Entering The Shabat
"If you turn away your foot from the Shabat, from doing your pleasure on My Set-Apart Day; and call the Shabat a delight, the Set-Apart of YAHWAH, honourable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words; then shall you delight yourself in YAHWAH; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Ya'qob your Abba; for the mouth of YAHWAH has spoken it." (Yesha'Yahu/Isaiah 58:13-14)
Shalom Beloved Daughters of Tzyon,
Praise the Name YAHWAH forever and ever!!! For He is the Only True and Living Elohym, and besides Him there is NO other!!! Let your lips and your actions today praise Him!!!
Sisters, when you find yourselves on the brink of entering Yom Ha Shabat/The Sabbath Day, how do you critique yourselves for the week. Did you engage in your basic spiritual duties of prayer, study and meditation? What did you learn? How did you grow? What can you do to improve? How much time have you given to YAHWAH, was it less than what you have given to "other" things? Are our households in order to welcome The Shabat?
We should never rush into The Shabat, we should have our clothes already ironed, food already prepared that we need not to kindle a fire (cook), house cleaned, minds settled, and our attention and spirit set on YAHWAH!
Keeping the Shabat the way YAHWAH has instructed us sisters is so very important to Him! It is not just another day, and we should never take it as such! Do we know just how to prepare for this weekly Set-Apart Day?
The Boy Scouts have as their motto "Be Prepared." This principle has physically saved many lives over the years and is a good principle for us to keep in mind during our spiritual development for the Kingdom. Yet, more specifically, how does it apply to the Shabat? Are we preparing for this day—or do we suddenly find ourselves in it, as if we have suddenly fallen through a trap door into another world? 
It seems that many times we rush frantically to complete our work or our projects past the proper time, even though we know better. We fall into this habit mostly because we fail to plan ahead. If we take the time to plan, we can head down the exit ramp of our high-speed workweek into a calm, peaceful, productive twenty-four hours devoted to YAH and His way. Our minds will be clear and ready to be focused in the right direction.
The Shabat ** A Day of Ceasing
What does the Shabat mean to us? Do we see it as a time of don'ts and can'ts or as a time of great opportunity unlike any other? Since YAH made the Shabat for man (Mark2:27) it brings those that keep the Shabat benefits unavailable to those who do not keep it. It is a blessing to us, not a curse.
One translation of Scripture renders Ebreem/Hebrews 4:9-10 as: "It is therefore the duty of the people of YAH to keep the Shabat. For he that has entered into His rest also has ceased from his own works, as YAH did from His." Along with the examples of Ha Mashyakh, his talmeedeem and other followers, this scripture indeed shows us we have a responsibility in keeping the Shabat. It is on the Shabat that we have the best opportunity each week to learn and grow toward entering “The Rest of YAH, His Kingdom.
To observe this Set-Apart time properly, Scripture mentions a day of preparation in Shmot/Exodus 16:23 in the context of YAH providing "Mahn" (manna) for our ancestors in the wilderness:
Then Mosheh said to them, "This is what YAHWAH has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Shabat of rest, a Set-Apart Shabat to YAHWAH. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'"
A Time for Reflection
We can use YAH's example here to help us in our own lives. As the Shabat begins is a perfect time to critique ourselves over the past week. Did we engage in our basic spiritual duties of prayer, study and meditation? What did we learn? How did we grow? What can we do to improve?
What about our other responsibilities? Did we do anything to improve our relationships with our husbands, children or parents? Did we use righteous principles in working out any difficulties we may have encountered? How about our neighbors, friends and acquaintances—did we help or hinder our association with them?
How about our workweek? Did we give our best to our employers or customers? Did our exposure to them lighten their load and make their week as pleasant as possible, was our light shining or were we as much in the dark as they were?
Simply stated, at full sundown on Friday, as the Shabat begins is a great time to reflect on our overall spiritual development for the entire week. Some of us may find it helpful to keep a notebook to chart our progress. As time goes on, such a record might prove useful in comparing where we are with where we have been. If we are honest with ourselves, it may pinpoint our strengths and weaknesses and help us to work on them more vigorously.
Other Preparations
Yet even if we do this, our preparations for the Shabat are incomplete. We can do a great deal physically to make our day of rest better and more productive. The more preparation we do, the less we will be disturbed on the Shabat.
When is the best time to prepare for the Shabat? Ideally, it is an unending process; we are always preparing for it. After all, is not preparing for the Shabat very closely related to preparing for the Kingdom of YAH, His ultimate “Rest“?
In the Shabat commandment YAH says, "Remember the Shabat, to keep it Set-Apart. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Shabat of YAHWAH El-o-hay-a-khah (your Elohym). In it you shall do no work" (Shmot/Exodus 20:8-10). YAH gives us six days to prepare so that on the Shabat we must do none of our routine tasks.
So when should we do such chores as pressing a shirt or dress and shining our shoes? For most working people, this means we need to have these preparations done no later than Thursday. Some who are not on a strict 9-5 schedule may have a little more flexibility. The point is that we should complete all our mundane work before the Shabat begins and this does not mean an hour before the sun goes down on Friday. This includes the majority of our meal preparation and cooking, fueling the car, shopping and cleaning.
During the times of our ancestors it probably was a particular mark of a good wife that she never forgot to fill the lamp with oil nor supply the house with bread, with dates, and figs.
No matter how busy our lives are, we can enter the Shabat prepared to devote it to YAH if we prioritize and plan properly. If we are so strung out with activities that we blow into the Shabat like a hurricane,
perhaps we need to begin simplifying our lives. If the Shabat is just a bump in our careening lives, maybe we are not honoring it as we should.
perhaps we need to begin simplifying our lives. If the Shabat is just a bump in our careening lives, maybe we are not honoring it as we should.YAH has given us one day in seven to rest, reflect, refresh, rejuvenate, but most of all to keep it Set-Apart. Are we taking advantage of His wonderful blessing? YAH made the Shabat for man's good, not to bind us with a burden. We need to think of all the advantages the Shabat affords and concentrate on them to get the most out of it.
It gives us physical rest and refreshment after a week of hard labor. It should be a joy not to have to work on it! Any monetary loss we incur by not working is doubly repaid in gains to our health and spiritual well-being.
It gives us time to meditate on the greater questions and answers of life. The Shabat gives us time for quiet so we can ponder YAH's plan and our place in it. It allows us to reorient ourselves to what is truly important, our obedience to YAH!
It is a day that affords us time to fellowship with people of like mind and purpose. We can sharpen each other in YAH's way of life and encourage those who are down or going through trials. The Shabat helps us grow in unity and love. Bottom line, keeping the Shabat is a sign to YAHWAH that we love Him!
On the Shabat, we can eat our fill of YAH's Word, both in our own private studies and from the congregation. As we grow in knowledge, we expand our understanding and wisdom in applying what we have learned.
There are many other good reasons for keeping the Shabat, but all of them begin with being prepared to devote the Shabat to proper pursuits.
On that note….
Have a blessed Shabat sisters, not as you would have it, but as YAHWAH has commanded it!!!
Much love to you...
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