What on God’s kosher green earth does the Passover meal have to do with my Christian roots? Stick around and you’ll soon find out.

I know the last thing you want to be thinking about is all the ridiculously stupid things you were doing before you were saved. But sometimes it is helpful for us to recall the slimy place we were delivered from by Jesus.

The Passover feast is an excellent time for us to celebrate the transformation that resulted in our being adopted into God’s family and becoming a Christian.

I’m positive that you are already aware that Jesus was called our Passover by Paul in 1 Corinthians 5. That makes Him our Passover Lamb.

It was through His sacrifice, the shedding of His blood, that we had the chance to be cleansed of our sad attempts to live without His grace and love.

What Is the Passover Meal About?

The first Passover meal was the event that opened the door for God’s people to be set free from Egypt. God started the Passover feast to give the Israelites a time each year to remember what He did  and to receive forgiveness of their sins and celebrate His mercy.

During the very first Passover meal, the blood of a lamb that was eaten was put over their doors so that the judgement of God would pass over them.

God instructed them to celebrate and remember this feast every year. Their failings were covered over by the blood of that lamb and they were set free from guilt and judgement.

Trivia Time

Here’s a little Bible trivia? Many Christians think that the Passover and other Biblical feasts have nothing to do with us today. True or false: The New Testament Christian Church, after Jesus’ resurrection, never celebrated Passover. What do you think?

The answer is most definitely false. The Church celebrated the Passover and other feasts until about 320AD. This is when the emperor Constantine basically outlawed this practice. Soon afterwards, Christians stopped celebrating Passover for good. Until now!

The Passover Meal and Our Christian Roots

Many years ago I had the opportunity to attend a Seder meal. I had no idea what was going to happen but I sensed I needed to be there. Hey, I don’t pass up a free meal.

It was a group of about 20 people and there was lots of food and lots of excitement. The food looked a little strange but it smelled delicious.

I had my fingers crossed making sure to ward off any evil spirits that might be lurking around. The couple throwing this celebration began by explaining some of the history of Passover which was straight from the Book of Exodus. They later informed us that were Christians.

As they progressed through the Passover meal, I was amazed at all of the unmistakeable references to Christ. Here was a Jewish ceremony that Jewish people had been observing for over 3500 years and it was all about Jesus. I was floored. And I was hooked!

Since that time, I have celebrated the Passover meal every year. It is a great family celebration for us, full of delicious food and drawing closer to the Lord and drawing closer as a family.

My Passover Meal Memory youtube video

Please don’t miss out on this fantastic chance to celebrate your Christian roots. We have provided an easy and tasty guide for you to enjoy the  PASSOVER MEAL here.

We would love to hear your comments about your Passover experiences.

Charleen and Mike

the Gathering of Shofars

The earth and mankind and everything in the universe was created by Yahweh through the release of His sound. We are His mouthpieces and it is time that we release HIS sound to bring HIS kingdom blessings down to rule in our midst.

Awesome and supernatural things occurred in Old Testament times when the sound of the shofar was released: the walls of Jericho falling, the Lord’s presence manifesting on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19, and Gideon’s army of 300 men routing over 100,000 Midianites.

Our atmosphere is polluted with man’s sound and it has been occupied by demonic forces for too long. BUT NO MORE!

It is time to fill our atmosphere with the heavenly sound of shofars!

It is the time for victory and the gathering of the Heavenly Host above us to do battle. The modern day picture of this is how our military deploys their air forces before they send in the ground forces.

Mike and Charleen Ecuyer, of Hope N Him Ministries, have been releasing the shofar sound into Louisiana’ atmosphere every evening since 2008. We have been doing this IN FAITH, expecting to see the Lord’s mighty hand move in our lives and in Louisiana – we have not been disappointed!

One of the functions of the shofar sound was to gather the people together (Numbers 10). That is what we have been doing for these past 4 years and have just realized it.

GATHERING of SHOFARS

We believe that the Spirit of God is directing us to release a call for the
GATHERING of SHOFARS of the people of God, here in Louisiana and beyond.

If you choose to answer this call, we simply ask that you join us, wherever you are, in releasing a shofar sound of “Charge” EVERY evening at 9pm, using your own time zone. (Just try to get as close to 9pm as you can.)

