Blessing
for the Torah Reading:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher
bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan
lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples,
and have given us your Torah.
Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
If we cannot exercise genuine
regular effective prayer when we are not under pressure and persecution, we
will find it even more difficult to exercise such prayer when our lives are
under crisis. Sadly much prayer is made when in crisis situations. Such crisis
prayer rarely reveals YHVH’s will and heart. Crisis prayers are made for
immediate and pressing issues.
We have inherited a rich variety
of prayers from our Jewish sages. The challenge is to pray even these ancient
prayers from our heart so that they don’t just become a rote and ritual.
We see from the Scripture that
these ancient Jewish prayers were prayed by the early Messianic community.
Act 2:42 And they were continuing steadfastly in the
teaching of the emissaries, and in the fellowship, and in the breaking of
bread, and in the prayers. (Note the use of definite article “the”- these were
prayers that had been in existence for some time)
Prayer is both meant
to be a spiritual discipline and well as a heavenly communication. It is often
during times of dedicated prayer that we discover the heart and will of our
Heavenly Father.
Our short Torah portion gives us insight into the life of prayer:
Exo 30:1 “And you shall make an altar to burn incense
on, make it of acacia wood,
א וְעָשִׂיתָ מִזְבֵּחַ,
מִקְטַר קְטֹרֶת; עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים, תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתוֹ.
We are reminded of the
pattern of the fathers – Avraham, Yitzchak and Yakov: it was to pitch their
tents, BUILD their altars and dig wells. (Ber/Gen 12:8; 26:25)
Our lives should
follow the same pattern. An altar was a place where you met with your Creator.
This was meant to be the one most important FIXED activity of our lives.
The incense was a very
special incense made in a special way and only offered by Aaron or one of his
sons or grandsons and their sons – a law forever.
The Torah instructions for the preparation of
incense are found in Shemot/ Exodus 30:34, where four ingredients are
mentioned--stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincence.
Exo 30:37 “And the incense which
you make, do not make any for yourselves, according to its composition, it is
set-apart to you for יהוה.
Exo 30:38 “Whoever
makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.”
Yahshua makes an
interesting comment about prayer:
Mat 21:22 “And whatever you ask in prayer, believing,
you shall receive.”
Mar 11:23 “For truly, I say to you, whoever says to
this mountain, ‘Be removed and be thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in
his heart, but believes that what he says, shall be done, he shall have
whatever he says.
Mar 11:24 “Because of this I say to you, whatever you
ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.
Mar 11:25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you hold
whatever against anyone, forgive, so that your Father in the heavens shall also
forgive you your trespasses.
Yochanan/John goes on
to explain how prayer is answered:
1Jn 5:14 And this is the boldness that we have in Him,
that if we ask whatever according to His desire, He hears us.
1Jn 5:15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we
ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
WE CAN ONLY PRAY
ACCORDING TO HIS WILL IF WE ARE LIVING IN HIS WILL.
Psa 66:18 If I have seen(or regarded)
wickedness(Torahlessness) in my heart, יהוה would not
hear.
Psa 66:19 Truly,
Elohim has heard me; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
Psa 66:20 Blessed
be Elohim, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His kindness from me!
Just because we cannot
see Torahlessness/iniquity in our lives doesn’t mean it’s not there. Many would
claim that there is no iniquity in their lives, yet the evidence says
otherwise.
YHVH’s will is
revealed in His Torah and explained in the rest of scripture.
Exo 30:2 a cubit long and a cubit wide – it is a
square – and two cubits high, its horns of the same.
Perhaps this one cubit
(approx. 21 inches – from elbow to the tip of hand) was the standard measuring
unit used to measure and build the entire Tabernacle.
All the functioning of
the tabernacle would be measured and based on the prayer life of the
priesthood.
Our bodies are
tabernacles and we too are called to be priests – our proper functioning in
this world will be based upon our prayer life.
Perhaps this is why the first day man celebrated on earth after he was
created was the Sabbath.
This Torah
portion reveals one the secrets of effective prayer:
The incense that was burned is symbolic of our lives.
2Co 2:14 But thanks be to Elohim who always leads us
on, to overcome in Messiah, and manifests through us the fragrance of His
knowledge in every place.
2Co 2:15 Because we are to Elohim the fragrance of
Messiah among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
These spices used to make this incense were obtained through a process
of crushing and breaking. We too only become a fragrance when we have died to
ourselves and allowed the Ruach to extract a fragrance from our broken yielded
lives that compares to that which came from Messiah’s life.
Exo 30:3 “And you shall overlay its top, and its sides
all around, and its horns with clean gold. And you shall make for it a moulding
of gold all around.
Exo 30:4 “And make two gold rings for it, under the
moulding on both its sides. Make them on its two sides, and they shall be
holders for the poles to lift it with.
Exo 30:5 “And you shall make the poles of acacia wood,
and overlay them with gold.
Exo 30:6 “And you shall put it before the veil that is
before the ark of the Witness, before the lid of atonement that is over the
Witness, where I am to meet with you.
Exo 30:7 “And Aharon shall burn on it sweet incense,
morning by morning. As he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it.
Exo 30:8 “And when Aharon lights
the lamps between the evenings, he shall burn incense on it – a continual
incense before יהוה throughout your generations.
Perhaps one of the greatest incentives for us to pray is
to see a set apart priesthood PRAYING.
Exo 30:9 “Do not
offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and do
not pour a drink offering on it.
This is what caused the death of Aaron’s two sons –
(Vayikra/Lev 10:2)
Exo 30:10 “And
Aharon shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the
sin offering of atonement – once a year he makes atonement upon it throughout
your generations. It is most set-apart to יהוה.”
Prayer, more than any other spiritual activity makes us
aware of how powerless we really are to bring about lasting and significant
change to our lives and to the world around us.
Everything about our lives and the world around will be
tested by fire and only that which is built on the foundation of Messiah will
last and bring reward in the life to come.
1Co 3:11 For no one is able to lay any other
foundation except that which is laid, which is יהושע Messiah.
1Co 3:12 And if
anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
straw,
1Co 3:13 each
one’s work shall be revealed, for the day shall show it up, because it is
revealed by fire. And the fire shall prove the work of each one, what sort it
is.
1Co 3:14 If anyone’s
work remains, which he has built on, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If
anyone’s work is burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved,
but so as through fire.
The
foundation that YHVH will build upon is one that is laid in prayer and
meditation of His Torah.
We do not
always know how to pray as we ought.
Rom 8:26 And in the same way the Spirit does help in
our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray, but the Spirit Himself pleads
our case for us with groanings unutterable.
Rom 8:27 And He who searches the hearts knows what the
mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the set-apart ones
according to Elohim.
We have a
heritage of sages both Jew and Christian that have gone before us and have laid
down foundations and prayers that they have received while travailing in prayer
and passed on to future generations.
Here are
some examples for us to follow:
Shofar sound
and Shabbat music for Shabbat:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu,
Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu.
Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the
Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting
life within our midst. Blessed are you, Yahweh giver of the Torah – Ameyn
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject.