I am learning...

...that seeking the Father in prayer and in praise does more for the kingdom than my banging gong

...that the good I do in secret has more weight in the kingdom than the good I do when eyes are watching

...that my prayers answered when never spoken give me more faith than anything ever could

...that love means more than my little mind could ever fathom

...that sometimes love has to be hard, but it is never cruel

...that my relationship with the Father and His Son is more important that me being perfect

...that I want people to have a relationship with Father and His Son and learn from them, not me.

...that I understand more things about justice, fear, and wrath than I do about love, mercy, and grace

...that I need to know more about love, mercy, and grace or my whole life and the way I teach others will be off balance

...that mercy triumphs over judgment

...that if I want mercy, I have to be merciful

...that if I want to be forgiven, I must forgive

...that if I want to enter the kingdom then hatred has to leave my heart

...that my weakness should show more than my strength

...that I am nothing without Him and He is my everything


The kingdom is now. It is here. It is within us. It is present. Do I see it? Do I know it? Do I feel it? Am I following the Father and seeking His kingdom every moment of every day? What would that look like? How honest would I have to be in order to have that as my reality? This life is not my own. It is not about ego, it is not about my life, it is not about my kids or my husband or my friends or homeschool or food or drink or anything...it's about eternity and Yehovah's Kingdom. Am I helping to build IT or my own...

These are the questions I am asking myself. These are the things I want to ask myself every day before I arise...who's kingdom is it going to be today? Who's will is to be done? Father...it's is yours.

Are all things clean? Are all days alike? A Study on Romans 14

Recently a friend stated that Romans 14 confused her and made her wonder, so I wrote this up for her. I thought I would share it here.

Romans 14-

When reading anything written by Paul we have to remember that he was a Jew, a LAW abiding Jew. He obeyed the law and was blameless in it. In Acts we see that people were bringing charges against him, FALSE charges saying that he was teaching people to not obey the law of God. They were false accusations and given by false witnesses. So if the false accusations were that Paul taught to disobey the law of God, then wouldn't it be safe to say that the truth would be that he actually taught people to obey the law of God?

Paul was a student of Gamaliel and had the entire Torah committed to memorization. Deuteronomy 13 would have been THE test as to whether or not a prophet was from God or NOT from God. (Deut 13 is part of the reason why Jews do not accept Jesus as their Messiah, because the Christian church teaches that Jesus came to do away with the commandments of God). ~Deut 13: 4-5~ “…You shall follow YHVH your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against YHVH your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which YHVH your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.”

By this very verse we know that anyone who comes and tries to seduce us away from following the commandments of God is to be put to death and purged from among us, and is evil. It is a test from God himself to see whether or not we love Him with all our heart and all our soul. Paul would have known that, and because He was zealous for the law, he would have NEVER broken it intentionally or taught others to do the same. We NEED to keep this in mind when reading Paul’s writings.

Always remember 2 Peter 3:14-18~ “Therefore, beloved , since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

So, remember:

Paul was blameless in the law

he told us to establish the law

he was accused falsely of disobeying the law and teaching others to do the same

Peter said that those who were untaught would distort the writings of Paul

our MESSIAH told us that he did NOT come to do away with the law

and that not ONE jot or tittle would pass from the law

our MESSIAH told us that those who obeyed and who taught others to obey the commandments would be called greatest in the kingdom of God

We are told in 1 John- “By this we know that we have come to know Him (God the Father), if we keep HIS (God’s) commandments.”

We are also told in 1 John 3:4- “Everyone who practices sin also practices LAWLESSNESS; and sin IS lawlessness.” In the KJV it says that sin is the transgression of the LAW. Whose law? God’s law.

We are also told that anyone who tries to lead us away from obeying the commandments of God (Deut 13) is to be put to death, it is that serious. God told us that He would send people to test us to see whether or not we truly loved him.

