Repentance is much more than confessing your sin and getting to heaven.

The process of repentance leads you to know God better and understanding His Kingdom and His ways. Jesus made it possible for us to repent because of His sacrifice but we also have a responsibility to physically prepare ourselves, learn His ways, apply what we learn, and continue to make correction in our life. 

Making continual corrections in our life is the process of repentance, and it takes a lifetime.

Below are links to 30 days of practical advice on how to repent and make correction in your life. Through this journey you will learn more about the Kingdom of God.

Day 1 – Make A Choice

Day 2 – Build A Fence

Day 3 – Create A List

Day 4 – Plant a Seed

Day 5 – Build the Future

Day 6 – Ask for Wisdom

Day 7 – Crown Him King

Day 8 – How Much Effort Do You Need to Put Into Repentance

Day 9 – Writing Your Story In the Book of Life

Day 10 – Love Demands Action

Day 11 – Living a Righteous Life is About Refining Your Thoughts and Behavior

Day 12 – Sin Is Crouching at Your Door

Day 13 – Connecting to God Through A Mitzvah (Commandment)

Day 14 – Measure for Measure

Day 15 – Are You Preparing (Repenting) for the Kingdom of God

Day 16 – A Bad, Good, or Better Resurrection – The Choice is Up to You

Day 17 – Understanding How Evil Can Be Good

Day 18 – Barriers That Prevent Repentance

Day 19 – An Annual Review of Your Repentance Driven Life (Day of Atonement)

Day 20 – How to Choose Life over Death

Day 21 – What Is True Regret For Sin

Day 22 – How Does Confession of Sin Heal Your Soul

Day 23 – Jesus Will be King of the World

Day 24 – Where Are You in the Book of Life

Day 25 – Prayer Is Music To God’s Ears

Day 26 – Hasten the Day of the Lord

Day 27 – Living in Rhythm with Jesus (Celebrating the Appointed Feasts)

Day 28 – God Hides Himself, and It’s Up to You to Find Him So the People in Your Life Are Impacted (Part 1 of 2)

Day 29 – God Hides Himself, and It’s Up to You to Find Him So the People in Your Life Are Impacted. (Part 2 of 2)

Day 30 – The True Definition of What Repentance Is and Where We Go from Here

30 Day Repentance Journey

Day 1 – Repentance Is A Choice

Repentance is necessary. It draws a person close to God. The further someone has gone from God, the more one has to gain by drawing near to Him. Start a journey of repentance! To “repent” means to “return” to God’s ways, and begin a path of atonement in Christ. Not sinning is a challenge, and it takes God’s help. If a person has failed and failed again, success in a particular area may seem out of reach; this website teaches a person how to circumvent these mental walls built by self-doubt and shame.  Jeremiah 15:19 says, “Therefore this is what the Lord says: If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me...” The word “repentance” is “teshuvah,” in Hebrew. The word literally means “to turn.” We regret a mistake or negative action and resolve to never do it again. Repentance is a continual prosses of staying centered on the Kingdom of God.  Repentance takes regret, a confession of sin, and a choice to return to righteousness. A person must attempt to right any wrongs and make amends (Leviticus 26:40-45). As you turn to God, He will turn to you. This is a promise of the “new covenant” originally described by the prophet Jeremiah. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah. 31:31-31) The Choice Both good and evil are necessary for the existence of free will. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” and gave them the choice to accept His authority or refuse it. They chose rebellion. They exercised the freedom of choice and chose spiritual and physical independence. We, their children, have each done the same. We’ve chosen independence and it’s become a source of suffering for each of us. With each choice made we are free to accept the will of God or refuse it. Micah 6:8 says,  He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  What does it mean to act justly? In the market place there must be an agreed upon system of weights and measurement—Justus requires law, that’s obvious, but not all laws are applicable to all people at all times.  What Does God Want from Me? The Bible describes four basic groups of people, there are more, but for now, we can work with these four categories. The 135th Psalm calls these groups to worship before God in Jerusalem saying, House of Israel, bless the Lord! House of Aaron, bless the Lord! House of Levi, bless the Lord! God-Fearers, bless the Lord! While each group shares a common faith, their religious practices are diverse. A Jew (house of Israel) is permitted to visit a cemetery, but a kohen (house of Aaron) is not. A God-Fearer is permitted to kindle a flame on the Sabbath, but a Jew is not. In this way, a God-Fearer and a Kohen are similar, but they are distinct in that a Kohen is only permitted to kindle a flame within the Jerusalem Temple. While a path of repentance will be very similar for all involved, each group has been given a distinct job description. Paul says For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Rom 12:4-5) Paul calls these four groups the “Israel of God.” Christians have not replaced Israel but have enjoined themselves as servants to her king. We have not been called to tolerate diversity, but to celebrate and protect it. Although God is gracious to Israel, a Jew should not live as a gentile. Although Christians serve a Jewish Messiah, becoming Jewish is not needed. We are sailors in one ship and there is lots of work to be done. Each man and woman must know who they are and what God has required of them.   Reflecting on the struggles of adolescence, Paul explained, I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment was given, sin came alive and I died. (Rom. 7:9) Childhood is a time of grace. A child is free to run and play. Mistakes are not only expected but, sometimes, they’re enjoyed. “Kids will be kids,” as the saying goes. With the onset of puberty, a Jew become obligated to observe Jewish law. In Christian life, these teenage years are usually accompanied by baptism or confirmation, depending upon the tradition. We recognize that with maturation comes obligation—responsibility. Paul recognizes the reality of the human condition; the years of responsibility are years of temptation, confusion, doubt and struggle. Nevertheless, this is not all that he is saying.  Moses warned Israel, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and  death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live.   (Deu. 30:19) The law is both a “blessing and a curse.” It’s a blessing when its kept and a curse when its broken. Paul was spot on when he said, “sin came alive and I died.” We can all relate to this. Paul later refers to it as the “curse of the law.” There is a “blessing of the law” but as long as we are trapped in sin we remain under the curse. Paul says, What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! For, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” (Rom. 7:7)  God’s desire is for you to know his will in your life and to rule over sin (Genesis 4:7). For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us  to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. (Titus 2:12).  God’s desire is for you to rule over sin (Genesis 4:7), and to transform the ungodliness into godliness (Titus 2:12). Have You Made the Choice to Return?    << | Continue to Day 2 [...] Read more...

Day 2 – Build a Fence

It will be a journey, but a person can achieve complete repentance in this life. It is important to get a bird’s eye view of your life when repenting. To have a perspective of what is going on in your life right now, and what is it that you need to work on? The main work for each of us is to make correction. To start, be honest with yourself, and create a repentance plan you can work on; something to review once in a while. As an example, create two lists. One list is where you are at today, and the other list is what you need to work on. If you don’t know where you are at, you won’t know where you are going. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself. Where am I at right now? If my secrets were exposed, would I be humiliated? Why do I desire things I don’t need or even want? What do I have to lose by giving up sin? What do I have to gain from living a godly life? How does my soul impact others when I do what the lord requires of me? | RSS.com The early Christian Fathers insist that God created the world because he “desired” to give. A desire needs no explanation. We desire things we do not need or even want, so while God was not found lacking and wanted for nothing, He desired creation. While you may not be able to understand your desires, you should know that desire, itself, is rooted in God. That’s why its so powerful.  You are not your desires. Understanding this can help you make the choice to place fences between yourself and those things which are desired but destructive. God does not judge you for what you desire but for what you choose. Let that sink in.  On this second day of repentance, let this be your meditation. Consider how you might build fences for yourself to protect you from desires which are forbidden by scripture. While you may not be able to understand it just yet, recognize that the magnificent power of desire is something rooted in God who has been called a “consuming fire;” recognize that the only way to overcome misdirected desire is to separate from it.  Someone harboring pedophiliac desires should not live near a school, or volunteer to teach children, or watch the child of a friend. By definition a desire is not a choice, but protecting yourself from forbidden desire is. A married woman who desires affirmation from men should protect herself by not participating in unnecessary conversation with them.  You are not your desires! You did not ask for them, but you can protect yourself from them. You did not choose them but you can choose to separate from them.   Where do you need to build a fence?  The first step in repentance is admitting that I need to work on myself, and to define what it is I need to change. Correction is possible when I understand the difference between good and evil, wants and desires. Take time and think about areas where you have allowed yourself to flirt with desire. Start building fences between yourself and those things. Leave the phone out of your bedroom at night. Take a friend with you to pick up a female coworker. Limit yourself to one glass of wine or maybe don’t keep it in the house, this is going to look different for everyone. Write down these commitments and revisit them over the next 12 months. If you need help, please contact us, we are more than willing to personally help you through this. Back to Day 1 | Continue to Day 3 [...] Read more...

Day 3 – Create A List

Jesus Said to Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand “At hand” doesn’t just mean “close,” it means “close enough to grab.” When you attend a wedding, you don’t get dressed at the event; you prepare at home and anyone who sees you knows exactly where you’re going. If you’re part of the wedding party, you’ll be sure to make a check list of things which should be taken care of before the big day.  Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) created a system called “Spiritual Accounting” which, was preserved by Rabbi Mendel Lefin (1749-1826). Colonial Christianity offers a fun and simple chart so you can share this Colonial Christian method of self-transformation with your friends and family. Those of us committed to 30-days of Repentance are going to want to create a similar chart with a little more substance. Create a grid like that on “Ben’s List,” but add any subjects or areas in life which are important to spiritual growth or decline. You can see that on the checklist we’ve created the subjects are plain for all to see. We encourage those truly committed to making repentance to use create code words for personal or shameful subjects, in this way you can be honest with successes or failures without fear. Each night, a person should take stock in the day’s activities.  It’s important to create a list of things that you need to work on and commit to find out the impact sin has in your life.  2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Choose your path and position yourself for judgement. You are the only one that can make repentance work for you. True Repentance True repentance will lead to you gaining more of a desire, and a better understanding of God and His Kingdom here on earth. Repentance starts by making a conscious decision for obedience to God. As you grow in your understanding of exactly what God demands of you, apply what you learn. Repentance is the goal of this fallen world. We must set out to become masters of repentance before death but each at his own pace. While hesitation is not recommended, endurance is a must, so pace yourself and “run the good race,” as Paul says. If you have spent any time searching the Word of God, then you should have some knowledge of what God’s will is – to keep His Commandments (Instructions). We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.” (1 John 2:3) He is our Righteousness and We are His Repentance  Jesus taught that Heaven rejoices over a repentant sinner more than over one who has never sinned. The implications of this are shocking; you are the repented sinner. Christ is the righteous one without sin. That Heaven might properly rejoice over Christ, he has bound himself to repentant sinners. He is our righteousness but we are his repentance. Although he was without sin, Christ took immersion because he is bound to his people, like a head is bound to a body, “that all righteous might be fulfilled” (Matt. 3:15). It is in this same why that Paul writes, made him who knew no sin to become identified with sin on our behalf, so that we might become identified with the righteousness of God in him. (2 Cor. 5:21) When you give yourself over to Christ, he becomes something of a (higher) second intellect. In the same way Christ gave himself over to the Father saying, “Not my will but yours be done.” When you submit your will to his, a new spiritual inelegance is gained which is called, “Holy Spirit.” In the same way that your foot is connected to your brain, you have become the “body of Christ.” Christ is united to God through the total submission and embodiment of his will and command. When all nations of the world become submitted to Christ, they join his “body.” It is true that one man’s death cannot atone for those of another, but when we die to self and choose to become his hands and feet in this world, it is no longer we who live but Christ. This was the prayer and desire of Christ before his death.    Back to Day 2 | Continue to Day 4 [...] Read more...

Day 4 – Plant a Seed

There is no miracle in all of creation as great as returning to God through prayer & repentance. Repentance starts with honesty and continues as a lifelong process of self-refinement. We cannot fix a problem if we do not first recognize it.  The bible tells us that Adam was placed as a “gardener in the east of Eden.” A gardener tills soil and plants seed, he cuts away what is dead or diseased and cultivates what is living. But something seems out of place, Adam was a gardener before thorns, thistles, and death. On the one hand, Adam was created to “work the ground,” but on the other hand he was placed in a garden which seems to have watered and produced fruit by the encouragement of God alone. The answer is hinted at in the biblical word chosen to describe Adam’s service. The word “work,” as it appears in this verse can also imply “worship” or “service” in the sense of a priest who serves the Lord through some action in this world. Adam did not worship the earth, he was formed from it and caused it to flourish through prayer. The health of the garden was dependent upon the spiritual quality and internal condition of the “gardener.” If there be any doubt, we simply need to return to scripture and see that thorns, thistles and death appeared only after his transgression. Adam’s work was the work of prayer. Jesus said  Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown—some of the seed sown will produce thirty, some 60, some 100 times what was sown.” (Mark 4:20) He compares one who hears the word of God and internalized it to ready earth taking a seed and producing fruit. While earthly seed brings life into this world the higher “seed” of the word brings forth life in the world to come. Even ancient plant seeds, discovered dry and lifeless for thousands of years, have been successfully cultivated in recent years. A seed, however, will not produce life until it begins to decompose. Moisture causes the dry seed to breakdown and at the very moment when life seems impossible, it begins anew. This teaching is actually first articulated by Christ himself. He taught, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)     Repentance is about resurrection, but this will not come without tears. The Psalmist said, Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to   Zion. As they pass through the valley of weeping it will become a place of springs; the autumn rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength, each one appears before God in Zion. (Ps. 84:5-7) In this Psalm, the tears of spiritual pilgrims searching for an internal Zion are compared to rain. The needed element for the decomposing and the breakdown of the hard shell of a seed is rain. A person cannot truly die to themselves, that Christ might take root in their heart, without the tears of a repentance comparable to death. Paul, a former hunter of Jewish followers of Christ, was involved in the murder of the Jewish convert and follower of Christ, Stephen. Nothing less than a repentance comparable to death could remove this transgression. Paul said, “It is no longer I who live but Christ in me” (Gal. 2:20) The “Day of Trumpets” is a sacred day, proscribed by scripture, which takes place on the first day of the seventh month, in the autumn. It’s kept as the anniversary of human creation. Today, the day is usually called “Rosh Hashanah” meaning “head of the year.” It is preceded by 30-days of repentance and introspection. The power of rebirth and recreation, the force that created humanity from red earth on Rosh Hashanah can only truly be accessed through repentance. On each of the preceding 30 days a shofar, or ram’s horn, is sounded in synagogues throughout the world and then on Rosh Hashanah it is blown some 100 times. Paul makes a connection between this practice and the resurrection of the dead. He wrote, For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Cor. 15:52) Through “30-days of Repentance” we hope you will allow yourself to be truly broken and humbled before God in a way which will prepare a space for Christ to be cultivated within your heart. This is a resurrection of the dead and a promise of what is to come.   On this, day four of repentance, allow yourself to be broken. Reflect on the past year: Did I gossip, intentionally lie, devise wicked imaginations Was I arrogant and proud, not forgiving someone from my past, sow discord among my brothers or sisters Did I visit the sick, feed the hungry, go out of my way to help others Are there things that God has required of me which I have ignored? If you Ask are sinning in an area, make a decision to stop, don’t over think it, just be done. Step #2 is to Stop the Sin If I am habitually sinning, I need to analyze why am I sinning, and make a plan to stop. In Genesis 4:7, God told man to rule over sin. We just need to make the decision to repent, separate from unwanted desires and commit to working through the process of repentance. Introduction to the Torah Click here to view all the videos on the Parshat Experiment Back to Day 3 | Continue to Day 5 [...] Read more...

Day 5 – Build the Future

The Path of Repentance is Only Withheld from a Person by His or Her Own Mind and Deceitful Heart The bible references something called a “spirit of error.” You may have heard this used to talk about a false teaching or improper doctrine, but there is much to say about this “spirit of error.” This is actually a translation of the Hebrew, “ruach shtut.” The “spirit of error” is the opposite of the “Holy Spirit.” The Jewish Talmud says, A person commits a transgression only if a ruach shtut enters him (Sotah 3a) The Hebrew word for “spirit” is “ruach” and could also be translated as “wind.” “Spirit of error” is a fine translation of “ruach shtut” but it could also be translated as “spirit of nonsense” or even “crazy wind.” A person knows that all things are open and visible to the Creator, and yet we continue to sin and even commit vulgar acts. We hide our deeds from family and friends while humiliating ourselves before the Judge of all the world. To avoid the influence of this insanity, a person must create a dwelling place within themselves which is suitable for Holy Spirit and is protected, to a greater degree, from this “crazy wind.”  A Christian does not rely on personal merit for eternal salvation. A Christian recognizes that no man or woman apart from Christ is “deserving” of eternal reward. We trust in God’s grace, alone. Unfortunately, this is only half of the story. Contrary to popular imagination, the bible says that God will not judge a person until the time of the resurrection. A question which should be asked is, “what happens till then?” Are people just asleep in the ground? Jesus tells a parable which is helpful here. He said, There was a rich man clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. At his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus (God is my help), covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, “Father Abraham,  have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” But Abraham said, “Child,  remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. Besides all of this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. And he said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, “They have Moses and   the Prophets; let them hear them.” And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:19-31) The story above employs figurative language to describe the suffering and or euphoria experienced by those who have passed on from this world. Nevertheless, this is not actually the experience of divine judgment, but rather the consequence of action. What’s the difference?  Imagine you wake up in the middle of a huge field. As you look around and try to gain some sense of where you are, you realize that you have a pile of building supplies which never seems to end. There are other people in the field as well, each of them has an unending supply of materials. Some of those in the field begin to build homes, plant gardens, and cultivate fields. Others, unsure about the whole experience, just lie around. They make themselves comfortable and spend their time enjoying life in the field. They do nothing with the supplies they have been given and can see no reason to work. Men are sent through the field announcing that in only a short while each participant will be left with whatever they have made for themselves. Those who have built homes will enjoy them and those who have built nothing will have nothing. Some, who were previously loafing around, heed the words of these men and get to work, quickly trying to make up for lost time. Others continue to do nothing. They don’t believe it. They tell themselves that life in the field is to be enjoyed and not spent laboring each day.  This life is that field, now is the time to build our future dwelling. After death, the experience is one that we have made for ourselves. The Psalmist says it simply, Those who sow with tears will reap with shouts of joy! (Psalm 126:5) Eternal judgement by God, is something which will come only with the resurrection. The bible says that the dead will be raised, Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. The quality of our experience in death is something which has been placed into our hands. Get to work. Moses and the Prophets have told us all we need to know. God has even raised up Christ from the dead to inform us of what is coming.    Understand What it is We Need to Work On to Build the Future On day 3 of repentance, we created a list. Our goal has been to understand where we are succeeding and where we are failing, to confess our transgressions and stop those behaviors. Everyone that repents and asks God for forgiveness of past mistakes is awakened to God. The essence of faith starts with the decision to leave the ordinary routine of life, and to follow God. Confession of sin is the first step on a journey towards God (Leviticus 26:40-42). The book of Deuteronomy says, “Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors”. (6:18) Moses is confident that all people are fully capable of doing what is right, in making even an attempt, God will support us! This is His will and wisdom. Sin only comes from a “ruach shtut” a “crazy wind” that destroys everything in its path. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”. The first step in the process to build the future is making a choice to turn from evil and choose the good. Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”  What Is Sin, and what does it mean to love God? (Part 1) | RSS.com Back to Day 4 | Continue to Day 6 [...] Read more...

