We are in the month of June. Today is the 19th of the month. What does the month of June mean?

Do you have anything?

Neither do I.
It’s just a month.
A Summer month.

Maybe for the school kids, it means summer break and family vacations, but other than that nothing.

What I am coming to find out about the Hebrew months is that the months had significant meaning.

There is such a richness to be found in taking the time to look closer at how things were originally before someone(s) got the bright idea to change our months. (Sarcasm does not look good on me. Forgive me for that last blurb. It wasn’t a bright idea. Instead, it was a ploy at stealing from us our rich inheritance. But…

Baruch HaShem Adonai (Blessed be the name of the Lord)
Father has our blessings held for us in heaven where no one can steal them from us. So look at what is being released to those of us who desire to know and who seek the Lord while He may be found. Isaiah 55:6

I found that it takes a lot of digging because
there is a lot of junk out there too
So I am grateful for the help and guiding direction of the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth. John 16:13

Father says that when we seek Him, HE will let Himself be found by us. 2 Chronicles 15:2

Trust me, I have been seeking because I only want TRUTH.
John 17:17

So after digging Let me share with you what I found.

first of all, prior to the Babylonian captivity, this 4th month of the year was simply called the 4th month. But after the Babylonian captivity, it was called Tammuz.

There were a lot of significant things that happened in the bible during this 4th month. for example, twice the Israelites got in trouble. Big trouble.

1) it was in this 4th month that they got in trouble for making that calf while Moses was in the mountain.

I appreciate what the research on what happened back then revealed. It is said that they felt abandoned and that is why they approached Aaron to make that calf.

This makes me appreciate what God said to Joshua some years later when the children of those fallen Israelites prepared to go into the Promised Land. God told him “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6-8 That is huge and needs to be remembered today.

What was also said is that they became desensitized to the glory of the Lord that was still visible over the mountain where God was speaking to Moses. So there was no reason for them to feel abandoned. So what stood out to me was that they did because they were desensitized.

It makes me wonder if people are desensitized today. I can think of a time in the bible when people were desensitized. I am reminded of Shiloh when the people went to go fight against the Philistines not realizing that God was not with them. He had long removed His presence from them because of their wickedness. They had been all that time going through the motions of praise and worship not realizing that the Presence of the Lord was gone. 1 Samuel chapter 4

We should want to be “sensitive” to the Presence and move of the Lord at all times. We should be able to see and feel HIS Hand upon us at all times. I believe that what plays a role in desensitizing people today is their associations and recreations.

Regarding the Israelites, what was said about that particular situation is that God had already gone ahead of them and prepared the Promised Land for them and all that they had to do was worship and praise while they waited. (Im going to come right back to this later in this writing because the significance of it is huge.)

I have spoken about this before regarding waiting on the Lord
How are you waiting?
Are you impatient?
Are you complaining?

How we wait matters.

2) The other time that the Israelites got into big trouble during this 4th month was when the 12 spies went to spy out the land. We know how that ended. They were not allowed to go in at all because they showed themselves to be rebellious. This is why worry and anxiety is so dangerous.

These are the things that we need to avoid

I found myself practically shouting as I dug deeper into the significance of this 4th month which is about refining our vision and keeping our focus on the Lord through maintaining our position in praise prayer and worship while we wait and not allowing ourselves to become distracted.

and that was it right there. There are so many distractions during this time which is one of 3 of the summer months. there are so many distractions

In this first of the 3 summer months, the month of Tammuz is linked to Reuben the eldest of the sons of Jacob. When Jacob was blessing his sons, what he said to Reuben was well …

He basically told Reuben that he lost his birthright because he had sex with his dad’s concubine. But later, Moses blessed the tribe of Reuben and so the lesson behind that is that when we do not exercise self-control we can end up forfeiting our birthright. (I know that all too well.) and yet when we turn to King Jesus we become heirs of the promise and that is what Reuben experienced when Moses blessed the tribe of Reuben saying that they will live and not die.

What caused me to shout when I was reading up on this month of Tammuz is when I read what I heard the Lord say to me during the Pentecost festival (Sivan 6/7).

I heard the Lord speak to me that he was giving me the strength to complete and oowee…

so when I read this a few minutes ago as I was looking up the significance of this month, my spirit man lept.

This is what I read:
” The Lord is continuing to release a grace to us that will enable us to complete the things that need to be completed…” “We are being awakened as heirs to the throne in a new way. Jesus is ready to release to us more authority to destroy the works of the devil.” (Freedom House)

Listen that blessed me because I remember seeing a video where a young lady was speaking about how Jesus delayed in healing Lazarus because they already knew him as a healer and He wanted to show them more about him. He wanted them to get to know him as the Resurrection and the Life. So the idea of being awakened to more is exciting for me.

But that is not all…

Oowee that is not all…

So I was next taken, I felt like I was on a Disney land ride where you are taken to different areas and shown different scenes, I was taken to Ezekiel who was with the captives by the river Chebar and OOWEEEEEEEEE was that opened up to me.

