Tag Archives: Love

For God So Loved…

Posted on by Olivia Mancini
16 Apr

Passover, to Unleavened Bread, to First Fruits. All a beautiful leading up to the Risen King.

What does this mean?

This is how we are no longer bound by sin and shame but we are set free in Him and can worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Death is now defeated and we are alive in Him forever.

What did Yeshua do for us? 

He made a way. When you feel bound by your sin, when you feel defeated, when you feel hopeless, remember what He did for you. He died FOR YOU. He died and then He rose so that you could live a life with Him by your side everyday. He came as a man and left as a King. You know all that sin you are embarrassed about? Ashamed of? He can forgive it, and He can give you eternal life. Lay your sin out before Him and confess it because He is just to forgive it.

I am Unworthy

You feel unworthy of His sacrifice? So do I. I daily say, “Lord, why me? I am so unworthy. Why did You die for me?” He is so kind, so good, so loving. He says that we are beautiful in His sight, we are white as snow when we confess our sins to Him. He moves mountains for us, He heals us, He fills us with His presence. He does so much for us that we do not deserve. He doesn’t want Heaven without us, so that is why He tore the veil. He desires to be close to us, to have a relationship with us. Without Him dying on the cross we would not have that closeness with Him. You ARE worthy, you are worth it to Him. Don’t ever forget it. In your time of distress, remember Him, remember His love…

He Loves Us

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,” 1 Peter 3:18

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” 1 John 3:16

“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed…”Isaiah 53:1-12

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Today we celebrate the Risen King. We worship Him, give Him thanks and honor for what He did on the cross. He is coming again.

For God so loved the world… He made a way where there was no way. He freely gave His life, now I owe my life to Him. Make that commitment today. Give Him your all. He deserves all the glory and honor. Amen! He is risen and He is coming back again!

Fellowship

Posted on by Olivia Mancini
26 Apr

” Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

He is renewing us. He’s cleaning out our fellowships, getting out the bad parts and keeping the good. It’s hard and it hurts… We lose friends and family, but we can’t let it get to us! We have to keep moving forward! We have to keep pushing and worshiping and praying harder than ever before! The enemy comes to devour, to destroy and divide. When a lion hunts for its prey, what does it do? Well, it comes to a herd and searches for the week, the ones that are separated from its herd. The herd might not even notice the lion at first, because it comes in secret and comes in hiding, crawling through the long grass. Then it spots its target, and then snatches the separated one and kills it. The herd needs to stay together! They can drive the lion away if they band together and fight! One big herd against one lion will win.

What I’ m trying to show here is how the enemy is searching for believers who have separated themselves from their fellowship. Ones who are falling away. I’ m not saying you have to be in a congregation, or that if you’re not then the devil is coming to take you to hell. What I really want to hit on is how we NEED fellowship. To have that brother or sister in Messiah to pray with you, counsel you, worship beside you, and be there to give an encouraging word or be used by the Father to speak into your life. Iron sharpens iron, right? Then how can we sharpen each other if we’re never communicating to one another? Fellowshiping? The enemy is causing us to get angry with each other, causing us to gossip, to hate one another! Yeshua says that if you hate someone then you’ve already committed murder in your heart. We cannot do that! We are supposed to be a light in the world! To live in Spirit and Truth and preach to the nations! How can a unbeliever follow someone who has too much hate in they’re heart? Because if they see that anger in you, that extremism, the constant disagreeing, the fighting, the bickering, the hypocrisy, they are going to want to flee from God! Because all they see is a bunch of stubborn people who can’t agree on Kosher, or Feast day ” Timing”, moon cycles, and silly things that aren’t even a big deal. I’ m sorry if this offends you but we really have to stop! We are supposed to be the body of Messiah! But we’re broken.

Lets look at some scripture verses on fellowship and congregation.

