by Christie Berry

When you ask Yeshua into your heart it is like an introduction, a handshake, if you will, that prepares us for a lifetime of relationship… it is not the relationship itself as many seem to teach. When you accept Yeshua as Yah’s salvation for your life you are saying, “Elohim, I would like to get to know you, to build a relationship with you.”  You wouldn’t, upon meeting a new person, just immediately have a strong relationship, know everything about that person, or be able to know how that person thinks or will react to things… it takes discussion, juxtaposition, intimate time with one another to build that relationship. This is the same yada (Hebrew for intimate relationship) that is requested by Messiah, he wants us to build our relationship with him before we are called up to be his bride… you certainly wouldn’t marry someone you didn’t know! Just accepting Yeshua as savior is not enough! We cannot just believe that he is Yah’s salvation (demons believe and tremble, James 2:19), we have to build the relationship.

So how do we get to know him? You are right, by prayer and reading his word. But it is important also to remember that He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  (John 14:15) This was said to those who only knew the Old Covenant (OT) and those were the commandments he wanted us to keep. Yeshua continued later in John 15:10 to say, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”  He asks for our obedience, our vow to the covenant. This is the covenant… a covenant of a bride and groom that have made the vow of betrothal… engagement is the term used today… an agreement that we will stay faithful to the other until we are married. How do we stay faithful to Messiah? We stay faithful by keeping his commandments, his covenant, if you will, until the time that we are to be married.  As a young couple promises to stay true to one another, faithful, learning about each other, growing in love more and more as time passes, not forsaking one another… there is a commitment, there is a contract or covenant that, although unwritten, dictates what can and cannot be done within the relationship. Our covenant with Messiah is written out for us in the Old Testament. Faithfully following his covenant teachings will help us build the relationship he wants with us, but it is still not enough!

It is in keeping the covenant that we understand the character of our future spouse. As we keep the commands, we gain insight into his being, learn to think like him, and hear his still small voice when he speaks to us. As we read and learn the teachings, we will find that each Hebrew word has several levels of meaning. This is the reason why so many divisions in the body have been created. It is difficult for someone thinking in a linear fashion (Greek Thinking) to understand that each word and phrase can have several very different meanings. Moment by moment, we need to seek him to show us how he wants us to keep the teachings. As we seek, hear, and do, we will grow to know him intimately, we will walk with him in knowledge, wisdom and understanding without question. Our relationship will become like a long engagement where the betrothed know each other very well and will complete each other’s sentences. The Creator wants us to ask him each moment what to do… better yet, he is telling us each moment what to do, and he wants us to listen intently and act upon it. He is constantly speaking, whispering to us, through his Holy Spirit, guiding us through each thought and step. That is the yada, intimate relationship that he expects from his bride. Are you diligently seeking yada? Begin by reading his word and asking him how you are supposed to keep the marriage covenant that he has set in stone! They are the guiding words that bring us to close relationship with the Father of all and with our Bridegroom, Yeshua. Get past the handshake and begin building your relationship!

Shalom!

While reading the Torah portion this week I began to wonder why specific information was given in Deut. 11:30 as to the location of the mountains of blessings and curses. As I began to look at the context of the passage I noticed that YHVH was telling man how to learn, teach, and live, one more time.

God tells us how to teach, then he gives the example

He tells us in Deut…

Chapter 6:

“And this is the command, the laws and right-rulings which יהוה your Elohim has commanded, to teach you to do in the land which you are passing over to possess,

Deu 6:2 so that you fear יהוה your Elohim, to guard all His laws and His commands which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days be prolonged.

Deu 6:3 “And you shall hear, O Yisra’ĕl, and shall guard to do, that it might be well with you, and that you increase greatly as יהוה Elohim of your fathers has spoken to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deu 6:4 “Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: יהוה our Elohim, יהוה is one!

Deu 6:5 “And you shall love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your might.

