Rosh Hashanah | Shake Off the Old

Are you ready to go through the doors God has opened for you in the new year? It is time to shake off the old, go through the gates, and enter the new at Rosh Hashanah!

Time to Go Through the Gates

For many of us, the last few seasons have been a time of pruning, shifting, confusion, and even sadness or anger. Yet, even within it, God has brought about change for the better by taking what the enemy meant for evil and turning it for good. God is opening doors of opportunity to us. It is our choice to go through the gates. 

Though we encounter challenging and unpleasant seasons, God gives us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the work He does in and through us during tough times produces a harvest of righteousness and peace when we allow ourselves to be trained by it.  

How do these verses speak to your heart, knowing God is opening doors to you in the next season?

• “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning…”—Isaiah 61:3
• “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”—Hebrews 12:11

The Spirit is awakening us. We will see opened doors after a season of doors slamming in our faces. God is birthing something new! 

The Doors Are Open

In this new season, God is opening doors. And we are given a choice to fear and stay on the side we are already on or take a step of faith and move through the gates. 

It is time to shake off the old and go through the gates this Rosh Hashanah. It is time to shake off the old and accept that God wants us to step out of our comfort zone and into His complete comfort and strength. He is giving us a new playbook, one specifically designed for the times we live in and will encounter in the days and years to come.

• “Pass through, pass through the gates, and go from old to new. Prepare a new path for the people. Build! Build up a highway for them to come to me! Remove every hindrance and unfurl a banner for the nations!—Isaiah 62:10 (TPT)

Isaiah 62:10 is a verse the Lord is speaking to His people in the new Hebrew year 5784. Not only does it speak prophetically to the time when God will fulfill His promises, but it also speaks of action for us to go! He is telling us to prepare the way for the people and to build a highway without hindrances or obstacles ready for people–the nations–to receive His salvation.  

We are to go through the gates, preparing a new path and holding up a banner that can be seen from miles away. When we walk under the banner of the Lord, His name–the God of Salvation–will be noticed. 

God Is Doing Something New

Perhaps you’ve experienced many blessings from God in this past year. Or maybe you’ve encountered His love in a new and deeper way. Even so, most of us would agree we are ready for a change–going deeper, and desiring to know His covenant heart more. 

Or it’s been a tough season, but you trust a breakthrough is on the horizon. God is doing a new thing. He is making you new, inviting you into new places every day. He is saying, “The old has passed away. Don’t let it hang on you, even the old good stuff, because it can get stale. I am doing something new. I am opening more doors, new doors. The old good stuff is nothing compared to what I have waiting for you ahead. It’s not what you think; it’s more. But you must trust Me. Shake off the old as you go through gates I’ve opened to you.”  

• “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”—2 Corinthians 5:17

Accept the Change

Shake off the old to make room for the new. After a shaking, things do not remain the same. This can be emotional. The new thing God is doing can shake up your soul. It can feel like you are off balance, but there is a purpose to it–so that things start to fall into place. 

We have all been through an emotional earthquake, a shaking, at some point. For those of us who have leaned on God, the magnitude is lessened, but we have still experienced the highs and lows of it.

What to Do in the Shaking? See It as an Opportunity for Alignment.

When a high-magnitude earthquake ends, a lot of things need to happen. First, there are the major things like turning off gas to broken lines, sealing off buildings in danger of collapse, putting out fires, etc., in order to prevent further damage. While emotionally, this can be a time of shock, everyone with the skills, ability, and in certain cases, permission must lay the foundation of the area’s new future.

Spiritually this is where we take care of the major issues. And in this hour, choosing to see the shaking as an opportunity aligns with God because He has something abundant to share with you. 

• “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…”—Ephesians 3:20

It is time for us to pass through the open doors and be rooted and grounded in love, encountering the width, length, depth, and height of the Father’s heart, and be filled with the fullness of Him.

It is time that we accept change–in our lives and God’s house. 

It is time to move through the gates, seeing God’s open doors before us! His Church, His Bride, His places of worship let us come together in unity and authority and build up the highways and lift up a banner for Him. 

The Lord is proclaiming, “Surely your salvation is coming!” The doors have been opened, we are passing through the gates, and the Redeemed of the Lord are being called out, sought out. 

Don’t lose heart because God is doing a new thing in you. His Spirit, which dwells in you, will give you the strength to accomplish all He has planned for you in these new opportunities He will bring you. So shake off the old, and anticipate the new!

Meditate on these words today… 

• “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”—1 Corinthians 3:16

“‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope..’”—Jeremiah 29:11