Journal 2019

I just finished reading Jonathan Cahn’s The Book of Mysteries, a 365-day devotional “to uncover the mysteries of God, the secrets of the ages, and the hidden keys to open the doors of a life of joy, blessing, and the fulfillment of your destiny.”

Here are some of my favorite quotes and notes from the book.

Day 1. “A closed vessel can never contain anything larger than its own size. But an open vessel has no limitations. It can contain the Infinity of God.”

Day 2. When I say, “I am …” I’m using the name of YHVH. (e.g. I am Karen; I am a teacher.)

Day 4. Ruach (Hebrew) = wind or Spirit

When you walk against the wind, you have to work harder and expend more energy. If you repent and walk in the same direction as the wind, God’s power energizes you and moves you forward. I’m reminded of the time I tried to bicycle into the wind compared to peddling with the wind behind my back.

Day 10. Snakes are cold-blooded creatures that twist and turn like deception. All evil is cold-blooded. Think of cold-blooded murder. Hatred, slander, deception and oppression are all cold-blooded.

Day 14. The wise men came to worship him. (Matthew 2: 2)

“To worship God is to kiss God” (Greek proskuneo). It’s an intimate act of joy and love, like a dog licking its master’s hand or a falling down prostrate before someone, whether before Jesus or before an idol. It is the posture that seems most prominent.

Day 15. When does the day begin? Westerners say at sunrise. The Jews follow the Genesis pattern: “And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

God’s progression is from dark to light. Man goes from light to dark, from youth to death, sun up to down. When did we switch the reckoning? Why don’t we keep the Jewish way?

Day 27. The word Hebrew means “to cross over.” I’m an adopted Hebrew, and I crossed over from death to life.

Day 29. Yom Kippur: two identical goats, chosen by lot. One set free; one sacrificed. Jesus was sacrificed. Barabbas was set free. Barabbas means “son of ABBA.”

Day 30. In Hebrew, there is no exact way of saying “I have.” Having is an illusion, for everything in this world is temporary. When you let go of possessions, problems, worries, and burdens, you are left only with one possession: God.

Day 33. Resheet (Hebrew) = first fruit  

When the Israelites entered the land of Canaan and harvested their first sheaf of grain, they were to bring it to the priest to wave before the Lord on the day after the Sabbath.

Jesus is our resheet, risen on the day after the Sabbath.

Day 35. The roads of Zion

• The road to Emmaus
• The road to Jericho
• The road to Damascus

“The journey of your life will not be known by its terrain [Rocky, smooth, sandy, winding, dark] but by the place to which it brought you.” The terrain is not your focus, but the destination.

Day 56. Rahamim (Hebrew) = Mercies (plural)

God does not have mercy. He has mercies. The word sin is singular. God’s mercies (plural) are greater than our sin (singular).

“In Hebrew, to render a word that should be singular as plural is a way of signifying that the reality behind the word is so unique, so intense, so extreme, or so colossal that the word alone cannot contain it.” (Not just his death, but many deaths for us all.)

Day 63. Isaiah 53. “In his deaths” (plural)

Day 87. Don’t seek an experience, seek God. “Whatever you know of God, He’s more and beyond it. So seek today to find the more and beyond of God than you have yet known.”