During the Month of Elul, Stay The Course!
LEV 19:16-18
16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour; I am the Lord.
17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.
loshon hará ~ evil speech
…is language that does harm to another. Loshon hara is a profane use of the tongue, language that does harm to other nations and people. Loshon Hara is speech – a wicked and perverse form of lspeech that harms our own futures and threatens our destiny- neutralizing and undermining our power in prayer.
We are very familiar with lotion hara, even though we may have never heard it called by that name. We’ve seen the devastation it causes to another person’s spirit. It’s very familiar.
During this Month of Elul, (August 20 – September 17)
…We are going to keep our eye on our tongues…standing the watch over our own speech. No form of evil speech will escape our tongue. No gossip, no murmuring, so chiding or complaining, no slandering, no rebukes, no grudges, no insults, no toxic or poisonous language of any kind.
We will not allow our personal Panina’s to provoke us while we are on our spiritual journey to the Temple of GOD (1 Samuel). During the Month of Elul, we are on a mission!
We are doing this for a few reasons:
- We are determined to elevate spiritually to a new level.
- Our speech can elevate us or block us in regards to our ability to obtain that higher level.
- Our words have power, (It’s time to really believe that). and that power can only be released through holy speech.
- Our speech is the foundation of all of our prayers and…
- Your prayers are essential. People need your prayers. Your neighbor needs your prayer, right now. Your prayers can mend the World.
Man was Created a Speaking Spirit...
We discussed this last year in setting the stage for our classes. (Highlights of that teaching can be found in MAN IS A SPEAKING SPIRIT )
Gen 2.7 “And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul.“
You will recall, the portion of the verse that reads “man became a living soul” actually reads, man became a speaking spirit.
It is right in this moment that the speech of mankind became Holy.
Your speech is meant to be Holy, to Glorify GOD, to Bless and not curse, to edify and encourage, to tear down (strongholds) and to build up (each other), and so much more good than we can ever imagine!
Our words (and prayers) have no limitations in the spirit. We’ve seen what our words can do in the natural. How much more could they accomplish when we consecrate our words and prayers to GOD?
What makes language holy is that it was given by GOD only to mankind. If we take something as pure and Holy as Language, our gift from GOD, and use it in a profane manner; to hurt, condemn, criticize, offend, destroy, etc. then we corrupt GOD’s language and disrespect GOD.
Gen 2:15 “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
“to dress it and to keep it” from the Hebrew Language is “to avad, to serve and to keep watch, guard/protect. Ref: Adam was not in Agriculture…
Our ears (as Christians) are atuned to hearing, “to dress it and keep it” for so long that we might miss the charge of what GOD really assigned Adam to do.
No where else in scripture is there support for an understanding that Adam was a horticulturist, agriculturalist, etc.
When I speak of this to some students, they feel like the word of GOD is being rewritten before their eyes and it’s very hard to process.
Was Adam a Worshipper or a Farmer?
Was his responsibility to guard and protect the anointing, to praise and worship, to draw closer to GOD? Or to grow plants and vegetables?
What we do find support for in scripture is that Adam was a worshipper, his service was to GOD. That his job was to guard and protect the anointing, that he was to protect GOD’s creation, all of it. (Disobedience affected his ability to carry our his assignment too).
Adam had work to do, certainly. But it was a spiritual kind of work in service to GOD, Avodah. Avodah has been interpreted in scripture as physical work. What I want to focus on instead, is our first work. Before caring for fields and gardens. Before building and creating and inventing.
We have the assignment to build and create with our words.
Getting our speech back in right alignment to GOD, is going to make all the difference in the level of effectiveness and fervency of our prayers.
How far we can go walking in the anointing will all begin and depend with our speech.
Mankind is a speaking spirit. Our words have spiritual impact. GOD created the world through the spoken word. Our speech can build up or tear down this creation.
Speak life and live.
RELATED ARTICLES:
- ELUL… Seasoning Our Words With Salt
- ELUL, DAY 4 –Words Are Like Arrows…
- Chofetz Chaim – A Lesson A Day
