It Is Your Mother’s Torah

Learning to love the ancient paths

I remember the TV ads for the Oldsmobile. The executives decided to appeal to a new generation, so they penned the phrase, “It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile.”

What if you like dad’s car?

The assumption is that young people don’t like their parents, so they wouldn’t like to follow in their footsteps. It’s the plot of just about every so-called coming of age movie. “I don’t want dad’s job. I don’t want dad’s clothes (I want less clothes), his haircut, or even his religion.”

A fortress built on rebellion

There is strength within the walls of the castle. We have a story from Yeshua that debunks every “Footloose and Flashdance” of each generation. We call it “the prodigal son.” He wanted the cash, but nothing else. He didn’t want the fence, the roof, or the bed. What he found was mud and pig poop. He finally was able to see the comparison.

He opted for a taste of his dad’s life. He would rather have his dad’s leftovers than those of Miss Piggy.

Yet the smear campaign continues

The agents of the enemy know that it stinks out there in the wilderness, but they spin a tale of oasis. The wonderful truth is that our Father God will take us back and feast in our name. The angels even celebrate.

How do we stay in the blessing zone?

We follow our instructions that our loving parents give us. I speak of our Heavenly Father as well as our earthly parents (if they are, in fact feeding us scriptural guidance).

hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the Torah of your mother.”

Proverbs 1:8 KJVERV

Why should I listen to Mom’s Torah?

They are a gift, an award. Think “gold medal” in the Olympics. Holy bling for your head and neck. Close to the heart.

Moms rule.

I read a book about the history of the English language. I was fascinated to learn about a four hundred year reign of France over Britain. How did that happen and we still have a language called “English?”

In “The Adventure of English,” the author claims that mommy did it. That essentially, the moms taught the children generation after generation of occupation and the English language survived. While it now includes many French words, it eventually was capable of an amazing revival. I happen to speak English, even in my head.

Let’s keep the Torah close to our hearts. Not only that, it’s time we brag about it, knowing we didn’t make it. But we were given it by a Father who loves us. And we can gift it to our children.

As dads and moms, we have the power to hand the key to powerful understanding and blessings.

I may be tickled if my daughter has my nose or my particular taste in old movies, but…

The real reward is when we hand our children the grace and beauty found in God’s Holy instructions.

Long live the world’s most important warrior, who has proven stronger than kings and conquerors – The Torah wielding Mom.


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Introducing Torah Testimonies

Let’s be overcomers.

Once upon a time, I read a scripture and a voice inside said something like this, “How can that mean something other than what it says? How can I be expected to obey this scripture unless I do what it instructs?

The scripture: Matthew 5:17-19.

Do not think that I have come to change the law or the prophets. I have not come to change, but to fulfill [them].

For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one stroke will pass from the law until everything happens.

Therefore, whoever changes one [jot] of these small commandments (and will teach so to men) will be called little in the kingdom of heaven. But all who will do and teach this [law] will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17-19

That began my journey…

I asked myself, what if I started reading the “law” and implementing those instructions in my life? It might look weird, or feel weird, but would that be so bad? Would it take me away from God?

“Good Works”

God calls it “Good Works”

I want to do good deeds. Many Christians do, as well. I’m not alone in this…

And neither are you.

This article begins a new series on

Torah Testimonies

I posted for some volunteers for sharing their own testimony. I am in the process of gathering them and bringing them to you.

If you have been discouraged, if you have been shunned or derided by those who are close to you, listen to these testimonies. There are others who have made the choice to run to God instead of becoming lesser in His Kingdom.

Obeying the Father…

I had read the Bible from cover to cover several times and things weren’t adding up to me. There were too many instances where our Elohim said NOT to do certain things. Yet, in every mainstream Christian church I had attended, they did those things.

Learning to love Torah

I kept trying to find a church that actually taught what the Bible and Yeshua Jesus said, did, and taught. Finally, thinking that I was the only person on earth who could see these things, I stumbled across 119 ministries. I read many things on their website, watched a few videos, then discovered their fellowship finder map. I located a group near us and my husband, who was not all in agreement with me, and we went for a visit. After a few more visits and some very loving and kind people who gently explained the truth to my husband, he too finally came in board too.

