GOD’S CYCLE OF BLESSING

God’s Yearly Cycle of Life and The Monthly Rosh Chodesh

God’s Yearly Cycle of LifeThe appointed times or the Feasts of the Lord are God’s yearly cycle. Each season of the year is special to God. As we understand God’s purposes for each season, we learn to walk in wisdom and prosper. God uses each time, each season, and each month to work in our lives and help press us forward into our call and destiny. He readily responds when we come to Him and answers our prayers in every season. Likewise, if we align with God’s timing, we can walk in His blessings.

“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.  Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest  of  the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.  Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD. Exodus 23:14-17

These feasts are literally appointments with God, and he said, in effect, “get out your calendar and set aside these three times. I want to meet with you at these specific times to accomplish some specific things in your lives each year!”God is observing the feasts. God chooses to do His great works at His appointed times.He intended these feasts for all of His people. His “appointed times” are eternal. They are not temporary holidays. The feasts are for all time.

It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. Lev 23:31God is still waiting to keep His appointments. If we are willing to meet with Him, we receive great blessing.God’s appointed times are designed to create a rhythm in our lives. They align our lives with God’s timing and help us to be in synch with the Spirit of God so we are at the right place at the right time.

They are family celebrations designed so that our children will grow up with the rhythm of God’s cycle of blessing built into them. Many don’t experience God’s blessing because they miss their windows of opportunity. If we align our lives with God’s timing, we don’t miss the opportunities God has for us.

What is Pictured in the Feasts?

Each of these feasts has a different focus and is designed to accomplish some specific “spiritual transactions” in our lives.

FIRST MONTH: Passover (Redemption and Cleansing). Passover celebrates redemption from sin and cleansing from impurity. When Passover is celebrated, we experience again the joy of being “redeemed by the blood of the lamb!”

THIRD MONTH: Pentecost (Provision)Pentecost is a celebration of God’s provision. The physical provision of the wheat harvest, the provision of God’s revelation in the Torah, and the provision of the Holy Spirit.

SEVENTH MONTH: Tabernacles (Experiencing God’s Glory)Tabernacles celebrates God’s glory – His Presence – dwelling with His people. At Tabernacles, God wants to lead us afresh into the joy of life in His Presence.

The Feasts and the Tabernacle:

OUTER COURT – Place of Redemption & Cleansing. We find the altar and the laver, a place to be delivered from the defilement of sin. HOLY PLACE – Celebration of God’s Provision. The table of showbread acknowledged God’s physical provision. The altar of Incense pictured the provision of access to God through Prayer.HOLY OF HOLIES – The place God’s glory dwelt in the midst of His people.

God’s appointed times were designed to put you on an escalator going up. Every year they take you through a set of key spiritual transactions that draw you ever-closer into His presence. They form a cycle designed to break the enemy’s power and restore you to God’s blessing.If we celebrate these feasts, not as religious rituals or traditional observances – but as times to meet with God and allow Him access to our lives, they enable us to draw continually closer to God and set us free from Satan’s oppression.

God’s monthly cycle is what the Jews call ROSH CHODESH. This Holy Day is very important to God, yet most believers never talk about or honor this cycle.

Why are we not experiencing what the Bible promises? The reason is because we are not doing what the Bible instructs us to do. But God is restoring them to us and one of this is the blessing of Rosh Chodesh.

Rosh Chodesh is Hebrew for “head of the month,” which is a joyful celebration to the Lord held on the first day of every month. Rosh Chodesh is a time to gather together and seek God. The Bible call this celebration a “new moon” festival.

O LORD, our Lord, howmajestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth!You have displayed Your splendor above the heavens.

When I see and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,The moon and the stars, which You have established,O LORD, our Lord, how majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth! Psalm 8: 1, 3, 9

Who alone stretches out the heavensAnd tramples down the waves of the sea;Who made [the constellations] the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,And the [vast starry] spaces of the south; Job 9:7-9

Clearly, the Scriptures validate there is nothing evil or occult about the sun, moon, or the constellations. They are part of God’s creation. The enemy has simply tried to pervert what God has made. The heavens were designed to point us to God, but Satan has enticed mankind to use

Who commands the sun, and it does not shine;Who seals up the stars [from view];

The heavens for an ungodly purpose. His strategy for this is called astrology. The science of astrology is man’s attempt to discern the future from the stars and gain revelation without having to seek God or hear His voice. Astrology is a form of divination, which is a sin. If you dabble in horoscopes, you are disobeying God’s Word and opening the door to demonic oppression in your life.God gave us the heavens as one of His good gifts to provide us with revelation of who He is and to remind us of the times

God has established for us to seek Him.

 Then God said, “Let there be light-bearers (sun, moon, stars) in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be useful for signs (tokens) [of God’s provident care], and for marking seasons, days, and years; Genesis 1:14Two significant words to describe the heavens:1.God says the heavens are there to provide SIGNS. Oth – Heb word meaning “a signal, omen, or warning.” So we know that God gives warnings and signals in the heavens.

