The Desert Pt. 1

Tags

Enslaved, Faith, Israelite wandering, Sinai, The Desert

When The Israelite forefathers were in slavery, under the Egyptian’s rule, Yaweh was looking to release them from bondage.  Success.  Through Moses, the Israelites were manutmitted.  The Israelits had spent a long time subject to the cultural influence of Pharaoh and his religious, occultic system of living.  The pagan ways were woven into them pretty severely. The Israelites still remembered their God, Yaweh, but because of the Egyptian captivity the Israelites were heavily influenced by paganism and occultic ways and worship.

Physically, our Israelite forefathers were no longer enslaved.  Mentally, emotionally and spiritually though, there was still a lot of work to be done to bring them out of bondage.  God shows us that the battle against their spiritual bondage wasonly just beginning after the red sea crossing by causing them to wander in a small desert for 40 years.  Getingt them from point A to point B would have taken all of a few weeks at the most if they had walked straight there.

Reading the saga of The Israelite movement from Egyptian captivity, to wandering in the desert, and then on to promised land, a believer will find a slew of events where God challenged the belief system the Israelites had held, gave the people a chance to repent once He showed the Israelites their fault, and then destroyed those refusing to be of faith.  That order took place more than once in the history of our spiritual ancestors The Israelites.

Some people think that God’s wrath is not as existent as it use to be, if at all.  You see, just like with our Israelite forefathers, God’s wrath still does exist today, but God does not come right out and tell us that it is His wrath unless we are really looking for Him.

<God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke unto the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days has spoken unto us by His Son.>  You see Jesus, being The Heir of All Things and The Creator of The Worlds has the power to speak to us today in many ways.  His wrath is poured out on America everyday through various diseases, family feud’s, acts of terrorism, natural disasters and mental illness.  It is hard to accept that God’s wrath is the awful things that happen around us because it forces us to admit that God is punishing us.  Admitting God is punishing us is admitting fault, and admitting fault is the first step to living in freedom.  Satan does not want you to live in freedom.

Answer God’s call, give Him your life, and watch the wrath slowly begin to be replaced with peace, long suffering, joy and wisdom.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that an alter call or giving your life to a church is going to save you.  That won’t work.  Man up and actually whole heartedly give Him your life.  All of it.

Parallels: Adam and Abram

Tags

Abraham, Abram, adam, Beguiled, Creation, eve, Faith, Genesis, Sarai, scripture, Serpent, Tenach, The Fall, The First Adam, The Nature of The Fall, The Second Adam, The Word, The world, world

In Genesis we learn about woman’s weaknesses, and man’s weaknesses.  Women have a tenancy to get tricked into doing things they knew, just a few seconds ago, are not good.  Men tend to falter and sit back, doing nothing, when the time is right for them to crack the whip and drive the peddler’s out of God’s house.

Adam was not off in some far corner of the Garden while Satan was tinkering with Eve’s mind.  Adam and Eve were shoulder to shoulder while Eve was being tricked into eating the fruit.  That is how it reads: They were together.

Evil unfolded in a two step process for Adam. While evil had his woman by the mind, blossoming a maelstrom of death that caused her judgement to be clouded enough to cause her to take a bite out of the fruit that was not for her, he said nothing.  She was beguiled.  She was under the influence of Satan when it happened to her.  She did not know that what she was doing was wrong.

Adam had his first chance to deliver on being courageous for God and his wife right before Eve took a bite of the fruit.  Delivering on courage would have looked like this: “Eve! What are you doing!  That is not right, honey, do not under any circumstance eat that fruit.”  While saying this Adam could have been fishing the snake out of the tree with a stick.  Then, smashing the snake repeatedly with his heel would have been quite appropriate.  Later, smacking the fruit out of Eve’s hand and calling out to God, “Father, Father, I am in trouble, please help.  Please!”  Something along those lines would have been preferable to the reality of what happened.

From that point, if Eve decided to take a bite anyway, after being warned, she would have been in the wrong, and since Adam warned her, he would have been in the right.  You cannot force anybody to do right, but you can warn them and continue to support their good qualities {Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.}  That does not say do not warn sinners.  Just do not stubbornly stand in their way is all.

