We officially stepped into the Hebrew month of Elul on Aug. 20. Elul is the sixth month of the religious calendar year, which started at Passover, and the 12th month of the civil calendar year, which started at Rosh Hashanah in 2019.
We have entered into a very important time: the 40 days of Teshuvah.
Teshuvah, which means “repentance,” is a time when we come into the presence of the Lord, and we intensely look at things that have been happening in our lives. It’s when we purposely go into a place of prayer, fasting, worship and repentance. It helps us prepare our hearts for the upcoming year, which takes place at sundown on Sept. 18, the beginning of the Hebrew year 5781.
The 40 days of Teshuvah end on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, at sundown on Sept. 27. This is the highest holy day of the year to the Jewish people, as it is a time of fasting and purification. This was the day the high priest would go into the holy of holies with the blood of a bull and a goat and put blood on the kapporet or cover of the ark of the covenant. The high priest would also lay hands on a second goat and confess the sins of the people and send that goat into the wilderness.
On this day, the people would receive forgiveness for sin, and this was only once a year. As Christians, we recognize Jesus as our sacrificial lamb, who has done this very thing with His own shed blood; however, He went into the heavenly tabernacle to cleanse it and His sacrifice was once and for all.
We read in Hebrews 9:22-28:
And according to the law almost everything must be cleansed with blood; without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It was therefore necessary that the replicas of heavenly things be cleansed with these sacrifices, but that the heavenly things themselves be cleansed with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, which are patterned after the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor did He enter to offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. For then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the world was created, but now He has appeared once at the end of the ages to put away sin by sacrificing Himself. As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this comes the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to save those who eagerly wait for Him.
So how does this apply to what God is doing prophetically in your life and in the nations today and in Hebrew year 5781? If you have been experiencing incredible spiritual warfare, it’s because you have been promoted!
The Lord spoke to me in August that He was promoting His people, and they were going to receive new mantle assignments. So, you were promoted at the beginning of August with a new mantle and a new assignment. You see, the enemy brings warfare to test your promotion. The enemy always comes to challenge what the Lord has already done.
God can use the warfare that the enemy brings to strengthen and reveal things to you for the journey ahead. Many times, warfare will reveal where God is working and where repentance and strengthening of your personal temple is needed.
God is rebuilding and strengthening you just like He did in Haggai Chapter 1, where we understand the prophet Haggai spoke to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, about rebuilding the second temple. What is so interesting is that we find this event actually took place on the first day of Elul back in 353 B.C. You may be asking, “What would God be strengthening and rebuilding in me?” The answer is your temple! He wants your spirit, soul and body prepared for the days to come. He wants your temple to be strong for 5781. He wants our nation to be strong in 5781.
The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20a, ” What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.” You have been bought with the shed blood of Jesus Christ and are in a new covenant of grace with Him.
Today is a new day! God is taking this time to rebuild things in our lives. He is preparing us to carry the weight and glory of the mantles that we received at promotion.
Yes, a new mantle and a new assignment were given to you upon promotion at the beginning of August. It is your job to carry out that assignment. Your temple of the Holy Spirit needs to be a fortified container that is conditioned for carrying your God-given assignment into the Hebrew New Year.
Praise the Lord for your new mantle and new assignment! He is helping you take this time to examine your personal temple, private home, family life, workplace, church, neighborhood and living environments. God is aligning every area with His Word. Your temple has to be rebuilt in order for you to be strong enough to carry forth this kingdom assignment He has for you in this new season.
Read Haggai Chapters 1 and 2. Prophetically, after Teshuvah, this September, God says, “His greater glory comes!” In Haggai Chapter 2, it is revealed to us that once the temple was rebuilt God promised a greater glory would come. God is rebuilding your temple and strengthening it for the greater glory. There is a former glory and a greater glory. Keep your temple strong for the greater glory of the Lord to be revealed in and through you! You are a glory portal and a carrier of His glory. God is getting you set up to shine super bright in Hebrew year 5781! He has given you a divine setup and He needs you to be onboard with His plan.
As God strengthens our personal temples, the structure of the government of our nations becomes stronger. If we want to see this promise to come to pass in our earthly governments today, these truths concerning a rebuilding time from Haggai chapters 1 and 2 are prophetic calls for the nations as well. Your kingdom assignment affects your nation.
Pray this with me and receive your new mantle assignment:
“Father, I agree with You that I was promoted at the beginning of August. I am going to go through the next 40-day process of prayer, worship, Communion, fasting and whatever is necessary to get my temple in order and prepare myself for what is going to take place on Sept. 18, Rosh Hashanah, and also on Sept. 27-28, which is the Day of Atonement. Lord, you are taking me into a greater glory and greater opportunities to share the gospel and to be moved in my kingdom assignment. Lord, as I grow in the greater glory, rebuild and establish my nation into a structure that can house your greater glory in the earth today. Lord, I thank You that you have a call, plan, purpose and destiny on my life and the nations. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
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Dr. Candice Smithyman is an international prophetic revivalist and healing minister who is executive pastor of Freedom Destiny Church and vice president of Dream Mentors International. She is also the host of the Glory Road television broadcast, which showcases international prophetic voices and can be seen on Faith USA, U.K. and Africa, and other outlets. She is the host of Manifest His Presence on the Charisma Podcast Network and On the Glory Road with the Destiny Image Podcast Network.
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