Healing Prayer

There are times in everyone’s life when either they need healing or they hear about someone that does. A few days ago I had such a day when I heard about a little boy that was two years old, but had already faced more medical challenges than me in life. He has already had heart surgery and eats from a feeding tube. It is always difficult for me when I hear of someone facing medical challenges, but when it is a small child it is even more challenging.

On this day of rest, please join me in praying for this child and any others that God would step in and do something miraculous to make them whole today.

Prayer
Father in heaven, King of the universe, we come to You now on behalf of those You say You will defend. We come to You on behalf of the children that are in harm’s way from sickness, disease, or some form of medical affliction. We ask in Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name that You come now and create wholeness where it did not exist. Things that are open that should be closed, we ask you close now in Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Let the round muscles act in symphony in praise to You, Father God. Rise up in the compassion of Your might as the Father, and make these little ones whole that the whole earth might know that You alone are God. We rebuke any chest pains they feel now in the name of Jesus and ask for a great and mighty peace from the Holy Spirit come and replace that now in Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Let there be peace. I call to the blood of these children and speak peace, and the wholeness which is from God alone. Let these children feel the warmth and love from the Father from the depths within them as the overwhelming miraculous healing power of God moves in and through them now in Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Father, thank You for being God. Thank You for wanting only good for us. We ask for completeness and life for these little ones today, and we praise You and thank You for it, in Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Yom Kippur

Yesterday beginning at sundown until sundown today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, considered the most holy of the High Holy Days. It is a day of mourning and repentance, turning our hearts toward God. It was first celebrated at God’s direction in the wilderness by Moses and the children of Israel. The story begins in Leviticus 9-10 when Aaron’s two sons were priests, and they made a fire in their censers and added incense, and offered them before God which He had not commanded them to do. Fire went out from the Lord and consumed them, and they died.

Often I have wondered why God would kill them for this act. If we read what happened just before this, God had been telling Moses the laws of of the different sacrifices. It was a time of God passing on to man great wisdom and understanding about how to live. Finally, it was a day or two before Yom Kippur, and Moses told Aaron to begin to cleanse himself, and to have Aaron’s sons the priests cleanse themselves and make sacrifices for themselves, and to say certain similar things to the children of Israel, that they might make offerings of atonement that the Glory of the Lord might appear to them. This process began and there would have been many animals to slay and prepare. All was set in place and ready for God to appear and bring the holy fire to consume the offerings (the priests never set the offerings on fire, God sent fire to consume them). All was in place. Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting(God) and came out to bless the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire went out from God and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. All the people fell on their faces, shouting. If you were there, if you saw God’s glory and fire miraculously come from the midst of His glory and burn up the sacrifices (think of how many there were), well I believe we all would be crying out to God and falling on our faces. All did than as well, all but two.

Nahab and Abihu, watching this, decided to do something more. They were not moved to fall on their face before God. Instead, they wanted to do something that they made up. They were not thinking about who God was and what He had commanded, nor the miracle they just saw, appreciating their atonement. No, instead they wanted to add something, to do their thing, to do what they thought was good, and did not consider their own sinful condition. This is what made their fire profane – it was their fire, not the miraculous fire from God. For this they perished. God goes on to give them more direction, and finally in Leviticus 16 we see God explaining what He first said in Leviticus 10:3, that those that approach Him directly (like us today) must consider themselves first and cleanse themselves. Yom Kippur is such a day when we consider the value that God is to us and that He calls us to live pure and holy lives. Details are recorded in chapter 16, and again in Leviticus 23 where all of the High Holy Days and their requirements are recorded.

The lesson that I take away is this. God has a way for us, His way, the way that He wants to do things. When we decide to do things a different way, we walk outside His protection and into the possibility of harm for us. When people tell me that these variations do not matter, that they can do whatever they want whenever they want, any way that they want, I move back a little. I think of the two sons of Aaron that thought and did these same things, and I don’t want to get caught in the back-draft of God’s Holy fire…

Prayer
Father, we praise and thank You for sending Your Son, Yeshua (Jesus), to atone for our sins, which are many. On this Day of Atonement, we reflect on who You are, what You do for us, and how You want us to be. Please help us to be the holy people You want us to be, the Bride of the Messiah Yeshua. And when we err, please see us through His blood. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Glory In God

Our God is a great defense. Sometimes He comes quickly to our aid. Sometimes it seems like He is taking a long time. But God’s timing is perfect. We have to rest and trust in Him. In Psalm 62 the writer speaks of trusting in God alone, that He is our rock and our salvation. He goes on to say to his soul to wait in silence alone, for God is the one in whom he has an expectation.

Waiting for God can seem hard at times. However, we can speak to ourselves as the psalmist does here, and encourage ourselves to wait for God alone. God will deliver us in His time. And that deliverance shall be great. God does not set His people up for failure. In fact, we are encouraged by the psalmist to not trust in riches if they come, but to remain trusting in God. This can also be hard because we live in a world that requires us to navigate things like bills, the costs for food and medicine, and the like. If we have lived in lack for a period of time, but then the deliverance comes, it can be easy to trust in those monies. Let us not do that, because they can leave again. Let us trust in those things that endure, like the love and peace that passes all understanding from God.

God will always deliver His people. Always. Rest in this.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You, O Mighty King! Thank You for always delivering us from those things that try to beset us. Thank You for watching over us, protecting us and delivering us from all oppression and need. You are a Mighty King! We give You all glory for Your magnificent works among men! In Jesus name. Amen.

