How to live with each other

Romans 12:9-18

Don’t let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from what is evil, and cling to what is good. Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect. Don’t be lazy when hard work is needed, but serve the Lord with spiritual fervor. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in your troubles, and continue steadfastly in prayer. Share what you have with God’s people, and practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you—bless them, don’t curse them! Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be sensitive to each other’s needs—don’t think yourselves better than others, but make humble people your friends. Don’t be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but try to do what everyone regards as good. If possible, and to the extent that it depends on you, live in peace with all people.

Sha’ul tells us how we are to live as believers, first and foremost is to be honest about our love for our fellow man and not just faking it. Stand by fellow believers and support them, be respectful of all people. As part of that being respectful bless those people who seek to tear you down in some way, that is a mark of a follower of Yeshua. Don’t give evil for evil because that just makes us like everyone else in the world without God, but do always what is right by the Word that Adonai has given us. Abba help me to be this man. You know I can be quick to anger if offended and even quicker if anyone offends someone I love. Let me be that steady hand that delivers Your Word instead of my personal vengeance. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Dirt from work

Mishlei (Proverbs) 14:4

Where there are no oxen, the stalls are clean;

but much is produced by the strength of an ox.

It may be one thing to look all nice and pretty, getting dressed up for a congregational meeting, but if you are not doing the work, throwing all your strength and being into serving God, you are just an empty stall.  Its by our trust in ADONAI and accepting our part in the sacrifice of Yeshua that we are saved but it is by the work we put in for the Kingdom that we are known and can witness to the world.  Lord let the life I live be worthy of the work You have called me to do.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Do not be the lazy one

Mishlei (Proverbs) 10:26

Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes
is a lazy person to his employer.

I have had the misfortune to have recently lived out this proverb. One of the men I worked with decided it was better for everyone else to do his work than to pull his own weight on the job. His manipulations provided a bad example to the younger worker and increased the stress and anxiety of myself and the other older workers. It is the same in the body of believers, the work is there but if someone decides not to jump in and help it can wear away at a congregation. Leadership exhaustion is rampant in the body because no one wants to be the one to support the leader and do some of the work that needs to be done. This leads to new believers seeing the lazy believer and thinking that is all they need to do while adding to the task that older believers are already doing. It will eventually break a congregation. While taking out the trash after a fellowship may not seem glamorous, doing that work well leads to trust and with it greater and better things to work at and achieve in building the community of God. Lord thank You for giving us work to do for You so that we can see the triumph of You kingdom both in our life and in this world. Amen.

Choose the discipline of Wisdom

Mishlei (Proverbs) 9:7-12

“He who corrects a scoffer only gets insulted;

reproving a wicked man becomes his blemish.

If you reprove a scoffer, he will hate you;

if you reprove a wise man, he will love you.

Give to a wise man, and he grows still wiser;

teach a righteous man, and he will learn still more.

The fear of ADONAI is the beginning of wisdom,

and knowledge of holy ones is understanding.

For with me, your days will be increased;

years will be added to your life.

If you are wise, your wisdom helps you;

but if you scoff, you bear the consequences alone.”

There are only two choices when receiving discipline.  You can reject it and continue in your error or you can accept it and improve your lot in life.  It really is that simple when we put our trust in ADONAI and accept the sacrifice of Yeshua then we submit ourselves to God’s discipline and our lives improve to the point that we will live forever with Him.  Yet if one fails to trust and continues to act like a wild ass in the wilderness doing only what it sees fit, it will die in that wilderness and be isolated in darkness forever.  ADONAI Thank You for giving us wisdom the first of all Your creations so that we can turn our hearts to You.  Let me follow every correction and grow in this life so I may serve You forever.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

The price of adultery

Mishlei (Proverbs) 6:32-35

He who commits adultery lacks sense;
he who does it destroys himself.
He will get nothing but blows and contempt,
and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
For jealousy drives a man into a rage;
he will show no mercy when he takes revenge;
he will not accept compensation;
he’ll refuse every bribe, no matter how large.

Anyone who commits adultery will destroy both families involved. The betrayal of trust shatters the very core of relationships that can almost never be mended. God, as Moshe wrote repeatedly in the Torah, is a jealous God, so is it not logical that any person or thing that would draw His bride away from Him ADONAI would show no mercy for. That in that day even if people say “’Lord, Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we expel demons in your name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in your name?’” Yeshua will answer “’I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’” because God is jealous for us and He will show no mercy or accept compensation or bribe for anyone who would cause His bride to turn away from Him. Yet there is mercy for anyone who gives up their adulterous relationship with sin and accepts the sacrifice of Yeshua, then on that trust of reconciliation that God has given us we can be made whole again with Him. Lord thank You for Your salvation, amen.

Consequence of Stupid

Mishlei (Proverbs) 1:23-33

“Repent when I reprove—

I will pour out my spirit to you,

I will make my words known to you.