” The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. BUT if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23

” As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:1-6

” May God our Father and our Lord Yeshua bring us to you very soon. And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. May He, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Yeshua comes again with all His holy people. Amen.” 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13

” In the presence of God and of Messiah Yeshua, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” 2 Timothy 4:1-5

That last verse really sticks out to me. It’s exactly whats going on today in ministries! People are turning from sound doctrine, or ” A balanced teaching” and going to conspiracy theories and weird things that DON’T line up with Gods Word. Guys, we have to stay balanced. We can’t have spiritual ADD. Its not good! Trust me, I’ve just been realizing this now! I’ve been letting other peoples ideas of things get to me and I let it cause me to let anger in me, and to not love the body of Messiah! We can’t let the enemy win! He’s coming to divide us! And cause us to leave our fellowship because one, tiny, silly, disagreement. We agree on A TON of things don’t we? I’ m not being sarcastic, we actually do agree on more things than we do disagree! That’s great! We agree on keeping Kosher, we agree to keep The Feasts Of The Lord, To keep Shabbat! And the ultimate agreement is, we believe in Yeshua! The Son of God! Who came to earth that He created and walk with us who are dirty and full of sin… Who died on the cross so we could be renewed and born again! So that He could get rid of the laws of the Pharisees ( Who were extremists) and showed us how to keep the Torah in a balanced way! He didn’t do away with the Law, He just showed us how to live it and be filled with His Spirit while we walk in Spirit and Truth! That, my friends, is perfect balance. Walking with one another in this agreement! We agree when we all stand in the presence of our Savior and we worship as one body! We worship in Spirit and Truth! Please, fellowship with each other! Please, find your balance, find friends who will walk with you! You will never EVER agree 100%, but you have to try and get along with one another! I urge you to please try!

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Yeshua, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:19-25

Fear vs Faith!

Posted on by Olivia Mancini
24 Mar

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Faith- A strong trust or belief in something you cannot see
Fear- Unbelief, Doubt; To dread; to be afraid of; to be anxious.
These are the definitions of fear and faith! As you can see they are completely opposite. Fear and faith cannot occupy something at the same time. Except for when you fear someone out of respect. Like God says we are to fear Him, He doesn’t mean to be afraid of Him! He’s our Dad! He wants us to respect Him and love Him. Have a deep respect for the Father. So let’s talk about fear. FEAR is NOT given by God.
“ For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

A sound mind! That’s something we should all have! That never-ending trust in the Father! The complete faith in Him, no fear, no worry, no anxiety, none of that. But, we are human! So this isn’t the case for us. We do worry, we do fear sometimes. But that’s okay! Just know that when you feel that way you have to stop what you’re doing and pray! Pray for it to leave you, pray for peace and a sound mind! He is our comforter! He will get us through. Nothing good comes out of fear. We can’t live our life being afraid of everything. We need to be positive! We need to live our lives boldly so that all can see God’s power working in your life! People will see you and in a stressful situation, you could be the calmest person and everyone is going to think you are crazy! And they will ask, “ Are you crazy? Why aren’t you freaking out right now?” And then you can say. “ Because God gives me peace. I know He’s in control.” And they will be amazed. That’s all you have to do. And you can be that person that they will go to for advice and they might even start to ask you some things about the Bible. So you can really change someone’s life by just making a small change in your thinking process.
So what happens when you walk into a room with no light? It’s overtaken by darkness. You start to get scared! It’s unfamiliar, you don’t know what’s in the room, if there is a hole somewhere, you know nothing! You are completely surrounded by darkness. So you just curl up in a ball, start to panic, cry, or whatever it is you would do in that situation. But then, you discover, there’s a light switch! That light switch is faith! And all you have to do is flip the switch and then what? What happens when you turn on a light in a dark room? Darkness HAS TO FLEE! It has no choice! It cannot stay! It cannot occupy that space anymore. Sure that light might create some shadows, because our lives aren’t perfect, but we know that God will always make the darkness go.
The Bible says a lot about faith!

“ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
“ But WITHOUT faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. ( And it continues on explaining the faith of Noah) By FAITH Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness which is according to FAITH.” Hebrews 11:6-7

You can also continue to read and it talks about the faith of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the harlot Rehab! And the writer of Hebrews keeps going on how things were done by FAITH! These people of God lived by faith! They believed and they overcame many things because they had faith! We can look to them for example! They were just ordinary people like you and me! But what made them go from ordinary to extraordinary? Having faith in God! They accomplished amazing things because our Father, who still does amazing things today, used them because they had faith! God is always working “behind the scenes” in our lives. He does things for us that we probably don’t even notice. So we must thank Him always and trust Him with our lives! He has already done so much for us that we take for granted! He gave us life! He breathes air into our lungs! He gives us power to heal the sick and to lead nations to Him! He gives us everything! He IS our provider. He gives us faith. How do we get faith?

“ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the WORD of God.” Romans 10:17

We get faith by HEARING! Hearing worship music, by hearing a good teaching, by HEARING the Word of God! Not just reading it in your head, but declaring the words out loud so that you can hear every word! It gives you faith. Try it out and see! It really does work!
Spend time in prayer and worship in your secret place and establish your relationship with the King of Kings! Trust Him. We CAN lean on God! We can depend on Him and Him alone! Faith does not mature or strengthen without trial or persecution. We need to go through things to learn and to get a deeper faith! Going through trials is a stepping stone closer to God. You can either trip over it and curse God, or you can use it as a step UP! Use them as stairs to go up to the throne of God! He sustains us to keep us coming closer and closer to Him! If you fall, stand back up and keep going! When you’ve done all you can to stand, just stand.

The Focus of Messianic Homeschooling

Posted on by Julie Allen
24 Mar

bib2One thing that most people who are new to homeschooling ask me is “How do you teach ALL the subjects?” I will admit, teaching everything from the ABC’s and algebra to World History and Zoology is a big task but “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” [James 1:5] I often ask the Father to fill me with knowledge and understanding so that I can teach the kids the things that they both need to know and want to know. But, I am getting ahead of myself. The first and most important thing to understand is that we are NOT mimicking a public school education in our home. We are not setting our primary goal as “raise the smartest kids in the world.” There is nothing wrong with having intelligent children but that cannot be your primary mission for homeschooling. So where do we start?

The first thing to consider when deciding to homeschool your children is your goal for them. This needs to be the same as the Father’s goal for them. We have to instill in our children the wisdom and understanding and knowledge that comes from the Ruach (the Holy Spirit) and the Word. We have to homeschool in spirit and truth. I read an article recently that really hit home with me. As Torah observant believers in Yeshua, we focus a lot on instructing our children in the Torah. There is nothing wrong with that but are we raising moral kids or justified kids? Since the Torah doesn’t save us, we should be pointing to Messiah first and foremost. We have to remember that the gospel is not about making bad people into moral people. The gospel is about making dead people alive in Messiah. We have to teach our children about our Savior, why we need a savior, etc. The Torah simply defines the problem (sin) and points to the solution (Yeshua). We cannot leave out the Brit Chadasha (New Testament) from our homeschooling.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

So where do we start as parents? We start with our relationship with and calling from the Messiah. We (as mature believing parents) are obligated to be a light in our homes and communities and let the love of Messiah shine through us. This is through our works. But our works do not save us. Our works draw others to the Messiah. It seems like a big responsibility and yea, it is but this is the Father’s plan to have the gospel preached in the world and to have His truth broadcast throughout the nations. The Father needs you!

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Messiah.

Be excellent in the basics in your parenting and your homeschooling. Shine before your children. Show them the love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and patience that the Ruach ha Chodesh (the Holy Spirit) has planted, watered and grown in your heart as you live a life obedient to and solely for the Father.

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Messiah Yeshua have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Jeremiah 32:27 “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

The most important thing that we have focused on in our homeschooling and parenting is helping the kids remain in right standing with the Father. We all need the Savior. We all make mistakes. When our children make a mistake, we correct them lovingly but then immediately offer them the opportunity to pray and repent before the Father. Teaching them how to quickly and truly repent and how to approach the Father to get rid of the guilt they feel is the cornerstone of our parenting. We want to make sure the kids will (1) not be afraid to confess their sins to us and (2) not be afraid to confess their sins to the Father.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.

Romans 3:21-26 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Yeshua our Messiah to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Messiah Yeshua. God presented Messiah as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Yeshua.

