Torah
Parashah - Sh’mini = Eighth day
Wayiqra
(Leviticus) 9:1-11:47 RSTNE p 86
“If
I only had a map…”
Torah
Parashah
- Sh’mini = Eighth day
Wayiqra
(Leviticus) 9:1-11:47 RSTNE p 86
The
Priestly Service Begins
- Make keporah (blood atonement or
atonement, sin covering) -Killed the calf a put blood
on the altar, burn fat, kidneys and liver on altar, and
burn hide outside the
camp. Also part of it - breasts and
right thigh became a wave offering.
22- Aharon lifted up his hand
toward the people, and blessed them, and are down from the sin offering and he
burnt offering and the sin offering and the shalom offerings.
10:1 - Son’s of
Aharon decided to each get a censor and put fire and incense on it … and
offered “strange fire before YHUH, which He commanded them not.”
10:2 And there went out fire from YHUH, and
devoured them, and they died before YHUH.
And
YHUH basically says - don’t mourn for them…“but let the whole house of
Yisra’el, mourn the burning which YHUH has lit.”
And
Moshe gives Aharon and El-Azar and the rests of the remaining priests -
instructions on offerings and the eating of offerings…
Wayiqra
11
- “These are the living creatures that
you shall eat…”
3 Whatever splits the hoof, and is
cloven-footed, and chews the cud - eat
Not eat:
- chew the cud, but divides
not the hoof = unclean
camel, rabbit, hare, pig
Water:
Eat - what has fins
AND scales
(We recently ate at a restaurant that brought out nice hot fresh bread
with a caviar dip… So we were trying to decide if the caviar was okay… but the
sturgeon fish that caviar comes, does not have scales. We graciously sent it back to the kitchen and
asked for butter. - You have to pay attention!)
Air:
Not eat:
eagle, vulture, black vulture, hawk,
falcon, raven, ostrich, nighthawk, and seagull, little owl, fisher owl and
great owl, swan, pelican, bat, stork, heron, hoopoe
flying insects, creeping upon all
fours, weasel, mouse, and frog, porcupine, land lizard, snail, moles, every
creeping things, and whatever goes upon its belly (snake, worms)
CAN eat - flying creeping things that
goes upon all fours, which have legs above their feet, to leap with - locust,
bald locust, battle, grasshopper.
And
whatever touches these “not eat” / unclean things when they are dead is not
clean until evening.
If
a not clean bug ends up in a clay pot - destroy the pot…
Wayiqra
11:44-47
p 88
If
I only had a map….
So
those what to eat and not eat directions are pretty good directions… they are
clear…they don’t leave any room for guessing, wondering, or
misunderstanding… just “black and
white” as they say….
What
about directions for how to live the whole of our lives? (Not just what is okay and not okay to eat.)
But
don’t you sometimes feel like …
“If I only had a map…”
You
know, - CLEAR directions … then, then,
for sure THEN I would do them… I’d follow them…
I’d
listen then YHUH, but well, there is so much confusion….
I’ve
found myself often referring people to Joyce Meyer’s book The Battlefield of
the Mind. She does a great job at teaching that it is
about what you are thinking…
and
reading it helps re-set the way we think.
When
I ask people to read it- the typical response is “I didn’t know….”
And
yes, that is a statement we have used many many times…. “I didn’t know.”
For
us - whom have crossed over (Ivrim/
Hebrew)
We
have a much clearer understanding of the map/Instructions - than we used to
have in the Christian church.
BUT
STILL….
Do
you know how what the instructions mean day to day regarding how you THINK/RESPOND to situations around you?
D’barim
(Deuteronomy) 30:1-20
p 161
(verses
11-15)
It’s
not hidden from you.
It’s
not in the shamayim (heavens)
It’s
not beyond the sea
“It
is very near you - in your mouth and in your heart, and in your hand.”
So
I want you to think of a situation that has been a challenge this week…
Maybe a semi driver cut you off…
Maybe your house flooded…
Maybe you have emotional or physical
pain.
