Are you destined for greatness in the kingdom of God (YHWH)?

Ask most believers that question and they’ll humbly assure you they’re not. “You know we can’t all be golden vessels” they’ll say. “Like the Bible says, some of us are just called to be little clay pots.”

Praise YHWH (God), the Word doesn’t say that!

Certainly there are going to be some golden vessels in the kingdom and there are going to be some clay pots, but we are the ones–not YHWH (God)–who determine which kind of vessel we will be. 2 Timothy 2:21 tells us that “If therefore anyone purge himself from these things, he will be a pure vessel for honor, fit for the use of his Master (Y’shua-the person most know as Jesus) and prepared for every good work.” Golden vessel or clay pot, the choice is up to you!

Why then do so many believers in Y’shua haMashiyach (Jesus the Messiah) choose to do menial work in the kingdom of YHWH (God)? Why are they content to remain clay pots?

Because they lack one thing every golden vessel must have. They lack dedication. They haven’t made a quality decision to separate themselves from contaminating influences. They haven’t been willing to turn away from the ways of the world and go on with YHWH (God) past the point of no return.

My friend, YHWH (God) is doing some exciting things on this earth right now. He’s working signs and wonders, paving the way for Y’shua’s (Jesus’) return. This is a thrilling time, but it’s definitely no time for clay pots! So if you haven’t yet made the kind of commitment that will turn you into a golden vessel, admit it. Then take the time to get before YHWH (God) and study His Word and get your will in line with His. Let the Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh) deal with you until you’re willing to leave the ways of the world behind and walk in higher ways–the ways of YHWH (God).

Do it now. The hour is late. The glory of YHWH is spilling over the earth in one final thrilling wave. It’s not trickling out of clay pots. It’s being poured through golden vessels–and that’s exactly what YHWH is calling you to be.

Precious ones… I pray you will look closely at your vessel today. You will be the vessel that you choose to be. I pray you will choose Gold or Silver… clay crumbles when it gets wet, by the way!

Shining…

Kathy

 ** AENT is the Aramaic English New Testament. Please click on the link to the left and devour the rich info on this site. You will also have the opportunity to get one for yourself (which I highly recommend). If you have any questions, you can contact me.

How important is this verse to the life of a believer of Yeshua the Messiah? It could be one of or is the most important verse for living that there is in God’s Word.

Let me tell you why I think that previous statement is true. Webster’s Dictionary definition of salt: “to season or preserve; an ingredient that gives savor, piquancy (palatable), flavor, or zest; full of life, vigor, or personality, to treat, provide, or season; to enrich; to cure.” What kind of world would it be if believers knew and accepted the responsibility of being the salt?

God established a “covenant of salt” in Numbers 18:19, which is applied to King David and his descendants (the Messiah and his followers-who are the righteous remnant). Did you know there was such a covenant?

Think about all the things you know that Adonai wants you to be and do. If salt was added to that, how much more flavorful and palatable would it be? Even something as basic as parenting, would some salt enhance your effectiveness? God knew what salt was before Webster! He knew how amazing the compound was that He created, also knowing what an impact it would make if we understood its meaning. The problem comes with not knowing how vital salt is to life.

Neither people nor animals can live without salt. There are many diseases that can be prevented and cured with salt-ever sprain your ankle? Soaking your foot in Epsom Salts will greatly help the soreness. Have you ever had a sore throat and gargled in warm salt water (home remedy)? Helps, doesn’t it?

The negative side of salt is… it can also kill. Put a pile of salt on a weed and see what happens. The verse says “sprinkle”, please make sure you do not dump it on people! Too much salt will make you choke for sure!

If you read Matthew 5:13 again you will see what happens if salt becomes watered down. Do you water down the salt that God has created you to be? How do you water down your saltiness? Keeping it in the shaker, filling yourself with things that will suck your saltiness away (have you ever over salted something and added a potato to soak up the excess salt?), and things that corrupt your life will make your salt lose its saltiness. Can you name things in your life that fit those categories? If you can, then, rid yourself of them right away. If not, then, get to sprinkling!