Deu 6:6 “And these Words which I am commanding you today shall be in your heart,

Deu 6:7 and you shall impress them upon your children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up,

Deu 6:8 and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Deu 6:9 “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deu 6:17 “Diligently guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim, and His witnesses, and His laws which He has commanded you.

Deu 6:18 “And you shall do what is right and good in the eyes of יהוה, that it might be well with you, and you shall go in and possess the good land of which יהוה swore to your fathers,

Deu 6:19 to drive out all your enemies from before you, as יהוה has spoken.

Deu 6:20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the witnesses, and the laws, and the right-rulings which יהוה our Elohim has commanded you?’

Deu 6:21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Mitsrayim, and יהוה brought us out of Mitsrayim with a strong hand,

Deu 6:22 and יהוה sent signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Mitsrayim, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes.

Deu 6:23 ‘And He brought us out from there, to bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers.

Deu 6:24 ‘And יהוה commanded us to do all these laws, to fear יהוה our Elohim, for our good always, to keep us alive, as it is today.

Deu 6:25 ‘And it is righteousness for us when we guard to do all this command before יהוה our Elohim, as He has commanded us.’

Then he gave us the commands and told us there would be blessings if we guard them and curses if we did not.

In Chapter 11 he reiterated this again:

Deu 11:18 ‘And you shall lay up these Words¹ of Mine in your heart and in your being, and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Footnote: ¹See footnote at 5:22.

Deu 11:19 ‘And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up,

Deu 11:20 and shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

Deu 11:21 so that your days and the days of your children are increased on the soil of which יהוה swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens on the earth.

Finally, they lived the instruction.

Deu 11:26 ‘See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:

Deu 11:27 the blessing, when you obey the commands of יהוה your Elohim which I command you today;

Deu 11:28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commands of יהוה your Elohim, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other mighty ones which you have not known.

Deu 11:29 ‘And it shall be, when יהוה your Elohim has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ěyḇal.

Deu 11:30 ‘Are they not beyond the Yardĕn, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Kenaʽanites who dwell in the desert plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?

And as they walked between the two mountains the commands were read (see the rest of Deut)

It is interesting the meanings of the words in this final passage.

The Jordan (Yarden) is ‘low place’ which we must go through before reaching the mountains.

Then we go to the land of the Kena’anites which is ‘peddlars’ or merchants, traffickers. We are to uproot the world’s traffickers in our lives so that we can make it to the mountains having shed off the world so that we can wisely choose to follow or to disobey.

Then we have the mountains:

The root meaning of Gerizim is ‘cut apart’ (also can be divide or set apart) which, if we keep the commands, we will be set apart to YHVH.

The root meaning of Eybal is bald, naked, as Adam and Chavah in the garden became ashamed when they realized they were naked, disobedience brings nakedness and shame.

And finally the locations where the mountains reside are by Gilgal and Moreh.

Gilgal is wheel, rolling, cycle and Moreh is teaching. In these two words we have the cyclic teaching model again reiterated symbolically.

As the children of Israel walk across the Jordan (through the low places) into the land of Kena’anites to displace them (in the midst of the world selling it’s wears and displacing it), between the mountains of blessings (set apartness) and curses (shame) they will hear again the instructions of how to live and they will hear it over and over again (Gilgal and Moreh, circle teaching) year after year in the synagogue.

]]> http://onefaithmin.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=16 http://onefaithmin.org/wordpress/?p=15 http://onefaithmin.org/wordpress/?p=15#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 15:21:00 +0000 Yiska http://onefaithmin.org/wordpress/?p=15 G-d in His infinite wisdom knows us better than ourselves! This past couple of months has been a busy time on the the farm as we have been preparing the garden, planting, weeding and working hard as we grow our food for the upcoming year. From Pesach to Shavuot we scurry around, hauling manure, tilling the soil, building raised beds, planting seeds, planting plants, and all the bussle of the garden that comes with spring. Then we arrive at Shavuot. It is amazing because after all that work, G-d provides a weekend of Sabbath Rest. Oh, do we need it at this point, and He knows it! I love His forethought and wisdom for us and how he has planned our lives so perfectly (if we would only look.)

