THE FALL FEASTS OF ISRAEL YOM TERUAH

Leviticus chapter 23

Today we are walking in: The Fall Feasts Of Israel Yom Teruah

And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto Yahuah; because he is good, for his mercy endures forever toward Yashar'el. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahuah, because the foundation of the house of Yahuah was laid. Ezra v'Nechemyahu (Ezra) 3:11 | את Cepher

SHOUT

Today we look to the word- SHOUT- H7321 ruwa'--to shout, raise a sound, cry out, give a blast

The Torah testifies...............

And he said: It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. Shemoth (Exodus) 32:18 | את Cepher

He has not beheld iniquity in Ya'aqov, neither has he seen perverseness in Yashar'el: Yahuah Elohayu is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. Bemidbar (Numbers) 23:21 | את Cepher

And there came a fire out from before Yahuah and consumed upon the altar the ascending smoke offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their face. Vayiqra (Leviticus) 9:24 | את Cepher

The prophets proclaim.................. 

And when the Ark of the Covenant of Yahuah came into the camp, all Yashar'el shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. Shemu'el Ri'shon (1 Samuel) 4:5 | את Cepher

Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Qedar inhabits: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 42:11 | את Cepher

For thus says Yahuah; Sing with gladness for Ya'aqov, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Yahuah, save your people, את the remnant of Yashar'el. Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:7 | את Cepher

The writings bear witness...........................

And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the shofar, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. Yahusha (Joshua) 6:5 | את Cepher

For you, Yahuah, will bless the righteous; with favor will you compass him as with a shield. Tehilliym (Psalms) 5:11 | את Cepher

I will also clothe her priests with yeshu'ah: and her chaciyd shall shout aloud for joy. Tehilliym (Psalms) 132:16 | את Cepher

The Fall Feasts of Israel

Yom Teruah

Speak unto the children of Yashar'el, saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Shabbath, a memorial of blowing of shofars, a holy assembly. Vayiqra (Leviticus) 23:24 | את Cepher

He answered and said unto them: Well has Yesha'yahu prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of Elohiym, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them: Full well ye reject the commandment of Elohiym, that ye may guard your own tradition. For Mosheh said, Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoso curses father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say: If a man shall say to his father or mother: It is Qorban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever you might be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the Word of Elohiym of no effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Marqus (Mark) 7:6-13 | את Cepher

Many spend time each year celebrating the Feast of Rosh haShanah without realizing IT IS NOT A SCRIPTURAL FEAST!!Most are not aware that Rosh haShanah DOES NOT EXIST IN SCRIPTURE! It has been hijacked by the rabbinical religion of Judaism and changed from the scriptural Yom Teruah to accommodate their own agenda. In the same regard, Yah never declared the determination of the beginning of the month to be the sighting of the crescent moon. Many say it is found in scripture, but it is not. What they are parroting is the man-made tradition of the religion of Judaism. It is only decreed that certain days of the month were to be observed, and some observances are at the "middle" of the month, (i.e., centered on the full moon - the "sign" of the middle of the month); therefore, it becomes very important to determine when the month should begin so the proper day of the full moon can be observed in the middle of the month! Even the patriarchs were smart enough to determine when the new month began and the sighting of the first crescent was nothing more than a celebratory confirmation that it had happened . An actual lunar month is never exactly 29 or 30 days. It floats! So you will find a new moon always occurs sometime during the period between the last day of the month and the first day of the next month - whether the current month is 29 or 30 days or somewhere in between. To argue that the month cannot begin until a crescent is sighted, is to elevate the importance of the moon to an idol or a god instead of simply looking at the moon as a sign for the season (Genesis 1:14). Seeking only the new crescent leads people to revere the crescent above His instructions which Yah said do not do." Yom Teruah also goes by the name, "day that no man knows." While each of the other feasts listed in scripture can be known in advance because they all fall after the sighting of a new moon, the lone exception is Yom Teruah because this is the only feast that is determined by the actual sighting of the new moon - so "no man" can calculate the exact day when this feast day will begin. Thus, when we read Yahusha declaring that He would come at a time that "no man knows" above, how many of us understand that to be a Hebrew idiom referencing the events surrounding "Yom Teruah"? An idiom is an expression that does not make sense in any other language than the one being spoken. An idiom in English would be "It is raining cats and dogs outside!". This is a very confusing expression to someone not familiar with the culture associated with the English language. Such is the case with this Hebrew idiom Yahusha used for this Feast. Yom Teruah typology is found throughout the words of Yahusha haMashiach (the Hebrew Messiah of Israel). 