This world is dying. It needs salt. You are it-God said so! Read the definition of salt again and make a list of the people, places, and things that you can salt this week! Have you ever tasted a potato that has not had any salt on it? Yuck! Could the lack of salt be why the “spiritual” things you try to do are not as effective as you would like… or not effective at all?

I take you back to the statement I made at the beginning and I stand firm on it, “It could be one of, or is the most important verse for living that there is in God’s Word”. Do you agree? If so, start sprinkling yourself around today!

Sprinkling everywhere…
Kathy

Over time, placing the commandments in a container became the custom, to protect God’s people. The Israelites, unlike many Christians today, reverenced the word of God. So much so, that they could not even say or write the names of God, they wrote it G-D or YHWH. How far does your reverence for G-D go? How flippant are you about the things of G-D, i.e.: your Bible, the temple (your body) where G-D resides (if you are a child of G-D’s)?

The m’zuzah is actually the written parchment with the Scriptures written on it. There are two passages of scripture written on the parchment (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Deuteronomy 11:13-21.) Of course, the parchment has to be Kosher (1 a: sanctioned by Jewish law; especially: ritually fit for use <kosher meat 2: being proper, acceptable, or satisfactory) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The box is just the container, but for ease of learning, the whole container will be called the m’zuzah. As Judaism developed, the rabbis determined which verses of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) would be written on the parchment. After thousands of years, the scripture has stayed remarkably consistent. The m’zuzah is a constant reminder to follow YHWH. Most often, even on the m’zuzahs that I have found today, the Hebrew letter shin is on the outside of the container. It is the first letter of an attribute of G-D. It is the first letter of the word Sh-D-Y (Shaddai) which means, almighty. It meant to the Israelites, “watchman of the doors.” Who better to watch over the door than Shaddai… the Almighty one! Does the Almighty One watch over your home? Have you invited him to, or are you still trying to do it yourself?

A m’zuzah can be placed on every doorway of a home except the bathroom (for defilement reasons.) It is common to see m’zuzahs on public building and synagogues in Israel.
Because of the great respect the Jews have for G-D’s word, it is customary to see them touch the m’zuzah as they pass through the door and kiss the fingers that touched the word Shaddai. It shows their love for G-D. How do you show your respect for G-D, publicly and privately?

There is a real significance in the New Testament regarding the m’zuzah. Jesus (Yeshua) affirmed the truth contained in the m’zuzah when he was asked a question by a Pharisee, “which commandment is the most important?” (Matthew 22:34-38.) Yeshua quoted from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (one of the passages in the m’zuzah) when he answered the Pharisee’s question. Also, in John 10:7-10, Yeshua said m’zuzah when he talked to the disciples about being the gate. Jesus is our m’zuzah, the Almighty One, the Shaddai over our lives and homes! Jesus spoke in Hebrew (Aramaic), so He would have said m’zuzah, but it was translated into Greek for our New Testament into the word thura, which means, “doorway or doorpost.” Paul, in Ephesians 2:19-22, would have had in mind the m’zuzah when he talked about Yeshua being the “cornerstone” for the “holy temple for the Lord.” Is Yeshua the m’zuzah of your life today? If not, He can be, by telling Him and showing Him you want Him to be.

Are you, your family, and your home dedicated to the glory and obedience of G-D? Do you kiss the Shaddai of your life every day as you come to him? Revelation 3:20 says, “Look! Here I stand at the door (m’zuzah) and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends” (NLT). The meal is your daily bread, precious ones. What does the delivery person or other visitors see when they approach your house? Is there a witness for the YHWH there? It may be your only opportunity to say what you want to say to them. Will you ask YHWH what He wants you to apply to your life and doorpost as a result of what you have just learned? He wants to be your m’zuzah, will you allow Him?

