Please Pray

Dear Gail-Friends:

My mother is very ill in the hospital.  She has a racing heart and so far, they are having trouble adjusting her medication to control it.  Please pray for her.  They are calling in a specialist today.  Naturally, she becomes very frightened when the racing starts.

My daughter is having eye surgery on Tuesday so please pray for her also.

Also pray for me.  I just returned to college to complete my degree.  At the age, this is quite a challenge, to say the least.  I have a book that weighs over 10 pounds!  No problem carrying it to class, though, because no one else does! 

I haven't forgotten ya'll and will be posting as always.  The High Holy Days are coming up, and I look forward to writing about the joys of G-d's Feasts and Festivals.

Shalom and Love,

Gail

My Prayer Place - Part 1

The Lord's  Prayer Chapel

Sitting high on a hill, surrounded by singing pine trees, calling birds, and busy butterflies is my favorite place to retreat for prayer.  In Titusville, Florida, The Lord's Prayer Chapel sits amid The Lord's Garden,and is named for former pastor Peter Lord, of the Park Avenue Baptist Church. The Lord's Chapel is so special to me and I delight in telling how G-d has blessed me with and through this wonderful place.

Prior to moving to Central Florida, I lived in Jacksonville, Florida where a friend introduced me to a system of prayer called the 2959 Plan.  This is a personal notebook that leads one through prayers in many areas, such as for our family, our city, our state, our nation, and the world.  Through the notebook, I was led to an audio tape ministry of the Park Avenue Baptist Church in Titusville, Florida.  For several years, I listened to many great Bible teachers, including Pastor Peter Lord.

Entrance to the chapel

In 1989, due to a job change, I moved to Titusville, Florida, and visited the fore-mentioned church, met Pastor Lord, and was introduced to the beautiful prayer chapel.  I visit there often to pray and meditate, and just to be still and hear G-d's voice.  The atmosphere is so holy, so anointed with G-d's presence, that I always leave there renewed and full of joy.      

Now, dear Gail-Friends, let me take you on a tour.  (I am not a photographer, and these photos were taken with my cell phone camera.)  The chapel is an octagon, and each upper side beam has a name/attribute of the Father carved into it.  The names are:

The Lord Our Sanctifier 

The Lord Our Peace

The Lord Our Shepherd

The Lord Our Righteousness

The Lord Our Provider

The Lord Our Healer

The Lord Our Rock

and 

The Lord Our Victory

It is thought provoking and comforting to sit still here, and meditate on all that G-d is in my life.

This beautiful scene greets me as I enter the room.

The two alcoves have names of people all over the world who are prayed for by the prayer warriors

                                                        This is the alter,  The Mercy Seat,  where I kneel to worship and pray.                                               It stands at the foot of a beautiful leaded glass cross.

More prayer reminders

Prayers are written on cards and filed in the box.  Prayer warriors come daily to take these before the throne.

A beautiful thought as I come to this place of quiet stillness.

I am praying over this today...August 6, during the solemn assembly to pray for America to turn back to G-d.

Outside is the lovely prayer garden....The Lord's Garden

As I enter The Lord's Garden, a sign welcomes me

The garden has benches scattered throughout.

The garden is filled with flowering plants and tress - a dozens of visiting butterflies.

Thank you, Father, for the gift of the Lord's Chapel and for the prayer warriors who frequent that holy place.  Thank you for the vision you gave the artists who fashioned the beautiful grounds, the leaded glass cross, the beams with Your Names carved into them, and for the Mercy Seat of your Holiness and Grace.  I am a blessed woman to live so near such a special place.

Oh, how I desire to stay on this little mountain top with it's peaceful serenity.  I can't stay, but I can take it's peace and serenity with me as I go.  Thank you, Father for this blessing.

In my next post, I will share some of the prayers I have lifted to G-d  in this place, and the wonderful answers answers He's given.


Shalom!
To read Part 2 follow this link:  My Prayer Place
 
I'm linking up to Spiritual Sundays

Thinking Correctly

Torah - source Wikipedia

Philippians 2:5
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Yeshua (Jesus)

This verse has been on my mind for the last few days.  Our thoughts are so important.  The scripture also says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."  So this begs the question:  would G-d /Yeshua think the way I'm thinking? 

I've also been thinking about how the scripture says, "G-d is the same, yesterday, today, and forever."  Yeshua is G-d in the flesh.  The same G-d in both Old and New Testaments.  

Having grown up in a Christian environment, the focus of teaching was the New Testament.  As a little girl, I remember wondering why we didn't study the Old Testament more.   I wondered why we did not keep the Sabbath.  I wondered why we were not with the Jews, since Yeshua was Jewish. 

As a young woman, I wanted to go to a synagogue.  I didn't get to visit there until I was in my 40's.  I was shocked to see that the inside of the synagogue looked like a church.  There was a stage (bema) with a curtain on the wall behind it.  I thought, at first, that this was a baptismal pool, but found out later in the service, it was the ark where the Torah scroll was kept. 

That visit began my study of Judaism.  I visited Israel and was forever changed by the things I saw there.  My heart was knit to that land and to the people.  I never expected it to happen, but I'm so glad it did.  My continued search for wisdom led me to a study of the Old Testament, particularly of Proverbs, and then an in-depth study of the Torah.  Who knew this search would lead me to my own personal rabbi?  My dear, sweet husband, Rabbi Jem and I were married five years ago.



Being married to someone who "walks the walk" is both wonderful and disconcerting.  All of my life I've associated with people who "talked the talk", but didn't live it out.  My husband rarely discusses the scripture or G-d outside the bema, but he lives it like no one I've ever known in my life.    He lives the Sh'ma (Deut. 6: 4 - 9), as well as the second greatest commandment (Leviticus 19:18)  Jem loves G-d with his whole being and his neighbor as himself.  He is always conscious of obeying G-d and of looking for someone to help.  He calls it "doing the right thing". 


Which takes me back to the scripture quoted at the beginning of this post.  What mind did Yeshua have?    Yeshua was G-d in a human body.  He didn't change.  He is the same G-d who created the world and everything in and around it.  He is the G-d of the Tanach (Old Testament):  The Torah, the Prophets and Writings.


The study of Torah has shown me G-d's mind....and therefore Yeshua's mind.    I find no conflict between the Old and New Testament when viewed through the lens of the Torah. My study of Torah has given me a discernment I never had in all my years of studying the Bible. Now I understand things Yeshua said that before puzzled me.


My study of Judaism has enlightened me about teachings in the New Testament.  I've often heard it said in churches "Jesus is revealed in the Old Testament".  I've also found that the Old Testament is revealed in Yeshua (Jesus), and in the New Testament.


Many times, I've heard people say, " I want to be like Jesus".  Well then, beloved,  stop and think -  Yeshua is Jewish,  and during his time on earth He studied the Tanach.  There is much to be learned through Judaism and Torah study.  I know there are those who will say, "that's legalism".  I don't see it that way because G-d preserved His Word over thousands of years for our benefit.   And how can we say we love G-d and completely ignore the very laws that bring us life?    Blessings flow to those who obey Him.  His love is revealed in His Word and I am so thankful to be in His Secret Place. 

Psalm 91:1
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I'm linking up to Spiritual Sundays  and Brag On God Fridays