Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A Secret Place



It has been a really long time since I have posted on my blog. Today the sun is shining, the air is crisp ... and the milo is hot!! Today is a good day for an update... today is a good day to thank all of the people that have walked this part of the journey with me ....
I have been posting snippets of my heart and my journey on my Face Book wall .. this seemed to be the most I could do for a while :-)  ... but today I feel as though lightness of heart is returning and the ability to express my heart in words and share it ... is once again something that I can do. Firstly I want to thank all of my beautiful friends and family and sisters in YAH who have encouraged me with their words and supported me with their prayers and love ... you will never know just how much your friendship means to me ... I have seen the heart of my Father in each one of you and I appreciate each one of you so very very much! Your willingness to lay down your lives for me in prayer has astounded me and encouraged me to grow in this area too ... you are truly beautiful each and every one of you! I love you guys and even though some of us may be seperated by many miles ... your fiendship is no less real than if you were right next door! To each and every one of you  I say THANK YOU!!
The last 5 mnths have been the most challenging of the journey so far ... even though YAH does prepare your heart in advance, you never feel quite prepared for the curve balls that seem to take you by surprise when you least expect them to! But even in these ... you realise HE is always in control and always teaching and leading, guiding ... and turning everything to the good! My divorce is almost final ... Matt and I realised a while back already that our paths would be seperating and that YAH has different plans for the both of us, the beauty in all of this has been to see the anointing of YAH all over this process of seperation ... there is a deep sense of Shalom and friendship. Only YAH's gentle hands could mould this so beautifully! I must admit that YHVH has stepped out of the box I had Him in and into my life in a very real and determined way in these last couple of months. I did not realise that I had Him in a box ... I did not realise that YAH would in fact work all of these things into my life to move me to where it is that He has purposed that I should be ... that yes ... even divorce would be part of His plan. I believe that YAH will work with Matt in a very real way ... and He has told me not to worry that HE has Matt safely in His hands :-) .... so I trust.
As I take the next steps on this journey ... I have such conflicting emotions, on the one hand I have joy like I have never known ... hope ... I feel excited and a deep sense of Shalom, but on the other hand ... I am afraid and have deep grieving  that I am still working through. I know that I am standing on the precipice of the rest of my life, and YAH is telling me to take the step ... HE will not let me fall!! He has been so faithful!! He has given me word upon word and confirmation upon confirmation, word that has been confirmed almost word for word from people on different continents ... to those who have been obedient in sharing YAH's word and encouragement  with me I say THANK YOU!!
To YHVH my King and Elohim I thank you above all ... for your great love, tenderness and mercy toward me, for taking me and making me into a daughter of Israel, into a daughter of the most High Elohim ... for giving me life and creating for me newness of life!! For loosening the bonds of slavery and leading me to freedom!! For stepping into my life and allowing me to 'see' You ... for allowing me to get to know You more intimately ... and to fall in love with you my King and HERO all over again!! Wherever the path ahead may lead ... perhaps new places ... new people ... new experiences .... may they all be for your Glory and service my Abba. You are the only one that can make me smile the way that you do ... and I love the way that you love me!!
It has been in these last months that YHVH has shown me the most beautiful place inside of Him ... a secret place ... where His beauty radiates, His strength surrounds me and His Shalom reigns ... and even though the crashing waves surround me .... I know that I am anchored and will not be overwhelmed!
Each and every one of you YHVH used as a guiding light to this place ... I pray that by His grace I will be able to remind you where it is when you are in need too!

I love you soooo much ..... The list of names would be too many to put here ... but you know who you are!

Blessings and Shalom
Your sister



Thursday, March 31, 2011

My Hero






My Hero

'My Hero came for me .... He is faithful to His promises .... and faithful to me
My Hero came for me .... even before I had any knowledge of who He is
That I need Him or that He even exists
His life-giving promises were made to me before I was born
He remembered me .... He has known me for all time
My Hero came for me .... now for the first time I am loved with an everlasting love and held
tenderly in the arms of a Warrior .... of a King.

The day my Hero came for me .... the heavens opened, the earth shook and trembled ....
The very foundations of the hills were troubled and moved
Thick darkness was under His feet, He rode on the wings of the wind
The heavens thundered and roared
The very foundations of the earth were revealed from His rebuke
Coals were kindled by the fire from His mouth .... He gave forth His voice
His arrows skillfully finding their mark.

