Coming Into Understanding

This is a phrase that many including me have used from time to time. I have seen people that have heard this and get an inquisitive look on their face as to what it means. Understanding is something we are encouraged by scripture to obtain.

Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Wisdom and understanding seem to travel together often.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

So the concept of growing is embedded in scriptures, and the need for it is embedded within us.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are our King. Praise the name Yahuah! Let us be lights for You in this world. Send us now Your overwhelming abundant provision. Forgive us out sins. Heal us inside and out. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold all that has been taken or held back in any way. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

Thankful For What Is Before Us

Thank you is such a simple phrase. Yet, sometimes we forget to say it. It is not clear to me why we forget, just that we do from time to time, or at least I do. Today, this morning, I am thankful that I serve the true Creator of the universe, that I know He is on my side, and that I can always count on Him to be here for me. That is a very good feeling, especially in troubled times. What I do know is that our Father will place before us visions of what He wants us to believe in and to one day see. We can choose to believe these things or not. But if we will choose to believe, then one day He will bring it to pass.

John 11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

So we see that even in the case of our Messiah raising someone from the dead, we can have what we want, what we have been promised if we will keep that in mind and believe.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are our King! Praise the name Yahuah! We long to be Your lights in this dark place. Send us today Your overwhelming abundant provision. Forgive us our sins. Restore unto us our health, our prosperity, our hope. Deliver us from the darkness here. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold all that has been taken or held back in any way from Your people. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

Fight The Battle

It is good for us to fight the good fight of faith. It is good for us to want to do right. In war, it is best to fight on the opponent’s land. In that way all the damage is done there. Our enemy knows this. It is part of the reason he likes to cause battles in the home. But if we follow scripture, we can most likely overcome some of this battles before they even begin.

Proverbs 25:24 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.

Here we see that it is not good for there to be contention between the husband and the wife. We must find a way to hold up the scriptures and pray to our Father to keep the battle in the enemy’s camp, and away from our homes.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are our King! It is you that we want to be like here on this earth. Send us now Your overwhelming provision. Forgive us our sins. Heal us that we might be whole, and deliver us from the darkness that tries to invade even our homes. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold that which has been taken or constrained in any way from Your people, and more besides. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

Clicks And Mortar

In today’s Information Age, we are in a different time from days past. Often people read the scriptures from the glow of an electronic device, daytime or nighttime. Before their was the tactile nature of the paper page, the hard pew seat, and the shaking of a neighbors hand. Now sometimes people opt for watching it all on an electronic display. My point in writing this is for us to remember it is about building ourselves and others up. We formerly did this in buildings, and sometimes in homes. We can still do this using electronic devices in homes, and in buildings, but there are key components that are required. Most important perhaps is the very words that come out of our mouth.

Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

We see that our Messiah wants us to speak good things. This same message is repeated over and over again in scripture. We need to say the good things of the scriptures as often as we can, out loud, both in speech and song. Where we read them from, paper or electronic bits, is not the point. The point is what comes out of our mouths is what we hear.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are our King! Praise the name Yahuah! Let us reflect You and Your works here on this earth. Send us today Your overwhelming abundant provision such that we cannot contain it. Forgive us our sins. Heal up our hearts and minds. Deliver us from the evil that causes us to err. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold all that has been taken, held back, or restrained in any way from Your people, and more besides. Rise up, O King, and show Yourself as our Defender and Provider, striking down the wicked but leaving them alive. You have stored up the wealth of the wicked to give to Your people time and again. Do so again this day, O King, that all men might know that You alone are God and King over all the earth. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

Hearing And Doing

There is a connection between hearing and doing, and also doing and hearing. The instructions we receive in the book of Deuteronomy and other places is to hear and do. This means the sounds we hear – the words – we act on.

Deuteronomy 6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

We see similar statements made by our Messiah.

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

There is a direct parallel, it would seem, between these things. For me, and I would guess for many, the challenge is to live what we believe.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are our King! Shine us up, that we might reflect Your light to this dark place. Send us today Your overwhelming abundant provision. Forgive us our sins. Heal up our minds and our hearts. Deliver us from the evil that steals from us. Restore unto Your people all that has been taken or held back in any way, and more besides, abundantly, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, greater than the children of Israel in the Exodus, that all men might know that You alone have done this. O King, have mercy on us this day. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

A Day Of Light

We have a set of patterns set by our Father, from the beginning. We can receive comfort in these patterns, if we allow ourselves to receive this comfort. The very first, first day, was one of our Father separating light from darkness.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

On this first day, let us try to find our way into our Father’s light.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are King. Praise the name Yahuah! Shine Your light through us Father. Send us today Your overwhelming abundant provision. Forgive us our sins. Heal our hearts and minds. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold, and more besides. Helps us now, O King! We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

Relief From Darkness

This morning in prayer as I asked our Father to reveal to me something more about the Sabbath and what He wanted me to know just then. He gave me a vision of a dark malformed ball of a clump of darkness. He showed me that this was represented all the past darkness that had been in my life, rolled into a ball, and that we all have this. He told me that one purpose for the Sabbath was to set this darkness behind us.

Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

The word in verse 9 used for rest is different from the others in the passage. It is actually the word that is translated everywhere else in scripture as “Sabbath”. So we see that we are to be people that keep the Sabbath, because it still remains. Also note that in verse 2 that the same gospel was preached to the children of Israel in the desert as was preached to those at the time of the writing of Hebrews. But, what gospel – “good news” – were the children of Israel exposed to that they did not have faith in?

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

We see that in spite of all the miracles, deliverance, and prosperity that our Father rained on them to get them out of Egypt, they did not be believe He was on their side. They did not believe He was going to reward them, but that He would kill them. They did not trust the Father. It takes that same trust in the Father to enter into a rest on the Sabbath. And the Father enters into rest on the Sabbath.

Hebrews 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

On the Sabbath, we are meant to enter into the same place that the Father is, a place of rest where we are all together. And we have a High Priest that covers us, being a man but without sin. That is our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). And with trust in our Father, we can reach the throne of grace, and obtain mercy, the mercy of setting all of our past darkness behind us.

Hebrews 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Through faith, we can receive relief from the darkness on the Sabbath.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You are our King! Praise the name Yahuah! Let us shine the light of Your goodness here in this place. Send us now Your overwhelming provision. Forgive us our sins. Cleanse our hearts and minds. Deliver us from the darkness that is here. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold all that has been taken or held back or constrained in anyway from Your people. We need You, my King. Save Your people from the pillaging by the enemy, taking their health and prosperity. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

Always Looking For What Is Next

We have the priviledge of standing each day at the beginning of rhte next thing our Father is doing. We will likely experience what seems lik ups and downs in the routines of life. However, we have a limited view from where we stand. Our Father does not. He sees it all. And we can experience our part of it all from a point of victory or defeat. We actually choose what we will experience. We do that using our faith.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

We need to understand from the depths of our internal being that our Father is on our side. We need to take that into consideration as we view our world. With that frame of reference, we ask our Father, “What’s next?” Then we trust that what we encounter is a part of getting us to the next thing.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You are our King! Praise the name Yahuah! Let us reflect Your light to this world. Send us today Your overwhelming provision. Forgive us our sins. Heal up our hearts and minds. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold all that has been taken or held back. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

More Reasons For Thankfulness

Today in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving, or many of us do. While I am not one to spend time celebrating holidays that are not in scripture, and in recent years there have been attempts by revisionists to hi-jack this holiday, I do like the basic tenet of this day – thankfulness. This morning as I was scrambling around to get the turkey into the roaster, I found several opportunities for me to choose thankfulness over complaint. It really is just such a choice. As I found myself beginning to mutter a complaint, I realized that I was complaining. I think that is the beginning really. We have to realize we are complaining, or if possible, just before we do. At that point we can choose to be thankful vocally versus complaining. And scriptures suggest we are to be thankful.

Psalms 147:1 Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
6 The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:

Today, let’s remember to intercept our complaints and turn them into moments of thankfulness and praise to our Father.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are our King! Praise the name Yahuah! Let us shine Your light in this earth. Send us now Your overwhelming abundant provision. Forgive us for our sins. Heal us inside and out. Deliver us from the evil here. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold all that has been taken or held back in any way, and more besides. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.

Remembering The Words

Some mornings we can wake up feeling less than great. This morning was one of those mornings for me. Lately, much of my focus has been on the kingdom of God. I keep asking, what is it really? After reviewing scriptures and some research about what others say, I have come to realize that the kingdom of God is within us, and we are to focus on making that a reality every day.

Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

God wants to reign within us, in our hearts and minds. Note here that Yeshuah (Jesus) was talking to the Pharisees, and His death and resurrection had not yet taken place. Also, Yeshua (Jesus) preached about the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

An interesting point here is that Jeshua preached the gospel – but He was not yet dead and resurrected. That goes against much of what I had been taught that the gospel was teh story of Jeshua’s life, death, and resurrection. If gospel is correctly translated, “good news”, then the good news is that the kingdom of God was already at hand while He was alive. How can this be? Moses told us (and Paul later quoted Moses).

Deuteronomy 30:9 And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:
10 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

So the good news appears to be that God is on our side. The leaders of the religious organizations of the day made up a bunch of additional rules, and that all the additions to the simple message in the Law and the Prophets were NOT what God had said. The good news is that our Father set up a system that includes amazing blessings for us. He also made it possible for us to work the system because what we say makes its way into our hearts and minds. This process helps keep us going. It is what Joshua used.

Joshua 1:7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

And then to seal the deal, God made a new covenant not written on stone, but in our hearts and minds. The writer of Hebrews quoted Jeremiah in revealing the New Covenant to us.

Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

So when we have days that seem to be less than great, we can fight back with our mouths, saying what our Father has already said. Then we can have patience as our Father brings these things to pass.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You are our King! Praise the name Yahuah! Let us shine Your light in this earth. Send us today Your overwhelming abundant provision, such that we do not have room to contain it. Forgive us our sins. Heal and cleanse the hearts and minds of Your people. Deliver us from this present darkness. Restore unto Your people one hundred times one hundred times one hundredfold that which has been taken or held back in any way from Your people, and more besides. We ask all these things in the name of our Messiah Yeshuah (Jesus). Amen.