James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Elul is a month when the distance between heaven and earth seems to shrink. The rabbis used a picture to explain this: “The King is in the field.” Normally, when a king resides in his palace, his people must pass through gates, guards, and endless protocol to gain an audience. Few are admitted, and even then, only with fear and trembling. But during Elul, the King is said to leave His palace and walk among His people in the open fields. He is close, approachable, and available to anyone who desires to draw near.
This picture captures the essence of Elul. God does not wait for us to ascend to Him by our own efforts; instead, He bends low, stepping into the ordinary places of our lives. He comes near where we labor, where we wrestle, where we sow and reap — and in His nearness, He invites us to turn aside and approach Him.
To “draw near” in this season means more than a fleeting prayer or a moment of religious duty. It is an intentional turning of the heart. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” Elul reminds us that God is already moving toward us — He is in the field, waiting for our response. To draw near is to make space, to set aside distraction, to step out of our routines and meet Him in the openness He has provided.
Even the name Elul hints at this intimacy. Its letters (Aleph-Lamed-Vav-Lamed) form the acronym for “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li” — “I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine” (Song of Songs 6:3). Elul is covenant love in action — not distant, not unreachable, but near and personal.
Beloved, the King is in the field. He is not behind walls or palace gates. He is walking where you walk. This is the time to stop, to look up, and to respond. Do not miss His nearness. Do not let the shofar sound without awakening. The Beloved is calling His Bride to Himself — to intimacy, to repentance, to readiness. The King is in the field … and He is waiting for you.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]There is an old Persian fable of a hen, a mouse, and a rabbit who lived together in a little house in the woods. They shared all the work and lived in harmony. The chicken found the firewood, the mouse brought the water from a nearby brook, and the rabbit cooked the meals. Each did his work faithfully and contentedly.
In the most extreme moment of his life, when his entire household was threatened with annihilation, the Patriarch Jacob wrestled with a Man through an entire sleepless night. Somehow, after this astounding encounter, Jacob came to the realization that he had been wrestling with God, and face to face! Once again, the Lord God of heaven showed Himself as a human being to a man He loved; this time, for the purpose of rescuing, blessing, and preserving the man’s destiny.
The second great awakening took place around 1790 until the 1840s. This movement saw ‘circuit riders’, traveling preachers who spread the Gospel to the edges of the frontier, affecting the growing American populace. Camp meetings in rural areas outside the traditional church with the primary focus of soul winning, were like “brushfires” of the Holy Spirit, attracting people for miles.
Tonight begins the Biblical feast of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) throughout the world! Roughly 2500 years ago, there was a special Sukkot celebration in Jerusalem. The people of Israel were exiled and dispersed all across the Babylonian empire. Later, they were given the right to return and start construction on the 2nd temple of Israel. Nehemiah 8 speaks of the special celebration that happened at that time. We read how Ezra taught the people out of the book of the law and how they responded in weeping and repentance before the God of Israel.
As I’ve been writing about the "great awakenings" that took place over the past few days. I believe we could be witnessing such a move of God.
In laymen’s terms, the difference between a ‘revival’ and an ‘awakening’ is simply that moves of God transcend denominations and sects. While various ‘denominations’ have revivals at times, an ‘awakening’ shakes the body of Christ across denominational boundaries in spite of their differences.
In the early 1700s, the western world including the United States, was being swept under the influence of a philosophical and cultural movement known as the Age of Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason. At this critical time in history, the First Great Awakening was birthed by the Lord in the American colonies of the “New World”. Led by preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, a spiritual renewal took place which became a unifiying cultural foundation for the American Revolutionary War, which began in the late 1770s.
For those who have been following us, we have been ‘re-deployed’ to the United States at this pivotal moment in history. For those who know me personally, my heart is for revival and for preparing the Bride of Messiah to meet her Creator.