He reached down and took me
He drew me out of many waters
He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those hating me
For they were stronger than I
He brought me forth to a large place, a watered place of safety and deep Shalom
My Hero delights in me .... He delighted in me before I even knew to give Him my heart.

And now .... He teaches me of His ways
He has given me His heart with the promise that He will never leave me
Nor forsake me and that I will never walk alone
He has enlightened my darkness and is the light I now live by

Daily His strength upholds me and instructs me in the battle against
The enemy of my soul
He teaches my hands to war
He is my shield .... He is my rock
He makes my feet like hinds feet and on my high places He causes me to stand
He enlarges my step under me .... my feet stand sure
With His strong right hand He supports me.

I am now ready .... and we move out to the battle
His words assure my heart that the battle is really His
He encourages me to stay close
I pursue my enemies and overtake them
Not one is left standing
One by one they fall under my feet and are beaten as dust before the wind
He girds me with strength for the battle
His faithfulness brings me the victory
Once again I am quieted .... and find rest in His arms.

My Hero is the King of Kings and Elohim of Glory

The Praised One .... I call Him YHVH ....

And from all my enemies I am saved.




Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Maccabeats - Purim Song





I really enjoy the Maccabeats! Their Purim Song is now added to my list of ‘favourite things’!


Enjoy!!

 
 

Halaal Food and Beef in the Market Place



I am posting this article in response to an earlier post that I did on halaal food. This article was written by a good friend and I find it has helped to give me clarity and undertanding on this often confusing subject. I will be posting one or two more articles on this subject in the near future. Thank you Tim and Lauren for allowing me to post this article on my blog. You can read more of their very well researched and informative articles over at    http://www.seekingtruthintorah.blogspot.com/






1st Cor. 10:23-18 - Beef in the Market Place!



In 1st Corinthians 8, Rabbi Sha’ul seems to allow the believer to enter the pagan shrine and eat the sacrificial meat. His reasoning? “The Idol is nothing”. This would seem to contradict Yakov in Acts 15. But Morris rightly points out that chapter eight wasn’t Paul’s final words of the subject. In truth it only brings out his thoughts that an idol is nothing.

Morris writes that Rabbi Sha’ul,

“is certainly not giving his own full idea on the matter, for he later says that what is sacrificed to idols is actually sacrificed to devils (10:20). There are spiritual beings behind the idols, though not the ones their worshippers thought. But here this is not the point. Rabbi Sha’ul is prepared to agree that the gods the heathen worship are no gods 1.

Rabbi Sha’ul also speaks of not making one’s brother stumble if he saw the believer in the pagan temple 2. By dealing with the issue of temple attendance this way, he is saying that the believer shouldn’t be seem in the temple even though the idol is nothing. This is his way of prohibiting the believer who thinks that there is nothing wrong with eating the meat at the temple.

When Rabbi Sha’ul speaks of the sacrificial meat (table of demons) in 10:21 he reveals his fuller thoughts on the subject by declaring that they weren’t to do that. With meat in the market, the main difference is that the believer is not a participant in the temple sacrifice. This is an important distinction. In 1 Cor. 10-23-28 Rabbi Sha’ul writes:

1Co 10:23 All is permitted me, but not all do profit. All is permitted me, but not all build up.

1Co 10:24 Let no one seek his own, but each one that of the other.

1Co 10:25 You eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions because of conscience,

1Co 10:26 for “The earth belongs to יהוה , and all that fills it.”

1Co 10:27 And if any of the unbelievers invite you, and you wish to go, you eat whatever is set before you, asking no question on account of the conscience.

1Co 10:28 And if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it because of the one pointing it out to you, and on account of the conscience, for “The earth belongs to יהוה , and all that fills it.”

In chapter six the understanding that all things were lawful for Sha’ul meant theoretically, he too was able to do anything he wanted within Roman jusisprudence. For Rabbi Sha’ul the phrase “eating anything” would fall within the boundaries of “anything” that YHVH declared to be clean. He wouldn’t eat a ham sandwich because he knew that it was a sin for him and for others 3. The text is not speaking about clean vs unclean meat but meat sacrificed to idols. Rabbi Sha’ul isn’t authorizing the eating of unclean meat. He is saying it’s alright to eat meat bought at the market (or meat given for
dinner in another’s home which had been sacrificed and then sold at the market), as long as one didn’t know it had been sacrificed.

