Be a Mentsh

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 once a week, but as Sha’ul extorts us to do, we should stand strong in our belief firmly rooted in the Word daily. We are meant to 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. Lord let my life be worthy to show Your love for everyone around me. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

The Soft Word

Shof’tim (Judges) 8:1-3

But the men of Efrayim complained to Gid’on, “Why didn’t you call on us when you went to fight Midyan? Why did you treat us this way?” They were sharp in their criticism. He answered by saying to them, “How can what I have done be compared with what you have done? Aren’t the grapes Efrayim leaves on the vines better than the ones Avi’ezer harvests? God handed over to you Midyan’s chiefs, ‘Orev and Ze’ev. What could I do that matches what you did?” By saying that, he appeased their anger at him.

Like Gid’on, when ADONAI grants us a great victory there will be others who will become jealous inside the congregation just as the Efrayimites became of Gid’on’s victory.  A soft word at these times, like Gid’on’s, will do much to turn away their anger from wherever their jealousy springs and keep the community whole.  It is then as a whole community of believers we can move forward in spreading the light of Yeshua’s salvation and give everyone the opportunity to write the Word of God on their hearts.  Lord let me look to soft answer whenever I can, and not get offended and fire back.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

ADONAI fights for us

Shof’tim (Judges) 7:19-22

Gid‘on and the hundred men with him arrived at the edge of the camp a little before midnight, just after they had changed the guard. They blew the shofars and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. All three companies blew the shofars, broke the pitchers and held the torches in their left hands, keeping their right hands free for the shofars they were blowing; and they shouted, “The sword for Adonai and for Gid‘on!” Then, as every man stood still in place around the camp, the whole camp was thrown into panic, with everyone screaming and trying to escape. Gid‘on’s men blew their 300 shofars, and Adonai caused everyone in the camp to attack his comrades; and the enemy fled beyond Beit-Sheetah near Tz’rerah, as far as the border of Avel-M’cholah, by Tabat.

God fights our battles for us. Not Gid’on or one of his men raised a sword that night until it was time to mop up the remainer. They blew their shofars (trumpets from animal horns) in their right hands and held torches in their left. Adonai Tzva’ot the Lord of Host was in amongst the enemy causing confusion and destruction. This is the God we serve who fights our righteous battles for us. Praise God for our defense. Lord let me remember that You have already taken the victory. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

All for nothing without love

1 Corinthians 13:3

I may give away everything that I own,
I may even hand over my body to be burned;
but if I lack love, I gain nothing.

No matter how many good things I do, how many people I save from whatever disaster affects them, if I fail to do it without the love of ADONAI directing me and the infilling of the Ruach HaKodesh to share with them the path to true salvation, I have failed. It is only when we share the love of ADONAI with others while we are feeding and clothing the orphaned and the widowed, reaching out with comfort and care to those who are hurting that we truly save lives. Lord let me always work first and foremost for You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

State of the Nation, state of the heart

Shof’tim (Judges) 2:10

When that entire generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation arose that knew neither ADONAI nor the work he had done for Isra’el.

George Santayana once wrote “Those who can’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  The nation of Isra’el demonstrates this over and over again in the book of Judges.  Whenever the generation that had seen the hand of ADONAI provide salvation in a strong and mighty way passed away, the youth that only knew the stories stumbled back into the idolatry that removed the nation from God’s protection in the first place.  I see it today in our own country of America, in the fifties and sixties there was a sweeping revival across the land led by great men of God like Billy Graham and Oral Roberts, but that was 60 odd years ago and almost 4 generations.  Today we cannot even decide what bathroom to use or what actually defines a man and a woman.  God in seeing our rebellion has removed His hand of protection from our nation so that a 100,000 dollar bonus cannot even get our best and brightest to serve in the military to which one of our generals said in an interview a few weeks ago only 23% of people age 18-24 are even eligible to serve since we as a nation have raised obese, drug dependent and mentally unstable children.  To my own shame I look at my life and see the times that God has preserved me and I forget and fall back into the sin that put me in danger in the first place.  There is only one place where we as a nation, a community, as individuals can be safe from the evil of this world, when we submit and serve ADONAI and trust in the sacrifice of Yeshua our Messiah.  Lord again forgive us in this age and circumcise our hearts to accept Your Word.  Lord forgive me for my failings and with Your indwelling Ruach remove them from me.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen. 

