If you’ve already looked on the calendar, you know that on October 6, 2025, we’ll be gathering again for the Opening Night service at the Feast of Tabernacles. Like me, you may have thought about where you might be then. But, really, it’s impossible for any of us to know for sure where we will physically be then—a lot can happen in a year, much of which is outside our control.
But far more importantly, where we will be spiritually on October 6, 2025, is something you and I have a great deal of control over. So, what can we do to determine what our spiritual state will be when the next Feast of Tabernacles begins? We’re living in a remarkably dangerous time, but it is especially dangerous spiritually. This is a time to take our walk with God with the utmost seriousness. It’s not a time for any of us to be satisfied with spending October 6, 2025, in the same spiritual place we are right now. Instead, this is the time to obey the command to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ—because our lives truly do depend on it.
Let’s discuss four principles that, if we apply them over the course of the year, will help us to be in a better spiritual place at this year’s Feast than we were at last year’s.
Act Now
Ancient Israel had rainy seasons, and one of them, mentioned several times in the Bible, is called the “former rain.” It follows on the heels of the Feast, and it is needed to soften the soil and prepare it for work. God designed the rain after the Feast to make it easier to plow the ground and to plant seed. And it is vital to do so.
During the Feast, the soil of our hearts should have been softened—we were corrected, encouraged, and edified. If we want to be in a better place spiritually for 2025’s Feast of Tabernacles, we must not wait to take advantage of what God is doing with the soil of our hearts. A good friend of mine used to talk about what he called the three laws of sowing and reaping: You reap what you sow, you reap more than you sow, and you reap after you sow. Our spiritual harvest next Feast is going to depend on what we’re planting right now.
Scripture warns us, “The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man’s precious possession” (Proverbs 12:27). When a hunter kills an animal, he has a window of time in which to field dress the carcass before it spoils or goes bad in other ways—or even other carnivores or scavengers take it away. The lazy man doesn’t quickly work with what he has gained, but the diligent man does so because he recognizes that he only has a small window of time to use and preserve it. That diligence is precious.
We have gone to the Feast, and we have gained from what we’ve taken. Now is the time to process it, to meditate on it, to put it into practice in our lives, to use it to reflect on our lives and shine a light so we can see new things. If we’ve gone to the Feast, learned about the Millennium, learned more about God’s way, and have not been changed by that knowledge, the Feast has been wasted on us. The Feast is there to make a difference in us, and the diligent do not waste time.
Proverbs 6:9–11 says, “How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.” When armed men show up, you are at their mercy—and unless you act when you should, you will be at the mercy of your needs. The things you want to do will be set aside to make room for those things that must be done to handle the emergency.
When our first son was born, I fantasized that I would turn him into one of those “wonder babies” who was beginning to read at age three. I worked out a detailed, scheduled plan, and I was excited and passionate about it. But about eight months later, I had done absolutely nothing with it.
Now, maybe God used my procrastination to serve my son, because life isn’t always great for super-babies, and all my sons have grown into very capable adults, despite not learning to read before they could walk! Regardless, my failed plan did shock me a bit—how did those eight months go by so quickly? Because every day I made the same decision: to put the plan off for just one day. Then, after enough days had passed, it just stopped coming to mind.
That happens far more easily than we might think. Have we ever attended a Passover realizing that, in many ways, we were the same people we were a year ago—not because we made a decision not to grow for a year, but because we made 365 decisions not to grow for a day? Our relationship with God and our dedication to the Kingdom that He is bringing are far too important to ever neglect. We need to act now.
Take Stock of Yourself
It’s very easy to get used to hearing “Examine yourself,” because it’s a phrase we’ve heard over and over—and familiarity, while it doesn’t always breed contempt, can breed a certain apathy. But we need to examine ourselves—that is, look at our own lives in detail and take stock. When the ground has been softened by the former rain, the farmer doesn’t just run out into the fields with whatever seed he has and throw it around. He has considered ahead of time, Is my plow sharp? Do I need to hire more farmhands? Do I have enough seed? He has taken stock to make sure his effort is well spent. We need to do the same.
Early in his reign, King David was clearly walking with God, and “the Lord preserved David wherever he went. So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered judgment and justice to all his people” (2 Samuel 8:14–15). God gave him success after success. But less than a decade later, he committed adultery with the wife of one of his most faithful men and orchestrated her husband’s murder (2 Samuel 11). Clearly, David was not where he needed to be spiritually at that time. It’s hard to imagine that he was examining himself in the way that he should have been.