Unfortunately, my garden is not completely done, but the rest is appreciated! Praise Him for his Excellent Greatness! (Ps. 150)

Hugging A Porcupine ~

Yep, that’s what it feels like to love some people, the un-lovable, un-touchable people. That’s what it has felt like to minister to and help my sister. She is angry, in pain and is not at peace in her situation. Her anger and pain, her discontentment are like quills, poking everyone that comes near. It makes me sad.

God is stretching me and teaching me to love the unlovable, the ones only he can love. He loves the unbelievers, the sick and in pain, the hateful, the dregs. God can give us His heart of love for the unlovable.

I try so hard to keep her comfortable. She responds by yelling and refusing to take the very medicine that will make her more comfortable. Lately, I have asked God for his will to be done in her life, bring her to his knowlegde quickly and end her torment. She is only 39, so young to loose her life, but her pain and torture are so horrible, she asks to die. “God take her quickly.”

I remember when my daughter was going through painful surgeries and therapies. God stretched me then, too. Facing pain in someone I love, wishing I could take the pain away or endure it for her, crying with her. God showed me then that there is always a reason for the things in our lives. But they don’t come easy. My heart hurt, my mind had difficulty seeing good in the midst, I couldn’t wrap my thinking around the situation.

Now, I endure another’s pain again. Seeking God daily for peace and stamina to endure the daily vigil. Everything else in life passes by without care. I don’t stress over what I will cook for dinner, where we will go for our next field trip, or what we will do for school. Those things are trivial and pale next to the life of another. “God reveal yourself to her, and let me love her with Your love and your heart. God show yourself and your love through my actions and speech.”

So, I hug a porcupine. It hurts so bad, yet I must not give up. I cry with the pain of it, but I hold on tighter. “God, thank you for your Spirit and safety, while I hug this beautiful creation, this wonderful child.”

God sent me to Romans 12 today… not just a part of it, but the whole chapter. It is another lesson in hugging a porcupine.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

When I hug a porcupine, it is nothing more than my reasonable service! I am a living sacrifice, albeit far from holy! To hug a porcupine you must sacrifice your own hurts, feelings, and pain to share God’s love with the person in need most, the un-lovable.

Romans 12 goes on to say, we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but to think accordingly to our measure of faith. God has given me the grace to hug porcupines and I am not to think about the hurts that I feel while I hug. Boy, this is a hard thing to do when the quills are puncturing my skin.

But let’s look further! God tells us in verses 4-8 that we are all one body and each member has a different purpose… and that each of us should perform our purpose in a very specific manner.  It is the last of verse 8 and through verse 13 that he tells us the manner in which we should fulfill our purpose:

“…let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.  Let love be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.”

Wow! First, I must hug the porcupine with simplicity! I don’t need to go through an elaborate escapade before the hug! You know what I mean:  “Oh Lord, give me strength, help me find a special porcupine handling outfit. I need to search to find the perfect pair of porcupine handling gloves. Oh, and if I can’t find them, I’ll create my own design and make them myself. They will be perfect. Padding in just the right places so that when I hug the porcupine my hands, arms and body won’t be hurt from the quills. Now, to look for just the right material to make my porcupine handling outfit…”

Oh, come on, you know you do this… it takes me 2 months to research the quills, materials, and the perfect design. Then it takes another 2 months to pull it all together and make it… by the time I’m done, the porcupine has moved on!  I have lost my opportunity to hug it and show it God’s love!

