Mishpatim: Laws of God

Understanding God's Laws and Divine Protection

In this episode of Perfect Body Podcast, Shirah Chante, Relationship Artist, explores the Torah portion Mishpatim from the Book of Exodus 21-24. She discusses the significance of God's laws, especially those relating to honoring parents and the severe consequences of human trafficking. Shirah shares a personal story about encountering an angel who guided her safely during a journey, underscoring the belief in divine protection. She wraps up by emphasizing the importance of fearing the Lord and obeying His word.

00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast

01:33 Encouragement to Know God and Subscribe

02:52 Discussing the Laws of God

05:24 Respecting Parents: A Serious Commandment

08:58 Human Trafficking and Divine Justice

10:30 A Personal Dream About Human Trafficking

14:34 Angels and Divine Protection

25:13 Moses and the Appearance of God

28:12 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

You have a perfect body. You have a perfect body. 

Hi everyone, it's Shirah Chante, Relationship Artist. Healing hearts through the arts and helping God's people with relationships. Here with Perfect Body Podcast, a Torah portion afterthought. We are here to study the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. We are now in the book of Exodus.

We made it through Genesis, and now we are in the trenches! In the wilderness! And so we're out of Egypt, thank the Lord God, and we're following the children of Israel as they were delivered out of Egypt, out of slavery, and now are walking, getting to know God, learning His ways, learning His attributes, learning who He is, and I'm sure who they are in return, because when you get to learn God, and you get to know God, You can't help but get to know yourself, because you start looking at yourself in relation to God.

And it's just a wonderful exploration in self identity. And so I really encourage you to get to know God. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to get to know His Word. And so you are here, so you are getting to know His Word and getting to know Him. And in turn, you will get to know yourself.

So much better. It was just so important and so vital in life to know who you are. Thank the Lord. God for you subscribe to this podcast. So it'll appear on your podcast player. You will get the new shows weekly as they come out and leave a comment, subscribe, like all of that stuff. Spread the word if you've received the blessing from watching a show, if there's something you like, maybe even if there's something you have a question about or you don't like, you can voice your opinions, but just do them in a, respectful way, in a way that is, is pleasing to God.

And so there are questions we have about the word and God is a big God and he has his thoughts are so high above ours that it's natural and normal to have questions. You're getting understanding. The proverb says in all you're getting, get understanding. And tonight we're talking about the laws of God.

That is definitely something. I need to get more understanding about, as I was reading Exodus chapters 21 to 24 this is the Torah portion Mishpatim. This was the Torah portion that was read last Shabbat, last Saturday in synagogues, and we are a Torah portion afterthought. We're just reading them a week behind.

No, nothing wrong with that. No issue with that. And so I was just like shocked and wow, these laws are, they're so interesting. So I just thought tonight we would just go through a few of the laws here in the Mishpatim Torah portion and just see, get God's mindset, and see if we can understand.

How or what the Lord is thinking or maybe even why this law is this way. And so Lord God, I just come before you in the name of your son, Jesus. And I beg of you, I ask of you that you will shed some light on the laws of God that you have in this Torah portion, Mishpatim, Lord God, to give us some understanding, you said in all our good and good understanding, we need some understanding.

We need some wisdom, how to apply these laws to our life here today. And I pray. Okay, let's go. I want to just read through and tell you some different laws that are in this portion, and let's just talk about it. Okay, how about that? You want to have a conversation with me? Thank you. Thank you so much.

Okay, the first law that we'll talk about is first I want to talk about the presence of God in this book. In this, in these chapters there was a presence of God as he called Moses and Aaron up to the mountains. And so I just want to say we are going to get to some of the supernatural presence of God by the end of these laws.

 And okay, the first law that I wrote down, which if you were with me last week, I talked about the 10 commandments. I believe that was last week. And we talked about honoring your mother and your father. That's one of the 10 commandments with the promise. It says, if you honor your mother, honor your mother and your father so that it will go well with you.

And that you will live a long time on the earth and you will live long on the earth. So I'm thinking like the opposite of that is if you don't honor your mother and your father, it won't go well with you and you're not going to live a long time on the earth. And there's another law that appeared in this Torah portion, Exodus chapter 21, and it's verse 15.