From two very important passages of Scripture 4 it has seemed to some that Rabbi Sha’ul is contradicting both Yeshua and Ya’kov in allowing believers to eat meat offered or sacrificed to idols. But Ya’kov admonished the Gentile believers not to eat meat that was literally just sacrificed on the altar, specifically referring to it in Acts 15:20 as “the pollutions of idols”. In 1st Cor. 10, Rabbi Sha’ul forbids the same thing. Eating from the table of demons spoke of eating the just sacrificed animal, the person actually participating in the sacrifice and worship of another god. (The same would apply to the drinking of its blood 5).

In Revelation 2:20-21 Yeshua comes against eating of the meat at the time of sacrifice (and cult prostitution and fornication),

Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not 6.
These Gentile believers at Thyatira were indulging in temple prostitution and eating the animal sacrificed to the idol within the framework of a pagan ceremony. Yeshua declared it was wrong to eat that meat, and of course to have sex with the cult harlots. He said Jezebel was teaching and seducing those believers into doing just that....offering “worship” to another god as a believer. In other words she taught this was and acceptable practise.

Rabbi Sha’ul allows believers to eat of sacrificial meat 7 but not at the sacrifice to the god. It pertains to the Gentile in the marketplace seeking to buy some meat. They’re told by Rabbi Sha’ul not to ask if it had been sacrificed, which means that all meat sold in the market didn’t come from pagan sacrifices. This is how Rabbi Sha’ul could say what he does and not be coming against Yeshua or James. Rabbi Sha’ul allows the Gentile to eat this meat because “idols are nothing” 8 and the Earth is YHVH’s and everything in it 9.

Some of the meat in the marketplace would come from pagan sacrifice, the pagan priests selling the excess to the vendors in the market. This was common. Morris states, “The priests customarily sole what they could not use” 10

Other meat might be “blessed” by a pagan priest and then slaughtered in the marketplace by the “butcher” (but not literally sacrificed on a pagan altar). With the blessing of the pagan priest the meat would be seen as “fit for consumption” having received the pagan “seal of approval”. But it might
concern some believers even though it hadn’t been part of a sacrificial ceremony 11. This is why Rabbi Sha’ul can tell them they can eat the meat in the market. Just don’t ask if it was sacrificed.

Why Rabbi Sha’ul told them not to eat the meat if the unbeliever said it was from a pagan sacrifice rests on not confusing the unbeliever in terms of being able to present the Great News to them. What he’s not saying (“don’t ask”) is that if someone puts pork chops in front of you, you can eat it. No. Rabbi Sha’ul is addressing the problem of meat bought at the market or eaten an unbelievers home that may have been used in a pagan sacrifice, not which meat to eat (clean vs unclean). In the year and a half that Rabbi Sha’ul taught the believers in Corinth 12, he most likely would have had a few classes on the dietary laws 13.

Rabbi Sha;ul wasn’t rebelling against Ya’kov14 in his allowing the Corinthians to eat meat from the market even if it had been part of a sacrificial rite. His teaching compliments what Ya’kov wrote, addressing the issue of sacrificial meat in the market 15.

First Corinthians ten deals with cult harlotry and some Corinthians believers engaging in it, along with the eating of sacrificial meat from the pagan altar and the drinking of blood from the sacrifice. Rabbi Sha’ul warns them to flee from it, presenting the Baal Peor 16 affair to show the Corinthians that their salvation would be nullified if they continued in sacrificial and sexually idolatrous practices.

Ya’kov’s rules in Acts 15: 20-21, were certainly needed in the Corinthian congregation. This only emphasises the Law of Moshe, so the believer can be “fully equipped for every good work”. The Corinthian assembly fell behind none of the other assemblies in the Gifts of the Spirit 17 yet their need for instruction in the laws of righteousness was all too evident 18.

