Let me assure you that I heard you when you said that you were trying. Don't you think that the majority are in the same place as you? Not everyone exudes the same harshness of your self discipline. Some have already given up. Then again, there are a few who have been granted to know the meaning for their suffering.
I read a rabbi once, who said that "Faith is in the questioning." It's a start. If you want answers, then this is the motivation to begin the search. Our own selves is what is in need of examination.
Anger lessens our ability to reason. Don't throw yourself into this harsh effort by leaving reason behind, without the careful forethought necessary for achieving satisfaction. Analyze your motives carefully, why you do the things you do. Think about what matters. If your motivation is not transcendent, if you do not sacrifice for Christ, then, quite frankly, it's a waste of everyone's time. There is NO ONE ELSE who can give love that lasts forever like Christ can. Christ's is the absolute morality of self sacrifice.
John 12:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Romans 8:17
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Philippians 1:29
29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.
This is God explaining it to us. How much we are willing to go through to get to Him is proving how greatly we desire Him! Do not be put off! Do not be offended into unbelief and alienation! We strive for the goal of knowing Him so we can be like Him! He is establishing us and the fruit we bear, in Him, forever!
"I give myself permission to rest in You and be at peace. I need the sun (Son) for this, to lighten my eyes, to flood my soul, to reach into the dark, shut off parts of my being, to bring healing, to give peace. I will stop punishing myself so I can make myself worthy, and will let it be You who transforms me into someone who can love, with no agenda except Yours. I will follow You into that security of place that You have given me. Forged in fire, this assurance is unshakeable, is calm, and at rest. No force of strength, no scheme of hell, will affect me in Your stillness, for Your presence surrounds me. I will see what You will do with me!"
Friday, April 25, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
A Prayer For You
My experiences, of being blessed with the gift of being prayed for, is that it is indicative of profound empathy (far beyond just caring) and is the greatest gift we can give another human being, after the message of the Gospel. What we are doing here, is bringing another into conjunction with the greatest good: God Himself. I've had some awesome stuff happen to me when someone prayed for me!
I had the great idea, recently, that this was something I wanted to spread around! You can never apprehend too much of God! It's the polite thing to ask first, but imagine my dismay when my first request was met with angry refusal! In reaction, I made a more timid approach to my next potential customer and was met with what seemed a veritable wall of disinterest. Now I am perplexed. These are people who know me extremely well. Are they afraid? What's not to want about being prayed for?
What is it about my proposal that they reject? I can only think of one thing. Those who turn away blessing can only be misinformed about the nature of what is being offered. They must be thinking they see something in me, or in God, that is falsely ascribed. I have nothing to gain in this transaction, except the joy of their reaction to the miracle called love. God desires to reconcile any who are willing. (His patience DOES run out.)
Seriously, if God cannot be trusted, then absolutely no one can. That is no limb that I wish to be crawling out on, setting myself up as God's judge. I've seen how much He's done for us, and He has won my absolute loyalty. He has done everything needed to save us, Himself. Do you want to be the one to tell Him that it's not good enough? Do you really think you can do better?
I had the great idea, recently, that this was something I wanted to spread around! You can never apprehend too much of God! It's the polite thing to ask first, but imagine my dismay when my first request was met with angry refusal! In reaction, I made a more timid approach to my next potential customer and was met with what seemed a veritable wall of disinterest. Now I am perplexed. These are people who know me extremely well. Are they afraid? What's not to want about being prayed for?
What is it about my proposal that they reject? I can only think of one thing. Those who turn away blessing can only be misinformed about the nature of what is being offered. They must be thinking they see something in me, or in God, that is falsely ascribed. I have nothing to gain in this transaction, except the joy of their reaction to the miracle called love. God desires to reconcile any who are willing. (His patience DOES run out.)
Seriously, if God cannot be trusted, then absolutely no one can. That is no limb that I wish to be crawling out on, setting myself up as God's judge. I've seen how much He's done for us, and He has won my absolute loyalty. He has done everything needed to save us, Himself. Do you want to be the one to tell Him that it's not good enough? Do you really think you can do better?
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
A Tale of Two Sisters
Two sisters live who are daughters of one father. Their inheritance has been that of a pagan world. Their blood has followed gods which are no such thing.
One of the sisters chose to follow the path of the widely accepted family religion. It seemed a very stable and established path. Expectations and consequences were clearly expressed by the writings of her ancestors. She followed all the ritual observances to the letter. That way, she would acheive and maintain the respect and consideration of those close to her. They must see her as righteous because of her efforts, but her heart and convictions would remain her own. No one had the right to actually tell her what to think. No one must demand her loyalty without her consent.
The other daughter chose to cut herself free from the grinding weariness of authoritarian thought. She did not want to be a part of a duality which bordered on psychosis, which made WHO you are and WHAT you do, separate dimensions of existence. She sought something transcendent over all, One worthy of trust. She pursued Love. This belief, this faith, seems the most fragile of all foundations on which to build a destiny, yet she broke off from her inheritance and left her roots behind. She gave it all, as a package, to follow Him.
One of the greatest stories of faith of all time is the story of Rebecca, who left her family behind, and went to a country far away from them, to marry a man she had never met. He and she were blood kin, related from the past. Her soon to be husband, Issac, represents Messiah, and Rebecca, His bride, are His redeemed, taken from, and away from, the world, to live with Him. Issac already had been offered at Mt. Moriah, and disappears from the text of the story until His bride is brought to Him by the The Servant, in the open field near His home.
