Yom Kippur: "Prepare Your Heart"

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We first find the mitzvah (command) to observe this day of atonement in Vayikra / Leviticus 16:1-34
following the story of the death of Aharon’s sons Nadav and Avihu in Parashat Shmini
(see Vayikra / Leviticus 10) and the errant manner in which they performed their duties that
led to their deaths.  These scriptures emphasize that there is only one way in which God could be approached. 
Any deviation from the pattern that God is showing Moshe would not be acceptable.  The emphasis here is on the manner in
which one approaches God and specifically that one must have a humble heart when approaching the Lord in worship and prayer. 
When you go before the Lord in worship and prayer, have you ever taken a moment to make your heart right prior to standing before
Him?  The preparation of our hearts prior to approaching the Lord was the sin Nadav and Avihu committed and were put to
death.  Yeshua also uses very strong words which demonstrate the importance of a heart that is prepared for the Lord verses a
heart that is far away (Matthew 15:1-14).  Nadav and Avihu did not sanctify their hearts when they
went before the Lord, based upon the context of Vayikra / Leviticus 10 they may have been drinking wine prior
to entering into offer fire before the Lord.  Do you see how important this is for us today?  If you do not properly
prepare your heart before coming before the Lord in worship and prayer it is very possible that you will fail to sanctify the Lord.  
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Duane D. Miller received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Akron Ohio. He is currently a Chemical Engineering Researcher. Duane’s research expertise has focused upon functional materials development for the control, conversion, and release of process gases in Energy production technologies. His R&D interests include computational chemistry, developing novel technologies for converting biomass to fuels and studying their fundamental interactions during the chemical conversion process. His past experience includes sorbent development for pre- and post-combustion CO2 and SO2 capture, selective absorption of H2S from methane streams, O2 capture for oxy-fuel combustion, photocatalytic reduction of alcohols, NOx reduction catalysis, the development of oxygen carriers to combust fossil fuels (CH4 and coal) for the chemical looping combustion processes, and the extraction of rare earth elements using patent pending sorbents. His research expertise has focused on operando-characterization using Infrared, Raman, and UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe the nature of the catalytic active sites and reaction intermediates under realistic reaction conditions, allowing direct correlation of molecular/electronic structures with catalyst performance during Gas-Solid / Liquid-Solid Adsorption and Photocatalytic Processes with real time online analysis of reaction products using ICP-MS and mass spectrometry. His current work involves a multi-disciplinary approach to developing, understanding, and improving the catalytic gasification of coal and methane, high temperature chemical looping combustion, and the catalytic decomposition and gasification of biomass and coal using novel microwave reactor.​ He has been studying the Hebrew Scriptures and the Torah for 20+ years and sharing what he has learned. The studies developed for MATSATI.COM are freely to be used by everyone, to God be the Glory!