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Marilyn Howshall: A Mentor Who Helps Parents Disciple Their Children

I have adopted a new mentor. Marilyn Howshall knows what she’s talking about. She has a ministry of reconciliation – reconciling people to Jesus by helping them to die to their selfishness and self-centeredness.

She has a student, Barbie Poling, who has also learned wisdom’s way, and I’m learning a lot from her blog here.

She writes a lot on her website that we can learn from. She helps us to start thinking about how we deal with other people and our own attitudes, intentions, and motivations in relationships. She writes about experiences with teaching her children to tell the truth and to always act in love toward the other person.

Marilyn has written several posts about her personal life that are very instructional.

I took this excerpt from a post she wrote on the big picture of her life:

My life is devoted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His ministry of reconciliation by helping people walk in the truth about themselves so they can know the Lord, build whole relationships, become better people, resulting in learning how to love much and well. My lessons began with my own dear husband and precious children.

What makes me sad: Children who fall through the cracks of life for having been on the receiving end of ignorant and self-centered parenting. I’m moved to reach out in love and compassion.

What gets me all fired up sometimes: The church embracing the lie that Christian parents can live self-centered lifestyles and still expect to produce the fruit of Christlike character in their children. I’m moved to make a difference through preaching and teaching.

What I enjoy witnessing the most: Selflessness, and the glory of true righteousness. AND Christians who have been self-righteous, unreal, and unrelational come into the light, practice truth-telling and repentance, and thus experience the miracle of their relationships becoming real.

What I don’t enjoy at all: Being very long with a spiritual-talking person who has “christianized” their life, but who has never learned how to love very much or even very well. I’m moved by grace to forgive their lies, and try them to see if they want reality in Christ.

What makes me saddest of all: Most don’t. “Many are called but few are chosen.” The lost are easier to reach than these.

What makes me gladdest of all: A few do. Some decide to follow Jesus and allow Him to get the glory for their lives! Thank You, Lord!

I believe that we parents need to learn what Marilyn is teaching, so that we can have the quality of life and the kind of family that we all dream of having. Visit her website at Influential Parenting.

When God is Late

I used to be on an email list called Rivermail a long time ago. I read this testimony in 2001. It’s about the walk of faith, especially in the area of finances.

This is a testimony by Ruth Johnson at Lighthouse of Hope Ministries.

Sometimes it is quite humbling to be stretched by faith, especially when “it’s past midnight and God is obviously late”. Often people can’t understand and they look at our life through the logical natural mind and make judgments. Others predict our defeat. In their eyes we look utterly foolish to believe for something that seems so impossible and that they would never even dare to attempt.

This humbling in the eyes of men is part of the price of walking by faith. It also is used by the Lord to help us grow. In my own life, each time I encounter people who are less than supportive of what God has spoken to us, “The Lord’s searchlight penetrates my human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.” (Prov. 20:27) During the moments when that penetrating “searchlight” is exposing what is in my heart, I find that the part of me that still wants the approval of others has to be taken to the cross and die there once again.

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and My glory is rising upon you. My beloved, arise and shine. Embrace the walk of faith and obedience, no matter what the cost. For only as you walk before Me in this way can My glory radiate out from you to the region and to the nations!
Trust Me and depend on Me with abandonment.

At the time I read this, we were just starting our walk of faith and were experiencing the same types of judgment and criticism that she describes here. The words she wrote were so encouraging to me. It meant so much to know that we were not the only ones going through this living by faith and getting persecuted for it. Just knowing that God was requiring crazy stuff from someone else made it a little less scary for us.

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I just now went to her website and found some amazing testimonies of what God has done for Ruth and her husband since the year 2000. I had never visited their website before. (Back in 2001, when I read this testimony on Rivermail, I didn’t realize that the email I wrote down as a way of remembering where I got it was actually giving me their website address. I was brand new to the Internet and didn’t understand anything except email – barely understood that!)

The timing of their being called out to live by faith and the way they were called out is uncannily similar to the way God did it with us. But they actually got to go to Africa on their big adventure! And they had a ministry with signs and wonders and miracles there. They brought revival and refreshing to the Church of Uganda. We thought God was going to do something like that with us, too, but He took us down a completely different path. We are still waiting for the power and the release into ministry. But we know that in the past ten years God has worked in us the things that we will need for the calling that He has for us. And we know that He has purified and refined us and is still in the process of preparing us for the calling that He has for us. We feel like we’re still in the preparation process and we’re still in exile. We are longing for home and for the power of God to move through us and to fulfill the purpose that He put us here on earth to fulfill.

