Torah Compliant

Yesterday I had so many thoughts of what would be current and pertinent in this blog and now I have none. What a difference a day makes. So, I gave thought to the hafTorah portion (from the Book of Judges chapters 4 & 5) this past week and began to wonder. 

Not to go into a “lesson” here, just let me put it in my own words that come from convoluted thoughts. YHVH tells us over and over again, as long as we focus on Him and keep faith in His Love and Power, we have nothing to fear. So a great and bloody battle raged and when it was over, the countryside was saved by the courageous acts of a couple of women. Even the leader on the ‘men’s team openly said he would not go unless a woman would come with him. After much ado, the battle ended with another woman putting a tent peg into the temple of another leader, a man, on the enemies side. He was hiding in the lady’s tent because he was too afraid. So, he met his Waterloo at the hands of a woman wielding a hammer and a tent peg; as he slept she drove it into his temple. 

The celebrations came and all jumped for joy and danced and sang and had a great time. We read that for the next forty years they would live in peace. However, because Israel turned her back and did not follow the Word of Yah, YHVH turned them over to the enemy for about seven years. They were not happy campers now! They just didn’t get it. They were about to take over the Promised Land but they just couldn’t seem to turn from their old nature. They even questioned how could their/our Elohim treat people this way? YHVH was working diligently to keep His covenant with His people, but His people were not having anything to do with it.

How close are we to the Promised Land? What more can we do to assure safe passage? Do we even ‘get it’ that the Father wants obedience more than sacrifice? What are we sacrificing anyway? What have we got that we created that we could let go of and feel the effects of true sacrifice? Someone said to me a few days ago; “I finally learned that nothing is mine. It sure makes my sleep a lot more restful.” Ah yes - a peaceful sleep; nothing to think about but serving Him. 

Maybe my convoluted interpretation isn’t as accurate as it could be, but it will serve its purpose for this evening. When all is going well and life seems to be a bowl of cherries, it is easy to regress and pick up our old ways. We might not pick up all the old ways; just enough to show the Father that His Work is not done! We need a good dose of “Anti-Egypt” to clear our bowels. That is the seven year turn-over. Imagine now, we have enough Torah in us to make us realize that we don’t want to ‘go back’ to the ‘old man’, but not enough Torah to prevent a slight stumble. Our Father says He will not dwell with His Righteous Ones alongside the defiled. How on earth does He put up with us? He won’t be in the same place as the profane, and we only stumble a little bit for a short time and now we believe we have a mix of the righteous and the profane in one body. Well, for me, it doesn’t work that way. Either the hands are clean or they are dirty. No gray substance here. 

Let’s see if I can make sense out of what I am saying. Take the diabetic dietetic diet…..I’ll trade you one bread for two quarters of potatoes, but just give me the whole potato. I don’t know what the conversions are anymore, the Father took all that away from me more than thirty years ago. But what is wrong with just a little bit more potato? What if the potato was small this day and the other day it was huge? That’s not asking much. But it is not sticking to the rules. Torah says, have no other gods before me. Well, what constitutes a god? How much starch is in the qtr of potato as compared to the bread? See, if we don’t check things out, and become responsible for ourselves, we could miss the mark entirely. When we just let things ride, we might not ride into the Promised Land.

Before I married, I sat with my Bride-to-be and we exchanged questions. We uncovered and discovered all that we would ever want to know about each other. We were so much like minded that it was not a threat to our future together. We wanted to make sure we knew who we were going to spend ‘eternity’ with. Not for our self, but for our mate. How can I please her if I don’t know what pleases her? The Father says the same thing. He asks us to get to know Him. Dig into all issues and uncover and discover the things that not only please Him, but the things He says He wants nothing to do with. We only need to dissect the pleasing entities; the ones He wants nothing to do with, all we need to know is to stay away from them. Don’t pick up the habits of the pagans in the land I am giving you. As for the dealing with the answers to all the questions, both my wife and I believe that yesterday is gone. Live in the now. What occurred thirty years ago was thirty years ago. The Father gives us one of the greatest gifts we could ever receive… the gift of repentance. Thus, I heard you, I saw you and I will not remember your sins…go and sin no more. My mate asked me, Are you through with that kind of behavior now? I said yes, and she too said yes… and we are now rehearsing together for the Great Wedding Feast. Thank You Abba for placing her in my path and for showing me You do forgive and forget. Now, I am learning to truly forget.

