He carries our cares

Tehillim (Psalms) 68: 20-21

Blessed be Adonai!
Every day he bears our burden,
does God, our salvation. (Selah)
Our God is a God who saves;
from ADONAI Adonai comes escape from death.

It is when we trust fully in ADONAI that there is no burden that we cannot thrive under because He is with us bearing the weight of the oppression. It is the trust of our salvation in Him that keeps even death at bay. Thank You Lord for the love that You have given me and holding me in all times. Praise Your Holy Name, Amen.

Be Examined

Tehillim (Psalms) 139:23-24

Examine me, God, and know my heart;
test me, and know my thoughts.
See if there is in me any hurtful way,
and lead me along the eternal way.

Each day I try to start my day off with prayer and journaling in His Word. It is a time of encouragement and enlightenment for me so I can face the day ahead. Yet there are times when I am upset and angry with what ever is going on in my life at the moment and I have to lean into ADONAI as He already knows my thoughts and sees the damage I can do to myself when I indulge my selfish desires. It is then I give all the hurt and the pain to Him so I can continue on the narrow path to rejoicing forever with Him. Lord more and more I pray that You keep me in the safety of Your hand and under Your gaze in these times that You have placed me. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Seek 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.

Trusting to understanding

Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:13-17

Here is why I speak to them in parables: they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. That is, in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Yesha’yahu which says,
‘You will keep on hearing but never understand,
and keep on seeing but never perceive,
because the heart of this people has become dull—
with their ears they barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
so as not to see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and do t’shuvah,
so that I could heal them.’
But you, how blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear! Yes indeed! I tell you that many a prophet and many a tzaddik longed to see the things you are seeing but did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing but did not hear them.

Having true understanding of God’s Word provokes us to repent and do good works so that there can be healing in our lives. As we live through these days of pandemic I pray that others will have the veil lifted from their eyes and see that there is only one God and only one way to know Him through the blood of Yeshua Ha Mashiach. It is with that understanding that the Word opens before us like a veil removed. Lord let me see all that You would have me see. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Compassion

Mattiyahu (Matthew) 12:6-8

I tell you, there is in this place something greater than the Temple! If you knew what ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifice’ meant, you would not condemn the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of Shabbat!”

This is the second time Mattiyahu records Yeshua challenging the P’rushim with this statement from Hosea “I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifice”. It is a condition of the heart that determines our trust in ADONAI not if we warm a pew every week or perform some community service just to brag to others of our own accomplishments. Yeshua will go on to tell them that it is right and holy to do good on Shabbat rather than keep to traditions that keep us from helping others in times of need. Again, it is all a condition of the heart, if our heart is circumcised by the Word of God and we seek His leadership in our lives through the Ruach HaKodesh then our strongman (ADONAI) will keep our house safe. But to bind God’s leadership with our own selfish convictions we will replace the Lord of Shabbat with the weak excuse of self-centeredness and God’s blessings will be removed from our lives. Lord let me be compassionate to all so they may see Your kingdom in me. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Flee Fear, Return to God

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.

Trust over traditions

(Matthew) 9:10-13

While Yeshua was in the house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners came and joined him and his talmidim at the meal. When the P’rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” But Yeshua heard the question and answered, “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. As for you, go and learn what this means: ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices. ‘For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”

Again and again Yeshua states that He didn’t come to see us repeat traditions that in keeping them separates us from Him but sought to bring salvation to the world. Lord do not let my habits get in the way of sharing Your salvation. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Recognize your salvation

Mattityahu (Matthew) 8:4

Then Yeshua said to him, “See that you tell no one; but as a testimony to the people, go and let the cohen examine you, and offer the sacrifice that Moshe commanded.”

Yeshua had just healed a man with tzara’at and in his new physical body the man started rejoicing. Yeshua gently reminded him that he still had service to Adonai yet to perform for the healing as taught in God’s Word, Torah. Many times I have been the diseased man, rejoicing at being delivered from a dark painful time but being so overjoyed that I forget who my deliverer is and partied myself right into another dark time, all the while missing an opportunity to praise and worship Adonai for all to see. Dear Lord let me see always Your hand in my life. Let me pursue You as a deer pants after water. Never let me forget who provides everything for me. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Relationship

Mattityahu (Matthew) 7:7-8

“Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps asking receives; he who keeps seeking finds; and to him who keeps knocking, the door will be opened.

My relationship with Adonai is just that a relationship. When I was young it was superficial listening to the teachings of Adults around me but not really participating. As a young man I walked away from the relationship in pursuit of my own selfish interest. But now since I have been pursuing Him with daily prayer and study of the Word I have grown closer than I have ever been. It is that pursuit that builds the bonds of trust. It is this pursuit that builds all other relationships I am apart of. It is this daily pursuit that has changed everything for me. Thank You Abba, for salvation in Your son Yeshua, and the infilling of the Ruach HaKodesh to lead me in Your Word, amen.

Use the right lens

Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:22-23

‘The eye is the lamp of the body.’ So if you have a ‘good eye’ [that is, if you are generous] your whole body will be full of light; but if you have an ‘evil eye’ [if you are stingy] your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

There are many who use these verses to teach that we as believers must be carful what we see and hear and there is some merit to that teaching. But I think the point Yeshua was trying to make is that as believers we must always be looking for opportunities of service, to witness to others, to ease suffering, to bring hope so that the world around us will see the light of ADONAI in our lives. To do elsewise is to give the people around us the “evil eye” seeking only opportunities to consolidate whatever selfish need one desires in the moment. For too long I have lived in this world with this self-centered evil outlook in life and I am forever grateful to God and the friends who could look past it as they let the light of God’s love shine through them because they had the “good eye” to see a need that required filling. Lord forgive me my failings and heal the hurt I have caused in my selfishness. Teach me to continually look at Your creation with the “good eye” and never miss a chance to serve You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.