El Shaddai,
Forgive me for holding back, my lack of regard, my not reaching out, touching, kissing, or showing my love for you. May I lavish my love upon you in obvious, tangible ways, so that others are drawn to you?
In Yeshua’s name,
Amen

For Generations to Come…

 In biblical times the Jewish men wore a garment called a tallit (Hebrew for prayer shawl.) It was not just for prayer, but even though worn much of the time, it was specifically for prayer. They were commanded to wear fringe, called tzitziyot (Hebrew) on it. Numbers 15:37-41 is the first passage that speaks about this garment. The Lord directly spoke to Moses and told him to tell the Israelites in verse 38, “Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach the tassels at each corner with a blue cord” (NLT). The English word “clothing” is the Hebrew word tallit. God was telling them to wear their prayer shawls for generations to come. Why do you think God would tell them to do that?  What importance did God place on it? Is there significance for Christians in the 21^st century?

The word tallit comes from two Hebrew words tal meaning tent and ith meaning little. God intended for them to use the tallit as a little tent. Six million Jews could not fit into the tabernacle that God commanded Moses to build in the Old Testament (Exodus 26.) How gracious is God to give them their own little tabernacle (little tent) where they could meet with God? The Jews would pull it over their head to form a tent where they would call on their YHWH (the Hebrew term for Jehovah or Yahweh.) The New Testament gives a more modern-day picture of this garment, Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.” Matthew was a Jew and knew what he was talking about, but we don’t understand it the way it was intended because we have rooms with doors and closets and that is how the verse was translated, thusly how we have applied it. In the original language (NT Greek) the verse is broken down like this: “closet”, tameion: an inner chamber, secret room; “close”, kleio: to shut up; “door”, thura: used of any opening like a door, an entrance, way or passage into.     This verse very likely was talking about the tallit. Anytime of the day or night their prayer closet was with them, their inner chamber, wrapped around their shoulders. It could be shut up at any moment to create a passage into the heavens!  How many times in a day do you wish you could enter your prayer closet and it is not with you? What harm would it do to have a prayer shawl (tallit)? God never said not to use them anymore. Just a thought…

Another example of the tallit being used was the story of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth’s husband had died and she stayed with her mother-in-law. She meets a man named Boaz and so begins a great love story in the Old Testament book of Ruth. In chapter 3 verse 9, Ruth is at the feet of Boaz (not a great idea in those days). She says to Boaz, “Spread the corner of your garment over me since you are a kinsman-redeemer” the word for garment is his tallit. That act would be a claim for marriage.

Deeper study into the Hebrew and Greek reveal that covering with the tallit is a picture of Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God is “hovering over.” There are many other places in scripture where inference to the tallit was made: Deuteronomy 32:11, Luke 1:35, Luke 9:28, Acts 5:14, to name a few.  2 Kings 2 where Elisha received the mantle of Elijah and struck the water with it is another reference to the tallit. What other garment would be so revered and full of power because of all of the years Elijah had worn it when praying? Elijah would have had a prayer shawl as a prophet and it would have been saturated with years of prayer. Can you just imagine how Elisha would have felt when Elijah left it for him? The closest comparison I can make to that feeling was when my Sister died and I received one of her Bibles. What could you leave for someone that is saturated with your prayers and tears?

The most compelling evidence for me was the woman in Luke 8:43 with the issue of blood. Jesus was a Jew and a Rabbi and He would have been wearing a tallit. The woman would have known what the tallit was and the significance of it. The only fringes (tzitziyot) Jesus would be wearing would be on His tallit! Why would she stoop to touch the fringe? Why not His arm or back? As the tallit is placed over the head for prayer, it is held out in such a way as to form “wings.”  The Jews knew their scripture and maybe she was thinking of the promise that there would be, “healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2). The only physical wings Jesus would have had was His tallit with the tzitziyot on it. Jesus’ wings are full of healing for you, too. He gave his life and was striped for your healing (1 Peter 2:24). Will you reach out and touch the hem of His garment today?

Many Messianic Jewish scholars also believe that the “undergarment” in John 19:23-24 and the “strips of linen” in John 20:5-6 were also the tallit. The tallit was woven from top to bottom without a seam, “in one piece.” It was also a custom for a person, especially a Rabbi to be buried with his tallit folded over his face. The tallit was always respected. Any person who moved the tallit would not have been respectful… unless it was the owner… Jesus! Are you beginning to see the great significance of the tallit for you?