Yes, I have nothing unless I have You. What a restful and peaceful sleep I get. My Elohim, You and only You can make that happen. Yes, I want to please my Bride. Getting to know You, getting to know all about You! (Go ahead, sing along, be happy)

Shalom for now,

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly speaking all the time…

Good Things Are About to Happen

Several years ago, someone told me the sign good things are about to happen is when the enemy rears his ugly head and tries to stop them. Well, from the way it looks right now, good things are about to happen.

How many times are we going to get all up in arms about the enemy trying to take us down? It seems as I reflect back a few years or so, every Feast Day, every Special Occurrence, every time Believers get together on a planned Worship With All Our Hearts, the Enemy of all enemies steps in and diverts our attention and lo and behold before we know it, we are at each other. We are finding fault all around and have completely forgotten the heartfelt Call to Worship! Yeah, this may be my version of what happens, but I assure you, there are more of you than not that have had the same thoughts.

So, then we come to our senses and we stop and we pray and we ask for strength to not let this happen to our little family. And soon all is nice again. But what has occurred in the mean time? “Oh, well the enemy didn’t win this one”, some say. Let me tell you something – Yes He Did! How many times can we be rescued only to fall into the same trap? How many times does it take to learn that when we stay focused on Him constantly, and do His Will, and stay Torah Compliant, that the enemy doesn’t have a chance. But, accepting Brad’s statement; “God is smarter than we are.’’, we can also add to that, the enemy is not smarter than God (YHVH) but he sure can out smart us in a New York Minute!

Check it out for yourself. Watch when you are rejoicing and praising and life is oh so sweet, then Booooom!! What happened? How can fifty people be in a room filled with the Spirit and celebrating and the tears of joy flowing, when someone not so lifted enters and a hush comes over the crowd? How can we say that the Spirit of Yah was with us until Joe Baggadonuts entered the room? The Spirit didn’t leave us…. We shut it out to pay attention to the non-believer. I said, we shut the Spirit out to pay attention to the adversary at work; I did not say we went to deliver the Truth of the Word with a joyful noise. So, do we rescue the non-compliant and urge a better relationship at the cost of stopping our relationship of joy and gratitude? What prevents us from continuing on and letting the adversary witness that we will not be moved?

This happens wherever we are. It is not relegated only to Shabbat Worship when suddenly pagan images emerge on the presentation screen; or a beautiful praise song blasts away with the “non-name” of Yeshua It is when we are whistling a happy tune and loving the day and the task at hand, all alone with the Father. That is when the disruption takes a deep hold. All alone with Him and the enemy tries to slip in. Like when we have mastered a great meal for our loved one who will be home in a minute, and is ten minutes late; then the enemy takes charge. It happens every time we let our thought processes be overcome by an outsider! Only the Ruach should be permitted to assist our thinking. There is not enough room for both the Holy One and any other one within this Temple.

We, Kol haMashiach et al, are about to partake in our fifth annual Rivers in the Desert Conference. Last year I was unable to be present but for a few minutes; the injury was a turning point in my life. Though haSatan has not registered, he sure has shown up and a bit early I might add. There have been no major obstacles until we stop and look at the overall picture; from health issues preventing some from coming who have never missed, to financial issues that were not anticipated but created stress in how to juggle between “what I want to do and what I need to do”. Simple little things such as clothes to wear, where to stay, do I camp or take a room, will I get a good seat? All these and many more questions come up and we can find easy and simple answers. But when we do, another variable springs up and we are stunned! Then as more is piled on us, we begin to wonder, what’s the use? 

 

Being Torah compliant has many advantages. Psalm 34 tells us that YHVH watches over the righteous with His eyes and His ears hear their cries. He saves those who have crushed Spirits. And He is fully aware of the troubles the righteous encounter; He is near the brokenhearted, he rescues those that suffer, and He protects all the bones of the righteous, not one of them gets broken. Praise YHVH!

When we walk the walk and talk the talk and come to trust and have faith, there is nothing the adversary can do to us. Our Father grants us mercy so that we do not lose courage as we do the work He has given us. (2 Cor 4) Yes! There will be challenges! Without a yardstick there is no measure! 

