Witnesses

Yochanan (John) 2:18-22

So the Judeans confronted him by asking him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have the right to do all this?” Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” The Judeans said, “It took 46 years to build this Temple, and you’re going to raise it in three days?” But the “temple” he had spoken of was his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his talmidim remembered that he had said this, and they trusted in the Tanakh and in what Yeshua had said.

Everything Yeshua did was foretold by the prophets in the Tanakh, or “Old Testament.” It was by seeing the Word of God come to life in front of them that the talmidim came to trust so fully, seeing two witnesses as required by Torah. It is the same for us today, as the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, moves in our lives it does nothing that doesn’t align with the Word thus giving us two witnesses to the power of ADONAI and allowing us to trust in Him. Lord Thank You for seeing two testimonies of You love for us that there could be no denial of Your awesome power. Help me to seek even more of Your love for mankind so I can be the witness You would have me be. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

When the Ruach is upon you

Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 61:1

The Spirit of Adonai ELOHIM is upon me,
because ADONAI has anointed me
to announce good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted;
to proclaim freedom to the captives,
to let out into light those bound in the dark;

While Yesha’yahu is writing about himself, this is also the commission of every believer. Before Yeshua, ADONAI only allowed His Ruach to descend on those He chose so they could lead the people either as kings like David or judges like Y’hoshua or prophets like Yesha’yahu. But after Yeshua walked among us and brought to fulfillment God’s desire through Torah there was an infilling in that upper room that set the world on fire. Any who trust in God’s gift of salvation through the sacrifice of Yeshua is filled with His Ruach and commission to announce the good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom to the captives and bring light to those lost in darkness. This is our commission as believers and we must get to it for He is coming! Lord let me cling every moment to Your Word and challenge those You place around me to seek Your Word for themselves. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Come Together

Kefa Bet (2 Peter) 3:1-2

Dear friends, I am writing you now this second letter; and in both letters I am trying to arouse you to wholesome thinking by means of reminders; so that you will keep in mind the predictions of the holy prophets and the command given by the Lord and Deliverer through your emissaries.

This is why we are to come together as congregations, so that we can remind each other of the wholesome thinking that keeps us focused on the plan God has for our lives. To go without continual reminders we will drift back to our own selfish nature. ADONAI, I rejoice that You let me join with likeminded believers and praise Your holy name on Your Shabbats. Don’t let anything keep me from worshiping with Your people. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Is it Torment or Toleration

Kefa Bet (2 Peter) 2:6-10

And he condemned the cities of S’dom and ‘Amora, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives; but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people; for the wicked deeds which that righteous man saw and heard, as he lived among them, tormented his righteous heart day after day. So the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and how to hold the wicked until the Day of Judgment while continuing to punish them, especially those who follow their old natures in lust for filth and who despise authority.

I by no means count myself with the likes of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Isra’el, but I wonder if I am like Lot surrounded by wickedness seeing if I can survive long enough for the Lord to deliver me from the devices of evil men. Then after reading what Kefa has written about Lot, I wonder if I am not one of those evil men, because I am not tormented day after day like Lot was, I am more like just exhausted and tired of dealing with the day to day. I just want to pull away and live in a cave on a mountain where I can hunt and fish and labor in my own garden and not have to deal with people. Lord forgive me for not pursuing Your heart for Your people like I should. Strengthen me in the face of rebellion and let me be a light for You in this world of selfish darkness. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Grace and Peace

Kefa Bet (2 Peter) 1:2

May grace and shalom be yours in full measure, as you come to a full knowledge of God and Yeshua our Lord.

Simple truth hitting me like a ton of bricks, if we don’t have the full knowledge of ADONAI and accept Yeshua as our savior, we will never have the grace and peace in our lives to the full measure God has meant for us. Dawgs so simple and yet so often missed. Lord thank You for opening my eyes to this and keep me centered on Your ancient path so that I may always live in Your shalom. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Be humble

Kefa Alef (1 Peter) 5:6-7

Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time he may lift you up. Throw all your anxieties upon him, because he cares about you.

