be that we actually apply this to our lives. We have to change whatever is keeping us in lack. Which is to say that if you are in lack it is no one's fault but your own.

You are filled to the level of your hunger and thirst for Him and His word. You have exactly what you have settled for. Every answer needed in your life from sickness, poverty, worry, depression, oppression, is all found in the word of the Most High. Yet if you don't have the hunger to search out these answers in His word--you will never find it. While many believers live all their lives claiming the Most High as their God and King and yet wonder why they lived, barely getting by yet in scripture you see that is never His intention. When we make it our priority to study His word we find every answer for our lives in His word. While there is many that are growing in His word due to their hunger and thirst for the Most High we find that He is even accelerating the pace due to the time that we are in right now. Now is not the time to play--we have to be serious and truly seek Him if that is our true desire!

Why is it necessary to hunger after the Most High's word?? It is His word that He watches over to preform!! This same word is settled in Heaven forever! This same word has been magnified above His name!

Jeremiah 1:12 (KJV) Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

Psalm 119:89 (KJV) Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

Psalm 138:2 (KJV) I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

Yet the Most High says that He has magnified His word above His name. As all powerful His name is His word is lifted up above His name. So if He has to honor and uphold His name above His name how can we do any less? All that He has declared in His word is not able to be altered but we can stand firm that it delivers on all that it speaks!

Fiveamprayer as we hunger for His word we come to understand the mighty work in His word that can work in our lives when we work with and not against it!

We all need to catch the spirit of complete provision that the Most High has given to those who believe and walk in obedience to His word. This is a spirit filled life led by the Holy Spirit's anointing and includes selfless giving.

We see Yeshua taught here:
Luke 4:18-19 (KJV) 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Yeshua was anointed by the Holy Spirit to give the good news, the Kingdom of the Most High had come to walk among the people and comes to teach us directly! It is this good news that causes the captives to be freed, that the blind would be made to see. That even the poor would be able to live in abundance!! You can see that the Most High knows what has our concern that we have an answer from Him in His word. Being made free, made to see and cease from all types of lack in our lives as we seek to walk in the footsteps of Yeshua.

Yeshua's key message was giving--it is the same spirit that is in us as well. He came to teach the poor would be able to live in increase. There is much that can be accomplished with money used for the up-building of the kingdom than without it. While the gospel is free, there is a cost to teach this message to reach every man, woman and child with this life ordering message!

The Most High wants to use His people in a mighty way and to channel large sums of money through the in order to reach all of those that hunger for more and more of Him and His word. It is the only answer that heals, restores and gives life!

Yet there are many that would say that Yeshua was poor. He was even born in a manger because there was no room in the inn. Do poor people go to the inn to ask for a room if they have no money? This was the time of year called sukkot or the feast of tabernacles and many would be in Jerusalem and the children were to stay in temporary shelters or tents in the open fields. This is where and when Yeshua was born. In the fall not the winter or December, definitely not Christmas! Recall that the wise men that had traveled from afar to see this child-king gave Him costly gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, so when His family had to flee to Egypt they were provided by those gifts.

Every need of Yeshua was covered while He walked the Earth. For many of the things that He did shows all that provision. The feeding of the multitudes, having the upper room readied for the disciples to have the Passover dinner together. How can anyone presume Yeshua did not have total provision? There was even a treasury in His ministry that Judas Iscariot was over. What kind of poor person has a treasury??

We are never to settle for anything less than the Most High's best. It is this understanding that He has already provided all things for us that we should continually move up higher and higher knowing that what we are thinking is too small. He has much better and more for you!

We have to stop limiting Him in our lowered expectations. For He will not surpass our expectations that limit Him when we settle for less. This is a truth that we must grasp a hold of firmly to keep all that we have learned in error to be totally removed and hold fast to scripture. This abundant life was intended for all not just a select few. Yet will you walk in what the Most High has already planned and purposed--we must align with His word and not our faulty understanding!

Shema Selah, the Mos High is the Creator of the Universe, His very being is of increase--He brings more and more forth according to His plan but will you align with His purpose or continue on your own??