The testimony I quoted above contains excerpts from the first chapter of a book Ruth Johnson wrote called We have a Dream.

Here is the first chapter if you would like to read more about their walk of faith. As I read her story, I felt like I was reading our own story of how God called us to walk by faith.

We Begin An Amazing Journey
Ruth Johnson

Our Walk by Faith Part One
Excerpt From Ruth’s Book – We Have A Dream

“Thy godly ones shall bless Thee.
They shall speak of the glory of Thy Kingdom and talk of Thy power.
To make known to the sons of men Thy mighty acts and
the glory of the majesty of Thy Kingdom.”
Psalm 145:10-12 NASB

What you are about to read has been written to declare the Lord’s mighty acts and give Him glory for what He has done. It is also a reflection of this truth that was once expressed by Smith Wigglesworth…

“Great faith is the product of great fights.
Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests.
Great triumphs can only come out of great trials.”

Now it is with inexpressible joy that I share our testimony of the Father’s faithfulness as Barry and I decided to do whatever He was asking of us so that we could live our dream to make a difference in the lives of others. I pray that the challenges we faced, the mountains we had to conquer and the difficulties and discouragements we had to press through will also encourage and strengthen you in your own faith.

* * *

It was the life-changing year of 2000 when Barry and I said yes to the Lord and we lay down everything we had to serve Him. Immediately we felt stretched in our willingness to trust Him. This stretching of our faith actually started in 1997 when God began to speak to our hearts about moving to Seattle, Washington to birth a church.

Barry was eager to move.

He was born in Portland and had longed to return to the Northwest for many years. But my roots were entrenched in California where I had raised family, established relationships and had a fruitful ministry. I didn’t want to leave all that I had known for most of my life.

Even more painful for me to consider, if we left San Diego I would be moving away from my adult children and giving up the family dinners and holidays with them that I so cherished.

To further intensify my reluctance, Barry had no job in the Northwest. Yet the Lord was asking of us what He required of Abraham…

By faith, Abraham when he was called, obeyed by going to a place
which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went
out not knowing where he was going.
Hebrews 11:8 NASB

God asked Abraham to “leave his native land and his relatives and come to the land that He would show him” (Acts 7:3 NLT). He worked on my heart so that I would be willing to make this same choice.

In our marriage, we seek the Lord together when we need direction for our lives. So as Barry and I stood together at this crucial crossroads, we waited until we both had peace about what to do.

The months went by and then one morning I had a keen sense that what we decided to do about this possible move would set the course for the rest of our lives. It would make the difference between us fulfilling our dream or staying where we were and just being comfortable. If we had made that decision, we would have settled for so much less than the Father had planned for us.

One unforgettable day, as I once again wrestled with the thought of moving to the Northwest, the Father ministered to my spirit…

“My glory cloud over you and Barry has moved to Seattle.

Will you go where I am going or will you choose to stay where you are comfortable?

It is true that if you decide to remain here, you will have a good life. I will still love you and take care of you.

But you and Barry will miss out on my very best for you. If you cling to what is familiar and take the path that is comfortable, my purposes for you will be frustrated.

And in the years ahead you will have leanness of soul because the fulfillment of My promises for you will not happen here. They can only come to pass in the new place where I’m calling you to go.”

The second the Lord showed me this startling perspective I said, “Yes, I will go!” Then with much joy and a powerful oneness of spirit and direction, we began to make the necessary preparations to change our lives.

A year later, we packed up all of our belongings and moved to Seattle.

Shortly after arriving in this new place, a door opened for Barry to make even more money than he did in California. Yet he worked fewer hours while we pioneered a church. We grew to love the little flock that God gave us as we poured our lives into them.

Twelve months went by and once again God stretched our faith when He instructed us to leave that work behind. We obeyed but this decision was heartbreaking. It catapulted us into a season of crushing pain.

Slowly we emerged from our grief and our hearts did heal.

Then in April 2000 the Lord asked us to step into an even more challenging realm of trust.

He showed us that Barry was to end his lucrative job as a computer consultant and we were to live totally by faith. This drastic change in our lives was the only way we could fulfill our calling to serve Him as a husband and wife team.

