The HONOR Beard
By George Nielsen
I have never grown a beard before, having only gone a few days without shaving, at times when I was very sick and bedridden. During my years in the U.S. Army, having a beard was not permitted. However, in August I had a prompting from Holy Spirit that I should grow a beard, and began doing so, on August 5, 2013. The direction given to me was that having the beard was connected to these things:
(1) Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets – coming up on September 4th, the first of the Fall Feasts of the Lord described in the Scripture that are to give honor to the Glorious Presence of God with men here on the earth; this feast looks back to the loud trumpet blasts on Mount Sinai when God descended onto the mountain before Moses and the Israelites, and looks forward to the “Last Trumpet” – and the Rapture of the Church;
(2) the honor associated with the spiritual gifts known as the 5-fold Ministry Gifts, and the ministry of Teacher, in particular, (where having the beard, and being generally a somewhat older person, are to symbolize wisdom); true wisdom comes from God and we can find it in His Word, the Holy Bible; by giving honor to the 5-fold ministry position of Teacher, this also gives honor to God Himself, who gives the Teacher his/her wisdom, the calling and the anointing to teach;
(3) making a tangible expression of honor to Holy Spirit Himself, by declaring my purpose for growing this beard, as the Honor beard. I did this while speaking to a group of men on September 5th, Yom Teruah, and have done so at other times, too.
It was somewhat humbling to grow the beard, particularly during the first three weeks, because of how it looked – uneven, not particularly full, and sort of “grizzly” looking. The picture shown above was taken after seven weeks of growth.
The word I received was to honor Holy Spirit on Yom Teruah by growing the beard, and I started 30 days prior to this feast, growing the beard during the Hebrew calendar month of Elul. Those who follow the Hebrew calendar and observe the Feasts also use the month of Elul as a time of personal reflection to prepare their hearts for the upcoming days. In my case, I was also preparing my face.
Being mindful that Yom Teruah was the first of three major Feasts of the Lord, I purposed in my heart to continue with the spirit of expressing honor by keeping the beard and not shaving it off. I determined to declare special honor and give thanks to Jesus Christ, the Son of God and my Savior, by having the beard on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Furthermore, I determined to declare special honor to God the Father, by having the beard on Sukkot, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and to highlight the prophecy from Scripture in Revelation 21: 1–3. This Scripture declares the coming of the New Jerusalem, descending from heaven to earth, and that the dwelling place of God will be with men. On September 19th, Sukkot, I also spoke to a group of men and was able to make the declaration of honor to God the Father and of Revelation 21’s prophecy.
I hope that having a beard, and declaring it to be the Honor beard, will serve as more than a personal expression of Honor, by me. I hope other people, reading this or taking note of my having the beard, will also be inspired to seek to give special honor to God and to our indwelling God – Holy Spirit, the third person of our triune God – in particular.
Honoring God involves how we live our lives, first of all. Then we can also speak out, making expressions of honor. Finally, we can show honor with a special Honor financial offering. I have done this with a special missions offering, and I encourage those reading this to also consider making an Honor offering.