Maybe you had loss recently.
Maybe someone did something or said
something that was hurtful…
How
did you handle it? What
was the first thing you thought? Did
you choose life?
Does
that question - Did you choose life? - make sense to you?
What
if we could fix what happens?
We
all have habits of response…ways
we automatically respond when things “trigger us” when something is hurtful, or scary,
or “too difficult” or too scary, or disappointing, etc…
The
trigger happens… and that is just a switch… that turns on the habit-response
and it is off to the races (so to speak)…
Recently
in the study of homeopathy… I am learning that every physical problem - is a
symptom of an emotional injury. Which
goes along with Dr. Caroline Leaf’s statement that “98% of our illnesses are related to our thinking.” Wow.
What
is the deal with an “emotional injury”?
It
comes in the mess that triggers the negative cycle…
And
most of us practice it over and over again…
Map
of Negative Response:
A
SITUATION
—-> “THE 2 OFFER PLACE OF CHOICE”
(But most of us don’t see both.)
Most choose NEGATIVE thought here. —> The negative
thought that
starts
the spiral
down…—>
——> Negative
emotional responses:
No joy
Hopelessness —-> no trust for YHUH
Depression (inward anger)
Self-esteem TANKS ——> negative thoughts about world and ME.
MOTIVATION TANKS ——>
negative thoughts about YHUH
—-> Negative physical responses:
Fight
or Flight turned on
increased
cortisol
Stress
biochemistry
Decreased
ability to:
remember positive
communicate
have
motivation
Not
eating well
Not
sleeping well
Maybe
not exercising
Poor
self care
Outward
anger
Negative
choices like
addiction and
eating
disorders
Self
harm behaviors —->
Suicidal
ideation —->
Both
NEGATIVE emotional and physical
responses lead to ——>>>
FEAR
—-> anxiety —-> panic ——-> very poor decisions —->
———>
potential suicide/ death.
Yochanan
10:10
p 765
“The
thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they
might have chayim (life), and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Look
what all the thief destroys in the Map of Negative Response!
and
here’s the kicker - we just keep right on practicing it - over and over again …
because THAT is what we know.
Also
– what is this? - This is Idolatry….
We
probably don’t even know that there is another response!
There’s
another response?!
Map
of Positive Response:
A
SITUATION
—-> “THE 2 OFFER PLACE OF CHOICE”
Deep exhale and prayer… —>
The positive
thought that
starts
the spiral
UP…—>
——> Positive emotional responses:
Joy
Hope —->
trust for YHUH
Self-esteem improves——> positive
thoughts about world and ME.
MOTIVATION increases
——> confidence in YHUH
—->
Positive physical responses:
Physical
REST in YHUH
Calm,
positive biochemistry
Increased
ability to:
remember positive
communicate
have
motivation
Eating
well
Sleeping
well
Exercise
Improved
self care
Outward
joy and gratitude
Positive
choices
Self
health behaviors—->
Thinking
based on LIFE —->
Both
POSITIVE emotional and physical
responses lead to ——>>>
TRUST and security —-> calm assurance —-> SHALOM
——->
—->
very good decisions —->
———>
Abundant LIFE in YHUH.
Yochanan
10:10
p 765
“The
thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they
might have chayim (life), and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Yahusha
said - “I am come that they might have chayim (life), and that they might have
it more abundantly.”
Luka
5:27-32 p 731
27 “Follow Me.”
31“And Yahusha answering them said to them,
They that are whole need not a physician;
but they that are sick.
32
I came not to call the tzadikim, but sinners to teshuvah.”
What
is teshuvah?
Repenting and returning.
How can you return without some sort
of map??!!
Yahusha
was/is that direction or map.
Yahusha
and His instructions.
Yahusha
is YHUH come to earth…
What
are His instructions?
The
Torah
Sh’ma
Yisra’el
Amein