It says whoever strikes his father Or his mother shall be put to death. And then I want to go to 17, whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. What do you think about that? God is serious about respecting our parents and honoring our mother and our father. It really pains me to witness or to see especially some, some of those shows that show children fighting against their parents.

I can't even watch that. It just makes me want to cry because it's such, it's just totally wrong. And this child doesn't understand the harm they're putting themselves in by. hitting their mom or their dad or cursing them or saying bad things about them. It's just, there's such a, it's just a pain for me to watch that because I know the repercussions or is that how you said that word?

I think so. The repercussions are going to be very powerful against them according to the word of God. Honor your mother and your father. Don't strike your mother or your father. Don't curse your mother or your father. It's very clear and you'll be put to death. The Bible says That doesn't mean that it might not happen right away. I've been living long enough to see his laws in action and What he says he's gonna do and I know some of you are like this is it We're in the we're in the season of grace.

We got the New Testament Jesus put an end to all these laws. Jesus fulfilled all the laws, . That's what he did. That's what he says. Jesus says, I came not to destroy the law or, and the prophets, but to fulfill them. He actually fulfilled all the laws, and he also says there's not one jot or one tittle that shall pass away from the law until it's all performed, until it's all fulfilled, the law and the prophets. And so I think that's just a misconception in Christianity that we think that, Oh these laws don't matter. No, they do matter. Oh yes, they do. And so let's keep going. Here's one that is really I actually like this law because I think it's very just, it's all just, it's God.

But it. It's because it's for children. And so this is Exodus chapter 21, verse 16, whoever steals a man and sells him. And anyone found in position and possession of him shall be put to death. I say it's for children, but it's really for anyone who is stolen. A person who is stolen, basically kidnap kidnapping is punishable by death.

It says, whether. They kept the man for themselves or the person or whether they sold them. And I equate this to human trafficking. Human trafficking is such a problem in society today. People stealing other people's Children and selling them into sex. slavery and to sex trafficking just doing horrendous things to the children.

And the Lord will not be mocked as it says here that anyone who steals a man, kidnapping and sells him, trafficking, human trafficking, and anyone found in possession of him. shall be put to death. So the person who stole him and the person who bought him or her will be put to death. Period. There, it's very straightforward.

And I thank God that there will be a just punishment for human traffickers, for kidnappers. Thank you, Jesus. There is a dream that I want to share with you that God gave me about human trafficking. Oh, this was about. Eight years ago, this is like 2018 and the dream is I was in my car, in my vehicle.

I had stopped at a gas station and I had my children with me, but it wasn't, it was like my son. I had, and I had another child, but I didn't have, it was a baby, but it was my child in the dream, even though I didn't have this child in real life, I had a child at this, a little baby boy in the dream.

And so I stopped by the gas station and the baby was taken out of my vehicle at this gas station. And I was. frantic and calling everyone and calling whoever could help screaming. And I remember in my, I remember my son being there and he didn't know what to do either. And so we went to that police officer and the police was very emotionless and basically said, There's nothing you can do the child is already gone and I got in my spirit at that time that He's saying that because he's a part of the human trafficking Arrangement like this has he knows about this system and he has put his hand into The stealing of Children and the selling of Children.

That was the revelation I got in a dream that the Lord was showing me that even there are some crooked police officers and crooked authority, people in authority who are in cahoots with human trafficking. They are actually some of the people who are allowing it to happen. And that made me feel really helpless.

And because if the very authority who's supposed to be helping the children is a part of the whole stealing and kidnapping of these same children, then there's no one you can trust. There's no one you can depend upon except God to save and keep your children.

So I just pray, Father God, for the parents out here with children that you will cover. our children with the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ, that you would protect them, that you would send angels of protection. Oh God. Angels of protection, even archangels, Lord God. In the name of Jesus to protect, to watch over our Children, to keep them safe from all hurt, harm and danger from human traffickers, from kidnappers, from child molesters, from rapists, from any and all hooligans, gangs, gangsters, murderers and sorcerers, anyone who does drugs, just keep our children walking in the way of God. I pray supernaturally by your spirit, by your angels. Oh, yes. We're going to talk about angels in just a moment. How God sends angels. And we've talked about that before on this show, Perfect Body Podcast, but there's another occurrence where God sent angels to lead the children of Israel.

