Armor of God, continued

Ephesians 6:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

~Isaiah 52:7 How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces Yeshua (salvation), and says to Zion, Your God Reigns!

~Exodus 3:5 Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

When the priests would serve in the temple they were barefoot. No shoes allowed. This was holy ground, the work they were performing was holy work, sanctified, set apart for the Lord.

The gospel of peace, the one who brings good news, these phrases are prophetic of the One to come. Yeshua brings the good news, actually He is the Good News. Interestingly enough the word "gospel" when translated back into the Hebrew is "basar" it means good news, or gospel. At it's root however it means flesh or meat. The gospel has been preached since the beginning (Genesis), the entire Bible proclaims the coming of Messiah and His atoning work. The lambs, goats and sheep, the meat, that was sacrificed were all pictures of His work. A beautiful poetic picture of His existence since the beginning is found in John 1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.....14 And the Word became FLESH, and dwelt among us..." He is the flesh, He is the Good News, He is the Gospel of Peace and it is in Him and His ways that we are to walk and where we are given the gift of our freedom!

Ephesians 6:16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

What a beautiful revelation of not what our shield of faith is, but rather Who...Genesis 15:1 "After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." Psalm 3:3 "But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head." Psalm 18:2 "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 28;7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him." Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD."
AMEIN!!! Is this not incredible?! Our shield is not made from metal and human hands, our shield is the Creator of ALL THINGS! The Lord God Almighty, He is our Shield!!

Next week: verse 17

In His Word Wednesday

The third installment from Jeff Benners video series in The History of Hebrew. Translation is so very important to gain a complete and fuller understanding of the Word. The study of the ancient language and even the modern Hebrew opens up God's incredible gem to allow us a glimpse of the many facets of His essence. It is truly a life changing study, one I love to share!

I'm a nerd

So, here's the deal. A couple of months back my good friend and TOS Crew mentor, Denise, started blathering on and on about this ridiculous fad of couponing. ;) (You know I love you!) Pretty soon however, she started posting fancy little pictures of her major scores and before you know it I was starting to wonder if there really could be something to this. I asked her to send me some info, which she very generously did, however I was still not quite "getting it". Then, last night on my monthly girls night out with my longest time friend Julie (I would put a fancy link on her name too, however she does not have a blog or other such thing to link to, bummer) started up with how she took a class on this couponing craze and I of course shared about my little bit of experience with Denise. Now, what's different this time? This time I had a hands on experience As a good couponer that Julie is already becoming she of course had her binder right in her car "just in case". So, off we went, out to the car to sit and ooh and aah over all of the lovely money making slips of paper. Directly after receiving a second full lesson (since Denise already gave me one....apparently I need two, and a mentor) we headed gleefully off to the nearest grocery store securing ourselves an additional cache of coupons for collecting. With instructions from my friend I went home, built a coupon binder with sections and fancy baseball card holder sheets filled with my new found hobby, I then went to my source for all information and stayed up until 1AM watching videos and reading about all the bargains that can be found out there couponing.

Now, one thing I have to share, one of my personal hangups was "I don't use most of the products that are found in coupons". I have heard others say it as well. To my utter surprise, there were coupons our there for a TON of things I DO USE!! Now, we try to eat a healthier diet, but we also do enjoy fun stuff here and there...and if I can get that fun stuff for a bargain, WHY NOT? Another thing I learned, use these bargains for non food items to stockpile gifts and such...GREAT IDEA!

So, here we go, my very first "shop". And boy, what a RUSH!!!!

Albertsons, thanks to Denise telling me it was double coupon day......
Best Foods Mayo $4.39 on sale for $1.99
Had coupon worth $.75 but doubled it! Got the mayo for just $0.49!!

Pop Secret Popcorn $3.29 on sale 10/$10
Had coupon for $0.50 but doubled it! Got both for $1.00!

Bathroom cleaner on clearance for $2.59
Had coupon for $1 but doubled it! Got it for $0.59!

