Tishrei - Time to Press In

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Tishrei, the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar, is filled with blessings.  It is significant that seven is the number of completion, fullness and perfection.  Genesis 2:3 tells us, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done."  This He did after He "saw all that He had made, and it was very good." (Genesis 1:31)  Seven is an important number in the Kingdom of God!
 
When God completes something it is always good!  The fall feasts, in the seventh month, are a celebration of what has been completed and an opportunity to look forward to what is in the future. Our God, who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), always has more for us. Tishrei is a month to pause and remember God's goodness and experience His glory. This is not a time to be passive but to press in to receive all that God has for us.  As Paul says in Philippines 3:12, "...I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."  He makes Himself available to us in this season by calling us to tabernacle (sit at the table) with Him.
 
For those of us who are hungry for more of God, this is a time to push forward for more intimacy with Him.  The goal is to touch Him so that He releases into us more of Himself.  We would do well to emulate the woman who had the issue of bleeding that is written about in Matthew 9, Mark 5 and Luke 8.  For 12 years she suffered greatly!  Mark writes what she must have been thinking:  "If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed." (Verse 28)  Matthew puts in this way:  "If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed." (Verse 21)
 
This was a desperate woman!  She had been on a pursuit to be healed for 12 years but saw no improvement.  She found herself in the midst of a crowd of people following Jesus to the home of a synagogue ruler named Jairus whose 12 year old daughter was dying.  Luke reports, "As Jesus was on His way, the crowd almost crushed Him." (Verse 42)  Imagine the desperation she must have felt to push through this huge, unruly crowd!  Remember also that she would have had to ignore societal rules that forbid women from interacting with religious leaders.
 
Something inside of this woman told her that this was her kairos moment.  (Kairos is a Greek word meaning qualitatively new.  e.g. "See, I am doing a new thing!" - Isaiah 43:19) She had to seize the moment because God was going to do a new thing in her life.  He had made Himself available and His Kingdom was at hand.  As she pressed in to touch Jesus, "she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." (Mark 5:29)  The power that was in Jesus was released to this woman who had the Chutzpah to press in to touch Him.  The action taken by her was not easy.  When Jesus asked who touched Him, she "came trembling and fell at His feet."  (Luke 8:47)  Jesus affirmed her faith and sent her forward in peace into the new thing that was being done in her life.
 
Receive this story as an encouragement to press in for more of the Lord for yourself.  We are in the seventh month where Jesus invites us to tabernacle with Him. This is a kairos moment!  May our pursuit of Jesus be as desperate as this woman's. It is our unbridled worship that touches Jesus.  In return, He releases His healing and restores and renews us.