By Toni Ford
Last week, I shared some of the background of Rosh Hashana, which means, “head of the year” and is considered the first celebration of the Jewish New Year. This week, I would like to take a look back as to where we have been over this past year and where we are going as we enter into the New Year of 5782.
I was fortunate to take part in a conference this past weekend with some incredible speakers and leaders such as Robert Heidler, Chuck Pierce, Cindy Jacobs and Dutch Sheets. Much of the information I am sharing today comes from a summary of these leaders and others from the conference.
As I have spent more time studying the Hebrew calendar over the past two years, I can look back and see how God has been and continues to be intentional about the Hebrew calendar He created from the beginning. When you couple His intentionality along with the Hebrew meaning behind each year and each month and the feasts in both spring and autumn seasons, all this combined cannot help but bring about a greater reverence, awe and amazement of our Lord! I have said it before and I say it again – there is no doubt that our God is a God of order, and nothing is done by accident!
When talking about a Jewish New Year, we need to remember that in Hebrew, a year is not only written in numbers. It is written in Hebrew letters and Hebrew letters have both a sound and a meaning. In 5780, we entered into a whole new decade and according to Hebrew, 5700 means “May it be the year of,” and 80 means, “Pey,” which in Hebrew means mouth, face, speech and vocalization. Therefore, if each year in this new decade is a representation of Pey, then one can see the importance for every believer when it comes to our face representing our identity in Christ and understanding that the words, we speak are important and have power, His power!
We can look back and see how we have been in a battle over the past two years with Satan over these very things – face, mouth, speck, and vocalization!
One of the most important words given to us two years ago, as we entered into the new decade of 5780, was “we are breaking through into a New Era.” There was a sense that everything was about to change. Two years ago, everything did change for the entire world. Although the world as we have known it may never go back to the way things were two years ago, and although the past two years have been challenging and heart breaking for many around us (and possibly even for ourselves), it is my prayer that each of us as believers can still look back and see the faithfulness of our God, knowing that He is working even in all the craziness of this world, and trusting that He has a plan, one greater than what we see right now with our physical eyes.
We now are entering into the year of 5782 and the “2” in Hebrew is the word “Bet.” Several Bet words in Hebrew are a house, tent, what is inside or within, covenant and harvest. The Jews also recognize this season as harvest time.
So, what is the Lord saying to us for the coming year? Many believe that God wants to establish and build His house in a new way, which could be representative of His church but also your own literal house or the house of your heart. This is also the year of the harvest, and we are already seeing more people come to Christ than ever in history. We pray that this is the beginning of the third Great Awakening and that billions upon billions would come to Christ as their personal Savior.
Ephesians 2:20 says, “Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself.”
As we continue to read and study about this Jewish year of 5782, it is my prayer that we would begin to reflect and seek the Lord in how or what needs to be built or re-built in our own home, within our own hearts and in our churches across the world. May we all be alert and desire to be a part of proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel and then be able to watch this Great Awakening take place across every nation. Above all, may evil continue to be exposed and may the truth of God continue to rise up above all else!
If you would like me to join you in prayer please email me at tonif77@gmail.com. I would love to pray for you!