Rough Framing

Years ago when I was just out of school I got a job working construction. That is when I first learned the term “rough framing.” When we built a house setting the outside of the home in place was referred to as rough framing. For me doing the rough framing was really fun. We got to see something take the shape of a house fairly quickly. And we were in a cold climate, so we were creating the possibility for having a warm place to work in the winter to finish of the interior of the homes we built. This is not unlike our lives with God.

We build things slowly over time in our walk with God. But just like a home, we have to begin somewhere. That beginning, that initial foundation laying comes from our realizing that we need Him. We get to that place, as Paul said, by believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

So that is the laying of the foundation. But how do we begin to frame the house, this place for God to live, this temple that we are? Actually, we do it in much the same way. God told Joshua this after the death of Moses.

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.

Here we see that same principle being put forward. If we meditate on the scriptures, speaking them out loud day and night, we begin to make the “place” where we can live out our faith. We create us, the place for God to dwell, or as Paul states, we are God’s temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

So, this is how we begin to build the space for God to dwell. Again, as the Psalmist says, meditate on the scriptures and pray.

Psalms 1:1 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.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Prayer
Father, we praise You today for You are worthy of all our praise. You alone provide blessings for us every day. You alone are the source for our very lives. Thank You for setting us on the Rock, Your Son, Yeshua (Jesus). And thank You for giving us the ability to move forward by the words of our mouth and by our actions when we say what You are saying and do what You are doing. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Counting On God

Paul spoke about having the experience of both having more than he needed and less than he needed in his letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

For me, I have both experienced times of plenty and times of lack. Paul was discussing in this passage the physical needs we have, I believe, like the means to live. It is easy in these times for us to be faced with the fear of not having enough. It is also then easy to think it is because of some sin in our life. But we must be careful about this approach, because it would imply that our well being is of our own doing. What do scriptures say?

Psalms 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

This seems to imply that God is merciful and what happens is not based upon our actions. Perhaps another way to think of this is that if we were dealt with according to our actions, ultimately we would perish. However, God does not remain upset and always has mercy on us.

Psalms 103:8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

So there also seems to be some part of our actions that can result in us losing blessings. However, the good news is God has given us a path out of our sin. He always hears our cries, and Jesus (Yeshua) died for every sin, even before we were born, All we need to do is remember God and find the path back.

Psalms 119:59-60;67. 59 I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
60 I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

The affliction here refers to feeling depressed, or pressed down. This is what happens when we do not follow God’s way and go our own way. But if we are willing to consider our ways and our paths, and return to the testimonies of God, confessing our sin and seeking His forgiveness and mercy, He will be pplentious in mercy. We can be encouraged that God will not forget us and will be on our side. I believe this is what Paul was saying in his message about being both abased and abounding. If this is you today, then let us be encouraged and say together with Paul,

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You, the Most High King. Thank You for Your mercy toward us. Thank You for all You do, and for not withholding Your provision from us. Thank You that You supply all our need. Please send today Your plentiful supply for Your children that the whole world may know that You alone are God. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

A Comforting View

Yesterday was an interesting post for me to write. One thing was I somehow titled it originally with the incorrect month. I don’t know if it gave you a laugh, but I had to laugh at myself this morning when I sat down to type and saw it.

The post yesterday was most interesting to me because of the subject of the sabbaths, both the place of perpetual rest that was promised from the beginning, and the weekly sabbath that Paul says remains for us all (Hebrews 4:9). I continued to think about what Paul was saying, trying to better understand it. He had made a connection between the weekly sabbath and the faith that brings us the opportunity missed by the children of Israel in the desert to obtain that place of rest forever with God. I say this because Paul connected the faith to enter in to the rest with God to the weekly sabbath by saying “Therefore” which indicates he is drawing this as a conclusion. In verse eleven he goes on to talk about working at it. So what does all this mean?

Faith has and is accessed by a pattern. If we can believe God enough to follow the pattern (the weekly sabbath), it will help to build our faith for the bigger prize, that of eternal rest. Interestingly enough the simple pattern of the weekly sabbath was broken in the desert at least once by the children of Israel.

Exodus 16:27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

This is just one of the recorded instances where the children of Israel in the desert demonstrated a lack of faith in God through their disobedience. Faith has a pattern.