Then, I am to be diligent. Ugh! I have never been too good at that, at least not when I am doing something as painful as hugging a porcupine! It hurts. Continuing to cause myself to hurt is ridiculous! Right?! And now, God is asking me to diligently hurt myself? Nah, that can’t be right! Can it? Well, as hard as it is to believe, that is exactly what he is asking of me, to diligently hug a porcupine. He promised to give us the grace to be diligent and asked us to put others needs higher than our own. He will never ask you to do this without a reason and a purpose. Serve him with cheerfulness!

Speaking of cheerfulness, we are to be merciful with cheerfulness. Hugging a porcupine is an act of mercy and must be done with cheerfulness no matter how bad it might hurt. It will defeat the purpose of the mercy if you don’t do it with a cheerful heart. But let’s look more…

‘Love sincerely, hate evil and cleave to that which is good.’ We must love the porcupine with a pure heart. If there is evil, we must hate the evil, but not the porcupine. God made the porcupine and nothing God makes for good is evil (at least not the animals) but he can make what is meant for evil into good! I love the word ‘cleave’, I imagine someone hanging onto the trunk of a tree as tightly as possible to be safe when a tornado blows through. That’s how tight we should hold onto that which is good, as if our life depends on it!

Romans also lets us know to be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love and to honor and prefer one another over ourselves. I was thinking about showing kindness, love, attention to our porcupine friends. I’m sure many of us have had porcupine friends, invited them to dinner, even let them stay for a visit.

It’s one thing to love the porcupines, feed them and minister to them, but God, do I have to hug them? Now, you are asking too much, Lord… this is more than outside my comfort zone, this is masochistic! I can’t hug the porcupine! But, if I put the porcupine’s needs above my own, if I honor and prefer the porcupine over myself, then I must go farther than just feeding and ministering to them, I must hug them … I guess it will hurt a little, but the porcupine may not know God’s love without the hug.

As we hug the porcupines in our life, we must remember to not be lazy in the doing, keep our spirit zealous for serving the Lord in the special areas He has gifted us in. We must continue to rejoice in the hope that the Lord gives us and be patient as we hug the porcupine, even when the quills are painful. Most of all, we must remain constant in prayer. God is the only one that can heal the quill pricks on our skin and help us to keep hugging.

‘Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not… Recompense to no man evil for evil… Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink… Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.’ Sometimes the porcupine will hurt without knowing, other times he will shoot a quill your direction to keep you from touching him. You see, the porcupine doesn’t like to be hugged either. We are to continue to bless the porcupine with our love and hugs, even when he doesn’t think he wants it. Don’t give up and don’t hurt back. Feed him, give him something to drink, love him, and hug him.

Maybe the porcupines in your life are Christians, maybe they aren’t. Maybe they are teen age children, or members of your church. Maybe they are family members or friends. Maybe you are the porcupine right now (I know I have been in times past!)  Whoever the porcupines are in your life, love them, invite them in and if God says to do so, hug them! They must need it! God’s grace will keep safe you while you hug them and the rewards are worth more than life itself, they are worth eternal life!

 Keep hugging a porcupine!

All of us go through trials and tribulations. Our home has been going through a valley for almost 2 years now… in the midst of it all, Yah has been teaching and growing me in His faith and His Spirit. I just wanted to share a bit of a vision He gave me while I walk in this valley… it is a blessing or ‘jewel’ if you will, that I have treasured along this difficult walk that I would like to share with you… treasure it as I have.

It has been hard to see Yah’s mountain on the other side of this mucky valley… my muck boots keep getting stuck in the mire of Satan’s devastation. Daily I encounter a new area of quicksand and other obstacles. I was considering this one day and thinking about how it sounds when you pull your boot out of the mud and then place it down again…you know the sound. That’s how I feel as I walk this valley floor. I have told Abba so many times, “There better be a HUGE BLESSING at the other end of this valley, Lord!” Yet, as I looked far into the future I saw no end to the valley!