Day 6 – Ask for Wisdom

When a person obeys God’s commandments, they become connected with God’s infinite will and wisdom.  A hidden truth is that the act of repentance allows a person’s eyes to be open so that it is even possible for them to be obedient and keep God’s commandments. That is the promise of the New Covenant, to change a person’s heart to serve God. You start by making a mental decision not to get entangled in the things of this world. Then create an evaluation of where you are (your list) and prioritize what it is you want to work on. The key to repentance is to recognize that you need assistance from above. Without help from God, you are fighting an uphill battle all alone. God wants you to win this battle, and He will give you the strength to overcome it. Wisdom: The Potential Of What Is The word wisdom in Hebrew is Chochma which can be translated to “the potential of what is”. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom …” That would mean your potential starts with the fear of the Lord. To repent is to fear the Lord, and to repent, a person needs to be honest with themself and be aware of what sin they need to deal with. You can ask yourself the question: where do I stand, what correction do I need to make, and then make a commitment to work on them. This will require you to prioritize what is important to you. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” As a disciple of Jesus your priority should be to protect the Covenant of God, and you do that by being obedient and living out God’s commandments in your life. It is very difficult to even understand the Covenant of God when sin is in the way. Click here to learn more about the New Covenant and what it means to accept Jesus. A disciple of Jesus must be committed to overcome sin in their life. Overcoming sin takes effort and commitment, is possible with God’s help, and is achievable when a person sets a goal to stop sin and is determined to overcome it. Reaching your full potential requires effort, and overcoming sin is a battle for every child of God (Revelation 3:20-23). What Is Sin, and what does it mean to love God? (Part 2) | RSS.com A Practical Approach to Overcoming Sin To help stay committed to overcoming sin, you should set a timeline for reaching specific goals of what it is you want to overcome. Ask yourself, where do you want to be in the next two, or three, or even 6 months? Where would you like to see yourself a year from now. Setting goals and priorities is super important. As an example of setting priorities let’s say your goal is to spend more time every day praying and studying God’s word. Then in four to six months, you want to be doing more to remember the Sabbath (4th Commandment). Then by this time next year, you want to have overcome your anger issues. Once you have defined your priorities and timelines, you can create a small task list (journal) of how you plan to change your current lifestyle to do this. You may need some tools to help such as for studying the Bible you can download a free app like the One-Year Bible Reading Journal. Having a plan will make a huge difference in your journey. Right Now it is About the Small Victories Repentance should be seen as a journey to know God and understand His truth because you want to live in the will of God. You can take small steps towards God and keep making small corrections one at a time. It is not all or nothing! The way to achieve this is by setting a life of repentance as a priority, enjoy the journey, and if you fall get back up.  Proverbs 24:16 says “though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again…” Character Development: Prioritize What’s Important It is important to understand that our character is a root cause for many of our sins and can cause us to slide back into our old habits, but our character can also assist us in being obedient. We must strive to make correction and improve our character. A person can be caring in certain situations, cheerful, and brilliant, but can also be lazy, proud, and rude. We need to take an inventory of our character traits and be aware of where we need to make improvements. As another example, pride can cause us to be haughty and inconsiderate, while humility can birth kindness towards others.  Paul says in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  The fruit of the Spirit translates into our character traits. Our character traits help us measure where we are in the repentance process. (A little piece of helpful advice when it comes to repentance). A Rabbi once said, “push away your sin”. To do this, allow more space for God in your life. If you put effort into serving God and keeping His commandments, and as you love God more, along with repentance, and applying God’s commandments in your life, the sin will fall away.  Here are 5 Verses to Consider That Will Help Prioritize the Seed of Repentance in You Be wholehearted with the Lord your God (give Him your all)- Deuteronomy 18:13 Place the Lord before you continuously (always make room for Him in your life) – Psalm 16:8 Love your neighbor as yourself (be committed to get along with others) – Leviticus 19:18 Know him in all your ways (let His will be your will) – Proverbs 3:6 Walk discreetly with your God (be careful to follow God’s instructions) – Micah 6:8 These scriptures will be discussed more during this 30-day journey and can be used to help apply God’s instructions in your life. For today, make sure you have your list prioritized and know what you are working on based on what’s important to you. Click here to listen to a short audio that will encourage you to stay committed to your priority list. Back to Day 5 | Continue to Day 7 [...] Read more...

Day 7 – Crown Him King

When describing the spiritual world, concepts like time and space can be used metaphorically. A human being can be understood as a perfectly suited vessel or container for the presence of God. Sin has corrupted humanity to such a degree that no room remains for God. Like a broken cup which cannot hold water or a vehicle so damaged it is no longer drivable. Repentance is the prosses of becoming a suitable vessel for God, once again. It might be that you have committed sins which you feel cannot be corrected; but if you believe that you have the power to destroy what God has created, you must also believe you can fix it.  God created humanity from the soil, the broken down and decomposed remains of mineral, vegetable and animal elements. The bible says Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. (Gen. 1:26) Who is the “us” being referred to in the verse above? Relating the plurality found in this verse to the Trinity does damage to the oneness of God. Instead, we should understand that humanity has been created with both a lower and a higher form. We have been created in the “image” of God while also being formed from the earth. The human being possesses two natures—one earthly, one divine. Through physical behaviors, a person has the ability to reveal or conceal the image of God. The full revelation of God is found in Christ. An old parable describes a king in search of his kingdom. The image of a king, wandering about in search of a kingdom, is intentionally absurd. The position of King can only be held by the ruler of a kingdom. If there is no kingdom, there is no king. Psalm 47:2 calls God, “a great king over all the earth.” It is for this reason that the biblical “Day of Trumpets,” understood as the day of God’s royal coronation, is also celebrated as the day on which Adam was formed from clay. God became King with the creation of humanity. Bearing the image of the King, Adam was charged with governance over the “fish of the sea and birds of the air.” Everything was subjugated to Adam, but when sin came, the image of man was corrupted and dominion over creation was lost. The human body is formed from a mud of recycled elements—the mud of creation. When a person lives, governed by the body, they are literally dominated by creation. In this way, a person who has conquered the body has also conquered creation. The bible says When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28) Christ has shown us the way to subdue all of creation and to walk as children of the Great King.  A Big Step in Repentance is to Take Responsibility For Our Actions We must recognize that sin causes damage in our lives, and we will have to give an account for our actions. Here are some ways you can take responsibility: Make A Plan!      Stay Focused!     Be Determined! #1 Start by making a list of things you want to change Here are some examples you can work on this year: always be honest show more mercy to others be more forgiving to others work on anger issues #2 Start slow and put the things you want to change in priority As an example, start a journal of when you are not being honest, and when you get angry  Take the next 30-90 days to see how you do #3 Define your destination You will determine what’s working for you, and make changes if needed Refine your areas You have to protect your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth Determine what is appropriate to watch on T.V. (eyes) Don’t partake in listening to gossip (ears) Don’t be attracted to another married person’s perfume (nose) If you are angry, this is a good time to take a breath, and keep your mouth closed (mouth) Isaiah 33:15 says, “Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil. They are the ones who will dwell on the heights…” There also needs to be something in place to minimize your temptations. As an example, maybe you need to not hang out with certain people or make a decision not to watch certain types of T.V shows. This is all up to you on how you identify your actions and take responsibility. Back to Day 6 | Continue to Day 8 [...] Read more...

Day 8 – How Much Effort Do You Need to Put Into Repentance

Faith is the key that ensures the joy of life, and the righteous shall live by faith. The path of faith is not easy, and it is never smooth. But in the end, the experience of God is personal and unique and can never be transferred to another. (Rabbi Steinsaltz, Pebbles of Wisdom) It is important to know if you are repenting with the correct motives, and with a pure heart. You should repent for the sake of Heaven, and to prepare yourself to be a worthy servant for the King. To bear fruit of righteousness, and to be found faithful when Jesus returns. Repentance is the process of redemption that God has given us, and He allows us to bear fruit of repentance that ultimately proves our trustworthiness to Him. As Jesus has explained in Matthew 25:14–30, that trustworthiness determine our position in the Kingdom of God. You have a job to fulfill, but it is your decision if you end up where you are supposed to be. Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Choosing the path of repentance is your job. How well you do in your job, is directly linked to how much repentance you accomplish. The greatest blessing in this world is to know God, and it only comes through repentance. The amount of effort you should put into repentance is in proportion to the percentage of fruit you desire to produce. A few questions you can ask yourself: are you repenting sincerely? What kind of fruit, and how much fruit do you want to produce? Are you trying to negotiate with God for something that is for a selfish motive? Do you desire to be found trustworthy when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ as Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11? It is also important to ask God to help you love Him for who He is and ask God to allow you to see yourself as He sees you. God does not love the sin, or bad behavior, but He does love the real you. You may need to repent for the regret you have towards yourself, or for the damage caused in your own life, and the lives of those around you.   What Is Sin, and what does it mean to love God? (Part 3) | RSS.com How to Know When You Have Overcome Sin When the opportunity for a sin that you did in the past comes around again, and you do not repeat it, then most likely you repented and overcame it. Although, that does not always mean you have completely repented. As an example, if you have personally stepped away from addiction, and years later went back to it, then you did not overcome it. As a good analogy, you can move files that are on your computer and put them in the trash can, or you can go to the trash can and permanently delete them.  The reality is the opportunity for sin will continue to come up over and over again until you have fully repented of it and have overcome it. You will repeatedly be tested on your sincerity until you have repented 100%. Something to consider, a test in not only to show the teacher where the student is in their learning, it is also to show the student where they stand in accordance with what they should know. We have the opportunity here in this world to continually work on our repentance until the day we die, and God will continually allow us to see where we stand. We are not promised tomorrow, that is why we need to work on overcoming the sin in our life today. God has an appointed position for you in the Kingdom, and He is preparing you for it. You need to continually cultivate the seed of repentance within you to obtain it. It’s very important to understand the concept of repenting in “Service of the King“. When you make corrections in your life with this mindset, it is a much deeper repentance. That is what God is looking for. One day we will be living in the Kingdom with Jesus as King, and right now you need to see yourself living in that Kingdom.  The greater you are in the Kingdom of God, the less you desire the things of the world. The less you desire the world, the more you are able to live according to kingdom principles right now. We have the opportunity to make the wrongs right and affect the world around us. The revelation of you having a position in the Kingdom of God on this earth when Jesus is King, only comes through pure repentance. God gives us a job, which is repentance, we determine how well we fulfill that job. As we are fulfilling repentance in our life, we will by default impact those around us in a positive way. Jesus gave us many examples of how we will be given a position in the Kingdom. One example is in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 where He said, “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” Jesus also said in Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” You have the opportunity to learn God’s instructions because Jesus earned the favor with God for us to repent and turn to Him. The question is, are you truly investing in repentance? This is an understanding that you cannot take lightly, and you need to make it a priority in your life. Paul said in Romans 2:4-11, “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” The Amount of Effort for Repentance Depends on How Much You Desire the Position God Has Appointed for You For some people, they may find it is best to work on one thing at a time, others two, and for others maybe three or four issues. What really counts is you are cultivating the seed of repentance in your life to obtain a better resurrection, and fully achieve the position God has for you in His Kingdom (Hebrews 11:35). When there is no more worldly desire, or no more temptation in you, then you will have overcome sin. The bible teaches us how we overcome the devil, in Revelation 12:11 it says, “and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Jesus fulfilled His position and granted you the opportunity to repent. As a disciple of Jesus, you are responsible to accept that opportunity. Repentance is a balanced equation. The amount of time and effort you put towards a life of repentance is equal to the amount of fruit your life produces. Back to Day 7 | Continue to Day 9 [...] Read more...

Day 9 – Writing Your Story In the Book of Life

As long as we have life, we breath, and live there is hope. We can still repent and make correction. The worst possible situation is where there is no hope and corrections are not possible. Revelation 20:12 says, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”  We are still held accountable, but God is a gracious and merciful Father, and even though it is impossible to fix everything, He is giving us a chance to make some of the wrongs right. We are writing our story in the book of life, and we can make edits on how it ends. Repentance is the Most Important Issue of our Lifetime Jesus has fully taken care of what is needed for us to gain access to eternal life, but we still have responsibility, and we may need to clean up some of our own messes before we get there. We must do our part to prepare ourselves; choose the correct path, continually make adjustments in our life, and pray and ask God how we can help fix the damage that we have done. Preparing for the Kingdom is our responsibility, this is not another person’s responsibility. We should feel blessed to know that God has given us a righteous King, who has laid down His life, gone before us as an example, is worthy enough, and has gained merit for us to repent and ask God for a second chance. We will be held accountable for how much we do or do not take advantage of the opportunity to repent. Ezekiel 33:15-16 says “…if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him…” This means that all the sins that a wicked person had committed will not be remembered once the sinner repents and they are no longer practicing those sins. The Rabbis even say that all their sins that had been committed will not be remembered for they have practiced justice and righteousness. In other words, the power of perfectly sincere repentance is so great that even the wicked deeds of the past are considered to be transformed into justice and righteousness. One who repents out of a pure love for God, such a repentance has the power to transform wicked deeds into good ones. In this world we can recognize that the final verdict is optimistic, and there is still hope. A way to achieve a higher level of repentance is that you need to be wholehearted. Humble yourself, accept the damage you did, work on self-improvements, and seek the Lord on how to make the wrongs right. As an example, if you stole money from someone in the past, then you should ask God to open a door to ask for forgiveness and be willing to work something out to pay them back. Pray for God’s mercy! You can ask God to forgive you, but Jesus said to first make things right with your brother and then go to the alter (Matthew 5:24). If you are having an issue with this, pray and ask God to help you on how to take care of your responsibilities.  We Still Have to Clean Up the Mess If my daughter spilled a glass of milk on the floor and made a mess, I would just tell her to get the cleaning supplies and clean up the mess. God wants us to do the same thing, clean up our mess. Leviticus 26:40-says, “But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”  Jesus breaks it down very clearly for us by giving us a warning when he said in Matthew 5:25, “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.” This is speaking about a day of judgment when we will give an account. Jesus is explaining that we need to repent before that day and make things right. Don’t Condemn Yourself Jesus gave us an awesome example that we can always keep in mind when He told the parable of the unforgiving debtor in Matthew 18:21-35. We have the opportunity to show grace and mercy to others, be forgiving, loving, and compassionate to others so we can be shown the same from the King when we stand before Him. We should always judge favorably, so we will be judged favorably.  Paul said in Romans 2, “you have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”  For the next 30 days, work on not judging someone or a situation negatively. Pay attention to how judgmental you are. When you see someone doing something that you start to question, first think, “How would I respond in the same situation”? If what seems like a bad situation is happening in your life think, “I know God is doing something good for me right now. Father, please show me what it is”. Remember, if you are judging someone in a bad way, you are only judging yourself.  The amount of mercy we show others, will be shown to us. Repentance has to be from the heart, and it has to be real. Repentance brings hope! Repentance brings the blessings of the Lord, and it brings success in our lives. Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” God said choose life. By choosing life, we are writing our story in the book of life. Back to Day 8 | Continue to Day 10 [...] Read more...

Day 10 – Love Demands Action

Love takes two, and it is not a one sided venture God is love. 1 John 4:19-20 says, “We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” When someone loves you, it is much easier to love them back. If you know someone loves you and cares for you, that creates an energy causing you to react to them. It normally causes you to desire them even more. God loves us so much, that He has set a time each year to grow closer to Him during the month on the Jewish calendar that is called Elul. This is a 30-day period of time that we can prepare to know God better. Each year we are to consider where we are in our relationship with God during this time, make some adjustments, and as the Rabbis say, “prepare to go out and meet the King in the field”. This is a time of reflection, and we should do our best to take advantage of this time to make corrections, adjust our attitude, and humble ourselves to prepare to meet the King. After this 30-day period of time there is an appointed time called Rosh Hashanah. To learn more this day, Alephbeta.org has an excellent guide for Rosh Hashanah. Love Demands Action Love must be active, not passive, it demands action, and love has to be deliberate. You can improve and grow love, but you must desire it, express yourself, and act on it. If you desire someone as much as they desire you, then the relationship works out great. If one of the people in the relationship is not desiring to be as involved, they are not engaged in the relationship, it usually doesn’t last. It is not one sided with God either! It cannot be, and it takes effort. In fact, when someone tells you that you do not need to do anything to improve your relationship with God, they are hurting your opportunity to know God, and that only conceals the real knowledge of God from you. 1 John 2:3-6 says we know God when we keep His commandments, which is to take action. In the end, the love of this world produces laziness and only blinds a person from the truth so you cannot know God, and not knowing God will make you become His enemy. The lack of knowledge is very subtle, but in the end that lack will destroy you (Hosea 4:6).  We Are to Rule Over Sin In Genesis 4:7 God told Cain, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” The world was created for us to take action. We have the opportunity to choose life or death, to choose to know God or not know Him, and to rule over sin. It is a choice we all have to make, and determine in our hearts that we will overcome and rule over sin. Many of us by default chooses this world, God knew that (1 John 3:20), and our wrong choices do damage. That is why He gave us the tool of repentance – to make our wrong choices right and fix the damages. Join us for our discussion about the sacrifices, the death of Jesus, and the suffering of the righteous and why repentance is an important part of salvation: How does Jesus Death Atone for my Sin (Part 1) | RSS.com In Exodus 34:6-7 it says that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, preserving lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin, and He pardons (these are the 13 attributes of God). In Isaiah 54:10 it says, “… my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” God is very clear that he will forgive us and show mercy. God even put such a righteous King in this world, that makes it even possible to repent. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” A Trustworthy Disciple of Jesus Ezekiel 33:12-13 says, “…the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.” This means a person cannot be shielded from punishment because they have acted righteously. They are not free to sin because they originally repented, and then think that they can return to sin. To “believe in him” is to be trustworthy, it is to be active not passive, and it is to be deliberate and act on what we believe. There are many scriptures throughout the Bible that explain the overwhelming amount of love and mercy God has on us, how much we know that God desires us, but it also explains how we will be seen if we do not express our love in return. If love is not two-sided then the relationship will grow cold. It says in Matthew 7:23 that Jesus will tell many, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness”. This is almost like saying our relationship did not work out, you did not put enough into it, now leave. If you desire Jesus as much as He desires you, then you will find the strength that God places inside of you to be able to be a trustworthy disciple of Jesus. Back to Day 9 | Continue to Day 11 [...] Read more...

