Build Trust

Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:14-18

As they came up to the crowd, a man approached Yeshua, kneeled down in front of him, and said, “Sir, have mercy on my son, because he is an epileptic and has such terrible fits that he often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your talmidim, but they couldn’t heal him.” Yeshua answered, “Perverted people, without any trust! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me!” Yeshua rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, so that from that moment he was healed.

Every morning I wake up and I am this father, not that I have some overwhelming need for my children, but that I realize my trust is still not enough by itself. I need ADONAI in my life to support me in everything I do and don’t do. I have to confess myself every night in the things I failed to do. Mark tells us the father admits, “I trust, help me to trust,” and it is the same for me, I trust but I must look to God to build more trust. Lord, You know the days that I face, and the weakness in my own heart bind me to You in trust so I will never stray from You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Wisdom

Tehillim (Psalms) 139:17-18
God, how I prize your thoughts!
How many of them there are!
If I count them, there are more than grains of sand;
if I finish the count, I am still with you.
All knowledge and wisdom is from ADONAI. Oh, if we would only be satisfied with this overabundance of faithful education. Yet we as sinners have so often place our own selfish misunderstandings to reason that good becomes evil and evil becomes good. How many times have I pontificated to a room full of people only to be no more edifying that the bleating of a sheep. Lord let me turn back to Your Word and Your wisdom through, as it says in Proverbs, all things were created. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Hold to Truth

Sh’mu’el Bet (2 Samuel) 3:23-27

When Yo’av and all his army had arrived, Yo’av was told, “Avner the son of Ner came to the king, but he sent him off, and he has left under safe conduct.” Yo’av went to the king and said, “What have you done? Here, Avner came to you, and you sent him away, and now he’s gone! Why? You know Avner the son of Ner—he came only to deceive you, to learn what campaigns you’re planning and to find out everything you’re doing!”
After leaving David, Yo’av sent messengers after Avner, and they brought him back from the water cistern at Sirah without David’s knowledge. Upon Avner’s return to Hevron, Yo’av took him aside into the space between the outer and inner city gates as if to speak with him privately; and there he struck him in the groin, so that he died—thus avenging the death of ‘Asah’el his brother.

Avner had already met with and agreed to support David in ruling over all of Isra’el. But because Avner had killed Yo’av’s brother, Yo’av first tried to change the narrative of David’s meeting by declaring Avner was a spy and then falsely recalling Avner to Hevron where he could murder him. By changing the narrative for his own personal vengeance Yo’av committed the murder that would eventually bring about his own death. It is the same for people who twist the Word to fit their own agendas, whether it be prosperity gospel, a word of vengeance, or secular nation building, all of us when we use the Word out of context risk the same selfish sin as the P’rushim who challenged Yeshua and the Talmidim for not ritually washing their hands and yet would not follow the Word and honor their parents. Lord let the words I use speak only into Your will and not my own. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Know the Word

Mattityahu (Matthew) 14:1-2

Around that time, Herod, the regional governor, heard of the fame of Yeshua and said to his attendants, “This must be Yochanan the Immerser. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

This is the problem with institutionalized religion. Instead of searching the Word for himself Herod made a leap in reasoning and declared that Yeshua was Yochanan the Immerser raised from the dead. And since He was the potentate placed in position to rule for Rome people accepted this view without question, just as people accept false doctrine of leaders because they would rather be told than study the Word themselves. This foundation of lies and self-serving desire led to Herod not recognizing when Salvation for all stood before him. He failed to see God’s gift for his lack of knowledge of the Word. Lord cut away the selfishness of my heart and circumcise me so that Your Word is the only light for my path. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Heed

Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:47-50

“Once more, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net thrown into the lake, that caught all kinds of fish.  When it was full, the fishermen brought the net up onto the shore, sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad fish away.  So it will be at the close of the age—the angels will go forth and separate the evil people from among the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will wail and grind their teeth.

 

For the third time in this chapter Yeshua has told the Talmidim that there will be a culling among the house of Isra’el.  The repetition is for us, there is a price for sin and if you choose to wallow in it, no matter how many “good deeds” you have done, you will be cast out of the presence of ADONAI and into a place of isolation and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  There is no sin too small that cannot remove you from God, in fact in the passage it was all the small fish, the petty jealousies, the one “bad thing” you do,  that get thrown out.  We all must repent, and for me that is daily, of when we fall short in our service to ADONAI.  It is only by the absolution of the blood of Yeshua that we are saved.  Lord hold me to Your fire and let me come out renewed from Your crucible.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

 

 

Look always to God

Sh’mu’el Alef (1 Samuel) 30:6

6 David was in serious trouble: the people were talking about stoning him to death, because all the people were in such deep grief, each man over his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in Adonai his God.