The sister of the bride is not spoken of in this text. She remained behind. She had thought she understood how to do well for herself in fulfilling the demands of the world. She did not seem to realize that she was despised by them and they simply used her for for their own purposes. What she thought to gain by her own strength and intelligence has been taken away. All the world is arrayed against her. She wanders without a home for many long, agonizing years. She will not live free from fear until she, too, commits her heart to the path of faith, and abandons her struggle for self realization. She must turn to her LORD to come into her inheritance of peace, joy, and accomplishment that the Father has reserved just for her.
One of the sisters chose to follow the path of the widely accepted family religion. It seemed a very stable and established path. Expectations and consequences were clearly expressed by the writings of her ancestors. She followed all the ritual observances to the letter. That way, she would acheive and maintain the respect and consideration of those close to her. They must see her as righteous because of her efforts, but her heart and convictions would remain her own. No one had the right to actually tell her what to think. No one must demand her loyalty without her consent.
The other daughter chose to cut herself free from the grinding weariness of authoritarian thought. She did not want to be a part of a duality which bordered on psychosis, which made WHO you are and WHAT you do, separate dimensions of existence. She sought something transcendent over all, One worthy of trust. She pursued Love. This belief, this faith, seems the most fragile of all foundations on which to build a destiny, yet she broke off from her inheritance and left her roots behind. She gave it all, as a package, to follow Him.
One of the greatest stories of faith of all time is the story of Rebecca, who left her family behind, and went to a country far away from them, to marry a man she had never met. He and she were blood kin, related from the past. Her soon to be husband, Issac, represents Messiah, and Rebecca, His bride, are His redeemed, taken from, and away from, the world, to live with Him. Issac already had been offered at Mt. Moriah, and disappears from the text of the story until His bride is brought to Him by the The Servant, in the open field near His home.
The sister of the bride is not spoken of in this text. She remained behind. She had thought she understood how to do well for herself in fulfilling the demands of the world. She did not seem to realize that she was despised by them and they simply used her for for their own purposes. What she thought to gain by her own strength and intelligence has been taken away. All the world is arrayed against her. She wanders without a home for many long, agonizing years. She will not live free from fear until she, too, commits her heart to the path of faith, and abandons her struggle for self realization. She must turn to her LORD to come into her inheritance of peace, joy, and accomplishment that the Father has reserved just for her.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Stranger Still
This day is the dawn of year 6000 since creation, according to http://www.torahcalendar.com . Year 6000 is a sabbatical year, the one out of seven in which the land rests. It will be the seventh such since the last year of jubilee, making jewish year 6001 also a year of jubilee, the year in which all debts are forgiven, all property is returned to its rightful owner, and all slaves are freed. In year 6001 begins the reign of Messiah. The seventh "day" will be the "sabbath" of the children of God, the thousand years of the reign of Messiah, a rest from the wicked one and his works. Counting the number of years of jubilee since creation adds up to a total of 120 years, as long as God said that He would strive with man. Genesis 6:3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
This year of Jubilee will coincide with the 50th year of my life. It will be my, as it says in the Greek, pentecost. Rebecca (which is also my name), is the bride of Messiah, and has her year of jubilee, the fiftieth year, start just before the start of year 6001, which is the dawn of the 7th day. Rebecca has gone through her four year test, and has been vindicated by her Savior and His blood paid price. Now comes the wedding celebration. The bride will forever be with her kinsman and groom, to rule at his side (Psalm 45). Her sibling and sister, Israel, will be cared for by the bride.
The world must go through it's own test. A stock market crash, nuclear war, and the incursion of the "bringers of the dawn" who are no such thing. America is the daughter of Babylon spoken of in Isaiah 47, brought low to the status of captured slaves. She is the kingdom of the false prophet who will force all the world to worship at the image of the beast.
This year of Jubilee will coincide with the 50th year of my life. It will be my, as it says in the Greek, pentecost. Rebecca (which is also my name), is the bride of Messiah, and has her year of jubilee, the fiftieth year, start just before the start of year 6001, which is the dawn of the 7th day. Rebecca has gone through her four year test, and has been vindicated by her Savior and His blood paid price. Now comes the wedding celebration. The bride will forever be with her kinsman and groom, to rule at his side (Psalm 45). Her sibling and sister, Israel, will be cared for by the bride.
The world must go through it's own test. A stock market crash, nuclear war, and the incursion of the "bringers of the dawn" who are no such thing. America is the daughter of Babylon spoken of in Isaiah 47, brought low to the status of captured slaves. She is the kingdom of the false prophet who will force all the world to worship at the image of the beast.
The Gathering Together
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who [is] this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. " Psalm 24:8,9
Ezekiel 46:1 Thus saith the Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
Ezekiel 46:2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.
Ezekiel 46:3 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons.
Ezekiel 10:19
And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
Numbers 2:3
And on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies: and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be captain of the children of Judah.
Judges 21:19
Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
Zechariah 14:4
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Numbers 10:2
Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.
Num 10:3 "When both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
Num 10:9 "When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God, and be saved from your enemies.
Num 10:10 "Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God."
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