Day 11 – Living a Righteous Life is About Refining Your Thoughts and Behavior

We need to refine our thoughts and behavior to live a righteous life. It starts with a change of attitude. Righteousness is desiring the things of God more than life itself. It is desiring to attach yourself to the people of Israel and the Land, desiring to learn God’s Instructions (the Torah), and ultimately desiring the Kingdom of God. If you do not wake up every day desiring to know God more, then you can make a decision to start today. Psalm 16:8 says, “I have placed the Lord before me continuously”. Living righteous is to live a life of repentance, loving your neighbor, and loving God. To desire God is to have God and His ways on your mind all of the time. In a song that David sang in 2 Samuel 22:21 he says, “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.” Then in verse 25 he said, “The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.” God will deal with us based on how we are living a righteous life too. In Job 17:9 it says, “Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.” Repentance is counted as righteousness. Although by our righteousness itself, we are not worthy to stand in the presence of God, but we have been commanded to be righteous and holy before the Lord (Hebrews 10:38 & Hebrews 12:14). Holiness means to be separated, and more specifically we are to separate ourselves from the things of this world. Another definition of holiness is transparency, which is allowing God to be transparent in your life. 1 Peter 2:5 says that we should “be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”. To fully understand the level of holiness (separation) that Peter was talking about is a much longer discussion, but as a child of God, He desires us to live where He can show Himself through us. Through this process of living a righteous life, we gain the blessing of knowing Him more. Repentance is a return to the path of righteousness. How does Jesus Death Atone for my Sin (Part 2) | RSS.com Believing and Desiring the Things of God In Genesis 15:6 it says, “Abraham believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” This was before Abraham was a Jew, while he was a gentile. The Bible also says that Abraham was obedient to the Laws of God. In fact, that is the entire reason God made a covenant with Abraham as it is stated in Genesis 26:5, “because Abraham obeyed Me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” Because Abraham desired the things of God, Abraham acted on his desires by faith and he was obedient. The Rabbis even say that Abraham knew all of the Laws of God because they were passed down from Adam through Noah and Shem. If you take the time to map out the genealogy you will see that Abraham lived for 50 years during the time of Noah and learned from him, and Noah’s oral teachings can be traced all the way back to Adam. It is understandable why Abraham was keeping the appointed times and all the Laws of God, because they were given to him orally through his family line. Blessing God’s Name In order to desire God more, you need to have God on your mind all of the time. David said in Psalm 16:8 “I have placed the Lord before me continuously”. One way to do that is to bless the name of the Lord all the time. Most Jews say a blessing the moment they wake up, when they drink a new cup of water or coffee, eat something, when they go to the bathroom, and when they go to bed. These are just a  few examples. Paul said we should give thanks in everything. Paul was a Jew so when he ate bread he would have said, “Blessed are though O’Lord our God, King of the Universe who brings forth the bread of the earth”. When Paul drank wine, he would have said “Blessed are though O’Lord our God, King of the Universe who creates the fruit of the vine”. When he would have had any other drink or food he would have said, ”Blessed are though O’Lord our God, King of the Universe who creates all things according to His word”. The Rabbis teach that a person should bless the name of God 100 times a day. That is one way to keep the Lord before you continuously. If you put your mind to it, it is not hard to say a blessing before you get a cup of coffee or tea, or before you eat something. Many people may have grown up blessing their food before they ate, but one can easily switch to blessing God’s name “instead of the food” before you eat or drink. That is the beginning of the the prayer that Jesus told us to pray when he said pray that God’s name be sanctified in the beginning of the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-15). We are sanctifying God’s name when we keep His commandments. Deuteronomy 8:10-11 says, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.” It says give thanks to God after we have eaten. Assuming you eat three times a day, you can choose to sanctify God’s name by keeping this command of giving thanks after you eat.  Obedience must be by faith and in love, and it has to be with a sincere desire to understand the ways of God more. Not only because you want to know God better, but because you want to obey God as in service to the King. To love the King with all your heart and understand that you are preparing the way for Him to return, is what the Gospel message is all about! Obedience is something you do when no one is looking. If you place the Lord before you, and in all things giving thanks, you will naturally serve the King at such a higher level, and you will be fulfilling the laws of the Torah just as our Messiah did before us. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Giving thanks will help you with living a righteous life, and it will refine your thoughts and behavior. Living a righteous life is about setting your mind on God and applying His word in your life. If you want to know more about Grace after Meals here is one that we found on Chabad.org Back to Day 10 | Continue to Day 12 [...] Read more...

Day 12 – Sin Is Crouching at Your Door

As you come closer to God and you recognize sin, your job is to first resolve internally that you no longer want to sin. Sometimes God gives you a miracle, and in the process of humbling your heart, the sin falls away. However, other times He gives you time to figure out how you are going work on yourself to stop the sin. The question becomes, will you be intentional to remove the sin in your life. This is a continuous process, and every year we need to take time to look inside at areas we can work on so that we can grow closer to God. The process of repentance starts when you confess your sin and decide to resolve in your heart never to commit the sin again. The fact is, no matter where you are in your walk with God, and the closer you come to Him, sin is always present.  Paul said in Romans 7:24-25, “O wretched man that I am …” Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me …” The walk with God is a lifelong commitment. In Leviticus 26:41 God says, “…if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity…” then God will remember His Covenant. To make amends is to correct the mistake that one has made or fix a bad situation one has caused. It is a process, and it last a lifetime. It is not always easy to grow, and it takes commitment and desire to draw close to God. James 4:17 says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin”. Sinful Inclination Every one of us has an sinful inclination inside of us, and that is why sin is always crouching at our door. Its job is to hide understanding of God from us, and sin will pull us away from God. A good way to look at it is, if you work out with no resistance, are you really doing anything? No, not at all. That is the same principle with your walk with God; there has to be resistance to grow in order for the “seed” that is in you to produce more fruit. In Romans 7:15-20 Paul explains that our sinful inclination (sinful nature) becomes the motivation for us to sin. From the beginning in Genesis 4:7 God commanded us to overcome it. He said “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it”. God wants you to put effort into removing all your wrongdoings. What would it feel like if you signed up for an Ironman competition, and never put effort into preparing or actually running the course, and then received an award for it? Would it mean anything? Further, Jesus taught in Matthew 25:14–30 the wise steward would receive a reward based on the steward’s efforts and punishment for the lack of effort.  Our Responsibility Our job is to be on guard against the sinful inclination. If you are not, you will most likely fail. For some people the evil inclination is desiring pornography, others anger, but whatever the sin is, God said we must rule over it.  Paul said, “God will render to each one according to his works”. Jesus will be looking for people who know the truth, worked on their relationship by obeying God’s commandments (Matthew 7:23), and those who lived what they believed. If you desire to know God more, you will by default keep His commandments because you are applying them in your life. As you grow closer to God, you will also see more sin, and be wiser in the way you deal with it. Much of our repentance starts with us being honest with ourselves, really honest, and trusting God to show us how to practically apply His Instructions in our life. That is what humbling ourself is – submitting to God’s ways in all things. In reference to Leviticus 26:41, and as stated above, to make amends is to correct the mistake one has made, or fix a bad situation one has caused. What is a practical way to overcome and make amends for our sin? We are to abandon it, banish it from our thought, and resolve in our heart never to commit it again.  What if you have 5 or 6 sins you are dealing with? That could be a big job. First don’t beat yourself up! Be thankful God is allowing you to repent. As an example lets say, you have a lot of hatred towards someone, bad habits, stretch the truth all the time (lie), always looking at the opposite sex or same sex with thoughts that are sometimes uncontrollable, or you make your job an idol above everything else in your life. If that is you, then first understand that stopping sin is a process. If God has not delivered you from it, He is most likely going to use it to bring you closer to Him through it. First, it is important to distinguish between the types of sin. Especially to understand what you are dealing with when working on a plan to overcome them. As you grow closer to God and learn His way, you find you need to be extra careful not to rebel against God because now you know what His will is. David said in Psalm 51:3 “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” This is why we need to work on our repentance at least once a year.  Types of sins 1. Sin (shortcoming, misstep, or infraction against God’s commandments) 2. Transgression (which is rebelling against God) 3. Iniquity (when a person denies God, and knowingly disobeys Him) Second, make a choice to stop sinning. Once you resolve to stop the sin, create a plan that allows you to be successful, one where you cannot fail. Start with small steps, something simple to work on which will eventually lead you to completely overcoming it. Maybe only work on one or two sins this year, and come back to the others when you overcome what you prioritized first.  Third, analyze what triggers you to sin, and then make arrangements that will help you not to do it. You can also create a system that will allow you to overcome it. As an example, if you are working on honoring your parents, then put specific things on the calendar that you can do to make sure you are honoring them such as having them over for dinner or calling them and checking in. Another example is if you are working on taking care of the poor, then sign up once a month at the food bank. There are many ways to be creative, you just have to really want to improve yourself. Be Realistic Lastly, understand that sin is always crouching at your door. Do not set unrealistic expectations on yourself that will cause you to fail, and if you have sin that God is requiring you to overcome, start with small steps that will lead to success.  Find out more about how to overcome sin. Back to Day 11 | Continue to Day 13 [...] Read more...

Day 13 – Connecting to God Through A Mitzvah (Commandment)

Mitzvah is the Hebrew word for “commandment”. The plural word is called mitzvot, and is defined by any commandment, ordinance, law, or statute contained in the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible. The Rabbis teach that a mitzvah is defined as a connection to God. When you are obedient and keep a commandment in the bible, you are connecting to God. There are 613 laws written in the Torah that in one way or another are all connecting to God. They are written in the Bible, and there are oral teachings handed down by Moses that explains how to practically apply them in our life.  By connecting to God, the Rabbis say, the part of your body you are connecting with God actually becomes holy. The mitzvot (or commandments) are tools that are all used to get to know God better.  God’s will is for all of humanity to connect to Him though His instructions, which is the Torah. As an example when you study the Bible, you learn about God, therefore, you are attaching yourself to God. Being a disciple of Jesus and believing in Him as the Messiah is attaching yourself to the Jewish people and to God. When you pray, or when you give charity and show acts of kindness, and when you love your neighbor as yourself you are connecting to God. We will be known in the Kingdom of God based on how we obeyed the commandments that we were responsible for. God’s will for all of humanity is to connect to Him though His instructions (Torah), learn about which of the jurisdictions a mitzvah should be used in, and how someone should apply them in their life. The Jewish people study specific portions of the Torah every week throughout a year (called a Parshah), they spend a lifetime determining who should apply which mitzvah, and how they should apply it. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:13, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” This would have been what Jesus was engaged in at the age of 12 in Luke 2:41-52. Jews have had a portion of scripture they all read together every week for a long time. This was established well before the time of Jesus. Being devoted to the weekly reading and taking time to study the Bible is a lifelong discipline and is one of the best ways to understand God and who He is. As an example of jurisdiction, the laws in Texas may be different from the laws in Florida. In the same way, there are mitzvot that are applied in Israel, some are only applied when there is a Temple in Jerusalem, some for the King, some for women, and some for men. The Jewish people are under one jurisdiction, while non-Jews are under another jurisdiction. Some laws are specific to one group while others are universal. Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” To Repent Is A Mitzvah For Everyone Repentance is a universal mitzvah, and it is the connecting tool God gave all humanity instructions on how we should serve Him. Jeremiah 15:19 states, “Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me”. God created people with different jobs and roles to serve Him, and each job has a different duty and responsibility, which is why there are different jurisdictions.  The King will serve God differently than a carpenter, but both are required to repent, and everyone is required to repent every year on the Day of Atonement. Repentance should be viewed as a positive commandment and needs to be understood it is the tool to do self-improvement so you can do your part to serve God. Leviticus 23:27-31 specifically says that during the month of Tishrei, on the 10th day (a person who considers themselves a child of God) should fast (from sundown to sundown) and use this day to ask for forgiveness. This day is known as the Day of Atonement (a.k.a. Yom Kippur) and is an appointed time that God says He will meet us.  It also says it is a mitzvah that shall last forever. In Matthew 5:18 Jesus said, “not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until everything is finished”. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:24, “Then comes the end, when he (Jesus) delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.” Therefore, every disciple of Jesus should repent every year. Going through this 30-day repentance journey is a good way to prepare for Yom Kippur. We are desiring to connect to God on that day, humble ourselves, and draw near to Him. If you would like to know more about Yom Kippur, here is a good resource on the subject ffoz.org. Although there are many mitzvot, and some of them seem difficult, it is important to have faith and proper intent to honor God in your obedience of keeping them. Desiring to know God more through them is what obedience is all about. James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Remember, the New Covenant is where God promises that He will change our heart to want to server Him and keep His commandments. While learning about connecting to God through a mitzvah, it is important to understand why Jesus said all the commandments in the Torah are central to Leviticus 19:18 which is, “…you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Every instruction in the Torah can be tied to loving God or loving your neighbor. For example, Exodus 20:13 says, “Thou shalt not kill”, but if your intent is to embarrass someone openly in front of others, according to the Rabbis, it is as if you are committing murder. Words are like arrows; they can pierce someone. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Measure for Measure In the Bible, there is a term called “Measure for Measure”, and it is considered to be the ideal method of divine punishment and reward. Jesus said in Matthew 7:2,“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Paul explains this in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”. It is logical that the entire Torah is based on the two principals of loving God and loving your neighbor. God created this world for us to do acts of kindness both towards God and towards people. If you are nice to others, others will be nice towards you. The measure of love you show others, will be shown towards you. God leaves it up to us on the measure we use. Be Intentional in Connecting to God through a Mitzvah A good way to apply loving God, and your neighbor at the same time is to be intentional in helping others, and always be looking for good in others. Do something nice for a person such as pay for their dinner at a restaurant without them knowing it or doing some other act of kindness towards them. Learn to invest in others and help make this world a better place. Back to Day 12 | Continue to Day 14 [...] Read more...

Day 14 – Measure for Measure

God put a process in place in the world that is based on a measure for measure system. Jesus said in Mark 4:24 with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. We will discuss this more in detail below, but in Exodus 34:5-7 it says God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. It is important to see that God always is willing to show mercy to those who are merciful to others (Matthew 5:7), but it also says he does not leave the guilty unpunished. We all have the ability to show these attributes to others. We should to be forgiving, compassionate, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, kind, and live an honest life. The same measurement of character that we show to others will be shown to us. The way that a person acts, is the way that God acts toward him in kind (Matthew 18:21-35) Our personal characteristics can be tied to each of these attributes of God. Every characteristic we have can produce both a positive and a negative result. For example, you can have a loving characteristic and show love towards others, or you can be just the opposite and be hateful and show hate towards others. We can be prideful or humble, be happy or mad, or we can be forgiving or unforgiving. It is a choice, and we should be aware we may have a character flaw that we have to work on, and all we have to do is make a choice to correct it. Many times, it is just an adjustment in our attitude. Proverbs 3:6 says we are to know God in everything we do, and when we do know Him, He will make our path straight. Our job is to align our thinking with His, and He will fix our path. To know God in everything we do is to follow His ways. We know God through His commandments, through seeking Him, and studying His Word (1 John 2:3). We have to be humble and patient with ourselves through our journey of repentance; humility and patience are characteristics. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Being humble is a prerequisite for repentance. As we go further in our repentance journey, being humble and patient opens a door and enables us to understand our place in God’s plan. When we know our place in God’s Kingdom, we come to understand the seed that He has placed within us, and that seed produces fruit of righteousness in our life. 13 Attributes of God An important event happened when the children of Israel left Egypt, and Moses went back up on Mount Sinai to get the 10 Commandments for the second time. The Lord passed before him and stated something very revealing about Himself that is very key to understanding God, and how He will deal with us. What God revealed to Moses is referred to as the thirteen attributes of mercy. It says in Exodus 34:6-7, “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” According to the Rabbis the following are the 13 attributes that were revealed from Exodus 34: God is: compassionate before a person sins compassionate after a person has sinned mighty in compassion, to give all creatures according to their need merciful, that humankind may not be distressed gracious if humankind is already in distress slow to anger plenteous in kindness truth keeping kindness unto thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and pardoning When we know God, we live as He does, show His attributes, and in doing so we are walking on His path. The same measurement of character that we show to others will be shown to us. When we leave this earth, and stand before the judgment seat of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:10), we can know what our outcome will be based on how we treated others, and will have eternal fruit based on how we followed God’s commandments. Our character shows us what is inside of us, and if we pay attention, we can understand exactly where we stand if we were to face judgment today. The Bible is all about character development — or becoming a better person. In the Hebrew language the word Middot means character, and it also means “measure,” or “norms”. We can use the measurement of our character to know what we need to work on. God will give us the same measure we gave others. If you let go of grudges easy, God will not hold grudges against you. If you will be merciful to others, there will be mercy for you. This is the law of sowing and reaping Paul referred to in Galatians 6:7-8. If you have been lacking in any of these attributes, then confess your sins and ask for forgiveness and start today. Do your best to have humility, keep a pure heart before God, and live a lifestyle that is forgiving and full of mercy. Paul said in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.” If you have improvement needed with any of these attributes of God, start today. Choose to live a forgiving and merciful life. Pray and ask God to show you how to improve in these areas. Be willing to show mercy and kindness and be slow to anger. It is important to understand that power is granted to every single one of us to choose a path in life. If you want to go towards evil, you can go there. If you want to go after good, you can go there too. If you choose to want to apply God’s attributes in your life, you have the ability to do that. It is up to you! Repentance is the seed, and our character allows others to see the fruit of repentance in us. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Our goal in repentance, and refining our character is to know God in all we do and show fruit of the Spirit in our life. Back to Day 13 | Continue to Day 15 [...] Read more...