 

As 2 Cor 4 goes on to say, ‘8 We have all kinds of troubles, but we are not crushed; we are perplexed, yet not in despair; 9 persecuted, yet not abandoned; knocked down, yet not destroyed. 10 We always carry in our bodies the dying of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may be manifested in our bodies too.’

Sometimes all it takes to get back on track is a simple little move. i.e., Turn off the television. Walk around the room and take visual inventory. Compare what is seen as to what is felt or sensed. Let the ‘quiet’ work a bit. Too often we turn to crank up the music, loud, drown out the thoughts, and distance ourselves from our reality. Our Father wants to be heard. Unless He is telling us to get away from the tent, He most often uses a still quiet voice. Do you find that your visual inventory is a little different than what you sense about your being? Are you now welcoming the Spirit back in and shutting the adversary out? Did worry for what seat you would have or what clothes you would wear or how you would be able to be in His Presence really help you? He loves us as we are. We must permit Him His space. Good things are about to happen!

Rev 20:10 10 The Adversary who had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Thank You most Gracious and Heavenly Father. What a blessing it is to be permitted to call you Abba. I pray to not let You down. In Yeshua’s most beautiful, awesome, wonderful, loving name. Amein!

Shalom, Pinchas 

a/k/a Frankly speaking all the time…

Taking a Chance on YHVH

A couple of weeks ago I was lamenting on how challenged I felt. There is just too much going on in the world. I felt as though I was unable to comprehend. To top it off, I (we) gave the keys to the sanctuary to people we had not met yet. It’s all in my last blog, so I will spare you the reruns.

James 1:3 for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance.

The Peregrinnatti were coming to hold a week of worship. A gathering of worship leaders and dancers and musicians, etc. to Kol haMashiach. What can possibly go wrong? Why was I initially on edge? The Father very plainly told me to be quiet and enjoy.

Matthew 13: 16-17 16 But you, how blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear! 17 Yes indeed! I tell you that many a prophet and many a tzaddik longed to see the things you are seeing but did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing but did not hear them.

So, it happened. For me, it made all the difference in being able to remain calm in the midst of the storm. In the first week, yes, the first week, we had the benefit of Brad Scott who just happened to be scheduled at the same time as the worshippers. We also had a memorial service on the Friday (Erev Shabbat) afternoon for members who had been taken abruptly. That too is in a blog if you want to visit it. And during the course of this occasion, I watched as equipment was moved about, chairs were assembled and reassembled. Food was prepared, maintenance was rendered, and everything and anything was a target for change. What in the world was I thinking? I am loving it! 

 

Oh, did I say this was all in the first week? Yes! There was a second week. And it just kept getting better and better. My little dogs even enjoyed it! They looked forward to going to Shul to visit with the people; the people who were only going to spend a week with us. Thank You Father for making me obedient. 

 

If my memory is correct, we were privileged to be on the receiving end of the worship for a day or so after two weeks, not just one! Nothing to do but be there. What a strengthening experience. The gifts of the congregation came alive. YHVH does not give us gifts to put in the closet. He wants us to share with all His people what He has bestowed upon us. I was told several times that I need to “let His people go”. Let the musicians come alive, the singers come alive, the dancers come alive, the flags and banner people come alive, the readers come alive; in other words, let everything that has breath, praise YHVH! I did not know that I may be the one holding them back. Please Father; forgive me should this be true. I am executing a course change.

Abba, while You are addressing that issue, would You also tell all the worshipers to not hesitate. Let everyone know that Psalm 150 is a commandment! And not just to read, but to do at all times and in all places, Praise Your Holy Name!

Thank You for granting me a deeper sense of Your Will for us all. Thank You for carrying me through the good times and the not so good times. I now realize without doubt, You have created me for such a time as this. I now feel a little closer and my question of “Do I have faith?” is answered with “You betcha!”. There is no such thing as taking a chance on YHVH. There is such a thing as having trust and faith in the Word. That is where true Shalom comes from.

Matthew 17:21 21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants.

Praise Yah!

 In Yeshua’s mighty and awesome name, Amein!

Shalom and shalom, 

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly speaking all the time…