We have a Jewish heritage through Jesus Christ. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have a Jew and a Rabbi living in you in the person of the Holy Spirit. The tallit is a symbol of something that God wants to continue to do on earth with us. God does not do away with the things that we do away with, am I saying that you have to have a prayer shawl and wear it everyday… no. But understanding scripture in the way it was written and in the way intended is vital to our deeper understanding of Christ. ! Isn’t that what we all desire as believers in Yeshua HaMashia (Jesus the Messiah)? And… what would it hurt? If you have never worn one when praying—you should try it… amazing!

Hashem (who was, who is, who is to come),

Thank you for the revealing of truth this series will bring. Forgive me Yeshua for cutting out or setting aside those things that are an integral part of you. May I press on and embrace the new/ancient ways you long to reveal to me.

In Yeshua’s name, Amen

Praying for you… Kathy

There is an amazing Bible translated by Dr. David H. Stern, a Messianic Jew (Christian Jew) who translated the Jewish New Testament and the Jewish New Testament Commentary. Also, the Complete Jewish Bible, which combines his version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) with the Jewish New Testament. I have a link to them here so you can look at them and order if you want to have a greater understanding of the actual Hebrew and Greek meanings of scripture.

If you could travel back in time to the first century, if you could view the lives of the first Christians, you would see a very different Christianity than we have today. Those believers knew and understood from experience what God was saying to them. They understood the feasts and Holy days mandated by God in the book of Deuteronomy. They definitely understood the picture of Messiah in all of those appointed times. The patterns and pictures of Yeshua (Jesus) portrayed in God’s Word will be revealed, and the relevance and significance for you as a Christian today will be shown.

Those of you who are new to Hebrew terminology will find the words strange and stirring. This terminology will be used to restore what has been lost for thousands of years. Like Yeshua, for example, is the Hebrew name for Jesus. Some phrases Christians think are just flowery Biblical language will be revealed in a fresh light as important revelations. Was all of that “old” stuff only important to God and to His people then? Is it archaic or applicable to you in the here and now?

I have always thought that what the Israelites practiced and honored was tradition, but I quickly found out that those traditions are so much more than observances, they are Holy. The question uppermost in your mind might be, “but what does all this have to do with me?” The rest of this study will be a journey to answer that question for you. It is so unfortunate that most Gentile believers in Jesus have had little to no exposure to the roots of their own faith. Most present-day Christians haven’t seen a Mezuzah or heard a Shofar blast. The Biblical customs are the missing key to unlocking the depths of scripture for you.

The issue is not whether believers in Yeshua should believe, honor and incorporate the entire Bible, but what approach should be taken in regard to Hebrew/Biblical customs. The customs and Holy days we call Jewish are actually Biblical. Any Bible believing Christian can and will be blessed by the study and integration of them into their lives. One fear that Christians have is that the study and participation of these old customs will lead them away from grace into legalism. These lessons will show that by learning and practicing God’s appointed customs, the believer in Jesus will receive a multitude of spiritual blessings. The saddest thing the Christian world has done is reject Biblical customs and traditions and substitute non-Biblical ones. This study will take you back to the beginning of the Bible, the foundation which will begin an awakening like no other, I know, because it caused an awakening in me and in many who have heard this amazing deeper truth.

This series is designed to help you go deeper. We (believers in Yeshua) have been floating on the surface of our faith for far too long! God is a God of measure-for-measure. Since that is a proven fact in His Word, then, we can know-that-we-know that he will reward those who seek Him measure-for-measure!!! How much blessing can you stand??? “That” is how deep you will/should go… Ready? Get your shovel…

I have suggested some books that will help you in this learning process. I will highlight one every post to help you in making your decision. The one I am suggesting today is, “Messianic Daily Devotional.”  Not so deep that you will be overwhelmed. A little nugget for everyday! Enjoy!!!