These passages from Paul also imply that we can have the eternal rest beginning now. We obtain it through faith. The place of this eternal rest comes through faith in God being who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do. What happened for me was that I began to see that there is a “place” we can be in our hearts and minds that allows us to see a circumstance as something that my God is about to deliver me from as opposed to something to complain about or be afraid will overtake me and my family. And if I find myself in a place where I feel overwhelmed, then at that moment I have the wrong perspective, and I need to find the perspective that allows me to see God about to work. This view is a great comfort.

The truth is God did not take the children of Israel out in the desert to die, and He has not brought us to the desert to die either. We need to believe that God is who He says He is and trust that He will do what He says He will do.

Prayer
Father, thank You for this day today. Thank You for the demonstration of the commitment to us that You make with the very creation around us every day. Thank You for all that You have already done for us, and for the promise to deliver us daily. Please reach out to Your people today and heal their hearts and minds. Please provide the wholeness for today that is needed for today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Waking Up To Rest

This morning my daughter was knocking at our bedroom door. It was a little early, but she wanted breakfast. I told my wife to sleep in and I would make her breakfast. After getting things around and sitting down to type this post, it occurred to me that what we really do on the sabbath morning is wake up to rest. If the sabbath is the day of rest, then it is something we are to intentionally do. It is the purpose of the day.

It also made me think about all the years that I did not rest. For so many years I spent my time either working or just doing my own thing. It wasn’t like I sat down and consciously said, “I am not going to consider what God wants, I will just do what I want.” No, it was more like not being aware. Or maybe like being in a fog or something. No, it was more like being asleep. Then, I woke up.

When we wake up to God’s calling us, it can be truly amazing! God created us and calls us to be with Him and like Him. If we think about it, it makes sense that the Creator would certainly create on purpose with a purpose. We see this over and over again in scripture. Even Paul speaks of this in his letter to the Hebrews. In the first eight verses of Hebrews 4 we read,

Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
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.

Paul cautions us to believe and trust in God. He is making reference here to the children of Israel when they were in the desert constantly complained and talked about how God had brought them out to die. They did not have faith (which includes trust) in God. God calls the rest that He is calling us to eventually a place in verse four. All of this is to tell us that there is a rest we have to get to by faith. But what is this talk of rest leading up to here? The answer is found in the next verse, which begins with “Therefore.”

Hebrews 9:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Here is the interesting part. The word for rest in verse nine is not the same as the other places where the word rest appears. In fact, they are all the same except here. The word here for rest, in the Greek, is the word “sabbath”, or more accurately, “certain sabbath” referring to the sabbath that is the seventh day. Paul is saying that to get to the rest that we long for at the end of time takes faith, therefore keep the sabbath. In fact, he says we must make an effort to enter into that rest in the end by faith, which he has now tied to keeping the sabbath, when he addresses the effort needed in verse eleven.

Hebrews 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Let’s work as best we can at entering into that future rest by faith, by believing and trusting God that His statutes and commands are true. Let’s enter into the sabbath today on purpose.

Prayer
Father, we praise You as the Most High God. Thank You for taking care of us and for that promised rest that is coming. Please help us to learn to trust in You. Please help us to know that we will be with You. Please touch our hearts as we rest unto You in faith today. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Calling To Our Hearts

Each day God calls to us to get us to turn toward Him and away from those things that would distract us or keep us from Him. We are given the power to do that if we have come to grips with who we are, looked to God and asked for forgiveness of our sins, and then allowed Jesus (Yeshua) to come into our life as the Messiah. God is always willing to meet us to forgive us of our sin. He will never turn His back on us. This is a model of we are to be as well.

If someone has wronged us, then we have an opportunity to forgive them just as God has forgiven us. In Matthew 18, Peter asked Jesus (Yeshua) how many times he had to forgive someone.

Matthew 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Jesus responded seventy times seven, which is commonly interpreted as forever. Jesus goes on to tell the parable of a servant that could not repay his master. When the servant was to be sold along with his family to pay the debt, he begged his master for mercy. The master forgave the debt. This now free slave went out and demanded payment from other slaves, and did so in an unforgiving manner. When the original master heard of it, he had the unforgiving slave thrown into prison because he was forgiven much but would not forgive others. Then Jesus said about this parable,

Matthew 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Today, as I reflect on this verse, and think of how God has been forgiving to me, I am more impressed than ever to forgive those that have wronged me. It is so minor a thing to do compared to the forgiveness and promise of life that God has given unto me.

