(Yearly Cycle) Turn...And Be Healed

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Last week was the Feast of Purim, which is a reminder that God can turn the tables quickly on impossible situations. As soon as Purim was over Acts 28:27 jumped off the page at me and it says that if we would TURN God will heal us. Purim is a turning point in God's Yearly Cycle. 

Before we get into this concept of Turning lets touch on some upcoming Yearly Cycle Dates. 

We are currently in the 40 days of Lent, which is a time when people abstain from things such as meat, alcohol, etc. In Exodus it says that on the 7th day God rested and abstained from his work. The most important thing for us to be abstaining from is our own works. To turn from our ways and learn to rest in God's grace and his way of doing things. This time of the year is a reminder to clean out and let go of our old ways and the most important thing to clean out is all the ways we are working in our own strength rather than turning to God and relying on his strength, grace, and his inexhaustible supply that is more than enough. We talk often about the importance of unlearning. We must unlearn some things to make room for the new ways God wants to train us in. 

During this time of the year it can often feel like time is speeding up and going faster. This can lead to feelings of overwhelm, which is a clue that there are some things that need to be cleaned out. 

Passover is coming up on the evening of March 27th. Passover is a reminder that Jesus has released us from the darkness and transferred into the light. It is like a big communion meal. The word Passover is "Pesach," in Hebrew which means " talking mouth." During Passover we are supposed to be talking about and expressing gratitude that Jesus has released us from the darkness and transferred us into the light. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, and during Passover we have a big communion meal with lamb, matzo, red wine/grape juice, and vegetables as a reminder of his sacrifice and where he brought us from. 

God also told the Jewish people that celebrating the Passover would give them an opportunity to tell their testimony to their children and grandchildren. God told them that when they celebrated the Passover their children would ask them why they were doing this, and it would give them an opportunity to share how God released them from bondage and took them to the promised land. 

Passover also starts the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread. The three feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits all happen in one week. The way I celebrate Unleavened Bread is to remove all leaven from my diet for 7 days and eat matzo crackers as my starch at every meal. The matzo is like the bread taken in communion. For 7 days at every meal I fix my mind on Jesus as the unleavened bread that came down from heaven and he was struck down, pierced, crushed, and beaten for us. Unleavened bread is referred to as the bread of affliction and the bread of poverty reminding us that Jesus was afflicted and he became poor that we might become rich. The biggest key in Unleavened Bread is the reminder that Jesus is our righteousness. It is his righteousness that gives us access to God's grace. 

There is something very powerful about taking these spiritual principles and combining them with remembrance in our mind and imagination and something practical that we actually do. It combines our entire spirit, soul, and body. 

First fruits also happens during this week and is similar to what we think of as Easter. First Fruits is a reminder that Jesus was raised from the dead and is the first fruits from the dead. It is also a reminder that God planted treasure in our hearts. 

In the Feast of Purim God's people were about to be destroyed but God turned the tables and caused them to come out on top. Purim is a reminder that God can turn the tables quickly. If you are ever in a situation that looks hopeless God can turn the situation quickly. 

When the Feast of Purim was over several scriptures on the concept of turning began to get highlighted to me. The night after Purim Acts 28:27 seemed to jump off the page at me and it says... if we would see with our eyes, hear with our ears, understand with our hearts and TURN then God would heal us. If we would see with our eyes all that God is up to and tune our ears to hear from him, and then move to understanding with our hearts, it would lead to a place of turning where we change what we do. 

In my book The 8th Date, I open with a verse from Proverbs 4 which says...Though it cost you all get understanding. What I needed to understand was grace, that God is continually working for our good and he has given us access to everything he has. Sometimes we think God is mad at us and has turned away from us. But he has turned his face to us and is continually focused on doing good for us because of Jesus. He will never leave us or forsake us. But, our role is to turn to him.

Understanding grace did cost me everything. The cost was the willingness to let go of my old ways and embrace a completely new way of living. The main message of Jesus was to repent for the kingdom of Heaven is here. To repent is to turn or change and do things differently. God promised that if we would turn and embrace his ways that he would heal us.  I believe this is not just spiritual healing but healing in every way...spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, in our relationships, finances, time, purpose, and much more. 

What is it we need to turn from? In Isaiah 53:6 it says that all of us like sheep have gone astray. We have all TURNED to our own way. We have all followed our own path rather than Gods. We must learn to turn back and begin implementing God's way of doing things into every area of life. God has ways of doing things for every area of life and this requires letting go of our old ways and embracing a new way of living. 

2 Corinthians 3:16 says that whenever we TURN to the Lord the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and we with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory. 

When we turn to God it leads to being transformed and becoming more and more like God, and it will be ever increasing. Even when we get to heaven we will continue to grow and be transformed more and more into God's image. 

In Deuteronomy 23 it says that God TURNED the curse of Balaam into a blessing. God can take what looks like a curse and turn it around into a blessing. 

What is the area of life where you are struggling the most? The area with the greatest levels of frustration, worry, stress, and lack of peace and joy. I have found that it is usually those areas where we are trying to do things in our own way and force things to happen We must learn to rest in these areas by giving them to God and trusting that he will help to turn the situation. There may also be times when situations look against us, and we must remember that God can turn them around and cause us to come out on top. He always causes us to triumph. Jesus said we would have trouble in this world but to be of good cheer because he has overcome the world. 

Turning to God's ways doesn't mean we won't have problems, but it does mean we are going to handle them differently. We are going to trust that God will always cause us to triumph, and let go of our old ways. When we do this the problems and troubles of life will only serve to accelerate our progress forward even faster. 

God has promised that if we will turn we will experience healing. Sometimes this healing happens instantly but other times God takes us through a process over the course of time. The times when healing is not instant it is often because God needs to take us through a process to learn to let go of our old ways, because if he healed us instantly, we would keep doing things the same way and end up with issues again.