I prayed before I read

It is amazing how quickly I dry out if I don't go back to my first love towards God. "A little later" becomes too familiar and pretty soon I feel like I am okay without my time with the LORD and my in-depth word study. I must be deceived!!! The study session time alone with God is my fun time and God tickles my heart, but I was a little concerned that I may look crazy to spend time in my closet - literally I turned one tiny closet into my room where I leave the Bible or other study materials open on the desk(board). Then my friend's words encouraged me. She seems to think that God is actually guiding me into this place of studying the word of God! She is a wonderful woman of God, so I trusted her words. Her words freed me. Wait for me, my closet, here I come!

My friends from my Scripture-memorizing group used to tell me that if we were stuck in one spot and couldn't go on while we were trying to memorize a certain section of the Bible, then God is trying to say something to us. Well, I was not memorizing Leviticus. I was just reading chapter 16 over and over because I was stuck there somehow. Then I remember to pray before dealing with God's precious words. It is God's words. My flesh alone cannot understand God's way. I am thankful God reminded me...again.

So...

In my closet I said a little prayer before I started with Leviticus chapter 16, and started writing down some meanings of the original words, using the Strong's numbers and dictionary. Ohh... wow... I didn't know the Hebrew word for the ark was "ארון (arown) ". It sounds like Moses' brother's name "Aaron"!

אהרון (Aharown) - Aaron's name
ארון (arown) - ark, box, chest...Ark of Covenant

The difference between Aaron and ark is the letter "H" just like Abram's and Sarai's names.

Abram + H = Abraham
Sarai + H = Sarah

Aaron is in the line of Levis. His name is an ark plus "H". I think I wrote about the letter H which I learned from Hebrew For Christians (www.hebrew4christians.com). Letter H in Hebrew indicates the presence of God. So if I can still apply this to Aaron's name, then...

ark + God's presence = Aaron, the Levi, the priest

Isn't it a perfect name for him!

Just wondering...

I was researching a certain topic and encountered with many different people's blogs and websites. Since I started to be interested in the original language, my eyes have been opened to see more people's websites with this topic. I feel like I am often changing my course of how I understand the word of God. Most recent change is from 'from Jewish point of view' to 'from the ancient Hebraic point of view.'

Why? I will write one example. If some animals are unclean to eat, I would think that it would be not-kosher. Kosher means ritually pure, fit, permissible, etc... If the Biblical unclean animals can be made permissible to eat by making it kosher somehow, would it become permissible because of the culture that developed over the long period of time? Can you really do that???
Then I realized how a pig was valued in the Leviticus days are very different in the 21st century. If I study the modern Jewish culture, it may not give me the accurate explanation of the Bible.

For example...
Right after I started to be familiar with some Hebrew words, I learned that the word 'Abba' was not Hebrew! It is Aramaic. But I heard some preachers (who studied Hebrew) say that it is Hebrew. Some people say that they heard little Jewish children say 'Abba' when they want their dad. I set this research aside for awhile because I didn't know what to think of it. Then I encountered with one website saying that the word 'Abba' used to be only in Aramaic, but in modern Hebrew language it is used as 'dad.' A-ha! Languages evolve. So if we learn from the modern Jewish culture, it may not give me the original meaning and intention.

So I thought that I need to go back to the original time and read the Bible through the ancient Hebraic point of view, and not form the modern Jewish point of view or from our own eyes in this time of the history in order to understand our God more. The Lord Jesus is for all of us who believe. I believe that. I am just curious to know more.

"But the Scriptures point to me! " says Jesus

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! " John 5:39 (New Living Translation)

This scripture comes to my mind when I use my Torah pointer to read the Bible. Yes, it is called a Torah Pointer. I bought one for myself when I first started to be drawn to the Jewish culture woven into the scriptures. It was always my habit to follow the words using the back of a pen when I read the Bible. Then one day I happened to see a picture of a Jewish girl reading the Torah with something in her hand! It has a little hand and the index finger is pointing. I was so excited and did some research and found out what it was. Now I have one, and I like it a lot.

Easter is approaching. I amuse myself by reading Leviticus with this Torah pointer and think of what Jesus said.

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!"

I wonder if there were any word-plays in the original text in this verse. Jesus was talking to the people who used the Torah pointer... Using the Torah pointer, especially when I read Leviticus, makes me ask myself to see if I am really reading the Bible as the living word or not.

Holy Spirit, speak to us today!

seder plate

Once my former employer took the girls from the office to Color Me Mine , which is a paint-your-own ceramic place, for our Christmas fun night and I happened to find this plate! I got excited and chose to paint this one. I was not very creative, and I wanted to stick with the plain dark blue color so it turned out to be like this. I like it a lot.






A few years ago before Passover I went back there by myself (because no one was available to go with me) and painted two more. I gave them to two of my friends who went to the Messianic church. It took me over two hours to finish! It was fun. Painting the plates and thinking about Jesus, the Bible, the Jewish people, and the Christian lives was a very happy time.