Day 15 – Are You Preparing (repenting) for the Kingdom of God

Do you think about the day when Jesus will reign as King in this world? Are You preparing (repenting) for the Kingdom of God? The Messianic Era, a.k.a. the Kingdom of God, is when Jesus (a Jewish King) will reign from Jerusalem for 1000 Years, and He will reign using the Torah as the law of the earth. Revelation 20:4 talks about those who were faithful unto death, it says “they came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Can you imagine, a day when all the leaders of the world will go before Him and for advice on how to manage situations in their own countries?  Isaiah 2:3-5 says, “… He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples…” Zechariah 14:8-9 says, “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter. The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day, there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.”  In 1 Corinthians 15:23-29 Paul explains that Jesus will only reign for a set time, until He has conquered all death, then Jesus will hand this world back to God, and God will then be King of this world. Paul says, “now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” Revelation 20 explains that at the end of the 1000 years all the dead will be raised. This is the time that Paul is referring to. In Leviticus 26:11-13 God told the Children of Israel, “I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.” God’s plans are actually pretty clear, He wants to dwell here with his people Israel! Before God gets here, the earth has to be worked like a garden, and preparation has to be done for His Kingdom. Humanity has a job to do to prepare for the Kingdom of God (which is to repent), and then Jesus will still have some work to do after that and it will last another 1000 years. Jesus opened the door and gave all of humanity favor and the ability to repent, but we have to do the job to cultivate the seed of repentance in our own life and prepare for the Kingdom. Understanding The Kingdom of God through the Details of the Temple of God | RSS.com The Gospel Before Jesus The message of repentance was the same gospel message that was taught from long before Jesus died on the cross. As the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 4, “For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.” This was also the message of repentance Noah preached before the flood: choose life and obey God’s instructions, walk in His ways, and cultivate the seed of repentance that God has placed in each one of us. It was mentioned above, but it is very important to reiterate what Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 15:23-28 where he is explaining the end goal of the gospel message. Paul says, “But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he has put everything under his feet. Now when it says that everything has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” The work of overcoming death has already started, at least from the point of Jesus being resurrected, but there is still more work to do. Paul is explaining above that Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection , and we also get the ability to grow into our position in the Kingdom through repentance (Matthew 5:19). There will be a time where Jesus will reign as King in this world, and He will take 1000 years to complete His work. After that, He will hand this world back to God. This has not happened yet. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul also mentions a time after the second resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20, where it says everyone else will be resurrected after the 1000-year reign of Jesus and then those people will be judged [at the end of the 1000-year Messianic Era]. Paul says, when the last enemy is to be destroyed, then Jesus will hand this world back to God, and Jesus will be subject to God. The children of God will be the remaining people after all of the enemies are gone. Paul also said in Romans 8:19 that, “all of creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” Since one day He will be here reigning as King, it is worth mentioning Jesus’ Aramaic name is Yeshua, and His Hebrew name is Yehoshua which means Salvation. The name Yeshua is a shortened version of the name Yehoshua, but in English we would call him Joshua. The Kingdom of God In Jeremiah 31:31-35 it says, “… God will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. He will put His Torah in their minds and write it on their hearts.” It is noteworthy to recognize here that God is making the covenant with Israel, not the other nations. We first must attach ourselves to Israel to be a part of this covenant. People have been attaching themselves to Israel ever since the exodus from Egypt. Those people were called sojourners/God-Fearers, and many Gentiles followed the children of Israel through the Red Sea. God even told the Gentiles to keep the Sabbath along with Israel in Exodus 16 prior to giving the 10 Commandments. The Sabbath has actually been kept since creation, but that is a much longer discussion for another time. In Isaiah 2:3-4 it says, “…the law (Torah) will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.” Jerusalem will be the joy of the whole earth! It appears that it will take 1000 years to finish the final touches in order for God to actually come here and dwell. Below is a short video giving another perspective of the Kingdom of God. A Dwelling Place for the Lord Before the fullness of the Messianic Era comes, and before New Jerusalem comes down and we all enter the World to Come, our body is to be a dwelling place for God. In Exodus 25:8 Moses was told to make God a sanctuary as it says, “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” The Rabbis say this is a commandment for everyone. Paul verifies this in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” Can you imagine what it will look like for God to dwell with us here on this earth? Or what it could look like when Yeshua comes back and reigns as King and He will be using the Torah as the law of the land? Repentance is the path to where you can realize what that looks like. As you go through the process of cultivating the seed of repentance within you start to understand what that looks like. Some will realize 30% of what that looks like, while others may recognize 60%, and others will master repentances and completely understand what it will look like (Matthew 13:8). The amount of seed that produces fruit in your life is your responsibility, and your achievement in the Kingdom of God is up to you. Back to Day 14| Continue to Day 16 Learn More About the Kingdom & The Messianic Era [...] Read more...

Day 16 – A bad, good, or better resurrection – the choice is up to you.

Do you know some people will have a bad resurrection? While there will be people who have a good resurrection, there will be others who have an even better resurrection. In Hebrews 11 the writer explains all the actions the people did because of their faith, and then sums it all up and explains why they lived the life of faith in verse 35 when he says, “…that they might gain an even better resurrection.” Many of us in our journey of faith have primarily been focused on only going to heaven. That may be why some initially accepted Jesus in their heart – to make sure they get to heaven, and that becomes their primary focus their entire life. It is good to remember there is a lot more to salvation than just ‘going to Heaven’. Desire is Your Responsibility Where you end up in the resurrection depends on your ability to overcome your flesh and learn to keep God’s commandments. Paul says in Galatians 5:16 “… walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Sometimes that is easier said than done. The Spirit of God empowers us to overcome, and is working in us, but we first need to make a decision and put effort into desiring the things of God and not desiring the things of our flesh. Once we take action to move forward towards God, He will guide us towards understanding what it means to walk by His Spirit and how to live a life as His child . God gives us strength to master our fleshly desires as we desire Him more, and as we continue on a path of righteousness. For some, it may be difficult to recognize that the desires of our flesh are evil. It is important to know that we were created to overcome them and we will be accountable for our actions. Paul says in Romans 2:5-11, “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” God has given us the gift of repentance to grow and work out our relationship with Him, and to overcome the flesh. Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). It is a journey, but the reward is the resurrection and an eternal life. Belief Produces Actions In Romans 2, Paul did not say we will be judged by what we believe, he said we are going to be accountable and judged for what we do, and that means there are consequences for our actions. Our actions do reflect what we believe. Paul says in Romans 7:15-20, “… I do the things I don’t want to do …”, but he also says in verse 25, “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law [Torah], but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” The law of sin is the law of death, which means sin will produce death. Each of us are set free from this law of death because Jesus gave us the possibility of repentance. If we repent and turn to God, the desires of the flesh will fall away as we seek God and apply His ways in our life. Growth Takes Dedication and Commitment As it has already been discussed in previous days, in order to repent you really need to start out and take a good assessment of where you are at in your life, make a list of things to work on, prioritize your list, and then come up with a plan of action to grow. A practical way to do this is by dedicating time to read the Bible in the morning, take notes of scriptures that are speaking to you. It is also a great idea to study the scriptures with good commentary from a Jewish perpective. We recommend the Stone Edition Chumash, or any of the books that are under The Rubin Edition of the Prophets collection of books. Another practical way to grow is through prayer. Here is a really good article on prayer along with a podcast of a real example of how prayer can impact your life in a positive way. We have also found it works best to have an accountability partner to talk about what you are learning, and someone you can work with to apply what you are learning. You could also join a good discipleship program such as Jesus My Rabbi. Are People Cursed Because They Keep God’s Commandments? Above we mentioned Paul said, “I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law”, it is worth mentioning something very important here about God’s law. Many people believe the law of God – a.k.a. the Torah – will bring a curse by trying to keep the laws of God, but the very core of what the curse is – not knowing God. One may ask the question – why would God curse us for trying to keep His commandments? Does that even make sense? The curse would be – not having the ability to repent. At the other spectrum, the blessing is to be able to fully know God. So, doesn’t it make sense that you will know God when you keep His commandments (1 John 2:3), and not know God when you do not? Jesus said if you love Him you will keep them (John 14:15). Below we have put a list of blessings and curses of the Torah: To understand this principle further, in Deuteronomy 28:45-47 it says “All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you … because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity.” A Rabbi once said, nowhere in the Torah does it say you have to be perfect. It says if you obey God and follow His instructions you will be blessed and know Him. He also pointed out Deuteronomy 28 does not say because they only disobeyed God’s instructions a curse came, but it was because they were not thankful and grateful when God had given them prosperity. They did not serve God with a joyful and glad heart for all the good He did. They became arrogant and conceited, unthankful, and self-seekers. Chapters 26 and 27 of Deuteronomy explains that when the children of Israel were in the land, they were to bring their first fruits and make a declaration about how good God was to them and their ancestors. They were to remember where their blessings had come from. God just wanted them to be thankful – was that too much to ask for? An Ungrateful Child If you gave your child a gift, and they refused to acknowledge you, how would you feel? God has been trying to explain from the very beginning of Genesis, that if you are not content and thankful for what you have, you will always desire to have more, and you will desire the things of this world that you should not have. You will desire them so much they will ultimately destroy you. That is the result of the curse, and it does not come because you sinned a little bit, or missed a few commandments. It comes because the desires of this world will only lead to what you cannot have, and the insanity of always wanting more will lead to your destruction. From the beginning God said what was good and evil, but every single one of us try to decide that for ourselves. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was how Adam and Eve were trying to decipher that very question; what is good and evil? Each one of us chooses if we will accept God’s interpretation – or our interpretation. God has given you an opportunity to have a better resurrection. It is by you cultivating the seed of repentance in your own life and growing, accepting that God decides what good and evil are, being thankful and grateful for everything God has given you, and listen to the word of the prophet in Micah 6:8 where he says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” God wants you to learn His instructions (Torah) of what good and evil are so you can make correct decisions, show mercy and love to your fellow man, and not to be arrogant or conceited in the knowledge you have before God. When accepting Jesus in your heart, you must accept God’s Torah, or the relationship will not work. Jesus is the Torah in the flesh (John 1:1-18). Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” You should always be serving God and working with Him, not working against Him. The difference between a bad and a good resurrection is how much you know God. Back to Day 15 | Continue to Day 17 [...] Read more...

Day 17 – Understanding How Evil Can Be Good

Many ask the question, why did God create evil? God says in Isaiah 45:7, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” This is difficult for some people to understand. People believe evil is there to make you fail, but in reality it is there to help make you a better person. God created the world with a plan of redemption. He also created the world so both good and evil have a part to play to complete that plan. Repentance is the tool God gave us to produce balance in our life between the good and evil. In the end, this world has seed that will produce fruit in the World to Come. In 1 Corinthians 15:42 Paul says, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.” In video 4 of Rabbi David Fohrman’s series on Grappling with Loss, he gives one of the best commentaries on this subject. He uses a good analogy of how a chocolate chip cookie recipe has many ingredients that taste terrible by themselves, such as flour or baking soda, but the recipe needs those bad tasting ingredients to produce the perfect cookie. Sometimes you need to have good and bad to be whole. In order to have a better understanding of God, you need to know that God has created life with ingredients of good and evil in it. This concept can help you understand how your own characteristics can have both good and evil traits. Example you can love and you can hate, you can be arrogant and humble, kind or mean, or you can lie or be honest. Somewhere in the middle is where most of us are, but it is also very easy for anyone of us to go to the evil side rapidly. In the process of life, all of us initially fail and sin at some time or another. God gave you will-power and the ability to turn the sin into godliness. Apart of the repentance process, God makes it possible for you to understand and acknowledge the wrong so you can express regret, and ultimately change your conduct. God wants you to regret your sinful actions, confront the reality of what sin has done, apologize (to God or whomever you wronged), and put effort into making the wrongs right. Leviticus 26:40-41 says, “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity…” What Does it Mean to Regret Sin? Many times, the effect of sin has guilt or regret. No matter how far you are away from God, or close in your walk with God, regret can motivate you. It gets you motivated to want to understand the sin, and then helps you be in a position to overcome it. You first need to choose not to sin in order to stop the sin. If you desire to do good, God gives you strength, along with your will-power, to overcome your challenges. God does not want you to fail, His intention is for you to succeed. An article from chabbad.org stated, “Regret implies that one now knows something that one did not know before; that one’s earlier decision or deed was flawed or ill-informed; that one has now matured to the point that he can look back and reject a deficient past.” In order to regret sin, you must recognize the sin. It is God that even gives you the opportunity to recognize it. Deuteronomy 29:4 says, “But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.”  Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” In order to come to truth, God has to grant it to you. Psalm 37:4 says, that if you “delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” God’s Intention is to Use Sin to Beautify Your Behavior If you read Psalms 60:6 in the Hebrew language you will find it says, “You have given those who fear You trials with which to be tested, in order to beautify forever.” God’s intention is always for something bad in your life to be turned into something good. Most people will fail because they believe that evil is there to make them fail, but in reality, it is used to strengthen them in their faith. Truth is a light, and the light is what we need to move forward in the right direction in order to overcome sin. The Rabbis say the main objective God has for you in this world is for you to transform your evil inclination (flesh) into godliness. Regret makes you want to change the sin, and make the wrongs right. Much of the challenge to overcoming sin is you; it is all in your mind. Evil should always remind you of the good that God has placed in you. The Rabbis call this, “the advantage of life that comes out of the darkness.” The evil is there to cause you to work harder to overcome it. Repentance starts when there is a desire for the things of God, and you start the process of abandoning sin, commit to banish it from your thought, and resolve in your heart never to commit the act again. If you regret your sin, many times that regret by itself does not change anything; it takes a lot of will-power and help from God. Complete repentance is when you have the ability to sin, but you make a decision not to do it any longer. You will be tested to improve your behavior. This improved behavior comes from really regretting the sin you are doing. Understand Your Challenges Everyone fails, that is just the way it is. Your primary enemy is yourself. The evil inclination is in you working to make you fail, and it is just doing the job it was created to do. Paul says in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” If you did not have evil in you, then what would you have to overcome? A Rabbi once said the evil inclination is our personal trainer to get the most and best out of us. It gives us a challenge to overcome, and we grow from it. When you completely repent, you will overcome the challenge. It is important to understand each challenge is preparing you for your appointed position in the Kingdom. To start today to turn the evil things in your life into good, make a list. Determine what are the essential things you need to work on. What are some of bad habits in your life? Habits are not your nature, you have learned them, and you have to break the bad ones. Fight them from being a part of you by creating new habits that are good. A habit it something you are diligent at. Work on acquiring godly habits. Make sure that you are seeking God on a daily basis, and repentance becomes a habit you acquire by default. Rectification (making wrong right) takes effort.  Real repentance is to go from one extreme to another. An example is when a person who was a complete liar repents and becomes the most honest person alive, or a thief becomes a Pastor. Here are some helpful ways the Rabbis explain how you can achieve repentance: – Cry out to God – Give charity – Avoid temptation – Put yourself on a correct path – Exile to a different place – Associate only with honest people Whatever you are failing at the most in your life, is where you have the most potential for growth. Everyone has good and bad qualities. If you are failing in a sin, ask God to help you turn it into good. God wants you to overcome sin, and has given you everything you need to understand how sin (evil) is good. Back to Day 16 | Continue to Day 18 [...] Read more...

Day 18 – Barriers That Prevent Repentance

Do not get in the way of your own repentance journey Being closed minded to the ways of God is a major impediment to repentance and is something that causes God to not allow our eyes to see or our ears to hear. Many people do not know that we can prevent ourselves from repenting and being heard by God. Proverbs 28:9 says, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law , even his prayer is an abomination.” A barrier to repentance is not setting your mind to know God’s ways, His statutes, or not committing to know His commandments. We are to choose life, and Jesus said that eternal life is to know God (John 17:3). Repentance is not an option; it is a command. 1 John 5:2 says, by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. It is a seed God places in you, and you are responsible to manage and grow it. It is a way of living, but your mind can become a barrier to cultivating the seed which can prevent repentance. Repentance is the foundation of our faith. The seed of repentance has to be cultivated correctly and learning and applying God’s instructions is vital to the fruit it produces. A disciple of Jesus has to have a strong foundation of repentance, and every disciple must learn to master it. Jesus gave an example of what happens if you do not have a strong foundation in Matthew 7:24-27; winds and storms will come and try to destroy your seed many times throughout your life. You have to be aware it is not an easy path, and you must be intelligent with the seed that is growing in your life. If the Kingdom of God is not your primary focus in life, then you need to redirect your focus. Jesus said to seek the Kingdom and His righteousness first. That is the job of a disciple of Jesus. The Battle For Your Position In the Kingdom of God Jesus and other Rabbis have said repentance should be compared to going to war; a war is intelligently planned at many levels. In Luke 14:25-34 Jesus said, “to make sure to count the cost.”  He also said, “What king would ever dream of going to war without first sitting down with his counselors and discussing whether his army of 10,000 is strong enough to defeat the 20,000 men who are marching against him?” You are partaking in a battle for your position in the Kingdom of God; you are going to war with your flesh. Battle plans of repentance should have knowledge of what it means to love God, understanding of what it means to serve the King out of love, and questions must be answered about what jurisdiction of keeping God’s commandments (mitzvoth) you fall into. It is not a one-time decision –  it is a life changing decision. You can start with a little investment, but you need to at least make an investment. Your reward (fruit) is in proportion to your investment. Be open to investing time into studying, praying, and a solid decision to turn from sin with an action plan. Desire to know God more, and that this journey of repentance is intended to help you love and desire the things of God. Most of all, you need to be open-minded to making corrections in your life, for the rest of your life. Repentance should be seen as a diamond – it has multiple angles, and each angle gives you a little different perspective. As you cultivate the seed of repentance in your life, sometimes you need to be willing to look at things from a different perspective. Here are some different perspectives to think about: What would have happened if the children of Israel would have repented from the message of Isaiah or Jeremiah? Would the First Temple have been destroyed? What if Israel would have repented when Jesus came? Would Jesus have been crowned King and the 1000-year reign started? What would it look like now? Would we already be in eternity? Why is it that Jesus has to reign for 1000-years? Why not go straight to the ‘World to Come’ (the Redemption)? Why did the Apostles continue to live their life around the Temple, and keep doing sacrifices even after Jesus died? If we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, why is the teaching on the Temple of God not a foundational teaching in Christianity? Would we want to know how we should live our life in comparison to the Temple of God? Why do we not read the bible from a Jewish perspective if Jesus, the disciples, the Apostles, all of the authors in the Bible were Jews, and the original church was a sect of Judaism? If Jesus, Paul, and the Apostles kept Sabbath, why is the Church not keeping the 4th Commandment as originally instructed “to rest on the 7th day vs. resting on the 1st?” If Jesus kept all the commandments, why is the Torah, or even learning what it means to ‘keep God’s commandments’ not a foundational teaching in the Church? When you start making corrections in your life, it motivates you to ask questions, and sometimes it takes time to get the answers. We are not going to offer answers to the questions above, but we will offer resources on this website for you to search these answers out. You have to be prayerful in asking God to reveal His hidden secrets to you so you can continue to cultivate the seed of repentance in your life. You are responsible for the fruit from the seed of repentance (John 15:1-6). God Withholds Repentance from Some The Rabbis say there are situations where repentance is not an option, such as a person who confesses sin, but has not resolved in their heart to abandon the sin, that confession is meaningless. Proverbs 28:9 says, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law , even his prayer is an abomination.” The first step in repentance is setting your mind to stop sinning and a commitment to obey God’s laws. Repentance is a commandment that each one us must obey in order to even understand who God is, but God must first allow us the ability to approach Him. Isaiah 44:18 says, “They know not, nor do they discern, for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.” It also says in Isaiah 6:9-10, “…Go, and say to this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Proverbs 9:10 says the beginning of even being able to know God has to start with the fear God. The fear of God is being afraid of being disconnected from the Creator of the Universe. God has created this world to be a corridor to the World to Come; we are preparing right now to serve Him for eternity. We should perceive this life as the tool we have in order to work on our ‘After Retirement’ plan while we live here. Jesus also said in Matthew 6:19-21 we should prepare by storing up treasures for life after here. Treasures come by us keeping His commandments. This is why the battle plan must have an understanding of which jurisdiction we are in, and which commandments we need to follow. Keeping a commandment is giving God an eternal gift, and one day you will be reading a book, where you can see each gift that you gave Him. Being closed minded to the ways of God is a major impediment to repentance, and is something that causes God to not allow our eyes to see or our ears to hear. We are only allowed to repent because God opens our eyes and allows us to. He conceals truth to those who reject him. In Deuteronomy 29:4 it says, “But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.” Repentance is a seed, it is not a one-time decision, it takes continual effort from us, and we need to keep ourselves in a place where we see and hear. Jesus said in Matthew 11:15, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” According to Jewish sources, other things that impede repentance, and not being able to make rectification are: One who causes many to sin/prevents others from obedience One who instigates and puts someone on a wrong path One who sends a child in a wrong direction, and does not rebuke them (one that is under your authority) Someone who says I will sin and repent later One who separates from the community of believers One who quarrels with the wise One who ridicules the commandments of God One who hates rebuke If you have stopped cultivating the seed of repentance in your life, humble yourself, ask for forgiveness, and make corrections today. Ask yourself, are there barriers in your repentance journey? Back to Day 17 | Continue to Day 19 [...] Read more...

