• Matthew 22:37-40

'And He said to him, “‘You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”'

Ladies! Thank you for sticking with me and getting to the home stretch!  In this mini series we’ve learned that our friends and family in the church have actually begun to light their menorah.  They just need a gentle, biblical rebuke to help them see the cyclical patterns of the Creator that will help them gain a more intimate relationship with Him. 

Be His reflection.

Living out the same sacrificial love of our Blessed Messiah who gave up His righteous life for those who mocked Him, spit on Him, beat Him, and put Him to death is the only way for our friends and family to learn the depths of His goodness through the cycles of all His appointed times.  Through all of His pain and suffering on the cross, He prayed that the Father would forgive them. 

Sisters, your friends and family in church have a small glimpse of the truth. 

Yes, their beliefs may be twisted and rooted in traditions instead of truth.  

Yes, they may be celebrating some commands in an unbiblical way.  

Yes, they may not be celebrating Shabbat on the correct day, but they’re at the starting line. 

Here’s a hard truth.  Sin is part of the cycle. It’s how we learn right from wrong and our mistakes do not have to define us.   I’m sure we could all raise our hands admitting that we would much rather be known as His daughter than be known by our sins. Please, don’t be the person who is known for defining people by their sins. I’ve been there and done that.  It’s not worth it. Instead, show your friends and family how to go to the Father where their slate can be cleaned and made white as snow.

The Father is definitely moving.  He’s stirring up those who have been asleep, causing people in our circles to ask questions and they’re opening their eyes and ears to the depths of His truth.  They’re watching and they will eventually ask questions in His timing. When they do reach out to you, remember to extend your hand in kindness, gracefully bringing them under the chuppah where they can learn the cycles in His Torah. 

• Jacob (James) 4:11-12

'Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the Torah and judges the Torah. But if you judge the Torah , you are not a doer of the Torah , but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge—the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judges your neighbor?'

This verse speaks volumes!  If we speak evil against our brother, we’re speaking evil against the Torah?!  Woah. Following Torah doesn’t make us any better than those who chose not to, but it surely does make us more accountable for our actions and words.  We need to do our best to be sure every action and word we speak are bringing and preserving life to the people in our circle. 

• Matthew 5:13

'“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt should lose its flavor, how shall it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.'

We are the salt, a preserving agent.  If we aren’t preserving life, what good are we?

I know we want to say all the things, but more often than not our actions speak louder than words. 

Your journey and learning to love, even when it's hard and lonely, is your witness.  As you go through the cycles of Shabbats and feasts, you’ll be learning and going through that refining process that brings us closer and closer to the heart of the Father. Your friends and family will begin to see that there is so much more to this walk because they see the work Adonai is doing in you. It takes a lot of time to learn new skills and this walk is no different. 

Instead of seeing a straight line from A to Z, salvation to heaven, your loved ones will begin to see the beautiful cycles of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot!

Nothing you say to a person can ever compare to the actions they see you make under pressure in complete shalom.

Sisters, I pray this encourages you and gives you hope while you’re interacting with your loved ones. Remember, as you learn to love Adonai, He is teaching you how to love your neighbor and please don’t forget to deal with your loved ones in grace just like Abba deals with us in grace. Keep them in prayer as you continue to walk out His cycles and mature in His Word.

Be pressed and be blessed!

Danielle 

I want to give a huge thank you to Simonette Cherepanov for midrashing with me about this topic, and Brenda Stroth for helping me gain a deeper understanding of rebuke from a Hebrew perspective!

•  Proverbs 18:21

'Death and life are in the control of the tongue. Those who indulge in it will eat its fruit.'

•  Ephesians 4:29

'Let no harmful word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for building others up according to the need, so that it gives grace to those who hear it.'

•  1 Corinthians 9:19-23

'For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win over more of them. To the Jewish people I identified as a Jew, so that I might win over the Jewish people. To those under Torah I became like one under Torah (though not myself being under Torah ), so that I might win over those under Torah ; to those outside Torah , like one outside Torah (though not being outside God’s Torah but in Messiah’s Torah ), so that I might win over those outside Torah . To the weak I became weak, so that I might win over the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that by all means possible I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Good News, so that I might be a fellow partaker of it. '

•  1 Timothy 5:1-2  NASB1995

'Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.'

•  Jacob (James) 3:5-10

'So also the tongue is a small member—yet it boasts of great things. See how so small a fire sets a blaze so great a forest! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of evil placed among our body parts. It pollutes the whole body and sets on fire the course of life—and is set on fire by Gehenna. For every species of beasts and birds, reptiles and sea creatures, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Adonai and Father, and with it we curse people, who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be.'

*Please Note: the verses used in this blog were taken from the TLV, Tree of Life Version, and may be numbered slightly different in other versions.  Thank you!