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For THIS is the love of God, that we KEEP His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”

With that foundation being laid, we can then go into Paul’s writings and read them in a new light; a light that shines the truth of the word of God onto them and illuminates them in a way that does not contradict the law of God or any other scripture in the bible.

Reread Romans chapter 14 in this new light. See where Paul talks about FOOD? What is food according to the commandments of God? Is it ALL meat and ALL plants? It is not. So, since Paul would never teach against the commandments of God, he must be talking about something else. What about the days he is referring to, that one person regards one day above another? And that we should not judge those who regard one day differently than another? Is he talking about the Sabbath day that GOD made holy and set apart for us to honor?

Let’s break it down dealing with the food issue first: In verse 2 we see that “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only”…why would he eat vegetables only? If Paul were talking about all animals being clean, would he not say that “one person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only clean animals”? Further on in verse 14 Paul states that he knows and is “convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean…Do not destroy with your FOOD him for whom Christ died…for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but RIGHTEOUSNESS” further on Paul states “Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of FOOD. All things are indeed clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat MEAT or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles…Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves”

Ok…first of all we see that Paul is talking about some who will eat meat, and some who will only eat vegetables. We see this theme running throughout a lot of Paul’s letters to different churches. There must have been something going on that was causing people to abstain from eating meat, and since that meat was considered food, and Paul would not have considered all animals food, but only the ones God prescribed for us as food to be food, we can rule out that when he refers to meat that he is referring to ALL animals as meat. He is referring to clean meat only.

It is also important to understand the historical context of Paul’s writings. During this time, as we see in other letters Paul wrote, that people were sacrificing animals to idols and then selling them in the market place. There were some who would abstain from meat all together because they did not know for certain whether or not the meat they bought was indeed sacrificed to idols. Paul continually said, what is an idol? It is nothing. Have faith in God that the meat you eat is sanctified by the word of God and eat it with thanksgiving. It is sanctified, or set apart, called clean, holy etc., by the WORD of God, the law, the commandment that states that it is indeed clean and to be as food for you. We are not to go about sacrificing meat to idols, or to knowingly consume meat that has been sacrificed to idols, but when we don’t know, it then becomes a matter of conscience. (those are my paraphrases of MANY different verses)

Over and over again Paul is speaking of meat that is food and the only meat that was considered food by Paul, because he obeyed the commandments of God, was meat that came from animals that were on the “clean” list. It’s not even an argument. Paul would NOT have promoted the eating of ALL animals because he was blameless in the law and it was FALSE accusers that said he taught against the law. He is speaking of meat that was sacrificed to idols and that we should decide for ourselves, a matter of personal conviction, whether or not we should abstain from eating all meat, or just eat vegetables. BUT if we decided to just eat vegetables we should not condemn our brother whose faith was stronger, who decided that since he did not know for certain whether his meat was sacrificed to idols, that he would still eat it. Christ died for him as well as for us, and the kingdom is not about food it is about RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Which brings me to my next point; what is righteousness as defined by Scripture? Well, in the new testament in Luke 1:5-6 it states that Zacharias and Elizabeth “were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord”. In the Old Testament Deut 6:25- “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.”

If the kingdom of God is righteousness and righteousness is observing the commandments of God, then how could it be righteousness to eat whatever we wanted to eat, regardless of what God commanded us to eat? It would not be. It would be contrary to the word of God.

So, just as with the food issue, the issue about one day being regarded above another, has to be something else other than what GOD has said about days. What has He said? To remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. He sanctified the seventh day and set it apart for us. It is holy because God said it is holy. There is nothing we can do about that. We do not have the power to sanctify anything. Only God has that power. So, since God never said, “I’ve done away with the seventh day Sabbath and now you can do what is right in your own eyes even though that leads to death”, we can pretty much assume that the seventh day Sabbath is still holy and we are still to remember it and to keep it holy.