Now, we live in north east Michigan and are obeying the Father. We have about 8 acres that we are hoping to be able to use for His glory and honor. We are clearing the land, planting fruit trees, putting in a garden and loving our Elohim.Nancy and Nick from Hawks Michigan.

Nancy and Nick from Hawks Michigan.

Thank you Nancy and Nick for taking the time to bless us with your story.


Do you have a Torah Testimony? Share it with our tiny but growing group of believers.

Torah Is Practicable

Why should we not care?

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

I John 2:29 ESV

We will know them by their fruit.

If we know a person who claims to be a follower of Jesus, you expect them to act differently – different from the world, the pagan.

Ask any atheist if we should follow God’s laws, he will say, “H#@* no!”

Then why spend our energy defending the idea that God’s laws were abolished or that they should be ignored? We can do His will. We can serve Him in this way. Here it is called practicing righteousness.

I used to think if I followed the laws (His Torah) that I was being like a pharisee. Since the Pharisees (many of them) were evil, I don’t want anything to do with that.

Listen, God is Not the author of evil. He is not the author of lies. He asks us to follow Jesus’ example, to follow His word. His Torah can transform out thoughts. But we have to relax our hard line against it as a body of Messiah.

We must know and make known that Messiah is our sacrifice. However, we must acknowledge His gift of Torah and Holy Ruach (breath) to guide our actions. This is our reasonable service. Our righteous deeds are evidence of our righteous new birth.

The one who does what is right (righteousness) is born of Him. The ones who seem to do otherwise, we can’t be so sure. We cannot bet our PBJ sandwich on the man who shuns God’s laws.

Clean your Temple.

Yes, as sinners, we can repent and be saved. But we must cleanse our Temple. Our bodies are that special place of God’s presence. Use the water of His word to wash and purify. Yes, it takes effort. It takes some work. We can’t save ourselves with works, but we can use real endeavors to do His will.

Speak it and live it at the same time.

The concept of literally making our disobedience an actual method of serving God sounds ludicrous. However, we often obey with our actions, yet speak against God’s holy Torah. I simply say, let’s be consistent and read further than our misrepresented scripture support for lawlessness.

In every role, we are expected to do the work.

As many of us are employed, we submit to our boss’s authority. Think of our Christian (Christ-like) life as our job, I’d you will. Think of our role as followers as one that has built in responsibilities. At work, as I am offered a duty such as the production of a short video, I wouldn’t look at my boss and say “nope.” I wouldn’t explain that it would be legalism to comply and it is best to reject the request. From cover to cover, God asks for us to do our duties and make the world a better place.

Prayer:

Father, your awesome will be done. May my life align with your will and your Kingdom. May I not bring shame to your throne. I thank you for your special grace to learn as I live. Thank you for your patience with me. Help me to understand the hard sayings of your scripture. If there are personal constructs that are getting in my way, please sanctify my mind to the mind of Messiah. May I live your Torah for my life. May I work to cleanse my way more each day. Amen.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

I John 3:3

Torah Is a Testimony

According to the apostle John, obeying the commandments of God is proof that we know Him.

Do you know God?

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

I John 2:3 ESV

Today, I start our journey down the road with our tour guide, John, The Beloved Disciple. He has been considered by theologians as a close friend of Jesus as well as a disciple. He was given watch over Miriam, Jesus’ mother, by the Savior as He was on the cross.

The NASB states it in this way, “This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him…” So, seeking to follow Torah is actually a confirmation or an outward sign that we know the Messiah.

Think About It

whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

I John 2:6 ESV

This is how He walked. He followed Torah perfectly. It only makes sense that a disciple at least tries to be like his teacher, his rabbi. Put your earthly relationship in an illustration of how to behave with God. I know dads are not perfect (see a picture of me in the dictionary next to the word “flawed.”) but ideally we seek obedience from our children. We don’t preach to them that they are going to mess up so I want them to stop listening to our instructions. Can you imagine, “Don’t worry about walking across the street. Looking both ways is legalism?”