Once again we surrendered to what the Father was asking of us and He immediately encouraged our hearts by opening many doors for ministry. Yet, enough money never came in to support us. This shortage of funds forced us to learn how to trust the Lord for all our needs. Just as He cared for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, He kept instructing us to stand in a place of immovable faith and He would provide for us.

We had no idea that by October 2000 we would be trusting Him for many thousands of dollars in order to live in Africa for several months.

Then the Lord told us to buy our tickets to Uganda, even though we still lacked most of the funds needed and our departure date was only seven weeks away.

At the same time, He showed us…

“You have stepped out of the boat. Don’t look down.
Hold fast and keep looking straight ahead.”

The Father quickly confirmed this instruction by having two people send us these exact same words. He then guided us both to this same remarkable verse on the same day…

If you wait for perfect conditions you
will never get anything done.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT

There we were, out on the water, with two tickets to leave for Africa and a monumental amount of money still needed to proceed as planned. Through this dilemma the Father tested our hearts, just as He did the Israelites…

The Lord your God led you through the wilderness for forty years.
He humbled you and tested you to prove your character and to find out
whether or not you would really obey His commands.
Deuteronomy 8:2 NLT

Later in Joseph’s life we see God working in this same way…

Until the time came to fulfill His word, the
Lord tested Joseph’s character.
Psalm 105:19 NLT

So we longed for the day when the Father would say to us…

“You have passed the test.
Now enter into the fullness of what I have promised you.”

Yet the stretching of our faith was by no means unique.

If anyone decides to surrender his life to the Lord and wants to be used by Him, there are going to be times when He asks us to trust Him for something that we can’t do our self. There is a wealth of eternal wisdom in this challenge to our faith. If our wise Father only asked us to believe Him for those things that we can accomplish in our own strength, abilities and resources, then we would get the glory instead of Him when the promise was fulfilled.

We also would never have to come to the end of ourselves. And that is the place where true faith begins.

In that uncomfortable place where we are helpless and we must trust the Father to intervene, attitudes of the heart that need to be refined are glaringly exposed. For example, in the months shortly after God told us that Barry was to end his regular job, this radical change in our finances challenged me to my very core. Consequently, I experienced moments of overwhelming panic. It felt like we were financially free falling off a cliff and I was waiting with utter dread for the moment when we would hit the sharp rocks below and go splat!

This pressure from being stretched far beyond what I was even remotely comfortable with exposed an issue in my heart that had to be dealt with before I could fully embrace the call that the Father had placed on our lives. My sense of financial security had always come from knowing that there was going to be a regular paycheck.

But now I had to die to any dependence on a predictable source of income and place all my security in the Father as our Source and Provider.

A welcome breakthrough happened when a friend sent us this story…

A young girl traveling on a train for the first time heard that it would have to cross several rivers. She was troubled and fearful as she thought of the water. But each time the train came to a river, a bridge was always there to provide a safe way across.

After passing safely over several rivers and streams, the girl settled back in her seat with a sigh of relief. Then she turned to her mother and said, “I’m not worried anymore. Somebody has put bridges for us all of the way.”

Just as soon as I read this simple account, our kind Abba Father assured me…

“I will be for you that bridge over troubled waters so that you also can find your way to the other side.

Every time you find yourself in a place where you need a miracle to get to where you are safe, I will be there. I will make the impossible possible.

I will do the same for you as that young child on the train.”

Many times since that day I have marveled as I watched God give us an unexpected bridge of provision that enabled us to walk over to a place of sheltering, reassuring safety.

During another time of struggle, we wondered if we had missed it when we thought God had spoken to us about Barry laying down his job and living totally by faith.

The enemy was delighted to add fuel to our paralyzing self-doubt. He was quick to remind us of all the times in the past when we were certain that we had heard from God, but things didn’t work out. We began to buckle under the weight of these discouraging thoughts.

Immediately, we were amazed by the Father’s comforting response to our questioning. A letter arrived in the mail and in it were these words that we knew were from Him…

“Don’t reason that you have missed your providential way because of the storm. These things come not for the deepening of your fear, but for the quickening and enlargement and completion of your faith.”

Through this timely message the Father strengthened us in the battle that raged against us, just as He did for Peter when Jesus said to him…

Satan has asked to have all of you and to sift you like wheat.
But I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not fail.
Luke 22:31-32 NLT

No matter how intense the pressure, the Lord made one thing supremely clear to us. We were never to do anything to take matters into our own hands. He had called us to bring people into His presence that they may know His glory. And from the beginning of this call He cautioned us to never use this message that was so holy and sacred to the Father, to fundraise. No matter how serious our financial need, we were to never send out pleas for money.

