Selah 2023 Day 1

August 7, 2023
Selah 2023 Day 1
Selah 2023 Day 1
Selah 2023 Day 1
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When Moses confronted the Egyptian and Israelite fighting, he accidentally caused a death. The Israelites questioned his authority even though Moses was anointed to be the deliverer of his people. He was acting in the wrong time and place because he did not fully know who he was in Christ. Press in this week and ask the Lord who he says you are.

Good morning and thank you for joining us for our first selah devotional of 2023. This is your host, Pastor Jacob. And so for the next 21 days, the refuge Church will be doing a fast and prayer time for Selah. And during this time, we're going to have a podcast devotional available for you here each day on our Refuge app. So we're going to be praying just that each word that you hear here will be timely for your walk with Christ and that even as you're deep into your fast, that you would be encouraged to keep pressing on.

And today we're joined none other than our lead pastor, Pastor Jay. So welcome, Pastor Jay, for joining us today. Hey, man. Thank you, Pastor Jacob. It's awesome.

I'm always excited about Selah. I have a love hate relationship with fasting, but I love this time because it's an opportunity for us to hit the pause button, go deeper in intimacy with the Lord, really hear from him, start the year off. And I think what we do in the beginning sets the tone for the entire year. And so welcome. I say to all of you, maybe some of you have never participated in Selah with us before.

Maybe you've never fasted a meal in your life. And that's really the case every single year. I am excited for you. I'm excited about how God's going to meet you. It won't be easy, but I promise you it will be worth it.

And there's going to be things that God does and you that you'll point back to, I believe, for the rest of your life to these 21 days. So, man, get ready. God's going to do some great things. Awesome. Well, Pastor Jay, if you want to go ahead and jump in, what word do you have for us today?

So obviously, we just began a brand new year just a few days ago, a little over a week ago. And of course, it's 2023. But the year really began on the Jewish calendar back in September of 2022. And on the Jewish calendar, it's the year 5783. And so there's significance to that because numbers and letters in the Hebrew Alphabet and on the Jewish calendar are both alpha and numeric.

So they have more than just one meaning that you see. So if we break down the year 5783, that's the year that we're in right now. We find that the third letter in the Hebrew Alphabet is the letter gamil for 3, 5783. And if you Break that down. When gamill is spelled out, it actually has the numerical value of 83.

And the definition that we find there is overflow and abundance. So I want you to think about that as we begin Selah and as we've started a brand new year on the Gregorian calendar, 2023, the Jewish calendar, 5783. In the natural, we would assume that 2023 will be a year of struggle, not abundance and overflow, a year of struggle with the inflation like it is with food costs soaring, with gas prices still high, with interest rates up and stocks down. But the overflow and the abundance that I believe God wants to bring doesn't just relate to finances, although I do believe that God has a great track record of blessing his people in the midst of famines or in the midst of lack and hard times. But it goes way beyond just finances.

Psalm 103, 2, 4 says this. Praise the Lord my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. The word benefits in verse two is the word gamile.

Forget not all of the abundance and the overflow of the Lord. And then the psalmist goes on to describe blessings and overflow that go beyond finances. What are they? He talks about forgiveness, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. Healing is a blessing.

Who redeems your life from the pit? Who crowns you with love and compassion? Genesis 12:3 says, we're blessed so that we can be a blessing. Jewish rabbis say that the letter gamil, if you look it up, you can Google it. Look it up.

Looks like a man walking or running. And if you look at it, he would be walking from right to left. And of course, if you read Hebrew, you read from right to left. So the rabbis would say, what is he walking towards? Or what is he running towards?

And you discover that the next letter in the Alphabet is dalet and it means a poor person. So the one who's blessed is moving towards the one who is in need in order to be a blessing to them. So I think the opportunities are in front of us in 2023 or in 5783, that we're blessed. In Genesis 12:3, we're blessed to be a blessing. So I think God's going to give us opportunities to run towards those who are in need, towards the poor person.

It's not just financially in need, but it's other things as well. The psalmist says, forget not his benefits, forget not his gamil. When we remind ourselves, or we remember or we reattach ourselves to his benefits and his blessings, the benefit of forgiveness and healing and redemption, and the crown of righteousness. One other thing that's related to 83 and 80 is the letter pen, which means mouth, and it relates to language and gamille, those combined. We find in Luke 6:45 that it says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So the letter gamill represents the Holy Spirit. John 20:22. Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, receive the Holy Spirit. So out of his mouth comes this proclamation, this blessing of receiving the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4.

The Holy Spirit comes, and out of their mouths they speak a heavenly language, and they're given power to go and to represent Jesus to the world. If there was ever a time, Pastor Jacob, for us to speak the oracles of God, the heart of God, the prophecies of God, the word of God, it's now we've received his benefits and now we have to walk in 2023 towards those who are poor in spirit or those who are hurting, or those who need healing. And we speak the truth of the word of God with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So out of the abundance and the overflow of the presence of God in our lives, we just become a conduit to channel those blessings to others and to authentically represent who Jesus is through the person of the Holy Spirit. So I'm excited, man.

I think it's going to be an amazing year to speak on behalf of God. When you think about talking about overflow and abundance as listeners are hopefully thinking about, or they're already starting their selah fast. From your experience, what would you encourage them about an expectation of overflow from this fast? Like, what have you seen in your life when you fasted and overflow as a result?

Most of us have probably heard the expression, freely you have received freely give. Proverbs says, he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. So I would say, don't be a hoarder of God's blessings. Freely and generously give those blessings away, because God is always going to be faithful, to replenish and to pour back into you. That's good.

Yeah. I was thinking something that always strikes me in a fast is obviously you're generally seeking the Lord on something, but we might be surprised that the Lord's actually given us words or wisdom for other people as we're gaining clarity. So that kind of plays into that as we're given, we actually get to pour it out, you know, and that can be partnered to our fast, so. Well, Pastor Jay, I just want to thank you for the word you shared with us today. I think it's going to be very stirring as a foundation as we're all beginning our Selah fast.

And I just want to thank you listeners as you're tuning in, and I just want to encourage you to join us each day for the next 21 days as you're doing your fast, to really stay strong and be encouraged and not give up. So thank you, and we hope to see you tomorrow. Amen.