In ancient Israel, the man-made religion of Judaism asserted that there would be "two witnesses" who would stand on the walls of Jerusalem and "watch" for the first sliver (crescent) of the new moon. Having "two witnesses" is derived from Deuteronomy 19:15 which says that everything will be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 2:5-6). When the new moon appeared in the sky then these "two witnesses" would sound the shophar (ram's horn trumpet) and all the people in the city would immediately drop what they were doing and they would begin to move towards the temple for the celebration of "The Day of an Awakening Blast" or in Hebrew, "Yom Teruw'ah." Since this feast was a convocation (not a Shabbat, but to be treated as a Shabbat), the doors to the city were only open for a short period of time after sundown (the beginning of the Hebrew "day") - so, since the temple was located within the city, anyone failing to make it to the temple before the "doors were shut" were left out of the feast because once they were shut, no one could get in (unless they humbled themselves). Because this feast began at sundown, oil lamps had to be full so that they could find their way in the dark towards the temple. In Matthew 25, we find our Messiah telling us a parable about ten virgins. Only five of these virgins were wise and had their oil lamps filled when the bridegroom came. But the other five foolish virgins had not prepared themselves by filling their lamps with oil. When the "Day That No Man Knows" had arrived, the two witnesses sounded the "trumpet" and the five wise virgins were ready to go into the feast - but the foolish virgins had no oil in their lamps, so they could not see their way around in the dark. The foolish virgins went to buy oil for their lamps causing them to be too late for the feast. When the temple doors were shut, the five foolish virgins were left out. Many of these inhabitants would also be working in the fields or grinding at the mill (Matthew 24:40-42). so that when they heard the sound of the shophar they knew that their work was finished. Our Messiah was also speaking in the language of Yom Teruah typology when he said that we must "work while it is yet day, for the night comes when no man can work" (John 9:4). Those who were working in the fields had to hasten toward the temple before the doors were shut. The person who was alert and listening for the sound of the shophar was "taken" by the sound of the trumpet; this was his signal to make haste towards the temple. But the person not alert and not watching would not hear the sound of the trumpet and they would be "left" in the field or still grinding at the mill - unaware the day had come. 

While the man-made religion of Christianity has attempted to re-define it as the "Feast of Trumpets," one of the unique things about Yom Teruah is that the Torah does not say what the purpose of this holy day is. The Torah gives at least one reason for all the other holy days and two reasons for some but, in contrast to all these Torah festivals, Yom Teruah has no clear purpose other than that we are commended to rest on this day. Nevertheless, the name of Yom Teruah provides a clue as to its purpose. teruah literally means to make a loud noise. This word can describe the noise made by a trumpet but it also describes the noise made by a large gathering of people shouting in unison as seen in Joshua 6:5. In this verse the word "shout" appears twice, once as the verb form of teruah and a second time as the noun form of teruah. Although this verse mentions the sound of the shofar (ram’s horn); in fact, in this verse, the two instances of teruah do not refer to the shofar but, rather, refers to the shouting of the Israelites which was followed by the fall of the walls of Jericho. In Leviticus 23:24, Yom Teruah is also referred to as Zichron Teruah. The word Zichron is seen translated as "memorial" in most English versions, but this Hebrew word also means to "mention", often in reference to speaking the name of Yah (i.e., Exodus 3:15). The day of Zichron Teruah, the "Mentioning Shout", may refer to a day of gathering in public prayer in which the crowd of the faithful shouts the name of Yah in unison - thus, a time of gathering within the temple to praise His Name.

In Judaism Yom Teruah has come to be popularly known as Rosh haShanahbecause the Hebrew word Rosh means 'head' or 'beginning', ha means 'the' and Shanah means 'year' - thus, "the beginning of the year". However, scripture clearly gives the distinction of the beginning of the physical year to the same month that Pesach (Passover) is celebrated. Scripturally, the New Year begins on the 1st of Nisan (Leviticus 23:5) while Yom Teruah is celebrated on the 1st of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:24). Consequently, Rosh haShanahhas effectively replaced Yom Teruah to become the traditionally celebrated Hebrew "New Year" in an appeasement to other world cultures and thereby negating the Words of Yah - just as Yahusha said the tradition of men would do in the passage at the opening of this article. On the 1st day of the Seventh month (Tishrei) the Torah commands us to observe the holy day of Yom Teruah (Leviticus 23:24, Numbers 29:1-6). As mentioned earlier, one of the unique things about Yom Teruah is that the Torah does not say what the purpose of this holy day is - making it easier for the rabbis to write into it whatever they need to fit their tradition. But as we have seen, scripturally, Yom Teruah has nothing in common with the beginning of a physical "new year".

