Live with abandon!

Sh’mu’el Bet (2 Samuel) 6:20-22

When David returned to bless his household, Mikhal the daughter of Sha’ul came out to meet him and said, “Such honor the king of Isra’el earned for himself today—exposing himself before his servants’ slave-girls like some vulgar exhibitionist!” David answered Mikhal, “In the presence of ADONAI—who chose me over your father and over everyone in his family to make me chief over ADONAI’s people, over Isra’el—I will celebrate in the presence of ADONAI! I will make myself still more contemptible than that, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes, but those slave-girls you mentioned will honor me!”

I must be like David worshiping with every fiber of my being and without regard to what others might think. It is only when I let go of everything else and focus exclusively on praising ADONAI that I can enter into His presence and be blessed, just like David when he answered his wife that it was because he abandoned everything for praising ADONAI that he would honored by those around him. Lord let my witness be as strong as David’s, I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

We are awesomely made!

Tehillim (Psalm) 139:13-14

For you fashioned my inmost being,

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I thank you because I am awesomely made,

wonderfully; your works are wonders—

I know this very well.

If the world would only accept that each one of us were awesomely and wonderfully made for a purpose in ADONAI’s kingdom, the earth would be a much more peaceful place.  In forgetting how ADONAI has made us we struggle and strive to dominate one another to fill the void in our spirit when God departs from us.  Lord let me never forget You are the creator of all things and in our foolishness as we abuse the sovereignty You have given us we malign Your creation.  Forgive us Lord for our failure.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

It is our hearts!

Mattityahu (Matthew) 15:15-20

Kefa said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” So he said, “Don’t you understand even now? Don’t you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine? But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders…. These are what really make a person unclean, but eating without doing n’tilat-yadayim does not make a person unclean.”

As Yeshua’s explains to Kefa and the rest of the talmidim, it is not the number of services we attend, it is not the amount of money we put in the offering, but it is the condition of our hearts that determine our salvation.  ADONAI himself through Yirmeyahu says “I, ADONAI, search the heart; I test inner motivations; in order to give to everyone what his actions and conduct deserve.”(17:10).  So like Sha’ul wrote to the Corinthians we are nothing more that blaring brass or a cymbal clanging, bringing chaos around us when we don’t have the love of ADONAI in our hearts.  It is when we are in that state of self-delusion that we begin to make rules that have no bearing on trusting ADONAI whatsoever just like the Parush of Yeshua’s time.  ADONAI come into the tabernacle of my heart and fill it so that no matter what I do it points the way to life in You.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Don’t loose focus

Mattityahu (Matthew) 14:24-31

But at once Yeshua spoke to them. “Courage,” he said, “it is I. Stop being afraid.” Then Kefa called to him, “Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come!” he said. So Kefa got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Yeshua. But when he saw the wind, he became afraid; and as he began to sink, he yelled, “Lord! Save me!” Yeshua immediately stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “Such little trust! Why did you doubt?”

Wherever the Lord is in our life, there is our courage and the strength to not be afraid.  When we hold on to him, we can do things like Kefa that many would think is impossible.  But when we are distracted and loose our focus on God we will sink into maelstrom of our own making.  Lord never let me miss the waypoints on this narrow path that You are leading me.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Keep strongly rooted

Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:24-30

Yeshua put before them another parable.” The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, then went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Then do you want us to go and pull them up?’ But he said, ‘No, because if you pull up the weeds, you might uproot some of the wheat at the same time. Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest-time I will tell the reapers to collect the weeds first and tie them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into my barn.'”

Because ADONAI in his wisdom gave each of us sovereignty in this life we as believers are forced to tolerate wicked people around us.  This isn’t so their wickedness can infect us but so that our trust will become even more rooted in the rock of our salvation ADONAI through the blood of Yeshua.  It is only this trust that will give us the tap root to hold us to His Word.  Lord feed me so I have the good fruit to share and take the wind out of the weeds around me who despise Your name.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

It is a condition of the heart

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.

Small choices open doors to big events

Sh’mu’el Alef (1 Samuel) 29:6-11

So Akhish summoned David and said to him, “As ADONAI lives, you have been upright; and I myself would be more than pleased to have you go on campaign with me; because I haven’t found anything wrong with you between the day you arrived and now. However, the chiefs don’t trust you. Therefore, now, go on back; and go in peace, so as not to do what appears bad to the chiefs of the P’lishtim. David said to Akhish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant during the time I’ve been with you that disqualifies me from going and fighting against the enemies of my lord the king?” Akhish answered David, “I know that you are as good, from my point of view, as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the chiefs of the P’lishtim have said, ‘He is not to go up with us to the battlefield.’ So get up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you; and as soon as you are up and it gets light, leave.” David got up early in the morning, he and his men, to leave and go back into the land of the P’lishtim; while the P’lishtim continued up to Yizre’el.

This small seeming non incident did two things, it preserved David and his men from fighting with their countrymen and it put them in position to rescue all their families who were being raided by the ‘Amaleki who Sha’ul had failed to completely destroy.  We never know what door will open to us through a small event such as the will of people around us but as people who trust fully in ADONAI like David, we know every event will lead to proclaiming God’s glory in our lives.  Lord let me be like David and serve You with my whole heart mind and soul, taking advantage of the small things to praise You so that I can achieve the big this that bring glory to You.  I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

Shemar

Telhillim (Psalm) 141:3-4

Set a guard, ADONAI, over my mouth;
keep watch at the door of my lips.
Don’t let my heart turn to anything evil
or allow me to act wickedly
with men who are evildoers;
keep me from eating their delicacies.

It is so easy to run with the crowd. Just a little slip of the lip, joining in on some juicy gossip, you know not really saying anything but just listening for friendship’s sake. But soon that passive acceptance of sin turns into active participation and as a believer our testimony is damaged by our weakness. Only by being like David and communing with ADONAI everyday can we hold ourselves to the standard God sets for us through the Ruach HaKodesh. Lord let me look at the world through Your eyes and seal my lips so that I only speak words of encouragement to others so they may know Your salvation through Yeshua. I ask this in Yeshua’s name, amen.

In the shadow of His wings

Tehillim (Psalms) 63:8-9

For you have been my help;

in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;

my heart clings to you;

your right hand supports me.

Life is not easy, sometimes it is even hard but as long as we as believers are trusting and faithful in our worship of ADONAI, He is there to support us through the Ruach HaKodesh. It is by following the narrow path that we stay in the shadow of His wings and in God’s blessings even in the hardest of times, but when we remove ourselves from His blessings and we selfishly put ourselves before God we find ourselves in a world that is intolerable and self-destructive. Like David I choose to stay under the wings of God for even in the most difficult of times I can still rejoice with the Creator of all things. Lord thank You for all that you have done and will do for me in my life. Praise Your Holy Name, amen.

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Keep to the Word

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.