Add on my tax of .22 and the grand total was $2.30!!
It says on my receipt I saved 84% off the regular prices! Ok, I admit, that was so much fun and I am SUCH a nerd.

Marshmallow Farms

I bet you have never seen where marshmallows come from, have you? Well, up here in our neck of the woods, this is how we grow them. There are farms like this all over the place! Beautiful fields of luscious marshmallows, growing puffy and light in the perfect northwest weather! YUM!! ;0)

SHE DID IT!!!

AMAZING! Our sweet little princess had a successful sleepover at her Granny Sheilas last night. We are so proud of her! She stayed up to after 1AM, got up at 7:45AM and had a wonderful time! She came home happy, tired and a bit messier than when she left, all signs of a fabulous time spent with her Granny.
Check out this plan! Atira and a friend of hers that lives a distance from us planned to purchase a panda bear to share. The way it works is that they will build a blog together. They will take turns with "Bamboo" snapping photos of adventures she is on while at one home and all their adventures will be uploaded to the shared blog. A month later Bamboo will be shipped off to her alternate owner who will in turn do the same thing! Isn't that fabulous? I just loved this idea a lot, I think it is a great adventure for the girls. I will keep you posted how it goes!

Armor of God

What Is the Full Armor of God?
Exodus 39:1-43 Priestly Garments
The account of the priestly garments completes the description of the temple in Exodus and symbolizes the service of the priesthood of God. The garments are prophetic in nature and represent different aspects of the ministry of Yeshua/Jesus. As His kingdom of priests and holy nation, His bride and ambassadors of His Word, we are called to “clothe ourselves” in these priestly garments, as they significantly reflect the image of our Messiah. Wearing them reflects His very nature, and represents the heart and image we are to walk in daily. As believers in the Messiah of Israel, we are part of His priesthood and the priestly garments are for us today. May we be found wearing the garments of Yeshua that sanctify and purify our walks daily and keep our hearts and minds protected and strong in Him (Psalm 132:9; Thessalonians 5:8).

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength! 11 Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary. 12 For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. 13 So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. 14 Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist,put on righteousness for a breastplate, 15 and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom. 16 Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. 17 And take the helmet of deliverance;along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God; 18 as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God’s people (CJB)

Ephesians 6:10-17 is a wonderful depiction of putting on God's Word and protecion against an enemy that is not seen, but one who uses "deceptive tactics", the adversary of our souls. We are fighting in the spiritual realm, against a deception that threatens our faith, we must be prepared to go to battle and stay strong in the Lord!

I believe the armor Paul was speaking of had more to do with who we are (and are becoming) in God's eyes and not what we see in the world.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...

We are a royal priesthood! Therefore we should become more familiar with the garments of our high calling! We should also be able to recognize our High Priest as He wears His holy garments (armor) in service before the Lord as He labors (battles the enemy of our souls and atones for our sins, and so much more) on our behalf.

Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

And there are many verses like this one that teach us we are to continually be growing in the likeness of Yeshua, growing in God and His ways.

Let's begin looking at this verse by verse: (I recommend going to the bible and reading the verses quoted below in their entirety for a fuller understanding of what is being taught in His word)

*14 Having girded your loins with truth: (Paul is quoting Isaiah 11:5 here)
~Exodus 28:42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:
~Isa 11:5 (Speaking of the One to come) Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
**The belt spoken of here is the also translated as the innermost garment, it would be likened to the linen breeches God commanded the priests to wear for modesty, "to cover their nakedness"

We are to walk before our God as virgin brides, newly created creatures in Messiah, walking in modesty, humility, truth and sanctification through Him. The linen breeches cover our nakedness, covering our lusts and desires of this world, the white linen reminds us of our betrothal to our King and our high calling.

**The second belt is the same word in the Hebrew, but the context of this part of the verse suggests this belt is the one wrapped around the waist of the priest, a different garment than the linen breeches

Traditionally it is taught that when the priests would serve before God they were making a distinction between the upper and lower half of the body. We are to be focused on our heart and our mind during our service to Him being sure that it is in service because of our love for Him and desire to worship Him alone.

