Mount Hermon

"Come with Me from Lebanon, My bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir,

the summit of Hermon, from the lions' dens and the mountain haunts of leopards"

-Song of Songs 4:8

We know that Jesus was transfigured on the Mount, but do we now where?  Many scholars believe that this event happened on Mount Hermon.  When I first learned that, it seemed significant to me.

Hermon means sacred.  It's root words mean 1) prohibited / set apart and 2) sifted / captured 

(For extensive info on these root meanings, see here).

Isn't that interesting?  I find that everything in the scriptures is both symbolic and literal.  Returning to the passage from Song of Songs, we see that there is a call down from the mountaintop.  Our Heavenly Father calls us up, but He also calls us down.  He comes down with us - "come with me", 

He says.   that experience was amazing, but let's move on to another.   And the glory experienced from that spiritual high rests on us, just as it did with Moses, so that we can move forward in the world.  

We have to be set apart and sifted to go higher with our God, and we also have to be humble enough to be willing to come down.  With great power comes great responsibility - which is why so few lay hold of the Way.  

Paul said, not that I have already attained to it, but I press on to take hold of that which Messiah already took hold of for me. But praise Yah that all of us have been already ordinated as priests!  There will be many mountaintops and many valleys to go, but God will allow us to carry His presence thru it all.

What About The "Outer Witness"?

In the book of Revelation, we have described to us two witnesses.  Now, this reference may be symbolic, it may be literal, it may be both.  Either way, I think that we can apply this concept to our own personal walk, too.  Recently the Lord has been speaking to us about what I'll call the 'outer witness' of the Holy Spirit.

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."           Isaiah 30:21

We all know about the inner witness that God gives us.  It may come as a still, small voice.  It may come as a strong unction, or a supernatural knowing.  It may come as a conviction.  Now, keep in mind that God confirms Himself by two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1). So then, what about external witnesses?  What about confirmations and promptings outside of ourselves?  That's where the outer witness comes in.

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."         John 3:8

Remember that the Holy Spirit can be likened to a strong wind--a ruach (Hebrew).  And I find that the wind is a medium through which God's Spirit often shows Himself.  Many times, I'll be outside and God will use the natural wind to speak to me.  I'll get the inner witness--the Lord will prompt me to head inside, for example.  Then, just a few seconds later, the wind direction will change, and gently push me towards where God's word already had me headed.  This is an external confirmation, and it establishes what God has already set into motion.  It's the outer witness.

Other times, the Holy Spirit may manifest as wind--inside! This is more rare (at least in my experience).
But sometimes, there comes into a room a supernatural and completely unexplainable wind.  What is it?  It's a sign!  It's a sign that the presence of the Spirit has come in.  I've noticed this happens must often in church.  But the Lord may do this anywhere!

Beyond wind, there are many other ways that God speaks through nature.  All creation serves to praise Him! And beyond that, there are many other ways that He gives an outer witness.  He my confirm Himself through another Christian, through a close friend, or even through something that an unsaved stranger says.  He may 'establish a matter' through a billboard's message, through a license plate, or through a street sign.  The possibilities are endless!  And all of these things are gifts from above, sent down from the Father to confirm His word.

We who are near God are commanded to acknowledge His power (Isaiah 33:13).  As believers, God wants us to have out faith built up by His outer witness.  He wants His Spirit within us to be communing, to be one, with His Spirit's working around us.  He wants us to grow from faith to faith.  The Lord wants to accomplish in us what He's already done among us.  He wants to have us walk into the establishment of His word.

Song: Place of Worship

One of my favorite songs right now, maybe my top favorite, is "Place of Worship" by William McDowell.  It's so beautiful, so anointed, so passionate--it points to the savior.

I wanted to know what the Lord thought of this type of music, and so I asked Him.  And He led me to pause the song as the 7:03 mark.  I then entered that into the online lexicon.  Praise the Lord!

Hebrew #703:
A virtuous course of thought, feeling and action;
Any particular moral excellence, as modesty, purity

Praise Him for songs that convey His virtue, His excellence, and His purity.  That's exactly what these William McDowell songs do.  They do what praise music should! They magnify the Lord, and brings His likeness near.   Such music pleased Him--it's acceptable worship in His eyes.  I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do.  It really ushers you into the presence of the Lord.

"Worship the LORD with joy! Enter his presence with joyful singing!"                Psalm 100:2

Snapshot: Number 416

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."                         John 3:8

Jesus has already described for us what it looks like to be led.  He has already showed us what we can expect after we have been born again.  We will be like the wind...we are like the wind already.

And I've had John 3:8 reverberating within my mind for a while now.  Thanks God!  But what does it all mean?  Well, it means that we are constantly pushed, constantly guided, constantly driven by the passion of God.  We are guided by His Spirit as if by a strong, powerful wind.  We are guided by His Spirit, so we can walk out the things He's already planned for us (Ephesians 2:10), and in doing so, keep in step with Him.

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us also stay in step with the Spirit"             Galatians 5:25

Within God's heart is all the passion in the world.  And He's given each of us a measure of this passion that we can play out in our lives.  There are avenues awaiting us where we have the opportunity to shine for Him.  And there are different people, different situations, and different gifts awaiting us so that we can bless and be blessed.  And God wants us to walk closely to Him, so we can know what our role is in each and every situation.  It takes friendship with the Holy Spirit.