 
 
1 Morris. 1 Corinthians,p.122.

2 1 Cor. 8:7-13.
3 See 1st Timothy 4:4-5 and note the two qualifications for what makes food acceptable to eat: prayer and the word of YHVH (i.e the Scriptures, specifically Lev 11), not just prayer
.4 Acts 15:20 (refer to Why all this stumbling over Acts 15 part 1 and 2 on our blogger. www.seekingtruthintorah.blogspot.com/), and Revelation 2:20.

5 1 Corinthians 10:16-22.
6 KJV.
7 1 Cor. 10;23-28.
8 1 Cor 8:4,7,10.
9 1 Cor 10:28; Ex.9:29, Ps. 24:1.
10 Morris. 1 Corinthians. Pg. 120.
11 This is what Rabbi Sha’ul addressed in Romans 14 (refer to the article Paul Romans 14 and the Dietary Laws: http://seekingtruthintorah.blogspot.com/2010/12/paul-romans-chapter-14-and-dietary-laws.html) not clean vs unclean meats. This also happens in South African today where Moslem “priests” offer their blessing to Allah before the animals are slaughtered for market. When one goes to the grocery store to buy meat, this is the only meat offered. It has the Moslem religious seal on the wrapper declaring that the meat was offered to Allah and is “fit to eat”.

12 Acts 18:11.
13 Lev 3:17; 11:1-47; Deut 12:16, 23; 14:1-21.
14 Better known as James (Acts 15:20-21).
15 Again I urge you to read the article on the blogger “Why all the stumbling over Acts 15 part 1 &2: http://seekingtruthintorah.blogspot.com/2010/12/act-1520-but-that-we-write-to-them-to.html
16 Numbers





Blessings and Shalom!!


Friday, March 4, 2011

The Book Of Awesome!!



OK ... so it's been awhile! I haven't felt much like blogging of late. I have my good days ... and bad days ... good moments ... and bad moments, but the light and love of YHVH our Elohim has a miraculous way of breaking through these times and causing my eyes once again to be lifted to the hills from whence comes my help! I praise you YAH my King!!
So on a much lighter note :o) ... I have just found the most incredible little book! A treasure trove of light heartedness, guaranteed to lift the spirits! I found this little book quite by chance (or maybe not) ... I guess I should know by now that Yeshua knows what I am in need of before I myself even know :o) and this book is a wonderful reminder, to stop and take notice of the little moments throughout out our day. The moments that seem meaningless and yes, maybe even a little tedious. To really appreciate all these wonderful , precious moments that indeed contribute to this gift of life. To change our perspective a little ... and to start seeing these moments for what they are ....AWESOME!!

'Sometimes it's easy to forget the things that make us smile. With a 24/7 news cycle reporting that the polar ice caps are melting, hurricanes are swirling in the seas, wars are heating up around the world, and the job market is in a deep freeze, it's tempting to feel that the world is falling apart. But awesome things are all around us - sometimes we just need someone to point them out.
The Book of Awesome reminds us that the best things in life are free (yes' your grandma was right). With laugh-out-loud observations from award-winning comedy writer Neil Pasricha, The Book of Awesome is filled with smile-inducing moments on every page that make you feel like a kid looking at the world for the first time. Read it and you'll remember all the things there are to feel good about. The Book of Awesome reminds us of all the little things that we often overlook but that make us smile. With toucing, warm, and funny observations, each entry ends with the big booming feeling you'll get when you read through them: AWESOME!'

I really recommend this book .... and I have even decided to incorporate the word AWESOME into my daily vocabulary to remind myself ... that ... hey .. these moments are truly AWESOME!!

ENJOY!!


Blessings and Shalom


Friday, February 11, 2011

You shall make Holy Garments for your brother Aharon, for Honor and Beauty...




I wanted to share this beautifully written short article with you this Shabbat. Sometimes we need to take a step back and re-focus ... re-assess. This world has a way of lulling one to sleep, we can get so distracted by what it has to offer ... after all, what is on offer is so delightfully packaged, and sometimes our flesh just wants to be indulged. ‘Come on ... live a little!!’ ... ‘It’s harmless fun!!’ – these are just some of the ‘voices’ we may have to contend with. When we, however, allow ourselves to take that step back ... to allow YHVH to help us to re-focus. When our eyes are once again placed on Him alone ... this world and all it has to offer fades into the distance! Praise YAH!!