*14b Having put on the breastplate of righteousness:(Paul is quoting Isaiah 59:17 here)
~Exodus 28:15 You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen you shall make it.
~Isaiah 59:17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate...
~This breastplate is also called the breastplate of judgement in Hebrew, it was placed over the heart, upon it were twelve stones, each one symbolizing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The High Priest (think ancient and our present High Priest, Yeshua) wore the twelve tribes over His heart, a constant reminder of the people on who's behalf He is making atonements for. Acts 17:31 "Because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." He is our righteous judge, just as the garments are named in Ephesians and confirmed in Acts. Upon each shoulder of this garment is a stone, each one has six of the tribes names engraved upon it. Our High Priest, Yeshua, literally bears the weight of His people (burdens, sins, our everything) upon His shoulders.Psa 68:19 "Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation." In Hebrew, the name of Jesus is Yeshua, it literally means salvation. This same verse could be read without translating salvation into english: Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our Yeshua!


The breastplate has 12 stones upon it, each one a different color and each one engraved with one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The High Priests wears these tribes over His heart, a constant reminder of the children of Israel, for whom He labors before God. Hebrews 4:14 "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession."

For next week: Verse 15 & 16

In His Word Wednesday

Part two from Ancient Hebrew Research Center




I have learned over the last several years what an incredibly beautiful language God has designed - Hebrew. It is so rich in it's meaning, especially when taken back to the ancient letters. The insights gained in the Scriptures cannot be matched in our English language. Hebrew is a language of verbs, it is an action language, and not just about doing anything...but about doing His Word! Yeshua said "If you love me, you will obey my commandments" John 14:15....it reminds me of this passage of scripture; "You shall therefore love the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments." Deuteronomy 11:1, and there are many others that show the relation between loving God and obedience to His word. The picture is clear when shown in the Hebrew, as love (as many of you know) is not just a feeling but shown through our actions. The ancient Hebrew root word for love is hey, beit...literally it is a picture of a stick man with his arms raised meaning "behold" and the beit is the representation of a tent or house, literally it means "look toward the house", which is what we are to do when loving God, we are to look toward His house, His word to find our direction and in so doing we are loving Him and His Son.

I am blessed!

Friday morning I woke up and as I looked around I saw on my dresser this beautiful bouquet of flowers and this amazing card from my sweet husband! He really surprised me with this one as I was suspecting flowers might come home with him that night...but I never ever anticipated this surprise! Now, if you look closely at this card, you will see it has the bible verse "I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine" from the book the Song of Solomon. We have wedding bands that have this verse in Hebrew on them....and if you look even closer this card also has the verse written in Hebrew! I could not believe it! I was utterly stunned when I saw it wondering how he had found a card like this! Which of course then led me to thinking how he must have stood there in the store high fiveing himself as he realized he just made the score of the century. *Giggle* Which he did...this was good and so sweet.

That night we had went out and had a wonderful dinner at Lombardi's, which is a little Italian restaurant on the Everett marina. Wonderful food, what was even better was that they served raviolis made with ....wait for it....GOAT CHEESE! (for those of you who don't know, my son and husband are both allergic to dairy from cows) WOW! We could not believe it! So, we were both so very happy about that! We also had a glass of champagne to celebrate. After dinner we took a very long walk down the pier to the water. We saw a sea lion and then a schooner from 1913, as well as many other people and boats.

It was a lovely, quiet anniversary celebration and a very special, memorable day.

Twenty-One Years!

Twenty one years ago today, wait, really? Twenty one years? Wow, it just does not seem possible. But yes, twenty one years ago today I was standing with this man promising to love him and share my life with him and OH, what an adventure it has been. I have always felt that the Lord brought us together (a marriage made in heaven so to speak!), even though we were quite young, and I am so grateful for all the years I have been given to spend with him. We enjoyed six years of being single and living it up...and then our world was blessed beyond our wildest imaginings. We had our son...and then a few years later our second amazing blessing...our daughter. We have bought and sold homes, went through career changes, layoffs and several cars. We have taken a few road trips, spent time with family and friends, and have been blessed with a life filled with laughter. The Lord has brought on the craziest and most fulfilling journey of our lives and through it grown us closer to Him and to each other. And here we are today, bound together in more ways than when we started and enjoying a beautiful family and blessed so abundantly by God. Twenty one years, it went by so quickly, I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in the years to come!

