[Please join me in praying for the Church on Sundays this year.]
“I will feed you with my spiritual bread. You will feast and be satisfied with me, feeding on my revelation-truth like honey dripping from the cliffs of the high place.” (Psalm 81:16 TPT)
Happy New Year!
What?!? It’s only September 17! Yes, but, in addition to being the birthday of many people (Happy Birthday, September 17 babies!), September 15-17 is the Jewish New Year. Although we may have a secular New Year on January 1 or a business may have a “new fiscal year,” the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection and celebration around the world – including for many Christians. This isn’t a holiday instituted in the Bible, but one grown out of centuries of Jewish rabbinical teachings. The Rosh Hashanah traditions include a remembering of God’s creating of the world and humanity, a celebration of God’s sovereignty, the acknowledgement of God as the One who remembers past deeds, and an anticipation of the future.* According to one writer,
“Each of these sections culminates in the blasts of the shofar, the most potent symbol of the holiday. The shofar is alluded to in the most memorable Torah reading for the holiday, the Akedah or Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22). The story and the shofar serve as reminders of the covenant between God and the people of Israel, carrying with them the message of sacrifice, hope, and continuity.” *
As Christians, don’t we have a message of “sacrifice, hope, and continuity?” The Good News of Jesus Christ is all about his sacrificial and atoning death for our sins, the hope we have because of that atonement, and the continuity we can live in relationship with God the Father because of the work of Jesus and the leadership of Holy Spirit. This is good news for a new year!
So, tonight, join those celebrating Rosh Hashanah this weekend by slicing an apple and dipping it in honey. As you taste the sweetness of the fruit, made even sweeter by the honey, take time to joyfully remember the sacrifice Jesus made for you. Remember that his atonement brought you sweet hope, and brings you love, joy, peace, and so much more through Holy Spirit. Remember what our faithful and loving God has done for us, what he continues to do for us, and to ask him what he wants you to partner with him to do in the next year.
Happy Sweet New Year!
Lord,
We praise you, O Lord, for your Love and your great faithfulness! Just singing about you strengthens us, so we shout for JOY to our God, our champion. We celebrate and sing sweet songs, remembering these sweet seasons of celebration and rejoicing you give us. Today we celebrate Rosh Hashanah and we remember you as Creator, our Redeemer in Christ, and our Comforter and Guide in Holy Spirit. We thank you that you are our Hope – the one who knows our future and guides us into all Truth. We know that your Word and your Wisdom are sweet, releasing your sweetness into our souls, your healing to our spirits, and your wholeness into our lives. We know you are our Living Promise and even the sting of your correction can be sweet when we are living in close communion with you. Today we pray that your Church everywhere – whether Jewish believers or not – would remember and celebrate your sacrifice and your leadership. Holy Spirit, we pray you will speak into the spirits of Jewish non-believers so they, too, can know the Grace, Love, Joy, and Hope that come from relationships in Christ. Release your Church from back-breaking burdens, from fear, and from the hopelessness of this world. Protect your Church from the attacks, strongholds, and bondages of the enemy of our souls. Remind your people as we gather today to worship and celebrate your goodness, that you feed us with your spiritual bread, satisfying us with revelation-truth, and help us live in sweet communion with you. We ask this is the strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN.
“I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” (Psalm 57:9-10 NIV)
“The ways of wisdom are sweet, always drawing you into the place of wholeness.” (Proverbs 3:17 TPT)
“Nothing is more appealing than speaking beautiful, life-giving words. For they release sweetness to our souls and inner healing to our spirits.” (Proverbs 16:24 TPT)
“How sweet are your living promises to me; sweeter than honey is your revelation-light.” (Psalm 119:103 TPT)
“Lord Yah, there’s such a blessing that comes when you teach us your Word and your ways. Even the sting of your correction can be sweet.” (Psalm 94:12 TPT)
1Lord, just singing about you makes me strong!
So I’ll keep shouting for joy to Jacob’s God, my champion.
2Let the celebration begin!
I will sing with drum accompaniment and with the sweet sound
of the harp and guitar strumming.
3Go ahead! Blow the jubilee trumpet to begin the feast!
Blow it before every joyous celebration and festival.
4For God has given us these seasons of joy,
days that the God of Jacob decreed for us to celebrate and rejoice.
5He has given these feasts to remind us of his triumph over Egypt,
when he went out to wage war against them.
I heard the message in an unknown tongue as he said to me,
6“I have removed your backbreaking burdens
and have freed your hands from the hard labor and toil.
7You called out to me in your time of trouble, and I rescued you.
I came down from the realm of the secret place of thunder,
where mysteries hide.
I came down to save you.
I tested your hearts at the place where there was no water to drink,
the place of your bitter argument with me.”
Pause in his presence
8“Listen to me, my dear people.
For I’m warning you, and you’d better listen well!
For I hold something against you.
9Don’t ever be guilty of worshiping any other god but me.
10I am your only God, the living God.
Wasn’t I the one who broke the strongholds over you
and raised you up out of bondage?
Open your mouth with a mighty decree;
I will fulfill it now, you’ll see!
The words that you speak, so shall it be!
11But my people still wouldn’t listen;
my princely people would not yield to me.
12So I lifted my grace from off of their lives, and I surrendered them
to the stubbornness of their hearts.
For they were living according to their own selfish fantasies.
13O that my people would once and for all listen to me
and walk faithfully in my footsteps, following my ways.
14Then and only then will I conquer your every foe
and tell every one of them, ‘You must go!’
15Those who hate my ways will cringe before me
and their punishment will be eternal.
16But I will feed you with my spiritual bread.
You will feast and be satisfied with me,
feeding on my revelation-truth like honey
dripping from the cliffs of the high place.” (Psalm 81 TPT)
*https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/rosh-hashanah-101/