Failing ADONAI for the old ways

Iyov (Job) 22:15-17

“Are you going to keep to the old way,

the one the wicked have trodden,

the ones snatched away before their time,

whose foundations a flood swept away?

They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!

What can Shaddai do to us?’

What a word for today!  As the world sets aside the worship of ADONAI and falls back to the evil traditions coming out of the pagan worship of Celts.  4 billion dollars spent on candy alone in America so far, that is on candy, something that while nice has no intrinsic value.  Had that money been directed by a Godly hand, there would be no hunger in the United States, or useless deaths in Africa because children could have received the health care they need through adulthood.  No, we as believers fail when we keep going back to the old way, the wide road of the wicked that brought the flood in Noach’s time.  Abba I am but a sheep, dumb and in need of careful herding.  Keep me on Your path and take me to Your pastures so I will never have to be afraid.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

The Sovereignty of ADONAI

Mark 5:5-10

Seeing Yeshua from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him and screamed at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Yeshua, Son of God Ha’Elyon? I implore you in God’s name! Don’t torture me!” For Yeshua had already begun saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of this man!” Yeshua asked him, “What’s your name?” “My name is Legion,” he answered, “there are so many of us”; and he kept begging Yeshua not to send them out of that region.

Two things to note in this interaction with Yeshua. First all things are subject to Him, even though the spirits are in rebellion against God’s authority they cannot help but recognize and submit themselves before Yeshua by causing the possessed man to fall to his knees. Second, they are confined to an area as defined by Yeshua Himself, having no power or authority when confronted with His kingship in all things. As believers we will suffer through times when it feels like the devil himself is just wearing us away until nothing is left, yet it is our trust in the salvation of Yeshua that removes evil from our presence and gives us the clean robes and right mind to witness to others our rescue. Knowing that ADONAI is with us, who can stand against us! Lord let my witness be like the man of the Gerasene giving testimony to all around me of the salvation You have given me. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Two things

Mark 4:33-34

With many parables like these he spoke the message to them, to the extent that they were capable of hearing it. He did not say a thing to them without using a parable; when he was alone with his own talmidim he explained everything to them.

Two things I see here, first ADONAI never gives us more than we can understand in any one moment.  And second, we must take time alone with God so His spirit can explain everything to us, without which we will just fail leaning on our own understanding.  Lord, thank You for the time You have given me to spend with You.  Continue to focus me on Your will in this world.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Where is the mercy, justice and forgiveness

Iyov (Job) 19:13-14

“He has made my brothers keep their distance,
those who know me are wholly estranged from me,
my kinsfolk have failed me,
and my close friends have forgotten me.

One of the shames we share in the body of believers is the fact that we eat our own. How often do we as a group confront our brothers and sisters in private and help them back to their trust in ADONAI? Or is it more likely that we pillory them and brand them with a scarlet letter without trying to understand, just like Iyov’s friends, what God is doing in their lives. The worldly have disdain for the body of believers because we forget to use mercy, justice and forgiveness when dealing with our own, let alone someone who is just coming to understand God for the first time. Yeshua treated all with love and respect, He forgave the sin that brought corruption into the person’s life and told them to go and sin no more accepting them as one of His sheep from that moment on. That is the example we are to follow as we deal with our brothers and sisters. Lord let me be worthy of serving You. Keep me from gossip and backbiting and let me do all I can to put Your Word first in my life. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

The refining in the storm

Acts 27:13-25

When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they had their goal within grasp; so they raised the anchor and started coasting by Crete close to shore. But before long there struck us from land a full gale from the northeast, the kind they call an Evrakilon. The ship was caught up and unable to face the wind, so we gave way to it and were driven along.
As we passed into the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with strenuous effort to get control of the lifeboat. They hoisted it aboard, then fastened cables tightly around the ship itself to reinforce it. Fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the topsails and thus continued drifting. But because we were fighting such heavy weather, the next day they began to jettison non-essentials; and the third day, they threw the ship’s sailing equipment overboard with their own hands. For many days neither the sun nor the stars appeared, while the storm continued to rage, until gradually all hope of survival vanished.
It was then, when they had gone a long time without eating, that Sha’ul stood up in front of them and said, “You should have listened to me and not set out from Crete; if you had, you would have escaped this disastrous loss. But now, my advice to you is to take heart; because not one of you will lose his life—only the ship will be lost. For this very night, there stood next to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Sha’ul! you have to stand before the Emperor. Look! God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ So, men, take heart! For I trust God and believe that what I have been told will come true.

When we make decisions outside the will of God in our lives, we place ourselves in harm’s way of the storms that will come of it just like the crew of the Alexandrian vessel that Sha’ul was placed upon. At first all may seem well out from ADONAI’s protective hedge, but then things worsen, and we get rid of the unimportant things that are convenient but not necessary just as the crew jettisoned the non-essentials. Still the storm rages on and we winnow away thing that we need battling to justify our decision to remain outside of God’s will just as the crew rid themselves of the sailing equipment and ran drifting before the winds and rain. Finally at last when everything is cast away and there is nowhere else to turn do we return to God and beg his forgiveness just to survive one more day, almost always because someone is standing in the gap for us and praying just as Sha’ul did for the people on the ship. As believers we must heed the warnings and directions ADONAI gives us to live our lives and avoid such a storm of trouble in our lives like this. Dear Lord, lead me early and often so I do not stray from Your direction. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

God conquers despair

Iyov (Job) 17:13-15

“If I hope for Sh’ol to be my house;

if I spread my couch in the dark;

if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’

and to worms, ‘You are my mother and sister,’

then where is my hope?

