​George Mueller, Christian evangelist, and director of the Ashley Down Orphanage in Bristol, England experienced tests of faith on multiple occasions, many through caring for over 10,000 orphans in his lifetime. That is why his conclusions on how faith grows are ones we should respect. He said, "The only way to learn a strong faith is to endure great trials. We learn faith by standing firm amid the most severe of tests." "Faith does not operate in the realm of possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends." "Trials, difficulties, and obstacles are the food of faith. God delights in increasing the faith of His children."
 
Looking at these statements, I cannot help but wonder if we are in a time where God is expanding our faith. The recent losses and challenges that are before us tend to shake our faith. The catastrophic events of the past year, including fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, severe illnesses, economic downturns, and financial challenges, have landed in our backyard bringing great loss and resulting in emotional shock and trauma. It is during these times that we find it easy to question the truth upon which our lives have been built. Trust in God and His Word is where we must take a stand, especially during trials.
 
King David, the King of Israel that was hand-picked by God, had multiple opportunities to express his trust in God, and his psalms are ripe with the fruit of it. He made a choice to trust in God and His plans for his welfare. Here are a few of my favorites: Psalm 16:8 - "I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 62:1, 2, 8 - "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken...Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him for God is our refuge." Psalm 125:1, 2 - "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore."
 
It is our focus and our confession that will help to build our faith. We must focus on the Father heart of God when circumstances shake our foundation. He is a dad of compassion and love that promises to redeem whatever shakes our faith. As we stand on the Word of God, we must confess it. Hearing the truth from our own lips will strengthen our foundation. Before Jesus returned to heaven He reminded His disciples of this truth:  "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) And let us remember 1 John 5:5. "Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
 
When George Mueller had a need, he and those who helped him at the orphanage kept it a secret. They agreed that they would only share their needs with God in prayer. There were times when George did not know how he would feed the orphans. But provision always came, albeit frequently at the eleventh hour. Imagine what this practice did for his faith! Pastor John Maxwell said, "There are a lot of things in life that our difficult to understand. Faith allows the soul to go beyond what eyes can see."
 
Let us cling to the words of Peter in his first book. "...You may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even through refined by fire--may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:6, 7) It is through our faith that we reveal Jesus to others, and isn't this what we are called to do?

​There is a divine order to the fall feasts. God planned that repentance would come before celebration because repentance leads to joy. Sin holds us back from God's purposes in our lives. When we have cleansed ourselves through repentance before God, we are freed from the hindrances that stop the Lord's blessings from flowing. When we repent before the Lord a door is opened for times of refreshing to come. Consequently, five days after Yom Kippur the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot takes place.
 
After getting right with God, the Jews celebrate in fellowship with Him for seven days and nights. Preparation for this feast occurs through the building of a sukkah or tabernacle. This dwelling was frequently constructed of broken branches. The roof of the Sukkah is to be open enough for its occupants to see heaven from earth and pray for the meeting of the two. It is a reminder that God takes us from the wilderness and bring us into the Promised Land. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:12) This is what brings us into intimacy with the Lord. The Feast, as it is often called, is the culmination of the seven yearly feasts. It is the seventh of seven yearly feasts occurring in the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar. The number seven is the one of perfection and completion.
 
There is a greater significance to this Feast. God's great desire has always been to dwell with us, His people. What He planned is described in John 1:14. "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father full of grace and truth."  In essence, God came to dwell in a temporary body so that we could get to know Him and He could draw us closer to Himself.
 
When the priests in the temple called their people to join them in the celebration of Sukkot there were two main themes:  Light and Living Water. The festival included illumination of the temple by placing four enormous gold candlesticks about 75 feet high in the Court of Women. There were four golden bowls, filled with pure oil, on top of the candlesticks that were lit for all to see. It is reported that when the lights from these candlesticks shown, every court in Jerusalem was lit up. Did Jesus not say, "I am the light of the world?" (John 8:12) He lights up our lives and calls us to be lights to the world.
 
The other part of the celebration was called "The Water Libation Ceremony." The priests drew water from the Pool of Siloam, walked through the Water Gate at the temple, and then poured the water over the altar. This was a significant sacrifice, because Israel would have been without rain for six months. Prayers of thanksgiving to God for the fall rains to come would then be prayed. It was during this portion of The Feast that Jesus declared who He is. John 7:37, 38 says, "On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.'"
 
Why don't we let Jesus light up our lives and quench our thirst for Him in this season of the Feast of Tabernacles?

​Saturday, October 12, was a Yom Kippur like none other. There was a convergence of events that only God could have put together. Humility was the foundation for them as described in 2 Chronicles 7:14, 15. "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." The holiest day on God's calendar is Yom Kippur or The Day of Atonement. It was the only day when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies to make a blood offering for the sins of Israel. It was and continues to be the one annual day that God summons His people to repentance and renewal. Today we understand that God removed ungodliness and poured out redemption through the blood of His son, Jesus. His sacrifice removed our sin and shame for all time. The sacred Day of Atonement is to be one of fasting and prayer in acknowledgement of who God is and what He has done.
 