Do this IN FAITH, expecting to see God’s Spirit and the Body of Christ ADVANCE in mighty ways.

Please register with us now at:

gatheringofshofars@gmail.com

by providing your name and city and state.

This way we will be able to forward any updates to you. We also strongly encourage you to communicate to us through the comment section below.

Encourage others to join this powerful gathering.

If you are interested in learning more about the different shofar sounds and many awesome revelations about the shofar, we wholeheartedly direct you to Allen Faubion at his website mightyshofar.com

If the Holy Spirit is directing you to join us but you do not have a shofar,
we invite you to shop here:

Once there, click the shofar tab, browse their selection, and order you own shofar from Israel!

We look forward to hearing from you.

Mike and Charleen Ecuyer

P.S. Go here for some info about the role of shofars.

Each year the Jewish calendar feasts bring Christians another important chance during autumn to celebrate a new start in their lives. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of the upcoming Jewish feasts beginning September 29th, 2011 or 1 Tishri 5772(of the Jewish calendar). God Himself set these times apart for His children to enjoy.

How can you do this? The fall feasts get started with  Yom Truah which is Hebrew for the Feast of Trumpets. Many refer to this time as Rosh Hashanah which means head or beginning of the year. If you broke all of your New Year’s resolutions, here’s a chance to start again by celebrating a God appointed time of new beginnings.

During this feast day, you may want to try some Jewish honeycake which is a delicious part of the traditions of this feast, and see a sweeter year ahead. Also, find a horn and release a loud blast announcing your time of making a fresh start.

 The next part of the fall feasts in the Bible are 10 days of serious reflection called the Days of Awe. Set aside a brief time each day to examine your life and check your heart for any bitterness or selfish desires. The best thing about God’s new year celebration during these autumn Jewish calendar feasts is that He gives you a chance for a new start. If you haven’t made the best use of this opportunity, you have 10 more days to get it right.

 This is a great picture of the grace we can continually delight in through Yeshua, Jesus Christ.

The final day of these 10 days is called the Day of Atonement. I suggest spending time writing down things you discovered during those Days of Awe. There may be things you thought you had cleared up, but as you checked your heart, you discovered some stubborn unforgiveness or an area where you have been lacking in faith.

Many times, we are so busy with our daily responsibilities, and we end up missing an area of sin. This time of reflection can help bring those things into the light. Those tricky logs in our eyes that were well hidden earlier can now get exposed.

Remember that this is a time that the Lord specifically asks His children to evaluate themselves, and He wants us to be set free from any hindering burdens. Doesn’t this holiday remind you of the great atonement paid by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ?

After this time of reflection and repentance, the final part of the fall feasts of the Bible begins. It is called the Feast of Tabernacles and would be on October 12^th of 2011 or 14 Tishri 5772. This is my favorite time of the Jewish calendar feasts in the fall. Many Bible scholars agree that this is the actaul time when Jesus was born. 

An exciting time for the whole family starts now. In the Jewish traditions, a sukkah (a tarp, tent, or covering) is assembled and decorated with branches, leaves, flowers,or fruit. It is a beautiful setting where family and friends can gather to eat and drink with thankful hearts as we recall the Lord’s goodness and celebrate His faithful presence in our lives.

 A sukkah was most likely the birthing place of Christ that the Bible speaks of. In Leviticus 23:33, the Bible tells us to celebrate this feast for 7 days unto the Lord. Will one day spent at church each week ever be enough time worshipping our Savior after 7 days of “tabernacling” with Him?

Instead of letting your fall days bring thoughts of pumpkins, treats, and pagan traditions, let this October bring you into a new beginning. Let God order your times and seasons. Experience first hand what it means to celebrate God’s very own appointed feasts.

There is one argument that the Sabbath day is the day that was established in the Old Testament as the 7th day of the week. This corresponds with the day of our Roman calendar called Saturday. 

Another argument contends that Sunday is the Christian day of rest since Jesus was resurrected on this day, the first day of the week.

I believe that both of these arguments are equally valid. I would, however, like to propose that there may be a more important issue at hand.

Are you truly honoring the Lord with the Sabbath day of rest? If you are genuinely bringing honor to our Heavenly Father on this day of rest, I’m not so sure that it makes much difference whether you do that on Saturday or Sunday. I realize that this may upset some people, but Jesus put much more value on what was going on in someone’s heart as opposed to outward observances of rules.