Adam’s second chance to deliver was on faith and sacrifice and would have been after his wife had eaten the fruit.  When she turned to him, the silent sinner at this point, and commanded him to take a bite: “Take, eat.”  Adam chose His wife, and cowardice over God.  The fall.  A simple no, or even just “the look,” while turning and walking away to tell God what had happened would have changed everything.

 

Now we have Abraham.  Abraham is always being made the butt of jokes by most pastors in order to play the “I am on your wife’s side” card while standing behind the podium.  It is a tactic that works, but most pastors lack understanding because their judgement is being clouded by the love of money or some other evil thing.  They mean well, but our front line soldiers (pastors) are constantly being hit hardest when it comes to Satan beguiling people.

Abraham might as well have chained and shackled His wife, put her on a cart made out of gold and wheeled her into Pharaoh’s courts according to the way church makes the story sound.  That is not what happened at all, brothers, sisters and beloved pastors.

Abraham acted in faith.  Not to mention, he never lied.  The Good Book encourages us to withhold information from the enemy, which is exactly what Abraham did.  How dare sny of us encourage the blood bought family to spill the beans before the very people who would have them suffer for the sake of evil and selfishness.  Shame shame.

Abraham simply told Pharaoh that his wife was his sister and instructed Sarai to agree.  This, almost certainly, was an act that God not only condoned, but insisted on.  Abraham didn’t shackle, gag, and hand her over to the wolves.  Pharaoh stole Abraham’s wife from him.  Pharaoh took her.  Abraham DID NOT “hand her over.”

I know this is contrary to what most of us have been taught, but just hold on for a moment and I promise you the truth will increase your understanding of God and aid in your relationship to/with Him.  Let’s ask why.  Why would God insist on such a thing?  God did not want Abraham to fight against Pharaoh through fleshly means.  God had helped Abraham to fight in that way before.  Not this time though.  This time, Elohim needed Abraham to be obedient in order for God to show Pharaoh, a powerful occultist, that God is more powerful than even sorcery and magik.  Think about it.  Pharaoh lived in the shroud of heavy occultism.  Pharaoh was at the center of many layers of secrecy and power.  This was brought to light only thousands of years after the fall of Egypt.  There weer human sacrifices, and sorcerers and witches and warlocks that performed powerful magikal incantations.  It was going to take a lot more than just a few righteous words to prove to a man like Pharaoh how powerful God truly is, without showing Pharaoh God’s face and destroying him in the process.  Through Abraham’s obedient nature, God showered Pharaoh in His wrath so that Pharaoh would understand God was God, not him.

Abraham was blessed richly for His obedience to God, and Sarai was blessed richly for her obedience to Abraham.  They both learned that the most important things in life are to always have everything you have on the table for God to use as he sees fit.

In the end, every on of you preachers gets up there and plays that card, you are spitting in the face of Abraham, Your Savior’s greatest grandfather, a friend of YHVH and you are leading your flock astray, ever so slightly.  Tell Him you are willing to suffer any repercussions, dishonor, or hardship to be a true servant to Him.  Without that, you will not know grace, and you will continue to live under mercy while the rest of us carry you around as you refuse to mature.  The third commandment is not just for people who use the name of Jesus in times of stress.  It is for people who use His name vainly.  That commandment’s bulls eye is squarely on the back of anyone who uses My Father’s name for their own fleshly wants and desires.

Saturday Sabbath is for Weird People

Tags

7th Day, Constantine, First Day, Hebrew Roots, Jewish, Judaism, Last Day, Liccentius, Maxentius, Messianic, Rest, Sabbath, Saturday, Sunday, the truth

In Genesis 2:1 we learn that when God created a week, He placed a gift at the end of the week.  On the seventh day, God rested, and He sanctified and blessed that day for us.  He made a day where the very nature of the day is to help us rest.

That is why it is important to practice not just a day of rest, but to line up our day of rest with “the day of rest.”

Can We Trust This?  What about The New Covenant?