Day 19 – An Annual Review of Your Repentance Driven Life (Day of Atonement)

Each year God gives us the opportunity to partake in His appointed times on the biblical calendar. As disciples of Jesus, we can be in the same rhythm of the holidays that Jesus followed. One of those appointed days is called the Day of Atonement. Every year on this day we get an opportunity to review our lives and come closer to God. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Day of Atonement is the holiest day of the year and is an appointed time for us to abstain from food and drink, spend time in prayer, confess our sins, and ask for forgiveness. The day always falls on the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish Calendar called Tishri. It is also known as Yom Kippur. This day has been set apart for us as a reminder and is to help us live a repentance driven life while we are alive. Leviticus 23:26-31 calls it a holy convocation, a celebration, or a dress rehearsal. Atonement comes for those who repent, but it does not come for those who do not repent. Atonement at the root meaning is understood to be a covering, but it has also been used and understood as one being purified, cleaned up, and put on the correct course. The Day of Atonement gives us the opportunity each year to get serious, make correction, seek God with all our heart, and be confident that He will accept our repentance, forgive our sins, and seal our verdict for a year of life, health and happiness. When you are living a repentant life, you are covered, and you can have confidence that you are on the right path. This day is also supposed to be a reminder to us that there is a day when we will all stand before the judgement seat of Messiah and give an account of how we did with our lives. We will all see who we were supposed to be at that time, but we will also see the reality of who we are right now. Jesus gives many parables to help us understand what it will be like, such as the Parable of the Talents. This is the day we will know if we made it to 30%, 60%, or even 100% of what God intended for our life. God set the 10th day of Tishri as the day we are to be reminded of this, and He also said, “… it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.” The Day of Attornment has been set apart to help us find our place in the Kingdom of God; to remind us that we are to be living a repentance driven life. This is the day we get directions for the path that God has ordered our footsteps to follow. The Rabbis say this day is where everything in our life is decided for the coming year. As examples, the heavenly court decides how much money we are going to make, who will die, or even who will be able to come up a new level spiritually. Yom Kippur is the day we get to do an in depth review of our lives. This is why it is also important to prepare and take 30 days prior to Rosh Hashanah and create a list of what it is we need to work on. This review will happen whether we are ready or not. It has been appointed by God, and our job is to be prepared for the review. How we prepare for this review will determine what our outcome is for the coming year. Messiah Podcast · 31 — Rethinking Atonement | Dr. David Moffit Know Who You are in Messiah If you want to know who you are in Messiah, then you have to take time and prepare yourself to meet His expectations. Jesus said many will come to Him and He will let them know that He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23). It will be wise to prepare for that day. This appointed time helps you recognize your strengths, and who God has created you to be. God’s intention for this day is to move you in a positive direction every year, and He has appointed it specifically for you to come closer to Him. You will not be judged in comparison to Abraham, Moses, or anyone else, but you will be judged in accordance to who you were created to be. The only way you will achieve the understanding of who you are supposed to be, is by growing and taking an annual account of where you are, making correction, and continue to put forth effort and move forward with the plan God has given you. Every year on Tishri 1, which is Rosh Hashanah, this day begins a 10-day timeframe that is to be used as self-reflection of where you are.  These 10 days lead up to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) to consider where you stand. After you have prepared over the 30 days of Elul, you should look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Is this who I am supposed to be?” God wants you to see the gap between who you are right now verses who you should be in comparison to His Torah. This is what James was referring to in James 1:22-25 where he said, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law , the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Yom Kippur is the day you are called to fast, pray, get serious with God, humbly seek His face, ask for strength to overcome sins, and ask God to reveal His instructions to you for your life. By the time Yom Kippur is completed, you should be aware of where your efforts need to be directed for growth. Because it is an appointed time, God will give you extra strength to overcome sin. Living a Repentance Driven Life A repentance driven life consists of knowing who you are in Messiah, continually working on yourself, and trying to attain who you should be. Having a list, such as the one you have been creating over this 30-day journey, is there for your review to remind you who God has made you to be. Honesty to yourself is key to success. To understand that God has called you to greatness in this life should be humbling. There is no more time to ignore your sin, and no more time to play games as a disciple of Yeshua our Messiah. It is time to come higher in your spiritual walk. Be your best possible self. Find your place in the Kingdom of God and run after that position with all your heart, soul, and mind. Start living a repentance driven life today. The Messiah is almost here! Jesus said in Matthew 24:45-51, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Ask yourself, “Am I really Ok?” Are you where you know God wants you to be? Are you telling yourself you are living in victory while you are watching porn, gossiping every day, stirring up discord among others, making your job an idol, rejecting God’s instructions, not even trying to learn your position in the Kingdom of God, or not being grateful to the King of the Universe for what He has given you? This time of repentance is not just about your eternal salvation, it is about where your life is at right now. If you are failing at these examples of sin or anything else, don’t get discouraged! Be thankful that God gave us Jesus to rely on His merit to repent. God has set time apart every year for us to take an account, make a list, create an action plan, and to put effort into cleaning up our mess.   Soon it will be your turn to take the review with God – are you prepared? Back to Day 18 | Continue to Day 20 [...] Read more...

Day 20 – How to Choose Life over Death

In this world we get to choose between life or death, in the next world we get to reap the consequences of our choices; good or bad. As we seek God, we start to see the choices are very clear, but if we are not seeking God, it is sometimes difficult to even recognize that we are given a choice. Proverbs 9:10 says that gaining wisdom starts with fearing the Lord, and when we gain wisdom making choices between life and death are much clearer. Every one of us has a free will to choose if we want to seek God or not. Our biggest obstacle is ourselves. Repentance is not only confessing our past sins, but it also involves us making a choice to return to God, and in choosing to return to Him we are choosing the path of life. The path of life includes studying the living and active Word of God and making corrections as we learn to discern and choose between life and death.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We all have challenges in front of us all the time that give us the choice between life and death. When Jesus spoke, He was not open to tell people He was the Messiah, but rather He was more about helping individuals think about repentance and how it was going to impact their life. His gospel message was to ‘repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand’. He did not come preaching ‘to believe that He died on the cross for our sins, and if you believe in Him you will be saved’. In fact, when Peter recognized Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus said not to tell anyone (Mark 8:29-30). Jesus taught parables that made a person choose their consequences (Matthew 25:14–30). He motivated people to think for themselves giving them the ability to choose life over death.   You Make A Good Decisions When You Repent Moses said in Deuteronomy 30:11-15, “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” We are to make a choice, and the blessings of God are conditional based on how we choose. Sometimes it may seem very difficult to follow God, but He will change our heart if we choose His ways. A few verses before this in Deuteronomy 30:6, God said he will circumcise our hearts so that we will love him. The Rabbis explain it as, when you repent, God will ‘circumcise your heart’ in order to overcome the hurdles of sin; He will remove the spiritual impediment that prevents you from repentance. In other words, God will open your eyes to see, and your ears to hear (Proverbs 20:12) so that you can now make good decisions and choose life and live it more abundantly. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Some people may have a conflict with choosing good over evil, but in the end, God will reward those who do good and punish those who do evil (Romans 2:6-16).  Our job is to repent, and then God will circumcise our heart (remove the scales that are over our eyes) that is preventing us from being able to clearly see to make good decisions. The ability to fulfill the commandments of God may seem unreachable, but that is only because of the barriers our mind puts in front of us. While living a life focused on the things of this world, it is difficult to choose life. In Romans 10:5-10 Paul uses this same argument that Moses used in Deuteronomy. Paul says if you repent and confess your sins you will be saved and be able to follow God’s commands. Paul also says it is choice for a person to live by faith when he says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” This is what God is saying in Deuteronomy 30:6 when He says if you choose Him, “He will circumcise our hearts so that we will love him.” Jesus said, “If we love Him, we will keep His commandments.” If we choose to be a disciple and follow Jesus’ commands, we will have the eyes to see and ears to hear so we can choose life over death. To choose life is to choose to love God. A person who studies the instructions (Torah) of God, needs to do so without any other motive except to love God and learn how to serve Him, without any selfish concerns. It is said that one who studies the Torah must study it for the sake of knowing and loving God. To do something simply because you accept it as the will of God and want to know Him better. Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Here are eight examples of areas you have the ability to choose life or death on a daily basis: Be intentional about always moving forward in your relationship with God. We are commanded to grow and come closer to God (2 Peter 3:18). Serve God with joy and happiness. This is the primary reason that curses come as stated in Deuteronomy 28:45-47, “… Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart…” Examine your thought, speech, and actions daily and pay attention to what is coming out of you. Be purposeful in monitoring you. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:31, “But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.” Control your speech. Do not slander or gossip or say words that destroy others (Matthew 12:36). Not to be quick to anger (James 1:19-20). You cannot undo what you do in anger. To not be lazy (1 Timothy 5:8), for work or when it comes to study and learning the things of God. Do what you can to protect what your eyes see (Proverbs 4:25). Do what you can to protect what your ears hear (Isaiah 33:15) You have challenges in front of you all the time, and you have a choice to choose life or death. That is the free will everyone has. The choice should be to choose what God wants. His will is that you repent, learn what His instructions are, and choose to do them; to choose life. You Get to Choose Life or Death The repentance journey is up to you, but you must submit any desires that God does not want you to follow and choose His ways. This is the path of life. Back to Day 19 | Continue to Day 21 [...] Read more...

Day 21 – What Is True Regret For Sin?

What does it really mean to regret your sin? A Rabbi once explained it best like this – How would you feel if you bought a lottery ticket and a friend walks up to you and offers you $1000 for it and you take it, and then later that week you are watching the news and you hear your friend just won the Mega Jackpot with it? You would regret selling it for $1000. You would say, “what did I just do!” Hearing that news would be a sinking feeling in your gut. That feeling should be the equivalent amount of regret you feel from the sin you committed in your life. True Regret For Sin Comes When You Recognize the Damage it Causes Many people do not understand how damaging sin is, and what kind of impact it has on you, the people around you, or even worse the impact it has on the Kingdom of God. Sin is sometimes seen as just a normal part of life, and as if it is something I can go on doing every day and is not really a big deal. Paul says in Romans 14:10, “… we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” This means all of us will be going to court one day and give an account for all the good deeds in our life, all of the sins we have committed that we did not take care of through repentance, and even every idle word spoken (Matthew 12:36). The best way to view this is, every time there is a sin in this world, there is a warrant put out for that sin, and there must be an account given. In this world a judge signs for a warrant for an arrest. That warrant will always be there until you go before the judge to deal with it. No matter how many years you do nothing about the warrant, one day you will be driving along and get pulled over by a police officer, and you will have to take care of it. Just like you would have to deal with a warrant for your arrest, God wants you to deal with your sin now before you get to the judgment that Paul referred to. Jesus also warns us when he said, “…come to terms quickly with your accuser…” (Matthew 5:24-26). This is done through repentance. Sin Is A Critical Issue We All Must Deal With Many of us tend to use the excuse ‘we only need to rely on Jesus’, and He has already dealt with our sinful desires for us on the cross. That is not exactly what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” We are to deal with lawlessness in our own life, make corrections, and desire to know God’s ways and make Him priority in our life. How we choose to deal with our own sins here in this world will be put to the test and revealed one day. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Jesus makes it very clear that we are to all deal with sin, as God also said in Genesis 4:7  “you must rule over sin.” We are going to be judged on how well we did. We are to take the evil inclination that is in us (our flesh) which is unholy and make the proper correction and restore it to holiness. That is a process, can take a long time, and through repentance we come to love God and know Him better. Our reward is ultimately a resurrected position in the Kingdom of God. How To Deal With Sin You are to first recognize and confess the sin, second regret the sin, and third accept on yourself that you will no longer do the sin, and work to overcome it. Even though it is easier said than done, it is important to come to the point that you understand the damage you did, recognize there is a judgment for your sin, and start the process of restoring your life through repentance. Simply put – clean up you mess. During this 30-day journey: Have a change of heart (switch your thinking) Think about what you have done Make a list of things you need to work on   Ask God to allow you to understand the damage sin in your life has caused Allow the regret for sin to surface, and forgive yourself, and ask God to help you make things right Resolve not to sin any longer Be open to work on cleaning up your mess (i.e. If you stole – work to pay it back, and if you cannot then donate time or money to charity.) Pray and ask God’s forgiveness and ask Him to help you through this process Just be willing to work through the process of repentance. Some will say not to worry about sin and that we are all under grace because the Bible says, “… sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace …” (Romans 6:12-14). Does it even make sense because you are under grace you do not need to worry about sin? Many preachers misinterpret what Paul taught, even Peter explained they were also doing it 2000 years ago: In 2 Peter 3:16 he says, “… as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scripture.” We do not get out of the judgment day and we will have to give an account of our life (Romans 2:5-8). We are to humble our hearts, submit to God, and work on our mess. A good analogy is, if you spill a cup of milk, it only makes sense to clean it up. Would you just leave it there and let someone else clean up the mess? That is what many people do with their sins, but the person they ask to clean it up is Jesus. David said in Psalm 51:3, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Just as God gave David and everyone else, He has given us the gift of repentance to deal with sin (Hebrews 4:2). A Parable of a King, Honey, and True Repentance There was a King who had barrels of honey. This was the best honey in the whole wide world! This King was so proud of this honey that he protected it every way possible. He had to go on a long journey for three months, and while he was gone, he hired three servants that he knew were capable of protecting it. He told them that he would reward them greatly for their service. After his journey, he called the three servants to bring him his honey. And upon inspection he saw that the first servant had not even opened his barrel and the all the honey was still there. He thanked the servant and paid him $1000. The next servant stepped forward with his barrel, and the King saw that the container was empty. He immediately called the executioner and commanded – “off with his head!” The third servant stepped forward, and the King noticed that the lid’s seal had been broken. After inspecting the barrel, the King saw there was only a few servings gone. The King said well done and paid the servant $100,000. This outraged the first servant and he said, “how is it that I only received $1000 and did not touch your honey, but yet this other servant has eaten some of your honey and you paid him $100,000?” The King answered, this servant tasted how good the honey was, and yet he chose not to eat it because he knew what the honey meant to me. That to me is far more valuable, especially after he tasted how good the honey was. This parable represents what true repentance is all about. After tasting sin, you choose not to pursue it any longer because you love God more than the desires of sin. You choose to overcome it – that is what the King wants from you. Where Do You Go From Here You should review your list that you have been working on in this journey and add anything you forgot to it, ask God to reveal the damage you did to him, yourself, and to others around you. Ask for God’s help, and commit to yourself that you can do this, you can make rectification. This is a process, and it can take a year or longer, but commit to it – it will change your life. You are a vessel that has been broken by sin. God is in the business of fixing us, but He wants to work with us on this journey. God wants to fill your vessel with blessings, but there has to be a vessel that does not have cracks in it and can hold the blessings. You have to do your part to put the pieces back together too, and then God can finish it up and bring you to a complete restoration. Think about the words of Paul in Romans 8:1-2 when he says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Pick yourself up and wipe off the dust, take sin seriously and know it has consequences. Choose to live a life of repentance, study God’s Instructions (His Torah) and apply them in your life as He reveals how to, and God’s spirit will lead you and set you free. He will point you in the right direction in life. He will open your eyes. You will be able to choose life, and you will no longer be under the law that sends you to a death where you are disconnected from God for eternity.    True regret for sin is where you recognize the damage it is doing all around you, and you take action to do something about it and overcome it. Back to Day 20 | Continue to Day 22 [...] Read more...

