A Heart of Wisdom

photo credit

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;

For the day of the LORD is coming,

For it is at hand...

- Joel 2:1

So teach us to number our days,

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

- Psalm 90:12

...but grow in the grace and knowledge

of our LORD Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:18

It's past midnight as I write this post.

I've sat here at my prayer desk for the most part of the past two days, reading my Bible, listening to soft music, and trying to write a post, patiently waiting for the words to flow.

I guess I am too distracted to do any kind of serious writing.

My precious pet dog Sammy is dying.

She has been my loyal companion for the past 14 years...

sleeping each night on my bed,

begging for treats beside my chair at mealtimes,

soaking in the sun at her favorite spot while I tend my garden,

sleeping on the rocking chair whenever I spend time in my prayer room - no matter how long I am there, or what hour of the day or night it might be...

snuggling on my lap as I read a book on the couch...

or hugging my neck during a thunderstorm...

and always, without fail, waiting for me by the front door every time I come home - be it from an errand, or a trip from out of town or abroad.

She has been my loyal companion.

And now that she is about to leave me, there are no words good enough to adequately describe how I feel. To say that I am sad is simply not accurate. I am grieving at the thought of losing her daily quiet presence in my life.

But sandwiched between these feelings, there is so much peace. A huge part of me is so thankful for the beautiful relationship my dog and I have enjoyed, but I understand that fourteen years is a long time. And though she's been with me through the many seasons of my life, her time here on earth is drawing to a close.

I guess what breaks my heart is the suddenness of it all.

She's had several visits to the vet the past months, but each time, she would recover, and she never really lost her appetite. Sammy loves to eat; in fact, she is overweight. But three weeks ago, she began to slowly lose her appetite, and after a few days, refused to eat altogether.

I brought her to the vet again. Elevated creatinine, showing kidney problems.

But it was such an effort to make her take the pills prescribed for her, and to force feed her.

After several days of an IV drip for hydration, and forcefeeding her liquid food and multivitamin gel, I realized it was a losing battle for both of us.

She would not struggle, for she has such a sweet disposition, not even a growl. But she had a hard time swallowing whatever I fed her through a syringe, only to vomit most of it afterward.

Five days ago I made the difficult decision to stop syringe feeding and medicating her, but to gladly accept the fact that her life was coming to an end. It was best for me to allow her body to begin shutting down its operations in preparation for her death.

She would still follow me around, and wanted to be where I was. She loves to sleep on her pillows on the floor in my prayer room, or on my rocking chair, or on her favorite armchair in my living room. A very classy dog, she would still want to go to the garden to relieve herself, and look so apologetic whenever she needed to throw up any fluid she takes in.

She is not incontinent, so her sleeping area is not messy. From time to time I would run a damp towel over her face, ears, and body. She may be in her final days, but she really looks so clean. And there is no unpleasant smell coming from her at all.

I put a comforter over her to keep her warm and comfortable.

And I have been asking the Lord to take her home while she is sleeping.

Sweet sorrow, that best describes what I feel about her leaving. Yet I have no doubt that my dear Sammy will be waiting for me in heaven.

Meanwhile, life must go on.

It's been a while since I posted an end of month update, and I do not want to miss doing so this time. There are many significant events that I want to write about and share with any blog visitor who takes time to read until the end.

I arrived back in Bacolod on the last day of August. My heart was hungry for a fresh touch from God, and I was looking forward to the new things that September had in store.

Together with many of my friends, I have found much meaning in connecting with the Hebrew foundations of my Christian faith. It's not that I am about to convert to Judaism. Our main interest in finding out more about our Hebraic heritage is to discover the Biblical, historical, and cultural context in which the Scriptures were written. Doing so give us a better understanding of the character of God, and we can respond to Him with deeper intimacy in the moment by moment, daily living out of our lives.

This year, September is rich with spiritual meaning:

- Rosh HaShanah (or Yom Terua, Feast of Trumpets)
- end of Shemitah
- start of Yovel or Jubilee (50th) year
- Yamim Nora'im (Ten Days of Awe)
- Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
- Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)
- last of the four blood moons

I certainly did not plan it, but God seemed to have a special message for me even in my recent life circumstances.