Prayer
Father, You are the Mighty God, our King. Please forgive us today those things which we have done wrong, and help us to forgive those that have wronged us. Please reach out to all Your people and stir their hearts today father to have mercy on their fellow man. Please heal us Father. Please heal our land. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Only One King

Here in the Midwest the weather is changing as we move into fall. What only a few months ago was a view into a brightly lit greenery of trees and bushes in the forest beyond my kitchen window this morning is covered yet in the black of night. Temperatures approached freezing overnight. When the dawn does arrive, it will lighten a newly painted view of browns, reds, oranges and fading green as leaves begin to change and fall. As a child I loved to pile up the leaves and jump into them. In the recent past I have found myself upset at the knee high leaf carpet that forms around my house and requires my attention for many hours. This year, however, is different.

This year I have come to realize more than ever that there is just One King, our God. He made the creation to reflect Him in His greatness, to tell His story. The fall holds the story of the birth of the Messiah. The winter makes us long for spring. Spring holds the story of renewal, the renewal we receive through the death on the cross of Yeshua (Jesus). Just as He rose from the dead, the first of many brethren, so shall we rise because we have been reborn. When I rake my leaves, I am participating in the dance of life. I am participating in the rhythm of the universe set by God Himself, our King. This year I will earnestly try to remember that, being thankful and content in all things, including the raking of the leaves.

I guess this means I will have to enjoy shoveling snow as well?

Prayer
Father, we thank You for the dance of life, the rhythm You have placed in the universe. You alone are King. We ask that You help us to be thankful and content in all things. We ask that You be with us today, whether we have cold weather today or hot. We ask that You hold us close, and give to us and to others those things we need today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Remembering In Times Of Struggle

This morning during my prayer time I had a sense of the enemy coming against me and my family. This was stronger than I can remember in recent days, and took me by surprise. As I prayed and read the scriptures, I remembered something I heard recently about the value of singing the scriptures. In prayer God had given me Psalms 103. I decided to sing it though out loud. It actually begins with what is a popular song,

Psalms 103:1Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Actually, there are several songs that begin with this first verse or some modification. Singing it out loud, even though I sing poorly and there is no rhyme scheme or melody to it, really helped.

If you are fighting the good fight today and feel a struggle, ask God to give you a scripture, or just pick one, and sing it out loud to Him in faith as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. The blessing it brings is great, and God loves our praise!

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. Thank You for standing up for us. I ask that You work mightily in each of our lives today. I ask that You break through any strongholds over people, their health, their finances, or any part of their well being. Smash the enemy today, Lord. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Imitating God

Have you ever had something inside you that you felt God was trying to say to you but you just could not quite put the words together? What I mean is when you try to tell someone what you feel God is doing in your life or saying to you about your life, the words just did not quite tell the whole story. Today’s title is a little like that for me. I began by reading and praying in Psalms 91, but ended up in Psalms 89. Psalms 91 is about the secret place of the Most High and how God defends us when in that place.

Psalms 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

This scripture has always been a great comfort to me and to many. Sometimes I struggle with matching this scripture up with what seems to be the reality in which I live. God is on our side if we abide in Him, because really He is on His side and that is where we need to be. But I have not “arrived” at perfection. If you feel the same reading this, then perhaps you will benefit from the rest here. I love the idea of the secret place – who wouldn’t, right? The real question for me is, how do I get there?

Many scriptures address this idea, but today I found additional help to understanding “getting there” in Psalms 89. The Psalmist begins with praising God, and also God speaks in return. In verses 3-4 we read,

Psalms 89:3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

God says He established David’s family forever. This He did in giving us the Messiah from the lineage of David. When we repent and ask Jesus (Yeshua) to be our Lord, we are born again into that bloodline, forever. Jesus is then with us and in us. (If you want a theological explanation beyond that I am really not the guy to give that to you, I can only tell you it is true in my life.) What I found curious is the building up of the throne to all generations. The Hebrew for throne here means “covering” or “covered seat”. The word for “build up” means to both make and to repair. But Jesus is perfect, right? So what is being built and repaired? We find the answer further on in Psalms 89. In verses 30-32 God warns against sin,

Psalms 89:30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

But the good news comes in verses 33-37, where God promises to restore His loving-kindness after the course correction He provides,

Psalms 89:33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

God is in the business of building up His people. That means He does not forgive us once and then smash us forever when we make a mistake. He is a loving Father. He is in the business of giving us the new birth, and providing course correction when we mess up, and then repairing us when we turn back to Him. He builds us up, He edifies His people, forever! This is a part of God we are called to imitate – we are to build one another up!