Because you refused when I called,

and no one paid attention when I put out my hand,

but instead you neglected my counsel

and would not accept my reproof;

I, in turn, will laugh at your distress,

and mock when terror comes over you—

yes, when terror overtakes you like a storm

and your disaster approaches like a whirlwind,

when distress and trouble assail you.

Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;

they will seek me earnestly, but they won’t find me.

Because they hated knowledge

and did not choose the fear of ADONAI,

they refused my counsel

and despised my reproof.

So they will bear the consequences of their own way

and be overfilled with their own schemes.

For the aimless wandering of the thoughtless will kill them,

and the smug overconfidence of fools will destroy them;

but those who pay attention to me will live securely,

untroubled by fear of misfortune.”

This is America and truly the world right now. Too many of our brothers and sisters have ignored the fear of ADONAI and in their own selfish ignorance have brought the anger of God upon themselves. Even as wildfires erupt, droughts continue, terrorists’ actions happen, and racial divides expand people selfishly cry out “God where are you” but have no repentance in their hearts so He ignores their cries. Still for those of us who trust fully in His Word and the sacrifice that Yeshua made, we will endure and be light to those around us. Lord let me be a Goshen in the chaos I see around me so that all may find rest and comfort in You. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Be the reason

M’lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 11:11-13

So ADONAI said to Shlomo, “Since this is what has been in your mind, and you haven’t kept my covenant and my regulations which I ordered you to obey, I will tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. However, for David your father’s sake I won’t do it while you are alive, but I will tear it away from your son. Even then, I won’t tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Yerushalayim, which I have chosen.”

David was a man after God’s own heart and as ADONAI tells Shlomo in his sin it is his father’s righteousness that will preserve him in this dark time. As believers we may not lead someone to trust in God but in their knowing of us and our actions for them, they may be preserved until such time that they can understand God’s love and accept Yeshua’s sacrifice in trust, for ADONAI has promised that He would give grace to the thousandth generation of those that keep His mitzvahs and trust in Him. Lord let my trust in You be a blessing to all that You have given me in my life. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

True Union

Divrei-HaYamim Bet (2 Chronicles) 8:11

Shlomo brought up Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David to the house he had built for her; because he said, “No wife of mine is going to live in the house of David king of Isra’el, since the [buildings] where the ark of ADONAI has been are holy.”

Division inside a marriage is the beginning of destruction.  While I am sure that King Shlomo looked at his marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter as a binding treaty and I believe that it was, it was also a binding covenant of marriage where two different people joined together to become one, whole, unified in purpose.  By keeping his wife from the supernatural holy experiences and sacrifices King Shlomo kept he allowed the division in this marriage to pull him to the idolatrous worship of false gods, and eventual destruction of his kingdom.  When we as believers commit to the covenant of marriage, we must also commit ourselves and our partners to the holiness of our trust in God so that the two parts can truly be unified into one family.  Only then can we see the peace that ADONAI intended for us.  Lord let me be wise in supporting my wife in our trust in You.  Let me encourage her relationship with You as she encourages me.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Only by Trust

Romans 4:19-22

His trust did not waver when he considered his own body—which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old—or when he considered that Sarah’s womb was dead too. He did not by lack of trust decide against God’s promises. On the contrary, by trust he was given power as he gave glory to God, for he was fully convinced that what God had promised he could also accomplish. This is why it was credited to his account as righteousness.

If we truly trust like Avraham, then anything ADONAI puts before us to accomplish He also provides all that we need to accomplish it.  There is nothing that God asks us to do that we cannot do because God in His power and glory as the Good Father will not give us something that is not achievable as long as we trust in Him.  And it is in that trust and the actions that follow because of that trust that we can demonstrate the righteousness that ADONAI has given us just as Avraham did.  Lord let me be bold with my trust in You.  Let it shine brightly and give no doubt to who is the Lord of my life. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

It is by the blood

Romans 3:25-26

God put Yeshua forward as the kapparah for sin through his faithfulness in respect to his bloody sacrificial death. This vindicated God’s righteousness; because, in his forbearance, he had passed over [with neither punishment nor remission] the sins people had committed in the past; and it vindicates his righteousness in the present age by showing that he is righteous himself and is also the one who makes people righteous on the ground of Yeshua’s faithfulness.

Just as that dark night so many years ago in Egypt, when we as believers through our trust in ADONAI put the blood of Yeshua’s sacrifice on the doorpost of our hearts, that is when the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of the Lord can pass over the threshold of our being and we become redeemed to Him. It is the blood of Yeshua that covers our sins and sanctifies us just as it is recorded over and over again in Torah and the prophets that blood consecrates us for service to ADONAI. Lord I plead the blood of Yeshua over myself, for in my foolishness I only have loss without You. Lord remove my sin and dwell within me so that I might bear witness to Your salvation. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.