While Yom Teruah is considered a feast day in scripture, it is NOT considered a High Holy Day by Yah. In the traditional, orthodox religion of Judaism, however, Rosh haShanah has become such! Even though Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are two very important holidays in the Hebrew calendar, modern Judaism attributes far more importance to both of them than is actually warranted, justifiable or even defensible. Modern Orthodox Judaism considers Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur (and the days between them) to be "THE" High Holy Days whereas this is not Yah's opinion - for He has NOT declared either Yom Teruah or Yom Kippur a High Holy Day. The three High Holy Days established by Yah are: 

•1) The first day of Matzoh (renamed Unleavened Bread) on 15 Nisan - the day after Pesach (Passover). 

•2) Shavu'ot (renamed Pentecost) - very late in spring, fifty days from the first day following Pesach. 

•3) The first day of Sukk'ot (renamed Tabernacles) on 15 Tishri - 5 days after Yom Kippur and 15 days after Yom Teruah. 

These three Elohim-ordained High Holy Days are the ONLY ones on Yah's ecclesiastical calendar - there are NO OTHER High Holy Days listed anywhere! (Exodus 23:14-17, Deuteronomy 16:16). There actually are NO "Hebrew" Holy Days either, for there are only Yah's Holy Days which the Sons of Israel were commanded to faithfully observe as their form of worship of The Elohim of Abraham (Leviticus 23:1-2). The Holy Days spoken of in scripture were ordained by Yah as "Appointed Times" which He considers Holy unto Himself.

The following are modern Judaistic "BELIEFS" about Rosh haShanah, man-made traditions and customs that were not derived from the Torah and Tanakh (OT) but emerged during and have evolved since the Babylonian Diaspora - and have been greatly expanded upon in the Talmud (which are the oral Rabbinical commentaries). On Rosh haShanah, Hebrews from all over the world gather in synagogues to celebrate the day haShem (the Name) created Adam and Chavah. BUT, in the scriptures, Chavah (Eve) was created at some later date following the creation of Adam (the first Hebrew - not the first of mankind). Rosh haShanahstarts on the first day of Tishri and lasts two days which are the beginning of the Yamim Noraim, the ten days of atonement. BUT, in the scriptures, Yom Teruah lasts for only one day, and Yom Kippuris the only (solitary) day of atonement. According to the scriptures, there is NO special significance to the eight days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur. 

Within the religion of Judaism, it is IMAGINED that on Rosh haShanah, all mankind is judged. That haShem (The God Of Abraham) writes the judgment for each person in the Book of Life. It is IMAGINED that this judgment is based on people's lives for the year before, and is the decision of what will happen to each person in the coming year. It is further IMAGINED that the judgment is not final. That the days between Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur give people a time to change the judgment for good. It is IMAGINEDthat each person is given the chance to improve their coming year through Teshuvah (asking forgiveness), Tefillah (prayer), and Tzedakah (charity). On Rosh haShanah it is customary to wish each other "L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevuh" - may you be written in for a good year. But, it is only IMAGINED that Rosh haShanah is not the end of the judgment, and it is further IMAGINED that only on Yom Kippur is that judgment is made final. These are ALL man-made practices, traditions and customs - but, they are NOTreflective of Yah's Words. These examples give cause to suspect that modern Orthodox rabbinical religious authorities have never even read their OWN scriptures because they give undue precedence to Rabbinical commentaries (Talmud, et al) while ignoring the Torah and the Tanakh. 

So, how are the feasts contained in the 613 ordinances of the Torah to be kept? Are they to be observed by the legalistic tenets of the religion of Judaism? Or, should they be elevated to the higher level of Spirit Yahusha spoke of? I keep all the feasts - just not in the ritualistic manner to which most are accustomed. I worship the Father in Spirit and Truth - not substituting one for the other (John 4:23-24). He has become my Teruah because I am consistently listening for His trumpeting (voice); I don't live for a week out under the stars because Yah has become my Sukkot where I constantly abide; He is my Shavu'ot, daily filling me with His Spirit; He has become my Pesach (redemption); He is my Kippur(atonement); etc. So, while acknowledging these events by my elevation of them in Spirit in this generation (as with His Temple) and not abolishing them, I have found the ritualistic manner in which most celebrate the feasts to not be necessary.

SHIFT IN THE SPIRIT: TIME TO CHECK WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART

Deuteronomy chapter 6
















Today we are walking in: Shift in the Spirit: Time to Check What Is In Your Heart!!















Deuteronomy 6:5




And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, H3824 and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

















Today we look to the word- HEART- H3824 lebab--inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding










The Torah Testifies.............................