Day 22 – How does confession of sin heal your soul

Knowledge of the soul helps us understand the repentance process described in the Bible. Many people do not understand how damaging sin is, and what kind of impact it has on the soul. Sin disconnects us from God, but we can re-connect to God through obedience by faith. When we ask for His help, through the merit of Jesus and through our obedience, He allows us to work the process of reconnecting to Him through repentance. When you truly live repentance out, your confession does heal your soul. In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus tells a parable about the Rich Man and Lazarus. Jesus explains that the rich man was in Hades where he was in torment, and Lazarus was at the side of Abraham. This parable is a very good example of how sin in this world will impact our soul in the next. How we live here determines our spiritual destiny. In an audio teaching series Pastor Lancaster recorded called, “What About Heaven and Hell”, he brought out a few extraordinary thoughts that are worth mentioning here. First, this parable shows when we die and go into the World of Truth, just as the Rich Man knew Lazarus, we will know and recognize people that were in our life. As the Rich Man was asking Abraham to send Lazarus back to reveal the truth to his family members, this reveals that those who are in Hades are praying for their relatives. Something else about the parable was that Jesus was answering the question, “Does someone who is crippled automatically go to Heaven?” and apparently the answer was yes because Jesus said “… while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here…” (Luke 16:25). The last thing that was very important about this parable is when Jesus said “… If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:31). The Bible gives few clues about our soul, but there are two main points about this parable Jesus is explaining in reference to our soul. First, we do have a soul and we are going to be rewarded and punished based on our life experiences here. Second, if we do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, most likely we are not going to truly believe in someone and listen to a person who was even raised from the dead. Your Nefesh Is Your Identity Today there are many people resuscitated from CPR or from other medical procedures, and many people have come back to tell their experience. It happens so much today that many people roll their eyes when they hear about another person sharing their near-death experience. There are a few common experiences over the years that seem to be similar, and that is when you die, you can see yourself from outside of your body. The Rabbis refer to this (“you are seeing yourself”) as your Nefesh, and this is who you are when you leave here. Pastor Lancaster explained this best in his series on The World of Souls when he said, “imagine you have silly puddy and you put it on a newspaper image. When you lift it up you will see the image on the silly puddy. That is what your Nefesh will do – it takes an imprint of your life and sears it to your Nefesh and that becomes a part of your eternal identity.” If you have a hard time believing anything about the subject of the soul and the identity that is within it, please try to at least understand the concept. Since you are reading this it is most likely you do believe in the resurrection, therefore, talking about the soul should not be much different. Knowledge of the soul will also help you have a much better understanding of the repentance process described throughout the Bible. There are many sources online, and Pastor Lancaster’s teachings are by far the best from a Christian perspective. Three Strands are not Quickly Broken The Rabbis speak of five layers of your soul, but there are only three layers that need to be discussed here to understand how confession has a part of cleansing the soul, they are called the Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah. According to many Jewish sources, the Nefesh is the soul as the engine of physical life. The Ruach is the emotional self and “personality.” The Neshamah is the intellectual self. Another way some Rabbis explain this is that the Nefesh represents your actions, the Ruach represents your speech, and the Neshamah represents your thoughts. All three of these work together to stay connected to God in order for us to be led by the Spirit of God. As Paul says in Romans 8:14, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” We disconnect from God when we live a sinful life, and we re-connect to God through repentance and our obedient actions done in faith. James says in James 2:24, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” According to the Rabbis each level of your soul can be disconnected from the level that is above it. For example, when you do a sin that is related to actions, the Nefesh (action) starts to disconnect from the level of Ruach (speech). In the same way each level can be reconnected through repentance. The Ruach (speech) is the middle level between Nefesh (action) and Neshamah (thoughts). As your soul becomes disconnected it is said you experience depression, aggravation, and confusion. This helps understand why someone living in sin cannot comprehend the things of God or why someone would not know how to choose life over death. God leaves us a single thread that allows us to recognize we need help. When we ask for His help, through the merit of Jesus and through our obedience to confess that we are not obeying God, He allows us to start the process of reconnecting to Him through repentance. Each part of the soul is a separate piece connecting to each other. As stated in Ecclesiastes 4:12 “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” When we confess our sin (Speech) our Ruach connects back to the Nefesh and Neshamah. When we stop the sin (Actions), our Nefesh heals. When we start to understand and feel regret (Thoughts) our Neshamah starts to heal. Healing of Your Soul Allows You to be Fully Connected to God All three of these need to be healed and restored to be fully connected to God in order to be led by the Spirit of God. The stronger our Nefesh is, the easier it is to live for God and keep His commandments. The stronger our Ruach is the less we have evil speech. The stronger our Neshamah is the more pure our thoughts are. This is why a life of repentance is so vital to always stay connected with God. Having a disconnected soul is like having static on your radio. A radio frequency has to be clear in order to have good reception to hear what is being broadcast. In the same way, sin causes interference with our soul in relationship to God. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus explains we have to listen to Moses and the Prophets to be in a place to understand what repentance is (Luke 16:29-31). When we understand God’s instructions (Torah), we can believe and apply the correct actions with our faith, and take complete advantage in the knowledge of the resurrection of Jesus and rely on His merit in order to live a life of repentance. As you go through this 30-day journey and work through the repentance process, know that there is a healing of your soul taking place deep inside of you that is far greater than you can comprehend. When you truly live repentance out, your confession will heal your soul. Back to Day 21 | Continue to Day 23 [...] Read more...

Day 23 – Jesus Will be King of the World!

Have you seriously considered that Jesus can come back any day or thought about what that even means, or would look like? Although this is not always the case, many preachers do not teach from the Old Testament. The Torah and Prophets (Old Testament) are the foundation of our faith, and they give details about Jesus’ return. Some of the basic teachings of salvation can be misunderstood if not placed into the correct context from the teachings in the Old Testament. For example, while Jesus was talking to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, He explained the redemption message by starting with Moses and all the Prophet’s teachings (Luke 24:27). If we want to follow the examples of Jesus’ life, why are not more people using Moses and the Prophets to explain Jesus? Everything in the Bible has to have a direct reference to the Torah and the Prophets, if not, the teaching can possibly become a false teaching. If you believe the New Testament is saying something in contradiction to the Torah, then you need to keep searching the matter out. The New Testament cannot be in conflict with the Torah and Prophets. Jesus cannot be disconnected from the Torah, and everything about what a Messiah is must be verified in the Torah and the Prophets. If we believe something about Jesus that is not written in the Torah or Prophets, then we might find ourselves disqualifying Jesus from being a Messiah. For example, if we believe Jesus did away with the laws of Moses, then that would automatically disqualify Jesus as Messiah. Moses said in Deuteronomy God would send someone like him, and if a person does miracles  but does not keep the Torah that they are a false prophet. This podcast is dedicated to understanding the Messianic Era from the perspective of the Temple: Understanding The Kingdom of God through the Details of the Temple of God | RSS.com The following statements can be misunderstood if they are not taught with foundational truths from the Torah: Jesus is a Jew who died for our sins, and He was rejected by His own people (Luke 4:14-30), and He was killed for our sins (Isaiah 53:5).  The Jews are blinded until the time of the fulfillment of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25). Jesus was our sacrifice who atoned for our sin because we could not even try to be good enough to please God. (1 John 2:2, Romans 3:10) Jesus came to take away the sins of the world, and according to John 3:16, He came so that the whole world can be saved. We are saved by faith and grace alone. (Ephesians 2:8) We need to confess with our mouth to receive Jesus as our Savior. (Romans 10:9) Although the statements above are truths, without a strong foundation of a Messiah from the Torah, they may lead a person in the wrong direction in life and miss the entire goal of redemption. The following are helpful resources to help build a solid foundation on. Torah Repentance Measure for Measure Yom Kippur In depth study on God’s Instructions (the Torah) The Torah says in Leviticus 26:9-12 the goal is for God to dwell with us on this earth. God said that when Israel repents for all their sins, He will remember His Covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham (Leviticus 26:40-42). As an example of not having a solid Torah foundation about the Covenant that God made with Israel and the consequences for them not keeping it, many preachers have taught incorrectly that the Old Testament and New Testament are two different covenants. They have said we are already fully living under the New Covenant. Many have even taught the Old Covenant is no longer valid. Many people are unaware the New Covenant is written in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:31-37, Ezekiel 36:24-30). The New Covenant says that God will change our heart so that we will keep God’s commandments. If the Covenant that God gave through Moses at Mount Sinai is not valid, why would God need to change our heart to keep it? The New Covenant speaks about a time where the world will follow the Torah, and the whole world will know God. Is the world really there today? Does everyone follow the Torah and know God? To answer these questions here is a great resource to learn more on this subject: What About The New Covenant If people do not have a solid understanding of the Torah and Prophets they do not: Worry about their sins (they believe there is not consequence for sin) Pay attention to nor try to follow God’s commandments Understand the importance of a Messiah Fully understand what the responsibilities of a disciple are Some people are fully convinced all they have to do is believe in Jesus, and that they are under grace to live how they feel and are “Ok”. However, even Paul says in Romans 2 we will be judged for our works. The very foundation of what Jesus taught was to repent (Matthew 4:17). It is also sometimes taught we do not need to worry about our deeds, but Jesus was asked what must a person do to inherit eternal life and He answered by saying keep the commandments (Matthew 19:16-22 / Mark 10:17-22.) The very death of Jesus dying on the cross was a deed. How is it that our Messiah had to keep the commandments, and we are told not to worry about any of them? If all there was to do is believe in our mind that Jesus is Lord, and then stand in line and receive a reward for not participating in anything, we would find that in the scriptures.  It scripturally is not accurate. The process of repentance includes learning and applying God’s commandments. You are not saved by your deeds, but your deeds are fruits of repentance, and they reveal you are a child of God. The judgment Paul referred to in Romans 2 should be viewed as a good thing. The judgment will validate who you are in Messiah. The Bible explains what God required of man in Micah 6:8. It says “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” We find what it means to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly through a lifelong journey of repentance, studying the Bible, and living what we learn. What can we expect when Jesus is the king of the world? People often say they cannot wait for Jesus to come back, but the problem with this statement is many people have never heard what the Torah or the Prophets say will happen when the Messiah comes. The best commentary on this subject is from the Torah Club ‘Shadows of the Messiah’, by FFOZ. This post is in no way a complete commentary on the subject of Jesus’ return, but for the purpose of this 30-day journey we are going to list six major points about His return that is suggested for you to search out. We are only putting a few scriptures listed below, but the Torah and Prophets have a plethora of information on this topic: The Messiah will be like Moses and He will teach and live according to the Torah (Deuteronomy 18:15, Acts 3:21-23) The Messiah will bring the children of Israel out of Exile and return them to the land of Israel (Deuteronomy 30:1-10, Isaiah 11:12) The Messiah will fight a huge battle in Egypt and Jerusalem (Isaiah 19, Zechariah 14) The Messiah will bring the resurrection of the dead. What will it be like when there are resurrected and non-resurrected people living in the same city (1 Corinthians 15:50-53, Ezekiel 44) The Messiah will rule from Jerusalem and enforce the Torah (Micah 4:1-4, Isaiah 2:1-4) What can those who do not repent expect (Luke 17:34-37) Here are some other resources about what it will look like when our Messiah comes back, and we are in the Messianic Age. Jesus did not say He came so that you do not need to go through the repentance process. In fact, Jesus said just the opposite, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” This 30-day journey was created to help you do just that, to repent and understand it is a life long journey. We should at the very minimum go through an inventory of where we are at once a year, and then do something to improve ourselves. A good resource to know Jesus at a much deeper level from the teachings of the Torah and Prophets is JesusMyRabbi.org. Also, take some time to learn about the 7 Noahide Laws, and listen to Daniel Lancaster’s teaching about them below. Back to Day 22 | Continue to Day 24 Learn More About What It Will Be Like When Jesus Is King In the The Messianic Era [...] Read more...

Day 24 – Where Are You in the Book of Life?

Have you ever thought about how your life fits into the big picture of God’s plan? What piece of the puzzle are you? Where are you in the story of creation? In the Book of Life? Every Tishri 1 (on the Jewish Calendar) is an appointed time called Rosh Hashanah. Rabbis say this day was the 1st day of Creation; it is the world’s birthday. It is also called a day of judgment. The word judgment can mean “to come to a sensible conclusion.” Rosh Hashanah is also decision day when Heaven decides what is going to happen to you for the upcoming year. According to Rabbi David Fohrman, Rosh Hashanah is not only a day of judgment, but also about three other topics that are in the Jewish prayers for that day: kingship, memory, and blowing the shofar. Rosh Hashanah is a day to celebrate the King, to know God has good memories of us in His story of creation, and for Israel to remember the voice of God at Mount Sinai when God gave the Torah. The blowing of the shofar is referenced in Exodus 19:16. If you are living a life of repentance, then judgment day should not have a bad outcome at all. It is the day a verdict will be made by God on your life, and that verdict is based on a sensible conclusion of how you repented in this life. You can either take responsibility for your actions and make corrections, or you can blame others for your results. Many people say the original sin was eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but what about the sin of being ungrateful for having everything else and still wanting more? Adam and Eve had everything except one thing, fruit from the tree, and they still wanted that one thing they could not have. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden he was not even grateful for Eve, and he tried to blame God for creating her (Genesis 3:12). Rabbi Fohrman explains how after that sin they could not even look at themselves because of the evil they then knew about themselves, and they recognized they were naked and had to cover up. That day was ‘Judgment Day’ for them – a sensible conclusion had been made, and they now had to live in sin for their deeds. What happened to Adam and Eve is ironic because in Deuteronomy 28:45-47 it says that the curses come “because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart.” Curses come because we want more and are ungrateful for what we have. Aleph Beta has a great explanation of the curses. The results of our life will either be – we will reign with Messiah on this earth for 1000 years (the Messianic Kingdom), or we will be judged at the end of the 1000 years (Revelation 20). Revelation 20:12 says, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” Where you end up in the Book of Life is totally up to you and your life choices. What is the Book of Life? Rabbis say the Book of Life is the Torah, which is called Torat Chaim (a living Torah). The word Torah means ‘instruction’ or ‘guidance’, for the Torah is our guide in life. According to Chabad.org the Torah makes us constantly aware of our duties in life; it gives us a true definition of our purpose, and it shows us the ways and means of attaining this goal. The Jewish people all over the world read the same portion of Torah every week throughout the year. It is called the weekly portion. If you follow along with the portions, you will see God speaks directly to you in your life in whatever situation you are in, and the Torah becomes alive. The Daily Bread is a very good resource if you wish to follow along with the Torah Portion readings every year. Here are 46 easy to follow short videos for each week’s Torah portion from Aleph Beta. It is really amazing when you get in the rhythm of following the Torah how the Bible becomes alive. Paul makes mention of the weekly portion in 1 Timothy 4:13 where he says “… devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture …” The weekly portion is read in every Jewish Synagogue every week and has been since the time of Ezra. One of the best analogies of the Book of Life Before this world was ever created God wanted to be a King, and He wrote a book about it. In the book he wrote out what His thoughts were about each and every person in the Kingdom. He made the book so that if a person made a decision, that plan would change, and it would impact every single person in their genealogy. It was more of a ‘choose your own adventure’ type book. In Leviticus 26:40 it says we are to confess our iniquity and the iniquity of our fathers. In Malachi 3:16 it talks about how the Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written. Jesus said in Revelation 3:5 for the one who conquers, “I will never blot his name out of the book of life.” In Revelation 20:12 it says the dead were judged by what was written in the books. The analogy above about the Book of Life was very good because it gives the perspective every person is truly choosing their own path, and every one of us is preparing ourselves for the day we get our verdict. With this perspective in mind one can imagine how God thought through the entire process from start to finish, and the billions of people that were involved. Everything about what God intended was written in the book a long time ago. Think about your parents, the pets you have had, the living conditions you were born into, the location you grew up in – what a web of lives, and how incredible our God is. The Rabbis say repentance was one of the first things God made before the foundation of the world, and it was put in place to make correction and get back on the best possible path. It makes sense that we need to ask God for forgiveness of our fathers, they are a part of our journey in this book. Our life is being recorded and one day the book will be read about our choices. Our verdict will be a sensible conclusion of our repentance or lack thereof. It will be a ‘moment of truth’ – there will be nothing to hide. A Parable About a King Who Gave His Friend a $1,000,000 Loan There was a king who once had a friend who was an entrepreneur. The friend needed to borrow a million dollars for a new business venture, and he decided to ask the King for an interest free loan. So, the King decided to assist him and said yes, but the King wanted to have balance in his kingdom and searched and found another citizen who needed a loan for the same amount and gave that citizen a loan for the same amount. He told both of them there was one condition. They had to pay back the loan exactly 20 years from that day. Later on, the King sent one of his servants to tell his friend that he required a payment for $50,000 every year. The friend complained to the King’s servant, but he said the King said, “No questions asked. This was a demand from the King, not an option.” The King’s friend agreed. About six years later the King’s friend saw the other servant the King gave a loan to, and he asked him how he was adjusting to paying the $50,000 back every year. When the other servant told the King’s friend, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was not asked to pay a payment every year.” the King’s friend went and complained to the King, but the King refused to talk about it, and sent him off on his way. On the day the final payment was due, the King’s friend came to the King and paid him the last $50,000. At that time the other servant came walking in and said, ‘King, I only need a little bit longer…” A few seconds later, the executioner came from behind and chopped the head off of that servant. The King looked at his friend and said, “I knew you would have had the same issue, and I did not want to risk your life, so I made you make a payment every year.” This is an analogy to what Rosh Hashanah is about every year. It is an annual payment on our life, which is a time to repent and for us to make corrections. Rosh Hashanah is a time when we remember the King, think about the memory God has of us in His book, and a time to remember God spoke to Israel and blasted a shofar when God gave Israel instructions (Torah) on how they are to live life. If we live a repentance driven life, we will be prepared at the end of life for a sensible conclusion, and we will know exactly where we are in the story of creation and the Book of Life. Back to Day 23 | Continue to Day 25 [...] Read more...