In His Word Wednesday

A while back I was regularly adding a Hebrew word a week into my blog. I did this for several reasons, 1. I thought my readers would enjoy the insights found in the language; and 2. it was helping me expand my vocabulary and kept me studying the language. Well...as we often do, I got busy and stopped doing the entries. I have missed the study and would like to resume it. So, I thought I would create a weekly entry and title it "In His Word Wednesday". This way, I know each Wednesday I need to have something ready to post about the Word of God. This week I am posting this little video clip, the first of several discussing the ancient Hebrew language. I will also be adding words from this website to my blog and perhaps an occasional teaching I have written to share with you. The following video comes from a wonderful site filled with great information. Enjoy today video installment and be watching for more in the weeks to come!
To learn more about Ancient Hebrew Research visit http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/

Happy Birthday! Again!

What a fun party this was! I just love the internet for inspiration!! Atira decided she wanted to do a spa sleepover party for her and a few of her girlfriends. As each young lady showed up they signed into "Petite Dame Spa" at the front desk....of course having to give their names as this was a very exclusive event! First on the agenda was a foot soak in a wonderful bath tea! The ladies enjoyed the warm water and delicious fragrance of herbs in the air! After drying their feet and using an incredible lotion bar to moisturize with, they were moved to the parlor for a facial and of course it would not be complete without cucumbers for the eyes! All of the products we used on the girls were all natural and made by EdensHerbs, a fellow homeschooling mommy and creator of luscious herbal products for body and face! (Check her out, you won't be sorry!) We then moved into a highlight of our evening, fingernail painting. Fun, yes, highlight? Not usually. Ah, but tonight was quite different! We found a wonderful game online, something like musical chairs except nobody "is out" and everyone wins! I put in the soundtrack to "The Sound of Music", and each girl started with one color of fingernail polish, as the music played they passed the polish to the next girl, when it stopped, they took the color in their hand and painted one toe nail with it! It was WONDERFUL!! The girls were singing along with all the songs, having such a wonderful time! I thoroughly enjoyed watching this one, had me singing and giggling right along with them! We then moved on to dinner, on the menu was cucumber, cream cheese sandwiches, pbj's, strawberries, bananas and a melted chocolate pot, cheese cubes on toothpicks. I had only planned on the fruit being dipped into the chocolate, oh how wrong I was!! They dipped everything in there! SANDWICHES TOO!! I couldn't believe it. So, little note to all of you , if you want the food at your next party to be a BIG hit, just get a chocolate pot and let them dip it all, doesn't appear to matter what you serve! They had so much fun! After dinner, they moved into the cinema room to watch A Little Princess, sadly we had technical difficulties and had to put in our backup showing of The Sound of Music. As they watched they created fluffy flip flops with strips of fabric being tied to the straps of the shoes, so cute. They then had popcorn, cake, and finally painted their fingernails. Oh, and we must not forget presents, that did come before the movie....and she had a blast opening all of her gifts. I could not be more blessed with the wonderful group of girls my daughter is surrounded by. Oh, and one more little note, the girls watched this video: More Beautiful You, and we had a lovely chat about how our beauty is given to us by God and our reflection of Him in this world. We also discussed Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but the Young Lady who fears Adonai, she shall be praised! And as much fun as these girls had frilling up with the girly stuff, they are true beauties in their hearts! So, this is the close of the 10th birthday of Atira...it was a fun time and I do believe she was thoroughly spoiled and very blessed!

I can feel the sugar surging through my veins....

