HEY!!! PURIM – Standing in the Gap
What a joyous occasion Purim is wherein we celebrate the deliverance of YHWH’s people! May we join Esther and Mordechai and be among those who are obedient to the call to stand in the gap for a people in need of what Ruach HaQodesh shows us we have to offer them.
We sure gain appreciation for our Heavenly Father’s Holy Days as we celebrate them consistently and see the great depth of meaning each one holds as relative to our present situation!
Being sensitive to the gentle calling of Ruach HaQodesh is vital to the well-being of our people, our family, our friends, our neighbors, our nation… The gracious obedience to promptly respond to the call for such a time as this and to stand in the gap is key to the vitality of maintaining Echad, Oneness in our Mishpochah.
One of the years prior in the beginning of the week, I began to notice green musty mold growing throughout our house. My piano covered in mold in one day! My HE front load washer had been leaking, but I had no idea how badly. My sixteen year old son, Nathan, and I moved the washer and had to take up the tile floor- it was ruined. The inside of the walls were moist. Not only the washer, but the refrigerator was leaking too. On top of this the A/C stopped working which complicated the moist air matter even moreso since air was not being circulated in our concrete block Florida house. Then to add to this the fan on the computer I use for LAMB Radio Morning Prayers broke! My nine year old son Daniel looked at me and said with such empathy, “Mom, you look frazzled!” I responded, “Yes, Daniel, I am feeling very frazzled right now.” I felt overwhelmed; I realized it was an attack of the enemy to interrupt the ministry that had recently begun through Morning Prayers, as well as, other ministries going forth from our household. Several Praise Reports were coming in! Amen!
In the meantime, my house was turned upside down as I set to eradicate the mold from the house and everything that it so viciously attacked; it had permeated the atmosphere so vehemently. Mold was on everything in every room. Much had to be thrown away. I got ahold of Mark, the Owner of Messianic LAMB Radio and let him know that I needed to cancel hosting the weekend Morning Prayers. It grieved me to cancel hosting Shabbat morning and First Day Morning prayers. Then I called my Congregation Gesher Shel Tiqwa and said I would need to stay home on Shabbat because my household was in such disarray due to the mold. My responsibilities at Gesher are baking the Challah, teaching Hebrew class, Children’s Class and leading 2 sessions of Praise and Worship. So, my absence means others have to fill in those roles. But, my house was in dire straits.
I spoke to Abba and emphasized His identity as Our Provider El Shaddai. Then I stated that we are His Children, His Servants. I shared with Him our household’s need. I cried out in desperation for Him to MANIFEST HIS PROVISION. I was at my wit’s end. After first going vertically to the Almighty I then went horizontally to my Prayer partners and Mishpochah. Within four days the washer, refrigerator, computer and mold were miraculously under control and the house was beginning to take shape again. By Shabbat the resources for the A/C were manifesting. So, not only was the household being put back into working order, but thankfully I was able to continue the Morning Prayers and Shabbat service uninterrupted and to also host the sleep over for my 10 year old son with his buddies! Our Heavenly Father cares for us!
In the middle of the uproar, Ruach HaQodesh shined brilliantly. Get this! A woman texted me that morning to see if I needed help with cleaning the mold or with watching baby Timothy. I said, “YES!” She came by later that morning after doing gardening for her mother. She brought food gifts with her. Among them were what she described as tiny desserts: she didn’t know what they were! ?! When I looked at the ‘tiny desserts’ I knew what they were- Hamantaschens! HalleluYHWH! Here, within a few hours of PURIM commencing we were given the dessert of the joyous holiday by one who didn’t even realize the significance of what she was blessing us with- BUT RUACH HAQODESH KNEW AND HE WANTED TO COMFORT US THROUGH IT ALL! The beauty of ABBA’s presence through all of it blessed me and strengthened me to know that when evening came, we were not to worry. But, rather to celebrate PURIM, to take rest from all the cleaning and sit down with the children, Abba’s great heritage, and read Esther. We had a lovely time full of questions about Esther.
As different ones helped, I asked each of them privately why specifically they helped the way they did. Each of them stated that they had heard from Abba’s Ruach to remember my family before the mold situation ever even happened. So, weeks later when the emergency happened they were willing and ready to respond to His call. They had to wait until it was time, but they were prepared. One said that they had been desiring to bless my family somehow, but didn’t know how until this happened. Another one said that they were preparing to go to Y’srael and when making preparations heard Ruach HaQodesh say, “Remember Leslie Ann.” And yet another, because her family was going through a situation, had the sensitivity and knew the urgency to lend an immediate helping hand.
As Esther and Mordechai of old and other men and women of faith who stood the test and chose to stand Echad with our Father for His people so too today’s Mishpochah obediently responded to the gentle nudging of Ruach and stood valiantly in the gap for my family in our time of need! Whenever we have opportunity to stand in the gap, may we remember ‘ For such a time as this’ and give obedient, selfless service and put aside our own agenda that we may give of our resources, abilities, time, and finances to the ones in need! We put much effort into daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal cleaning, but there are those emergency times when the answer is to stand in the gap for one another!
A closing thought about Purim 2015 came to me as I continued in the midst of everything to read my devotions. As a music and language instructor, I took note (Pardon the pun!) of vocalizations and began to see a common thread weaving through the generations among the enemy of YHWH. To name a few with this commonality, it is quite interesting how Haman, Herod, Hitler, Hezbollah, Hamas all have the beginning ‘H’ -a breath sound- in common. The ‘H’ sound in Hebrew is the “Hey - ה ”.
The Hey is an ancient picture of a man with arms lifted up in praise, jumping up and down, and beholding! It represents BREATH! It means to reveal, to behold! Here, the common thread to the enemy of Yah’s people was the ‘Hey’ sound – the enemy was trying to rob the breath from Yah’s people! However, the two and three syllable names of the enemy of YHWH are overtaken by the FOUR SYLLABLE WORD HALLELUYAH!! Moreover, in both English and Hebrew the word Halleluyah begins and ends with an ‘H’ or ‘HEY’!! הללויה His breath goes before us and is our rearguard. With that breath we declare and behold Him Who Created us in His image and HE MANIFESTS, REVEALS HIS PROVISION!!
We behold Him as we sing His praise, as we fast and pray-interceding, and when we bear one another’s burdens. It is then that the enemy is confounded as in 2 Chronicles 20! HalleluYAH! Greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world! (I John 4:4) And if YHWH is for us then who can be against us?! (Romans 8:31) He Who first breathed into Adam gives us His breath this day and we shout, “HEY!!!” We are very much alive revealing HIS BREATH! And again sing and shout with me a resounding ‘HEY!!!’ to the glory of YHWH! Leslie Ann