Double Blessing Tuesday

By Patricia Brosnahan

Genesis 1:9–13 speaks of God’s creation of the third day. In these verses, God uses the word good two times. The only day in which he used that word more than once. The third day would be Tuesday on the Western (Gregorian) calendar. According to Jewish tradition, that is a double blessing day. In fact, many traditional Jewish weddings are held on Tuesday because of the double blessing. Years ago, a women’s bible study taught by Patricia had to be held on Tuesdays because it was the only day available. The class was immediately a blessed class. When learning of the double blessing of Tuesday, it soon became the logo for the class. Such a blessing that God gave to the small group of believers—Double Blessing Tuesday.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638853251

Book preview

Are You Afraid?

Welcome

The new year has begun. The new year is brimming with possibilities: hard or easy, good or bad, new or old, etc., etc., etc. People make resolutions they have no intention of keeping, all the usual stuff. But this isn’t a usual year or usual past year. So where do we go from here?

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10)

Prayer

Almighty Father God, You know, You understand our confusion; the chaos of this world is overwhelming, Lord. We know that we deserve your judgment for our turning aside, ignoring, as our nation continually defied You. Please help us return to Your graces. Please give us the strength and boldness to stand against those who stand against You. Please help us become a nation you can be prideful about. Please forgive our inabilities that we hid behind. Lord God, please accept our love. Please help us love You more and stronger each of our remaining days.

*****

The word fear in the Bible has many different meanings. It can mean scary. You know that dark, dark hallway and that creepy feeling that someone you know and love is relishing on the possibility of scaring you by jumping out and yelling at you. Mothers of young children (including husbands who have not yet grown-up) know exactly what I mean. It can refer to a warning. After all, should you fear something, you will take the consideration of avoiding or being careful around whatever you fear. You will understand that not being careful could mean you being hurt. The end result of not being careful is what controls your action around whatever you fear. Example, you drive on ice. You drive slower, less likely to attempt fast moves. You understand that you cannot control the ice, and the ice has the ability to control your driving with dangerous results.

And it can mean to reverence. You take the two above and smash them together and you get a fear that leads to reverence. Without God, dying is a truly scary thing. Think of what the atheist looks forward to. They believe death is just an end. They believe in darkness and decay. And then there are those who believe in reincarnation. Really…you are going to come back as a sweet little butterfly? For all the butterflies of the world, look out, birds eat you! If you don’t want decay or having to avoid birds, you can acknowledge the warning. The warning is not the reverence; the warning leads you to reverence.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever. (Psalm 111:10)

For all those who are now gasping at my not including the love of our Lord, know this: the decaying atheist and the butterfly avoiding the bird is not impressed with the love of God at this point. I understand how the Christian feels; without God’s love, we can’t even breathe. We know God loves us, and we are downright giddy that we get to love Him. But to get to that point, the true reverence, we need to understand that we need Him. Life is not eternal without Him. And yes, all souls are eternal. And yes, we all face eternity. But God doesn’t call the eternity without Him—life. He calls it death.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

When God called His people back to Him and rescued them from Egyptian slavery, He started by showing them who He was. The ten plagues convinced the Egyptians that He was a God to be feared. By the ten plagues, God also showed His own people He was to be feared. He started with His majestic power. And many times over, generation after generation, God has poured judgments and blessings over His people. And reverence has come and gone, many times over.

