SEASONS - RANDOM THOUGHTS DURING THE SPRING HOLY DAYS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Another Passover has happened, and we are approaching the end of the Seven Days of Unleavend Bread.  Again, as I have done for the last 25 years; I observed the days by honoring God in my home.    God has shown me so much in these past few days.

What has God shown you this year?  Is God speaking to your heart of new and different things?

I have found each time I observe the Holy Days God speaks to me in new and different ways, showing me things I’ve never seen before.  That is exciting to me!  I don’t know why I’m always surprised to find this out. 

There were several things that happened this year during the times of observance that felt different and new and unordinary to me.  I suppose the main thing I noticed is how much we didn’t miss using the regular bread this year.  We have taken extra steps all year long to improve our health and one of those steps was to almost eliminate bread from our diet.  So this year when I made sandwiches on flat unleavened pita bread, and left out the rolls for dinner, and forgot the biscuits for breakfast, and brought out the Matzoh tray with every meal; it did not feel like we were giving anything up.  It just felt good and nutritious.  I’m hoping that the spiritual symbolism of this is also true! 

The whole point of leaving out the things with leaven in them is to be symbolic of learning to live without sin.  Hopefully, we are sinning less and less and instead focusing our spirits toward God’s will more and more.  I realize men cannot quit sin without God’s help and anything that we do is only because it is God working through us.  I’ll take that accomplishment!  Come Lord Jesus and do your work in me!

CHOCOLATE COVERED MATZOH

I guess I’m trying to say I feel like God is working through our lives more and more these days, and the things of the world are becoming less and less important.  Focusing on the meanings of these holy days helps me to put the things of the world into the right 

perspective.  Thinking of how Jesus made atonement for us by giving his life like an early first fruits offering has set the stage to remind me that once Jesus was resurrected from the grave we all had new and different lives!  What a joyful reminder.  Once the Resurrection proved the power of God to bring new life, it really became easier for all of us to put the things of sin and the world aside because of the resurrection power of Jesus residing in our souls.  He makes all good things possible for us.  What a difference a Resurrected Messiah makes!  Nothing is the same again; all things are made new!

So no wonder we are continuing to eat the unleavened bread for seven days, it is so symbolic of how Jesus has given us the power to clean up our lives and help us to live in God’s will and BE His people.   Why would we be eating the leaven so symbolic of sin right after our risen Savior has proved the power of God for everlasting life?  The unleavened bread seems so appropriate as we remember.

Besides seeing the everyday evidence of so much symbolism as we progressed through these days, I have also enjoyed the delightful taste and the constant feeding of the unleavened bread.  I found myself looking forward to consuming it, even craving it.  This was a pretty new concept, compared to many years gone by.  In the past I have dreaded having to substitute the leavened bread for eating purposes.  This year I have craved doing this.  I hope it is a physical example of how I more and more crave Christ in my days instead of the old life of sin.  The things of God are more delicious to me and the things I used to desire, I no longer crave.  This feels good and hopeful and it would have been harder to really grasp or understand if I had not actually carried out the observance or gone through the days as God commanded.  By adding these commandments of God into our lives, we have received more blessings, over and above what we would normally receive.  They come in little small ways, and in simple everyday messages of profound truth.  It is God’s Spirit seeping into the dark places, bringing the light that makes us wake up again and remember to start living and be joyful.  It is just as important to put the things of God into your days as to take the things of the world out of your days.

CHILDREN'S SEDER (FOR TEACHING TODDLERS ABOUT PASSOVER)

Last year I decided that my early first fruits offerings to God had to be more personal.  I gave to Him my greatest talent, my writing.  I felt like I was giving God back an old present that He had given to me long ago.  By giving it back to God  I do not mean I gave up my writing for God; I mean that I devoted myself to using my writing for God’s glory.  This past year God has blessed that offering in tremendous ways.  I have seen my offering returned to me over and over again, not so much in a financial manner, but in a feeling that the writing is finally being used in a fruitful way.  I feel like my writing is finally becoming an open window that people can enter to see more of God and the things of God’s Kingdom.  That has been the desire of my heart.  That was what I intended with my offering, and God has blessed this.  Looking back after the first year of being offered up to be poured out like a drink offering; I feel He will continue to bless it. 

