In my last blog I shared that the Lord said this was to be a month of with daily updates of stories following the Jewish calendar for the month of Elul. The month is well under way yet because struggles in getting things up and running, the daily post has not followed.  Please forgive me.  I have included the first six days for your contemplation.  The King is near you and longs to renew and revive you.  I invite you to come and journey with us for the next few weeks and allow the Lord to speak  to you.



Day 1
Occurrences of the A-L-V-L (Elul) in Scripture
The letters are Aleph – Lamed -Vav– Lamed  occur 4x as acrostics and 1x as a named month. What starts out as a lesson in Repentance in Torah ends with union and restoration with the King in Song of Songs. Those 4 words start with E-L-U-L and the context is of a time after God drove Israel into the nations. A new nature is promised them and we are partakers through  Yashua (Jesus) of that promise when we are given a new heart. He did not come to make bad men good but make dead men live.
Repentance/deliverance from sin nature
Deut 30:6  "And the LORD thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." KJV  
Making Disciples: We praise the Lord for His faithfulness.  He has empowered the Gateway Center for World Mission to bring discipleship training to hundreds of church leaders in Kigadi, Uganda who have in turn trained hundreds more and begun an evangelization movement.
Rev. Canon Eric Twine, Kigadi Archdeaconry, Ugana reports: “May I take this opportunity to inform you that beginning with January 2013 we will have an 11th Parish start and 86th Church  planted in Ruteete. The New Parish is to be curved from Kyabaranzi Parish.

The Candle you light is still burning and people seeing light therein.
We are indeed of Gateway Center for World Mission's ministry in our Diocese; Kagadi in Particular.”
Personal Reflection:  Ask Jesus to remove from your heart any impediments to his love and holiness. Let Him uncover the dark areas that need the light of His life to make you fully alive for the purpose and work for which you were created.
Day 2
The Lord is my light(A) and my salvation(B)—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold(C) of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?(D) Ps 27:1 NIV
The name of the month (spelled ELUL = Alef-Lamed-Vav-Lamed) is said to be an acronym of “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li,” “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine,” a quote from Song of Songs 6:3.  In Aramaic (the vernacular of the Jewish people at the time that the month names were adopted), the word “Elul” means “search,” which is appropriate, because this is a time of year we should seek Him, while He may be found.- Servants of Messiah
Making Disciples:  Pastor Joel Beaucejour was a leader of over 400 Haitian pastors who had suffered devastation from four hurricanes in a single When asked what was needed and what was the most strategic thing the Gateway Center could do with limited funding, Pastor Joel Beaucejour replied.  "What we need is you to come and strengthen us (pastors and leaders) so we can keep Jesus before the people in these dyer times.  Our most critical need is to have teaching on strategic prayer.  We have people who pray, but no one to train us in strategic intercession." We give glory to God for the privilege of bringing training and discipleship resources to such people of faith.
Personal reflection:  There are many who know about Jesus, but only those who receive Him as messiah and Lord have the power to become children of God in all its fullness.  Ask God to reveal those things that keep you from being in an intimate relationship with him.
Day 3

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”- Matthew 10:42

In the Bible following the exodus from Egypt while the people were wandering in the desert, they complained that they had no water.  The Lord says told Moses and Aaron, who were God’s chosen leaders to strike hard the rock before the people and a river of water rushed out and gave people relief from their suffering. 
Transforming communities:  We praise the Lord that He opened the way for the Gateway Center to send a team to train Ugandans to fix water well hand pumps.  The Ugandans were amazed that it was the Ugandans themselves that fixed the pumps and not a team of "Muzungus" (Westerners).   The pastor of a small village whose pump was repaired shared with us," This well serves 39 families with 8-12 people each.  When the pump broke we had to start using water from the stream and many of our people are sick.  We have had to use most of our limited resources to buy medicine.  Now we can have clean water and we won't have to be sick anymore and we will have money to send our children to school."
Personal reflection:  What am I eating or drinking or engaging my time with, both spiritual and physical, that is actually making me sick or taking all my resources instead of giving me life that only Jesus can bring?