Exodus 14:5




And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart H3824 of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?




Leviticus 19:17




Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: H3824 thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.







Deuteronomy 11:16




Take heed to yourselves, that your heart H3824 be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;







The prophets proclaim..................








1Samuel 6:6




Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, H3824 as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?




1Samuel 7:3




And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, H3824 then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts H3824 unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.



Isaiah 10:7




Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart H3824 think so; but it is in his heart H3824 to destroy and cut off nations not a few.







The writings bear witness.............








Joshua 2:11




And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts H3824 did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.







Job 22:22




Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart . H3824







Job 34:10




Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: H3824 far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.























"Love the Lord your Yah with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:5 In Hebrew, the heart (lev or levav) is the center of human thought and spiritual life. We tend to think that the heart refers mainly to our emotions, but in Hebrew it also refers to one's mind and thoughts as well is the heart is the seat of intelligence. The heart is the only moving organ in the body, and strong emotions cause the heartbeat to race. When the heart stops beating, a person is dead. Because the Hebrews were a concrete people who used physical things to express abstract concepts, the heart was the metaphor of the mind and all mental and emotional activity. Other interesting physical terms are also used - when we read "inmost being" the Hebrew often is literally "kidneys" (Prov. 23:16), and the life was understood to be in the blood (Genesis 9:4). Understanding that the word "heart" often meant mind and thoughts often helps clarify the meaning of passages. For instance:







"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts." (Deut. 6:6) means These commandments are to be in your minds, a part of all your thoughts. "The heart of the wise instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips." (Prov. 16:23) means The wise person's mind considers his words so that he can speak persuasively. One more lesson we can learn from the meaning of heart is from the greatest commandment, to "love the Lord with all your heart." It means we are to use all of our thoughts as well as our emotions to love the Lord. In the Gospels the phrase "and all your mind" is there to emphasize that fact, but from Moses' time it would have been understood that way. As Paul says, we must "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5). Just as a healthy human heart is at the center of the body and absolutely essential for physical life and health, so too a healthy spiritual heart (intellect, emotion, will) is at the center of one's inner being (soul) and is vital for a healthy soul, serving as the "fountain" of all moral attitudes and actions. Our spiritual heart thus controls out actions and our actions determine our habits, which in turn determine our character. When Yah measures the ''worth'' of a man's life He puts the measuring tape around his heart, not around his head. Be a man after Yah’s Own heart (Acts 13:22) We must continually "post a guard" at the doorway of our heart, so that every avenue for sin's entry is blocked. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 The “heart” commonly refers to the mind as the center of thinking and reason (Pr 3:3; 6:21;7:3), but also includes the emotions (Pr 15:15, 30), the will (Pr 11:20; 14:14), and thus, the whole inner being (Pr 3:5). The heart is the depository of all wisdom and the source of whatever affects speech (Pr 4:24), sight (Pr 4:25), and conduct (Pr 4:26, 27). Thou hast put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound. (Psalm 4:7 I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; will tell of all Thy wonders. (Psalm 9:1 The Hebrews regarded the heart as the source of wit, understanding, love, courage, grief, and pleasure…The heart is said to be dilated by joy, contracted by sadness, broken by sorrow, to grow fat, and be hardened by prosperity. The heart melts under discouragement, forsakes one under terror, is desolate in affliction, and fluctuating in doubt. To speak to any one's heart is to comfort him, to say pleasing and affecting things to him. The heart expresses also the middle part of any thing: "Tyre is in the heart of the seas," Ezekiel 27:4; in the midst of the seas. "We will not fear though the mountains be carried into the heart (middle) of the sea," Psalms 46:2 .The heart of man is naturally depraved and inclined to evil, Jeremiah 17:9 . A divine power is requisite for its renovation, John 3:1-11 . When thus renewed, the effects will be seen in the temper, conversation, and conduct at large. Hardness of heart is that state in which a sinner is inclined to, and actually goes on in, rebellion against Yah. I have trusted in Thy lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation. (Psalm 13:5 Ezekiel 18:31 “Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O House of Israel?” The word in Hebrew for cast is shalak which is found in a Hiphal (causative) imperative (command) form. Thus there is something causing us to want to cast off our transgressions and we are being commanded to do so. The word itself, shalak, suggests the idea of banishing or abandonment. It would seem that from this particular form that Yah is filling us with such disgust over our transgressions that we are going to want to abandon them or banish them from our lives. Yet, I have met many who are disgusted with their transgressions and are trying to throw them off or abandon them, but they just keep coming back, particularly addictions. How are we to abandon our transgressions? The word itself may provide a clue. The word shalak is spelled Shin, Lamed and Final Kap. This suggests that it is the power of Yah (Shin) through prayer (Lamed) that our transgressions are emptied from our hearts (Final Kap). Note how the phrase, all your transgressions is preceded with an Aleph Tav or an eth which is simply a sign of the direct object and is in a construct to kol (all) pishe’ikem (transgressions). This is telling you that you cannot cast off some of your transgressions and keep the ones you want; it is an all or nothing process. This is important as you will find out in the following paragraphs. The word transgression pishe’ekim comes from a Semitic root word pasa.’ It is a word used to express the idea of rebellion, sin or offending someone.