So, what was Paul talking about? Again, historical context is important. People were setting apart a day or two a week- let’s say Wednesdays and Thursdays- in order to have a fast on those days. Well, other people wanted to fast on other days, but those self-righteous religious people who made up their own commandments and set them before God’s commandments, were all up in arms about people not honoring the fasting days that they had instituted. That’s all this is about. Some churches institute fasting days in which they dedicate a period of time, let’s say 3 days, to fast and pray about a certain issue within the body of Messiah. Well, maybe I have a family get-together for those three days and I have a HUGE spread I have to put out for all my family, so I choose to fast for the 3 days after my family leaves. The church cannot judge me for deciding to set apart different days for my fast. It is my own decision, and I do not feel bad about it. Paul is saying, don’t judge people because they choose to set apart different days and they regard Wednesday above Monday. What he is NOT saying is that we can decide for ourselves which day we decide to have our Sabbath on. God has already decided that for us. It is HE whom we are to obey. It is HE whom we are to love. It is HE whom we are to put above ourselves and our own fleshly desires. Once again, if it is righteousness for us to walk in His commands, and it is sin for us to walk in lawlessness, then we can never say that we can walk contrary to the law of God and still believe that we are inside God’s will for us.

Paul would never teach us to walk contrary to the commandments of God. He would never advocate disregarding God’s commandments and instead decide for ourselves what was right or what was wrong. It is when people decide what is right in their own eyes that we are lead astray.

2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1 ~ “Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the YHVH. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says YHVH Almighty.’ Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

That’s Paul stating the law of God, and confirming for us that we are to not touch what is UNCLEAN and we are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, which will perfect our HOLINESS. If he believed that was true, then why would he tell us to eat whatever we wanted, even if it was unclean to God? Why would he tell us to pick and choose whatever day we wanted to have for our Sabbath, even though God had already commanded a day for us to rest on? He wouldn’t have. It is we who are confused. It is we who do not know the scriptures and are untaught and unstable. Let us study to show ourselves approved. Let us walk in love and obedience to our Almighty Father, dying to self and living not for our flesh. Let us worship in spirit and in truth.

Psalm 119:142- Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. And your law is truth.

Psalm 119:151- You are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are truth.

It Matters

I came across this poem today, and thought I would share it. So many people who say they are believers don’t really get it. It matters how we walk, how we worship, what we eat, what we wear, what we say, and how we say it. It matters because Yehovah God has declared that it matters. The problem is, that if you never read the front of the Book, you’ll never know that specific details are important to Him. When will we wake up and realize that this is not about US? It is about Him and He says that the little things, and the big things, MATTER to Him. Does God change? His word says He does not. So why is it now ok to do things the way we have been “lead” to do them, rather than how the WORD says to do them? Not everything that leads
you is from God.

“To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

It Matters

Two trees in the midst of the garden
Grew in the very same way.
But it mattered which tree Eve partook of,
And the difference is still felt today.

It mattered which type of an offering
Was brought by Abel and Cain.
The Lord had respect unto Abel's,
But Cain's substitute wasn't the same.

It mattered to Nadab and Abihu
Which fire they offered with sin.
"Isn't fire as good as another?"
They tragically reasoned within.

David well knew God's instructions
How the sacred ark should be moved,
But ignored the crucial specifics
As the death of Uzzah proved.

"Why must I dip in the Jordan?"
Naaman asked in a huff.
Aren't the rivers of Damascus far better?"
No, Naaman, they're not good enough.

"And why must I dip seven times?
Won't dip number one do the trick?"
Had Naaman ignored the specifics,
He'd have returned to his home still sick.

When God gives specific instructions
For a task that we're to do,
He intends for us to perform it
The way He has asked us to.

When He tells us we are to do it
In a certain particular way,
He doesn't intend us to change it
To suit what others might say.

He often expects details
Extremely important to Him,
That people regard far to lightly
And make alterations at whim.