Day 4
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. Jn 15:16-NIV
Transforming Communities:
We give praise to God that He has given us long-term relationships and lasting fruit among leaders of the Church of Uganda.
"Rev. Gad," " The well has no water, didn't you fix it last year?" "We had hoped the well would take us through the dry season."  "Gather our second year students who were trained last year and a couple of first year students who can learn as we did and we will look to the repairs, he replied."
Rev. Gad is the head teacher for the Diocese Theological College(DTC), Hoima, Uganda.  Last year the Gateway Center held a water well hand pump repair school for both DTC students and men selected from among each of the local regions for their ability to train others.  Rev. Gad was among them. 
Examination of the well revealed there were missing lengths of pipe and consequently it didn't reach the lover levels of the water table normally experienced during the dry season.  Since the repair happened during the wet season when the water table was high, the western supervisor had simply advised the students to remove the damage lengths.  Gad and his new students repaired the pump quickly.  New students are now trained by Ugandans without outside input and they will use their new skills in the villages and have the confidence to train others.
"Thank you for loving us." "These students will now have a life skill that can support them as they minister in the villages." -Rev Gad, Head Instructor, DTC, Hoima, Uganda
Personal Reflection:  If you have a personal relationship with Jesus, then He has called you for a purpose and promised to give you fruit that will remain.  What relationships have you been given? How can you love them by sharing your life and skills with them in a way that will help them do the same? 

Day 4
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. Jn 15:16-NIV
The whole book of the Song of Songs is about the King in the field//harvest and a sleepy bride who needs to repent and come to work with Him in a summer harvest.. This is the month that the “King is in His field” and can be approached before He is on His throne and court is in session. For too soon comes the fall judgments – The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Jer.8v20. Notice the summer is the grain harvest and in the fall God will turn His attention to Israel, that vineyard and the fig tree which He planted. -servantofmessiah.com
Transforming Communities:
We give praise to God that He has given us long-term relationships and lasting fruit among leaders of the Church of Uganda.
"Rev. Gad," " The well has no water, didn't you fix it last year?" "We had hoped the well would take us through the dry season."  "Gather our second year students who were trained last year and a couple of first year students who can learn as we did and we will look to the repairs, he replied."
Rev. Gad is the head teacher for the Diocese Theological College(DTC), Hoima, Uganda.  Last year the Gateway Center held a water well hand pump repair school for both DTC students and men selected from among each of the local regions for their ability to train others.  Rev. Gad was among them. 
Examination of the well revealed there were missing lengths of pipe and consequently it didn't reach the lover levels of the water table normally experienced during the dry season.  Since the repair happened during the wet season when the water table was high, the western supervisor had simply advised the students to remove the damage lengths.  Gad and his new students repaired the pump quickly.  New students are now trained by Ugandans without outside input and they will use their new skills in the villages and have the confidence to train others.
"Thank you for loving us." "These students will now have a life skill that can support them as they minister in the villages." -Rev Gad, Head Instructor, DTC, Hoima, Uganda
Personal Reflection:  If you have a personal relationship with Jesus, then He has called you for a purpose and promised to give you fruit that will remain.  What relationships have you been given? How can you love them by sharing your life and skills with them in a way that will help them do the same?
Day 5
You then, my son, be strong  in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses  entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier  of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.   2 Tim 2:2-4-NIV
Paul's words to the saints were to both remind them that they were called not just to be saved, but they were called for a purpose; to work in the harvest and occupy till he comes again. Often times he will identify what our part in His plan by giving us a vision or passion, but it can get lost in the cares of the day.
Expanding Christ's Kingdom
Often one gets tired , run down and distracted with the things of life.  The dreams or the things that the Lord puts into your heart seem far away or even lost.  The month of Elul is a time when God's people are called to come near, lay down the thing that have distracted and allow the Lord to renew and refocus them on the things that bring life.  Paul's words have never been so true as among the pastors and leaders in Haiti
"We have a dream to send our own Haitian missionaries back to Benin, our country of origin, to help the church there bring the gospel back to all of Africa." Pastor Joel Beaucejour
The sign on a tree outside the meeting hall for the mission training seminar  in Cap Haitian, read 2 Chron. 7:14.   if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face  and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
One hundred leaders of church networks representing 300 churches from all over Haiti came to receive training in mission.  Most of their efforts and energy had been drained just trying to bring their nation to Christ.  The Gateway Center team had come to strengthen them with God's vision for mission.  During the closing session, one pastor jumped up and shouted " We can do this! God is calling us to be missionaries and not just be the object of missions. Let's take up an offering and get started."  With that he reached into his pocket and took out a few Haitian Goudes and put them in an offering plate. The other gave a resounding, "Amen!", followed suit.  Later that night, several of the key leaders formed Missionaries In Harvest International  as a Haitian mission organization specifically focused on mission. 
Today that network represents over 700 churches with a common dream of a "New Haiti" and a vision for a Haitian led mission effort.
We give praise to God giving pastors in Haiti a dream of raising up their own missionaries and allowing the Gateway Center to be part of equipping them to carry out the task of fulfilling the dream.
Personal reflection:  Has the Lord put a dream in your heart that aligns with His plans yet seems to be beyond you?  Ask Him to revive them and show you both the things in you that are hindering carrying them out and the next steps to being equipped to help others to do the same.








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