On the first of September, the tiler arrived to begin work on the floor of my home's front room. When Ernie and I returned from Thailand seven years ago, Ernie mentioned that he wanted to have new floor tiles in this room before Christmas. Well, he passed away six weeks after we arrived, and that plan was put on hold.

This month it seemed like the best time to go ahead with the project; in less than two weeks, the job was done. Oning is a professional, and I was very pleased with his work.

However, the new floor made the living room walls look shabby, so a decision was made to have a fresh coat of paint applied on the concrete walls. The painter I hired discovered that there was water seeping through part of the walls that are directly exposed to rain. He had to scrape all the old layers of paint on that wall, and apply waterproof cement on the exterior. We are in the middle of the rainy season, and because it was a rainy week, the waterproofing job had to wait for a few days until the weather improved.

One thing led to another. The seepage problem was resolved, but the water stains left on the wall showed through the primer paint, and we had to apply a lacquer sealer on top of the first coat of paint then wait for it to dry thoroughly. Only then could the second and third coats of paint be applied. Finally, after a week, the living room walls were done.

Everything looked good. There was a clear object lesson from all this. A simple decision to re-do the floor exposed a hidden weakness in my front wall. The seepage problem had been there for years but only after it was discovered could I take steps to resolve it. And of course, I am listening to what the Father is speaking to me.

What amazed me the most was the timing of it all. The floors were done the day before Rosh HaShanah, the paint job on the walls was completed on the day before Yom Kippur!


I understand that the feasts God gave to Israel are very important to Him. The Hebrew word for feast is mo'ed, literally, it means appointed time. These feasts are actually appointments between God and Israel.

Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David puts it this way: these appointments, in time and space, are prophetic. They put the righteous man in the right place, at the right time, doing the right things, for every significant event of the future. (Read HaShem's Appointed Times here.)

As Christians, we can observe these feasts not in any legalistic or ritualistic way, as if our salvation depended on them, but in the sense of keeping an appointment with our God, who says that these feasts are to be commemorated as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come (Exodus 12:14).

We observe the feasts as a way of remembering, honoring an appointment, and as a rehearsal for the time of its final prophetic fulfillment. Keeping the feasts helps us to be aware and alert, being sensitive to the moves of God as the end of the age draws near.



We celebrated the Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh HaShanah, the Hebrew New Year 5776, on September 13.

The New Year signaled the end of the Shemitah, the Sabbatical, or last year of the seven-year cycle during which the Lord instructs His people to let the land rest.

There are social and spiritual implications in this particular commandment.

The Torah instructs the people of Israel to refrain from working the land during one year out of a cycle of seven, a year called the sabbatical year. Produce is considered disowned property during the sabbatical year. "Plant your land for six years, and gather its crop, but let it go in the seventh and abandon it, so the poor among you may eat it, and the remainder shall be eaten by the beasts of the field. Do the same with your vineyards and olive groves (Exodus 23:10-11)." In the seventh year, the Torah also instructs the money lenders to cancel the debts owed to them. Shmita-The Whats and Whys

The year 5776 in the Hebrew calendar marks the Jubilee, or the fiftieth year of the land, also called a Shabbat of the land, and is called Yovel in Hebrew. The Latin term Jubilee, meaning 50th, has its origins in the Hebrew Yovel.

(It is interesting to note that the 50-year cycle began in 1967, the year that a decisive victory was won by Israel during the Six-Day War over her neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In this war the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights were captured.)

Rosh HaShanah is observed on the first two days of the seventh Hebrew month of Tishri  and marks the beginning of the Ten Days of Awe (Yamim Nora'im in Hebrew), a time of self-examination, confession, and repentance. It ends on the tenth day of Tishri in another major feast called Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Yom Kippur at the Negros Island House of Prayer. It was a truly meaningful time of acknowledging God as the One True God, and acknowledging before Him our personal sins, the sins of the church, and the sins of the nation. The sincere worship and carefully selected readings brought many of us to tears. The evening ended in a time of rejoicing, knowing that our sins have been atoned for by the precious blood of Yeshua HaMashiach; He is our kippur, our covering, our atonement.

To this day, most of the Jews still have not recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and therefore they have not experienced the freedom of being personally forgiven and released from the guilt and penalty of their sins.

We continue to pray that the day will soon come when the veil from their eyes will be removed and they will realize that the Messiah has indeed already come!

Tonight at sundown, the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot begins. Also called The Season of Our Joy, this feast is observed from the 15th to the 22nd of the Hebrew month Tishri. In the Georgian calendar, those dates will be from sundown of September 27 to sundown of October 5. At this time many Jewish families build a lightweight hut, called a sukkah, where meals are eaten during the days of the festival. It is a graphic reminder of how Israelites dwelled in tents during the 40 years they spent in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. It is a season of joy because during those years, God was with them, protecting them, and providing for their needs. The festival is celebrated for eight days with much rejoicing and gladness of heart. (Read more about this feast here.)

Many thoughts fill my mind as this month is about to end.

There are many conflicting prophecies being propagated all over the world today. Without being vigilant, one could easily be led astray by false teachers.

One Bible passage that has been my source of comfort these days is found in 1 Corinthians 14: 33, and I quote:

For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace... (NIV)

Another version says this:

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace... (KJV)

Bank tellers are trained to recognize the counterfeit from the genuine in a practical way. All they need to do is to keep handling the genuine bills, over and over again, day after day. Just by the feel of a bill, they can tell if it is genuine or counterfeit.

In the same way, staying close to the Lord, listening to His voice day after day, being in His presence often, meditating on His word... this is the surest way to equip ourselves in discerning the true from the false. Yeshua our Shepherd says, 

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

-John 10:27

When the Father is near, there is no room for fear. What is going on around the world is not a matter of coincidence or mere chance. The God who created the heavens and the earth had a good plan from start to finish, whether He is acknowledged as the Creator or not. Now that we see so much violence, hatred, corruption, and greed all around us, it should comfort our hearts to know that the Creator of the universe sits on His throne as sovereign King, and He can be counted on to bring this all to a beautiful ending. I believe that the earth will not simply self-destruct into nothingness, but that a Master Craftsman has a plan and purpose for what He has created in the first place.

It is a comfort to know that God has it all planned out. And since time began, He has given you and me the invitation to join Him in what He is doing, and to be a part of the glorious redemption of this fallen world.

The seven feasts of the Lord are a prophetic picture of His plan of salvation for all mankind. It demands intellectual honesty from us to try to have a deeper understanding of what He is doing, after all, it is our eternal destiny that is at stake here.

The first three feasts, namely Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits were fulfilled when Jesus died on the Cross as our Passover Lamb, was buried (Unleavened Bread), and rose again (First Fruits). Those historic events took place on the very day the feasts were being observed. The feast of Weeks was fulfilled on the day Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit and the church, Christ's body of believers here on earth, was born.

The Seven Feasts of the Lord

in the Hebrew annual calendar

There are only three feasts that have remained unfulfilled, and we believe that it won't be long before it happens. 

Signs in the heavens are indicators of something significant happening. The tetrad of the blood moons each of which falls on a Biblical feast from 2014 to 2015 is just one of the things that have made me pause and start paying attention. The last of the four blood moons this year falls on September 28, the first day of the feast of Tabernacles.

A Bible passage through which Abba Father has spoken clearly to me is Psalm 90:12.

Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

A heart of wisdom will protect me from error, and as the verse says, we are to ask God to teach us to number our days, for our own good.

It is so easy to live only for myself, my goals, my plans, my dreams... and really there is nothing wrong with that, if they are aligned with God's eternal purposes for us.

But what if in pursuing our own plans we are moving in the opposite direction of what God wants?

So my prayer and desire these past years have been precisely that, to gain a heart of wisdom.

Increasingly these past years, Abba Father has been helping me to simplify my life. To travel light. To choose my battles. To live my life before an audience of One.

I so want to learn how to number my days... 

to live each day in the light of eternity.

to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, Yeshua HaMashiach.

How thankful I am for the words of life in the Bible which has been given to us as our road map to eternal life. 

How thankful I am for the ministry of the Holy Spirit who patiently teaches us and guides us into all truth.

And how thankful I am for my heavenly Father who is sovereign over all the affairs of the universe, whether people believe in Him or not. One day, it shall all be brought to light.

I hear the sound of the trumpet... It is a call to war. My desire is that I will be ready to follow my Lord and obey the marching orders that He gives.

This is my location statement as the beautiful month of September comes to a close, and my name for this month: A Heart of Wisdom. 

Not because I have attained it, but because that is what I want.