We were careful to obey these instructions, but there were many days when it was extremely difficult. Sometimes when our needs were great and there was no provision, we felt like God had forgotten us. We pleaded for His help and there was only silence.

In the midst of this crisis of our faith, our loving Father intervened with an insight into Noah’s life that I had never seen before.

After spending one hundred and twenty years building an Ark, the torrential rains came and the Lord vindicated Noah’s faith. But after all the years of unwavering trust and having it validated, Noah still ended up floating on an endless sea of water for another twelve and a half months with no land in sight. He had no way of knowing how God was going to bring his huge ship to its promised destination.

I have no doubt that this man of great faith had moments when he felt like David…

Lord, why do You stand so far away?
Why do You hide when I need You the most?
How long will You forget me?
How long will You look the other way?
My God, why do You remain so distant?
Why do You ignore my cries for help?
Every day I call to You but You do not answer.
Psalm 10:1, 13:1, 22:1-2 NLT

These are very real emotions that the stretch of faith evokes in our soul.

Then one of the most poignant verses in the Bible appears in the story of Noah that contains life-giving hope for anyone who is waiting and waiting and it seems like God is far away…

God remembered Noah.
Genesis 8:1 NLT

Many a day I hugged this Scripture to my heart and it comforted me.

I also grew steadily more convinced that just as the Lord remembered Noah, He will be faithful to any of us when He asks us to trust Him with all of our hearts so that we can fulfill His destiny for us.

Throughout these trials of our faith, God repeatedly assured us…

I will make a dry path through your Red Sea.
Isaiah 11:15 NLT Personalized

And that is exactly what He did.

He made a way where there was no way. We were in awe as we experienced our Abba Father finally saying to us…

“You have passed the test.
Now continue to trust Me to provide for
what you still need and I will continue to honor your faith in Me.”

Then we left for Africa in January 2001.

Other than overcoming the damage from my severely abusive background that lasted until I was forty-five years old, this faith walk in the area of our finances is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Yet as I look back on the years since April 2000 when this walk began, I understand why God required that we learn to depend on Him to such a radical degree. When we emerged from each new trial by fire, our capacity to trust the Lord of the Impossible in all areas of our lives and ministry had grown phenomenally.

God knew the difficulties that we would be up against in our call to the Northwest and to Africa. Like the wonderful Dad He is, through each new funding dilemma He was preparing us to face those challenges with a much deeper understanding of our reliance on Him and His proven faithfulness to us. The Father was also carefully equipping us so that no matter what serious obstacles we encountered, we had the persevering strength to boldly declare as Paul did…

We are pressed on every side by troubles,
but we are not crushed and broken.

We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit.
We are hunted down, but God never abandons us.

We get knocked down,
but we get up again and we keep on going.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT

We can only grow in this determined, steel like tenacity when we must go far beyond what we think we can endure in trusting the Lord.

This believing God for what seems to be impossible is not limited to finances.

It can be for physical healing, freedom from emotional pain, an open door for ministry, restoration of a failing marriage or the return of a prodigal child whose life is in ruins. The possibilities that can put us in a place of desperate dependence on the Father are endless, but the struggles that come as we learn to cast ourselves on His love and trust Him are common to us all.

It is immensely reassuring to remember that God will never test us beyond what we can bear, even when we feel we are at the end of what we can endure.

Sometimes it is also humbling to be stretched in our faith.

Often people can’t understand. They look at our life through the logical, natural mind and make judgments. Others predict our defeat. In their eyes we look foolish to believe for something that seems so impossible and they would never even attempt to try it themselves.

Yet, experiencing the judgments from people helped me to understand how Abraham and Noah must have felt.

Abraham had a dream that God birthed in his heart. He wouldn’t give up on it, no matter what price he had to pay and regardless of how long he had to wait. Surely he looked like an old fool to many people up until it became obvious that his ninety-year-old wife was actually pregnant with their child.

Noah must have looked like another fool to his contemporaries when he “obeyed God who warned him about something that had never happened before” (Hebrews 11:7 NLT). He built a boat in preparation for rain and a flood, neither of which had ever taken place.

To make this even more of a stretch, he was erecting this huge ship in an area where there was no body of water.

Surely there were those who mocked him as he spent all those years building something that made no sense to them at all.