Each moment is different, dynamic, and changing. That's why the Holy Spirit's prompting is likened to the wind--it is UNPREDICTABLE!  So we really need to keep in step, and be ready no matter the season (2 Timothy 4:2).  

We need to be led moment by moment, which is wonderful!  However, if we are being led moment by moment, then we might seem kind of out there. We might seem unstable or flighty.  People probably won't know where we are going with our lives. We might be accused of using bad planning or not planning out anything at all!   Good!  Isn't that how Jesus described "everyone born of the Spirit"?  

God has a plan for each of us that is amazing.  It is complex, intricate, and intimately planned out. And we can't grasp this--not with human logic, anyways. Now, people can do a lot of good works on their own effort.  And Christians can do a lot of good things for God.  But there is only one way to be excellent, and that is to yield to God's PERFECT plan for our lives.

THE NUMBER 416...

I've been having fun with an online Hebrew and Greek Lexicon recently--Eliyah.com.  It's an excellent training opportunity to hear God's voice, in that the Lord can easily speak to me through specific numbers or other languages.  Then I can translate the parable, the message, with the help of the Lexicon!

So a few mornings ago, the Lord led me to the number 416, and prompted me to translate it into Greek.  (Hebrew and Greek words actually correspond with numbers).  So, I followed His leadings, and saw that #416 meant, "to toss or drive with the wind".  Hey, that goes along with how He'd been speaking John 3:8 so much recently!  Wonderful!  Let's be tossed and driven by the winds of change--the sculpting and leading winds of the Holy Spirit.

Let's be driven by passion and then moved with compassion.  Let's have only a light -- the light of the Lord -- to guide our path.  Then we will be presented with divine alignments and opportunities.  Then we will take on Jesus' dynamic nature.  Then we will be prepared for every good work.  Then we will experience life to the fullest.

And all of this happens out of a place of intimacy.  God moves closer before He moves you.  He leads your heart before He leads your lifestyle.  But He desires to go all the way!  Let's be led and attuned, not matter what the cost.  Let's remember the Lord (continually), and in doing so, walk into all His benefits (Psalms 103:2).  We need to be in tune with the heart of the Father, and make our lives a reflection of that.

Spirit-led Gardening??

All throughout the winter, the Lord has been prompting me to look into farming.  And the more I thought about it, the more I realize that I like the idea!  And God has kept confirming the message.  The situations have been right going into the Spring, and the Lord has made it easy for me to order seeds, learn about techniques, and have good land to farm on.  For now, I'm taking things small scale...so 'gardening' is probably a more apt way to describe what I'm doing.  But I do plan on doing more extensive farming in the future!

This morning, I was doing some research on vegetable growing--just looking into basic things.  Now, I'm new to farming, so today I was mostly looking into general guidelines.  I wanted to have the Lord's backing, though--I wanted to know that He was making my way perfect (Psalms 18:32).   So, I asked the Lord for a sign to confirm that He did indeed want me to be doing this--researching vegetables!  And right away, God was gracious to give me His Word--and I was led to the below verse at random!

"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
Genesis 2:15

Praise the Lord!  With that, the Lord gave me new hope.  I knew His backing, and I felt it, too!  In continuing my research, I was looking into using raised beds for my gardening.  So I looked into that a little bit.  And I decided that raised beds were the best method to use.  After a little more research on this, all of a sudden, I heard the Lord speak.  He said:

"Look at the time..."  

There was some urgency there--not harshness, but a pressing command.  So I did, and it was 10:42. OK, now what?

His voice was quick to give me a next step.  He told me to enter that time, 10:42, into this Hebrew Lexicon.  I knew He was telling me to enter it in as the time 1042.  Now, I've used this online concordance before, but this time, the Lord was so specific to guide me into it.

I heard the Lord continue:

"Enter it into the second one, not the first, not into Hebrew but to Greek".  

Woah, OK!  So, I used the Concordance search on the second row, 'not into Hebrew but to Greek', and entered into it the number 1042. Normally I use the top concordance, and do my word / number searches in Hebrew, but I knew the importance of obedience here.  I knew all of this from God--His voice was powerful and clear.  So, I obeyed this Word from the Lord.  I entered the number in, not knowing what to expect.  And there it was:

1042  Gabbatha= "elevated or a platform"
--a raised place, elevation

Wow!  I was a little taken back by this.  Raised beds??  I had just been wanting to have God's approval on my farming, and He had given it, through the scripture in Genesis.  He even gave me His backing on my choice to use raised gardening beds.  Praise the Lord!  With so many gracious confirmations, I'm believing that all this farming research was more of God's idea than mine.

It's so nice to know that God is for so many details in our lives.  He even loves my raised beds research!  The more I get to know Him, the more His intricacy amazes me.  It's so worth it to want to please Him.  We need to wait on Him, making sure that we please Him.  We need to wait until we are filled with the Spirit.  That's when we can stay in step with the Spirit; that's when we can be continually approved (Galatians 5:25).

So we need to be very led.  That's when we can receive true comfort!  That's when we can be justified by faithful steps in Him.  That's when we can be confident.  We can be led, and we can have God bring us into great rewards right now!

"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward"

Hebrew 10:35