It has its origins in a willful, conscious act, or what we call premeditation. It involves outward manifestations of anger, lust and jealousy. These transgressions are not just those of the addict and the obvious sinners. This applies to all of us who feel a surge of jealous, lust or anger and we allow these feelings to be manifested in some action. Note the passage continues by saying, which we have transgressed in them. That sounds pretty redundant doesn’t it, to say the transgressions we transgressed in them?










That word for in them is bam and is not to be overlooked. In other words they were not a part of us to begin with, we walked right into them. These are manifestations of behavior that are not a part of our sin nature. Now as to why we must cast off all our transgression note that the verse says, make you a new heart. Now how can we make ourselves a new heart? Did not David have to ask Yah to create in him a new heart? Well the syntax seems to suggest that it is this casting away of all your transgressions that will make you a new heart. The word make is ’ashah. The word is spelled Ayin which is deep spiritual insight, Shin representing the power of Yah and Hei the presence of God. It is still Yah creating us a new heart, but He cannot do it until we allow our spiritual insight to recognize our transgressions, then the power of Yah can change our heart so that it may be emptied of all its transgressions and filled with the presence of Yah. This is not casting off our sin nature. We cannot control that, which is why YAHUSHA had to die on the stake. But these are sins that we allow or willful allow that are resulting from our sin nature. Apparently, we have some control over that. Yah will deal with our sin nature, but that doesn’t mean we cannot sin. There is another level of sin that we can still enter into because of our free will and we must also make a conscious decision not to commit sins that results from our sin nature or what the Apostle calls the old man that is within us. It also says we will have a new spirit. This is a play on words chadash rauch. This is very close to chadosh rauch or Holy Spirit. The word rauch means spirit but is also used to express the idea of a pleasant scent. Where our hearts were once a stench in the nostrils of Yah, it will become a sweet scent to the nostrils of Yah through the cleansing work of Yahushua through whose divine power, our transgressions are emptied from our heart and then filled with the Holy Spirit – presence of Yah. Finally, we get a new heart. The word for heart is lev. It is spelled Lamed and Beth. I have read that our English word love derives from this word lev or heart. When God cleanses our heart, it becomes love. As a rabbi once told me, the very last letter of Torah (Old Testament) is a Lamed and the first letter is a Beit. Together they make the word levor heart, from the Torah we find the Love of Yah as well as the love of fellow man. But why does this combination appear only reversed? Because this love can only be fully created after we have obeyed the entire Word of Yah and we allow the word of Yah to complete love in us. ALL PRAISES TO THE MOST HIGH YAH!!

THE BOASTING TONGUE

Day 7

The Boasting Tongue

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. 

Are you so proud of your accomplishments or your possessions that you cannot help but boast about them? Boasting implies that your good for- tune is a result of your own efforts. Have you for- gotten that everything you have came from Yah? King Nebuchadnezzar did. One day, as he was strolling on the roof of his palace, he had a conver- sation with himself that would change the rest of his life.

As he looked out across the city, he said, “Just look at this great city of Babylon! I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as an expres- sion of my royal splendor” 

                                 

The Scriptures tells us that Yah interrupted Nebu- chadnezzar’s proud moment and declared to him that he would lose his kingdom immediately! He was driven from the palace and forced to live as a common derelict. His hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. He even became mentally ill. It was not until he acknowledged Yah as the ruler over everything that Yah gave him back his sanity and restored his kingdom. Hear his testimony:

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal domin- ion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” 

We must learn to consciously take the backseat when pride screams for the front row. Study the fate of proud men in the Bible. Meditate on Scriptures

                                      

that deal with humility and pride. I have framed the passage below and keep it in my view in my office.

Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 

Whatever skills or talents Yah has given to you, they are for His glory. Learn to take praise in stride. If your popularity increases, don’t be intoxicated by the accolades. Remember that praise is like perfume. If you consume it, it will kill you! ALL PRAISES TO THE MOST HIGH YAH!!!