Digging…
Kathy

What was the big deal, God? Uzzah was keeping the ark from falling in the mud! That was unfair! You are too sensitive, Lord… and so on… Maybe one or more of those thoughts have entered your mind as you read the passage above? All of those phrases have been mine at one time or another. I think differently now…

It is speculated that Uzzah could have grown up around the ark when it was at Abinadab’s house. At the time that the ark was there, God’s presence was in limited fashion because the ark was not where it should have been. Maybe it was stored in a barn or shed (a little too big for a coffee table, ha!). If this is true, what do kids (like Uzzah) do in a barn? They jump, swing, and play king of the mountain on anything that is there. Get the picture? It was so much a fixture that it had become common. For example… a cross hanging in your house or around your neck, your Bible, prayer, and songs. They are Christian “fixtures” (meant with no disrespect). The things we have “grown up” with. If we are not careful… we can allow the sacred things to become so common that we begin to think like Uzzah: “I can touch it, see? I grew up with it; it’s harmless.”

We need to live with a new awareness of God’s presence. We need to be careful so His presence won’t become so common that we begin to think about it casually. So casually, that we reach out and touch His holiness with our common flesh. Remember Uzzah?

Say this with me, “I want Him at any cost. I will not let sacred things become common to me. I am here to meet with God and learn how to handle the Holy things with reverence. I will not become commonplace with the things of God. I will revere and respect the Holiness of all of the things of Hashem (the name that means, He was, He is, He will be), even His names.”

A dear friend called and said something to me and I want to share it with you.

“God’s will: nothing more; nothing less; nothing else; at any cost.” Sometimes the cost is high, but the reward is higher!

When the sacred becomes common, the common becomes a fixture and the fixture gets dusty and even more common. Look around you… is anything of Hashem dusty or commonplace in your life today? Is it time to bring it back to the level of Holiness He deserves?

At any cost…
Kathy

I am, for the first time, reading and studying the Torah: the first five books of the Bible from a Jewish perspective. I am realizing, more than ever before, that I do not know anything! I have become so familiar with the teaching I have received, that it has become like gospel to me… urgh! Everything I learned has been like different coats over the same thing. Never really getting to the foundation of it all! That is what the Torah has become to me. The foundation I have never had. Yes, I have read the first five books of the Bible and had them explained to me, but never understood the meaning from God’s chosen. The meticulous way they have passed down the understanding from generation to generation is amazing.
Here is a small sampling of what I am learning:

So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage. (Exodus 6:9)

When Moses first came back to Egypt, the Israelites were hopeless. They were slaves and brick makers when Moses came peddling hope. Moses told them, “God has sent me to take you out of Egypt.” He showed them signs that convinced them. He gave them great hope that perhaps God was real after all. They began to believe that the God of their fathers cared about them. Moses raised their expectations of life. But when Moses went to Pharaoh to deliver this message, Pharaoh responded by increasing the workload of the slaves and making their lives even more difficult than before. After that the Torah says, “they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage” (Exodus 6:9).

“Don’t get your hopes up,” people say. Nothing is as painful as misplaced hope. The higher your hopes, the further they plunge. Sometimes it is hard to listen to hope because of our despondency. Having dared to hope in the past and having been betrayed by that hope, we resolve not to be hurt again. One way to avoid ever being hurt again is to refuse to hope. The pessimist is actually afraid of hope.

After facing disappointment, it is difficult to hope again. The pessimist claims that he is just being a realist, but despair is not reality. The heart of the pessimist is really saying, “I am comfortable in my despondent state. Please don’t raise me out of this state, because I can’t stand being teased with the chance of happiness. I would rather be unhappy than risk the chance of disappointment.”

Such an attitude, however, is the antithesis of faith. If we truly believe in God, we should be incurable optimists, living in a constant state of expectation. If God is on our side, we cannot lose. Read that again until you believe it!

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)

When you know you cannot lose, you have nothing to fear. You don’t need to be afraid of disappointment. You don’t need to be pessimist to protect yourself. You can afford to be an optimist. The world needs more of those kinds of people. God wants to raise our expectations. He wants us to get our hopes up.

Hope is the main theme of the Bible. If we are hopeless, what are we saying to the world (who is watching you, by the way)? It is not easy to have hope, except that, if we are full of hope… we have help to grow that hope into full-blown optimism no mater what the circumstances of present, past, or future. Do you want to be that person… don’t you love to be around someone like that?

