Live with Mercy

Z’kharyah (Zachariah) 7:8-14

Then this message from ADONAI came to Z’kharyah: “In the past ADONAI-Tzva’ot said, ‘Administer true justice. Let everyone show mercy and compassion to his brother. Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners or poor people. Don’t plot evil against each other.’ But they wouldn’t listen, they stubbornly turned their shoulder away and stopped up their ears, so that they wouldn’t have to hear it. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as a diamond, so that they wouldn’t hear the Torah and the messages that ADONAI-Tzva’ot had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. This is why great anger came from ADONAI-Tzva’ot; and it came about that just as they hadn’t listened when he called, so ADONAI-Tzva’ot said, ‘I won’t listen when they call; but with the power of a whirlwind I will disperse them among all the nations which they have not known.’ Thus the land was left desolate after them, so that no one came or went. They had turned a pleasant land into a desert.”

When the people God has called to Him forget to live with mercy and justice then they will be cast out from His blessings. We have seen this walk out in nation after nation yet as we here in American reach the time of our greatest influence and power we forget mercy and justice and now sit with violence, social injustice, natural disasters, disease, and fear. If we do not turn back to ADONAI and take care of the ones He has entrusted to us, the widows, orphans, foreigners seeking justice and mercy and the poor, we will, just like the apple of His eye Isra’el, be cast out and our once pleasant country a wasteland. Lord there have been many who have cried to You as individuals, please let our spirits unite through Your Ruach and we turn back to You. Forgive this nation for the murder of our children, the destruction of innocence in the name of progress, and the effrontery for making ourselves our own god before You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Look always to Salvation

Luke 12:29-34

“In other words, don’t strive after what you will eat and what you will drink—don’t be anxious. For all the pagan nations in the world set their hearts on these things. Your Father knows that you need them too. Rather, seek his Kingdom; and these things will be given to you as well. Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has resolved to give you the Kingdom! Sell what you own and do tzedakah—make for yourselves purses that don’t wear out, riches in heaven that never fail, where no burglar comes near, where no moth destroys. For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.

In these days of chaos and confusion it is really easy to get lost in the minutia of the day, yet we as believers are to remain focused just as Yeshua taught us on the Kingdom yet to come.  It is in that day when there is no pain or sorrow that we are to look forward to and not let the worries of the moment divide us from His Ruach and lose our salvation.  Lord let me always find Your shalom in the craziness of selfish sin around me.  Keep me from trusting in my own power but let me always follow You.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Give from the Heart

Luke 11:37-41

As Yeshua spoke, a Parush asked him to eat dinner with him; so he went in and took his place at the table; and the Parush was surprised that he didn’t begin by doing n’tilat yadayim before the meal. However, the Lord said to him, “Now then, you P’rushim, you clean the outside of the cup and plate; but inside, you are full of robbery and wickedness. Fools! Didn’t the One who made the outside make the inside too? Rather, give as alms what is inside, and then everything will be clean for you!

Like many the Parush was so caught up in the need for ritual that he had forgotten how to honor ADONAI.  It is the gifts from the heart made flesh by God through the salvation given by the blood of Yeshua that brings us into blessings of God such as the widow who with her two small coins gave all she had to the work of God.  Lord let me never be so concerned with appearances that I cannot be used by You.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Have Mercy

Luke 10:36-37

Of these three, which one seems to you to have become the ‘neighbor’ of the man who fell among robbers?” He answered, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Yeshua said to him, “You go and do as he did.”

This is Yeshua’s summation of the parable of the good Samaritan and it is a command on how we as believers are to treat the world around us, with mercy.  It is the mercy that we give that sets us apart as God’s chosen people and it is this mercy that will allow the Ruach to enter their hearts and turn them back to ADONAI.  Lord let me be merciful to all that You bring me to in my life.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

We must look forward

Luke 9:62

To him Yeshua said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and keeps looking back is fit to serve in the Kingdom of God.”

Having lived a little over 50 years there are a lot of things that I have done that have shaped my character. Experiencing the love of my parents, navigation the awkwardness of adolescence, spending the first 21 years of my life in service to the country, marriage then loss then marriage again. All these things have shaped me into the person I am in now. Yet if I dwell on my past success or failures I never move forward. God in His mercy has something new for us every day if we put our full trust in Him. New moments of encouragement, new lessons, new commissions but we have to be open to His leadership in our lives, or else we will continue to stagnate and stuck in our past. Lord let Your living waters flow through me and refresh me daily so I may serve You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Begin with Praise

Ezra 3:4-6

They observed the festival of Sukkot as written, offering daily the number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day, and afterwards the regular burnt offering, the offerings for Rosh-Hodesh and those for all the designated times set apart for ADONAI, as well as those of everyone who volunteered a voluntary offering to ADONAI. From the first day of the seventh month, they began offering burnt offerings to ADONAI, even though the foundation of ADONAI’s temple had not yet been laid.