Who benefits from the testimony of our Torah Testimony?

  • Others
  • Ourselves

John (through the breath of God) says that we are liars if we say that we know God without keeping His commandments. Wow. “Them’s strong words.”

Very simply, we will know them by their fruit.

that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who is in Heaven.

Matt. 5:16 ABIPE

The love of God is perfected in us if…

We KEEP His Word.

Prayer:

Father in Heaven. Your name is Holy. Your Word is holy and true. I want to know you more. Let me not fall away into lawlessness. Let me not lean on grace without leaning into your commands. I want to testify to the world and I want my prayers to be heard. Bless my brothers and sisters with the knowledge of your Word and the knowledge of You. May your Ruach bear fruit in us and may we not bring your name low.

In the mighty Name of Yeshua, Amen.

Thank you for reading. Come back tomorrow for another word from God.

If you can help this ministry by sponsoring through “Buy Me A Coffee” we would be honored. If you choose to support us by buying a few stickers from our sticker store, I think you would benefit as well. Who doesn’t like stickers (besides my wife)?

Torah Is Nearby

Do you ever feel like evil is closing in like the bad guys in a 70’s Karate movie?

When Trouble Surrounds…

We must remember two things from today’s scripture in Psalm 119:150-151.

  • God is near.
  • The evil ones are far from God and His law.

God Is Near.

“The word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it”

Deuteronomy 30:14

“The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach)”

Romans 10:8

When the evil people of your community come against you… When your trusted institutions (media, government, medicine) seek your harm… When mythical levels of secret forces mock your way of life and attempt to round you up and push you away…

Your Father is near. He is with you and He is in you. Hear His words, feel His breath (spirit) in your very lungs. Read His Word (living and powerful) out loud to draw near and to provide a barrier, an offence to the lawless ones. Remember His angels are here to. He commissions them to stand for our cause. Halleluyah.

Though they threaten, they are lost

The evil ones are the walking dead, slowly encroaching upon your space. Do not give them your mind, your soul, your strength. Those belong to your King (Deut. 6). They are focused but they are lost.

Jerks will be jerks. Without God’s ways in their hearts, the sinners will do sinner’s stuff. They will be trusted, in a way, to be untrustworthy. Don’t take your eyes off your God. Don’t let your heart cheer for their demise.

Pray for those who persecute you.

Do it now. It is super important to take every available moment to use your weapon. The time is short. You may see that Cruella DeVille turn into a meek child of God. Pray salvation, pray Deliverance. Pray the revival will come. You and I were outside God’s will and Kingdom, outside His rescuing grace. Now we need to serve as a lifeguard.

Using wisdom, of course. Let’s love our neighbors.

Prayer

Father in Heaven, sometimes I feel that I’ve known you forever. Sometimes I forget that I lived in a state of being unsaved from my sin. Let me have compassion on the very people who come after me. Bring them to mind in my prayer closet. Hear me when I pray. I pray for my protection and favor in all interactions. Keep us from their evil and their games. If they can be saved, let them turn to you. Amen.

Torah Is Eternal Truth

So do you ever look truth in the eye, and turn away because it is uncomfortable? Have you ever seen people all around turn to a lie in the presence of loads of evidence? This happens every day. This was foretold.

But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also. For some of these are people who creep into houses, and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

II Timothy 3:1-7

Still Truth

Check back with this website in one thousand years and… Truth will still be Truth.

We have already seen scriptures within Psalm 119 which state Torah is truth, but this time, we look at the truth that lasts forever. This is the truth that never changes. This is etched in stone, as they say. (Think about where that catch phrase likely started.)

If Torah was done away with, was truth done away with?

Torah is eternal truth.

According to the Word of Jesus/Yeshua, Torah did not die. It is still true. Covenants can be broken and they need to be renewed or re-entered. Torah can be broken. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. But there is hope.

God does not lie. He holds fast to His word, to His Promise.

Think not that I am come to destroy the Torah, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Matthew 5:17 – Cepher

God doesn’t give up on you.

He is faithful to His covenant and He is faithful to you. The Savior gave himself to bring us back into righteousness through His blood.