Grief is a terrible emotion that left unchecked can lead to despair and seeing the world through this lens so dark, one can only see death and destruction. But when we cling to Adonai in these times that lens is pulled away and light is allowed to fill our lives once again. It may be painful and there will be loss, but the promise of true fulfillment, the strength that David writes about from God in his psalms allows the grief to fade and joy returns with the morning. Lord let me cling to You as David did. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Seek Life

Sh’mu’el Alef (1 Samuel) 28:3-7

Now Sh’mu’el was dead; all Isra’el had mourned him and buried him in his city, Ramah. Also Sha’ul had expelled from the land those who tell the future by communicating with the dead or with a demonic spirit.
The P’lishtim assembled; then they went and pitched camp at Shunem; while Sha’ul gathered all Isra’el together and pitched camp at Gilboa. When Sha’ul saw the army of the P’lishtim, he became afraid—it struck terror in his heart. But when he consulted ADONAI, ADONAI didn’t answer him—not by dreams, not by urim and not by prophets.
Then Sha’ul said to his servants, “Try to find a woman who tells the future by communicating with the dead; I want to go and consult with her.” His servants answered him, “Yes, there’s a woman in ‘Ein-Dor who tells the future by communicating with the dead.”

Sha’ul had followed the law in Leviticus and did not tolerate necromancers in the land of Isra’el, yet as his own selfish sin drove him from ADONAI he willingly violated the Word of God just to find solace in some type of spiritual connection to replace what was missing in his life. When we desert ADONAI there is nothing left for us but fear. It is an all-consuming fear because we are missing that spiritual tie with God so one clings to known sin, sins that one would never think of committing normally, all in the search for that spiritual connection that is missing. Yet there is only one author of life and that is God who through His son Yeshua brought reconciliation for all men through His loving sacrifice. To search for a spiritual connection anywhere else is to be like Sha’ul and look for solace among the dead. Lord let me cling to You with such passion that there is no doubt to anyone that You are the author of life in me. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Serve selflessly

Divrei-HaYamim Alef (1 Chronicles) 9:28-33

Some of [the L’vi’im] were in charge of the articles used for the service; they had to keep records of them when bringing them in and out. Others were in charge of the equipment, the holy utensils, the fine flour, the wine, the olive oil, the frankincense and the spices. Some of the sons of the cohanim mixed together the ingredients for the perfumes. Mattityah, one of the L’vi’im, who was the firstborn of Shalum the Korchi, was permanently in charge of baking operations. Some of their kinsmen, from the descendants of the K’hati, were in charge of preparing the showbread every Shabbat. Also there were the singers, heads of fathers’ clans among the L’vi’im. They lived in the accommodations and were free from other kinds of service, for they were employed in their own work day and night.

All are called to serve ADONAI but not all are called to the same service. Here just out of the priestly tribe of L’vi’im we have some in charge of the items in the temple, record keeping, stores, compounding perfumes, baking, serving, and singing. No one man did all these things but each according to his talents served where they could be the most effective for God. I often struggle with seeing others serving where I think I could be effective, but in those times of struggle, jealousy really, it is because I am not trusting in the value where God has placed me to serve. Each of us are called to a mission that, if we truly trust ADONAI, only we can fill in that moment. Lord help me to see Your hand in all things. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Staying Under

Tehillim (Psalms) 63:8-9

For you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
my heart clings to you;
your right hand supports me.

Life is not easy, sometimes it is even hard but as long as we as believers are trusting and faithful in our worship of ADONAI, He is there to support us through the Ruach HaKodesh. It is by following the narrow path that we stay in the shadow of His wings and in God’s blessings even in the hardest of times, but when we remove ourselves from His blessings and we selfishly put ourselves before God we find ourselves in a world that is intolerable and self-destructive. Like David I choose to stay under the wings of God for even in the most difficult of times I can still rejoice with the Creator of all things. Lord thank You for all that you have done and will do for me in my life. Praise Your Holy Name, amen.

God’s Willingness

Mattityahu (Matthew) 8:1-3

After Yeshua had come down from the hill, large crowds followed him. Then a man afflicted with tzara’at came, kneeled down in front of him and said, “Sir, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Yeshua reached out his hand, touched him and said, “I am willing! Be cleansed!” And at once he was cleansed from his tzara’at.

ADONAI in His power is always willing to bring healing to us, but He will not abide with anyone who does not trust in Him. God wants a relationship with us, to be involved in all we do and say so He can rejoice along with us as we praise and worship Him. Even now as we see the world reeling from the punishment of this virus, if we turn and trust in God, He is even in this moment willing to make us clean. Lord I read Your Word every day, as the distraught father said, I trust help me to trust, strengthen me so that You are all I need. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.