In fact, let's talk about that right now. So our children are protected. Thank you, Father God. Thank you so much. And so we can rest assured that our prayers are answered according to his will. His will is for us to have our children as a blessing. And so that's what we will do in Jesus name. So the angel of the Lord, I believe it's in Exodus chapter 22.

It says, Ooh, where is it? It's a law. Oh, okay. Here it is. Exodus 23, verse 20, Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way to bring you to the place that I have prepared, pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

So here is God saying, behold, I'm sending an angel. To go before you to guard you so the prayer we just prayed is totally biblical to pray for angels to protect us. God just sent an angel to guard the children of Israel along the way and he also mentions that they should follow this angel and not rebel against this guidance, this angelic guidance.

Otherwise it would be harmful to them. That's amazing. That's amazing to me that God sends angels to help us, to guard us. And, but we have to listen to the angel. That reminds me of the angel I saw, or God sent to me. And I'll tell you this story. I was leaving Rochester, New York. I had completed one year of divinity school and I decided not to complete that educational path.

I felt like I had what I needed and what I wanted. And so I, God called me to sing for him while I was living in Rochester, New York. So I decided I was going to head back. To Hollywood, to Los Angeles to pursue this calling singing. And so I packed all of my things up, put them into my Jeep. And I had my bed on the top of my Jeep tied with rope and a tarp. And I drove from Rochester, New York to Buffalo, New York. By the time I got to Buffalo, the tarp was just. It was going crazy and it was making all kinds of noise and I was like, oh, so I had to stop and attempt to fix it. And when I was there, I saw a man, he was an older African American man.

And he came and he said, do you need some help? And I said, yes, I do. I'm trying to, get my bed tied up correctly here, whatever I said. And he, so he came and he helped me tie the bed down. I get the tarp back on the bed. And so we were talking during this time and he I asked, I guess I asked some questions about him.

And I tend to do that with perfect strangers and I tend to tell them things about me. So anyway and he said that he worked with, he worked at McDonald's for 30 years and he retired. He didn't retire, but he, I guess he did retire. He worked at McDonald's for 30 years and he told me that he didn't get a pension when he retired.

Yes. And so he, now he had to drive 18 wheelers to make a living. And I, I remember feeling sad about that story because I was like, Oh, you worked 30 years for a company. It seems you should have something. But so anyway, so he helped me and, oh, he also gave me direction.

He gave, this is why I wanted to tell you this story, because just like the Lord God sent the angel to give the children of Israel guidance and to guard them, and God said, don't rebel against this angel and his voice. This is the, this is what happened to me, the angel, or it was a man, I didn't, I'll get to the angel part, but he was just a man and he told me, he said, so where are you going?

I said, Oh, I'm going to Los Angeles and I'm taking his route. I had made this really fancy, elaborate route through Denver, Colorado, all these states that I really didn't need to go through because I thought I wanted to take the scenic route. I'm adding like At least two days to a trip that, you know, and he, so he's telling me no, don't do that.

He said, but he didn't say it like that. He said, if you go straight down I think it's I 40, 40 West or yeah. He said, you can get there in, in a quicker time than I, and I say. Yeah, that makes sense. And I just instinctively, I just listened to him and I got rid of those other plans I had to go through Colorado for no reason at all.

And I followed this man's advice, which was. Just to head down I think it was 90 95, I don't remember the numbers, 95 south to 40 west, I 40 west and this is what happened. This is how I knew he was an angel. Ugh! He was so nice to me and he was so kind and he was so helpful. And then he was walking away.

We had said our goodbyes and like maybe 15 seconds later, 20 seconds at the most. He was walking back toward his big rig, his 18 wheeler, and 20 seconds after I said goodbye, I just felt like I wanted to turn around and say goodbye again, because he was so nice to me. And so I turned around, and he was gone.

