Powerful Passover by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

Passover begins tonight night at Sundown. This is a remembrance of a time when Jews were enslaved in Egypt but to start the process of deliverance, God delivered ten plagues so the Egyptian Pharaoh would be convinced to free the Jewish people. The last plague was the death of the first born child. God’s chosen ones were instructed to take the blood of an unblemished lamb and paint it over their doorframe so the angel of death would pass over their house—and he did. After this act of mercy, God issued a commandment to the Jews to never forget how He acted on their behalf.

“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ Then the people bowed down and worshiped” (Exodus 12:24–27).

Since being called back to my Jewish roots in 2014, many things have changed in my life but a couple of the most radical changes occurred during last year’s Passover remembrance.

All this began in December 2014 at a shop named “Shorashim” (Meaning in English is “Roots”) in Israel six years ago when God whispered in my ear that even though my Jewish father died before I was born, my Jewish roots never died. I was perplexed. What did that mean? Was I supposed to attend a Messianic synagogue? Take Hebrew?

While it took a couple of years, I now attend a monthly Shabbat service at our church and I am finishing up Hebrew at The King’s University. Yes, I can now read Hebrew passages in the Bible. It is thrilling! But last Passover, I fasted not only from pork, which I now do during every Jewish festival, but also from bread. It was during that time that I:

1. Anointed all our doors with oil so the plague of COVID-19 would “pass over” our household. God has been faithful to protect us.
2. Made a decision to go back to school. I felt God called me back to work on a Doctor of Ministry degree with a Messianic Studies concentration. Believe me, I would have never returned to the grind of schoolwork if this had not been a prompting from above. It has been difficult, but I am about to finish year one, successfully, because “the one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
3. Wrote a book. After a dear Jewish friend had a health scare, during last year’s Passover fast, I wrote a book dedicated to her but also for others to lay out why I believe Yeshua is the promised Jewish Messiah. It was an easy-to-read apologetics book called The Root that Never Died. While the Pandemic stifled that book, it is the one the upcoming National Religious Broadcasters Convention has approved for promotion at an autograph session. That root of that book is still alive.

It was a powerful Passover during a very difficult season. But this Passover, we are in a different place, aren’t we? We are starting to come out of the Pandemic, and here in Texas it’s feeling a little more normal. Regardless, tonight I will begin another fast for seven days. Here’s what I know applies to all of us. When we fast out of obedience, or to seek answers, God is faithful. Sometimes He will shift our direction in a very exciting way when we take the time to put aside our own agenda and listen. If I had not fasted last Passover, it would have been “business as usual” and I would have missed an exciting turn of events in my life. This Passover, or maybe it’s Easter week for you, consider going even deeper with God through a fast and be prepared for him to reveal his magnificent plan for your life.

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