This year my offering has been to take better care of my physical body because I know it is the temple of God and it is the place where God resides inside of me.  It is so easy to get distracted with day to day living and forget that you are living in a temple.  My temple needed attention.  It had been neglected.  God showed me this, and I have responded.  Immediately after I made this offering to God on Early First Fruits, God began to show me new things.  He is teaching me how to remove the bad and replace it with the good.  Just like boards rot and windows break and we see them so often that we forget to notice, our souls and our bodies need repair and upkeep.  I feel like I’m being coached by the coach of all coaches, and every day I realize something new in relation to maintaining good health and keeping this Temple of The Holy Spirit clean. 

THIS YEAR WE ENJOYED THE SEVEN DAYS OF UNLEAVENED
 BREAD BY EATING OUTSIDE A LOT.

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that if I had not kept the holy days and not observed Passover, Early First Fruits and The Days of Unleavened Bread as God has commanded, my life would not be as whole or as good, and I would not be so content or so excited about the days to come.  I would still KNOW God, but the KNOWING would not be as much and our relationship would not be as deep.  I continue to recognize this as I count the days after First Fruits up to Pentecost.  The ancients call this “counting the omer.”  I have a friend who thinks it should be phrased as “counting the weeks” (there are 7 Sabbaths in the count up to Pentecost that are mentioned in the scriptures, and it is true we are told to count them as weeks, not the physical omer itself; if you want to get technical) because the Omer is an object of measurement, not time.  I can see a little beyond that though, in that if you actually think of the grain that was contained in the Omer when the sacrifice was brought and offered up to God and discern that our days offered up to God are symbolically like those little pieces of grain.  God takes them and uses them a little at a time.  An accumulation of our times is eventually measured out just as the grain.  It is saying that all the little things we do make up the big picture to God.  Each day builds onto the next and the next and the next and your measure of grain (your first fruits) will come together for a beautiful spiritual harvest in the end, once another ingredient is added – God’s Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  

All of man’s efforts would be a waste of time without God being a part of them.  

Observing Passover, Early Frist Fruits and Unleavened Bread without counting up to and observing Pentecost would be like mixing all the ingredients of a cake together, setting it on the counter and watching it, but not adding any milk or putting the mix in the oven.  Your cake would never get baked, because you would be missing a vital part that makes it work – God’s Holy Spirit, which is given at Pentecost. 

It is pondering these things that brings me joy!  I have so many friends that are feeling sad about growing old.  I’m just not feeling that way; though I am getting on up in years, I am feeling God coming closer and closer.  I am feeling anticipation for what He will do next in my life, in my home, in my marriage, in my family, in my work.  I don’t think I would be feeling the same way if I had ignored God’s Holy Days all year and said they are old antiquated days made only for the Jews and not for me.  It simply isn’t true and the proof to me is the way God reveals so much life to me in the observance of them. 

LOVE THINKING ABOUT THE CHESED ATTRIBUTES OF GOD'S PERSONALITY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF COUNTING THE OMER.  I TRY TO KEEP REMINDERS ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

So before I ramble even more, I will end this time of pondering.  But first; I would like to encourage everyone everywhere to pick up your bibles and study Leviticus 23 and learn how to observe God’s Holy Days.  Don’t listen to all the Pharisees out there who will give you their legal list of rules.  Just study God’s word and apply what He shows you.  He will lead you.  As long as you are focused on worshiping God, you will not make unrepairable mistakes.  God looks at the intentions of your heart, not the rules and regulations and technicalities.  You will be blessed, I promise.