Priority #2 - My Husband - Not the Early Bird

I am NOT an early bird. For six years, I worked until 1 and 2 in the morning. Last year, Adonai began to deal with me about my times and seasons. Even as I write this, I just finished a study Friend Hubby is doing on the Seven Covenants, and I realized that when the creation of earth began, the first thing that Elohim established was times and seasons:

"And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs and tokens [of God's provident care], and [to mark] seasons, days, and years." Genesis 1:14 AMP

To Noah, He says:

"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22 AMP

So what is the first thing He does when He brings the Children of Israel out of Egypt? He gives them His own calendar. {See Leviticus 23}

Apparently, time is important to Him. Hmmm.

So, my times and seasons have been changing. First with the Sabbath. From the time that I started keeping the Sabbath more consistently, I have changed jobs, not once, but twice, and now work exclusively in the daylight hours (with the exception of Sunday evening).

Now, it seems, that is not enough. It appears, that He is trying to make an early bird out of me. My flesh is kicking against the goads! LOL!

When I was a young bride, I used to try to get Friend Hubby to let me make him breakfast in the morning. He kept telling me no and after a while I stopped trying, but now, after nearly a quarter of a century of marriage, we both realize that breakfast would be good for him in the morning, so one of us should fix it. So far, that hasn't been me, but I'm moving closer. In the last six months I have moved from not even being aware of when he left for work to actually being up to say good-bye. Eventually, I'm sure I will be down there breaking out a skillet or two. I can feel it in my bones.



Blessings,

Priority #1 - My God - Where My Path Began

My favorite poem of all times is Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This poem reminds me of this Scripture, copied here from the Aramaic-English New Testament

"Enter by the straight door, for wide is the door and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many are they, those that go in it. How narrow the door and straight the road that leads to life, and few are they, those that find it." Matthew 7:13-14 AENT

I have had the opportunity to fellowship with believers from Portugal, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Japan, Argentina, and the Philippines. I lived outside of the United States for 12 years and now have lived back in the states for 12 years. My only emotion derived from what I have experienced is sadness in much of the church in America is sadness.

Read the commendation and indictment pronounced on the assembly of believers in Laodicea from Revelation 3:14-22 AMP:

And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the trusty and faithful and true Witness, the Origin and Beginning and Author of God's creation:

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!

So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!

For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me.

He who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant him to sit beside Me on My throne, as I Myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside My Father on His throne.

He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).

Probably to others, the church in America is just the same as it has always been. But because we were outside of it for so long and then returned to it, we view it differently. We left the U.S. just a few years after the Jimmy Bakker/Jimmy Swaggart scandals. I think one of the reasons it was such big news, even to the worldly media is because the church still, at least in certain arenas, held up a high standard of clearly what is right and wrong. From that stone rolling, we have had the Catholic church scandals, church shootings, murder-suicides, public affairs, strange phenomena (not miraculous, just strange), and yet, there is no mass repentance, mass reform, no mass weeping for what we have done, for the little ones we have led astray. Instead, our buildings have gotten larger, our sacred music more marketable, our offering buckets larger because we've got to meet the expenses on all of this, our families more dysfunctional, our "outreaches" less about repentance and more about a social club.

I don't suggest throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There are pockets of light, but isn't that the point of Matthew 7:13-14. FEW THERE BE THAT FIND IT.

Can we no longer sing with our own voices? Can we no longer us our homes as houses of worship? Can we no longer search the Scriptures for ourselves (we cannot possibly say we have been "fed" in a 20 minute message, can we?)?

All of our WWJD and COEXIST and other market schemes to make Jesus more palatable to the masses further illustrate that we do not know Him. Had we really searched the Scriptures, we would know not only His acts, but His ways. If you REALLY believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, and you truly believe John 1:1 AMP, "IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself." Then how could He contradict Himself? How can He himself honor the Sabbath and then get rid of it or change the day? How could pronounce a curse on all that is dark and evil and then turn the house of worship into a haunted house on Halloween? How could He go from spitting in the dirt and making a salve for blinded eyes to punching someone with stomach cancer in the stomach? Would He declare sexual immorality to be wrong and then turn around and support it?

