The harvest season is coming quickly, can we help? The Bible teaches us that there are only TWO seasons, seedtime and harvest. There are six moons in each season, except that every seven years God DOUBLES the last harvest moon twice. That is why next year will have a second 12^th month. Interesting, right? Why do we care?

Because God is the main protagonist in our lives and He is the Father of all life. He created humanity, and He alone is God. He created you to GROW CLOSER to Him. Because I trust Him first and always, I find tremendous peace watching the clouds move overhead instead of watching the clock in my office. Have you ever thought about what God does every day to boost your confidence and help you be successful in life?

Yeshua is the Lord of Shabbat. He really is the Prince of Peace actually. His shalom is His dominion over all time and space. If you call Him Lord, you are giving Him permission to change your priorities, your appointments and your plans. Who has dominion over your time and space?  

Here is a fresh perspective on how to live in God’s amazing grace. Consider the binary motion of walking toward God. His Father’s heart is the target and following Yeshua is the trajectory – through the cross – that leads us there. The Holy Spirit is the feathers on the arrow that keeping us moving forward. Now, like walking, left foot, right foot, left foot right, we lift and press ahead at the same time. One foot is standing while the other is up. Try to think of being purpose-driven and being presence-driven as the same thing, only 1000X better!

When I am only invested in reaching my goal, without caring whether I am ‘keeping step in the Spirit’ also, I can waste valuable time and resources by going off course after my own desires. THAT is the true value of the Feasts of ADONAI! The Biblical feasts are the FIRST stepping stones to letting God be the King of your universe. Let me tell you how awesome He is: Shabbat is an expansion joint inside space and time. Weekly shabbats, monthly new moons and semi-annual feasts all move us ahead in a binary pattern. Workdays and rest days, waxing and waning moons, Passover (full moon) and Rosh Hashana (new moon) six months (and two weeks) between them. We are NOT on a merry-go-round, we’re being held in our Father’s arms on a rocking chair – back and forth, back and forth.

Shabbat is created for the ‘purpose of preparing.’ Rest is not simply ‘time off.’ Rest is having a mindset of faith. Resting IS faithing. Shabbat-ing is trusting God, thanking God and preparing to meet God when He is planning to move in your life on YOUR behalf. Ignoring shabbat actually wastes time and causes chaos. And if chaos makes you feel productive, it shouldn’t. Chaos and waste are the diodes of destruction, the poles of distress, and often manifests in poor health and broken relationships.

Thank God we are entering the Harvest! Thank God for the Feast of Trumpets! If God walked into your home, your office, your garage or your brain, what would He find? Do you think He doesn’t already know what you need before you need it? God is good – so good! What good harvest do you need this year? 

Last year, going into harvest time, I was widowed and alone. My beloved rabbi and husband had passed after a long illness and I was facing harvest wondering how to keep going. I finished my book and asked God what to do next. Well, I thought, ‘Harvest is coming, what have I been growing over the summer?’ I had been sowing seeds into building a new life for myself. I created a little townhome for myself and plowed through all the distress of the 11 months of mourning. Every decision of what to keep and what to throw out was hard, but it was also healing. Funny, but I felt like I was living out Ecclesiastes (see quote below). Hospice-ing was so hard. Working was so hard. Life FELT so hard. But, feelings do not rule my universe, God does!

"For everything there is a season and a time for every activity under heaven: a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;"

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 TLV

For me, the ‘purpose of preparing’ describes my daily decision to KEEP following God, every day. God saves me every day. I love that HE LOVES me. Asking Yeshua into my heart is when I passed over from darkness to light. Reading my Bible every day for myself began rewiring my brain, one definition at a time. His words traveled to my heart and made it all the way into my DNA and changed me from inside out.

Reading your Bible prepares you to hear His direction for your momentum. Yeshua’s examples in scripture are so beautiful because He celebrated the feasts of ADONAI and His words make so much more sense when you do, too! But, here is the catch! The fall feasts are focused on being ‘filled full’ every year. Meanwhile, it’s only the freedom to Pass-over sin and death that is fulfilled once-and-for-all.

Please enter this Harvest Season with a sense of awe and wonder. No matter what your recent seedtime grew, God is more than able to provide for you like He did Ruth. Ruth went to her people and offered to serve her family. She gleaned where she was celebrated, not tolerated. She harvested what was available and became part of the community. She listened to wise counsel and opened her heart to new hopes and dreams.

There are three emotions you can choose to work through with God this season.

1. Feast of Trumpets is the Day of Judgement. What makes you feel judged. Is it warranted? Is God trying to get your attention about something unhealthy in your life you need to change? Wake up and do the work that’s right in front of you. God will help you – for YOUR good.
2. Day of Atonement is the Day of Reckoning. What is left when your debts are paid? Who do you need to forgive? What secret sin do you need to repent of? What vows need to be broken? Yes, God will help you – for YOUR good.
3. Feast of Tabernacles is a week-long Harvest Festival. Have you planned to create a special place to worship God with family and friends? Do you feel like rejoicing about all God has done in your life this year? This I know, God did help me and He WILL help you – for YOUR good. Don’t give up – press in instead.

The harvest season celebrates our God who makes things grow. Growing is hard work, but the harvest is glorious. Please ask God WHERE you are to bring in your offering of thanksgiving this year. Since we are commanded to bring an offering three times a year to ‘the place where ADONAI chooses,’ maybe you could prayerfully consider giving to the Tree of Life Bible Society this season.  It is our heart’s desire and prayer to God that ALL ISRAEL shall be saved!

"Don’t you say, ‘Four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields! They are white and ready for harvest."

- John 4:35 TLV