Reading through Psalm 119 connects to the words of the Messiah in that it praises Torah over and over. There must be a reason for that, right? There must be a reason why Yeshua said that we should not even think that He did away with one tiny bit of Torah.

Torah did not die.

  • Our relationship did not die.
  • Our dependence did not die.
  • Our obedience did not die.
  • Our inheritance did not die.
  • Our blessing did not die.
  • Our promise did not die.
  • Our Savior DID.

Torah – Broken By Me. Messiah – Broken For Me.

Click image to order >

The concept is simple, but the walk is detailed enough to take a lifetime of pursuit.

Do not turn from Torah!

It is profitable. It is given to us for our well-being. Let Torah serve as our teacher – as an unsaved one, to lead us to the need of a Savior. As a redeemed believer, it can continue to teach us about the will of God.

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

II Timothy 3:16

Keep in mind, when Paul wrote this to Timothy, the only scripture was the Tanakh, commonly known as the Old Testament. If it was truth before Messiah died, and true after He died (when II Timothy was written), it makes sense that it is true today.

…And Forever.

Have you been told that we should turn away from Torah? After you have been saved from sin, have you been taught to repent from God’s law? Do you think that’s a turn in the wrong “way?”

Jesus/Yeshua is the way, the truth, and the life.

Prayer:

Father in Heaven, we worship you and lift up our praise to you. Hear our prayer as a sweet scent before your throne. Blessed be your Name. Help us to understand your Torah. Help us to understand your sacrifice. Help us to understand your Holy Breath (spirit) inside our lungs and to hear your guidance. Let me not add, let me not take away from your forever Word. Thank you for the living Word in our lives. Let us glorify You as we seek to do your good deeds before you and the nations who are watching us so closely. AMEN.

Torah Is Timely

His Promise Of Judgement

We don’t like to talk of the Judgement of God. We often dispensation-ize it. We sing songs that tell us that judgement and wrath were for times like the Old Testament Sodom and Gomorrah… “BUT mercy and grace He gave us at the cross,” as if setting the old testament apart from the new is easier to gulp down.

We often forget that the judgement would have been withheld if there were only 10 people who were righteous. The grace of God was alive in 2000 BC as well as 2000 AD. As a matter of fact, ALL of scripture speaks of the judgement at the end of this age. This grace was what kept Yah from destroying the nations who inhabited Canaan while Israel awaited return to their promised land.

Torah Brings Promised Judgement

Judgement is not simply a punishment, it is a vengeance.

The wicked people of the nations do wicked things.

Wicked people do unmentionable things to the “least of these.”

Wicked people fight for the rights of people to do those wicked things. Judgement is, in a real sense, God’s answer to the prayer of the persecuted.

We often ask why so much evil is allowed to exist. “How can a loving God…”

Our loving Savior will come for the very purpose of executing judgement over evil deeds and the people who do them. He will also be setting the captives free and rescuing the little ones who have seen pain and distress at the hands of the wicked.

But Yah Will Save Even The Repentant Evil-doers.

LORD is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not intending any to be lost, but all to come to conversion,

II Peter 3:9 (LSV)

He really does love us. You and I were outside His Way for too long. We can be so grateful that He is so graceful in his judgement.

Not everyone will be saved.

But Yah wants them to.

When will it be time?

When will he deal with the sins of the world? These sins bring death, disease, war, and all types of pestilence. At some point, He will blow the trumpet and take action. There will be weeping, there will be gnashing of teeth. There will be a world of people who say…

Gulp!

At some point, it will be too late. At this point, many of us say,

“Return, Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.”

Numbers 10:36

I pray that you are “in that number” when Yeshua returns to reward the faithful with glory and to judge others with the end of their story.

Prayer:

Father in Heaven. You are great and most wise in your actions. Thank you for your patience with mankind. Keep me in your shalom as I wait for the promise. Keep me in your provision as your enemies seek to take away our life.

Your promise will be fulfilled to your perfection, in your perfect time. Help us lead people to the light and away from the dark as we wait for your Hosannah! Amen.