Messianic Jewish Holidays and Celebrations

June 14, 2019

Vasyl could only watch . . . Staring at the black and white photos flashing across the giant screen on the Festival stage in Ukraine, he was suddenly transported back to the hatred and the fear of Nazis who seemed to be taking over the entire world. And when he saw a photo on the screen of himself as a young boy, he felt the fear all over again. Vasyl had spent a lifetime trying to forget the horrors of the Holocaust. But no amount of time would ever be enough to erase the images that ...

June 05, 2019

A Shavuot Devotion When you daydream about your life, what’s on your list of desires? A first draft may likely include wishes for such things as a nicer home, newer car, better-paying job, travel adventures or more time to develop your interests. Go a little deeper for a second draft, and you’re apt to list more intangible things like happiness, freedom, love, good relationships, health and the same for your loved ones. Dig further still, down deeper inside, and your list will probably...

June 05, 2019

Yeshua (Jesus) said that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). When He said this, He was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 in which Moses shared with Israel God’s words about why He provided them with manna. The Jewish Feast of Shavuot (SHA-voo-ote) celebrates God’s gifts of both food and His Word. Shavuot is one of the biblical Feasts that God commanded Israel to keep annually. It is the last of the spring Feasts and usually falls in May...

May 17, 2019

April 25, 2019

God Gives Us Hope for Today On Passover night in Egypt, the Hebrew slaves were told to eat their meal in haste. They were to be dressed and ready to go, with shoes on and staff in hand. They were to expect God to show up for them at any moment. God wants us to live with that kind of expectancy of Him every day. He is always reaching out to us, always giving, always ready to interact with us. How do we live with expectancy for this day? Remembering how God has “shown up” for us in the past...

April 24, 2019

God Sets Us Free Passover freed the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Each one among the Children of Israel was born a slave to Pharaoh. They knew nothing else until God stepped in and delivered them. The Bible tells us we were formerly slaves to sin (Romans 6:6 NKJV). But now that we have placed our faith in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), we no longer need to serve the master of sin. We have been given a new nature, the nature of Messiah. Though Yeshua died to set us free from this slaver...

April 23, 2019

God Gives Us Landmarks to Remember When Israel was coming into the Land He gave them, they faced much opposition, and they were often afraid. Over and over, God told them not to fear but remember what He had done as He freed them out of Egypt. Each of us has landmarks in our personal histories. Some milestone moments relate to the physical world, while others pertain to our spiritual lives. God is intimately involved in our spiritual journeys. As we follow Him, we can look back on particu...

April 22, 2019

God Rescues and Protects With 10 incredible plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, God intervened to deliver Israel from their bondage to Egypt. He stepped in and saved His people, pulling them out of a bad situation and freeing them to live on for Him. In various ways, He does the same for us today. Most likely, each of us can think of a time when God rescued us from trouble and protected us from harm. Some may have dramatic stories, like coming through an auto accident without injury or...

April 20, 2019

God Hears and Understands In the Passover Seder, the unleavened bread is called The “Bread of Our Affliction.” It is to remind us of how the people of Israel suffered during their slavery in Egypt. They bore painful sorrows in their hearts and heavy burdens on their backs. Today, our physical burdens may not be as substantial as those of Israel in Egypt, but each one of us bears burdens of the heart. Loss, illness, rejection, physical pain, sorrow – there are plenty of “afflictions” to go ...

April 19, 2019

God Saves On that long ago night when God’s final plague swept through the land of Egypt, the angel of death came to take the firstborn of all families. But when he saw the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorframes of the Jewish homes, he passed over and spared them the sorrow of death. Only those homes not covered by the sacrificed blood endured death. What a vivid picture this is of how Yeshua’s (Jesus’) blood, poured out and sacrificed for us, covers our sin and protects us from sp...