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Leaven, Cleansing, & Sabbaths

It’s been a busy week getting caught up on orders, but also because I’ve had some extra stuff going on too! This evening is Passover followed by the feast of Unleavened Bread, which has meant it’s been time to get the leaven out of our house 🙂

In Exodus 12:17-20 (ESV) it reads:

And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

For me, the significance of this act of obedience in removing the leaven is two-fold. The first is simply obedience. He says do it, so I’m doing it. Last year I only found out it was time on the day of so I did my best to grab whatever I could find and shove it into the garage!  I know Father smiled at my efforts the same way a parent would smile at a 3 year old’s attempt to make their bed 😉

You would seriously be SHOCKED at how much stuff has yeast in it!  Things you’d never even consider – soups for example.  Which brings me to the second point of removing the leaven… it’s what it represents: sin. So think about this a moment, there’s the big sins in our life and those are like the jar of yeast or loaf of bread, which obviously contain leaven.

Then there’s the ones that are more subtle and could be overlooked like the yeast in the soup or meatballs in your freezer (which have breadcrumbs in them), and in our case the kefir grains (my hubby makes his own kefir and apparently the grains have yeast in them – so we moved a mini fridge outside for the week to keep them from dying!).

Finally there’s the hidden sins that you really have to look for and be deliberate about getting at like the crumbs in the toaster or oven… just as we need to yield to His refining to clean us completely out.

Each year as we get to take this time to physically remove leaven, it’s a reminder to do the same in our life as well. Stop and take inventory. Clean out those cabinets and toasters and ovens and reflect on the corners of your heart and what lies there.

This year my hubby and I did a lot more planning and dug even deeper. In addition to getting the leaven out, we also removed many unhealthy foods from our home. As you can tell from my size, this has been an area of weakness for me, but no more. Prayers are appreciated as I move forward in that part of this journey.

And finally, one of the reasons I wanted to share all this is in Leviticus 23:4-8 (ESV)

These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.

You all know I’ve been observing the weekly Sabbath, and so the first high Sabbath for this year’s feast of Unleavened Bread falls on a regular Sabbath so it doesn’t impact when you can reach me. But the one on day 7 falls on next Friday, which means I will be unavailable from Thursday (12th) evening until Saturday (14th) evening since I’ll basically have a high Sabbath (for the feast) followed by a weekly Sabbath.

Thank you all for understanding as I take this time to honor the Father and all His Son came to do for us. Tonight as I am at our Passover seder, we will follow the traditions that have been done for thousands of years – each time proclaiming what He was called to do in giving His life for us.  Truly there is no greater love.

Bless you all as you honor Him!

8 thoughts on “Leaven, Cleansing, & Sabbaths

  1. What a GREAT way to explain all this Meghan!!

    May Abba guide you through and Bless you richly this week for your obedience and faithfulness!

    Love you!

  2. Psalm 89 – Amplified Bible (AMP)
    15Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!

    16In Your name they rejoice all the day, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.

  3. Bless you Meghan as you obey and honor Him.

  4. Passover is so important – to recognize we need the blood of Christ that was shed for the remission of our sins – if we confess our sins GOD is faithful to forgive our sins. It is time for some serious self examination!!! As we celebrate the sedur – Let’s PASSOVER as a new person in CHRIST JESUS!!!

  5. without the blood of JESUS there will be no cleansing. without confession of sins GOD cannot forgive them – if we never apply study or do the WORD OF GOD there can be no healing! As we celebrate the Sedur let’s PASSOVER into a new creature in CHRIST!!!

  6. Thank you so much for the message. I am going to be celebrating Passover this evening and my husband has agreed to join me I am excited. I recently started attending a Messianic home Fellowship so I am getting to learn all about the Jewish traditions and feasts. 🙂 I am learning so much listening to Jim Staley’s teachings. He is a wonderful teacher!!! Sharon is going to be taking pictures tonight of everyone dressed up with their prayer shawls/veils. I will have to send you a copy of the picture 🙂

  7. […] you may remember from the Feast of Unleavened Bread and from my weekly Sabbaths, I am making an effort to honor the Father by observing His holy […]

  8. […] to believe the Fall Feasts are upon us! You may remember I gave you FYIs in the spring for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) and it suddenly occurred to me that in addition to the normal weekly […]

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