Written in: My Haven in Cebu
I wake up on a cold Friday morning, enjoying the Winter season of Hanukkah! Wait! I'm in the Philippines, why does it feel like I am in another country in a cold gloomy weather? Ah Yes! Urduja, the reason for the chilly season that I am enjoying today and it really feels like I am in another country. After I heard there was a storm coming to the Philippines, I felt excited, (you're asking: Why? Are you crazy? my answer: Yes! I am). Of course I didn't want any harm to come to my people affected in the areas where the storm is passing, but I just felt that there's something new going on.
I traveled to Bacolod on the 12th of December. But Mom had warned me of a Storm the night before I was going to fly out of Cebu. My mission to go to Bacolod did not make me afraid of any storm that might come. I had to see Enriqueta, my long-time-no-see spiritual grandmother who had prophesied to my life 6 years ago. I loved her and I miss her and lately GOD has been bringing her to my mind and heart. Every time I think of her I would tell the LORD, I will come to Bacolod to visit her one day, I really will, but I really do not know when. I just know I have to go. So when her missionary friend from the US called and asked me on December 10 if I want to go with her to Silay to visit Enri, I didn't hesitate, I said yes right away! So I arrived Silay Airport early Tuesday Morning and enjoyed some coffee and Ube roll for breakfast. As I was enjoying my coffee I realized that day is the beginning of the Feast of Lights called Hanukkah. That day, I was able to hug and kiss Enri after 6 long years!!!
And right now as I recall the night of December 12 that our host Tita Arlene had brought me and Arlene the Missionary to her Bible Study Group Christmas party, I realized, how special GOD had made my Hanukkah Eve! Because I was in a place I have been wanting to go, and we were enjoying a party that was filled with testimonies, songs of fun and joy. And this all happened on the Eve of Hanukkah!!! Did I plan to go to Bacolod exactly on this date? No!!! But because I am loved by the LORD, HE lets me enjoy these wonderful and cherished things on the days HE calls special and it has been especially for me on my Hanukkah!
The Feast of Hanukkah is not just a Jewish Old Testament Traditional"Feast". Our Savior JESUS or Adonai YESHUA observes this Feast of the Bible as recorded in the NEW Testament by His beloved disciple John.
John 10: 22 (CJB) Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, 23 and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade.
Why would YESHUA be walking around Solomon's Temple on a cold winter weather in the season of Hanukkah? That I cannot answer!!! Why don't we discover together by asking one of the Jewish Rabbis??? There are many great Jewish teachers in this world, I would recommend Messianic Rabbis such as Jonathan Khan, Rabbi K. A. Schneider or a personal Jewish Pastor I know in Israel, Pastor Daniel Rozen. But if you would want a non biased approach to Religion in Christianity and Judaism, I would recommend Rabi Yoel Glick. He is the most open minded, humble, insightful, wise, Spirit-filled Rabi, in the world! But if you really want to know the most intimate personal accurate answer in the world, better ask the Lord YESHUA Himself, who is very personal even though HE is GOD because HE is also a person who would love to talk to You in a honest, intimate, and personal way.
You are asking: What are you doing with these Feasts?
To some of you readers, you may not be familiar with the Jewish Feast and you are asking yourself why I am even celebrating these "Feasts" when I am not a Jew. Yes! You are right, I am not a Jew, I am not a Christian either, I am a Gentile Believer in the Jewish Messiah YESHUA! I cannot call myself a Christian anymore because there's many things I do that are not very "Christian-like" to Christians anymore so it's better to take off the "label" and call myself another thing (that's not generalized) so as not to argue with the Christians who know more what Christians ought to believe, act or think. I do not want to argue with people, I just want to share why I do what I do and why I believe what I believe.
I celebrate Hanukkah not because someone human told me about it. No! My LORD YESHUA had been revealing to me many things that I have not learned in Church. Because GOD had trained me to read the entire Bible every year, HE had been pointing out many things to me that had not been taught in the churches. Like for example that YESHUA did not die on Thursday as the regular tradition says about the holy week. According to the Book of Matthew it says in
Chapter 12 Verse 40 Amplified Bible (AMP) 40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
But Adonai YESHUA was found missing on HIS grave at the dawn of one beautiful Sunday Morning. And Scripture says that HE breathed his last on a Weekday 3'oclock in the afternoon, but did he really die on a Thursday? Adonai Yeshua was found by two Marys missing from His grave early Sunday morning, and that is why Christians go to church on a Sunday because Constantine declared that Sunday be the Church day because the Savior resurrected on a Sunday. But just because HIS body was discovered missing on Sunday does not mean that HE rose from the grave on a Sunday. He actually rose from the grave the day before Sunday!