Now that we understand why we rest on a specific day, here is proof that He loves us:  in Exodus 20:8 He commands us to practice the day of rest.  Why is this love?  It took from Genesis 2 until Exodus 8 for it to go from an optional gift to grasp to a necessary gift to grasp.  We never have to ask, “Does God actually want me to take part in this blessing?” because there is no question: His intentions are clear when He makes a day for rest and then commands us to utilize it.

God does not build a hot tub to be looked at, but to be utilized.  If you miss the hot tub and end up in the snow next to it, that is your own fault.

But Sunday Is So Popular

Constantine’s Edict of Milan and the events following the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (4th century) caused some serious misconceptions about Christianity to grasp the world we live in today.  Sunday is just the start of it, no pun intended (It is a pun because Sunday is the first day of the week.  The start of the week. . . Oh man.  I crack myself up).

Prior to The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, it is written in history that Constantine had a dream, as told by Eusubius his bishop friend and mentor, where Constantine was told to use the symbols from the Greek alphabet Chi and Rho in order to win in battle.  He placed these symbols, transposed, on the shields of his warriors who won at the bridge of Milvian against Maxentius.  This battle made him much more powerful than he was previous to the battle.

The nature of the world that we live in is this:  The Lord sows seed, and then Satan tries to steal, kill, and or destroy the seed.  If you have had a God moment, you can bet your assets that Satan will be there shortly if you are not on your guard and in Yeshua (Jesus’ Hebrew Name).  God made Constantine a promise, and right before He was about to make good on that promise, Satan comes in and tries to tamper with the credit: A second vision occurred, not while Constantine was sleeping, but in broad daylight where he and his entire army (Chi Rho on their shields as per God’s advice), on the way to the battle saw a lighted cross in the sky with an inscription under it: “by this symbol conquer”.

WHOA WHOA WHOA.  Hold the bacon.  Constantine was instructed to use a symbol to win in battle.  Now, while on the way to a battle he sees another vision telling him to use a new sign.  In the confusion, Constantine pressed on and won.  I believe the first sign is from God, and the second sign was from Satan.  Here is why: The scriptures tell us to use the name of Our Savior when we are in trouble.   The scriptures tell us to make no graven images.  God would have instructed a man to use the first two letters of the name “Savior.”  Satan would have instructed a man to be disobedient.

Prior to Constantine’s battle, which he won as his first vision promised, he was a Mithraith (sun worhsipper).  Sun worshipers had a holy day: the first day of the week.  Post-victory it seemed Constantine was taking Christianity seriously.  He converted, and declared that everyone that worked in his army and within his governing body must become christian as well.

Now we have a bunch of obdurate pagans running around forced to say that they are Christian.  That maelstrom must not have been much fun for the true Christians, and I bet the Pagans weren’t happy about it either. On the bright side, all the money and property that Constantine’s dad, the previous Roman emperor, confiscated years earlier was given back to the true Christians.  Plus, it was made legally known that all Christians may practice their religion as they saw fit (Edict of Milan, 313 AD).  It was about 8 years after this Edict of Milan that a law was passed stating that the national and lawful day of rest is Sunday.

With the help of the Catholics, this law was enforced, not only by the government, but by the church.  Now we have sun worshippers, whose special day is the first day, forced to be shoulder to shoulder with God worshippers who were encouraged to break covenant from Saturday and worship with the Pagans.  I do not have any idea how this lasted, but Satan made it work somehow.  He won that battle.

At that point and now, we have exactly what God had basically ordered the disobedient to do: practicing the commands of men as if they are scriptural doctrine.

They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men is what the scripture goes like in Matthew 15:9.

 

Why is this important if you are a Christian?  Because you have a choice:

Obedience to God

Or

Obedience to Man.

 

 

 

Destroy or Build?

In the story you are about to read, Jesus (Yeshua) was very plain about what was about to begin happening within the ranks of the high priests.  Could this have been the straw that broke the camels back for Nicodemus?

Before healing the sick man’s hand on Sabbath, Jesus said, “Is it lawful to restore life on Sabbath or to destroy it?” Jesus then restored life by healing the man’s hand.  The Pharisees then destroyed life by laboring in this way: {But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.}

Jesus: Resting in God’s work.  Jesus was building the kingdom, one obedient action at a time.