Resting With God

Jesus said He only did what He saw the father doing in John 5:19. We want to be like Jesus, so what should we be doing? We should also only do what we see the Father doing. So, this being the Sabbath, what is the Father doing? Resting. In Genesis 2:2 it says that God rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath. What does that mean for us?

Well, the Father is resting today. Why don’t we do the same?

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High God. We thank You for giving us this Sabbath day of rest. We ask that You help us to rest, and to watch what You do, and promote Your kingdom. In Jesus name. Amen.

When Our Mind Will Not Stop

Sometimes even if we want to rest, it can happen that we just cannot get our mind quieted. When we wake up, our minds start the thinking process. What did we do yesterday that we need to finish today? What was it that is on our to-do list? What about the kids? What about our parents? Our friends? Oh yeah, I need to fit God in… It gets overwhelming! What can we do?

The scriptures give us some guide lines. We can control our minds because God gives us a sound mind, according to 2 Timothy 1:7. Paul tells us what to think about, in Phillipians 4:8, to think about what is pure, just, noble, lovely, etc. All of these apply to God. And God wants us to rest on the sabbath. So what we can do is this – take control of our thinking. Try speaking to yourself out loud. Read a scripture out loud. Pray out loud. Soon you will find your way to peace of mind.

Prayer
Father, thank You for being our God. Thank You for giving us the ability to pray to You and for helping us to get our mind’s right. Thank You for Your mercy and truth. In Jesus name. Amen.

How Others Know

As I read 1 John this morning, something very different happened for me. In verse five John talks about the the need for us as believers to love those that love God, our fellow believers. It says that this is the love from God. Towards the end of this verse John talks about there being an inner witness that we as believers have when we love God (which also means we love our brother). We KNOW we have eternal life. This also gives us confidence that when we sin, we still have access to God for forgiveness. It is this inner witness that overcomes the condemnation of our hearts, and allows us to have confidence in God. This confidence allows us to ask God for the things we and others need in life, and receive them from God in His time.

The first verse sets the stage for how this all happens. John says he is not giving us a new commandment, that the old commandments still stand. Then he says he does give us a new commandment to love one another, which is the commandment from old. The point is that we are to focus on God and His commandments, which are now written in our hearts. If we see a believer in need and we have the ability to fill that need, we are to love them and reach out to them to fill that need. For me, all of this tied to that inner witness, that God is on our side. It gave new meaning to these ideas for me on this sabbath day.

Prayer
Father, help us to love one another. Help us to understand what you want from us and to understand how to live our lives toward our fellow believers. Thank You for not giving up on us. Thank You for life itself. In Jesus name. Amen.

Above The Waters And The Waves

It is so good to be where God is. We know that Jesus lives within us, but even Jesus said that He said and did what He saw and heard the Father saying and doing. In Psalm 93, it speaks of the floods and waves rising. It also says that God is higher than those, and mightier. He is above the tempest below. So, if we are where He is, then we will be with Him, above the tempest below.

So, where is God? Well, today being the sabbath, God is resting.

Let us rest in Him and with Him.

Prayer
Father, thank You for the rest You have for us. Thank You for establishing Your testimonies from old, the scriptures. Thank You for holding us up, for holding on to us, and for never letting go. In Jesus name. Amen.

Sabbath Rest

It has been a while, but we decided to take a sabbath rest for Saturday. Please return tomorrow.

God Bless.

Prayer
Father, be with our readers and help them rest. In Jesus name. Amen.

Bear Fruit Films – A Comfort

Today I had the pleasure to watch a group of po=eople reach out to a community to encourage them. Was it church? Not exactly? Did they feed the poor? In a way. It was the faith based film company, Bear Fruit Films, and they were in Culver, IN. Today they had an open casting call and almost 300 people showed up, including the parents of children trying out for the roles. The people from the movie company were comforting and encouraging to every person that wanted a chance to be in a movie. The c0-founder and director, Paul Tomborello, stayed until he saw each person, never rushing a soul. The film is called “Little Savages”, includes several stars from Disney as well, and shoots during the month of August in Culver, IN. As for the movie company, they are courteous and considerate of every person, very unassuming, and wanting to impact the lives of all involved.

In this blog I have never recommended a company or product, but you will definitely want to follow these guys and see their films! They are in post production on their previous film, “Rumors of War” (see link below), which looks like a must see.

Rumors of War

If you end up in Culver in August, look them up and tell them thanks!

Prayer
Father, I ask that You bless each person involved in this movie. Keep them safe and healthy. Touch the lives of those that see the film. Touch us all. In Jesus name. Amen.

In God We Rest

For those of our readers in the United States, we are accustomed to seeing the words, “In God We Trust” on our paper currency. If we do, this is a good thing. And if we do, we follow the words He has given to us. One of those things He tells us is to observe the Sabbath once a week. He wants us to rest.

We can choose to do this or not. But we have to choose. Let’s consider for a moment what our choice should be based upon. What makes sense to me is considering God’s position. He created everything. He rested on the sixth day. He asks us to rest on the sixth day. Given how intelligent He would have to be to create this universe, doesn’t it make sense that there would be a reason He wants us to rest? If there is such a reason, does it also not make sense that there would be something more linked to resting, some positive thing, some blessing? We all want the blessings of God, right? Seems like then there is but one choice.

In God we rest…

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High God. We thank you for all You have provided, including this day of rest. Please touch the lives of Your people today, and add Your blessing to their rest. In Jesus name. Amen.