8-7-20

We have been studying Deuteronomy as a family, and with some very special friends. Ya’ll this has got to be one of my all-time favorite books of the Bible! It’s full of reminders, instructions, blessings, and humbleness, and it truly captures the desire of the Father’s heart for His people to walk in a way that is set apart from the rest of the world. Oh, I hope that you all will go and study it out too!

Last night we were reading over Deuteronomy 6. Verses 6-9 are referred to as the Shema in Hebrew. It gets this title from the first word in the section, from the word hear. If you look up the word hear in just your regular old dictionary, the definition is to perceive or become aware of by the ear, to gain knowledge of by hearing. This is our year 2020 understanding of the word hear, right? I’m gonna hear what these words are with my ears and then I will know the information. What if I told you that this definition isn’t completely correct in accordance with the original Scripture? If you look up the word hear in the interlinear, there is something even more wonderful than just mental knowledge being talked about here! The Hebrew word Shema in the original text means to hear, listen to, obey. There is action in the word! Not only hear with the ear, but heed to the point of obedience! Isn’t that just fantastic? The word Shema commands action on our part! With all this in mind, I want you to read these verses with me, and I will show you what the Father placed on my heart when I read them yesterday.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
‘“Hear, O Israel! YHWH is our God, YHWH is one! You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. ‘

So this is Moses talking to the children of The Most High. He is reminding the people to remember the Instructions and Commands of the Almighty because he (Moses) will no longer be with them. He tells them to Shema the Words of the Father, listen and obey. If you read all the chapters before and after, you will understand completely why the Father’s people are to Shema His Word. Not only will His people live and be blessed, but also they will be a light to the nations. When the children of Yah hear and obey, they are a reference to the power of the Almighty One, because they are set apart unto Him, different than the rest of the world.

I want you to go back up there and read those verses again. We, as children of the Father, are to teach His Words diligently to our children. We are to talk of His Words in every aspect of our lives, every waking moment, in all that we do from the time we wake till the time we lie down. We should bind His Words on every part of our being, our hand and our forehead. The Word of Yah should ever be, all-encompassing our every move. Why would we do this? What is the need? I know you all have been reading all about the wild stuff that is going on around us. It’s crazy! There is so much talk about the end times and things of that sort among believers. Here lately there has been reference upon reference about the mark of the beast. Is it a tattoo? Is it going to be the vaccine? Is it some kind of certificate? You know, there is enough speculation out there to make your head spin. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t search these things out, but if they are instilling fear or distraction from the Word Itself, then what value is the knowledge? Do we get a gold star for being the first to know? Let me show you something. Here are the verses in Revelation that tell about the mark. Read them carefully.

Revelation 13:16-18
‘And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the freemen and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.’

Where is this mark to be? On the hand and the forehead, right? Let’s go back to the Shema in Deuteronomy, where is the Word of the Most High supposed to be bound? Do you see what I am trying to show you here? Isn’t that just like the evil one to have a counterfeit of the instructions of the Father? Listen friends, if you have the Word woven into every fiber of your life, there is no room for the beast to put his mark on you, weather it is physical or spiritual! That space is already filled!

I pray that you all take time to study the Word, but don’t get too distracted gathering knowledge that you forget to Shema, hear and obey the Word of your Father.