Even though we can only try to understand God’s timing, Jesus came down to this world at the appointed time. He took on humanity and showed us what true reverence is. He opened the road to the book (Bible) and let every human being from wherever have the opportunity to bow down and reverence Him. He kindly but directly gave us the Word of what to fear.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26–31)

I can honestly understand people having fears today. We all have people in our lives that are confused and even a little scared about our world. Maybe that’s not a bad thing. Maybe that will lead to conversation to let them know why you aren’t afraid. We can all relate to disturbing news, disturbing developments. But remember that right now, in this disturbing time, we have an answer. We know that Jesus came for us because of the disturbing time. He actually, two thousand years ago, gave us answers for this very time. He showed us that to walk with God, especially during a disturbing time, makes the walk easier and more honorable. Remember Jesus came to this earth during the Roman regime. He walked among nonbelievers as well as haters. He was called names, persecuted, and crucified. So to reverence God, we will walk like Jesus walked. We will have all the assurances of God’s love and grace like Jesus. We will not imitate the world but will walk like Jesus walked. We will finish well like Jesus.

Time to start the 2021 walk. Time to love all our brothers and sisters. Time to be bold and yet very loving and find some new brothers and sisters. Resolution for 2021…expand the family of God.

A New Year

Welcome

It’s so hard to believe that the year 2020 has come and went. It is one of those years that will always be memorable to everyone. Memorable doesn’t always mean good. But one thing about memorable times in our lives is that they change us. They should change us! Think of the things we have been personally touched by. Think of the things that you were given a whole new appreciation of, such as…freedom. The year 2020 has also given us a comprehension of God’s Word. Example, the book of Revelation, remember when people said the book of Revelation was hard to understand and full of symbolism—a little bit easier to understand after this year, isn’t it?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, creator of all that is. Long-suffering God, Father, please help us understand as we see our world defying your line in the sand. Please help us repent; please help us turn from our wicked ways. Lord, we ask that You give us the strength and boldness to speak Your words. Holy Spirit, please help us understand and rejoice over the blessings that You have and will give us. Please help us be in the right place at the right time for our brothers and sisters in need. Yeshua Hamashiach, it is always in Your name we pray.

*****

We are beginning a new year. Our country is facing multiple changes. And, unfortunately, one of the areas that is going to face several challenges is the area of Christian beliefs. Modern day Christians are blessed to have in writing the Word that help us be a Christian. The Word, which are teaching words, help us understand and bless us with the encouragement we need. And yet, in this day and age where we can find a verse with our fingertips and the internet, we find an evil, vicious belief growing, not just around the world, not just in our own country, but we find this belief rooting itself within the Christian population: anti-Semitism. How does this happen? Why would it happen?

There probably isn’t anyone over the age of fifty that hasn’t been exposed to anti-Semitism. A country with a huge population of first- and second-generation Americans found ourselves being exposed to sayings like dirty Jews or money-hungry Jews. Our grandparents, and for some parents, came from many European countries that were very anti-Semitic. It was the reason that the Holocaust was given permission to happen. Before you think I’m criticizing immigration, you are wrong. I am a second-generation American myself. My father’s parents came from Poland and Prussia. And yes, from a select group, I did hear those derogative remarks. So how do we react to anti-Semitic remarks?

Let’s take a short journey before answering. Every Christian walking this earth are all first-generation Christians. It doesn’t matter how many relatives were strong Christians or even pastors. It doesn’t matter if you sat through a daily devotion every day. Every Christian that receives salvation becomes a first-generation Christian. No relative can ever make you a Christian by birth. So our beliefs are our beliefs. We can read the Word; we can study. We can listen; we can ask questions. But only Jesus can give us the first-generation status. And then after being born again, we are a new, changed individual. Why? Because all the baggage we carried around with us before salvation goes away. The deeds are undone; the words are unsaid. Nothing from our past is anything but our past.

Does it seem like I am taking a long trip to get to my point? It’s just this: as Christians, we have a whole new way of thinking. We even have an instruction book to help our new way of thinking. It’s called the Holy Bible. The Bible teaches us that, as a Christian, we will love our brothers and sisters of Israel. We have been grafted into the vine. We have the Word of God that commands us to love our Jewish brothers and sisters.