This passage is about the first time the nation Judah returned to the land after 70 years. This population didn’t wait for buildings to be built, or certain rituals to be performed but went immediately to praising and worshiping ADONAI. We to should do this not wait for an event or date or being in a certain building but we should praise God with all our being first above everything else as we start new each day. Lord keep me focus on serving You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Follow the right path

Tehillim (Psalms) 84:6

How happy the man whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

It is the condition of our heart that determines the path that we follow in life.  ADONAI through His prophets rails against the stony heart that seeks only its own gratification but brings blessings to the heart of the man who pursues His Word.  It is this path of life, this pilgrim highway, that will bring us all to the narrow gate and salvation through our trust in Yeshua.  Lord let me always follow Your path for my life.  Keep me from straying but let Your rod and staff keep me focused on Your Word.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Truly make Him Lord

Luke 6:46

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ but not do what I say?”

Yeshua’s question still stands today.  How can we say we believe in God and yet continue to do the selfish things that separates us from God?  To serve ADONAI is to obey.  How do we know what to obey, to study the Word and follow the teachings of Yeshua where he answered the Torah teacher we are to love ADONAI with all our heart, soul, strength and understanding and to love each other as ourselves.  Everything in Torah and the prophets and the writings of the apostles point to this.  Lord let me be worthy of not just saying You are Lord of my life but bear the fruit of that so there is no doubt.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Trust opens the Supernatural

Luke 5:4-11

When he had finished speaking, he said to Shim’on, “Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.” Shim’on answered, “We’ve worked hard all night long, Rabbi, and haven’t caught a thing! But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” They did this and took in so many fish that their nets began to tear. So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; and they came and filled both boats to the point of sinking. When he saw this, Shim’on Kefa fell at Yeshua’s knees and said, “Get away from me, sir, because I’m a sinner!” For astonishment had seized him and everyone with him at the catch of fish they had taken, and likewise both Ya’akov and Yochanan, Shim’on’s partners. “Don’t be frightened,” Yeshua said to Shim’on, “from now on you will be catching men—alive!” And as soon as they had beached their boats, they left everything behind and followed him.

This miracle could not have happened if Shim’on did not first trust.  As a fisherman he understood that the fish feed at night and go deep to escape the sun during the day, yet Yeshua’s preaching had already stirred that bond of trust in his soul that Shim’on pushed down his own understanding to be obedient to God’s knowledge.  The supernatural filling of the nets that followed affirmed in Shim’on’s eyes that Yeshua was the Mashiach, the Messiah, come to save all Isra’el and the world.  And it is that moment that reaffirmed his trust that he left everything that he knew to feed his family and followed Yeshua.  It is the same for us trust leads to the supernatural in our lives that leads to a supernatural ministry so all may know ADONAI and His mercy through Yeshua’s sacrifice.  Lord let me be as willing as Shim’on to follow You.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Focus on Trust

Luke 4:23-27

Then Yeshua said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me this proverb—'”Doctor, cure yourself!” We’ve heard about all the things that have been going on over in K’far-Nachum; now do them here in your hometown!’ Yes!” he said, “I tell you that no prophet is accepted in his home town. It’s true, I’m telling you—when Eliyahu was in Isra’el, and the sky was sealed off for three-and-a-half years, so that all the Land suffered a severe famine, there were many widows; but Eliyahu was sent to none of them, only to a widow in Tzarfat in the land of Tzidon. Also there were many people with tzara’at in Isra’el during the time of the prophet Elisha; but not one of them was healed, only Na’aman the Syrian.”

Like the citizens of Natzeret we as believers try to demand from ADONAI something, losing our focus of trust and begging from a worldly sense. Instead we should be like the people in Yeshua’s example who trusted in spite of everything they knew from their own minds. It is this trust, a trust even when you are convinced that you are going to die the next day like the widow or the trust cajoled out of Na’aman that the Lord desires of us. Lord build Your trust in me so that there is no doubt with whom I stand with and for in the coming days. Don’t let familiarity bred contempt in my heart or my actions but let me always wonder at the gifts You have for my life, my family’s life and for the lives of Your people. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.