Armor UP, Warrior

Torah Parashah: Tazria-Metzora

Leviticus 12:1 – 15:33

Armor UP, Warrior

Tazria – Laws of Purity and Impurity.

This parshah starts with laws for new mothers… in regard to niddah and considered impure (tamei) regarding the sanctuary for 40 days of a boy and 80 days if a girl. 

It goes on and talks about tzara’at – that caused the affected person (or thing) to be impure (tamei) and in a state of uncleanness (tumah).  It is not to be identified as LEPROSY – since it was about a person’s skin AND clothes, pottery vessels, and the house.

Metzora: Cleansing of the Leper

If someone was diagnosed with tzara’at (“leprosy”) they were forced to leave the community…  had to cover his face and cry out…

Then it talks about laws for cleansing the lepers.

 

This always reminds me of some of my favorite scriptures:

Yechezkel/ Ezekiel 22:26

“Her kohanim have violate My Torah, and have profaned My Kadosh things: they have put no difference between the kadosh and profane, neither have they shown any difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Shabbats, and I am profaned among them.”

To me, this parashah is about cleaning things up in our lives…

So let’s start that process.

Last Shabbat I sent you homework:

            (These questions come from “Blessed and Unstoppable” by Bill Alsbrooks, and also myself.)

Start to think/pray about these things for your life and profession.

 

1.       What is your vision?

Vision = What a person wants to be.  It paints a powerful and inspiring picture of what the future will look like.

 

2.      What is your mission?

Mission = Why a person exists in the first place.  It should be a clear and concise statement short enough to fit on a T-shirt.

 

3.      What are your Core Values?

Core Values = What a person stands for.

 

4.      What is your slogan?

Slogan= A catchy phrase that effectively describes a person.  It’s a strong tag line that articulates a brief representation of you and makes you more memorable.

 

5.      What are your Long-Term Aspirations?

Long-Term Aspirations = a person’s top outcomes desired for years to come.  It’s more than just goals.  It’s the consequences, results and after effects of actually achieving them.

This might have been very difficult.

 

CORE VALUES

1.       What are your top 7 core values?

2.      What word best describes who I am at my core?

3.      What value do I want to most represent to others?

4.      What are the principles that I most admire in others

5.      What is my life going to look like when I consistently live through my core values?

10.What kind of character do I look for in my friends and associates?

11. What values do I want my friends/ spouse/ children to have?

 

Self-Assessment Questions:

1.      What do I desire most in my life?

2.      Who do I really want to be?

3.      How do I define true success?

4.      What do I want my body to look and feel like?

5.      What kind of marriage/ friend relationships do I have?

6.      What do I want to accomplish in the future?

7.      How can I make the biggest impact with my life?

8.      What would make me feel most alive inside?

9.      What kind of personal relationships am I looking for?

10.How do I want the world to see me?

11. Are my dreams and desires in line with Yah’s Word?

12.What does success really feel like?

13. How can I make the image of my future more vivid and clear in my mind.

16. What area of my life currently has the most clarity?

17.What area of my life has the least?

 

More Self-Assessment Questions?

1.      What makes me feel alive on the inside?

2.      What really sparks my creativity?

3.      What job or profession would I be willing to do whether I got paid or not?

4.      What are some of my favorite topics of conversation?

5.      What was the last thing I can remember doing that I totally lost track of time?

6.      If money wasn’t an issue, what profession or cause, would I get involved in?

7.      What’s my favorite section in the bookstore?

8.      If I could do one thing to change the world today. What would it be?

9.      What would be my top three dream jobs?

10.  If I could start my own business today, what would it be?

11.  What three skills do I posses that I love and enjoy to do?

12.What’s the worst thing that could happen if I pursued my passions full speed?