I will show wonders in heaven aboveAnd signs in the earth beneath:Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.The sun shall be turned into darkness,And the moon into blood,Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. Acts 2:19-20

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:29-30

2. Seasons – Heb word mo’ed, meaning an “appointed time, an appointment, a fixed time or season.” Mo’ed is the same word used for a biblical feast. God tells us that the stars are there to mark our seasons, and to remind us of the “appointed times” to meet with Him.

The heavens are a revelation of God’s times. God arranged the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens to establish His times in our lives.

Rosh Chodesh is an expression of the firstfruits principle.

Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it,  that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His Name (Presence). Deut 26: 1-2

He will set you high above all the nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor: and that you shall be a holy people [set apart and consecrated] to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken. Deut 26:19

From this we recognize that firstfruits truly is a major key to living in the favor and prosperity of God.

Firstfruits is honoring God by giving back to Him the first and best of all He has given us. To comprehend the significance of the firstfruits, we must understand that in all of life, there’s something very special about the first. On that day men were appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes. Neh 12:44

The Bible describes three categories of giving:

And [we obligate ourselves] to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually, Nehemiah 10:351. Firstfruits Giving – is a special way to honor God. By giving God the first of what you receive, you acknowledge that He is truly first in your life, and is honored above everything else you hold special.

 We will bring the first [and best] of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the [olive] oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. Neh 10:37

2. Tithes – is 10% of your income given in obedience to God. God has claimed the tithe as His own. We don’t give a tithe, we pay a tithe. The tithe is like a tax you pay as a citizen of the Kingdom.

For the Israelites and the sons of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the chambers; the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers are there. In this manner, we will not neglect the house of our God. Neh 10:39

3. Contributions/Offerings – voluntary expressions of thanksgiving to God as an act of worship in acknowledgement of God’s blessing.Specific blessings are promised for all 3 kinds of giving, but the fullness of blessing is released when we worship Him with all 3.

Significance of FirstfruitsFirstfruits giving accomplishes 3 things: 1.It honors God as your source, which is a declaration that God has blessed you.2.It sanctifies (makes holy) the rest of your income. If the first portion [of dough offered as the first fruits] is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root (Abraham, the patriarchs) is holy, so are the branches (the Israelites). Romans 11:16

3. It releases the fullness of God’s blessing.

The first of all the first fruits of every kind, and every contribution and offering of every kind, from all your contributions and offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priest the first of your coarse meal and bread dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house. Ezek 44:30

Honor the LORD with your wealthAnd with the first fruits of all your crops (income);Then your barns will be abundantly filledAnd your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3: 9 - 10

God wants us to develop a mentality of firstfruits in every area of life. Part of that involves giving God the firstfruits of our time. Just as giving God the firstfruits of our money releases His blessing on our finances, so giving God the firstfruits of our time releases His blessing on our time.The Jews celebrated this special feasts at the start of the month. They sought God’s favor by dedicating the firstfruits of the month to Him. They would gather in the temple to watch for the new moon, and when it appeared, they would hold a special praise

Celebration.In holding their “new month” celebration, they were declaring, “the very first thing we will do with our time this month is to joyfully celebrate to the Lord.”

People who celebrated Rosh Chodesh:1 Sam 20:5 – David2Chron 2:4 - SolomonNeh 10:32 - Nehemiah2Kings 4:23 - Shunamite woman

Rosh Chodesh celebration was characterized by specific things:Hosea 2:11, Ps 81:3-7 – AQ joyful celebrationAmos 8:5 – A day of rest from ordinary work.Num 28: 11 – 15 – A day to give special offerings to God.Isa 66:23, Num 10:10 – A day of worship.1Sam 20:5 – A day of celebration and feasting.

Col 2: 16 “Let no one sit in judgment on you with regard to a New Moon or a Sabbath.”

Therefore let no one judge you in regard to food and drink or in regard to [the observance of] a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ. AMP 16-17

 So don’t let anyone criticize you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating Jewish holidays and feasts or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.  17 For these were only temporary rules that ended when Christ came. They were only shadows of the real thing—of Christ himself. (TLB)

The monthly firstfruits celebration is to be a joyful time to experience the Lord and gives us a picture of a wonderful spiritual reality. It is designed to teach us about Yeshua, the new beginning to bring us life everlasting.

The reality of the blessings released by Rosh Chodesh is a powerful testimony. When all generations experience what it is like to live in the continual release of blessing, God is seen as a good Father who loves and blesses all of His children.

“And it shall be that from New Moon to New MoonAnd from Sabbath to Sabbath,All mankind will come to bow down and worship before Me,” says the LORD. Isa 66:23

The Heb word God uses to describe His feasts/appointed times:HAG – the verb “to dance”. A celebration filled with joy and gladness.HAGAG – rejoicing, describes the festive attitudes and actions of celebrating a feast.God wants us to enjoy Him and experience His goodness as we celebrate the cycle of His blessing each week, month, and year.They are times of joy and fellowship. If we miss the feasts, we won’t have what we need to prosper.