Skip to main content

Make Aliyah to Israel


            In some religious Jewish communities, there is nothing more spiritually significant for a Jewish person than to Make Aliyah to Israel.  Transliterated aliyah means stepping up, going up, or assent.  It is considered moving up spiritually when you move to Israel from another country.  The only reason you would make such a dramatic move is for your soul.  It is a spiritual change for your soul.
            Lent is a season of soul transformation.  It is an opportunity to move up spiritually.  This season is about perfecting your soul by working on character development.  The church fathers prescribed specific fasts and religious meetings during this season.  When fasts become legalistic, they lose their spiritual power and purpose.  I don’t practice Lent out of cultural conditioning but because the Holy Spirit draws me into this delightful experience.  I have found the season of Lent to be one of the most dramatic spiritual periods of time in my life.  I cannot explain why exactly; all I can report is that I find responding to the Lenten season is like making Aliyah to Heaven for me.
            Each year I sense God leading me to a different experience during Lent that stays with me for the years to come.  Last year, I tried to catch every sunrise and sunset that I was able.  I believe I am more in tune with sunrises and sunsets after that experience.  I see them as a gift from God.  I feel His presence and admire His beauty when I look at any sunrise or sunset since then.  I learned so much about waiting as well as not seeing what I expected from last year’s Lenten journey.  This year my Lenten journey is secret.  I’m so excited to learn the lessons God has for me.  I’m sure I will not be able to keep the lessons secret.
            As Christians we do not make aliyah to a place on earth; rather God has made aliyah to our souls if we invite Him.  John 14:23 says, Jesus replied, Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Moving up spiritually begins by loving God and obeying His teaching.  If it is our intention to be with God, we can step up spiritually in the deepest level of our being.
            Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, (born 5 May 1988), is a Grammy Award-winning English singer-songwriter whose smash hit—Rolling in the Deep—is playing in my head as I think about what God wants to give us spiritually.  Our souls are made to contain the love of God so fully that we sense Him being at home in our souls.  There is nothing bigger than that.  If you don’t know the song, perhaps you should listen.  I hear it from the heart of God to my soul.  He is saying we could have had it all, and He has the scars to prove it.
            I encourage you not to miss the treasure of joining with other Christians all around the world who use the season of Lent (40 days, minus Sundays, before Easter) to open your soul most fully to the love of God.  Make your own aliyah to heaven and welcome God’s aliyah to your soul!
Copyright © 2012.  Deborah R. Newman www.teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are cr...
2 comments
Read more

Why Me?

              When something tragic or unexpected happens, our first question seems to be, Why me?   It’s only human to feel this way and wonder why life has got to be so hard.   God has helped me look at my unwanted circumstances with a different question.   Rather than keep the focus on my pain and ask, Why me?   I focus on Him and wonder, How can You be glorified when everything is going wrong?             Adding one more word to that question makes a huge difference spiritually and opens my soul to find so much more than just my pain.   Another way to look at life’s tragedies is, Why not me ?   Sure, we each have our own amount of personal sorrows. These are the kind of sorrows that have no answers.      We can't explain away death, cancer, rape, bankruptcy and other heartaches.   It is easier to explain...
Post a Comment
Read more

Holy Saturday

Nothing is written about the events of Holy Saturday except Luke 23:56, “they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” These few words speak volumes about our life with Christ.   What was it like for these ladies to rest on the Sabbath?   They had watched carefully, they knew how quickly Jesus’ body was laid in the grave. The men had brought spices and linens, but they had little time to properly anoint this most precious of all bodies.   As the women watched carefully, they made mental note of the supplies that would be necessary to complete this sacred act of burial as it should be. They spent the last few hours before sunset to prepare the spices for this holy act of reverence. The Sabbath signaled the time for rest.   I’m sure they didn’t feel like resting, but by complying out of obedience they were probably served by its benefits.   Their minds racing from the horror they had just witnessed, at best they could allow their bodies to rest and ...
Post a Comment
Read more