10 Questions that lead to "Personal Change"
by Pastor Moh | September 11, 2013
The Shepherd’s House
2013 Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) 21-Days of Fasting & Prayer
(September-13th @ 6-AM to October-4th @ 6-AM)
“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”(1Cor.5:7-8)
The Hebrew word Teshuvah means REPENTANCE: returning, retracing our steps, coming home. It belongs to the biblical vision in which sin means dislocation, and punishment is exile: Adam and Eve’s exile from Eden, Israel’s exile from its land. A sin is an act that does not belong in one’s life; sin is transgressing the moral boundaries of this world. When one who acts in ways that are NOT in line with God’s Word, s/he eventually discovers that s/he does not belong in proper alignment with God and this world. Increasingly s/he places themselves outside the relationship – of family, community and of being at one with the Holy Spirit – that make one who s/he is. The most characteristic sense of sin is that of being lost. Teshuvah (Repentance) means discovering your way back home again (Luke 15).
We do not need a Temple to secure atonement. The Lord Jesus Christ has already accomplished it for us! But we must remember His sacrifice by setting aside a “holy time.” On this special day on Sep-13, our gathering becomes a holy place and every person will be standing directly before God. By turning to Him in Teshuvah (Repentance) it is as if we had brought an offering into the holy place in heaven because God hears every cry that comes from the heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb.4:14-16), we speak to God directly and He accepts our prayer. So it has been for almost two thousand years….
So, during our 21-days of Teshuvah, please reflect and respond to these 10-Questions....These are the 10- Personal “Reflection Questions” for Prayer, Meditation, Re-Focus, Repentance and Reconciliation during our 21-days of fasting and prayer:
- Is “CLOSENESS” to the LORD central to my ultimate life goal? What’s standing in the way? What do I have to get “rid of” and what do I need to “work on” to achieve greater closeness with the LORD and His Way?
- Who and what is the LORD asking me to forgive? Why is the Lord asking me to forgive? Am I having a difficult time with this issue? Why or Why not?
- If I could live my life over again, what would I change? What is the Lord asking me to change right now?
- What would bring me more JOY than anything else in this world? Why?
- What project or goal, if left undone, will I regret the most at this time next year during the Yom Kippur Prayer Period of October 2014?
- If I knew I could not fail, what would I undertake to accomplish in life?
- What am I “working at” right now in my life that requires the most time and energy? Is this what the LORD wants me to do with my time?
- What do I ideally want to “work at” – i.e. what do I want to be spending most of my time and energy doing? What are the LORD’s Word and Will to me on this matter?
- Am I spending enough time in prayer, mediation, worship and the study of God’s Word (2Tim.2:15; 3:16-17)? What adjustments must I make in this area? What is my plan going forward in life?
- If I could give my children and/or the next generation THREE pieces of advice, what would they be?