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Master Builder King. Thank You for giving us new life in the Messiah! And thank You many times over for providing course correction and repair. Please forgive us for those things we have done wrong, to You and others. Please restore us today, Father. Please bring us back into Your secret place that no man might say that You utterly cast us off. Please help those that read this today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Ye Are Gods

In John 10:34 we read,

John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

Why did He make this comment to them? If we read in chapter 9 up to this point we see that Jesus (Yeshua) had healed the blind man by making mud from spit and having the man go to the pool to wash it off. When the man comes to Him, He discovers that Jesus (Yeshua) is the one that healed him and gave him sight. The Pharisees were upset because Jesus said,

John 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

What came next was the comparison to the thief and the shepherd. Jesus (Yeshua) is the Good Shepherd. He says His sheep hear His voice. He also drew a sharp distinction between Himself and darkness,

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

When I first read this I had difficulty understanding why the Pharisees were so upset. The answer comes from their belief that He was claiming to be God. For me, this was difficult to see by just reading this passage. However, if we go to verse 22, we get a clue,

John 10:22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

The feast of dedication mentioned here is Hanukkah which celebrates the re-dedication of the temple after the Jewish people took it back. This was when, according to tradition, they had only enough consecrated oil for the lamp stand in the temple for the flame to burn one day. It burned eight days, allowing for the consecration of more oil and thus the consecration of the temple. At Hanukkah, the menorah (lamp stand) is changed from seven candle sticks to eight in front with one behind. The one behind is lit first, and then each day an additional candle is lit by using this candle in the back. This candle in the back is referred to as the Light of the World, and is representative of God. While this is not a High Holy Day, Jesus did celebrate this tradition.

The Pharisees were aware of this tradition. They knew what time of year it was. The statements by Jesus did imply that He was God. In John 10, Jesus (Yeshua) eluded to being God by referring to God (the Father) as His Father. However, there is a more direct claim by Jesus (Yeshua) to being God, if we understand this tradition. To understand why the Pharisees believed that Jesus (Yeshua) was claiming to be God, we have to back up a couple chapters. It is important to remember when we read scriptures that the original writing did not have the chapter and verse markings. If we go back to chapter eight, which would still be near the feast of dedication with the tradition clearly in everyone’s mind, Jesus forgave the sins of the woman caught in adultery by challenging those without sin to cast the first stone. When they all backed away, He forgave her her sins, and said this to those around, including the Pharisees,

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

The Pharisees begin to be outraged at this clear declaration by Jesus (Yeshua) to be the Light of the World – God.

The reference to “Ye are gods” goes back to Psalms 82. Essentially Jesus (Yeshua) was telling them that they were unjust judges. Their judgements were wrong in the Psalmists’ day, and they were wrong about Yeshua (Jesus). They walk about in darkness. He is the Light of the World.

Prayer
Father, thank You for sending Your Son, Yeshua (Jesus), to be the Light of the World. Thank You for giving us such a great gift. Thank You for providing for us deliverance, healing, and the power over sin. Please touch the hearts and minds of those that need Your powerful touch today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Strength And Beauty

Isn’t it interesting how we as humans go fast when sometimes we need to slow down? Over the last three days that showed up for me by getting a fever and having to sleep most of the day. This afternoon as I am slowly recovering my wife sent me a text of a scripture that she felt God wanted me to read. Reading it was a great comfort to me, so I thought I would share it with you, as well as why it was a comfort. Maybe it will be a comfort to you as well.

Psalms 96:6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

What really comforted me in this passage is that we are before God and we are His sanctuary as believers. That means that no matter how bad I feel or how bad I think I look after being sick for a couple days, God looks at me through the blood of His Son, Jesus (Yeshua). He sees me in honour and majesty. Wow! And again, when I feel so weak that all I can do is sleep, God puts His strength and beauty in me, because I am His sanctuary. God will place in me the strength and beauty I need to move forward.

Here is the good news. If you are a believer, this applies to you as well! You are seen by God as having honour and majesty. Because you are His sanctuary, He places His strength and beauty in you. When you next feel weak, sick, or in a sad place, just remember Jesus (Yeshua) died for that too, and God promised these promises for you!

Prayer
Father, we praise You for Your kindness toward us. You are the Healer King, the One that watches over all. Thank You for seeing us through Your eyes and not through our own. Please raise up Your people in a way that causes the whole world to know that You alone are King. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.