Day 25 – Prayer Is Music To God’s Ears

Have you ever wondered why music is such a powerful thing, and can impact a person’s attitude so easily? The Rabbis say we were created to pray, and many times prayer is us singing to God. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says that it is God’s will for us to “pray without ceasing.” Prayer should be an essential part of our walk with God; prayer is our life force. As part of your repentance journey, make prayer one of the things every year you grow stronger in. In Psalm 42:8 it says, “By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.” You should see yourself as a songwriter and God wants to hear your prayers. Your prayers are music to God’s ears. If you stand outside downtown Jerusalem on the Sabbath, it is very likely you will hear singing from the families in the neighborhoods because singing is big part of the day. Many of the songs sung are rooted in the scriptures. If you visit a Jewish Synagogue on any given day you will hear them singing the Psalms and other scriptures. Hearing the prayers of the Jewish people singing to the Lord is something every Christian should experience. It will change your entire perspective on prayer, and It will help make more sense of Psalm 42:8 mentioned above. Our Prayers Are a Melody to God Our prayers are songs to God, and He loves to hear them from our mouths. We were created to praise Him, to sing to Him, to serve Him. As Rabbi Anava says we are a music station that God listens to. Even the Torah Portions are sung every Sabbath in the Jewish Synagogues. The Torah has symbols that are called cantillation marks, and in the Torah Scroll that is written in the Hebrew language, they are used as notes to sing the scriptures. As an example here is someone singing the scriptures in Hebrew very slowly in order to teach others how to pronounce the words. God created us to sing to Him, and when you sing the scriptures in the Hebrew, the scriptures sound beautiful. They are music to God. Although a small part of prayer is for our benefit, the prayers are mainly for God’s benefit. This physical world is a shadow of the spiritual world. Just as music is such an enormous part of our life in the physical world, it is a huge part of the spiritual world. If you read Revelation 4-5, you will see that liturgical prayers are being sung, and are a big a part of what John saw in Heaven. Understanding that prayers are singing puts a little bit of a different perspective of what he saw. There are many types of prayers: Repentance Request for needs Praise to the Master of the Universe Of thanksgiving Begging and asking for mercy Dedication to God Grace after meals Sabbath prayers, and for other appointed times Healing Travel Many others…. Devout Jews pray a minimum of three times a day, and many of those prayers are sung. The Bible says in Psalm 55:17 “Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and He hears my voice.” Many other God-Fearing people pray three times a day as well. As an example in Acts 10:1-3 “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius.” The ninth hour is referring to the time of Jewish prayer, and Cornelius was a Gentile praying. Aaron Eby wrote a couple of books on prayer that are excellent resources called Rabbi Teach Us To Pray, and First Steps in Messianic Jewish Prayer. Both of these are very good if you want to grow in your prayer life. Aaron speaks of the rhythm of prayer times, of how prayers are being offered together and the world is worshiping in unison when praying at the appointed times.  This is like a continual soundwave emanating from the earth 24 hours a day through the different time zones every day, all year, around the world. Here is Troy Mitchell singing the last half of Psalm 116 in Hebrew in honor of Rosh Chodesh Sivan. God wants us to take time every day to pray to Him, to sing to Him, and spend time with Him. When we pray, we should pray persistently and with intent. We need to focus on who we are speaking to, and know that it is what we were created to do. There is a book called the Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. The Didache, is a brief anonymous set of instructions, and they have been dated by most modern scholars to the first century. It provides a window into the faith and practice of the earliest Gentile disciples and the instructions they received from the Jewish Apostles. Toby Janicki wrote an excellent commentary on it in a book called “Didache: A New Translation and Messianic Jewish Commentary”. The Apostles told the Gentiles to pray the Lord’s Prayer at least three times a day. Here is an excellent article explaining grace after meals. The Lord’s Prayer Luke 11:1 says, “Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” Understanding the Lord’s Prayer from a Jewish perspective can be very eye opening. It is common for Rabbis to teach their followers how to pray, and Jesus said in Matthew 6:9-13 this is how we should pray “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Jesus said we should be praying about these six topics when praying as He taught: We ask God to let His name be sanctified in our life – “Hallowed (Sanctified) be Your name” Let Jesus come back to reign as King – “Your kingdom come” Let God’s commandments be done on this earth – “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” Give us our portion of God’s Instructions for each day – “Give us this day our daily bread” Forgive us and help us to walk out repentance – “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” Deliver us from our evil inclination that is in us, and to help us overcome the challenges in order to grow in our faith – “deliver us from the evil one” In addition to praying the Lord’s prayer, here is an excellent prayer for the Restoration of Israel, along with some other great resources from FFOZ for prayer. Below is a wonderful teaching from a Pastor in Jerusalem, Lars Enarson from the Watchman International, on the Lord’s Prayer. May it bless you. As part of your repentance journey, make prayer one of the things every year you grow stronger in. Become a songwriter, make your prayers music to God’s ears! Also check out the importance of prayer and standing before the king. Back to Day 24 | Continue to Day 26 [...] Read more...

Day 26 – Hasten the Day of the Lord

In Exodus 25:8 Moses was told by God to make Him a sanctuary as it says, “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” The Rabbis say it is a commandment for everyone to build a dwelling place for God. When we build Him a place to dwell with us, we are hasten the day of the Lord. Ezekiel speaks a lot about the Temple. In Ezekiel 37:26-28 it says “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” Ezekiel 44:16-27 explains a lot more details about Levitical Priesthood and what it will be like for them when there is a Temple during the times of Messiah. When Jesus was here, the Temple was the core topic of His discussion, and when He comes back, God will set His Temple back in place here where Jesus will reign as Messiah for 1000 years. While we wait for that day of Jesus’ return, we need to be working on our own sanctuary to do our part to hasten the day of the lord. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” The Rabbis comment on Exodus 25:8 and say we are to make a sanctuary for God in our homes, and unless the sanctuary is dedicated to God’s service (which is living out God’s commandments), it is meaningless. The sanctuary is a place for God to dwell among us. A place for our prayers and sacrifices to be accepted. A place that has been set apart for God and made holy. 2 Peter 3:11-12 “… what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming…” After Jesus ascended to Heaven, the Apostles remained close to the Temple, and they continued to participate and worship in the Temple. Paul even continued to do sacrifices along with everyone else. For example, in Acts 21, there were people doing exactly what is happening today and saying that Paul told the Jews to no longer keep the Laws of Moses. In Acts 21:19-26 Paul was explaining that because of the knowledge of Jesus, the Jews were more zealous to keep the Torah. Paul even proved he was still keeping the Torah by purchasing the animals used for sacrifices for the other individuals with him that was needed to sanctify themselves after doing a Nazarite vow. Without a proper understanding of what the sacrifices were, Paul’s actions will not make sense. The Sacrifices and the Temple During the time of the Temples, there were five types of sacrifices (called korbanot) that were brought to the Temple. The word korban means to draw near. If you want to learn more about the sacrifices please read Daniel Lancaster’s book called What About the Sacrifices. It is a good resource that gives detailed information about each sacrifice and what they represent. He further explains how they will be used again when Jesus comes back. To help explain sacrifices in order that you understand them now, you should think about them as a way to eat dinner with God; you and your family are having a BBQ at the Temple. Although there are some sacrifices you do not eat, for a general understanding here, when you do get to eat them, God gets His portion of the animal, the Priest gets their portion, and you and your family get your portion. It is just like a very important date night with God. This illuminates why it was so important for everyone to be in a state of purity before going to the Temple for a sacrifice; they wanted to be prepared to meet with God. There are the five types of sacrifices: Burnt Offerings (Leviticus 1) Grain Offerings (Leviticus 2) Offerings of Well-Being (Leviticus 3) This is a Peace offering, and Paul used this offering to explain how we should view Jesus as a way to bring peace between God and man in Ephesians 2:14-19. Sin Offerings (Leviticus 4) This is for unintentional sin and saying, “Oops, I did not mean to do that, and I messed up.” It is for purification, and to put you back in a proper condition spiritually to continue to worship God in the Temple. Guilt Offerings (Leviticus 5:14-19) This was an offering for restitution. The sacrifices are instituted when there is a Temple, therefore, since there is no Temple, no one gets to draw close to God through the sacrifice process at the Temple. In Isaiah 56:6-7 it says that non-Jews (Gentiles) who keep Sabbath will have a place there, and “Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar.” There is a lot more to this subject, but what you should understand for now is that when there is no Temple, and no sacrifices, our prayers are the replacement. You can read more about prayers in Day 25. Something important to mention is how long sacrifices have been taking place. Sacrifices were well established before the 10 commandments were given to Moses. As stated on Chabad.org, “The Bible records that Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve, brought sacrifices to God: Cain from the fruits of the ground, and Abel from the choicest of his sheep. Noah sacrificed animals and birds to God upon leaving the Ark after the Great Flood. At the Binding of Isaac, Abraham brought a ram as a burnt offering in place of his son.” Why did God choose sacrifices as a method to draw close? It is one of those things we can ask Jesus about when He comes back. For now, studying the Torah helps bring light to this subject. Understanding Holiness It is hard for us to understand holiness because we are not living in the days of the Temple, but when we study God’s holiness and what He expects from us, we are hasten the day of the Lord. Paul tells us we are the Temple for the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:19, and we should spend time to learn what that means. For the best teachings about the Temple you can visit Joe Good’s site called Jerusalem Temple Study. He and his team developed a Second Temple App that gives a virtual tour of the Temple, created based on their biblical research and understanding. The Rabbis in Jerusalem at The Temple Institute use their research.   To know if we are building our temple correctly, we should consider the meaning behind the temple use. Here are a couple important things to consider about the Temple: It was a place to celebrate the appointed times (festivals) listed in Leviticus 23. Prayers every day Sabbath Spring Festivals that were about Jesus coming the first time: Pesach (Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread) Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) Fall Festivals that are pointing to Jesus’ second coming: Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles, a.k.a. Feast of Booths) It was a place of worship. In Ezekiel 37:12-14 it says, “I will open your graves and raise you from your graves.” Do you realize how powerful this statement is? The same Spirit in Jesus is going to raise you from the dead. When you say you have Jesus in your heart, you are saying you have a Torah Observant Jew living in you, and you are in a purified state for Him to dwell in. If you really think about how amazing that statement is, it should put an urgency for you to do your part to make sure your dwelling place is ready. Have you ever thought what it would be like for Jesus to visit your house? What if He was hungry – would you understand that Jesus is Jewish and can only eat Kosher food? What if Jesus came to your house on Sabbath or one of the other festivals, would you understand what that means? These questions are not to be condemning, this is to motivate you to learn about these topics. The Rabbis say when we stand in judgment, we will be asked three questions: Did you conduct business in an honest manner? Did you set time apart to study God’s instructions? Have you anxiously awaited the redemption, and what did you do to prepare for it? Hasten the Day of the Lord Peter said we are to speed up (hasten) the day of the coming of the Lord. Exactly how can we speed it up? Live a repentance driven life Spend your life studying the Torah and Scriptures (Prophets and New Testament)   Apply what you have come to understand, spend time in prayer, and help others who want to learn When you live a repentant life, you will impact every single person in your life; your family, your friends, and your co-workers. God will use your life as an example, and you will be fulfilling the commandments as Jesus did. If you fulfil your job, it does not mean you are done working, it means you have done your job. To live a holy life means to live a separated life. If you apply what you learn every year, you will live out holiness. James 1:22 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Jesus said we are to count the cost, and it is a lifetime commitment to study and live out the word of God and hasten the day of the lord. The most important steps in doing this, are desiring to know the things of God, to know what God’s desires are, and to live them out. When studying the Bible, you get to know what God’s thoughts are and how He thinks. If Jesus our Jewish King comes today, would you want to know and understand what His customs and lifestyle are? Would you want to know how and what festivals he celebrated? Do you desire to understand what’s it like for King Jesus to keep the Sabbath, or how He prays? You can find the answers to all of these questions by studying the Bible from a Jewish perspective. To do this, you can check out some of the resources available in the resource section of this website. The most important thing we need to do is prepare ourselves by refining our thoughts, speech, actions, and create a clean sanctuary within us where God can dwell. This is a lifetime process. The Rabbis say the main objective God has for humanity is to make our physical body become holy. If you have not started your 30-day journey yet, put your faith into action and start today. If you desire to live a holy life, you can start by creating a list of what it is you need to improve and/or refine, write out an action plan, and then work on it.   The repentance process will build your Temple and hasten the day of the Lord; commit to working through it.   Back to Day 25 | Continue to Day 27 Learn More About the Temple of God [...] Read more...

Day 27 – Living in Rhythm with Jesus (Celebrating the Appointed Feasts)

As disciples of Jesus, we can choose to be in the same rhythm of the holidays (Feasts) that Jesus followed, and partake in the Feasts of the Bible. Keeping the appointed feasts is not a salvation issue, and please DO NOT feel condemned if you have never recognized the Sabbath or the appointed feasts before. You should, however, be aware there are keys to unlocking truths that we need for understanding God better. Partaking in His Feasts is one way to know Him better. Habakkuk says, “Revelation awaits an appointed time.” Every year we have the opportunity to partake in God’s appointed feasts and gain a deeper revelation of God. Each celebrated chance draws us closer to God. In Genesis 2:1-3 it says “…God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” The Sabbath is a day created for blessings. If you believe in keeping the 10 commandments, the Sabbath is commandment number four. Every Friday night is an opportunity to partake and receive a double portion. In Exodus 16:23 God commanded the people, “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.” This command was given to the children of Israel and the Gentiles that came out of Egypt with them. The Sabbath was recognized well before God gave Moses the 10 Commandments. Needless to say, Exodus 20:8 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Some Christians start honoring the Sabbath day when the sun goes down on Friday night by lighting a candle and taking communion. We understand there may be questions about when the Sabbath day begins; besides the biblical references we have, and the Jewish traditions for the day, many countries call the actual day of Saturday the “Sabbath”. Starting in Genesis 1:5 it tells us God’s beginning of the day starts when the sun goes down as it says, “There was evening and there was morning.” Evening came first. Just as God has always used the Jewish people to give the world the Bible, they also have the understanding of how to keep the appointed feasts and when to celebrate them. If you would like more information on this subject here is a video from Rabbi Richman or a book called From Sabbath to Sabbath by Daniel Lancaster.   Information About the Appointed Feasts For the purpose of this 30-day journey we want to give you some information to help you start a journey, and provide a few resources for you to dig deeper to find out more information about the appointed feasts. This is intended to be a high-level overview of the appointed feasts that are listed in Leviticus 23. In verse 1 it says “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.” It is much easier to learn about the feasts by partaking in them. This is a list of God’s appointed feasts (do not let this information overwhelm you; please use it as a reference guide): Sabbath – is a time every week you have the opportunity to participate, and this day is also considered to be a rehearsal for the Messianic Kingdom. In Revelation 10:6 it says that time will be no more. In this life you have the opportunity to sanctify and set apart (make holy) time every Friday night through Saturday night as a blessed day just as God did. You will not always have this opportunity. This is a way to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and receive a double portion from Him. Passover (Pesach) – is a time once a year to remember God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. There is a Passover Seder meal that helps you experience the exodus of Egypt. Feast of Unleavened Bread – (Hag HaMatzot) is a time to remember the 40-years that Israel journeyed in the wilderness. First Fruits (Reishit) – is a time of celebration and is an agriculture event. For Christians this is to remember the resurrection of Jesus. Today it is celebrated as Easter. Pentecost (Shavuot) – is the 50th day after Passover. It was the day God gave the Torah to Israel in Exodus 19, and it is also the day the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2. Both events had fire, smoke, loud sounds, and are milestones of our faith. Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah) – is a time when it is said that the King is in the Field. Here is an excellent teaching on this. The Rabbis say that on Rosh HaShanah the fate of every person is set for the coming year; i.e. who will die, how much money someone will make, the challenges we will have for the coming year, etc. 30 days prior to Rosh HaShanah is the month of Elul, and it is a time of repentance, and a reflection of what it is you need to work on for the coming year to draw closer to God. Leviticus 23:24 says, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.” The memorial proclaimed with the blast of trumpets is from Exodus 19:16-20, “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast.” This was the day that God gave Israel the Torah, and Israel accepted it. On that day all Israel recognized God was the law giver, God defined what was good and evil, and they all said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). This event was Israel accepting God as King and coronating Him. According to Rabbi David Fohrman, “Rosh Hashanah is the day we are to remember that Israel had a core encounter with God.” This is also a time when God reviews our past year and considers how we lived. You can think of this like when a parent looks at pictures of their kids and exclaims over what they did (God’s memory of us is in His Book of Life). Our life story is actually a memory written as a part of God’s big story. The Rabbis say we also need to consider that God is ultimately King. Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. Alephbeta.org has an excellent guide for Rosh Hashanah. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) – is a day when your story is sealed and locked up in the Book of Life. The final decision of what is going to happen in your life for the coming year is made, and whatever the verdict is, it is sealed. The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called the Days of Awe. It is a period of time when someone needs to pray for grace, mercy, compassion, and ask God to let them have the best year possible. You should prepare by taking an account of your life for the 30 days prior to these 10 days. The Rabbis describe this period as a time when the gates of heaven are open, and it is an appointed time where God will listen to your prayers of repentance. In Leviticus 16:30 it says, “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.” Partaking in this day helps you live out a repentance driven life. Yom Kippur is a day of prayer and fasting, and it has been appointed by God to ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Tabernacles (Sukkot/Booths) – is a period of 8 days to celebrate God coming to dwell with us. The first 7 days are the celebration for the feast, and the 8th day is a special day to celebrate the Torah. Leviticus 23:34-36 Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” Every single one of these days are appointed times when God is telling us He is near. If you would like to be in rhythm with God’s calendar, you can partake at some level in each one of these appointed times. For example, here are some practical ways to participate in them (all dates below are references for the United States.): If you decide to join in the rhythm of the appointed times, start small. You do not have to do all of them at once. This post is for reference purposes only. On the Sabbath, on Friday night when the sun goes down, you can celebrate Sabbath by having communion, a special family dinner, and study the Torah. As you meet others who choose to experience Sabbath, you will grow in commitment to the day. Every family and community have their own traditions, but to help explain how you can share in the appointed time, here is a simplified approach. Here are also 10 free audios on Sabbath from Beth Immanuel Messianic Synagogue. In the back of Aaron Eby’s book, First Steps in Messianic Jewish Prayer there are some helpful prayers. FFOZ also created a book specifically for Sabbath called The Sabbath Table Prayer Book. It is full of helpful hints to lead you through many of the feasts. For Passover (Evening of April 22nd, 2024) FFOZ has an excellent book for Christians to follow on Passover called the Cup of Redemption: A Messianic Haggadah for Passover. The dinner will begin after sundown on the 15th, and it usually last until after midnight. Participating in a seder can be very eye opening to the death of Jesus. On the Feast of Unleavened Bread, you can participate in this by joining in the counting of the Omer that is explained in Leviticus 23:15-16. Check back around March and we will provide a document for you to follow for each of the days. Shavuot (Evening of June 11th, 2024) – Here is an audio on Shavuot from Beth Immanuel Messianic Synagogue. The Holy Day of Shavuot by D. T. Lancaster Rosh HaShanah will begin on the evening of September 15th and ends in the evening of September 17th, 2023. It is a Yom Tov (a good day). It is a two-day event. You should have a meal that is full of sweet foods and nothing sour or bitter. Start the meal by saying a prayer where you are joining yourself to the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, asking for forgiveness, and giving Him authority as King. There is a seder before the meal, but if this is the first time you celebrate this day, you can at least eat sweet foods and you will be partaking in it. There’s a dinner meal Monday and Tuesday night. Lunch meals Tuesday and Wednesday. Prayers are said on both days. If you are interested in learning more about how the Jews pray during this time Chabad.org has resources you can check out. Here is another good resource from FFOZ to help you understand the prayers. Rosh HaShanah and the Silence in Heaven by D. T. Lancaster Yom Kippur is the evening of September 24th, 2023, and it starts at sundown. There is a special dinner a couple hours before the sun goes down. Once the sun goes down (make sure to check with your physician before partaking) this starts a 24-hour period of time where you do not eat or drink (not even to brush your teeth). This is a fast day to the Lord. If fasting is too much for you, then at least do not self-indulge on that day. If necessary, Rabbis say it is permissible to eat an olive if needed to eat something. The point is, this is a fast day you are committing to God, confessing your sins, and praying for forgiveness. You can stand in the gap for your friends and family and ask God to forgive them and have mercy. This is also a day many people give charity in memory of their parents to honor them. How to Observe Yom Kippur by Aaron Eby Sukkot is October 29th, 2023, and it starts at sundown. Here is a Sukkot Field Guide. There is a special dinner a couple hours before the sun goes down, and this is a time where the Jewish people will eat at least once a day in a tabernacle, and sleep in it. It is kind of like an outdoor camp site structure (Sukkah.) It is also a time where everyone is commanded to be happy. Sukkot and the Festival of the Nations BY: Toby Janicki A Great Explanation of the Feasts from Rabbi Eisner God has special days — no, they’re more than special, they’re holy. He established these holy days and called His people to celebrate them. Jesus did. His disciples did. So, what happened? Where’d they go? They’re still here and always will be. This series will help you rediscover them. “Party Like Jesus! Connecting Disciples to God’s Holy Days” is a series specifically designed to introduce people to the calendar Jesus would have lived by. Want to learn more about the biblical calendar and how the festivals all work together to paint a picture of God’s character and His plan for us? Join us each week in this multi-part series for an eye-opening experience that will forever change how you look at the biblical calendar and festivals. (pictures of an actual Sukkah) As you spend time with the Jewish people you will gain your own experiences and fall in love with the holidays. Please do not ever feel condemned or obligated to keep the appointed times exactly as the Jewish people do. If you are not Jewish and you want to partake and draw closer to God, then do what you can- your best. The reason we have Jesus as our Messiah is to be able to connect to the Jewish people through Him and live in rhythm with Jesus. If you would like to be in rhythm with God’s calendar, celebrating His appointed feasts is the best way. Back to Day 26 | Continue to Day 28 [...] Read more...

