3.15.26 – Limiting Beliefs: The Leaven of Passover

The three-day NLP training is finished. Wow! The unknown can be pretty scary. We are comfortable where we are because that is what we have always done. Hence, because we have always done it that way, it must be right. Right? However, with the twelve techniques we learned with Chuck Hendrix, I have to say, "Wow" backwards (that spells "wow" :-). I have a lot to keep working on in my mind, that is for certain :-), but now I have some incredibly simple tools to rid the limiting beliefs and release the potential. What an amazing "drink from a fire hose"—the three-day functional NLP clinic. Thank You, Father!

Looking ahead and coming soon to a "theater" near each of us is the celebration of Passover—our deliverance from bondage in Egypt (Ex. 12). With that celebration of the firstborn—delivered out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb (Ex. 4:22; 13:15; 1 Cor. 5:7; John 1:29)—comes the opportunity to remember this blessed occasion by physically removing "leaven" (chametz), those limiting beliefs, out of your houses (Ex. 12:15, 19; 13:7). This physical action of searching your house provides an opportunity for the Spirit to search our spiritual house, our bodies, to help us rid those types of activities that corrupt the bread of our lives (1 Cor. 5:6–8). This is very significant if our lives are to be an offering to the Lord (Rom. 12:1–2; Eph. 5:1–2), since no leaven was ever allowed on a sacrifice that was to be burned (Lev. 2:11).

Many ask, "What is the leaven (chametz) anyway?" Is it just the doctrine of the Pharisees (hypocrisy, Matt. 16:6) and Sadducees (no angels, Spirit, or resurrection, Luke 12:1)? The Herodians (dependence on governmental systems, Mark 8:15)? Is it just a fancy word for the yeast we put into bread to make it rise over an extended period of time? What exactly is it? Inquiring minds want to know :-)

As we head into the Lord's Spring Feast (chagim) season (Gen. 1:14; Lev. 23), with the desire to live our lives unleavened, our minds could quickly come back to our Torah portion from this past weekend, where the children of Israel did exactly as Moses commanded (Ex. 40:19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32) until Moses was finished assembling all the pieces (Ex. 40:33), leading to the shekinah glory of the Lord filling the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34).

This week we will start studying the book of Leviticus (Vayikra – "and He called") and the six functional ways we can draw near (karav) to the glory of the Lord (Lev. 1–5). In Leviticus 10:12, Aaron and his surviving sons were told by Moses to eat the commanded (mitzvah) grain offering without leaven (matzot) beside the altar, because the altar (the most holy, kadosh kedoshim)—and whoever comes in contact with it—will be holy (Ex. 29:37). Within this grain offering, there is a play on the two words of the law (mitzvah) of the grain offering and unleavened bread (matzah). Do you see the similarities? What is the meaning of this word play?

"And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left: 'Take the grain offering that remains of the offerings made by fire to the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, for it is most holy.'"
(Lev. 10:12)

The longer a commandment (mitzvah) is delayed (like the leavening process), the more likely there will be an interference in performing it. A procrastinator who knows what to do and how to do it is allowing the commandment to become sour with each passing hour or day (cp. Ex. 24:7; James 4:17). Some personal desire or benefit must be set aside in order to perform it. The good news is that doing it will reconcile the inner war (Gal. 5:16–17); so the faster, the better.

By eating the quick bread—matzah—the priests demonstrate to Israel the quality of "most" holiness in sacrifice: performing the commandment quickly. The commandment is holy!

Like Paul, we can all identify with this battle between the flesh and the Spirit (Ruach) (Rom. 7:14–25). The flesh (sarx / basar) has a life force (nefesh) working in it (Lev. 17:11). It drives human appetites, emotions, desires, and our intellectual pursuits, which produce our limiting beliefs.

The Spring Feast season is preparation for that future day when we will be echad (one) with our Bridegroom King! Do it quickly (Ex. 24:7)!

Chag Sameach (Happy Feasting)!

Shalom,
Alan

A 6-minute video: "It Is Finished" Is Still in the Workings of the Making of the Bride

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4.4.26 ~ Can You Count to Three?

Image
Today, Saturday 4/4/26, many will celebrate the day that Yeshua was visibly seen risen from the grave (John 20:1; Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–10)! The day after His resurrection, Yeshua would be out ministering to the doubts of His disciples, helping them realize that He is alive and that the purpose of His resurrection would be catalyzed by their lives. For the disciples closest to Yeshua and those who stood at a safe distance away, it was a time of doubt. The enemy was in hot pursuit. They were fearful for their lives, but just at the God-appointed time, their salvation appeared.  Does that sound vaguely familiar? It should. Earlier this week, on the day after Passover—the 15th of the first month—the natural-born Israelites and those who joined them through the blood of the Lamb exited Egypt and headed toward the sea. In just a few days, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pharaoh would not be happy that he let the Israelites go; he felt betrayed, and he was hot (Ex. 14:5–9). Mose...
Read more

3.20.25

Good morning! Yesterday, we learned some essential truths about how to 'be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). Today, I want to ask you a different question based on life's ability to throw a wide variety of circumstances at us!  One of the most difficult situations is when we are threatened by someone or some circumstance. Have you ever been threatened?  Oh, maybe no one came up to you with a gun, or shouted at you with malice, or told you that you were going to be tortured or punished.  Maybe all the threat you ever had was the innuendo of rejection, or the social snub or something much less violent than jail time.  But my guess is that if you are traveling the road with Yeshua, living a Torah lifestyle, you know what it means to be threatened. Every time the circumstances of your life look as though they are about to cave in, you are threatened.  It might not be a threat from a physical enemy, then again...but we all know that in one form or another t...
Read more

3.22.25

Good morning! Shabbat shalom! Although the portion of Vayakhel/and he assembled is almost entirely focused on the construction of the tabernacle, it begins by reminding the children of Israel that no work may be done on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2,3). Why does it begin here rather than jumping right into how to construct the Tabernacle? Enquiring minds want to know :-) By placing the topic of the Sabbath against the construction of the Tabernacle it's God's way of defining the boundaries of the Sabbath...that even the most intimate work for the Lord needs to be put aside for His 'Date Day'. However, upon further investigation, there’s another layer to understand that connects us back to the golden calf (Ex. 32). As we know, while Moses was up on the mount getting the instructions from God the children of Israel decided to make an object that would replace Moses, their deliverer; The object, later known as the golden calf, originally intended as a 'necessary' means to ...
Read more