At 11:59pm, December 31st 2014 we said goodbye to the year 2014 and ushered in a new year full of hope and expectation.  A new and glorious chance at a life full of love, joy and a healthy dose of the peace of our LORD.   The year of the horse still has a month to play out, ending February 18th 2015 and then the year of the sheep begins.  It is also a sabbatical year in the Jewish calendar and a lot is going on this year.  On March 20th, when the new year ( religious) starts in Jerusalem there will be a solar eclipse and then two weeks later during the full moon on April 4th on Passover there will be a lunar eclipse coinciding with the Jewish Holy Feast of Passover.  It brings to mind Acts 2:20-21  “The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.”,which is being quoted by Luke from the book of Joel in the Old Testament.  So we will see the sun turned dark and then the moon to blood this year.  That particular lunar eclipse is a blood moon.  The part I like best is the second part of the verse:  All who call on the name of the LORD shall be saved..  What a start to the year.

I was just thinking of what I wanted to accomplish this year, what goals to set forth and what family adventures we might endeavor when this small little New Year thought popped into my mind.  I was googling what animal came next in the chinese new year and was simply going to state it was going to be the year of the sheep staring February 19th.  That made me think of how I used to collect sheep and lambs for years, and how I set up my nursery for my first born son with lambs and sheep.  It was the cutest and sweetest layette I had ever seen.   Then that made me think of how God compares us to sheep and that we like sheep have gone astray, so I googled what animal might be represented in the hebrew calendar, if in fact they had animals characters like the chinese.  They don’t, but the Jewish New Year,this year 2015,  is a year of KIngs blew up the page.  I had managed to read several books last year about the fairly unusual occurrence of 2 blood moons coinciding with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles in 2014 and again this year, a blood moon at Passover and then on the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah.   Then to find out it is a Jewish New Year for Kings and a Sabbatical year, a year for the land to rest.   My head was spinning and not with thoughts of building or jewelry sales or turning 50, which I actually will do this year, the LORD willing; but what if anything did this mean?

Now even though I am an avid student of the bible and teach bible study weekly I am not prone to jump off every whim of “signs” that seem to be popular in today’s circles; but I have to admit this was at least something that I should pause to reflect upon.  I am particularly interested in this as I believe the Lord has called me to write a bible study about the Feast of the Lord.  I have been studying and teaching about this topic for 18 years and it is my passion.   My Tuesday morning group encouraged me to write it and teach it in a 10 week format.  So I was planning on writing out the goals to get me there and time to set aside to spend with the Lord in prayer and study, but here I am on a detour yet again.  I love my detours with the Lord.

So what shall I make of this miraculous year we will have, this 2015, year of the Kings, year of the resting of the Land, year of solar eclipses and lunar blood moon eclipses and sheep?  Any signs?  Any reason to talk about this?  I think so, but not for the reasons you might think.   Remember the best part of the verse?  All who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, that is powerful.  ALL, that is pretty inclusive, it means ALL.   All who were in the houses marked with the blood of the lamb were saved that first and only Passover,  both Hebrew and Egyptian, slave or free, rich or poor, sinner or righteous, your status was insignificant in light of that blood.  The angel of the LORD, the LORD himself Passed over the  blood and protected the first born under the sign of the blood.  There were Egyptians who may not have known this God well, but they knew they believed He would do what He said, they got under that blood and ate the passover meal in haste with their Hebrew hosts.  Now I don’t know how many, but we do know there were some.   That gives me such hope in the LORD and what He accomplished on the cross.  Not what I do, how I do it, how much I know or how good I was that day–but whether I believe He is a God who will do what he says; and if so there must be a call to action.  Faith is not passive, if you believe it drives you to act.  Belief that does not cause you to behave in a manner that demonstrates your belief is not belief at all.

Many will discount these signs, there will be scoffers and those who say “where is this promise of the coming of the Lord,? for ever since our fathers fell asleep it continues just as it was from the beginning of creation”  What if nothing happens?  Will people be disillusioned? What happens if the opposite is true and Christ returns this Feast of Trumpets and at the sound of the last trumpet the dead will arise and those who are alive will be caught up to meet Him in the air?  Now of course there are several things that must take place prior to this happening but sometimes things can happen in the blink of an eye that completely change your life forever.