Pharisees: Toiling with Satan

Who kept the Sabbath that day?

Nicodemus was mighty and courageous for risking his life for what he knew was right.  He must have seen that the Sabbath was kept by Yeshua, and broken by his own people, even when Yeshua warned them not to.  It must have been as plain as the nose on His face.

Dynamai – Greek For Works

Tags

Command, Dynamai, Greek, Love, Perseverence, scripture, Vain, Word, yeshua, YHVH

Prayer:

Today, I ask God: “Will you use me to brighten and enlighten my readers?  I appreciate You, Yeshua, for causing Your knowledge to flow through the hearts and minds of my readers.  Your helmet of salvation and belt of truth are worth more than precious stones.”

Gleaning:

We live in a world that is filled with tasks.  Life is often one task followed by another and then when it is time to sleep, it will not come!  That is a fun cycle to be in!  Sometimes we get to choose the tasks we fill our days with, while at other times our circumstances will wrestle us into a submissive state where we have no choice but to move into a task.

Sometimes these tasks are onerous.  These weights in life can leave us feeling under the weather, even dismal; but as my Dad has said, “It is not the task you are in that makes you.  How you deal with it is what counts.”

When He (Yeshua) returns, we know that the heavens and earth are going to pass away and that He will replace them with a new heaven and a new earth.  Sin and Satan are going to be bound and mostly non-existent for about as long as Adam lived.

We may see that all of the works of the world will amount to nothing:  Not only stuff like buildings, baby bottles, and beepers; But, the thought processes too.  The skills that we acquired and the day-to-day habits we have are not tangible; However, their reality manifests themselves.  If those intangible things are not beneficial to the will of God, they will also be burned up.  The Bible tells us that everything that is not of God will amount to a wisp of smoke surrounding the New Jerusalem (the New Earth you know, square and all that).

In James 2 The Bible asks us: {What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?}

Stop, and pick James 2: 14 apart a little here.  First of all, every man has works.  It is impossible to be alive and not to have works.  You see, after He has already come again and we are living in the new universe, all things not of God are burned up, remember?  In that case if a man never did anything for Yeshua he really has no works, just like our passage in James describes.

This leads us to the word “nothing”, especially in passages like this one:

{do not turn aside from following The Lord, but serve The Lord with all your heart.  And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.}

He teaches His children that if they do not love Yeshua they will turn to “idle things that are nothing”.  In some versions of the Bible it says they are “vain”.  The point remains the same:  All the hardship, skill getting, and habit forming that is not of God is vain. Presently, it seems like everything, but it is going to become nothing.  Nothing is a wisp of smoke surrounding The New Jerusalem.

How can you be so sure of this?  Here is another clue.  In previous, the original writing was in Greek.  There is more than one form of the word “no” in the Greek language.  The different forms I know of are used in different circumstances.  There is “me”, one form of negation while “ou” is another.  The “me” form is a less heavy negation, whereas, “ou” is an absolute denial: much more solid.

Example: “There is “ou”(pronounced “ov”) way that Jesus will not return.

Example:  A man who has no faith has “me” works.

God is telling us that a man who has “me dynamai (no works)” had works at one point, but from His perspective, when He sent The Holy Spirit to write that, the works weren’t there.  Yeshua reminds us that if we do not saturate our lives with what matters, He will allow the adversary to saturate us with what really, in the end is completely vain.

 

Greek Footnotess:

Me (may): A primary particle of qualified negation

(whereas οὐ (G3756) expresses an absolute denial)

-μή mḗ, may; a primary particle of qualified negation (whereas G3756 expresses an absolute denial); (adverb) not, (conjunction) lest; also (as an interrogative implying a negative answer (whereas G3756 expects an affirmative one)) whether:—any but (that), × forbear, + God forbid, + lack, lest, neither, never, no (X wise in), none, nor, (can-)not, nothing, that not, un(-taken), without. Often used in compounds in substantially the same relations. See also G3362, G3363, G3364, G3372, G3373, G3375, G3378.