This humbling in the eyes of men is part of the price of walking by faith so that we can live our God inspired dream.

It is also used by the Lord for our own greater good. Being misunderstood when we embrace what God has told us to do, prods us to break through our own limitations and grow in ways we never thought we could.

It also requires that we submit to the penetrating look of the Holy Spirit and invite Him to shine His convicting light on our innermost soul. That is where attitudes that are less than pleasing to the Father can lurk unnoticed.

These are the defining moments in our lives when “the Lord’s searchlight penetrates our spirit and exposes every hidden motive” (Proverbs 20:27 NLT).

My times of struggle in trusting the Father also opened up to me an illuminating insight into how He felt about Abraham.

This mighty man of faith obviously faltered in trusting what God had promised him. He clearly made a serious mistake in his walk by faith when he told people that Sarah was his sister rather than being confident that the Lord would protect him from those who would want his beautiful wife.

Likewise, he failed in his belief that God could still fulfill His promise to give a child to two elderly people. So he took things into his own hands and had a son by a servant girl.

Yet this man who had times of serious fractures in his faith was described by the Lord in this glowing way…

When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, Abraham believed Him. God had also said, ‘Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars,’ even though such a promise seemed utterly impossible! And Abraham’s faith didn’t weaken, even though he knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred and that Sarah, his wife, had never been able to have children.

Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger and in this he brought glory to God. He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything He promised. And because of Abraham’s faith, God declared him to be righteous (Romans 4:18-22 NLT).

I can’t begin to express how much it helped me to finally get a glimpse of why God felt this way about a man who clearly wavered in his faith, just like we do.

This is what the Father showed me that set my heart free…

“Yes, it is a fact that Abraham had his moments of weakness and he did make some serious errors in not trusting Me.

But all along I saw his heart. I saw his burning desire to be faithful to what I promised him, even though there were times when out of human frailty and weariness of soul he faltered in that faithfulness.

Because of the sincerity of his heart and his earnest desire to keep on clinging to what I had spoken to him, I didn’t hold to his account the times when he failed in his faith in Me.

I only remembered all the days, all the long nights, the many months and years that he tenaciously clung to what I told him.

My Word assures you that I look at all of My children in this same way because when I declared Abraham to be righteous, it wasn’t just for his benefit. It was for you too so that you would be comforted.

Even though you also have moments of weakness and failure in your faith, I will declare you to be righteous too. I will not hold those times of weakness against you either (Romans 4:23-24 NLT).”

Gradually the Lord showed me that this is what He is saying to all of us who are trying our very best to trust Him, even in impossible and terribly discouraging circumstances…

“Don’t beat yourself up because you’ve had moments, just like Abraham, when you’ve been weak or you’ve said or done things you wished you hadn’t said or done.

I see your heart.

I look past your failings to who you really are before Me.

So I say to you it is time to rise up!

Be filled with new hope and encouragement from Me, your loving Father.

Your light has come and My glory is rising upon you. For behold, darkness is covering the earth and deep darkness the peoples, but I am rising upon you. Isaiah 60:1-3 NASB).

It is time to step out in faith and go forward with whatever I ask you to do.

It is time to embrace your destiny that I have planned for you.

And as you go on your way, trust Me and depend on Me with abandonment, even if it seems you are believing for what can’t ever happen.

My beloved, hear My Father’s heart toward you and arise!

Embrace the walk of faith and a life of obedience, no matter what the cost.

For only as you trust Me with all of your heart will you fulfill what your life has been all about. And only as you walk before Me in this way can My glory radiate out from you to wherever I take you.”

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You can find her articles and books at their website at Lighthouse of Hope.

Begin Anew With Joy!

This is an email that I get from Keren Hannah Pryor at jcstudies.com. She puts really neat graphics in the emails that she sends out, so if you want to see them, subscribe to her email weekly devotional study, and you will get the full effect. Details are at the bottom of this teaching.

SIMCHAT TORAH – JOY OF TORAH

A New Beginning

The conclusion of the annual Torah reading cycle at this time and the immediate beginning of the cycle for the next year is the central reason and focus of the holiday of Simchat Torah. An old gate is closing and a new one is opening. We celebrate the new beginning and the opportunity to step forward into another year of relationship with our Father, the Giver and Source of Life, and into continuing growth in knowledge of His Word and thereby of Himself. We can lift our hearts and rejoice and sing with the Psalmist:
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things in Your Torah.
Your testimonies are my delight, they are my counselors. …Give me understanding, that I may keep Your Torah and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.
The sum of Your Word is truth; and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures for ever… my heart stands in awe of Your words. I rejoice at Your Word, like one who finds great treasure”
(Psalm 119:18, 24, 34-35,160-162).