~Anonymous

My Hearts Cry

There is a burning in my heart for unity. Not a sort of unity brought about by compromising principles, morals, and values based on the commands of YHVH, but a unity that happens because people are merciful, gentle, slow to anger and are not quick to give or take offense. It’s bigger than that, but I am just trying to wrap my head around it. I can see a picture of a sort of holiness that walks in love and patience and mercy and it is so beautiful. Where brothers and sisters in Messiah, regardless of denomination, affiliation, or level of understanding of scripture can walk together, learn together, love together, worship together, and grow together. My heart so longs for that.

Since coming to the truth of Torah and having it revealed to me by the Holy Spirit, that YHVH’s commands have never been “done away with” and that they are important instructions on living holy lives, I have had a peace that I never had before. I want to please my heavenly father, bring glory to Him, and show Him how much I love Him, and I know that I can do those things by being obedient to His words, and that His words will guide me in this life to a path that is full of life and blessing. It’s a good thing. It’s an amazing thing. I love this walk.

However, on this walk I have been separated from Christian brothers and sisters. I separated myself for sometime because it was easier to follow what I was finding to be truth without opposition constantly barraging me and making me question, over and over, something I knew in my spirit was truth. It was not that I didn’t love my Christian brothers and sisters, I love them very much. But, for a time, it was the right thing to do, leave the church, learn what it truly meant to worship in spirit and in truth, and walk it out.

Now, after walking it out for a few years, I find myself longing for fellowship with other believers, but am finding that believers in this camp like to keep to themselves. There is no fellowship. When there is fellowship it is superficial and has no purpose. Not that fellowship with my Christian brothers and sisters was any different. People, in general, do not like to talk about deep spiritual matters; at least that is what I have found. It happens occasionally, but it’s few and far between.

But, in the Messianic, or Torah observant camp, I have found out the reason why there is little fellowship. It’s because people are afraid. People are afraid because they were fed lies for so long, and are now so afraid of being corrupted again by those lies or at least being “tainted” by those lies. People are afraid that they will have to compromise the truth in order to maintain fellowship with others, because, sadly, everyone has their own form of truth, and if your form doesn’t line up with my form, well, if two are not agreed, they cannot walk together… But agreed on what? My husband and I do not agree on everything, even scriptural matters, does that mean we can no longer walk together? My closest friends and I do not agree on everything, does that mean that we can no longer walk together? I don’t think that’s true.

There are so many reasons why people don’t have strong fellowship, but the most blatantly obvious reason I have seen is that people, including myself, are quick to offend, quick to take offense, and are lacking in the basic fruits of the spirit, gentleness, kindness, patience, goodness, and love, and judge others with unbalanced measure. The very things we were once guilty of in our own lives are now the biggest most awful sins in other peoples’ lives.

Since when did we start judging sin differently for different people? Since when did we think it was our job to define varying degrees of sin and shun those who exhibit the sins that, on our list, are greater and more sinister that our own sins?

I am NOT saying that we should not be discerning and always testing spirits, but that is part of the point I am trying to make. Test the spirit…why are we so quick to judge others that are still in Sunday church, still eating pork and other unclean foods, who don’t wear blue fringes on their garments, don’t say grace after supper but before it, don’t understand that the feasts are a blessed thing for them to keep, and generally don’t walk in what we see as Torah?

We then walk in a spirit of arrogance, pride, and self-righteousness, forsaking mercy and love, and the fruits of the spirit, and still think that somehow because we have had our blinders taken off by YHVH HIMSELF and we no longer eat swine’s flesh and we wear blue fringes on the edges of our clothes and we know Hebrew dances and words, and we keep the feasts of YHVH, and we know torah inside and out, that somehow because we are obedient in those areas, but not in the weightier matters such as mercy, that somehow the sins we DO commit are less than the ones our Christian brothers and sisters commit? Who are we? What in the world are we thinking?