So remember how the Israelites who had come out of Egypt felt abandoned and so they made that mistake of having a golden calf built

Well, for the Israelites who were in Babylonian captivity (again because of their own wickedness ), God sent to them Ezekiel whose name means God Strengthens. God sent Ezekiel to them to strengthen them while in that place of captivity

Please forgive me for any writing or grammar errors. I am trying hard to contain my spirit and not scream shout and do cartwheels. My eyes are literally watering up because this is so huge.

God wanted to let them know that He still had a plan to prosper and multiply them.

It’s like a parent who has to discipline their child for a wrong and yet after disciplining the child, the parent will still say, “I love you” and hug and comfort the child. That’s just how I am seeing it.

anyway
They had to be disciplined because they lost focus.
They were so busy focusing on their temple and their traditions that it became all about the worship services and the place of worship instead of about God Himself. So basically God allowed the destruction of the place of worship so that the focus could be on HIM.

That takes me again back to Shiloh and how the people were so busy going through the motions of worship that they didn’t even realize that God had left the building.

That is what I feel DADDY has been trying to show me all this time which is why I have not been allowed to return as most have. Oh wow

This is what I read
“as time went on their focus strayed away from the One who inhabited the Temple and they began to view the Temple itself as the source of glory, rather than the God who chose to dwell in it. Because of this, God proclaimed to them that HE was going to send the armies of the north to destroy the thing that they had come to trust in more than Him.” (Freedom House)

They needed their vision refined.
This is needed today too.
This is the message that the Pastor from Africa delivered as he shared his testimony. Many are so comfortable in worshipping God how they feel that He should be worshipped and following their traditions that they are not realizing that God is rejecting that. (see Isaiah chapter 1 and 1 Corinthians 11:17)

I feel like I need to go over this writing and set it in order. But I am being pressed forward.

I am going to copy word for word what I read as I believe that when we understand it and understand the significance of where Ezekiel was when he was called (at the Chebar River) you too might find yourself shouting.

” He continued to find individuals who would receive His vision and release it to the people. In the midst of captivity or apparent failure, we can find an open heaven that allows us to refine our vision and see the God who comes to strengthen us. At His core God is not judgmental and cold and harsh but He is holy, just, and righteous filled with mercy and love. If you have found yourself in a place where you feel as if you have been forsaken or you are unsure of your next move, this is the time to press forward in worship and allow the prevailing love of God to overshadow every failure. He is ready to reveal to you your path of breakthrough and reveal to you the glory He has for you. Even if all is going well in your life I encourage you to ask God to reveal to you His vision for your future because He always reveals in part and there is always a new place of glory being prepared for us.

This truth is revealed in the historical account of the Lord speaking to Ezekiel near the river Chebar, which in Hebrew means a length of space or a continuance of time. This proper noun is the same as the adverb chevar, which means now or already. These two words come from a root verb which means to bind together, to make strong, or to multiply. In essence, this river where the people had gathered themselves in the place of captivity was a portal that revealed God’s plan of future redemption available to them “now” if they could perceive it by faith. No matter how far away we get from God, He has a “now” plan to strengthen us and allow us to prosper and multiply as we intertwine ourselves with Him by faith!” (Freedom House)

Are you catching this? This is Hebrews 11: 1
the Now faith is a chevar faith

chevar is a Hebrew word that means now and already.

God had already taken care of it and while we are waiting we need to be positioned in praise and worship. That is what opens the door for us as we are brought to the prepared time and space of the fulfillment of our destiny.

and that is why the Chebar River is so significant for us today because Chebar means a length of space or continuance of time.

OH my, I feel like I am speaking this in a foreign tongue.

We are are, today, those Israelites by the Chebar River . We today are those Israelites who are in the wilderness waiting to go into our Promised Land.

What do you think you are waiting for as you wait for Jesus to return.

So How we wait is important.

What we do while we wait is important

God has already (chevar) taken care of everything and we are waiting for the time when we can now (chevar) enter into the space or continuance of time (Chebar) that God has planned for us. He has a NOW (chevar) plan to strengthen us and allow us to prosper and multiply but we can only see it and receive it through faith.

We need to worship Him while we are waiting
But that is not a one day a week 2 hour moment.
Consider this.

there is 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. That means there are 168 hours in a week.

Do you really think that worshipping God for 2 hours out of 168 hours is really serving God how HE wants to be served.

What are you doing for the rest of those 166 hours?

This is why we need to refine our vision.

This is why we need to refocus

We do not want to fall prey to rebellion or its sidekicks worry and anxiety.

I know that this was a lot to soak in.

I am still soaking it in

and what stands out to me the most is to make sure that I stay focused. Keep my eyes on the Lord. Be sensitive to His Presence and make sure that I stay in it.

We are one hour and 5 minutes away from it being a new month. The month of Tammuz (known by the Greek mind as June/July).

Romans 12:1-2
New King James Version
Living Sacrifices to God
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I want to share with you the link that I kept referring to when I wrote Freedom House for those who would like to do more research themselves. I have found their research into the meaning of the Hebrew Months to be valuable and worth looking into. Here is the link to the research on Tammuz. https://freedomhouseac.com/month-of-tammuz