My goal, my aim, my desire is to KNOW HIM as revealed in His Word, not reinvent Him. He came to this world and manifested His glory to the Hebrew nation. Not because they were big, not because they were might, but because He was faithful to keep His word to His servant Abraham. When they rebelled against Him and were scattered to the ends of the earth as a result, He came to earth Himself, declared that He came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel and demonstrated how to keep the commandments that He Himself established through progressive covenants, Edenic, Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and new or Renewed Covenant. He established seven festivals that themselves tell the story of redemption. Paul's blessing over the community of Ephesus was, "May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]." The treasury of His glory is His Word, specifically the Word that Paul would have had access to the Torah and the Prophets.

Rev. Sam Pascoe put it like this: "Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise."

Return! In Hebrew, T'shuvah! Retrace your steps back along the path, past the church coffee shops and book stores, past the T-shirts, CDs, jewelry, and greeting cards. Go home, all the way home. Take your family with you. Spend the sabbath with them. Study the word together. Let your husband lay hands on you and bless you and your children. Speak a blessing over him, EVERY WEEK. Look forward to it, delight yourself in it. Invite people over. Dance, pray, study, laugh. Let them be themselves and untie the yokes that bind them. Pull them out of ditches. Love the Lord and Love His people. Connect. Romans 12:9 AMP, "[Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good."

I'm empty of words now. LOL! But today is the Sabbath, and I am SO looking forward to getting my refill!

Blessings,

Priority #6 - My Ministry - Not on my Calendar

When the Children of Israel came out of Egypt (a type of the believer coming out of the world system), YHWH gave them a calendar so that they would not assimilate to the culture around them. They were not meant to be boring or dry or religiously observed with out bodies while our hearts longed for something else. They all pointed toward YHWH and were in celebration of Him.

Recently, a neighbor boy tried to convince my son to come to his Halloween party. When my son said, "No, you already know I don't celebrate that," the boy gave to reasons why he should:
1. "Christians trick or treat."
2. "You should become one with the world."

In his mind, these are the reasons why my son should get involved in his celebration. Because so many "Christians" have left off from the Scripture that says, "So, come out from among [unbelievers], and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor." II Corinthians 6:17 AMP "Christians" have rejected His favor so they can be in favor with the world and not make waves and be a "witness" by throwing identical festivals with the "evil" taken out of them.

His second reason, that my son should become, "one with the world," reminds me of I John 2:15-17, "

"Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself]. And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever." I John 2:15-17 AMP

THE LUST OF THE FLESH
"I only participate in Halloween so I can get the candy." What, I can't buy my children candy without them getting dressed up, ringing the neighbor's doorbell, and giving them an ultimatum?

THE LUST OF THE EYES
CNN did a story this year about the increasingly sensual nature of Halloween costumes for children: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/28/living/sexy-costumes-kids/

THE PRIDE OF LIFE
"You just don't want your children to have fun." Of course, the only way to have fun is your way, right? Our children never laugh, never smile, never celebrate, never feast......Wrong!

In our family, adapting to YHWH's calendar, rather than trying to squeeze Him into our American/Gregorian system, has been the most eye-opening, joyful, and adventurous thing we have ever done as a family and our children are loving every minute of it.

We as grafted in Israelites had better learn how to celebrate the holidays of our Kingdom. According to Isaiah 66, we will be celebrating them for all eternity!