Instead of making a big issue over what day is the Sabbath, try to put more energy into keeping this special and powerful day holy unto the Lord.

There are a number of simple ways that you can do this: 

1) The 4th Commandment tells us to keep this day “holy”. That simpy means to set it apart by giving it special significance in your life. One way to do this is to do your work on the other 6 days and keep it as a day of rest. I believe we will experience divine favor and blessing on the work of our hands if we do this. Look at Chick-Fil-A as an example. They are closed for business on Sunday’s to honor the Sabbath and they are very successful in the competitive fast -food industry.

2) Isaiah 58:13-14 gives us several keys and  a powerful promise. It talks about us NOT spending this day on just our own pleasures. Is it really too much of our Creator to ask that we set aside one day out of the week to devote to Him?

This passage also talks about focusing on speaking God’s words, not words from our own selfish hearts. We are to call His holy day a delight and a day of honoring Him.

It finishes with an awesome promise from God that if we do these things, He will cause us to come out on top of things. That makes us WINNERS!

 Don’t get stuck on trying to figure out what day is the Sabbath. We invite you and your family to learn more about the Lord’s special days and His Biblical feasts  and watch the doors of God’s blessings open up for you to enjoy.

Very briefly, counting omer refers to the counting of the 50 days between Passover and Pentecost. This was actually a command that was given by God to the Israelites found in Leviticus 23:15.  

Quite simply, what is involved is “counting your blessings”, and this is an extremely important activity for Christians to engage in for several reasons.

1) The Passover represents freedom and Pentecost represents the giving of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit. What value does freedom have without a vital reason to exercise that freedom? The counting of the omer reminds us daily of our purpose, our destiny in the Lord.

2)  With all the craziness that is going on around us, we need to be reminded of what SETS US APART. What sets us apart is the availability of experiencing the awesome blessings of our Lord and King. This is accomplished as we set aside these 50 days to do just that.

3) Even the world around us seems to recognize the importance of countdowns. We see it with New Year’s and with rocket launches. As we participate in the “omer countdown”, an expectation to see God’s hand moving in our lives will build up in our hearts and minds. You see, His flow of blessings in our lives are regulated by our faith. That’s why Jesus could do very little in his hometown of Nazareth.  

4) And finally, an unexpected benefit was realized as we observed this activity. It takes mental discipline to follow a 50-day countdown. I know discipline is a dirty word these days but we all need to find ways to cultivate this character trait back into our lives.

We invite you to take part in the counting of the omer and get closer in touch with all of the blessings available to us as children of God. Come join us and learn more about His Biblical feasts  and watch the doors of God’s blessings open up for you to enjoy.

We cannot afford to ignore His promises because without them we are left to create our own alternatives. The promises of God in scripture are there for us to depend upon and live by. And we can depend on them fully because  the Bible tells us that God is not a liar. It also tells us countless times to put our complete trust in Him and in His promises.

The following passage in Hebrews 11:6 should get yout attention:”… for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Did you get that? Our Heavenly Father wants to reward us and that’s a promise!

If that concept is a bit of a stretch for you, let me ask you this. Do you get excited about opportunities to reward your own children?

I believe that the church is in such a weakened state because we have failed to put our faith in the Biblical promises of God. You see, our level of faith determines whether we experience the blessings of His promises or not.

Another key from this passage is our need to diligently seek Him. God gave us a built-in way to do this starting about 3500 years ago. He simply invited us to join Him by celebrating His feasts and getting in line with his timing.

These aren’t rules and regulations to follow but they are His way of getting us positioned to receive the fullness of His abundant blessings. Through this, we can enter our own promised land, which is the destiny He has for each of us.

Since God is the One who created time, I think it is understandable that He would have His own calendar with His own special times of feasting. As we celebrate these times to honor Him, His promises of blessing found throughout the Bible are unlocked for our benefit and for His glory.

If you choose to ignore His special events, I believe you are also choosing to ignore the promises of God in the Bible.

We invite you and your family to learn more about His Biblical feasts and watch the doors of God’s blessings open up for you to enjoy.