Do we not know by now that mercy trumps judgment? YHVH made a way for us where He didn’t have to. Even after our blatant sin and disobedience to His commands HE made a way for us to enter into divine communion with Him. Did He have to? No. He could have done away with the whole idea of humans in the first place. Didn’t He want to time and time again? But, His anger and judgment was held at bay and His mercy was given in place of that deserving judgment.

Brothers and sisters, we are all in Messiah. We are all walking a pathway that we have been put on. Is YHVH sovereign or is He not? Does He not have His hand on the lives of His people? Are we not to trust in Him in our own lives and trust that He is working in the lives of others? Did He not open our eyes when we were blind? Did He not extend mercy to us even though we were walking along a partially lit pathway? He loved us. He spoke kindness to us. It was His kindness that led us to repentance. Were we NOT blind? Were we NOT lost? Did we find the path ourselves or was it by the Spirit that we were lead out of darkness and into the light? Are we not still being lead out of that darkness or have we attained perfection so soon?

Be merciful. Do not believe that because you have had your blinders removed that the sins we now commit are somehow less than the prior ones. Do not believe that those walking with their blinders on are all willfully disobedient. Most are ignorant, and yet the Father loves them, has mercy on them, and is leading them down the path HE has willed for them, for HIS glory and HIS purposes. Let us be merciful, gentle and patient with them while YHVH does what He does. Let us show them how perfect this walk can truly be. We will never be able to show them the perfection of His law when we do not allow it to penetrate our hearts and souls and our spirits and change us from stiff-necked, uncircumcised, stone-hearted people into a people that love so much that it shines light in dark places by the very presence of YHVH in us.

Unity is needed, and we are not to compromise and disobey the commands we have been directly given, but we have been given much more than “you shall wear fringes”, we have been given the command to walk in mercy, grace, love, gentleness, patience, goodness, kindness, joy, peace, and self-control.

Walk your walk. Be grieved by the sins of others and be grieved by your own. Take your grief to YHVH in prayer, and love as He loved, walk as our Messiah Yahshua walked. Be angry about sin, fight it, but know that you fight powers and principalities and not people. Be a warrior against sin, but know who and what and how you are to fight.

This is my prayer for me, too. I so easily forget. Father, help me to remember to be merciful, to be slow to anger, and to not be easily offended. Help me to speak the truth in love, teaching, rebuking, and edifying the body of Messiah for your glory and your purposes. Let me be a light in a dark world.

HOLINESS DOESN'T HAVE A HAIRSTYLE

The Danger Of Turning A Good Thing Into A Moral Thing

I read the article above this morning and thought it spoke directly to feelings I have been having lately. So often in this pursuit of holiness we can find ourselves searching after outward appearances of what we think holiness should look like, after all, have we ever really seen what real holiness looks like outside of the image we have in our minds of Messiah? I haven't. I have never seen truly holy parents, truly holy women, wives, men, husbands, children, pastors, teachers, etc. Or have I seen truly holy people but they didn't fit my idea of what holiness was supposed to look like, and therefore I judged them?

I think there is a fine line of distinction there that needs to be drawn. I am sure I have met truly holy people but in my own faulty perception of holiness, I judged them based on that perception and not that of a scriptural basis for what "holiness" is (And by judge I mean "make assumptions" not "condemn"). I think often in this pursuit we form opinions and ideas about what it means to be holy. We think that holiness is abstaining from entertainment, alcohol, sports, secular music, etc., and it is also a particular way of dressing, wearing our hair, wearing head-coverings, having make-up-less faces, unadorned with jewelry, or even how many biblical studies one completes in a week and what particular words one uses in referring to the Creator and His Son. None of those things are a sin. There are however, boundaries with each of those examples that a person who is pursuing holiness needs to live within.

As believers, we are to dress in a modest manner, but does that mean skirts all the time? Whose rule is that? Yours or the Father's?