James 5:13-16 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

Trust God! Depend on Him moment to moment.  Let Him love your children through you. The next step is to add in academics. In my next post, we will focus on academics.

TRUST!

Posted on by Olivia Mancini
08 Jan

“Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding”
Proverbs 3:5

I feel like this is a lesson I have been learning for a very, very, long time. And I’m sure I’ll keep re-learning it. Our God is faithful and merciful, full of grace. I know He is constantly teaching us lessons, day after day, hour after hour. So don’t lose hope! Stay strong! He is mighty to save. Trusting the Lord with ALL your heart is very difficult. I know I’m not the only one who thinks so. I know the Father has a plan, I know He is faithful, He wants me to have the desires of my heart, but why does He take so long? Because God’s timing is PERFECT, we can’t have what we want in our timing because we don’t see the full picture of our lives, we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. So we have to trust, and know, that He is God, and He has everything under control!
God’s timing is perfect… We can’t depend on our own understanding, because He holds the world in His hands, He understands everything, so we can’t take matters into our own hands because He already has everything written down, in a perfect plan for us! Surrender to His will, He knows you.
Recently, I struggled with saying “ Your will be done, Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. “
I just didn’t want to let it go, I didn’t think giving it to Him would make a difference, but it definitely does! This has been weeks of battling myself, and lots of prayer, letting stuff go, and giving myself completely, to Him.
How do we give ourselves? Our everything to God?
Three steps:
Get on your knees
Pray
STOP WORRYING
That’s it. Pretty simple right? Not really, but it’ll be simple once you let go and let God. Every time you feel anxious, feel stressed, just stop and take deep breaths and pray! Thank Him for everything you have, ask Him for peace! And repeat over and over, “ Your will be done Father” , I believe He honors that. He wants us to stop worrying! He wants us to give it all to Him! He wants your ENTIRE life! The whole thing, give it all to Him. Read the word, the word has power! It strengthens you, builds you up, gives you peace, gives you wisdom and understanding, because that’s how He designed it. Our God is strong and mighty! He knows you, everything about you that people know and don’t know, He knows, and He already knew you would be who you are! Crazy right? He designed you in your mothers womb before you breathed your first breath, He knew your personality, your looks, your heart, the whole you. You have to fall in love with Yeshua! He is so amazing! You won’t feel peace unless you ask for it, unless you give your whole life completely, and wholly to Him. I had a dream the other day, about a little girl who we adopted, and she was possessed. And I was afraid of her. All she did was taunt me, and she would show me her real self, her scary face, the face of a demon. Know one in my family would believe me that there was something wrong with her. So I got tired of it, so I grabbed her from behind and pulled her head back by her head ( I know, sounds harsh ) and her face was revealed to my family! So we all started to pray over the demon. I had it in my hands, in a sack thing, and it couldn’t get free, but it kept moving. The whole house was shaking. The prayers weren’t working, so we all started screaming “ Yeshua!” Over and over until our voices started to crack. Then all of a sudden, Yeshua walks in. The room was still, and my family disappeared. The demon kept moving, but I wasn’t paying attention to it as much as before. Then Yeshua sat on a chair in front of me, and took the evil out of my hands. Then I just felt an overwhelming peace hit me, so I fell to my knees and just melted with peace inside and passed out.
There is some more to the dream, and I know that dreams don’t mean the literal things that you dreamed, everything represents something. But just having Yeshua in my dream, was really cool! I have never had something like that before. I have been a believer all of my life. I started out as a Christian, but I have been a Messianic for about 8 years now, and I don’t think I have ever noticed how much I really do love Yeshua, how much He has changed my life, how much I depend on Him to be there for me when the world is crashing down around me, He is there to lift me up again! He will let you walk upon the waters, but do you have faith that He will pull you out if the waves over take you? He might let you fall, but He will never EVER let you drown. That’s the love of the Father. You are, we are, His children. He loves us so much! He takes His time teaching us lessons, showing us the way! He fills us up with love, understanding, peace, wisdom, hope. He is always there for us, even when we can’t see the grand plan of our entire lives. But we can look to the Creator and have peace, that He is in control, He is working everything together for our good. Your will be done Father, Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven… – Liv

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