So back to our blood moons and Year of Kings.  This I know for sure, in the days of turmoil and unrest in Judea, when Rome occupied Jerusalem and the Jewish people were in anguish over a puppet non Jewish ruler ( Herod) there was an undercurrent of revolution in the air. Many messiahs were popping up all over the place and deceiving many, there was guerrilla warfare, oppression and heavy tax burdens and a struggle for what little power Rome afforded the Jewish people.  They were looking for this Messiah-it was as if the air itself spoke that the time was at hand, an undercurrent of scent, or sensation that perked the interest in more than a few searching.  They had all the tools, they were learned men who searched the scrolls, read the signs, prayed and offered sacrifice, they were looking–BUT FOR WHAT OR WHOM?  They sought a King, one to overthrow the Roman government and put the government on His shoulders, this wonderful counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father.  They missed it.  They missed that He would come first as the suffering servant Jesus Ben Joseph, ( son of Joseph), the lamb of the Passover, the blood to save us and not just those in local houses under the blood of the lamb but to all who believe, including the gentiles.   God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and a light to the gentiles a long time ago.  That whosoever believes would have life eternal.

So does this mean that our King is coming this year of the Kings?  I guess it could be, but the great falling away hasn’t happened, although it does seem that the love of the body has grown cold;  maybe it has and we are too politically correct to notice.   Maybe the man of lawlessness has been revealed and not just as of yet set himself up to be God and worshiped as God.  But all this being said, if the most devout and learned men of the time of Christ missed His first coming, will we be ready at His second coming.?  This time will be  a show stopper not a quiet couple in a cave full of animals in relative obscurity.    I mean, the dead rise out of the ground and we who are alive are translated into our new bodies and fly up to meet Him in the air–every eye will see, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.  They will not be able to stop themselves, they will know instinctively Who it is on the white horse   So in light of all this I am choosing to study and pray.  I am ready, for I trust and I believe.  And as simple as that sounds, that is the key.  but do not take belief so easily, as if believing is simple,  Believing means to adhere to, lean your whole personality onto Him, trust when the world and its culture stand opposed.  Belief is an action not a thought.  if you believed you had cancer you would do all you can to fight it, change diet, study about it, talk to people who know more than you, research doctors etc.,but belief in Christ these days is just a statement, a footnote in life.   If you could see heaven opened for a second you would tell everyone to believe, you would never stop in your quest to tell others of this life transformation as a new creation in Christ.  The disciples believed right?, well kinda…..but after they saw Him die and appear resurrected they did a 180 and couldn’t be stopped. They wanted everyone to know, for they had seen.  Blessed are those who believe and have not seen yet still believe and their whole lives change course.  I believe He has exactly what we need to learn and hear written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and oh Yeah, I believe she was a virgin and the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she became pregnant and get this I actually believe He died, totally dead, three day and nights and then BAM the earth could not contain HIm and He was resurrected into a new body–wow  I believe a dead man came back to life—That is a wild story.  But it is true, I know it is true because I know Him.  He doesn’t talk to me in an audible voice and I have only had several of what you could call visions or glimpses,but I hear Him.  I know when He asks me to do something because I always know it will involve forgiveness and humility, two qualities I can’t do without His power.

So I will look heavenward this spring and again this fall. What a great year to write about the feasts, they are simply amazing in revealing Jesus Christ.   I will continue to call on the name of the LORD and I will tell others what I know and pray for them so the Holy Spirit can overshadow them and they will know this one true God.

My goals this horse/sheep/kings/sabbatical/blood moon/solar eclipse year?  To believe, to Trust , to Call on the LORD to look for the signs as I know God placed them there for us to read. For I know for we are children of the day and not the night.  We will not be taken by surprise like those who do not know what to look for so I hope I get the pleasure of sharing what I know so they may know and they may also call on the name of the LORD and be saved.

Many blessings upon you and your families- health and contentment, peace and joy and most of all a heart to believe and to tell others what you know.  Who knows that you may be called for such a time as this to stand in the gap for your family and break old family curses or patterns of destruction-that you may be the caralyst God has called to spark the flame for others to hunger and thirst after righteousness.   What a calling, what an Amazing God we serve.

The best part?  God will use the ordinary and mundane to accomplish this.  He will use my bible study, my new study on the feasts, my horses, my Chloe and Isabel jewelry as I meet new women and help them grow in beauty both inside and a little glamour on the outside, He will use my family, my husband’s company, tigerhart construction as I start on a new and exciting venture this year….all we have we give to Him to glorify His Son.  I don’t have to be anything extraordinary, just allow Him to use the season I am in and the things I am doing with my hands and He will bring the harvest, the increase…..many will know and call on Him in those days…Many will be saved.

Questions?

send them my way anytime-One last goal- I will need a name for this ministry while I write.  Names are good, they give meaning and a story.  Suggestions always welcome–Pictures to come soon

tigerhart45@gmail.com