SCRIPTURES ABOUT BEING GRAFTED IN TO ISRAEL
Romans 11:17-24
"But if some of the branches were broken off, while you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness [of the root and sap] of the olive tree, Do not boast over the branches and pride yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root [that supports] you. You will say then, Branches were broken (pruned) off so that I might be grafted in! That is true. But they were broken (pruned) off because of their unbelief (their lack of real faith), and you are established through faith [because you do believe]. So do not become proud and conceited, but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], neither will He spare you [if you are guilty of the same offense]. Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's gracious kindness to you--provided you continue in His grace and abide in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off (pruned away). And even those others [the fallen branches, Jews], if they do not persist in [clinging to] their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these natural [branches] back on [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree."

SCRIPTURES ABOUT THE RENEWED COVENANT
Hebrews 8:8 AMP, "However, He finds fault with them [showing its inadequacy] when He says, Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, when I will make and ratify a new covenant or agreement with the house of Israel [HELLO! YOU ARE HERE!!!] and with the house of Judah."

Hebrews 8:10 AMP, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws [TORAH - HIS INSTRUCTION AND TEACHING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS] upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Question: Do you think that the Torah, instruction and teaching that He writes upon your heart, is different than the instruction and teaching found in His written word? So when He says, "Be watchful that you are not ensnared into following them after they have been destroyed before you and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? We will do likewise." Deuteronomy 12:30 AMP, that He could have possibly been talking about not celebrating Halloween or making a substitute for it?

LIST OF FEAST DAYS OF YHWH
Leviticus 23:2, "Say to the Israelites, The set feasts or appointed seasons of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, even My set feasts, are these:

Verse 3 - The Sabbath:
"Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation or assembly by summons. You shall do no work on that day; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings."

Every Friday is like a party. From sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, we pray blessings over our husbands, wives, and children. We praise and worship our God. We fellowship with other believers. We dance and laugh and eat, and forget about all of our troubles and worries for the week. We refill our oil so that we can continue to be lights in the world.

Verse 4 through - Six Feasts

1. Passover - A memorial of the Angel of Death passing over the Children of Israel and delivering them out of the world. A memorial of Yeshua (Jesus) giving His life to renew the covenant with the House of Israel, those who would believe on Him and reconcile us back to our first husband (the God of the first Passover).

2. Feast of Unleavened Bread - yeast, which is a symbol of sin, is carefully searched for an removed from our homes in preparation for the receiving of the Torah


3. Shavuot - Festival of the barley harvest and memorial of the gathering to receive the Torah (marriage vows). Also memorial of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit was poured out and we received the Torah written on our hearts and in our minds.


4. Feast of Trumpets - a time that marks the time of repentance. A time of making things right with our neighbors and repenting before YHWH. It is the beginning of a 10-day period of introspection.

5. Day of Atonement - This is a fast and a solemn day of repentance. This is a day of looking at ourselves for what we really are so that we can know look to our Messiah and His finished work (on Yom Kippur the high priest, after the last lamb was slain, would say, "It is finished."

6. Feast of Booths - This is a season of our joy. This is when we believe Yeshua was actually born. This is when we celebrate His coming to dwell among us. There has been much research on it. You can look that up for yourselves.

OTHER BIBLICAL HOLIDAYS
New Moons - I love how YHWH is always about renewal. In Isaiah 66:23 AMP He says that in the New Earth and the New Jerusalem, "And it shall be that from one New Moon to another New Moon and from one Sabbath to another Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord."

Feast of Dedication (Hannukah) - We know that Jesus celebrated this, "After this the Feast of Dedication [of the reconsecration of the temple] was taking place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and And Jesus was walking in Solomon's Porch in the temple area." John 10:22-23 AMP

Purim - Celebration of the Jews of Shushan's victory over their Persian oppression.

With all these Biblical holidays to celebrate, WHY do believers look to participate in the celebrations of the world. We should be inviting THEM to OUR feasts, not participating in theirs! OUR feasts tell the story of redemption. Our feasts speak of Him Who was, is, and is to come. There are holidays and memorial days that have been celebrated in the past and are no longer relevant and have passed away, but this festivals are WORD and we are assured that His word will NEVER pass away.