When I read about that, I have to ask: Can I predict where I’m going to be five years from now, spiritually? Am I continuing to examine myself? How seriously am I taking my spiritual change?
We have an obligation to examine ourselves, as the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” And he took his own medicine, as we see in what he wrote later:
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Romans 7:14–23).
Paul recognized that he was a human being who struggled with things—and it frustrated him. It can be frustrating to examine ourselves. If we do it right, we see things we don’t like. If you examine yourself and see nothing but things you like, that’s not good—you may need to talk to some people who are frustrated with you and find out what you are overlooking. However, if you don’t see anything you like, that’s not good, either—you may need to talk to some people who like you and hear from them a little more. Feedback from others can sometimes give us insight on ourselves that we wouldn’t otherwise have.
Paul continues, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (v. 24). We recognize that there is a direct connection between sin and death, so recognizing sin within ourselves is frustrating and concerning. But there is a solution to that dilemma: “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25). Paul writes that, even when he finds himself frustrated by how he fails to measure up to God’s standards, “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1–2).
If we yield to walk in the Spirit with Christ, we have a confidence before God that we would not have otherwise, because we have the sacrifice and the aid of Jesus Christ. He picks us up and helps us to move forward. We can go boldly before the throne of grace—not with our tail between our legs, but with an eagerness to be in the presence of our Father, because Jesus Christ understands what we’re going through and helps us overcome.
But Paul also warns us that “if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another” (Galatians 6:3–4). It’s our deeds that tell God what we value—the sacrifices we’re willing to make. What is our actual pattern of prayer, Bible study, fasting, and meditation? What are our conversations with other people like?
Inherent in all of this is that we need to be willing to accept responsibility. There is an attractive inner monster that says, Don’t worry—it’s not your fault. It’s not that our upbringing and other people don’t affect us. They do. But we cannot control the actions of the people around us—and, in the end, we are always responsible for ourselves and our choices, because we have been blessed with freedom of will. God asks through the prophet Ezekiel, “‘What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel’” (Ezekiel 18:2–3).
Parents can definitely create an environment in which it becomes hard for their children to prosper and grow, just as parents can make it easy for that. But Scripture highlights that a son, regardless of what his father has done, will stand before God on his own two feet. Your relationship with God is never defined by other people. There are no coattails to the Kingdom, nor is it possible for anyone to bar your way.
Pray for Internal Change
I would encourage you to read Nehemiah 8–10, as well as Nehemiah 13. What we find in Nehemiah 8 is a people passionate after the fall Festivals. The people wanted to change, they wanted to grow, and they didn’t want to go into captivity again. They were serious about getting close to God. They got together, they signed papers, and they agreed: We are going to follow God.
Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding—these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; if the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt (Nehemiah 10:28–31).
Then Nehemiah left for a number of years. By the time he came back, everybody was doing all the things they had said they wouldn’t do. On the Sabbath, they were mashing grapes to make wine. They had married pagans and moved one into the temple. The Gentile merchants were pouring in on the Sabbath, because they knew that the Jews were treating it like a shopping day.
So, what did Nehemiah do? He grabbed the people by the hair and said, What are you doing? This is why we went into captivity! He then arranged for guards to serve on the Sabbath to prevent the Gentile merchants from entering, warning the merchants waiting to come in that he would “lay hands” on them—and not to ordain them (Nehemiah 13:21)!
But this was an externally enforced obedience that was not matched by any sort of inward change or transformation. Eventually, this led to the externalized religion of the Pharisees, filled with outward displays of “righteousness,” but spiritually out of alignment with what God desires. Jesus condemned their hypocrisy, saying they were “like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
Change that is only externally enforced is never permanent. External reinforcements will need to be increased again and again, because the human will to sin is great and it almost always finds a way. This doesn’t mean external safeguards can’t be helpful at times—for instance, when it comes to visual immorality on the Internet, there are filters you can use that are meant to provide a kind of hedge. But it’s important to recognize that no hedge is perfect. It can provide, at best, a delay—an opportunity for second thoughts. For real safety and real growth, we must work on our character, a change on the inside.
If we want permanent change—if we truly want to be in a better spiritual place next Feast—we must focus on internal change. Internal change is not something human beings are good at. Yet, as baptized Christians, God dwells in our hearts, ready to engage with us to change our innermost realm. It’s important to ask God to help us with that internal change.
