Next Saturday March 27th begins Passover.
Something is stirring in my spirit regarding Passover. But first, let me give you a little background…
The Lord nudged me to begin a fast on January 10th and I thought it was to be a 21-day Daniel fast. Well, maybe like you, once I got close to the end, I had this strong sense to continue beyond the 21 days. Then, in February I had lunch with someone and because we were going to share an entrée, I mentioned my diet limitations. She then proceeded to tell me that she has friends that fast until Passover. I wanted to plug my ears and hum. Immediately, even though I kind of didn’t want to hear it, I knew I couldn’t unhear it. God was speaking to continue the fast through Passover. Can you relate? Have you ever sensed a directive from the Lord and thought…… “Dang, did I just hear what I heard?” You can’t unhear it, can you? You know that you know that God is speaking to you.
Well, the other thing that often happens to me is that I don’t receive the fullness of what I sense the Lord is speaking to me. I recognize He is speaking. I catch the directive. But many times, I don’t get ALL the information. If the Lord does that with me, I always know that He wants me to pursue Him for more understanding. It’s in the research that He draws us in and begins to unpack His heart and our direction. Well, that’s what I sense with Passover.
For some reason I never really thought about Passover WEEK!!! DAH!!! It never really hit me until this year that maybe God wants us to celebrate and reverence the WHOLE week of Passover. DAH, again!!!
So, what do we do when we want to research something, we go on the Internet ? So, I did and here’s a snippet of what I saw…
Passover, also called Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪ-/;[2] Hebrew: פֶּסַח Pesaḥ), is a major Jewish holiday that occurs in the Spring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan. One of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals, Passover is traditionally celebrated in the Land of Israel for seven days and for eight days among many Jews in the Diaspora, based on the concept of yom tov sheni shel galuyot.
In the Bible, Passover marks the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egyptian slavery, when God “passed over” the houses of the Israelites during the last of the ten plagues. When the Temple in Jerusalem stood, the paschal lamb was offered and eaten on Passover eve, while the wave offering of barley was offered on the second day of the festival. Nowadays, in addition to the biblical prohibition of owning leavened foods for the duration of the holiday, the Passover seder is one of the most widely observed rituals in Judaism.
When I read “Passover marks the EXODUS of the Children of Israel from Egyptian slavery”, that caught in my spirit. I knew that it was time to look at Passover in a whole new way and with reverence.
A friend has reminded me TWICE that Passover begins on the 27th of March. It’s not the night before Good Friday, it’s next Saturday!!! There is a significance to this year’s Passover. We need to be set free from whatever “slavery” we have been in bondage to. Whether it be literal slavery like our Black sisters and brothers have experienced or slavery from wrong actions, wrong thoughts, insecurity, tormenting spirits, whatever it is that we have been in bondage to it needs to be broken TODAY!!! We need to be set free, walk in love and be different and be the difference makers. God is calling us individually and collectively to STAND UP and BE THE CHANGE!!! Not just give lip service.
How do we do that? By seeking God. By asking for His direction, His wisdom, and His viewpoint. What better way to understand God’s heart than to take 8 days and consecrate ourselves to Him! (In the Bible, Eight stands for New Beginnings.)
My goal is to consecrate myself from the 27th until Easter Sunday. When we celebrate Christ coming out of the grave on Easter Sunday, I want to see us come out of the grave. The grave of bondage!!! I will be praying for each and every one of you during the days of Passover. Would you pray about coming alongside this eight-day journey with the Lord? I promise you; you won’t regret it.