Likewise, as women we are to be aware of how our body might tempt men into sexually immoral thoughts, but does that mean we are required to wear head-coverings or to not wear a lick of make-up? Whose rules are those? Yours or the Father's?

When it comes to television, movies, music, and the like, are we to abstain completely from these things? Should we only listen to "Christian" music or watch only movies about the Amish, or movies put out by Christian producers? Is all television bad and therefore immoral? Whose rules are those? Yours or the Father's?

If I read my bible twice a day and have devotional time with my husband every evening before bed and my children are in their bibles multiple times a day, does this mean we are doing it right? Have we attained that mark of holiness? Whose rules are these? Yours or the Father's?

I hope you get my point. While there are indeed boundaries we use when deciding things like this, we use our own discretion based on principle but that does not mean they are necessarily commandments. In our family, we allow movies with realistic war-like violence, because it's real. It happens in the world. We have a history and we do not shelter them from that. We have seen movies where Jews by the thousands have been beaten, starved, and then gassed and subsequently burned. For us, this is not something we need to abstain from. For some, it is. I do not judge those that abstain from all forms of violence, be it real or fictional. I expect that you would not concern yourself with the discretion we have chosen to use in our family, and that you would not condemn us for that discretion, even if it doesn't match yours.

When we start placing rules on other people and ourselves that are not commandments from YHVH, we start putting ourselves back under a man-made legality and we then start to become self-righteous. There is nothing worse than a self-righteous spirit. It condemns others, places heavy burdens on the person and those around them, and ultimately does nothing but build up pride and the spirit of division. And believe me, even when a word is not spoken, that condemning, self-righteous, legalistic spirit can be felt and it sucks the joy from a person. I am walking in liberty because of Messiah, don't place burdens on me that were not placed there by YHVH Himself. There is freedom here. I am bound by the Laws of my Father, and they are freedom. Freedom to learn, freedom to grow, and freedom to walk this walk that no one else but me will be held accountable for. If I want to pop in a little Bob Marley, who speaks of love, mercy, kindness, and joy, what is the problem? There is none.

There is a line to be drawn between the sacred and the profane, but for me to give you that line that we use for our family and to say that anything to the right or left of that line is then immoral, is wrong and does, just as the article above says, place guilt on a person and creates shame. Are we walking with the Father or are we not? If we are, and we know our friends are as well, then each should be subject to the authority above them and the Spirit within them that convicts them of sin. Placing our ideals on others, even if it is only done in thought, creates division and sets standards for people that the Father never placed on them, and if He intends to place those standards on me, I assure you He will.

Walk your walk. Mind your own business. Do not judge others according to your own convictions regarding what is right or wrong for you based on your own judgments and your own walk with the Father. Don't even think the thoughts in regard to those judgments and how others might be walking. It will lead you into a dark pit of seclusion and self-righteousness.

I will follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life. I will follow the commandments of YHVH. I will walk in love, minding my own business, and attending to my own family. Father forgive me if thoughts arise in me, and a spirit of self-righteous condemnation takes hold. Help me to recognize it, battle it, and overcome it. I do not wish to walk in the same sins over and over again in a continual battle. I want to overcome. I want to have joy. Help me to see the eternal and not the temporal.

Walk in a pursuit of holiness, people. But, know that each of us has our own walk. Trust YHVH, that He is the one that is control of man's life, and not us. Thank you, Father!

Now go and walk in joy!

My daughter...she's the epitome of this post. She loves her dork glasses, loves her braided hair, T-shirts and converse sneakers, and she has the biggest servants heart of any child I have ever known. She is always there to help when help is needed. She never complains about the work she has to do. She loves people, even if they are not walking in a right manner. She walks, at a distance, with her worldly "friends" and shows them who God is, sends them encouraging words when all around them is hate, fear, and emptiness. She is a light that shines in the darkness. You could judge her by her appearance, but you'd never get to see her heart.