Set a Goal and Make a Plan
There are helpful methods and unhelpful ones for setting goals. The least helpful method is to keep the goal solely in your head, rather than writing it down. Transferring a goal from your mind to something you can read helps you to commit yourself to it. But if we really want a goal that contributes to our progress, one way is to make a “S.M.A.R.T.” goal.
The “S” in S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific. Goals like “Grow close to God,” or even “Grow in faith,” are obvious, but they’re not specific enough to contribute to our success in tangible ways. If possible, it’s more helpful to focus on actions you can take than simply to focus on results. A goal like “Pray more” is more specific, and therefore more helpful—it contributes to the broader goals of growing closer to God and growing in faith. It helps us to focus on our specific actions because, in the end, our desire is to repent of things we need to turn away from and to change what needs to change.
“M” stands for Measurable. As opposed to a conceptual goal like “Pray more,” a measurable goal could be something like, “Pray every morning,” if you don’t already. When making a goal, try to think about how you will know, looking back, whether you accomplished it or not!
“A” stands for Attainable or Achievable. Let’s say you’re struggling with prayer, to such a degree that you let days go by without praying to God. In that case, is it realistic to say, “Starting tomorrow, I’m going to pray on my knees for 30 minutes every day”? Probably not. If you’re struggling to pray at all, it may be more helpful to set a goal of praying for five minutes every day. While that certainly isn’t as far as you should go in your prayer life as you mature, it’s still progress—something that shows we are serious about making changes. We should never compromise with sin, but we do need to be realistic and understand that steady progress is more achievable and produces more fruit than impulsive and unsustained efforts.
The “R” stands for Relevant. If you’re a parent, you might be tempted to set a goal like, “I want my son to start making A’s and B’s in his classes.” But how do you turn that into action that you can take? One way is to revise your goal into something like, “I will talk to my son every day this week about his homework and see if he needs help.” That’s relevant—that’s within your sphere, something you can do.
Finally, the “T” in S.M.A.R.T. stands for Time-bound. This is the difference between “I will go walking more often” and “I will go walking three times this week.” When you set a time limit, you can check up on your progress periodically. In fact, some people go a step further and aim for S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals—ones they Evaluate periodically and Revise if they need to.
Ask yourself, What is one change I can make in my practices, behaviors, or habits that would have a big impact on where I’m going to be next Feast, spiritually? And don’t assume you know the answer too quickly—give it real thought and ask God to help you see it. Obviously, it’s not wrong to pick two or more changes—but try to keep your goals and your targets narrow enough to actually focus on them.
Suggestions for Growth
Passover will be here before we know it, and I encourage you to consider that coming time as the evaluation period of your goal or goals. We’re all going to be examining ourselves in the days leading up to Passover—now is the time to plant the seeds so that we can check for actual growth when that time comes, to see if the trials in our lives are producing fruit. God has given us a natural timeframe for this.
If you’re baptized, I would encourage you to specifically consider the fruit of God’s Spirit. If we have God’s Spirit, it is supposed to produce specific fruit in our lives. Read through Galatians 5 and consider involving the fruit of the Spirit in your goals.
If you are an adult and not baptized yet, remember that Christ desires you to be baptized. If you don’t know why you’re not baptized yet, it’s a perfect focus for self-examination. Can you write down reasons why you’re not yet baptized? Do you know what obstacles exist between you and baptism? Don’t feel inordinate pressure—but do keep in mind that there’s no third way of life: There was one goat for the Eternal and there was one goat for the Azazel, but there was no third goat (Leviticus 16). Whether or not you are baptized does make a difference. If, as an adult, you have not yet been baptized, consider why that might be.
If you’re a teenager, baptism may not be in your immediate future—but, at the same time, your future baptism is still worth your meditation. Dr. Scott Winnail’s article “For Church Youth: How Do I Know When I Am Ready for Baptism?” (Living Church News, November-December 2006) is well worth reading and considering.
These days in which we reflect upon the Feast behind us are crucial ones for us. God willing, on October 6, 2025, we will be hearing Mr. Weston talking to all of us at that Opening Night service about the eight days that lie ahead. I don’t know where I’m going to be physically, and neither do you—but where each of us will be spiritually is what we must focus on now, with the help of God the Father and Jesus Christ, during the days that have already begun.