With each step and each day I get closer to the Father, closer to His blessings. I find that I can’t even lift my foot without His help. I am not able to lift my head to see the mountain in the distance without His help. Facing another day in this valley is devastating, yet He is with me without fail. I have to go to Him every morning, every day, every moment just to stand. I can only go on with Yah, not a single thought can manifest without His help. As I get closer to the Mountain from whence cometh my help; I am finally seeing the shadowy hint of a mountain in the far distance. Every so often, I see the Son’s light glimmer on something on the side of the mountain. The more I trust in Him, the stronger my faith gets, and the more clearly I see that the tiny sparkles on the side of the mountain are increasing in number and brilliance!

I am on a blessing treasure hunt as I walk the valley… I find small blessings, pearls of great price, hidden in the muck and mire throughout the valley floor. As I find one, I grasp it and hide it in my heart, admiring it often as I walk this difficult journey. I am so tired, I am dirty, I feel weary, yet I walk, thinking that I must be the only one out here. I find another tiny pearl. And another jewel, one that shines like a sapphire. I pick each precious blessing up, and admire what Yah has done, giving Him praise and honor. I cherish each blessing, not knowing when the next one will be found or if I will even notice while I sink into the muck with each step. It is hard to search for the jewels when you are busy looking at the muck!

I look again toward the mountain. More twinkling lights are visible now and the mountain is getting larger. What was once a vast flatland, is now giving way to the mountain. It’s shadow is getting closer. I think again of the blessing the Father has for me in this glimmering mountain looming in the horizon. I look at the muck and up again, between each step. Each time I look, I can see more and more glittering stars in the mountain. Suddenly, I feel elated! Yah reveals to me that He does not have a Huge Blessing on the other side of this valley, He has a Mountain of Blessings instead! The tiny blessings that I found along the way, make up the wholeness of the mountain in the distance. Abba does not have a huge blessing, but an abundance of blessings waiting for my arrival at the end of this adventure, at the end of this difficult valley walk. His promise to me is to do exceedingly abundantly above all I can ask or think. (Eph 3) All He asks of me is to stick close to His side and look for the flickers of blessings He sets out for me along the way to encourage and remind me that He is always there, I am never alone!

Keep looking for the treasure in the muck and watch for the glimmer of Yah’s light shinning on the mountain side in the distance! He has a mountain of blessings awaiting your arrival!

I pray that this encourages anyone else going through a valley and seeking the Father daily to make it through as much as it has encouraged me to live it and believe it!

Maybe this will be an important reminder for you, like it was for me. Don’t look back, only move forward.

I plowed the field, made rows, and planted the garden (read my word, studied, and built a good foundation) . I weeded every couple days to keep the weeds down so that the small plants could grow strong in the new beds (I prayed to the Father daily, confessed my sin, kept the feasts and the mitzvot). But then I was distracted by life and the things that needed my attention. They were important; taking care of grandpa, Shelly’s dr. appointments, errands, etc (distractions pull us away from reading the word regularly, spending quiet time with the Father, keeping the mitzvot and feasts, prayer, praise and worship). The weeds grew up and one day when I went out to see if the garden yielded any veggies, I found few veggies and lots of weeds (so the sin, left unchecked, had stifled me from producing fruit, I found myself being lax on mitzvot and feasts, prayer and no time to read my word).

In a war setting, soldiers can be distracted by the sights and sounds they hear and they will loose sight of the mission. In the army the soldiers must go through training that causes them to loose all of their senses and they must stay focused… so they hear loud music, prayers, sirens, sergeants yelling at them. They are in a black out situation where they have to secure rooms that they can’t see.This is the say way we have to be, our senses will be bombarded by the enemy, we have to remain focused no matter how we might feel or what our eyes and ears are experiencing. This will be a key lesson when we come into the end times!