Blessings,

Priority #5 - Myself - A Good Cry

Central Texas, where I live, has scarcely seen one drop of rain since late April. This is the most severe drought on record. The drought has almost become a way of life. We can get used to it. Princess Butterfly went on a little trip with Friend Hubby up to Oklahoma this week. She sent me a text message that said, "Rain still exists!" I replied, "Good, bring some home!"

My mind has recently been going through it's familiar circle of "what ifs." I get used to stuffing them back down as soon as they surface, but recently, I had a talk with my uncle. He's the type of person who can pull a cry out of you, in spite of all your best efforts at holding down the fort. In addition to that, in my job as a medical transcriptionist, I had to type a report of a man who had irreversible complications from just a routine surgery and was about to be put on hospice with minutes to hours left to live, and the physician dictating mentioned on more than one occasion the look of fear in the man's eyes. Some days my job is just hard to do.

After that, I seemed to have sprung a leak. The more I tried to stuff my "what ifs" the more difficult they became to contain. My house is rarely completely empty, but this was a karate night. I tried to sit at my computer and work, but one tear slipped away from me and before I knew it, a torrent of tears came tumbling down on my keyboard, blurring my computer screen. I just cried and cried and cried until I couldn't cry any more. I wasn't just crying for the patient in my report. I was crying for my daughter who didn't get to live to go to college and be married and have children. I cried for my grandmother who died the morning of my daughter's funeral, whom I miss terribly, particularly after speaking with my uncle. I cried for my mother who died earlier this year and although our last words to one another expressed our love for one another, it did not erase all the ugly words she said while I was trying to take care of her, and trying to take care of everyone else too.

I had my cry, my thunderstorm, and then I did what my mother always taught me to do. Move forward. We've seen from our Torah readings this year, self-pity never moves anyone into the promised land, ANY promised land. I have a new school year to start, a ministry to help my husband with, and a host of things I need to reorganize and learn. I have been at this mountain long enough. Time to dry the tears and get moving.


"And the Lord spoke to me [Moses], saying, 'You have roamed around this mountain country long enough; turn northward.'" Deuteronomy 2:3 AMP

Blessings,

Priority #4 - My Home - FlyLady and the Month of Av

Romans 7:18-25

For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]

For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.

Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].

So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].

But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].

O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?

O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

I am not able (or I am not disciplined enough) to do FlyLady the way FlyLady is supposed to be done. I am beginning to realize that working from home at my computer is mentally and physically tiring and I can't do everything my mind tells me it wants to do.

I have been very productive on my job lately, mostly because of blogs dealing with productivity. It has been very awe inspiring keeping in front of my eyes on a daily basis ideas that help me to stay focused and get it done.

Now if I can do that for work, can't I do it for housework as well?

This week began the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar. Isaiah 66:23 AMP says that in the kingdom where our Messiah Yeshua reigns, "And it shall be that from one New Moon to another New Moon and from one Sabbath to another Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord."

I have certainly learned in this past year (and have been abundantly blessed by it) to mark my week from Sabbath to Sabbath. I have learned to set my year from Torah cycle (Simchat Torah is where Deuteronomy ends and Genesis begins again), I think that marking my months from New Moon to New Moon will be a blessing to me as well.

So rather from switching zones from week to week, I think I will concentrate on one room month by month. So for the month of Av, I want to transform our school room for the new school year. I have middle-schoolers now. It is in bad need of an upgrade. It needs to reflect their maturity and higher levels of learning. Since I work in the room, it will also need to be functional as my home office as well.

In garden news (heavy sigh), my untreated wood on my square foot garden, along with the only thing in the backyard getting water besides the dog bowl, has attracted termites. They have destroyed all my watermelon vines. Sooo. I'm going to Lowe's to buy some termite sprinkles and sprinkle it all around the base of the outside of the box then wait a few weeks. When I get ready to plant my indoor seedlings, which have already begun to sprout, I will dig up all that soil and start again fresh with new soil. I will probably put more soil in to make it deeper.