*disclaimer~ I am not talking about disobeying the direct commands of the Father and that we are to ignore that in our friends and family, but even then, trust that if they are in a pursuit of truth and holiness, that the Father will deal with them accordingly. Love them on their journey. Now, one who is in rebellion...that is a different story.

Truth or Tradition- Should Christians Celebrate Christmas and Easter?

If you have any amount of love for the truth, PLEASE watch this video.

Truth or Tradition- Should Christians Celebrate Christmas and Easter?

You Shall Make for Yourselves Tassels

Tzitzit

Numbers 15:37-41 

 ³⁷ YHVH also spoke to Moses, saying,
 ³⁸"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.
 ³⁹"It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of YHVH, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,
 ⁴⁰so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your Elohim.
 ⁴¹"I am YHVH your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your Elohim; I am YHVH your Elohim."

Deuteronomy 22:12

¹²"You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.




While walking this pathway of obedience to YHVH, some things have been easier to obey than others. Not eating pork was a no brainer...pig=ick=don't eat it. Sure, I can do that. The food laws were the first things we started obeying, but in the beginning it did test us. We would just pick the sausage off pizza, or push the pork aside in soup, etc. I wouldn't even think about doing those things now, but we did do it at one time. Next came Sabbath, but even that tested our obedience. It seemed like every Sabbath, something would come up. We would just "have" to go to the store. Or I would compromise on my "no electronics" rule. Eventually we came into a place where  honoring the Sabbath made us feel set apart. It effected so much of our spiritual lives. We can say we are set apart, but what is there that is different about us? How can you tell that we are the children of Israel? How can you tell that we belong to YHVH? Each Sabbath we feel it. We see it in each other. It is truly a sign between YHVH and us, that we are His people. But we had to come into a place of obedience in order to get the blessing from it.


Well, tzitzit have been a place of disobedience for me. In turn I have caused my husband and children to be disobedient as well. I've been asked to make tzitzit, asked to wear them by my husband, and my children have asked if they could wear them. I made my husband a set, since he was the one convicted about wearing them, but I would not wear them myself. Why? I don't know. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't understand the point. Maybe it was because I didn't want to look weird or have to give an account to others as to why I wore these strange looking fringes and what they meant and what it was I truly believed in. Maybe I am just rebellious and stiff necked. I think all of those things are true about why I find myself in a constant state of disobedience. Most of all, I am rebellious and I need an answer as to "why" I need to do what I'm being told to do, before I actually do it.


I tell my children a story about a boy and his father who were fishing down by the river. The father forgot something in the truck, and had to run back up the hill to fetch it. The father told the son to stay put, don't go near the river, and that he would be right back. The son waited patiently, moving slowly up the hill in anticipation of the father's return. When the father rounded the hill and started down the path, he froze, with a terrified look on his face. He told the son calmly to NOT move, not even an inch, and that he would be right back. The father left, and returned with his shot gun. The son was obedient and had not moved at all. He stayed put even when the father raised his gun and shot the poisonous snake that was poised behind the child, ready to strike the child. Had the child moved, he would have been bitten, and he would have died.


That child's immediate obedience was the key to his life being saved. Had he questioned the father's command to stop, don't move, and stay there, and actually looked around to see why the father was giving the command, he would have died. It was through his obedience that he was kept safe.


I am not like that boy, but oh how I wish I were. I question everything, which at times is a good thing, but not when it comes to our Heavenly Father's commandments. He knows what is best for us. He knows exactly what we need. Like a weekly sabbath in order to stay healthy, refreshed, and always focused on what is important. But do we need to know the reason behind a command before we obey it? We do not. Our immediate obedience is required. THAT is faith. Obeying the father even when we don't understand why.


So, last night I made my entire family tzitzits. Today I will wear them, and each day after. I understand that they are there so I do not forget to obey the commands of my Father, but I shouldn't need to know that in order to just do what He says.


 "Wear the tzitzit, Monica"..."Yes, Father".