The beginning of the Sixth month in the Hebrew calendar is at hand. The Babylonian name is Elul. It is during this Sixth month that we solemnly search within ourselves for sin in preparation for the upcoming Day of Atonement. It is believed that it is during this 40 days (1st of Elul to the 10th of Tishri) Yeshua spent his 40 day fast in the wilderness. For those of you who ask the question what would Jesus do? Well, he would spend the next forty days in prayer and fasting to Yahweh. Let’s use His example to live by.

Jewish tradition holds that this is a solemn time to look inward, to seek the face of HaShem and ask him to reveal any hidden and unknown sins so that we might turn from those sins, repent (Teshuvah) and cleans ourselves in preparation for the upcoming High Holy Days. We must make compensation to others for sins against our brother and ask forgiveness. Daily, for the entire month, the Priests sound the trumpet at the evening (beginning of the new day) as a warning to return to Yah and repent. With warning it is implied that judgement is forthcoming. The Days of Awe (between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur) represent the days of Jacob’s troubles. In the month of Elul, we should remember that we must repent and prepare for the days of Jacob’s troubles that we might be protected during that time by the hand of the Almighty. Daily the Priests watched and waited for the next new moon, Yom Teruah, Feast of Trumpets, ‘the day that no man knoweth’. On Yom Teruah, the Priests would sound the trumpet 100 times to let everyone know it was the High Holy Days and the beginning of the 10 days of Awe. During the next 10 days, any sin you still hold in your heart must be dealt with, sifted if you will, before the Day of Atonement. I will discuss Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur later. Today, let’s look at this month of Elul.

Teshuvah, is from the Hebrew root ’shuv’, meaning to return, repent, turn from.  Let’s look deeper into this word. It is written tav-shin-vav-vet-hey. In the paleo or Hebrew word pictures tav=mark, shin=tooth, vav=nail, vet=house, hey=window. It is interesting that there are 2 /v/ sounds in the word that only has one /v/ sound when it is spoken. One significance of a vav in the midst of a word is that it is nailed, secured, just as our repentance in Yah is secured by a nail that hung him from a tree. This is a common significance throughout the Torah. Looking at the whole word from the paleo perspective we have tav=ownership, to seal, make a covenant, join together, mark or sign. Shin=to devour, to consume, to destroy, something sharp. Vav=to join together (hook), make secure (nail), bound to. Vet (bet)=house or building, tent, a body of someone or something, family or household, inside or within, amid. Hey=window, to show, to reveal, to see or look. Wow! What a revelation! Putting these together…

Make a covenant, come together, joined together and secure, bound to (vav, significance of Yeshua) and reveal what is inside to destroy and devour (sin) - Repentance!

Let’s spend this month of Elul returning to the face of Yah asking him to covenant with us and reveal what is inside and destroy the sin, that we might enter the High Holy Days as a spotless bride, and gain protection from tribulation that will sift us as wheat before Yah’s return.

Shalom Aleichem!

Before I answer this question, let’s look at some things we must conquer in our walk with the Father:

Destroy 7 Nations

Deu 7:1-6 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

So first we are to utterly destroy the 7 nations and not take mercy or they will turn the people away from Yahweh. Let’s take a look at what the names of those nations mean and what we are to fight against when we become believers.

Nations to overcome:

Hittites (Strongs H2845) means terror, fear

We must first destroy fear. Fear stifles us from moving forward and will keep us from conquering any of the other nations that come against us. The enemy uses fear as his first line of defense against us. If the adversary can keep us paralyzed in fear, we will not move and cannot be used. The Father has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. 2 Tim 4:7

Girgashites (Brown-Driver-Briggs) means a dwelling on clayey soil, weak foundation

Second, we must build a firm foundation, built on the solid Rock, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Torah, the Word made Flesh! The adversary’s second line of defense is to deceive us a set us on a brittle foundation. He knows that if our foundation is weak, we will not be able to stand in rough times. Mat 7:26