 

Ou (oo): A primary word, the absolute negative [cf μή (G3361)] adverb

-οὐ ou, oo; a primary word; the absolute negative (compare G3361) adverb; no or not:—+ long, nay, neither, never, no (X man), none, (can-)not, + nothing, +special, un(-worthy), when, + without, + yet but. See also G3364, G3372.

Dynamai (doo-na-my) : I am powerful, have (the) power, (b) I am able, I can.

–Cognate: 1410 dýnamai (a primitive verb) – to show ability (power); able (enabled by God), empowered. See the cognate-noun, 1411 /dýnamis (“ability, power”).

 

 

Abram

Tags

Abraham, Abram, Abram Abraham, Love, Punishment, Tool, Yaweh, yeshua, YHVH, YHWH

Maybe I am drawing lines instead of following lines that are already there;  However, according to the way God is, not as told by the world but as told by God Himself, it seems as though these two events are related

Scripture tells us that God will cause the sin of a Dad to find it’s punishment on the generations of his loins for up to four generations.  Sin tends to perpetuate and build on itself.  If that sin is left unchecked, 8 or 12 or 16 generations later, that sin could be enormous and the punishment inflicted will need to be severe.

Genesis 15 starts like this:

{After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am Your Shield, Your Very Great Reward.”

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can You give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”}

400 years or so after Abraham was in that conversation with God, His children became incredibly enslaved.

In that conversation, God demonstrated His tender side.  He made Himself vulnerable, and Abram (probably completely unknowingly) didn’t even hear Him.  More accurately, Abram did hear Him but, what God said was brushed aside and the conversation was focused back on what Abram wanted.  He told Abram, “I am Your Great Reward”  Abram, without even blinking said ” but God, I want children”.

Children were not what Abram should have wanted.  God should have been what Abram wanted.  God was hurt by this.  Why? Because God loves us.  When we want things other than God, it hurts us.  God is hurt because His children want things that hurt them.  God used Abram to teach the generations to see how important it is to make God more important than even family or friends.  “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Us followers of The Savior  know that God comes first.  My prayer is that God finds other believers like Abraham who are willing to be used by God in order to cause the generations to have a chance to know a deeper relationship with Him.

 

God Needs You

Tags

Hate, Heart, Love, Might, Sacrifice, Soul, Spirit, strength, The Lord Your God, True Love

 

As young Americans we are taught that love is the overwhelming feeling one gets when one is around a special somebody. These feelings, we learn, can be powerful enough to shape the path of our lives.  I want to help you see the true definition and proper Biblical application of love.

Here is an example of an elder teaching a younger non-Biblical love.  If this describes the beginning of your relationship, I am sure you have either reached the point of divorce, or more likely have learned that love is actually all about sacrifice for the sake of your spouse.  Sacrifice, trust, and most importantly forgiveness while trusting The Lord.  We are learning these things together.

 

 

When people talk about “I love Jesus”  they think they are being honest because of the way kids are taught what love is.  By that definition  ^^^^^  , they are being honest.  Why, Jesus gives them a warm fuzzy feeling and they know they can count on Him for anything.  That is not loving Jesus.  It is liking Jesus a lot or just plain needing Jesus.

  Love’s definition is very very complicated.  I have rewritten this as I have learned that God did not show me all of what love is, just one facet or sliver of it.

I have learned that this is only a small part of love’s definition: To love something is to sacrifice time, energy, etc for the object of your love.  Sounds simple, until it is practiced.  By that definition we all love sleep, food, being sheltered and entertained.  These basic needs sculpt our daily habits because we sacrifice to ensure we have them in our lives.

Today, I drove something like eight miles out of my way for coffee. ” I love (misnomer) coffee” would be a common reason for my choice. Correctly stated would be “I need coffee”.  In reality, I do not really like coffee.  To be honest, I wish I did not drink coffee; none-the-less I am living in a state where I go out of my way for it.   We are learning that like a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square, sometimes love and need are the same thing and sometimes they are not.

The perceived outcome of having a need in one’s life is to better one’s station.

