Your Daily Bread for April 2-8, 2023
Welcome to Your Daily Bread for April 2-8, 2023, by Dr. Apelu Poe!
Key Torah Code for this Week: “Behar” (On Mount): Leviticus 25:1-6:2.
Basic Principle of Our Judaic-Christian Faith: God knows all our sins that sent Jesus to the cross, for it is He who fashions the hearts of us all; it is He who notes all our deeds. Standing on Mount Olivet and looking across the Kidron Valley, when Jesus saw the city of Jerusalem, He wept, saying, “If only you people knew this day the things that make for peace, unfortunately, they are hidden from your eyes.”
“Three thousand years ago, the Bible was encoded so that the words of Daniel that predict the “End of Days” would appear exactly where the words of Moses predicted what would happen in the “End of Days.” If the Bible code is right, this was not the end of the dangers but the beginning. We can’t see every danger in advance, but we can prevent those that we do see.” I’ll get to the point in a minute.
But, first, let me say Talofa, Welcome, and Shabbat shalom to you, my friends in the name of “Yeshua HaMashiach” Jesus the Messiah! And through the power of God’s Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). As they say in Samoan, Malo le soifua manuia! Faafetai fo’i le fai tatalo! Congratulation on your good health! Thanks also for the prayers. May our God always grant us his lovingkindness!
Getting back to the point. If you have followed God’s calendar, which dictates and foretells the events of our lives to which the above quote refers, you will know that we are now entering the first day of the Holy Week. What is the Holy Week? Following immediately after the Lent or Preparation season, the Holy Week is the seventh season of the 2022-2023 Christian year calendar, with Easter (April 9) as its festival. Just as the name suggests, the Holy Week is the one week above all the other 52 weeks of the year that clarifies to us the cost of our salvation. Therefore, it is a time that demonstrates clearly to us the extent that our God was willing to go in order to redeem us through the blood of His Son. The biblical basis for this is found in Isaiah 53:10, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him; He has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin….”
Now before we take a look at this week’s Torah portion, let me also say “thank you” to all of you, my prayer warriors, and my dedicated supporters who supported the launching of my first book, The Hidden Secrets of the Master’s Mind: How You Can Live with God’s Time on February 28. The book has become the #1 International Bestseller ranking in several categories, including Christianity, Religion and Spirituality, Judaism, Jewish Sacred Writings, Hebrew Bible, Christian Old Testament Study, Bible References, and Bible Study Guides. This is not just here in the United States of America but also in Australia and the United Kingdom. Here’s the truth of the matter: I am just the instrument, the agent, the medium, the vehicle that God can use to perform miraculous acts, but the credit goes to you because it was you who put your complete trust in God that together we can make a big impact. So, unto God be the glory. It is a great inspiration for me to see that so many of you worldwide have been following my teaching on social media, Facebook and Linkedin from week to week. I call my Torah gift for you this week “Your Daily Bread for March, April 2-8, 2023.”
Why am I saying this? Well, for those of you who have followed my teaching, I’m saying this because, as you might have noticed, I have been using this same gift that God has given me for the past 40 years to help guide the destiny of those whose spiritual welfare God has entrusted to me. And now that I have retired from the ordained ministry in July 2021, I want you to have free access to it. My pastoral desire is simply this: For you to be the person God has created you to be. My prayer, then, is that you would be able to live according to God’s time so that you may discern God’s Divine path for your life and how it is that God wants you to live to best receive his blessing and shine his holy light.
Your Benefits from My Torah Gift I Can Give You This Week
So what exactly can you expect from the Torah gift I’m giving you this first day of the Holy Week? Well, the first and foremost is self-awareness. Why self-awareness? Because life transformation begins with precisely that: self-awareness. Until we are made aware of what we need to do to help make this world a better place for all of us, we will never be able to get out of this geo-political, socio-economic turmoil that we now find ourselves in, no matter where we are in the world today. Remember what we said, to address any concern or challenges we face in our life today, we must first identify what is at the heart, the root of those challenges. Without that, we will never be able to develop an adequate or appropriate strategy to resolve our challenges. So the Torah gift I’m giving you this week will help you become aware of the fact that before anything ever existed in life, only the Infinite God, the Divine Essence, filled all existence with His Supernal Luminance.
Question: What was this Infinite God pondering in His mind during this primordial or pre-creation period? What was He envisioning for the future of His creation? Answer: God’s kingdom on earth that will be characterised by peace and Divine harmony. One in which all of his children, despite the difference in the color of their skin, nationality, political affiliation, or even their religious background, will come together serving One God, One Lord, and One faith.
Listen to Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of his earthly ministry, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14). Unfortunately, God’s vision did not happen. Why? Because immediately after God created human beings in His image (Genesis 1 and 2), and blessed him with the task of building God’s kingdom on earth, the devil came in (Genesis 3) and sabotaged God’s plan.
Listen, again, to God’s word to the serpent, “I would put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on your head, and you shall bruise him on his heels” (Genesis 3:15).
Question: When were these words that God spoke to the serpent fulfilled? Answer: On Good Friday and on Resurrection morning. Because on Good Friday, we see the devil drill those nails through Jesus’ heels, thus fulfilling God’s word spoken to the serpent. When the serpent drilled those nails through Jesus’ heels, he thought that he has conquered Jesus once and for all. And so when God resurrected Jesus from the dead on Resurrection Sunday, the devil has never slept well, even as we speak.
What does that mean for you and me as Jews and Christians? It means that our God has never forgotten what the devil could do if we are unaware. That is why the apostle Paul cautions us, saying, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
领英推荐
The second benefit my Torah gift will give you this week is a greater sense of mental clarity. It’ll help you develop a greater sense of mental clarity to overcome any challenges and difficulties you may face in your life today. At the same time, eliminate all the negative or limiting beliefs that have prevented you from manifesting who God created you to be.