Day 28 – God Hides Himself, and It’s Up to You to Find Him So the People in Your Life Are Impacted. (Part 1 of 2)

Scripture reveals that God hides himself. In Isaiah 45:15 it says, “Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel.” Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” The Rabbis say that in heaven God is fully revealed, but here on earth He is as concealed as possible. In fact, God is so concealed here, unless you seek him out and are taught His ways, He is completely unknown to you. We are even capable of denying the existence of a creator; it may not make sense to us in our way of thinking but it is God’s way of doing things. Good and Evil Inclination God created this world to be a dwelling place for Him and chose our actions as a means to dwell here through them. We can read the Bible, listen to preachers, and see “Jesus Saves” on billboards and it is still possible not to understand that God wants to reveal himself to the world through us following His instructions. For example, if you have never read the scriptures from the original Hebrew text, it can sometimes be difficult to get a clear understanding of what was written in them. Jews wrote these scriptures, and if you are not reading the translation from a Jewish perspective, it can be even more difficult to have a true understanding of what God revealed through them. Example, Deuteronomy 6:5 says “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” When you read this same passage in the Hebrew language you will see that it says you are to serve God with your good and bad heart (good and evil inclination). Here is an explanation with a Jewish perspective: with all your heart: Hebrew it says: בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ Love Him with your two inclinations . (Sifrei; Ber. 54a) With the understanding you have a good and bad heart inside of you, learn to love God with both of them. This foundational understanding to know God has put both good and evil within you allows you the choice to rule over the evil with the good. Paul uses the following terms often, “flesh” (evil) and “spirit” (good), as an example in Galatians 5:16-17. Bottom line is, God hides Himself, and He wants to make sure we are seeking Him with all of our heart to find him. Water Within Water In Genesis Chapter 1 it says when the “earth was formless and empty … the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Then it says, “…Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water… so God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault sky.” What is important to note in these versus is that if you read this from a perspective of trying to figure out how the world was created, you may come up with one explanation, but if you read this from a perspective of this is explaining where God is dwelling, you see an entirely different perspective. The waters above reveal a spiritual world where God is fully revealed because God’s spirit is hovering above the waters, and the waters below where God’s spirit is not hovering, can indicate God is concealed. From this perspective the earth is kind of like a world within a world (water within water). According to Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi God wanted to dwell in this world, and He chose to do this through our actions. From the beginning God chose to give us the Torah as a guide on how to live this life with God, and He initially gave it through Adam, and in turn each person helped teach their family and friends to know how God wanted everyone to live. According to Jewish tradition, the Instructions (Torah) passed from Adam up to Abraham and took 20 generations before Abraham gave them to Isaac, who in turn gave them to Jacob.  Noah’s grandfather lived during the time of Adam, and Noah also lived during the time of Abraham. There were sufficient instructions given to Abraham, and it is very clear why God made a covenant with Abraham when he said in Genesis 26 “…because Abraham obeyed me and did everything, I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” Abraham got the Oral Torah from Noah and Shem, and Abraham followed the Instructions. God Uses Us to Reveal Himself It is our responsibility to do our job of learning and applying God’s commandments, so God can use us to reveal Himself to the next generation. We then have to take action by faith and apply what we learn and teach our family and friends. As an example, Noah learned enough from his family to prepare an ark, Jacob learned enough from Abraham and Isaac for him to understand his place in the Kingdom, Moses was able to do his part because of what Joseph did, and Jesus was able to do His part because Moses and all the Prophets had done their part. Every generation gets more revelation of God than the previous one, and when they do, they are responsible to act on what they understand. In the generation when Jesus our Messiah returns, the book of Revelation says it will not be good for that generation because they did not repent. We have a clear order to preach the Gospel, and the good news is the Kingdom of God is coming and we need to repent and go through the process to be ready. With the knowledge of God this generation has today, it is important NOT TO allow distractions to interfere with your repentance journey. God wants to reveal Himself to your friends and family through you. Repentance will lead you to keep God’s commandments. Jesus said you will know you love Him by keeping His commandments. His commandments are in the Torah, and you learn them through a lifetime of study and applying them in your life and making corrections as you grow. Applying the Instructions in Your Jurisdiction When you start learning the Torah it can seem overwhelming at first, but as you continue to study it, God reveals himself more and more through it. As an example, when you start learning about the Sabbath in the Bible, you see the Sabbath everywhere. As you start keeping Sabbath at any level, it starts to make more sense. In the same way it is difficult to understand the Torah without applying what you learn at some level. For many it takes studying the Torah for a year or two before they even think about applying what they learn. It is very important to understand applying God’s commandments in your life is not a salvation issue. It is a way to measure where you are in your revelation of God. You cannot understand God the way He wants you to without keeping the commandments. God adds another layer of revelation of Himself through different jurisdictions. Many of us are still debating these jurisdiction laws and trying to figure them out just as they were during the time of the Apostles. For example, Jews are required to live under specific instructions that Gentiles are not obligated to live under. Different jurisdictions exist even amongst the Jews. There are specific instructions for men and women, different instructions for a king and a priest, different instructions specifically for living in Israel, and different laws for living outside of Israel. Another caveat is that if you choose to reject God’s instructions God will not hear your prayers. You will live in sin and you will not understand the basic moral laws of God such as do not steal, lie, or hurt your neighbor. Isaiah 59:2 says “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Shortly after Jesus’ ascension, many thought you had to be a Jew if you were going to believe in Jesus. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:17-20 that if you are a Jew stay a Jew, and if you are Gentile stay a Gentile, and the Apostles still explained in Acts 15:22-29 that followers of Jesus are still under some of the requirements and the jurisdictions explained in the Torah. This is where it is very important to understand the 7 Noahide Laws. Jesus said you have to listen to His teachings and do them to have a solid foundation or your house will fall. It is difficult to listen and do what Jesus teaches without a Jewish understanding. Jesus even said in John 4 that “Salvation comes through the Jews.” From this perspective, perhaps the master plan is for God to hide Himself and us to seek Him, and then figure it out together as a community. Which means, it has to be done with the Jews. It takes unity and people working together. It takes a lifetime of commitment, and multiple generations to achieve greater understanding. It takes Jews and Gentiles to work together and work through the repentant process. That is why Jesus has to come back and reign as king for 1000 years, to enforce the Torah and then implement His final plan of redemption in order for God to come and live amongst us here. Why does God Hide Himself so Much from Humanity It comes down to this – He wants to be sure you really love Him and desire Him. He gives you time to work through life, and gives you a mustard seed of faith to cultivate, and it has the potential to be so big that others can grow from it. The bible says Abraham’s faith was counted as righteousness because he believed. Abraham believed so much that he obeyed God’s commandments. Abraham was not even looking to events in his lifetime, but was looking forward to the Kingdom that would come through his seed. God wants us to work through the process of repentance, and as we grow in our love for God and He reveals Himself more, we will figure it out. As we figure it out, we will love Him the way He intended, by us keeping His Commandments. Then God will be revealed through your life’s example, and the people in your life will be impacted. This discussion will continue in part 2. Back to Day 27 | Continue to Day 29 [...] Read more...

Day 29 – God Hides Himself, and It’s Up to You to Find Him So the People in Your Life Are Impacted. (Part 2 of 2)

The Rabbis say the first 5 books of the Bible, the Torah, are said to have one big story with multiple smaller stories within them, and they all have the same plot. The Torah has a single theme, full of topics, that God specifically chose to place in there to explain to all past and future generations how to deal with life. The Torah explains how to be successful and know God, and it helps us understand all the authority that is from God. In the first story, in the beginning, God was not hidden from humanity; He wanted us to recognize He created the world for us to enjoy. He knew we would make decisions incorrectly, and He wanted us to rely on Him to tell us what was good and evil. Our default decision making process is based on desire, not on facts. What we like always seems good, and what we don’t like seems evil (this is not always truth). From the beginning God said not to eat of the Tree of Good and Evil, but Adam and Eve ate of it anyway because they thought it seemed good. Because they rejected the instructions of not eating from the Tree and rejected God’s authority of what was good and evil, they hid themselves from God. God originally did not want to be hidden, but Adam and Eve chose to hide themselves from Him. In Genesis 3:9 it says “…God called to the man and said to him, where are you?” In the next story in the Bible, God lovingly approaches Cain and asks him in Genesis 4:6-7 “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Then a couple verse later God asks, “Where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” At that point the relationship with God and Cain changed. Cain no longer took the responsibility of loving his neighbor, and now he even chose to not recognize his sin. His punishment was worse than that of his parents. For Adam and Eve, the land was cursed, but for Cain the land was not only cursed, but his land would never produce anything again (Genesis 4:11-15). He was now a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Everything that was a blessing to him was now a curse. God Wants to be Revealed Let us address the question from Part 1 again, “Why does God Hide Himself so much from humanity?” First, God does not want to hide Himself from humanity, but just like Adam and Eve did, we hide ourselves from Him because of our actions of disobedience. God wants to be revealed, but He wants people to accept His authority first before He reveals Himself to them. He will only reveal Himself as we prove we accept His authority as Jesus says in John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” You have to prove you accept God’s authority in order to gain revelation of God. It also says in Proverbs 28:9 “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” God originally created an environment for us to dwell together in where He chooses what is good or evil for us. As long as we recognize His authority, God makes Himself known to us and we can have a relationship with Him. This world is Gods and we are His guest in it. We should be grateful to God for creating this world for us, and not act as if we are entitled to it. Accepting what God defines as good and evil is key to remaining in relationship with Him. The moment we decide we can define what is good and evil, we commit the same sin as Adam and Eve, and God remains hidden from us. An example, today some say what is written in the Torah, Moses, and the Prophets is not relevant. This is us making the decision and choosing what is good and evil. Even though something may not seem relevant in the Bible to you today, it is. Every word in the Bible still applies. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18 “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” When we forget we are a guest in this world, and are ungrateful for everything God has given us, then we fail to recognize that everything is from God. In turn, God says in Deuteronomy 28:45-47 “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things…” God’s Authority God is the authority and law giver. We are to humble ourself, admit our faults, become aware of His instructions, and accept God’s authority of good and evil. As we do, He begins to reveal more of Himself through His instructions. He put a seed in us, and there is a process of growing it. That process is called seed, time, and harvest. When we want to come close to God, we have to climb a mountain to get there, the mountain of the Lord. We need His help to fix our past issues, and we need Him to guide us to understand how to come closer to Him. This happens through the process of choosing good and evil as God defines it in His Torah. Not us choosing what is good and evil. We have to rely on God’s instructions to lead us. We need to accept God’s mercy and grace on our life and choose to accept His authority of what good and evil are. As an example of us not accepting God’s authority defined in His Torah, we can look at two scriptures where some are deciding what good and evil are for themselves. In Numbers 5:6-7 it says “… When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong.” Someone who mainly reads the New Testament may say – we are no longer under that law, and Jesus is the one who made restitution for me at the cross. Galatians 3:13-15 is interpreted that Jesus paid all of my debts, and therefore I am free and clear, and I have no consequences for my sin. That statement is a contradiction between Torah and the New Testament. It is important to understand, if a scripture in the New Testament seems as if it is contradicting the Torah, then you need to keep searching. It is impossible for one scripture to cancel another scripture. Galatians 3:13-15 does not cancel Numbers 5:6-7. Sin is something physical and it has consequences in this world that God wants us to fix. Sin also impacts our soul. The blemish of the soul from sin is a spiritual issue, this is not a physical condition. For both to be fixed, you first have to accept God’s authority and understand that He chose what is right and wrong. Once you accept God’s authority and adjust your decision-making process to align with His, then you can ask for forgiveness based solely on the merit and favor of Jesus whom God has given as our atonement that can place us back in relationship with Him. At this point it is up to us learn God’s instructions and apply them in our life. God Will Put His Spirit In You and Move You Paul explains in Ephesians 3:11-20 because of Jesus and the “eternal purpose that he accomplished … through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” and we can repent and “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” In Ezekiel 36:27 it says “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” God uses the Holy Spirit to empower you to obey Him as you desire Him. In 1 Timothy 1:12 Paul says, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.” Paul was appointed because he repented, and he choose to accept God’s instructions. When you humble yourself  and repent, God puts a seed in you and it needs to be cultivated. If you continue to grow your seed, it will produce fruit of repentance which is you living according to God’s instructions. Our job is to live a life of repentance and continue to grow. You should take time every day to ask yourself, how much are you aware of God in your life? How revealed is He to you? Are you living as if you are aware God is dwelling with you at all times? Outsmart Sin By Choosing God’s Authority God cannot dwell in a place full of sin. If you are gossiping every day, if you want to look at inappropriate things all the time, if you are desiring the things of this world more than the things of God, then you should repent and ask God to forgive you. Accept God’s authority and know what He says is good and evil is fact. Learn and apply God’s instructions in the Torah, and if you do, you will naturally make calculated decisions about your behavior. That does not mean sin is not always present, it just means you are more intelligent than sin and have learned to overcome it. Proverbs 28:7 says “the one who keeps the law is a son with understanding.” God reveals himself to this world through a process where we repent, and learn to apply His commandments based on the jurisdiction he wants us to live in. A part of repentance is applying God’s commandments and living them out in your life. Then others in your life are made aware of God, and by you living them out, others will learn to know God through your example. We are to take the godly revelation and help reveal God to this world, and God will reveal Himself through your actions (John 14:21). The repentance process starts with (Leviticus 26:40-45): #1 confession of sin #2 stopping the sin #3 regretting the sin #4 making the wrongs right Repentance is learning what good and evil are through studying God’s Torah, and then applying God’s commandments in your life in a practical way (Matthew 3:8-10 / James 2:14-26). This is why Jesus said if you love Him, you will keep His commandments. You have a purpose and people in your life are impacted by you repenting, and they will have the opportunity to know God through you. Back to Day 28 | Continue to Day 30 [...] Read more...

Day 30 – The True Definition of What Repentance Is

Where We Go from Here The content in this website was written to help those who desire God and want to know more of Him to grow to a higher spiritual level, and to assist those who are seeking after the Kingdom of God and His righteousness to understand what repentance is. Repentance is not a one-time decision, and it is not just saying “I have faith to believe Jesus died for me, so I am good to go.” As James 2:19 says “… even the demons believe that…”   We believe the 30-day journey was necessary to understand the true gospel which is to: repent for the Kingdom of God is near. Once you understand the Gospel from the perspective of repentance, you recognize many people are not truly repenting. The redemption plan is about unity and working together, about humanity as a whole working it out (through multiple generations), and then one day our Messiah comes and finishes up the process. We will be judged how we did based upon the choices we made during our lifetime, and how we helped in the redemption process. After reading Day 28 and Day 29, you should understand how important it is for a person to accept what God defines as good and evil. How we accept God’s definition of good and evil determines how we make decisions. Choosing life is choosing to follow God’s instructions and applying them in your life in whatever jurisdiction you live in. Choosing death is rejecting God’s instructions. A person’s truth today is based on the perspective and understanding they have today. As a person gains more perspective and understanding of scripture, a person’s truth will change. Those truths will surpass previous truths (truth will always change if there is growth). When living a life of repentance, what a person believed to be truth last year could be different today.  The primary battle in a person’s life is the progress towards knowing God; there are two forces at work that are fighting this battle: good and evil. Having a correct perspective is the key to making correction, properly repenting, gaining truths, and winning this battle. Most people live an aimless life. The goal of repentance is to pull a person from aimlessness and give them an opportunity to gain the right perspective of God so that they can win the battle between good and evil.   It is easy to fool ourselves and think we always know the truth. Being able to say, “This is what I understand today!” is an example of a person humbling themselves and being willing to grow closer to God. The question always has to be, are we serving God or ourselves?  The path of repentance is a lifelong process of truly growing to know God better. Here are a few actions that the journey of repentance should include: Redeeming and rebuilding our life through growing in truth Always seeking to gain a clearer perspective and understanding of God Pulling ourselves from a certain way of life in order to grow and know God better (getting rid of sin in our life) Transforming the sins in our life into obedience to God  Living to love God and our neighbors as ourselves Your Understanding of God is Based On Your Obedience (Fruit of Repentance) The fruit of the repentance is you keeping the commandments as it say in 1 John 2:1-6 “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” As Daniel Lancaster says in his book Restoration, “We do not keep God’s commandments to be saved, we keep them because we are saved.” We keep them to know God better. As Day 29 explains, God will only reveal Himself as we prove we accepted His authority, and we prove that by keeping His commandments and apply them in our life as we learn them. Keeping God’s commandments is a journey of learning who God is. It takes God’s Spirit to empower you to keep them, and a lifetime to learn with fellow believers to understand how to apply them correctly. It is God who empowers you to be obedient as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, we are empowered by the Holy Spirt “who apportions to each one individually as He wills.” Will you be able to gain 30%, 60%, or 100% understanding in this lifetime? That is up to you based on your journey of repentance. If you are interested in taking your repentance to the next level, and continuing with us, please submit your email here, and we will send you more information. Email Address First Name Last Name Daniel 12:3 says, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Click here are more resources Be blessed on your journey! Back to Day 29  Learn More About The Messianic Era [...] Read more...

The purpose of repentance is to make continual correction in your life by applying what you learn from seeking God, in order to prepare for the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said in Mark 4:20, “some seed sown goes on good soil, and they hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Take a few moments each day to cultivate the seed that is in you.