And that hope of mine, who will see it?

I have and may again suffer from depression. Just as Iyov is suffering in this passage. He has lost wealth, status, and most of all family and can see no possible end or recourse save death. But yet Iyov realizes that if death is all he can hope for then he is denying the very power of God, for how can anyone else see his hope in ADONAI if he is dead and in the grave. I have stood on the edge of that pit and looked in it as well and if it was not for the good teaching of my parents and pastors and my rabbi, all people God placed in my life at that time to support me, I may have well stepped in it. But then who would know of my hope in ADONAI that we all may one day worship at His feet in never ending joy. Thank You ADONAI for Your salvation in Yeshua, and Your indwelling in the Ruach. Lord may You always shield me in Your hand. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Seek Yeshua

Iyov (Job) 16:18-22

“Earth, don’t cover my blood;

don’t let my cry rest [without being answered].

Even now, my witness is in heaven;

my advocate is there on high.

With friends like these as intercessors,

my eyes pour out tears to God,

that he would arbitrate between a man and God,

just as one does for his fellow human being.

For I have but few years left

before I leave on the road of no return.

Even before the Jewish nation was established through the covenant between ADONAI and Avraham, Iyov knew the Mashiach and knew to call on him as the arbitrator for his sin instead of relying on the consolations of his “friends”.  If Iyov could know Yeshua and thus God before salvation was fully revealed to mankind, how can anyone have the excuse they can’t find God.  It is the condition of our hearts when we search for ADONAI that will determine if we find Him, nothing else, even if the people around us in their good nature only add to the confusion.  Lord, like Iyov, let me stay laser focused on Your Word and Your will for the chaos around me is deafening on my own.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Small things matter

Acts 19:1-7

While Apollos was in Corinth, Sha’ul completed his travels through the inland country and arrived at Ephesus, where he found a few talmidim. He asked them, “Did you receive the Ruach HaKodesh when you came to trust?” “No,” they said to him, “we have never even heard that there is such a thing as the Ruach HaKodesh.” “In that case,” he said, “into what were you immersed?” “The immersion of Yochanan,” they answered. Sha’ul said, “Yochanan practiced an immersion in connection with turning from sin to God; but he told the people to put their trust in the one who would come after him, that is, in Yeshua.” On hearing this, they were immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua; and when Sha’ul placed his hands on them, the Ruach HaKodesh came upon them; so that they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. In all, there were about twelve of these men.

Sha’ul, the founder of congregations and writer of letters that fill the Brit Hadasha, took time to even teach these few people.  A foundation that one day would bring riots to Ephesus, but in this moment just a meeting between a few men.  This is how we are to live as believers, taking advantage of even the small moments to share God’s Word with others, for none of us know if the seed of trust in ADONAI we are given to plant will grow into that might branch of faith that will move mountains.  Lord let me be wise enough and patient enough to share Your word at every opportunity.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Avoid useless babbling

Acts 17:18-21

Also a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers started meeting with him. Some asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others, because he proclaimed the Good News about Yeshua and the resurrection, said, “He sounds like a propagandist for foreign gods.” They took and brought him before the High Council, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? Some of the things we are hearing from you strike us as strange, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners living there used to spend their spare time talking or hearing about the latest intellectual fads.)

As Shlomo wrote “there is nothing new under the sun.”  The Messiah had come to earth as foretold by all the prophets and still people would rather argue about their own selfish thoughts on how to live a “good” life instead of seeking the will of ADONAI.  Today we are bombarded with so much information we almost don’t have time to check the source and many are duped into a self-centered sinful focus of mind.  Sha’ul’s teaching rocked the cities and changed the focus of much of the “known” world back to ADONAI but only if we apply the teachings of the Word from Genisis to Yochanan’s Revelation.  Lord in this world of almost no attention and instant gratification, let me pause and seek Your will and Your Word for my life.  Strengthen me for the days to come because in my own limited vision I see only hardship.  Bless those You have put in my life to encourage me.  I ask all this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Context, context, context

Acts 16:1-3

Sha’ul came down to Derbe and went on to Lystra, where there lived a talmid named Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish woman who had come to trust, and a Greek father. All the brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy. Sha’ul wanted Timothy to accompany him; so he took him and did a b’rit-milah, because of the Jews living in those areas; for they all knew that his father had been a Greek.

This is one of the events in Acts that has been difficult for me to understand.  Why, after going all the way to Yerushalayim to defend new gentile converts from having to be circumcised, did Sha’ul have Timothy circumcised? Yet when I read Sha’ul’s letters especially to the Romans and Corinthians I can see that we as believers must never lord over one another and assist those with weaker trust so that trust can mature into something supernaturally fantastic.  How can I or anyone understand Sha’ul’s actions recorded in Acts without reading his thoughts in his letters to the congregations he founded.  We as believers cannot take actions out of context but must find the driving force behind them.  Many these days like to quip from the Word of God without taking the time to understand the WHOLE Word of God, adding instead their own man-made opinions to fill in for their lack of understanding.  It is only when we study the Word in context, including to whom it was delivered and when, can we truly receive it’s liberating power.  Lord, let me continue seeking in Your Word and Your Word only.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.