The Lord showed me that if we honor the Pesach, the Passover, and “set our houses in order” this year- then He would lead us into our own Promised Lands in various areas of our lives. I pray that this resource-rich letter helps you begin to think about how to honor Him and His Being the perfect Passover Lamb for us. His Feast days are also translated as His “Divine Appointments” as He promises to meet us at these times while we make space in our hearts and minds to honor Him as His Bride, His Family, His chosen.
There are so many enriching and empowering metaphors for a Life in Christ-Messiah to be found in this story, when the Death Angel "passed over" all of the Israelites' houses on the way to slay every first-born male in Egypt. For quick reference, see Exodus 12:21-51. Can you imagine being liberated from slavery, made wealthy, and relocated in one day? Reading this may provide a great place to start reflecting. This is the downloadable Haggadah- the host’s guidebook of the “telling” of the story of the Pesach (Passover) Seder (“order”) meal with the meanings of all the Pesach foods and the cups of wine, as well as tips and hints for engaging children and compelling them to ask “The Four Questions” which are listed on page 31. On page 26, there’s a note that reads “when a story answers a question, it’s a story that’s remembered”:
This is a link to all the preparations for the Passover Seder meal that is for the first night at sunset:
Here are kosher recipes for the actual “dinner” part of the evening, after the Pesach “plate” and ceremony is completed. Note the link to the easy Pesach plate prep on the page as well:
This is an awesome overview resource for all things Passover with tons of links- food, stories, prayers, study, history, and multimedia tools:
These are the specific Pesach readings per day with a drop-down menu at the top of the page:
These are the Haftarah portions- the readings for after the meals each night. Note that this year- the Shabbats are on the first and last days of the Passover Feast… so the reading for the Shabbat haftarah listed in this reference is not necessary this year; that is for the years when the Sabbath is placed on an “intermediate day” during the Passover week itself:
For quick reference and review- these are the Passover reading instructions for the Week in general terms for every year:
Pesach celebrates a time of moving out of pride and ego, which is represented by the leaven (chametz). It’s a time to reacquaint ourselves with humility and holiness. Holy Spirit will show each of us how to honor this special meeting time with God throughout the week through remembrances of His Miracles, Salvation, Provision, Reconciliation, Deliverance, Redemption, and Emancipation from mental slavery. The following 50 days after Passover counts every single day- “waving the Omer”- an offering of barley- to remind us of the spiritual refinement we are committing to undergo in preparation for receiving the Torah- the Instruction for our new lives going into the Promised Land. (Moses received the Torah around the same time of the Shavuot “Feast of Weeks” following the wheat harvest.)
One Way to look at this- as a member of the royal priesthood, is that we are preparing our hearts, minds, bodies, homes, and families- on behalf of the nations, in order for us to be able to actually obey the Instruction that we have received. God can give us specific commands for our lives in addition to a renewed hunger to follow His Torah- His Instruction outlined in the first five books of the Bible. The Lord showed us the Way to fulfill His commands. And we can achieve feats like His and even greater by His gift of the baptism of His Holy Spirit and His Fire. Just like the fire that burns up the chaff directly following the end of a wheat harvest, The Lord Yeshua-Jesus Is the Consuming Fire Who Is ready to purify us for His Great Harvest of souls. At the end of the wheat harvest, His Holy Spirit came upon the 120 in the Upper Room at the Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost… as Flames of Fire. And so it is that we can see Heavenly Father’s Divine Appointment with His children on Pesach as a time to anticipate our own fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit and Fire upon us.
So when we sow our Tithe-First Fruits offering of the best of the harvest of our land during this festival, we are to pray to be able to operate in the world: 1) while keeping His vision for us at the forefront of the theater of our minds, 2) while accomplishing all that still, small Voice requests of us, 3) while remaining holy and set apart, and 4) while always humbly giving honor to God for all we encounter, achieve, and overcome. As we conduct our Passover and other Feast times at home, it’s a blessing to note the Biblical precedent that the Lord has said that if we cannot get to the Temple that we can take the full value of what would’ve been given to the priests as our offering, and spend it all and make a feast for others that can happen within our homes! See Deuteronomy 14:22-27 for reference.
According to some, 2021/5781 is the 41st 50th Jubilee Year since Yeshua’s birth, if we look at the alignment of the stars around that time. Some notes on the Shemitah (7th) Year and the Jubilee (50th) Year are written in Leviticus 25. In these years, we see a reaping of the harvests of both judgments and blessings due to us for the past 49 years of our lives. That’s why at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, we pray, “Lord, please sweeten and soften our judgment,” as we eat meat (representing judgment, as the meat had to die to give us Life) covered in bread or dough (representing the sweet honey-tasting Bread of Life- manna or “man-hu” in Hebrew, that descended from Heaven as God’s Free Gift).
This year, as we have eyes to see, we will be reviewing the choices we have made as God brings everything into a more balanced atmosphere of Restoration and Repair on the Earth as It Is in Heaven. We can pray on behalf of the nations that we’d have the Mercy and Grace to see Liberty proclaimed to the captives and to experience the return- to their rightful owners- of property deeds, inheritances, belongings, and anything borrowed or forgotten. And we can thank Him for being our Perfect Lamb Who Was slain... Whose Life-Giving, Sin-Forgiving Blood we can still plead over our doorposts and lintels to watch all manner of evil “pass over us”. Thank You, Lord. You Are a Faithful King.
†This shows the stars’ alignment over Yeshua’s birth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9tlm6eu1IY
(*Note: This is the map of the 40-year ego-wandering in the wilderness. Let us purge Rebellion from our lives so that we can get to our Promised Land in the most direct manner. Let’s live the Victories Heavenly Father wrote for us in our books. “Lord, Help us to be Immediately Obedient to Your Commands and statutes by the leading of Your Holy Spirit.”
With trust and delight, this journey could be just 11 days.)
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