Blessings!

Priority #3 - My Children - Sharpening Our Arrows

It's beginning to be about that time. We're getting ready to pack up My Diva and send her back to college.

These are some verses I've been thinking about concerning my children:

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. As arrows are in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy, blessed, and fortunate is the man whose quiver is filled with them! They will not be put to shame when they speak with their adversaries [in gatherings] at the [city's] gate." Psalm 127:3-5

I'm also getting ready to begin a new school year with Boy Wonder and Princess Butterfly. My Diva has been the guinea pig for higher learning so I can see the areas where my younger two need work.

After the stupidity of the California Governor signing into law a bill to teach gay history, I'm so glad I live in Texas where I can choose how to educate my own children. I am drawing inspiration from other pioneering educators like:

Mary McLeod Bethune

Curriculum at the school started as a rigorous Christian life, having girls rise at 5:30 a.m. for Bible Study, classes in home economics and other industrial skills such as dressmaking, millinery, cooking, and other crafts that emphasized a life of self-sufficiency. Students' days ended at 9 pm. Soon science and business courses were added, then high school courses of math, English, and foreign languages.

Marva Collins

Marva Collins uses the Socratic method, modified for use in primary school. The first step is to select material with abstract content to challenge students' logic, and that will therefore have different meaning to different students, in order to aid discussion. This is done specifically to teach children to reason.

Next, the teacher should read the material, because unknown material cannot be taught. New words, the words to watch, should be listed, and taught, for pronunciation, use and spelling before the material is read. Without this step, the reading is meaningless.

Next, one begins a series of pertinent questions as the reading progresses, starting with a reference to the title, and a question about what the material is about. Predictions should use logic, reasoning and evidence without fallacy. The reading must be out loud, so the teacher can ask questions at pertinent points. Students are taught to test their reasoning. Afterward, they write daily letters to the author or characters, and write a critical review. Why is the work important to them? The child must be taught to refer to what was previously learned to support their opinions.

In the Socratic method, the rate of information is controlled by the teacher. Properly paced, this encourages participation, reducing discipline issues and encouraging self-discipline. The program specifically avoids work-sheets and inane busy work. It establishes an intellectual atmosphere, a general attitude suspending judgment, and examining reasoning.

In the 1990s I was privileged to meet (in Okinawa of all places) the headmaster of The Piney Woods School in Mississippi, Dr. Charles H. Beady, Jr. Morley Safer of 60 Minutes had done a piece on the school. I was so impressed by their committment that the children of Piney Woods would become more than just statistics.

The fourth blessing in the weekday Amidah is a petition for knowledge and insight. It says, "You show favor to a man of knowledge, and You teach understanding to a mortal man. Be gracious to us; a mind of understanding and intellect is from You. Blessed are You, Adonai, Who favors us with knowledge."

Isaiah 54:13 in my three favorite versions of the scriptures.

New King James: "All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children."

Amplified: "And all your [spiritual] children shall be disciples [taught by the Lord and obedient to His will], and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children."http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Complete Jewish Bible: "All your children will be taught by ADONAI; your children will have great peace."

Blessings!



New Friend Friday Link-up

Torah Study - Numbers (B'midbar) - Masei (Stages) - Question #2

Hoshana Rabbah
Is there a Gentile gate in New Jerusalem?

Numbers 34:1–35:8, Each tribe had its land allotment in the Promised Land. Where did the non-Israelite sojourners find their allotment? Were they left out? No. They were joined to one of the twelve tribes. Similarly, New Jerusalem has twelve gates only, named after the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev 21:12). Do you call yourself a Gentile and not an Israelite? Then tell me which gate you will enter through? The reality is that there is no “Gentile Gate” listed! Why is this?