To truly love, the perceived outcome is to better the station of one or many around the person doing the loving.  

If you love enough in this world, people will begin to need you.  How wonderful it is when a person loves, and receives love in return.  There is a lot of love going around in the book of Ruth:  Love given and love returned.  It is beautiful and is the beginning of the consummation of the Davidic line:  The line Jesus is born into.   Am I about to take the scriptural definition of love and turn to Christ?  Yep.  He created love.  He created the owners manual for our lives.  It is focused on Him and He is the best at loving.  He intended for us to love Him.  In loving Him we learn how to love those around us.

Here is the sad truth followed by good news:  In the case of The Lord,  most of us do not go out of our way to love Him.  We may have once or twice, or once or twice a month, or every so often throughout the week, but most of the time we are busy surviving.  Very seldom do many of us meet people who are loving Jesus day in and day out.  If you replace what you just learned about love with need, then yes, most Christians love (need) Jesus.  The question is does He need you?  Jesus needed the apostle Paul and Paul loved (sacrificed for) Jesus.

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      Yeshua is like a good Dad who continues to love us even though we are constantly tugging at His coat tails and throwing His name around to better our station.  We want Him to carry our weight.  He is an awesome Father as He does carry most of the weight and He always will.

Here is a great way to love Jesus:  It is very, very small, but does show Him love.  Hold down the shift bar anytime you begin a title that is referencing Him:  Yeshua, Jesus, God, The Lord, Him, They, Him Who Created The Universe, The Best Father Ever… etc, etc.  Just be careful when typing God that, if you mean Satan, you type in lowercase.  Satan is the god of earth as Christ has given him that power.  It is because He loves us that He allows him to be used as a chastening tool so we can learn how to better glorify Him!  It can frustrate you to see such a simple way to show God’s importance overlooked.

Our job is to choose what to sacrifice for and more importantly to give Our life to Jesus so He can reveal to us things about ourselves and others that will aid us in loving Him according to His wishes.  Jesus speaks to us all through His word:  “God, who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets.  Whom in these last days has spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things.”  You guys have a good day today and love you some Jesus.

Protected: Public Apology To My Readers

Tags

Bible, Holy Scripture, jesus, Mosaic, Moses, Moshe, Old Testament Law, Penteteuch, The Law, Torah, Yaweh, yeshua

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Praying and Fasting

In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us about the heart.  How our hearts intentions sometimes manifest themselves by way of action.  Jesus teaches us that the evil roots within our hearts can blind us to why we are fasting or praying.   Satan has the power to trick us into thinking: I am serving God because I am praying, or I am serving God because I am fasting.  

The idea in this article can be a bit abstruse, in that it involves a self examination of some fast acting processes that happen within us:  desires or wants that very quickly develop into a plan of action.  A person’s mind can easily get all wrapped up in what other people think about them.  For example, a desire for a woman could be to get a good reputation within the church.  Once she pinpoints this desire she may very quickly begin planning on how to look and act holy in order for others to think highly of her.  This is not a bad thing.

What, though, would be a truly good thing for her to desire is Jesus’ notice of her good thoughts, and her good intentions, which would in turn produce a lot of the very same actions as the previous example of gaining reputation among people.  Again it is not a bad thing to want a good reputation.  It is a bad thing to gain reputation on your own accord through acting holy without the constant invitation of Jesus’ will.  You would end up hurting others and yourself that way.

Wanting Jesus to notice you, and following through with that plan is easier to accomplish if you privately and whole heartedly fumble your life from your control to His, inviting Him to do His will in your life.  It is very scary, but it is worth it.  Yashua is telling us that if we find ourselves fasting and praying, it is a good idea to do a heart check to make sure it is not in vain.  The goal is to get closer to Him.  If the provenance of action is for self than it is not pure, and it could end up hurting instead of helping, even though the intention seems harmless.