I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. (Psalm 122:6)

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:11)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one the believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)

We support Israel because Israel was created by an act of God; all other nations were created by an act of men. The land that was given to Abraham and his seed through Isaac and Jacob with an everlasting and unconditional covenant (Genesis 12:1–3, 13:14–18, 15:1–21, 17:4–8, 22:15–18, 26:1–5; Psalm 89:28–37).

Now, to get to the point, just as in several past ages of this world, many will look for a way to point all the evils in the direction of the Jewish people. There is an adversary that will use this unusual time to weaken the Christian, to weaken our Bibles, and to point fingers at Israel.

It is almost hard to close this writing because it is such an important subject that these few pages do it no justice. It is time for all of us to understand that there is an importance in our words, our actions, an importance in our boldness of sharing Jesus with everyone, a willingness in offending, if need be, to plant a seed.

Think of how much Jesus loved His nation. Think of how many of the first Christians, the ones who lived and died (mostly persecuted) for us to have a Christian faith, were Jewish. It is a vine; you are a branch on that vine. The fruit you bring to the vine comes through witnessing, sharing, and loving our Lord. Pray for the Jewish nation. Pray for your Jewish brothers and sisters.

This year is not going to be the year of return. Some like to think everything is going to go back to the way it was in the past. Sorry, you can never be burned the way this country and the whole world was, and in the blink of an eye, it all returns to the old normal. Is this the end of days, time for Rapture, Tribulation. No one knows; even Jesus said only His Father in heaven knew the day and time (Matthew 24:36).

Although this year may produce challenges, we can approach it as a journey. We were on the path before, and we will still be on the path walking and following Jesus. Hopefully sharing and taking others by the hand with us.

In the world but not of the world.

The Zealots

Welcome

Today, I have a lot of praises. Praise the Lord that this month is already almost half over. Praise the Lord that no matter how disturbing these past few months have been, we are always blessed to walk in the way of our Master. Praise the Lord that the end of days seems to be actively ticking away; because of all the challenges (virus, election, media threats), we are seeing what appears to be an awakening within our own country (somewhat) but around the world much more actively, an awakening—a coming to the Lord. Hallelujah!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, creator of all that was, is, and will be. Dear Lord, we come before you with confused minds and without the fully focused love that You deserve. We ask Your guidance in this chaotic world. We ask for an overwhelming cup of faith that we can return to You. We ask that you help us sow Your seeds, to nurture the fields, and to recognize the harvest. Lord Yeshua Hamashiach, we always pray in Your name. Amen.

*****

This is a requested article. And although I resisted what originally was a pure teaching article, as I prayed Jeremiah 33:3, I understood that this was an article that directly applies to our country and age. Who were the Zealots? How does this relate to you and your need to understand? We will start with a short paragraph of facts.

The Zealots were a politically motivated group of rebels fighting for the freedom of Israel. Their presence started in the first century and eventually led to a rebellion against the Roman Empire (AD 66–73). Prior to AD 66, the Zealots were a thorn in the side to the Roman regime occupying Jerusalem. There are two disciples named Simons in the New Testament. Simon Peter and Simon the Zealot (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13).

Although we know little regarding Simon the Zealot, we do know that just as the ten other individuals walking with Jesus, this walk changed him (this does not include Judas Iscariot). What little we do know is the day Simon the Zealot followed Jesus, he became a disciple. Jesus chose His disciples not because of who they were but because He could read their hearts and knew who they would become.

The Zealots, although a rebellious group, were most importantly Jewish citizens. They looked for a Messiah who would be a leader among men. He would guide them into battle and, most importantly, help them remove the Romans and restore Israel to God’s chosen people.

In AD 66 when Rome introduced pagan worship to be observed in Jerusalem, the Zealots began the Great Jewish Revolt. Upon the final destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in AD 70, the remaining Zealots took refuge on the mountain top of Masada.

Masada is probably one of the saddest ends to a revolution. Originally built in AD 37 by Herod the Great, Masada served as a winter retreat and boasted all the luxuries of any palace. Placed upon a plateau, this luxury