Hopeful… Kathy

I am sure, like myself, that the New Year brought plans for a new diet or way of eating or exercising into many of your lives. And what do they always say? “The first couple of weeks is the most difficult as you cleanse your body.” Making God a daily priority is much like a new eating or exercise regimen. I personally have felt the conviction of being so consumed with eating right and taking care of this 50+ mind and body of mine, I miss God in it! I have to be honest and say that I am not as concerned with asking myself, “What is the next thing God wants of me?”

I cannot put my finger on exactly when I started to read the Bible on a daily basis, but I believe it was the Christmas of 1964 when my sister gave me a Bible, which was my first one. At first, the goal was to read through the “whole thing”, then it grew to wanting to study and learn, and today it is a craving to know Him better everyday. Throughout my life I have fallen away from Him and His Word many times, I wish I could tell you that I have had the self-control to do daily what I know, verses doing what I feel, but I fail at this also at times.

As you begin to read His word and as you listen to Him, there will be times that He leads you to more time, because His Word is “living”. It reminds me of a scene from of the movie “A Beautiful Mind” when the main character John is looking at a wall of full of numbers and as he studied them, different numbers and combinations would stand out and they were constantly changing which one was the more predominant. Each time I read, I learn something new. As if the Bible itself is alive and different verses and combinations of them are just jumping off the pages speaking directly into my life. And there are, of course, those days when I read and at the end have no idea what I was supposed to have gained, but there are times later when those same passages have came to mind as an answer to something. Your time spent in the Word is never wasted or in vain!

God is good and I no longer look at my daily time with Him as time consuming, but rather as life fulfilling. I encourage you today to start with a daily commitment no matter how small. Let it grow in your heart and in your life and let God be your guide as to your time commitment and your learning. If you are just starting, come to Him with expectancy and willingness and the Bible will come alive.

Living in His presence while feasting on His Word is how we can bring Revival in our souls, Refreshment in our hearts, Replenishment to our bodies and Renewing in our minds on a daily basis.

Feasting…
Kathy

“…but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 KJV

Are you waiting for something today? Are you praying, fasting, hoping, expecting, and looking for something today? How do you feel in that waiting? How long have you been waiting? Have you prayed and prayed and “still” you are waiting?

I too have been waiting. This morning I got up and reminded the Lord that I am “still” waiting (just in case He had forgotten, ha). Immediately after my declaration to Him, He sent me to Isaiah 40:31. I read the passage and said, “I know, I know this one… I have read it a hundred times.” He said to me, “Read it again.” When God says that, I get every version and read it like I have never seen it before. When I got to the King James Version, I saw what He wanted me to see. The word that is “hope” in the NIV is “wait” in the KJV. So… as is my pattern for study, I went to the Hebrew root. How surprised was I to find that the word for wait or hope is the Hebrew word, qavah, and it means, “wait, look for, hope, expect”. Wait is listed first, why? The Hebrews listed things in order of importance. I think that if we cannot learn to wait, then, hope and expectation will never become a character trait for us.

As I meditated on the word wait, I realized that if I cannot learn to wait, the rest of the verse won’t happen… waiting causes the rest of the verse to be manifested. God can make a “chicken” into an “eagle”. Isn’t that what the verse says (a little Kathy paraphrase)? It doesn’t say that we “might” be an eagle… it says “shall”.  Shall is the word will! If you learn the art of waiting, you will be an eagle who runs and never wearies, walks and does not faint. I want that… do you?

What has your waiting in the past been like? Mine has, at times, been very impatient. Even though I know God has already answered me and it isn’t the time to receive it yet, I still want it… now! Have you ever felt that way? I know from this verse, however, that waiting is ordained by God to enable us to become eagles. What if we all stayed chickens? Chickens look at the ground 90% of the time. When it rains… chickens will look up at the rain, rain gets in their nose and they can drown (Google that if you have some spare time). Which would God rather we be? Which would you rather be?

Maybe your “Fresh Start” for 2009 is to learn to wait the right way! 

Gratefully waiting…
Kathy