Prepare for The Feast of Trumpets and The Day of Atonement
By: Dr. James Ricks
What To Do To Prepare For the Feast of Trumpets to Day of Atonement Season
10 DAY COUNT DOWN
Our Lord has given the extra opportunity every year to keep Him as the main focus in our lives. We know that keeping our focus on Him is our daily responsibility, but because we are carnal we can always use an extra nudge into doing the right thing.
As His children, our goal is to pattern ourselves after (emulate) Him, in word, thought and deed. Our life here on earth is a sort of proving ground or period of testing to see how much of His thoughts and character we can absorb into our character. This is no easy task, as any of you who try to live God’s way can attest.
Why do we have to have Godly character? God certainly does not want a bunch of little Satan’s in His kingdom. He wants sons and daughters who have striven with all that is in them to submit to God so that He can develop us in the way that He knows will bring about His righteous character. He wants us to be pliable and yielded under His hand. It is much easier for Him to work in us if we try to assist and not make it harder for God to improve us. He wants us to love Him more than anything and be sons and daughters who would do anything to avoid disappointing their heavenly Father. We may not understand what He is doing in our lives, especially in times of suffering, heartache or confusion. It is our job to trust Him and keep our focus on Him and not on what is going on in our lives.
How do we get to be a son or daughter that reflects our heavenly Father? During the period between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement it is our job to find out. We know what sins we are harboring that we are not trying to submit to God. We know what we overlook when it comes to Godly behavior. For example, excusing an angry outburst by claiming, well that’s just the way I am. We are the ones who really know what lurks in the dark recesses of our puny but mostly evil brains. During this period we should drag out the thoughts that are not patterned after our Father’s thoughts, examine them and dump them-not in the recycle bin but in the dumpster, never to return!
10 Days of Meditation and Repenting
How do we do this? During our daily lives for the next 10 days, when one of these thoughts pop into our minds, write it down in a journal. Later when you have time, ask God to forgive you. If this thought involves something that you do, Ask God to direct you to make a plan of action to counteract it. Do something else that is in line with God’s character. Be sure to keep a record. If this sin involves an impure thought, ask God to help you rid yourself of it and put a pure thought in its place. Remember though that we are co-existing with evil in our hearts and that we cannot expect to rid ourselves of our sin, only Christ can do that. Read Romans 7:14-25 to get a handle on this concept. It is a partnership- with God doing the work and us doing the trusting and obeying and yielding to the best of our ability.
Every day pray and ask God to show you how to lead a more Godly life. You can be sure that He will, because that is definitely His will. Be sure to thank God for all His blessings to you. On the Day of Atonement, we should examine our journals (privately) and try to determine if God will be happy with our efforts toward being yielded and obedient.
Remember, our Lord is probably coming back sooner than we think. We don’t have time to be lecherous and debauched. We need all the time we can get to submit ourselves to our Father so that He can work on us. Should we try to do this perfectly? Yes! Can we? Absolutely NOT! Working to become aware of our sinfulness will demonstrate to us how little we can achieve spiritually on our own. This realization is especially valuable because it will help us to be totally convinced that we must count on our heavenly Father at all times and not on ourselves.
After the Day of Atonement, we should continue this process of trying to get rid of our yuck throughout the coming year. Keep your journal. At the end of the year, you will be amazed at the good progress God has made. Remember, God is serious. His goal is to get you into His kingdom. If we are willing and try to aid Him in His quest, it will be much easier on us. Everything God allows to come into our lives is there for a purpose (Romans 8:28) Remember He is growing righteous character in us. If we are pliable and easy to mold, perhaps we will have an easier time in some really trying situations.
Thank God for blessings:
Write evil thoughts or actions:
Ask God for repentance and help in overcoming:
Today I made progress with:
Today I messed up on:
Tomorrow I will concentrate really hard on:
