080524
WORD FOR TODAY “When you think GOD is with you and HE is not”: Deu 1:42 "And YEHOVAH said to me, 'Say to them, "Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be defeated before your enemies."' Deu 1:43 "So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of the LORD, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.
SPOKEN VERSE FOR TODAY: Pro 21:3 To do righteousness and justice Is desired by YEHOVAH more than sacrifice. Pro 21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, The lamp of the wicked, is sin.
Thought for Today: Monday August 05
YHVH's healing includes a move out of the house of spite, a shift away from the cramped world of grudge and toward spacious ways of grace, away from hardness toward forgiveness. He moves us forward by healing our past.
And week
"Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, and shall not die."
Eze 18
Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Christi Banks
Yochanan Ben Yisrael
Selichoth Prayers -
Are they Relevant to you?"
"Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."
Tephillah is the act of prayer.
It is the way that we communicate with the Most High.
The word tephillah in Hebrew connotes much more than just communication, it implies an actual attachment with that object to which it is directed, or a reattachment of that which has been torn asunder.
That is the goal of Selichoth prayers.
Selichoth means “forgivenesses.”
Each year as we perform the annual cycle of festivals, fasts and commandments of YHWH, we are meant to ascend ever higher towards understanding, righteousness and perfection.
Each year we try with all or most of our hearts to do this, and yet each year we somehow fail.
Then, if we are honest with ourselves, we experience a dread at the onset of Yom Teruah and the Days of Judgment.
Selichoth prayers are appeals to YHWH for His forgiveness of our failings which are said during the month of Elul, including the entire forty days prior to Yom Hakippurym, in an attempt to reconcile ourselves with Him.
Elul, the sixth scriptural month, is the month of “Repentance and Return.”
Each day of Elul, the shofar is blown to awaken the people of YHWH from their spiritual slumber, to warn them of the impending coming of Messiah, and to cause them to repent of their many sins.
But repentance without a return to righteousness is a vain thing.
Return, or “Teshuvah,” is the object of Selichoth prayers.
Each morning during Elul, we rise and pour out our hearts before our Creator in hopes that He will hear and quickly restore us to right-standing with Him before He comes.
There is scriptural precedent for Selichoth prayer.
It was during the month of Elul that Moshe returned to Mount Sinai for forty days and nights to obtain the second set of tablets, after breaking the first ones because of the sin of the golden calf.
It is thought that the children of Yisrael prayed and fasted during this time of waiting.
It was prior to the fall festival that Sh’lomo dedicated the first temple with his famous prayer, asking that YHWH hear and forgive His people their sins wherever they might be, when they turn toward His house and pray to Him with all their hearts.
And it was during the month of Elul that Yehoshua Hamashiach prayed, fasted and was tested in the wilderness prior to the beginning of His ministry on earth.
It is not enough to wait until the day of His return, and then plead for forgiveness in Judgment - not for His Remnant, those who will be His at His coming.
Like the parable of the Ten Virgins, we must be of those who do not slumber, but remain awake and vigilant, ready and waiting for our Savior’s return.
It is to that end that Shabbath Keepers Fellowship is posting this article and presenting our small booklet of Selichoth prayers to our brethren, in order that they may have oil in their lamps and be dressed in clean white linen on the day that our Bridegroom comes for us.
May YHWH speed that day.
Selichoth prayers are traditionally performed in the early morning before dawn, usually beginning just after midnight.
As on any other day, the Modeh Ani, Sh'ma, and other morning blessings are to be be said before doing these or anything else.
If for some reason one cannot pray Selichoth in the morning, they should be done whenever possible.
The most important thing is that one does pray.
Most of the prayers can be said while seated, with a few exceptions being:
the Sh'ma, Qaddish, El Melek and the Vidduy, which are said standing.
If available, tephillin and the tallith should be worn.
However, it is our opinion that if they are not, one should say the prayers anyway.
Repentance and Teshuvah are more important than any clothing.
If possible, Selichoth should be said in a quiet place, free from distraction or interruption.
Once begun, they should be said and finished in their entirety.
When in private, personal or "free" prayers of repentance may always be added to enhance Selichoth.
Each day, the penitent should search for and find deeper meaning and relevance in the prayers until finally, at Yom Hakippurym, they are as prepared as humanly possible to appear before the throne of their King.
By His Grace,
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Christi Banks
Yochanan Ben Yisrael
48 Shoph’tym – Day 2
D’varym/Deuteronomy 17:14-20
“When you come to the land which YHWH your Elohim is giving you, and shall possess it and shall dwell in it, and you shall say, ‘Let me set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall certainly set a king over you whom YHWH your Elohim shall choose.
Set a king over you from among your brothers, you are not allowed to set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
“Only, he is not to increase horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Mitsrayim to increase horses, for YHWH has said to you, ‘Do not return that way again.’
“And he is not to increase wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor is he to greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
“And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah in a book, from the one before the priests, the Lewites.
“And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he learns to fear YHWH his Elohim and guard all the Words of this Torah and these laws, to do them, so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers, and so as not to turn aside from the command, right or left, so that he prolongs his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Yisra’el.
Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Christi Banks
Yochanan Ben Yisrael
TEHILLAH/PSALMS 48 - DAY 2 (YOM SHEINY)
Great is YHWH, and greatly to be praised In the city of our Elohim, His set-apart mountain.
Beautiful on high, The joy of all the earth, Is Mount Tsiyon on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.
Elohim is in her citadels; He is known as her refuge.
For look, the kings met, They passed by together.
They saw, so they marvelled; They were alarmed, they hastened away.
Trembling took hold of them there, Pain, as of a woman in labor, With an east wind You break the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so we have seen In the city of YHWH of hosts, In the city of our Elohim, Elohim establishes her forever.
Selah.
We have thought, O Elohim, of Your mercy, In the midst of Your Hěḵal.
According to Your Name, O Elohim, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Tsiyon rejoice, Let the daughters of Yehuḏah exult, Because of Your judgments.
Walk about Tsiyon, And go all around her.
Count her towers; Set your heart upon her rampart; Go through her citadels; So that you report it to the coming generation.
For this Elohim is our Elohim, Forever and ever; He Himself leads us, Even to death.
Sabbath Keepers Fellowship and Prison Ministries
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
Reishyth Tzom B’elul is the beginning of the fast of the sixth Hebrew month, a forty-day fast of repentance during the days leading up to Yom Hakippurym.
On the eve of the first of the sixth Hebrew month, the shofar is blown as a clarion call to repentance. It is blown again on each of the forty days to “awaken the slumberers” from their apathy and warn them of the impending arrival of their King.
The prayers of Selichoth are also begun on this day.
TTN Music 
TTN Promo 