Be glad and rejoice in Simchat Torah and give honor to the Torah…
for she is our strength and our light (Simchat Torah song).

The central means of celebration on Simchat Torah is singing and dancing! Simchat Torah calls us to rejoice before God with all our hearts and might… to celebrate the Word of God as King David did when he returned the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15:28-29). What would we do without the light and wisdom of God’s Word? Simchat Torah gives us an opportunity to rejoice over the wonder, the depths and the power of His Word with childlike abandon; to drop our self-conscious defenses and throw ourselves joyfully into rejoicing greatly before our Father in Heaven! To “dance as David danced” is a challenge to adults, but now a wonderful occasion is given for children and adults to sing and dance in joy together at the great gift God has given of His Torah, His precious and eternal Word, and the incarnation of this Word in the life of His Son and our Messiah – Yeshua. How can we not find reason to rejoice greatly?

In synagogues, the dancing takes the form of seven hakafot, or circles, which reinforces the concept of the cycles of life. This also highlights the relationship of God and His people as that of a Bride and Groom, one of Covenant love, and recalls how at Mount Sinai the Torah can be seen as the ketubah, the wedding document of the bridegroom and the bride. In some traditional Jewish wedding ceremonies the bride circles the groom seven times, signaling the constant daily presence of the Shekhinah of God that surrounds us in steadfast love. Joyful dancing is also the means of celebration at a wedding, the elation of which is expressed in the final of the Sheva Brachot, the Seven Blessings that are prayed over the bride and groom. This crowning blessing also encapsulates the heart of Simchat Torah, and the heart of our relationship with the Beloved of our souls:

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who created joy and happiness, bride and groom, gladness, jubilation, cheer, and delight, love, friendship, harmony, and fellowship.
O Lord our God, let there speedily be heard in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and the sound of happiness, the sound of the Bridegroom and the sound of the Bride…
Blessed are You Lord, who gladdens the Groom with the Bride.

Hakafot at the Kotel – Western Wall

At the synagogue evening service all the Torah scrolls are removed from the Ark [special cupboard that houses the Torah scrolls], to be passed lovingly from person to person during the seven hakafot. Sometimes a lit candle, or a Bible, is placed in the now empty Ark to show that the light of Torah never goes out.

After the dancing, the last portion of the Torah is read, VeZot HaBeracha – And This is the Blessing (Deut. 33:1-34:12); the only time of the year that the Torah is publicly read at night. Then the scroll is rolled back to the beginning and a part of the first portion of Genesis, B’reishit – In the Beginning, is read. The cycle of the Word continues without interruption, in harmony and joyful gratitude.

Oh How I love Your Torah!

During the morning service on the following day, celebrations are a little more subdued and the deeper values of God and His Word are reflected upon. In accord with the understanding that the Torah is “a tree of life to those who grasp it,” the opportunity on Simchat Torah to literally hold it close to oneself is meaningful. To touch and hold a person one loves is a great blessing, so too one finds blessing in touching and holding the Torah scroll, which is resplendent in a finely embroidered robe, is crowned with a beautiful crown and adorned with a decorative breastplate. As we grasp the Torah scroll it is an expression of our deep longing to embrace the Beloved of our souls, the Word made flesh, the King of kings!

An IDF soldier holds a Torah scroll

After further hakafot, quieter singing and dancing with the scrolls, to enable every person to hold and kiss a scroll, all but three of the Torah scrolls are returned to the Ark. Readings are done from the three scrolls and certain people are honored in making aliyah to the Torah, being called up to read. Recognizing the connection with marriage, the first person called is named “groom of the Torah” (chatan Torah), who reads the last verses of Deuteronomy. The second is the “Genesis groom” (chatan B’reishit), who has the honor of reading the first chapter of Genesis. The third and last one is called “the groom for the reading of the prophets” (chatan maftir), who reads about the succession of leadership from Moses to Joshua.

