Rooted

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, behave like a mentsh, grow strong. Let everything you do be done in love.

We should not put on our belief in Adonai like some jacket we wear to service but as Sha’ul extorts us to do we should stand strong in our belief firmly rooted in the Word.  Be people of integrity and honor and not fold to the manipulations of the world.  And yet do this all with a governing control of love, so all may come to know Adonai and be reconciled through the sacrifice of Yeshua ha Mashiach.

Fearlessness

Judges 6:25-31

That very night ADONAI said to him, “Take your father’s bull and the other bull, the seven-year-old. Destroy the altar to Ba’al that belongs to your father, cut down the sacred pole next to it, and build a proper altar to ADONAI your God on top of this strong-point. Then take the second bull; and offer it as a burnt offering, using the wood of the sacred pole you cut down.” Gid’on took ten of his servants and did what ADONAI had told him to do. He didn’t do it by day, because he was afraid of the men in his father’s household and those from the city, so he did it at night. When the men of the city got up the next morning, there was the altar of Ba’al destroyed, the sacred pole cut down, and the second bull a burnt offering on the newly built altar. They asked each other, “Who could have done this?” But after investigating, they concluded that Gid’on the son of Yo’ash had done it. “Bring out your son,” the men of the city demanded of Yo’ash, “so that he may die, because he destroyed the altar of Ba’al and cut down the sacred pole next to it!” But Yo’ash said to all those crowding around him, “You’re defending Ba’al, are you? It’s your job to save him? Anyone who defends Ba’al will be put to death before morning! If he’s a god, let him defend himself! After all, somebody destroyed his altar!”

 

Gid’on followed the direction of Adonai in his life immediately. He didn’t do it with courage or out of his strength but overcoming fear of reprisal from the community that he lived in. God will preserve us as He did Gid’on as long as we are operating under His will for our lives. Dear Lord let me be as quick to follow Your will in my life. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Caring

Psalm 41:2-3

 

How blessed are those who care for the poor!

When calamity comes, ADONAI will save them.

ADONAI will preserve them, keep them alive,

and make them happy in the land.

You will not hand them over

to the whims of their enemies.

 

It is how we as believers show our love to ones less fortunate that will preserve us when we suffer setbacks. We are commanded to take care of the widow, orphan and foreigner in our land. Failure to do so brings Adonai’s wrath until we repent and reform our ways. Dear Lord forgive us as a country so used to marginalizing people groups to make ourselves feel better. Look over and bless us so we may show Your blessing to the whole world. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Serving

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. Also there are different ways of serving, but it is the same Lord being served. And there are different modes of working, but it is the same God working them all in everyone.

 

Not everyone is meant to do the same vocation inside the body of believers. We all bring something different and enhancing when we follow the direction of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, in our lives. It is in discovering those gifts and employing them that brings fulfillment to what we do for Adonai. Abba thank You for giving me a congregation to serve You in. Thank You for giving me the opportunities to grow closer to You. Amen

Apart

Joshua 23:11-13

“Therefore take great care to love ADONAI your God. Otherwise, if you retreat and cling to the remnant of these other nations remaining among you, if you make marriages with them and have children with them and they with you, know for certain that ADONAI your God will stop driving out these nations from your sight. Instead, they will become a snare and a trap for you, whipping your sides and pricking your eyes, until you perish from this good land which ADONAI your God has given you.

 

Just as it was with the nation of Israel so it is with us, if we make marriages/alliances with sin, if we as professing believers accept all that God says is an abomination as normal then God will remove His favor from us. We must focus on removing sin from our lives and living out our witness for Him. Abba, forgive me for my lack of trust, help me to trust more. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen

Praise Him!

Psalm 47

For the leader. A psalm of the descendants of Korach:

Clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with cries of joy!

For ADONAI ‘Elyon is awesome,

a great king over all the earth.

He makes peoples subject to us,

puts nations under our feet.

He chooses our heritage for us,

the pride of Ya’akov, whom he loves. (Selah)

God goes up to shouts of acclaim,

ADONAI to a blast on the shofar.

Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our king, sing praises!

For God is king of all the earth;

sing praises in a maskil.

God rules the nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

The leaders of the people gather together,

the people of the God of Avraham;

for the rulers of the earth belong to God,

who is exalted on high.

 

Don’t really have a commentary, just feeling really blessed today and by shabbat service last night. Shabbat Shalom!

Training

1 Corinthians 9:25-27

 

Now every athlete in training submits himself to strict discipline, and he does it just to win a laurel wreath that will soon wither away. But we do it to win a crown that will last forever. Accordingly, I don’t run aimlessly but straight for the finish line; I don’t shadow-box but try to make every punch count. I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that, after proclaiming the Good News to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

 

As believers we must totally submit ourselves to Adonai’s leadership in our lives by following the Ruach in all we do. We have to deny what we would want to do and focus on the finish line as Sha’ul references with the athletes of his day. We have to break ourselves of this worldly body of sin and rebuild it as a holy example to others. Abba keep culling my heart and call me closer to You. Let all that I do reflect the greatness of Your name. I ask this in Yeshua’s name amen.

Grafted in

Joshua 15:13

To Kalev the son of Y’funeh he gave a portion with the descendants of Y’hudah, as ADONAI had ordered Y’hoshua, namely, Kiryat-Arba (Arba was the father of the ‘Anak), also called Hevron.

 

Kalev was given what Adonai had ordered Y’hoshua because of his trust in Adonai. As one of the original 12 spies only he and Y’hoshua said the land was ripe for taking, while the other 10 reacted out of fear of their own strength. For his trust even though a foreigner Kalev was given an inheritance with Israel. So it is with us, who are Gentiles, we are grafted into the nation state of Israel and given an inheritance through our trust in Adonai and the sacrifice of Yeshua ha Mashiach. Lord keep my heart, my soul and my strength focused on You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Yeast

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know the saying, “It takes only a little hametz to leaven a whole batch of dough?” Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed. So let us celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth.

 

As we become new creatures in Yeshua we have to give up the sin in our lives. The same is for our congregations, Sha’ul was addressing the congregation in Corinth for tolerating the participation of a man having sex with his stepmother, as long as they allowed this sin to exist without correction in their body they would be ineffective in the greater body of Yeshua. The same is for us personally as long as we tolerate the sin that we have yet to confess we will be ineffective in our witness for Adonai. Lord forgive me for not standing for Your Word with boldness when others attack it. Forgive me for putting myself before others when they are in need and I am lazy. Forgive me Lord for not more closely following You. I ask this all in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Pruning

Joshua 5:8-10
When all the nation had been circumcised, every one of them, they stayed where they were in camp until they had healed. ADONAI said to Y’hoshua, “Today I have rolled off from you the stigma of Egypt.” This is why the place has been called Gilgal [rolling] ever since. The people of Isra’el camped at Gilgal, and they observed Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month, there on the plains of Yericho. The day after Pesach they ate what the land produced, matzah and roasted ears of grain that day. The following day, after they had eaten food produced in the land, the man ended. From then on the people of Isra’el no longer had man; instead, that year, they ate the produce of the land of Kena’an.

As with the nation of Israel, when Adonai takes us through a season of pruning He also provides a time of rest and recovery. Each pruning removes something that keeps us from God, each rest a reward of stronger trust in Him. Abba thank You for all that You have given me in my relationship with You. Thank You for my family, my congregation, my friends and the struggles that have brought me closer to You. Amen.