Completely. There was no big rig, there was no 18 wheeler, there was no man. Just come on, it would have taken him at least 30 seconds just to walk back to the big rig. It was that far away. It was gone! And so I knew it was an angel. I was like, oh my god! And the Bible says, be careful lest you talk to angels unawares.

They're angels. us. And you may, oh, it says, be careful to entertain strangers. Like you may be talking to this man was a stranger. Yes, but he was an angel. And so this may happen to you. I'm not saying you need to be careful. Okay. I know we live in a dangerous world. I'm not just saying, I know we tell children not to talk to strangers.

Yeah, but I'm just talking about, this is a regular, you know what I'm talking about, I was an adult, he came to help me, it wasn't any danger, we were in a public place, this is daytime, early in the morning, so just be careful, but you may be entertaining an angel, like the Lord just sent to me, or he sent to me that day, back in Buffalo, New York, and I followed his instruction, but I'm thinking, what if I wouldn't have followed his instruction?

I don't think it would have gone too well. I don't even know if I would have made it to Los Angeles because what happened was when I got to Flagstaff, I went I'm on I'm on I 40 West and I'm in Flagstaff Phoenix and not Phoenix, Flagstaff, Arizona. And my star, my jeep started heating up.

It started overheating and I had to stop at a, get it fixed at some mechanic shop. I got like a quick fix in Flagstaff. And then once I got down to Phoenix I had to go to a mechanical shop and get something replaced, whatever was causing it to overheat. And so I'm thinking if I would have gone through Denver, it.

It probably wouldn't have gone well for me. And so this is what the Lord is saying right here. When he's telling you to listen to the angel, behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way. The Lord has angels helping you guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared to bring you just like God helped me.

Move back to Los Angeles from Rochester because Los Angeles is where he called me to be, which is where I live now. And, but he says, pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him for the, for he will not pardon your transgression for my name is in him. So there's, I'm just happy I listened to the angel.

That's all I'm saying. And just to be careful that you might be. Entertaining an angel unaware, as it says in the Bible when you talk to strangers. I'm not saying all strangers are angels, eh? That's far from true, but you'll know you'll have some kind of instance. You'll know that this was an angel and Wow, God is amazing, isn't he?

He just he loves us so much He gives us the supernatural protection in the world, and I just love him for that and the other Supernatural occurrence, I just want to mention briefly is oh here When he tells Moses to come back on a mountain and come up to the mountain to receive, he's gonna write the law.

The 10 Commandments on the tablets of two tablets of stone. And he tells Moses to come up with the, with Aaron and the 70 elders, but only Moses goes all the way up. But the elders and Aaron come to the mountain with him and Joshua had some part in it as well. He 'cause Joshua, it does say something about his assistant Joshua.

Joshua was Moses' assistant. If you recall we haven't gotten to that part, but Joshua is going to lead the children actually into the promised land. It says here,

you shall, I just want to talk about the appearance of God here. It says, oh, where's that at? Okay, here it is. It's in Exodus chapter 24, verse 15. Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, and the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. So the appearance of God was like a devouring fire. So when I think of a devouring fire, I instantly started thinking about the fires that were here in California not too long ago.

And the Palisades fires, and how they were devouring everything. And just burned down everything. This is how the Lord appeared. Children of Israel from the bottom as they were down on the bottom of the mountain. This is how he appeared as a Fire that was devouring and I thought whoa, that's a pretty scary sight I think that will put the fear of the Lord into the children of Israel and whoever Who was following God at that time.

And so I pray that we would all have the fear of the Lord because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's what it says in the Proverbs. And so you need to have the fear of the Lord. That means you just you understand that God is God and that what he says he is going to do. He's not playing around.

He's very serious. He loves us, but he wants us to obey him. And so I just pray we all have the fear of the Lord. Increase our fear of the Lord, God, and your son's name, Jesus. Amen. All right. That is the Torah portion Mishpatim. Remember to subscribe to this podcast, Perfect Body and share.

Also, I put a link to an audio, a free audio of the Bible. So you can listen to it before or after the shows. And that way you can keep abreast and hear these words for yourself. Okay. And remember to love God, love you and love people. Bye bye until next time. I'll see ya.