A special aliyah is made for the last blessing of the Torah readings, when all the children are called up to the bima, the central platform from which the Torah scroll is read. A large tallit (prayer shawl) is spread over them and the rabbi blesses them and the congregation recites Genesis 48:16,
“The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the youths; and let my name [Jacob] be named upon them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
The children are the next generation and this is a powerful gesture of the desire to fulfill the biblical injunction: “And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children…” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

The Feasts of the Future

It is of interest to note that, in Temple times, identical sacrifices were offered at the altar on both Rosh HaShanah and Shemini Atzeret (the Eighth Day, together with Simchat Torah, which in Israel, as well as in the Reform tradition of Judaism, are celebrated on the same day). This was not merely coincidence as the Temple sacrifices were a significant component of worship of God and they were meticulously planned and executed in order to express the meaning and essence of each festival. The matching sacrifices thus tied Rosh HaShanah to Simchat Torah, embracing the Fall Feasts as one unit. This fact reinforces the understanding that this group of feasts is the “crown” and culmination of the Festival Cycle and represents the aim and fulfillment of all the holy days of the year. Whereas the previous Feasts are rooted in history, and relate to an historic event already experienced by God’s people, the Fall Feasts celebrate prophetic events that await fulfillment in the future.

At present, on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur we recognize with gratitude our present relationship to God as our Father and King of the universe, and we can come before Him in repentance, clothed in the righteousness of Yeshua our Messiah, and accept His loving forgiveness. Also, on Sukkot we rejoice in the knowledge that we are covered by the Hand of God and can rest in His protection and provision on our tenuous journey through life. On Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, we joyfully thank God for His Word and anticipate eternity in His Presence. The true and full promises of these Festivals, however, are yet to be experienced. On that Great Day known only to the Father, the final ‘new beginning’ of Rosh HaShanah, the last great trump will sound – the Tekiah Gedolah of the great Shofar – announcing the arrival of Mashiach ben David, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Messiah the Son of David. The dead will be raised; and all mankind will stand before the King who sits on the Throne of Judgment. On the final Yom Kippur, the judgment on all nations and people will be sealed and delivered. Those who are to enter the great sukkah – the banqueting hall of the Wedding Feast of the King and His Bride – will assemble and great will be the rejoicing. Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day, will begin – the Day that is all Shabbat – the time of true peace, a time of eternal, unbreakable unity and blessing, harmony and joy. The King will be reigning in Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God will be established in all the earth. HalleluYah!

Until that time, we wait in hope and faith and continue on the next cycle of our journey through life. Let us join hands, united in the true and faithful Word and promises of our Father in Heaven, in the fellowship we have in Messiah, and in the love and power of the Holy Spirit. Let us step confidently into the winter season ahead, anticipating the beautiful, dancing lights of Hanukkah that shine the light of God’s Presence into the darkness of the world – just as we are called to do.
With the flame of God’s love bright in our hearts, let us shine for Him!

Chazak! Chazak! ve’Nitchazek!

Be strong! Be strong! And may we strengthen one another!

Baruch HaShem! Praise His Name! We are reaching the end of another 
year of study of the precious Word of our God and of His pleasant paths.



A NEW BOOK 


Keren’s devotional studies on the weekly portion, A Dash of Drash, are now available in well-formatted book form – hot off the press in time 
for the new Torah study cycle that begins the first Shabbat of October, (2nd Oct., 2010). An excellent way to review and dig deeper 
into the text during the year ahead!

You can order your copy now through our secured website JC Studies


You can also take advantage of our special offer to obtain a set 
of both commentaries, A Taste of Torah and A Dash of Drash, at a special launch price. Good to keep in mind for your gift-giving!



Thank you for walking with us this past year, may our faithful Lord 
continue to guide and bless our steps on the path ahead – for His glory!



Keren Hannah and the JC Studies team

You have subscribed to Keren Hannah Pryor’s weekly devotional study through the five books of Moses, in order to better understand how knowing the Bible in its original context helps us live more intentionally in God’s Presence today. Visit us at www.jcstudies.com.

Our contact information:
The Center for Judaic-Christian Studies
P.O. Box 750815
Dayton, OH 45475
1 (937) 434.4550

If you desire to contribute financially, thank you.

Copyright (C) 2010 Keren Hannah Pryor & The Center for Judaic-Christian Studies. All rights reserved.

Correcting Our Understanding of Heaven As Our Home

In recent years, we have studied more of the Jewish thought and the Hebrew roots of Christianity. One of the sources I have been learning from is Dwight Pryor. He crystallizes his mission statement like this:

My strong conviction is that the Lord is restoring the Hebraic foundations of the Church so that together we all can move forward in greater faithfulness and maturity in the service of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. Toward that end we should be Father-focused, Christ-centered and Spirit-saturated. We should stand with and pray for Israel. Our teaching should strive to be biblically balanced and theologically sound.

