Married...But Celibate

Thanks to Shellie Warren & XXXChurch.com for the opportunity to contribute this piece. My prayer is that it helps someone...

Married...But Celibate

NIPPY NEWS

three days after the transitioning of whitney houston, the mere thought of it burns as intensely as it did on saturday evening when the first facebook update scrolled up the screen of my mac pro. the heartache...the heartbreak comes from deep within a place that always hoped she would come back a champion. she was sure to pull a george foreman before it was all over & at least sparkle once more; that's how eye envisioned it just days earlier as my daughter & i comparatively discussed whitney & dianna ross in the very context of what they will continue to mean to generations yet to come.

she was so many things, to so many people: daughter, mother, sister, aunt, godmother, friend, vocalist, actress, and so much more...a beacon of light shining in so many places all at once. it is evident from the various testimonies from her family and friends that she was well aware of the greatest love of all & did her best to display that love to them.

ultimately, that's what this life is all about. how. we. love. she may have not always made the best decisions; none of us do. she may have not always been in pleasant spirit; none of us are. she may have caused her fair share of hurt and pain to the people she loved the most; all of us have or will...eventually.

to hear loved ones speak of how spiritual she was exposes the roots of her very nature - spiritual, here on earth having a natural experience...a temporary experience, from which we all benefit. because of that spiritual connection, i feel like i lost someone i knew. she was like me or any of my girls, living a very real life in a very major way. yeah, she was on another level, but it's all relative...famous people are still just people. being in the industry numbs the star appeal once you start seeing celebrities in their own element & realizing that they too put their pants on one leg at a time. with whitney, it was beyond the star appeal for me, there was a like-spiritedness to which i & so many other around the world could relate.

*sigh*

the blessing in all of this has been the opportunity to celebrate her life both face-to-face & virtually with so many of those 'others'.

this last footage of her singing with kelly price has to be one of the most beautiful displays of love i have ever seen one sister express to another. so intimate. so genuine. sure, whitney's singing voice could be criticized, but that moment was so much bigger than her voice. eye believe that the most high was using that opportunity to remind us that ultimately & in the end, what matters most, is how we love.

period.

Mac Mama

Besides the library, the MAC store is my favorite place to spend my free time. Currently posting from one of their iPads. I set all of the iPad screens to my website (orianalee.com) so that anyone who looks at it sees me first...Lol Baby hacker...

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

LIVE IN CONCERT

The band had been introduced, and the final bow had been taken, yet even after Sade Adu & her 9-piece touring bunch had left the stage, the house lights in the FedEx Forum had not come up. As if that wasn't an obvious sign that the show wasn't over (imagine the lawsuits that could come from releasing thousands of patrons into the darkness), rows began to flock for the stairs & exit signs, apparently unaware of "encore etiquette". I felt for those who were about to miss out on the big finale due to their haste, because as a seasoned concert-goer, I knew what it was, so I waited with baited eardrums, like my life depended on it. After about 5 minutes of screams & cheers, she reappeared in a sleek red nightgown, as the music of Cherish the Day quickly filled the air. I was in sensory overload at this point, and was floored that I hadn't even missed that jam in the main line-up. It was the perfect ending, to the perfect show, as she stood on top of a skyscraper prop that rose about 10 feet from the floor, smoothly singing Memphis a midnight lullaby. She was so great o stage that I almost forgot the show started half an hour late. Once she opened with Soldier of Love, I was on the front lines (or at least on the front of my seat) for the duration.

That was pretty much how the whole show went, one surprise stage screen after another; one wardrobe change after another (thinking there were 5-7); one hit after another. What can I really say about Sade's performance other than it was a phenomenal show! I previously heard a few personal opinions from attendees in other cities about how remarkable her performance was, but it was truly something to be experienced. That's exactly what it was: The Sade Experience. The only thing that I would have requested if I had the chance would have been for her to play the guitar live. Other than that, I'm satisfied beyond measure.

And guess what? Someone loved you enough to upload the encore to youtube, so now you can share it with me! I literally screamed when I found this! HAHAHAHA! My kids came running to my aid thinking something was wrong. Not this time though, I was screaming because finding this means things are just TOO right!


Enjoy!

SABBATH TEACHING (PART TWO)

As I was reading Psalm 119:35 (directed from my Jesus Calling devotional), I started thinking about the "commands" of YHWH. I went on to read the whole 119th chapter, and I was reminded about how our obedience is centered around the laws, decrees and commands of GOD, which led me to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). I began to meditate on how keeping the Sabbath is such a tough law to keep in our society, but it was revealed to me that it is most important to keep as ones who call ourselves "holy", as the scripture says it is the day that the LORD blessed and made holy. Seems the Holy Spirit has been dealing with me a lot on this issue lately (see my last post), and again, the LORD has instructed me to share it with the masses.

Just as I would encourage you not to lie, steal or commit adultery, I'm encouraging you to pray about how valuing this commandment along with the others might further bless your life. Not only is it important, but lawful to "keep it Holy", meaning, refraining from work on that day and focusing only on rest and worship. It is evident how our GOD loves us tremendously to build us in a break (you know you need one), so we have to be sure we don't let the world take it from us, and that we especially don't take it from ourselves. If we continue to allow the world to dictate to us how we are to honor GOD, we will never receive all of the riches that have been promised to those who obey (Deuternomy 5:29; 6:17-19; 11:13-15). I do not want to be in the wilderness forever, I want to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. Don't you?