 

Even More Self-Assessment Questions:

1.      What does having faith really mean to me?

2.      What’s the difference between having real faith and just hoping something will happen?

3.      How will believing in who Yah says I am, change my life?

4.      Who do I know that most represents faith in their lives?

5.      Who are the biggest dream killers and doubters around me?

6.      How do I keep them out of my mind?

7.      Who are my biggest supporters?

8.      Do I fully believe in my heart, I can achieve my dreams?

10.What’s the body language of someone who really believes they can?

 

And finally, MORE…

1.      Are the words I am speaking in my day filled with faith, hope and love?

2.      Are my words aligned with the Word and who Yah says I am?

3.      Where in my life do I need to be and speak more positive?

4.      Am I declaring daily blessings of health and Yah’s Word over my loved ones and myself?

5.      What level of effort am I using to reach my goals?

6.      Am I pursuing the passions Yah has given me?

7.      How am I putting His Words in my heart?

8.      How am I guarding my heart?

9.      How am I guarding Yah’s Shabbat’s and commands?

10.How am I worshiping each day?

 

How are you working at being more of who Yahuah says you are?

 

**

Moshe – born a Hebrew, raised in the wealthiest home in the earth, had to go to the wilderness 40 years…

Abraham didn’t know where he was going…

And if we look at

B’re’shiyt/ Genesis 11:29-30

“And Avram and Nachor took wives: the name of Avram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nachor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Charan, the abba of Milcah, and the abba of Iscah.

30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

If you study this out –

Abram and his brother Nachor married their nieces… the daughters of their brother…

Abram was the oldest so he would have first pick.

Look at verse 30 – oddly just thrown in there

They would have known she was barren because they knew once a girl had her menses she went to the woman’s tent…

So Abram was supposed to have all these children… but he thought of others and chose the barren one.

King David had to figure out who he was… a shepherd boy who eventually became king.

Jehosheba -the daughter of King Jehoram, took the year old son of the King - Joash -And Hid him in the temple for six years… to save his life so at 7 he could become King. 

Luke 13:10-17 – The Bent Woman…

This woman was desperate. 

Bent – some translations say “bent in half”

Certainly, she was in a lot of pain.

This was Yahusha’s last recorded time teaching in the temple.

Since he was teaching – you can be sure – there wasn’t supposed to be any woman in that room he was teaching in.

But  -- she walked in any way!

It takes a lot of strength and courage to go where you are not welcome!

**

Acts 9:1-21  p 787

Shaul – who had the best teacher of his day, and was the best student…was blinded… and had to figure out who he was and what he was going to do…

Daniel – continued to be himself in a pagan land. His friends were thrown into a fire- and had to decide who they were…. Were they going to worship another god or stay true to yah? 

They had to know who they were.

 

~

 

 

**

I think there is something else…

Matthew 18:21-35  p 693

18:34

“And his Master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers, until he should pay all that was due to Him.”

 

I haven’t understood this for a long time. 

But recently I think I get it more.

I mean, - the “master” – delivering “him to the torturers until he could pay all that was due to him.”

How could someone repay what he owed while in prison.

I heard all sorts of things like – his family had to do it etc…

But that is not it.

 

I am listening to “The Secret of Lasting Forgiveness” by Bruce Wilkinson now.

And Pastor Wilkinson suggests people are in torture when we have unforgiveness. 

He is saying that Yah sends people with unforgiveness to the torturers until they figure it out. 

He tells a story – I think it was his great grandparents…

Great grandma had just mopped the floors. 

She was exhausted, but she did it. 

Her husband, Great grandpa, walked in from the field/barns… and got the floors all dirty.

Grandma had had enough.  She went upstairs … and from then on – they never spoke. 

This lasted 25 YEARS until Grandma died. 

They had to in the torturers. 

This had to be miserable!!

Unforgiveness stored in our hearts leads to bitterness and a cold, stone heart. 

These are some things you need to begin to work on….

Forgiveness:

1.       Make a list of everyone who has ever hurt you.

Another way to think about this is to think who you have locked in your heart’s prison.

2.      Think of everything they did to you.

3.       Ask Yahusha to help you let go of these things.