Of all the followers of Jesus, we who are being reconnected to the olive-tree roots of our faith, who study Torah and treasure Jewish wisdom surely we should be the most humble and wise, with a servant heart and a good eye, like Abraham, our father in the faith. Love should abound in all that we do. More than just knowledge, if the fruit of the Spirit is not characterizing our lives and our communities, then we are in the wrong movement.

At the end of the day, we can never improve upon Jesus and his example. His passion was for one movement alone, the Kingdom of God, and his priority was for the raising up of disciples through sound instruction and godly example. To authentically emulate that and to carry on that mission should be the raison d’etre of the Hebraic renewal community.

One of the common misconceptions among Christians is what we will do after we die – and where we will live. Here are some thoughts to help us clarify what the Bible really says about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is Heaven Our Destiny?
Author: Dwight A. Pryor

THE BELIEF IN LIFE AFTER DEATH IS nearly universal among the world’s religions. Unique to the biblical faiths of Judaism and Christianity, however, is the conviction that there will be a life after life-after-death (to borrow a phrase from N.T. Wright). In other words the afterlife will not be our final destination, but we shall be materially embodied once again in the resurrection of the dead at the Last Day.

The implications of this seem not to have registered fully on the popular Christian culture, which tends to define salvation as “going to heaven when you die.” In a carryover from medieval times, when the travails of this present world were countered by the Church’s otherworldly spirituality, the common sentiment among Christians today remains:

This world is not my home; I’m just a passing through. My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. Just over in Glory land we’ll live eternally …

This popular point of view runs counter to the witness of Scripture — which indicates that our ultimate destiny as believers is not “heaven” but a new “heaven and earth” (the biblical idiom for created cosmos).

THE VISION OF A NEW OR RENEWED universe is common to both Testaments, as well as to Jewish apocalyptic literature during the four-hundred year intertestamental period. The earth will go through a period of judgment, purging and cleansing at the Apocalypse before it is restored at last to the pristine condition of Gan Eden (Garden of Eden).

The Apostle Peter foresaw that Day of the Lord when the cosmos will dissolve into its elements by fire, to be renewed according to God’s promise by “new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home” (2 Pet 3:13). The Hebraic terminology “new heavens and a new earth” derives from the prophetic vision of Isaiah (65:17ff), in which a new Jerusalem will become a joy and delight to the nations and the natural created order will be restored to innocence and shalom, so that “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (65:25).

This end-time scenario of course is found also in the Apocalypse of John. The Apostle envisions a restored heaven and earth, after evil and wickedness have been destroyed, with the “holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:1-2).

Then the Creator himself will descend and take up habitation among redeemed humankind. “He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (21:3). The “Immanuel” (God-with-us) that found fulfillment in the Incarnation will come to its consummation in the Last Days when the Lord God will dwell fully and perpetually in the midst of His people (Ezekiel 37: 26-27).

The creation itself shall then be set free from its enslavement to futility and decay to obtain the “freedom of the [resurrected] glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). It will be purged, purified, transformed and glorified. It will not be annihilated, but made new or renewed. As the One seated on the Throne promises, “Behold, I am making all things new!” (Revelation 21:5).

THE HOPE WE HAVE IN THE LORD therefore is far grander than some post-death consciousness or some everlasting state of disembodied bliss. Our final home will not be “over in Glory land.” Heaven will be but a temporary layover on the way to a better world.

Our ultimate destiny is to dwell forever in the House of the Lord. His habitation will be in a renewed heaven and earth. We have no need of resurrected bodies in heaven. But when at the Last Day heaven comes to earth and the Jerusalem which is above, whose architect and builder is God (Heb 11:10), descends upon the present city — then indeed we will need and will prosper in the transformed physicality of resurrected bodies.

Like the risen Jesus, our bodies will be in continuity with our previous existence, and yet also new, glorified and animated fully by the Spirit. Then we shall walk with our Redeemer and have unhindered fellowship with the true and living God. Our joy will be complete and His purposes for the creation will be consummated. That is our destiny!

© 2010 Dwight A. Pryor and The Center for Judaic-Christian Studies.
All rights reserved.
www.jcstudies.com