As we said last week, mental clarity is needed to avoid confusion in decision-making, cherish beautiful moments, or avoid crises. Mental clarity is the reshaping of thoughts for the betterment of life. It improves the essence and quality of life. Once you can identify that loop point, your thoughts start to flow in a perfect direction. Decluttering the mind is the first step to removing what you don't need in your life.
It is no wonder God wants us to be clear on what we should and should not do. Listen, again, to Peter’s reminder to us, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). Why is that so important? Because as the apostle Peter sees it, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7).
The third benefit my Torah gift will give you this week is self-discipline. It’ll help you to develop your self-discipline. What do we mean by self-discipline? And why do we need to do that when we witness the world in moral and spiritual crisis? By self-discipline, we mean the ability to control our actions and emotions. The first in importance is the will. Because man is his will, and woman is her will, too. When we will God’s will, and desire God’s desire, then we will be much clearer on why we are here and why God has put us in leadership and management positions in such a challenging time as this. Perhaps, it is for this reason that the apostle Paul put it this way, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
The Historical Proof that Supports our Need for Your Daily Bread that Sustains Us Spiritually
Does it surprise you, then, that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, did not forget to remind us about these things? That is why last week you heard Jesus speaking to us, saying, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses [Torah] and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled…” (Luke 24:44). ). Jesus, then, did something which I thought was quite remarkable and quite extraordinary. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).
Overview Summary of this Week’s Torah Portion
With this in mind, let us look at this week’s Torah portion, Leviticus 25:1-6:2 to see the answer to our million-dollar question: What’s in it for me (WIIFM)? Remember our Lord’s Prayer where you hear Jesus asking Father God, “Our Father who art in heaven…Give us this day our daily bread.” That means God gives us our daily bread, our weekly Torah portion that sustains us spiritually every week. So, in the Hebrew language (God’s sacred tongue) from which our English Bible translation was taken, this week’s Torah portion is called, “Behar” translated as “On Mount [Sinai],” see Leviticus 25:1.
To understand this, one has to, first of all, identify the double references in the text. On a simple linguistic level which is intended primarily for the Jewish audience, the reading focuses on the code “Behar” translated as “On Mount [Sinai].” Thus, in the opening part of the reading, we are told that on Mount Sinai, God commands Moses regarding the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. In the central part of the reading, we learn that every seventh year is a Sabbatical year when it is forbidden to work on the land (in the Land of Israel). After seven sets of seven years, a Jubilee year is proclaimed by a blast of the ram's horn on that year's Yom Kippur, equivalent to Good Friday. During the Jubilee years, all the laws of the Sabbatical year apply, and, in addition to the Sabbatical laws, all slaves are set free, and all lands revert back to their original owners. For this reason, the people of Israel are commanded to conduct business ethically. Since all land reverts back to its original owners during the Jubilee year, the number of years remaining until the next year must be considered whenever a real-estate sale is conducted, and the price must be set accordingly.
Please note that in this context, the question: "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our grain?" God reassures the people that He will bless the sixth year's harvest, and it will produce enough to provide for three years until the crop of the eighth year is ready to eat. The reading, then, gives the rationale for the prohibition against selling land for perpetuity. "Because the land belongs to Me; you are strangers and residents with Me."
Indeed, on a profound theological level, this week’s Torah portion, “Behar,” translated as “On Mount [Sinai]”) has an important message to us, the Church, and the Body of Christ. This message is evident when the portion is interpreted in the context of these 7 days of the Holy Week, beginning with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and looking forward to the Resurrection Sunday. And that is, as we wrap up our journey through these 40 days of the Lent or Preparation season, a time that God has called us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the holy suffering of Jesus on the cross, may we all be reminded of the importance of the worship of God on the Sabbath. In other words, as long as we remain committed to the worship of God on the Sabbath, God will continue to sustain us. How do we know that? Listen, again, to what the Lord said to Moses this week, “Say to the people of Israel, When you come into the land which I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field…and gather in its fruits…I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year so that it will bring forth fruit for three years” (Leviticus 25:1-3, 21).
It is no wonder why the prophet Isaiah put it this way, “Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath…everyone who keeps the Sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people,” (Isaiah 56:2, 6-7). Perhaps, it is for this reason that David exclaimed with a loud voice, saying, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power…But who am I, and what are my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly?”(1 Chronicles 29:11, 14). Luke then reports to us from on top of Mount Olivet, where Jesus is looking across the Kedron valley, and when he sees the city of Jerusalem, he cannot help but be reminded of the people’s sin. Luke tells us that Jesus wept, saying, “If only you knew this day the things that make for peace; unfortunately, they are hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:41-44). Why so much focus on the Sabbath at a time when fewer and fewer people find it important to maintain their commitment to worship God on the Sabbath? Because the Sabbath is the weekly anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It reminds us that death is not the last word because our God has the power in his hand to transform death into life. May we all look forward to Jesus’ glorious resurrection when we would all shout with joy, “Glory to God in the highest and peace among men on earth.”
Should you be interested in an in-depth study of the weekly Torah codes on which our lives turn, Book I, Volume 1 of my III Books Series: 11 Volumes, entitled, “The Hidden Secrets of the Master’s Mind: How You Can Live with God’s Time” was released on February 28. The book was published by Create & Write Publishing: A Division of the Master’s Mind International. Please use the following link to get your copy of the book on Amazon:
You can reach me at [email protected]. Also, get your FREE copy of God’s calendar for this 2022-2023 ministry year that will help guide your faith journey.?