The Earth itself is witness

Y’hoshua (Joshua) 24:25-28

So Y’hoshua made a covenant with the people that day, laying down for them laws and rulings there in Sh’khem. Y’hoshua wrote these words in the book of the Torah of God. Then he took a big stone and set it up there under the oak next to the sanctuary of ADONAI. Y’hoshua said to all the people, “See, this stone will be a witness against us; because it has heard all the words of ADONAI which he said to us; therefore it will be a witness against you, in case you deny your God.” Then Y’hoshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

God makes covenant with the land and the people, so we must be good stewards of the land or it will cry out to ADONAI as witness against us.  Time and again stones are raised and set not just to remind us of what has happened but to bear witness against us if we forget just as Y’hoshua raised this stone in Sh’khem.  I believe America, among other nations in the world, have forgotten who God is and now the land rebels against us to remind us there is only one God, ADONAI T’ZVAOT, the Lord of Host and if we don’t turn from our sinful ways we will be called into account just as Kayin was when the ground cried out to ADONAI for the blood spilled upon it.  Lord all I can say is forgive us and circumcise our hearts, so we go and sin no more.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

United

Y’hoshua (Joshua) 22:21-19

Then the descendants of Re’uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M’nasheh answered the leaders of the thousands of Isra’el: “The Mighty One, God, is ADONAI! He knows, and Isra’el will know—if we acted in rebellion or treachery against ADONAI, don’t vindicate us today! We haven’t built an altar in order to turn away from following ADONAI or to offer on it burnt offerings, grain offerings or sacrifices as peace offerings. If we have, let ADONAI himself require us to atone for it. Rather, we did this out of anxiety, because we thought, ‘Sometime in the future, your descendants might say to our descendants, “You don’t have anything to do with ADONAI, the God of Isra’el, because ADONAI made the Yarden the border between us and you, so you descendants of Re’uven and Gad have no share in ADONAI.” ‘In this way your descendants could make our descendants stop fearing ADONAI. So we said, ‘Let us now make preparations and build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you, and between our generations who will come after us, so that we may perform the service for ADONAI in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and peace offerings—so that your descendants will not say to our descendants at some future time, “You have no share in ADONAI.”‘ For this reason we said, ‘When they accuse us or future generations in this way, we will say, “Look! Here is a replica of the altar of ADONAI which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.”‘ Far be it from us that we should rebel against ADONAI and turn away today from following ADONAI by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings or sacrifices other than the altar of ADONAI our God which stands in front of his tabernacle!”

It should be this way for all the people who trust in ADONAI through the sacrifice of Yeshua.  There should be an altar in our hearts that marks us as being part of the body so that no one is excluded over earthly boundaries.  Lord for whatever reasons division has infested into Your bride, let us look to the altars of our hearts and be reminded just like the 10 tribes and Pinchas that we are to be united unto You.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Put in the Work

1 Corinthians 9:27

27 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.

I find the most difficult task in showing my trust in God is denying myself. I am lazy and somewhat self-centered, and I have to overcome this everyday so as to stand forth faithfully for Adonai. The first tool was studying God’s Word every day, the next setting time aside for prayer. God is calling us to be in a relationship with Him, I pray all will take time to meet Him. Lord let us all hear Your voice especially now in this time of upheaval. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

There is only one God

1 Corinthians 8:5-6

For even if there are so-called “gods,” either in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are “gods” and “lords” galore— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom were created all things and through whom we have our being.

For all the things people place in front of their worship of ADONAI there is still simply one truth, there is only one God and there is only one Lord in our lives, Yeshua. We can worship food, sex, money, or be given over to complete selfishness and worship ourselves, it does nothing to change the fact that God is God and there is no other. Lord let me always be focused on You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Wait upon the Lord

Y’hoshua (Joshua) 14:6-12

The descendants of Y’hudah approached Y’hoshua in Gilgal, and Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi said to him, “You know what ADONAI told Moshe the man of God about me and you in Kadesh-Barnea. I was forty years old when Moshe the servant of ADONAI sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to reconnoiter the land, and I brought back to him an honest report. My brothers who went up with me discouraged the people, but I followed ADONAI my God completely. On that day Moshe swore, ‘Surely the land where your foot has been will be the inheritance for you and your descendants forever, because you have followed ADONAI my God completely.’ Now, look: ADONAI has kept me alive these forty-five years, as he said he would, from the time ADONAI said this to Moshe, when Isra’el was going through the desert. Today I am eighty-five years old, but I am as strong today as on the day Moshe sent me—I’m as strong now as I was then, whether for war or simply for going here and there. Therefore, give me this hill, the one ADONAI spoke about on that day; for on that day you heard how the ‘Anakim were there with great, fortified cities; perhaps ADONAI will be with me, and I will drive them away, as ADONAI said.”

Kalev waited 45 years to receive the land that was promised to him by ADONAI through the words of Moshe.  Here was a man who was focused on what God called him to do and could wait upon the Lord until God was ready to release the blessing.  Reading this all I can think about is how many blessings I have failed to receive because I was impatient and could not wait.  Lord forgive me for my short attention span and creating Ishmaels in my life when I could not wait on You.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.