FEASTS
Suggested Reading: Leviticus 23
(click scripture link to read online)
All along the Old City walls of Jerusalem you will see bricked-in windows which gave a good defensive vantage point for soldiers with arrows or guns. This window is at the walk-in entrance at the Jaffa Gate.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where Reynold took the photo, click HERE.
Key Verse: Leviticus 23:5
On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.
We who live in the so-called, “new world” (not new to the First Nations peoples), have trouble imagining anything really old. The walls pictured above are old, but really old are the establishment of the seven feasts of the Lord. 3500 years ago they began, and they continue in the lives and homes of observant Jews today. The early Christians were all Jews, at least until the conversion of the Roman army officer, Cornelius (Acts 10). They continued faithfully celebrating these annual feasts, and in the past year, thousands of believers in Jesus who are Jewish are still celebrating. Many of us who are Gentiles have joined them from time to time. They will describe for us with great joy how Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Some who read “100 words” are Jewish. You celebrate Jesus! Here’s an assignment for the rest of us. How do we see Jesus in all seven feasts?
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, as a Jewish man, You celebrated the feasts. What a joy it would’ve been to live in a booth made of branches for a week with You during the Feast of Tabernacles! May I celebrate who You are for 52 weeks every year. I rejoice in Your constant Presence. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
It’s early morning and I’ve just slipped quietly back into our bedroom to retrieve a book from Norma-Jean’s night table. It’s “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. Her book mark is in his 5th letter. I read there, “This King, who is full of goodness and mercy, doesn’t punish me. Rather, He embraces me lovingly and invites me to eat at His table. He serves me Himself and gives me the keys to His treasury, treating me as His favourite…This is what being in His holy presence is like.” You can find this classic book online in a variety of versions here or you can read it online for free here. Yesterday, I could not put down the new book just published by Crossroads on the current epidemic of teen suicide by Dr. Jerry Johnston and Crossroads CEO, Don Simmonds, entitled, “Why They Die: Curing the Death Wish in Our Kids.” Please, please get this book. It will motivate you to loving action on behalf of our teens. Every parent or grandparent needs to understand what is going on in the minds of today’s youth. You can request your copy here, and if you are able, include an offering in support of Crossroads and the new media initiatives that will reach out with God’s love to all ages.
Yours for celebrating His Presence, and for ministering as His representative,
David
As you mentioned David, we really do need to celebrate Jesus all 52 weeks of the year. What great joy we have with Jesus in our lives. He has a love for us that is boundless and endures forever.
Yes!
Teen suicide is epidemic today. So many are desperate for a listening ear, to hear their struggles and sense of hopelessness. Crossroads initiative to reach out in this area is much needed in this world we live in. Please take the time to listen, via a teens written message, her struggle which lead to her committing suicide.
http://youtu.be/80RqEf56Ix4 #RIPAmandaTodd
Although many Jews today observe the seven feasts, they no longer burn offerings to God. Do you know the reason for this? For those Jews who do not believe that Jesus is the High Priest, who died for their sins, one would think they would still see the need to sacrifice animals in order to receive forgiveness.
I am waiting for the book in the mail. It will be such a relief to have some tools to help people with this type of need. Also to be able to recognize when someone is in trouble
How do we see Jesus in all 7 feast? Joe Amaral wrote a study on: “God’s Holy days” Jesus in the feast.
This is a very helpful study exploring the prophetic nature of the Biblical Feasts, and how they still speak to believers today.
We were able to get it through the e-store.
Dear David…I am often moved to tears as I read your daily blog, scriptures and prayers. Reynold’s photos are absolutely amazing and bring the Bible to life visually. Your transparent storytelling of your own faith journey is a blessing.
I dearly loved interviewing you on CKER radio and having that wonderful July visit at 100 Huntley St. when you interviewed me. At that time I promised my “testimony” book…God’s story of the “walking miracle” …would be soon coming. Two of the songs from my CD “I’m So GLad” were featured with our interview that you and Norma Jean hosted and aired on Thanksgiving Day (2002). In 2007 my dear husband (the man with the initials G.O.D.) Gerry O. Denis passed away from cancer. He lived with terminal 4th stage prostate cancer for 7 more years than any doctor thought possible. Seven being the number of completion…I have to believe he had completed what God planned for his life. He was singing “Cain’t nobody do me like Jesus” to the nurses from his deathbed!
Nizaar was one of the prayer warriors who had prayed for Gerry…on his Edmonton visits…when I was able to help get the word out about hs banquets. We saw the evidence of God’s hand in Gerry never feelling sick until the very end.
Over the years my radio show guests included other Huntley Street hosts and guests. It was a wonderful experience…now I watch you in the wee hours telling the stories of Amazing Grace…and I am reminded of God’s faithfulness in peoples’ lives! .
I pray for you and thank God for you and your long and far reaching ministry. You may remember that I told my radio listeners and your TV viewers how I watched your programs when I first came to Canada from Chicago back in the 70’s. It was 100 Huntley Street that helped to bring me back to God…a prodigal daughter…rescued, redeemed and restored.
At 72, I remain passionate about sharing my testimony and songs to reach out to other broken people. The past five years have been very hard without Gerry. The loss of a beloved spouse can shake your faith yet bring you to a deeper level of relationship with our Abba! (Neil Cole became an encourager when I made frequent calls to Nite Lite and he shared with me about his dear son in law’s passing)
I am asking the Lord to be the writer…as I am the typist of the testimony I know I am called to write…(and is so long overdue)
As “Christy Clown” in Edmonton I present Christian values …with anti-bullying messages through songs and stories.
I ask the Lord to help me “not waste my sorrows”. (quote from Paul Bilheimer) At a time when child sexual abuse cases, bullying and suicide has become part of our daily news reports…maybe my “miracle” story is “for such a time as this!”
YOU, David, are a real INSPIRATION…keeping us close to the LORD with your ministry. God BLess and heal you.
From a Grateful Heart…
(I remember when you called me from Calgary on one of your cross Canada tours…we were setting up a telephone interview for my CKER program…and you said to me “Jana, dear heart” we haven’t forgotten you!” You blessed me again!)
May the Lord keep you in the Palm of His Hand…
Jana Lapel
Hi Jana
I agree completely with what u have said esp. regarding David and his ministry that God gave to him.
Mellany
“That there needed neither art nor science for going to GOD, but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him, or for His sake, and to love Him only”. quoted from the third conversion in book Practice the Presence of God” makes me think of all the ways/means and methods we try to ‘find’ God, when all we really need, as Brother Lawrence pointed out, is a heart resolutely determined to God. I pray He will help me to have such a heart every day.
Thank you David for posting how one can read this book online for free.
Amen to that. I have read the book before but it is good to be reminded often of the need to simply “Practice His Presence”. In this world of busyness, we need to remember that God wants to be an integral part of our daily lives, not just someone we add in when we have a few moments to spare!!