We made it! Atira had her spa birthday party sleepover last night! Whew! It was a wonderful evening...of which I will share more later. However this morning I got up and made these wonderful cinnamon rolls for breakfast! Thought I would share the recipe in case you would like to try it...it is by FAR my favorite cinnamon rolls!! Now, the above picture does not have the cream cheese frosting on these yet, which is definitely what makes these CRAZY GOOD!! So, enjoy!

Clone of Cinnabon

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

I made it!

WOO HOO! I tried out for The Old Schoolhouse homeschool review crew and they approved me for boarding! So, this upcoming homeschool year the kids and I will be reviewing products we receive and I will be sharing those reviews here on my blog! We are looking forward to all the many new things we will have the opportunity to experience and can't wait to share them. In addition, my good friend Denise is my firstmate (mentor) to help me through this whole experience. So, be watching for the additional review posts that I will be adding very soon!

a night at the observatory

How to get a great picture of a group:
1. Go to the observatory and get some of these nifty glasses and ask all of your subjects to put them on
2. Have a camera with a flash at the ready
3. Point that camera, with a flash at your peeps
4. Watch them smile and shout with joy over the beautiful rainbow colors shooting all around their eyeballs!!

I was in the second shot which is the top picture in this post, I was expecting the cool colors but was still so surprised when they happened, which was twice since I have a preflash (for redeye) and then the real flash, I thoroughly enjoyed them both. What a crack up. Truthfully I wish I had video of this moment because after I was just cracking up over all the comments and sounds that everyone made once the picture was over.

This was the beginning of an amazing evening. It began with a very cloudy and rainy day. I had been praying since the day before this trip that the skies would clear so we could behold the majesty of the heavens that God created...and you would not believe it but it was cloudy all the way down and when we reached Seattle, specifically the U of W campus, it was COMPLETELY CLEAR for us! I felt in awe as we reached there because we would be able to see the heavens! WOO HOO! We were treated to a funducational (as my kids say it) talk on Einstein and the imagination by a sophomore psychology student. As the darkness moved in we were moved outside and into the observatory. There were a couple of students with telescopes set up outside and since the line was long inside that is where we headed first. What an incredible moment, looking through that lens and seeing SATURN!!! So beautiful, so awesome, so much better than a photo in a book. I cannot explain why, but it filled me with awe of my creator, how He hung this beautiful gem in the sky for our enjoyment. We had an opportunity to also go up to the observatory and see the planet again. This is something we definitely plan to do more through the summer, it was a wonderful outing and a joy that we went with friends and family!

Adventures with Grandpa Curt

Grandpa Curt is the bomb. Need I say more?

Locks of Love

What an amazing girl we have! She decided to donate her beautiful long red locks to Locks of Love. A couple of years ago Atira had a friend who has alopecia and that was when she first learned about the company that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair for various reasons. She did not grow her hair out with the intent of donating it but rather she wanted to be able to flip her head over and have her hair cover her face to look something like Cousin It.
Although to be honest that is not where she got the idea from it originated with the show Full House where DJ puts her hair over her face because she has a zit on her nose and she is trying to cover it. Ah, the places we find inspiration! Anyway, it led to several years of growing out that beautiful head of hair and after hearing about one of our friends plans to donate hair, Atira decided it was what she wanted to do. (But just prior to that, she had heard of being able to sell hair and tossed that idea around a bit too). So, in the end the hair is being sent off to LOL and we all love her new short hairstyle!

Happy 10th Birthday to our Princess!

WOW!! Our baby is 10! What a fun weekend this has been celebrating her life. Her actual birthday was on Saturday, so that was spent with our home fellowship where Atira had a nice big chocolate Costco cake, YUM! She also was treated to breakfast sandwiches (per her request) that her dad made and her favorite soup for lunch....chicken meatball w/ dumplings (which my kids loving call "Booger Soup"). That next morning she got up in her new birthday jammies and had her family party. She decorated her own cake as you can see in the picture above. She was thoroughly spoiled with both gifts and love and it was a memorable day she will cherish for a long time.