Why do I say this?
Because if YESHUA died on a weekday of 3'oclock in the afternoon, HE should already have risen back from the grave 3 days after at the same time which is 3'oclock in the afternoon. So, YESHUA didn't rise at the Dawn of that beautiful Sunday. YESHUA rose from the grave the day before which is at 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon! That's right it was on a Shabbat that HE rose from the grave and therefore Adonai Yeshua died on a Wednesday at 3'oclock to complete the number of days and nights that HE said that He would be in the heart of the earth. HE was in the heart of the earth from the day He died at 15:00 on that dreadful Wednesday afternoon. If we count the 3 day and 3 night cycle, the first day and night would be Thursday 3pm, the second day and night would be Friday 3pm and the third day and night would be Saturday 3pm. Ergo, YESHUA died on Wednesday and rose from the grave on a Saturday!!! Hallelujah!!! HE is risen!!! King JESUS is alive!!! Woh woh woh Hallelujah!
Now I feel like singing and dancing! OMG! I just realized GOD was doing the math with me, Algebra! If X + Y = Z and only X and Z are known, what is Y? Wow!!! GOD is such a genius! I thank GOD for allowing me to finish my studies even though I hated studying Math because I was terrible at it hahaha! To graduate from University was a Miracle itself!
It's things like these that GOD would reveal the real Story to me. And so I discovered that there were many things I really do not know even though I had been going to church all my life. But ignorance is not bliss!!! Oh no! When we don't know we are punished (because we do not seek to know) but when we do know, we are punished more, yikes! Anyway, never mind if Christians go to church on a Sunday, as long as we keep the Sabbath Holy by resting, every Saturday/Sunday or anyday that we chose as Holy, instead of working, we do not profane HIS Holy Sabbath even if we go to church on a Sunday.
This is my conviction because of what the New Testament says in Romans 14: 5 NKJV One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; [a]and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. This passage also talked about eating the right food, which is more right, Vegatarians and Meat Eaters? Starting in Verse 1 Now as for a person whose trust is weak, welcome him — but not to get into arguments over opinions. 2 One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him — 4 who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand. (CJB)
I give credit to my Pastor Artemio Pacle, for pointing out and teaching me Romans 14 just recently.
Ever since GOD had been teaching me directly from His Word, and led me through the guidance of ministers such as my Pastor, I realized GOD never did change His laws from the OLD Testament but only fulfilling these laws in the NEW Testament. I realized the importance of each Feasts and it's seasons and days like Shabbat. Ever since I understood the importance of keeping in obedience with consistency in HIS word, I had been observing Shabbat by resting or enjoying Shabbat by being aware of it's significance and if I have to work, then go I'll attend the SDA church to worship before work (ironic yet it fulfills me to observe Shabbat the way I believe Shabbat should be). I had also been studying the Biblical Feast of the Bible such as Pesach (The Holy Week), Shavuot (The Feast of Harvest or Pentecost), Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacle or the real Christmas) and Hanukkah (The Feast of Lights). And so today it is Hanukkah, the Feast of Lights, and who other than the Source of Light should we celebrate this Feast of Hanukkah about? Tandadada it's no other than the LORD Himself - King YESHUA the Light of the World!!!
And so this beautiful morning that I wake up to, this new season of cold and wintery!!! The season we call Christmas and I still celebrate Christmas as well as Hanukkah together (knowing that they are all about YESHUA anyway), has brought me to a season of writing a new thing in this blog or "online book" once again. Thanks to Urduja that had brought me this feeling of chilly season or wintery, this feeling of NEW!!! Even though I am not anywhere new, I am still in the same old house in the same old room that I had began writing my Stories of Love that GOD had brought me to write and publish my Story of Me, I am still the same me - no boyfriend, not even strings or ropes to hold on to, still waiting on the LORD, but the GOD who makes all things New has made me feel brand new!
Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)
31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
"You make me come alive, when You make me write,
When I write I come alive, You are my Life" - Yiska
Hannukah 5779
December 3-10, 2018
December 3, 2018 Monday Night
Wonderful 1st Night Hanukkah 🕎Celebration with Palestinian Jewish Pastor Michael Nesrallah bestowing the Hanukkah blessing! It's such a special moment to share this with a Messenger of GOD from Zion! Dedicating everything to the Center of all things - King Yeshua Ha Mashiach baruch ata Adonai! #happyhannukah #hanukkah #hanukkah2018#kingyeshua👑 #lightoftheworld