Joel 2:12-16 expresses God's heart for HIs people. "'Even now,' declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.’ Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity...Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly..."
 
In 2017 God set into motion another event that He wanted to happen on the Washington, D.C. Mall on the Day of Atonement. He gave His servant, Lou Engle, a dream of one million women coming to the Mall to pray for the next generation and our nation. At the time, Lou did not realize this would be The Day of Atonement. All he had was a date and an understanding that "the Lord was opening a door of opportunity for the saving of our nation." He was encouraged by his friend, Pastor Francis Frangipane, who had studied the history of revival. Francis learned that an organized prayer movement preceded every revival except one—The Jesus Movement of the late sixties. He spoke with God about this mystery and was told:  "I answered the prayers of a million mothers." Those prayers broke the chains of evil that tried to capture our youth.
 
Remembering how Queen Esther, along with Mordecai and the Jews in Persia, had fasted and prayed for their nation, Lou knew that another Esther moment was before America. He was greatly encouraged when he realized that the target date was The Day of Atonement. Lou set up a web site to explain what God was up to. The site explains that the "public battle for the revival and reformation of America" would occur at the seat of the US government. It was Esther's intercession before the king that saved the Jews from genocide. “Now, her story has become the divine template and inspiration for every generation who lives under the shadow of anti-Christ legislation, persecution, and anti-family ideologies which threaten to destroy the very social fabric and foundation that a nation was built upon, was preserved by, and by which it prospered."
 
The God-given, "holy prescription" to heal our land is still Joel 2:12-16. This prescription was followed yesterday at the D.C. Mall on Yom Kippur. The assembly of about 250,000 people consecrated themselves in what was called a "Global Esther Moment." In a posture of humility, sins were confessed, repentance took place, and the spirit of Ishtar (one of rebellion, sexual immorality, and perversion that is trying to possess our nation) was broken. Decrees were made to agree with the Kingdom of Heaven. The ten-hour gathering concluded with communion where we were reminded that we are a Covenant people, led by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is time for us to take back our nation! Who knows if we were not put into our positions for "such a time as this?"

​It happened on October 7, 2023, a special Sabbath day called Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in Torah), the eighth and last day added to the Feast of Tabernacles. In Israel, this day is celebrated with dancing in the streets and the synagogues with Torah scrolls. It marks the end of the annual cycle of public reading of Torah. The end of Deuteronomy is read, the scrolls are rewound to begin a new cycle of reading, and the beginning of Genesis is read. There is great joy and excitement on this day.
 
I imagine that Simchat Torah will never be the same in Israel because last year the Israelis were attacked by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip in an unprovoked assault at the beginning of this day. At the end of the day twelve hundred Israelis were murdered, and two hundred, fifty victims were kidnapped. The brutality of the terrorists from Gaza is difficult to comprehend as many were raped, tortured, and terrorized.
 
The outcome of the Sabbath attack on October 7 was the beginning of a war that still rages. Other players have come into the fray including Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels from Yemen. All these terror groups are encouraged and supplied with weapons and ammunition from Iran. Whenever there are conflicts of this nature innocent people get caught in the battle and suffer from injury, loss of life, and displacement from their homes. Even last week, Iran upped the ante by sending about two hundred missiles into Israel. The threat of a regional war is very real. Those who are living in the aftermath of October 7 have been traumatized and bear the scars and injuries from their losses, both internally and externally.
 
Add to this situation the fact that antisemitism has been on the rise. This mindset is global! Chosen People Ministries published a report that confirms that antisemitism has tripled in the last twelve months against Jews living outside of Israel. It is my opinion that the growing display of antisemitism is demonically inspired. With the one-year anniversary of the attack on Israel being upon us, how should Christians respond?
 
Scripture must be the foundation of our commitment to the Jewish people. Our Messiah handpicked Jews as His chosen people. However, "...His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility." (Ephesians 2:15,16) According to Genesis 15:18, God's first covenant with Abram declared that His descendants would have the land of Israel. However, years of lies and prejudice have fueled hate against the Jews and Christians.
 
We are in a spiritual battle led by Satan himself. History shows how he has attempted to irradicate the Jews in every generation because God chose His people to be His instrument of redemption and blessings for all nations. He also ordained that our Messiah would come through His covenant people. As Isaiah 62:1 says, "For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch." We must stand for the Jewish people and pray for them along with others who need to know the love of Jesus. The Jewish New Year, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles are upon us. Let us pray for the tender-loving mercies of God to be poured out upon all people, but especially those hurting families in the Middle East.