Oh Abba I confess now this is one of the hardest things for me to do. I am a proud person, proud of my Irish heritage, proud of my parents from whom I have come (all of them), proud of my family and friends, proud of the work I have done and do. Yet for all this pride it amounts to nothing unless I am doing the will of God. I serve in my congregation not because I want people to look at me but because it is the only way I know how to support my trust in Adonai. I will never be a head rabbi of a congregation (nor do I want to be), or a stadium slaying evangelist, but I can take out the trash after a fellowship and I can sweep the floors. Submitting to the authority that Adonai places over us is, to me, the first step of trusting fully in Him. The next is allowing Him to care for those things that most dog us, be it bills, relationships, or whatever. Because it is then that we can see the leadership and lovingkindness Adonai has for us. Lord let me always see Your hand in my life to strengthen my trust in You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Refinement

Kefa Alef (1 Peter) 4:19

So let those who are suffering according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator by continuing to do what is good.

This is one of the hardest things for me to do. I am a whiner when I am suffering so trusting ADONAI to see me through the trial is not in the forefront of my mind. To struggle through something and continuing doing good for others is not what I want to be doing, but as I study and become more obedient to the Word that ADONAI has given us, I find my suffering is less. There is refinement and a drawing into God that I have missed when I suffered without trusting Him. Lord I have prayed it many times but hold me close to You and support me in these days. Let me always look to You first to lean on in my trials and not trust to my own selfish poor decisions. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

The Gentile Commision

Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 40:1-2

“Comfort and keep comforting my people,” says your God.
“Tell Yerushalayim to take heart; proclaim to her
that she has completed her time of service,
that her guilt has been paid off,
that she has received at the hand of ADONAI
double for all her sins.”

Not knowing how else to state this I will say that I am not a Hebrew by birth, I trust that my trust in ADONAI will bring me to Him through accepting the blood of the sacrifice of Yeshua, but it is not my voice He is waiting to hear or the measure of justice for the sins I have committed before Yeshua returns but the actual sons of Avraham. So it is even more important that I comfort those that are the descendants of Avraham so that one day they will unite in one voice declaring “Baruch haba HaShem ADONAI!” Lord let me block out the stressful world around me and stay focused on the commission given by Your Word. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Stand Strong

Kefa Alef (1 Peter) 2:19-25

For it is a grace when someone, because he is mindful of God, bears up under the pain of undeserved punishment. For what credit is there in bearing up under a beating you deserve for doing something wrong? But if you bear up under punishment, even though you have done what is right, God looks on it with favor. Indeed, this is what you were called to; because the Messiah too suffered, on your behalf, leaving an example so that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin,
nor was any deceit found on his lips.”
When he was insulted, he didn’t retaliate with insults; when he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but handed them over to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the stake, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness—by his wounds you were healed. For you used to be like sheep gone astray, but now you have turned to the Shepherd, who watches over you.

I read and reread this passage and I see how my willingness to step up to the fight can be so easily misplaced. While I do believe in righteous anger such as Yeshua showed at the temple, Kefa is telling us as the body of believers we must look past the day-to-day insults so that by our actions the people doing the beating will see the love of God for themselves through our steadfastness and by not sinking to a worldly anger that will allow them to say, “you are just like us”. Then our blessings for them will truly become coals upon their head until they come to trust in ADONAI. Lord this is a hard lesson of forbearance. Let me take this to heart and be the strong servant of Your Word. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Seek God’s Word not the trappings

Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 36:7

But if you tell me, ‘We trust in ADONAI our God, ‘then isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hizkiyahu has removed, telling Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, ‘You must worship before this altar’?

While this was Rav-Shakeh challenging the Kingdom of Judah and King Hizkiyahu, it is the same for us as the body of believers today. So much “religion” has watered down the message of salvation through Yeshua’s sacrifice, that most of the time people dismiss the Word of God for what they think they know just like Rav-Shakeh, instead of searching for what they need to know that Yeshua died for their sins and rose again so that His blood would be the perfect sacrifice. People outside the body would rather focus on the altars of useless traditions and misinterpretations rather than learn and obey the Word of God so that ADONAI can write it on our hearts for all time. Lord as I enter this next season of my life let me focus on Your Word. Let it be the light that guides me on Your path, so I am not distracted by false altars of my own creation. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.