My heart is to empower Dads to fulfill their God-given roles to their families. One of those roles is to be an instrument in God’s hands to bring forth abundant provision for your family and others around you.

Depending on the type of home-based business you want to build, you must either attract customers, team members, or both. To do that, we will now  look at the 3rd component of a successful family home business: you need an easy, effective marketing system and simple training to follow and duplicate for your team.

There are hundreds of online marketing systems available and some of them cost quite a bit. My goal is always to keep start-up costs as low as possible and even free. Gaining online marketing skills may be a slow process but don’t get discouraged. Remember the reason you are pursuing this.

Here is a recommended list with brief descriptions:

1) Netdivvy – An excellent FREE system with a variety of training and tools.

2) Biglistbigsales - A FREE team-building marketing system authored by a very personable and dedicated young man that provides training in using traffic exchanges (accumulate advertising credits by visiting websites) and safelists ( accumulate advertising credits by reading emails directing you to websites).

3) Wealth Creation Network – This is a thorough but FREE marketing and training system with a built-in autoresponder (team-building email tool that every marketer needs) funded through multiple trial offer programs.

4)  Prosperity Marketing System – An excellent low cost system ($27 lifetime with 60 day guarantee) for internet beginners with built-in training and team building tools.

5) Downline Partners - A FREE fully customized team building and business opportunity advertising platform.

All of these systems have built-in opportunities to generate income with little to no costs. The goal here is to get a variety of online marketing/advertising training experience under your belt.   

Remember, you must be able to commit a small amount of time such as 30-60 minutes (including prayer) several  days a week. Set a schedule for yourself, include family members if possible, and do your best to stick to that schedule.

A now we will move on to those elusive “Can’t Lose” business opportunites that we have found if you are looking for some options. These awesome online businesses fall somewhere into what we call the 3 P’s:

1) Provision

2) Preparation

3) Protection

All of these are vital necessities when it comes to family.

Mike

Whether your home business is online or offline, internet marketing for your business is crucial to its success. There are resources out there now for little to no cost! But don’t try and do this on your own. You need a team. It is my desire to gather a team of fathers who will assist one another in this process. The right team for you is the team that:

1) Operates with the same values you have,

2) Offers a variety of can’t lose opportunities, and

3) Gives you access to the training you need.

The Family Life Winners Business Team (FLWBT) is built around supporting fathers who want to bring family life and business ventures together and for fathers who want to get out of DEBT.  THERE IS NO COST!

We also want to focus on business opportunities that improve the quality of  life for others and reflect Christian values. The support that we provide to team members  will be founded on a serving heart, prayer, honesty, and guidance from the Lord.

The photo to the right  is a good illustration of the structural concept for our team building process – WORKING WITH TEAMS OF 3. 

Basically, we are asking that you commit to building your own mini-team of 3 like-minded members with plenty of flexibility regarding the type of business product or service. Our teams will focus on:

1) training,

2)prayer and divine guidance for business success, and 

3) encouraging one another on a consistent basis.

If this doesn’t sit well with you, we are NOT the right team for you.  We wish you well in your search for home business success, though.

Next, we  will move on to some specifics about marketing for your home-based family business.

Mike Ecuyer

skype:214-270-0360×370

One of the greatest joys in life is blessing and encouraging  others and making this world a better place to live in.

Back to a vision bigger than yourself. Dads, did you know that every successful family needs a vision, a direction to go in? Well, your vision or direction for coming home through setting up a home-based business is very important.

Why? Because this is going to take time and dedication and you need to be passionate about what you are doing 1 year and 5 years from now.

If you haven’t already, spend some time praying about this. I hope you believe in God and not someone who goes around praying to rocks. Expect an answer, expect some direction. Talk to your wife and children definitely. Pray with them about this because you can’t do this family business thing without  them.

Things will go much smoother if you ALLOW YOUR VISION for coming home and impacting people’s lives through some product or service TO BE FLEXIBLE. You don’t have to get it set in stone before you get started.

Next, WRITE YOUR VISION DOWN. Describe what you want to see accomplished. Be as specific as possible and include time frames for seeing your vision come to pass. You can break it down into steps.

Continue to pray to see your vision refined.  When you have made some progress here, let’s move to the next step of joining the right team for you.

Mike