'We live in a virtual world. Via the internet we can travel in an instant from one "reality" to another. The film director James Cameron invested millions of dollars in developing cutting edge computer technology for the purpose of creating an illusion of three dimensions. The effect was so compelling that viewers in the theatre flinched in fear as characters and objects seem to fly out at them. "Reality" shows abound, which bear no resemblance to real reality. In fact, the modern world seems to be engaged in a vast retreat from reality, substituting true reality with virtual.


Actors can now be outfitted with special suits covered with electrodes, which, connected to a computer, can recreate a digital map of the actors every motion, upon which a virtual computer generated image of an imaginary being can be laid, creating an ever so realistic rendering of a non-existing entity. Time and space can be deconstructed and reconstructed in this virtual pixel-friendly world.


Hundreds of million dollars and some of today's very brightest minds are invested in creating an ever expanding virtual universe. But alas, the virtual worlds which are being woven before our very eyes every day, lack any real substance. And more to the point, the characters that inhabit them lack souls, and the masters of these universes are not G-d, but mortal man. These virtual worlds are no more real than the conjurings of the magicians of ancient Egypt. And its all being done in the name of profiting from what we moderns call "leisure time," a concept which itself seems to smack of paganity. Did G-d really create us mortal beings with a limited stay upon this earth so that we can while away our idle time in virtual frivolity?


Now try imagining a place where the reality is not virtual, but real, very real. This reality is so real, so true and so pure that it transcends our everyday reality and merges with the source and the light of all reality. This is the Holy Temple, a reality filled with the presence of G-d, emanating from the Holy of Holies, the most sacred spot on earth, spreading forth and reaching out, filling all the confines of the Holy Temple and its courtyards, into the holy city of Jerusalem, the sacred land of Israel and throughout the entire world. G-d's presence: in other words, reality. Real reality as G-d defines it. Not virtual reality as man imagines it.


The High Priest, the kohen gadol, is outfitted with a special garment, whose every detail is painstakingly described in Torah. The fibers of purple and blue and scarlet and gold, the ply of the threads, the weave of the fabric are all described for the finest dyers and spinners and weavers and outfitters to fashion. The twelve stones of the High Priest's breastplate and the two stones that are placed upon each shoulder are identified by Torah, for the finest jewelers and stone cutters and polishers to craft and to set in place. The tzitz, the solid gold crown which sits across the High Priest's forehead is detailed by Torah for the most highly skilled goldsmith to form and to fashion.


These priestly garments, every fiber and every flashing facet of every finely cut stone and gold chain and golden crown, upon which is engraved, "Holy to HaShem," the blue tunic and the linen pants all are plugged in and connected, not to a computer, but to G-d and also to man, every man. It is true that only the High Priest, wearer of the Priestly garments can enter the Holy of Holies, and that no other man other than he can enter. But the High Priest can only enter wearing his specially crafted garments, and that is because, not only do they express an unbreakable connection to G-d, but because they also express an impregnable bond to every man. Every fiber and every flashing facet of every finely cut stone and gold chain and golden crown, "Holy to HaShem," the blue tunic and the linen pants express and reflect every facet of our spiritual beings, our passions, our strengths and aspirations, our weaknesses and our faults. And wearing these garments of "honor and beauty," the High Priest stands before G-d in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. He stands alone before G-d, but the garment belongs to all of us. Through the wearing of these garments we all enter the reality of the Holy Temple. This is the reality that G-d has enabled us to access. Real, not virtual, pure, not defiled. Where time isn't occupied by leisure, but every moment rings true. This is the reality that truly leaps out at us and that draws us in to the presence of G-d. And what a reality this is: the Holy Temple.'


- Article by The Temple Institute



May you and your family delight and rest deeply in the richest blessing of YHVH this Shabbat ... Himself.



Blessings and Shalom




Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Runner's Kick





Runner's Kick



I read this article with tears in my eyes ... and then I found the biggest grin spreading across my face!
Thank you YAH .. Praise you Almighty Elohim ... Creator of Heaven and Earth!!

I hope you will take the time to read this article .. it might just be the inspiration you need for today!
It was for me!!


Blessings!!