Beyond The Ten Commandments, the following scriptures are the root sources of the Sabbath law:
Exodus 31:12-18
Exodus 35:1-3

Here's a link to a kids magazine that I love to use to teach kids about the Sabbath. As believers, we are to be like little children (Matthew 18:3), so I believe that we too can benefit from this information - it's simple and concise, with lots of scriptures to help us understand that it's all throughout the "Good Book":

SABBATH FACTS & FUN

KEY VERSES:
“Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

“He said to them, ‘Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)

SHABBAT SHALOM

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."-Exodus 20:8-11

Of all of the ten commandments, the passage on the sabbath is by far the longest and most detailed in explanation. So why is it the one that we revere the least?

Culturally, because of the way we structure our "work week", we casually recognize Monday as the first day of the week. Because we live in a capitalistic society, everything we do is centered around capital and earnings, as with how we structure our week. And even before the United States of America existed as the nation it is today, there was a historical shift which caused Saturday to become socially replaced as the sabbath. Around 200 A.D., Roman Catholics suggested that Sunday be kept to honor the resurrection. So until about 300 A.D., believers kept both Saturday sabbath and Sunday simultaneously. Because Sunday was also a day of sun worship among the pagan Romans (hence the name Sun Day), and was highly regarded throughout the city, Roman Christians began to favor the united front of worship on Sunday. By the 4th century, Sunday was the standard day for worship among Western believers, which eventually permeated the rituals of the traditional Eastern worshippers .

This information isn't hidden, it's quite obvious and readily available actually. Check your local library, or a variety or credible internet sources. Neither is it foreign to us that Sunday is the first day of the week. Look at any calendar and you'll notice that Sunday is the first day of the week listed. When we, as children (and even our children today) learned the days of the week in kindergarten it was even taught in song and rhyme with Sunday always as the first day. Here's a popular example:



Because our rest and worship is embedded in a state of sin in that we are being disobedient to the specific commands of YHWH, we are not benefitting from the power of the holy day. I'm not saying that the Most High does not show up in the midst of Sunday worship, for we know that the Word says, "where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them (Matthew 18:22)", but in gathering on the chosen holy day, we activate power and blessings that can be released only on that day. I know I want the full promise, don't you?

Many try to justify by saying that as long as they keep "a" sabbath, they believe that YHWH is pleased, so they keep a Sunday sabbath because that's what everyone else does, or they keep an "off-day" sabbath, meaning they consider the day they are off from work as their sabbath. But the YHWH wants me to remind you that your obedience is more valued than your sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). Others say that because it was under the old testament law, then it is dead since Jesus came to fulfill the law. It's important to note that there was not just a single old testament law, rather three different types of laws: moral, ceremonial, and civil.

Yashua (Jesus) came to remove the ceremonial and sacrificial laws that brought about curses (often death) upon those who didn't honor them. He is the lamb sacrifice who shed blood that we might no longer perform those types of rituals. However, because he came to redeem us from the "curse of the law", does not excuse us from the moral portion of the law (Galatians 3:13). The Mosiac law given to show us a moral standard applies today, just as much as it did then, only we tend to negate the laws that have been culturally omitted. Because we are no longer under a particular law, does not mean we are without law. But above all, as believers have been sternly warned against allowing the world to dictate our behavior. Can you imagine how choosing to be obedient to this the same way we we are to killing, stealing and tithing might change the face of our nation and ultimately the Christian face of the world?

The LORD wants you to know the value in the sabbath for your own benefit. We treat it as a handicap and even sometimes a curse, but it's a gift to us so that we not only have a day where we share in focused relationship with the Creator, but a day for us to focus on our own health and wellness so that we don't become stressed, overwhelmed, and run-down with life. This does not mean that we cannot worship or rest on other days, but it must be in addition to what we were commanded. I rest and worship on Saturday, but also worship on Sunday. Sunday is my own personal sacrificial way of giving back to YHWH my first-fruits, since it is the first day of the week. But I had to come out from under the spell of the Sunday worship cultural standard and become obedient to the sabbath commandment before I could add that additionally.

We say we follow (Yahshua) Jesus, and there are numerous scriptures that identify him as having kept the sabbath holy. Yes, he was questioned by the Pharisees about his lack of strict regiment in that he did service work on the sabbath, but he kept it nonetheless. When we serve on the sabbath as opposed to working, we are within the boundaries that the Messiah set for us. It's only if we are not keeping the sabbath at all that we are being disobedient to both what the Lord modeled, as well as what YHWH commanded.

I don't want to come across preachy, because I am not a preacher, but the Most High ordered me to deliver this teaching word to you today, so out of obedience, I must oblige. Don't get mad; and if you don't agree, exercise the freewill to do what you believe is right for you. Above all, pray about the matter so that you may hear from YHWH directly.

I hate to fuss, so this doesn't make me happy to step on the toes of so many people that I truly love and respect. Fact is though, because I love you, I must tell you not what you want to hear, rather what you need to hear. Trust, this is a word for me just as much as for you.

*FOR A MORE IN-DEPTH AFRICAN-RELATED STUDY ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, RESEARCH THE 42 PRINCIPLES OF MA'AT