Amorites (BDB) a sayer, boaster (Strongs H567) publicity, prominence

Amorites were a prideful people. Our third step in our walk must be to overcome pride, boasting, self-importance, seeking attention and recognition. This is one of the biggest tools the enemy uses and loves to use it on believers! Human nature says, ‘I am right’. So pride will easily besets us if we are not watchful and consider the workings of the enemy. Pride comes before a destruction. Prov. 16:18

Canaanites (Strongs H3669) humiliated

We must overcome humiliation, debasement, feelings of lack of worth. The adversary will cause you to stop trying by telling you that you are not worthy, capable, nor smart enough to do what the Father is asking of you. He will say that the path before you is too difficult, too big, too everything for you to overcome or complete. He will bring you down and stifle you by making you feel hopeless and helpless, not worthy to fulfill your mission. But the Father, creator of all things says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made! Ps 139:14

Perizzites (Strongs H6522) a breach in the wall of a village

We must overcome the breaches in our wall, the breach of our promise to Yahweh to walk in His way, His commands, His right rulings. The enemy will distract us with small fires, busy-ness, activity, worries. These open breaches in the walls, get us off the path, entice us to other places. We must be ‘repairers of the breach’ and ‘restorers of the paths’. Isa 58:12

Hivites (Strongs H2340) dwellers of the high places, their capitol was on Mt. Ba’al Hermon (Strongs H1179) which means lord of destruction!

We must tear down the high places in our lives, idols, images, pagan symbols, false mighty ones, sports, tv, entertainment, video games, computers, ______ (you fill in the blank). The enemy loves to get us to put other things before our Father! He encourages us to be work-aholics, computer-holics, in love with self, in love with our family more than we love the Creator of all things! We are to fight against the principalities and powers in high places! Eph 6:12

Jebusites (Strongs H2982) trodden down, threshing, desecrate, utterly reject (Greek form tribulum, where we get the word tribulation)

Finally, cast down rebellion. Once we have conquered the first 6, we must utterly destroy rebellion and its affects: destruction, division, evil toward one another, disputings, witchcraft, tribulation. We need to watch the adversary’s suggestions of rebellion, they are subtle and start out small, creeping in like a small bit of leaven in the air attaching itself to us and growing without our knowledge! It is our responsibility to clear out the leaven regularly so our soul will not be ‘cut off’. Just as the people were to clean the leaven from their houses before the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, we are to clean the leaven out of our lives daily and fill ourselves with the Father’s Word. Exo 12:15

So these different ‘nations’ must be destroyed completely from our lives. Yah gives us a warning.

Deu 7:21 Thou shalt not be frightened at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.

And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

So these changes in our lives, these strongholds, if you will, will not be overcome at once, but gradually, lest the enemy multiplies and comes upon us all at once. Remember if we clean the house and do not refill it, a worse situation will be for that person.(Luk 11:21-26) Father will reveal the enemy to us gradually, we will overcome each ‘nation’ one by one, and refill, regroup, and prepare for the next battle.

Over and over in these passages in Deuteronomy 7-11 we witness Moses’ call to be obedient, to

hear and obey (Sh’ma). Well, as we fight the enemies Yah places before us we must be able to hear Him so that we can obey Him. 1 Kings 19 tells us how to hear the Father. He is the still small voice. But our original question was, ‘What has Yahweh asked of you?’ How can you know the answer if you don’t hear His voice? Now, how do we do this? Well, first of all we start by yielding ourselves completely to Him in all parts of our lives (those steps we discussed above) As we work on each step and listen for the still small voice, seek His face and fill up with His Word, we will begin to hear.

So now let’s look at the answer to the question:

Deu 10:12-21 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. (emphasis is mine)

We can sum all these words into two words Hear and Obey, or better yet, one word, ‘Shema’. The ultimate promise to us through the Torah Portion this week is that if we Hear and Obey, we will be given the blessings, we will be protected, we will flourish when all else is destroyed.

So, what does the Father ask of us? Only that we Hear and Obey… My question to you is this…

Do you Hear?