The path from desire to action can be illustrated in the growth of a plant.  This is very important because it is in this path that Satan tricks us into doing what we think is for Jesus, when it is really for us.  The seed is the desire, not yet placed in the heart.  The root, once the seed has died, is the desire nestled into a man or woman’s heart.  The ground swelling is the plan of action developed within the mind or brain as thoughts.  The plant and it’s fruit represent the actions and the bad and good consequences those actions produce.  You see,  If the seed’s name is “my reputation”, than the roots name also might be “my reputation”;  But, by the time the ground breaks and the stem pops up it’s name begins to change from “my reputation” to “piety”.  When the tree is full grown it’s name is “serving God”.  The problem with this is that the latter two names are false names.  They are a costume that “my reputation” is putting on.  Even the wearer of the costume is often mislead into thinking they are truly being holy due to the consuming nature of desire and thought.  The heart is deceitful above all things.  ALL THINGS.  Who can know it?  No man is capable of knowing the heart.  If you put your heart squarely in the hands of The Savior, you will be guided into truth and love one day at a time.  Some Davidic Psalm esque experiences are in tap for you.  Are you looking for some more rock solid faith to stand on in the midst of trial?  give your heart to God.  Sit down and imagine a bowl that you spent hours cleaning and polishing for the king, then put your heart in that bowl and send it up to Yashua.

 Those who pray to be seen by men have their reward; but you, lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

The world teaches us to suffer now through school, work and debt, so that we can earn and save.  Then we  and our families can be comfortable later in life.  That idea is widely accepted here on earth and respectable people do it because it works.  I am telling you, have faith in this very same process by suffering and saving for spiritual things during this entire life, so that you can be a provider in heaven.  Use this life for what it is: a pre-requisite to show God you trust Him.  When you fast, do so secretly.  When you give alms, secretly.  When you pray, secretly.  When you decide you want to do a thing, when you begin planning to do a thing: Pause.  Ask yourself:  am I doing this for me?   How can I spend time instead, doing something for Him?  Serving Him ultimately brings you closer to Him.  You know He loves you.  Be determined and steadfast in your faith.

The Nobleman Who Believed: Faith

Scripture:  If you are very familiar with the historical account of the nobleman who traveled to Jesus for healing go ahead and skip to the gleaning.

John 4: 43-54

Now after two days He departed thence, and went into Galilee.    For Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.   Then when He was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.    So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.   When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.  

Then said Jesus unto him, “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.“   

The nobleman saith unto Him, “Sir, come down ere my child die.”

 Jesus saith unto him, “Go thy way; thy son liveth.” And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.   And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.  Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.  So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.  This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out of Judaea into Galilee.

Gleaning:

Our nobleman walks away from Jesus being told his son is healed.  The Nobleman has a long journey ahead of him where he has to trust in what Jesus said.  Probably, the further down the path he goes the more his natural common sense slips and seeps it’s way into his psyche;  Telling the nobleman that he should have gotten Jesus to come with him to his house.  What if he gets home after all that travel and his son is not healed!

But,  he was just in front of Jesus, there was something about the man that had him trust.  His trust in Him was strong.  Then, why does he find himself doubting as he steps closer and closer towards his daily routine and regular mundane life?  Why is he doubting what he knew to be so clear just miles behind him?

After long hours of travel,the nobleman sees one of his servants coming towards him through the ardent mist, and broken light of the dusty path.  His servant comes with exciting news: His son is healed!  “What hour was he healed?” asks the nobleman.  The same hour at which Jesus had told him to trust that his son is well.  Hallelujah!  The man’s servant has restored his faith in Jesus’ words on the long journey back to ensure his goal was met.  The man is absolutely certain, though, with full strength in faith when he returns home and sees his son well with his won eyes.

Many lessons can be gathered here.  We are encouraged to read these historical occurrences in Jesus’ life over and over.  Studying them will bring our psyche’s into a deeper understanding of how we are to deal with any situation life throws our way. Check this little tid-bit out:  the first sign and the second sign both occurred in Cana of Galilee and they both involve a subordinate being integral in the story.  In both cases it was a servant that knew key information.

Prayer:

Your word is powerful, and holy.  Please, Lord, Please give us courage and strength to hold this knowledge in such a way that is glorifying and honoring to You.  Help us to better serve you so the helmet of salvation can continue to be fastened in strength over our lives.