40 Days of… wait, what?
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Thus, making 40 days of self-examination, repentance, and turning our lives toward loving YHVH and loving each other.
For the past five years, B’ney Yosef North America has distributed a daily devotional guide that we have called the “40 Days of Repentance.”
We continue this year with last year’s emphasis on using the title of our guide as “40 Days of Personal Change”.
The goal of repentance has always been a lasting manifestation of personal change. However, for many, “repentance” suggests only the emotions and actions associated with remorse, regret, and sorrow; not necessarily anything about actually changing one’s direction and patterns of living. So, in that sense, repentance alone does not take one far enough toward “personal change.”
In another historic year of global uncertainties, we feel our emphasis needs to encourage a deeper application of the processes of self-assessment, prayer, repentance, and personal change. Therefore, we are keeping this emphasis on personal change and this again is how we will label our devotional guide.
This year of 2021 is our sixth year of distributing a devotional guide for this 40 Day period.
May you be greatly blessed as you pursue your relationship with YHVH.

Day 40 – Repenting For Nothing
Job 38, 41, 42; Isaiah 53; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Philippians 2:1-11; Hebrews 5:8-8; Revelation 12 Of all the dreadful beasts prowling about our…

Day 39 – They Lifted Their Voices Together…
“THEY LIFTED THEIR VOICES TOGETHER TO GOD and said, “O Sovereign Master, You made heaven and earth and the sea, and everything in…

Day 38 – Your Miracle Place
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon (Peter), Put out into the deep [water], and lower your nets for a haul….

Day 37 – Amazing and Unexpected
Recently at a weekend men’s retreat, the Lord woke me up at 2:30am with a scripture verse and the song with the same…

Day 36 – The Trial of Not Knowing
The first time I went to war was in August 1990. Iraqi forces had invaded and occupied Kuwait, and within a month I…

Day 35 – The Blood of Atonement
In V’yikrah/Leviticus 16 we read of the Yom haKippurim protocols to effect an atonement and cleansing for Am Yisrael. The instructions include the taking…

Day 34 – How Much More
…how much more will the Father give good things to those who ask Him! ~ Matthew 7:11b Read this full passage for context: …

Day 33 – LIFE
Can anyone relate? Never ending ‘to do” lists, laundry, paperwork, counter crumbs, mopping, sweeping, dusting, fingerprints, animals, weeds, a garden, home and auto…

Day 32 – Intentional Incense
The high desert altitude of western Utah boasts of some of the purest air in the world. In the last week, however, smoke…

Day 31 – Preferences
Philippians 2:2-5 “then complete my joy by having a common purpose and a common love, by being one in heart and mind. …

Day 30 – A Little Crooked
It was a 5 minute task. We were 45 minutes early to meet up with some friends about a 20-minute drive down the…

Day 29 – Expatriate
“This world is not my home. I’m just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me…

Day 28 – To You and Your Children
Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it…

Day 27 – A Personal Act of Creation
David said in Psalms 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart…Lev tahor bara li…” This man had already lived a life that most…

Day 26 – Let Your Light So Shine
Matt. 5:16 instructs us to “let your light so shine before men, so that they see your good works and praise your Father…

Day 25 – Complaining
Have you noticed that there is a spirit of contention in our nation right now? I have been trying hard to not get…

Day 24 – Watch for Falling Rocks
And be careful you don’t become one! I did. Yes, this past year has been unprecedented. Travel has varied between difficult to impossible….

Day 23 – Love God, Love Each Other
One of the Torah scholars came and heard them debating. Seeing that Yeshua had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which commandment is…

Day 22 – Enthroning the King
In the most unexpected places, we have witnessed the awakening and understanding of יהוה (YHVH) precepts. A seed of people is being gathered…

Day 21 – Vision or Sight
Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”. What is the difference…

Day 20 – Fiery Serpent
Numbers 21 begins with the Israelites winning a conclusive victory over the Canaanites located in the Negev. However, as they continue their journey,…

Day 19 – The Joy of the Lord is My Strength
The Joy of the Lord is my strength… What about when you are facing the possibility that the growth on your lungs…

Day 18 – When I Am Confused
1 Corinthians 14:33a For God is not a God of confusion but of peace Yogi Berra, the great legend of baseball was…

Day 17 – Bitterness
Last night we attended a Tent Revival, and the speaker shared about bitterness. I thought to myself, “I don’t think I have bitterness…

Day 16 – A Change of Scenery
Part of the joy in taking a vacation is changing our environment from the mundane usual scenes of our daily lives to something…

Day 15 – For I Know That He Knows
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord…” (Jeremiah 29:11a) Thank you, Father. I’m so grateful, and if…

Day 14 – Learning to Love Myself
In the fall of 1978, during a powerful worship service, I received a prophetic word from a visiting pastor. Of course, he knew…

Day 13 – Like a Child
Yeshua instructs us to come to Him like a child, to “turn and become like children” in order to enter the Kingdom of…

Day 12 – Flushing Toilets
On occasion, Mark speaks about flushing toilets with our community. Living in a large multigenerational home, one particular room in our home is…

Day 11 – Incense and Prayer
Psalms 141:2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!…

Day 10 – Remembering Jerusalem
To be honest, my first significant, personal connection with the land of Israel did not come in Jerusalem, but in Caesarea. That was…

Day 9 – Surrounded
Psalms 32:7-8 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah….

Day 8 – Still Small Voice
Recently in my Bible reading, I was led to 1 Kings 19:1-13. I encourage you to read this passage as it talks about…

Day 7 – Obedience
The prophet Samuel gave the word of YHVH to King Saul: “Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Adonai? Behold, to…

Day 6 – Holy = Kadosh
Isaiah 57:15 The name Kadosh means one whose realm is set apart from the habitual, the profane, and even the common. It…

Day 5 – Absence Speaks Louder Than Words
Sometimes it’s what you don’t say. Sometimes it’s where you don’t go. Sometimes it’s what you don’t reveal. Which draws…

Day 4 – Psalm 141
Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon my head (it is soothing medicine, NLT); Do not…

Day 3 – Psalm 91
Psalm 91- Let God our Father be real to you. Do not keep him at arm’s length. Embrace the fullness of your Salvation…

Day 2 – A Matter of Perspective
It’s a matter of perspective and what God is revealing. A couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they…

Day 1 – 40 Days
In 2 Samuel 12 the prophet Nathan comes to King David with a story about a rich man who possesses great wealth, flocks…