We all know we are to have faith in God.

Believers who have been “Born Again” know that we are to faithfully believe Yeshua is the Messiah sent by God.

The Bible tells us that through faith in God (and Yeshua) we can be found righteous in God’s eyes, as Abraham was.

But what about faith in ourselves?

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Personally, I have much more faith in God than I do in people, and for good reason- God is God, proven over millennia to be 1000% trustworthy and dependable, and never changing.

People, on the other hand, are well…they’re people, born with iniquity, self-centered, and desiring only to do what is pleasing to the body.

And I am one of them, so how can I have any faith in myself, other than faith to know that I will probably screw up, sooner or later.

And much sooner than later, to be sure.

Yet, I do have faith in myself to do what is right, and that faith developed only because I have faith in God.

My faith and trust in God instill in me the unshakable and concrete knowledge that God will see to my needs, help me to be better (even when I backslide), and always be there for me. I also know that whatever talents I have, God gave me. Yes, I have developed them and I can use them wisely and efficiently (usually), and that helps me feel confident in my abilities. When I say this I am not bragging or being egocentric because whatever I do well, I know that it is not really me but instead, God working through me.

I screw up plenty of times, and when I do, that’s when I can take full credit.

My faith in God is what allows me to have faith in myself.

I know people who are shy, have no confidence in themselves and are self-deprecating. They constantly refuse to speak up, even when they know they are in the right, and won’t defend either themselves or even those they love when being wronged.

And their first reaction to trying anything new is to say they can’t do it, which is not the truth but ends up being the case.

Henry Ford is credited with saying “Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you can’t- you are right!”

I believe one reason for people to avoid speaking up for themselves or others is not that they are meek (meekness takes strength!) and not because they think they are wrong, but because they lack faith in themselves, which means that they don’t have enough faith in God!

The saddest part of this, at least, with the people I know who are like this, is that their lack of faith in themselves becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because they are afraid if they speak out that someone might shame them. Their lack of confidence is what keeps them from developing confidence, so naturally, they have little or no faith in themselves.

And because they are so lacking in faith in themselves, even if it comes down to speaking the truth about God, they will not speak out.

Yeshua said if we are ashamed of him, then he will be ashamed of us when we come before God (Luke 9:26). I interpret that as meaning if we don’t speak about God or Messiah Yeshua with confidence, then we are showing ourselves ashamed of him.

If lack of faith in yourself is what causes you to not speak to other people confidently and with conviction about God, that also represents a lack of faith in God. And, if you don’t have enough faith in God to trust him to help you by putting the proper words in your mouth, then you will never have any faith in yourself!

It’s a self-defeating cycle born from fear and distrust.

Didn’t Yeshua tell his Disciples in Mark 13:11 that they shouldn’t worry when they are arrested about what to say because the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) will inspire them and give them the words they need?

God is always here; he always knows what we need, and if we trust in him, faithfully believing he will take care of us, then we have nothing to fear. We can speak boldly and with confidence to anyone.

And that also means you can do things with confidence. Instead of immediately denying your ability to do anything, even if you have tried before and failed, you should never shirk from a challenge. Trust in God to be able to do anything will motivate you to try new things, to step out into the world confidently and unafraid because you know that no matter what you face, God is there, besides you.

And when speaking out to defend yourself or God’s truth against judgmental and cruel people, there will be no need for you to be that way; the Ruach can provide you with the kindest words possible for telling someone they are being a real jerk, and in such a way they might actually begin to see the light.

All you need to do is have faith that God will always be able to help you to walk boldly, or talk boldly, or act boldly when dealing with life’s adversities and challenges.

Remember that Yeshua also told us in Matthew 10:28 not to be afraid of what human beings can do to us because they can only affect our bodies. We are to be concerned, instead, with the one who can destroy our soul.

Strengthen your faith in God by stepping out into the world with confidence- not so much in yourself as being able to do anything, but in God being able to help you do anything. Speak with confidence, act with certainty, and do not teeter-totter your way through life.

Our God is not a God of sitting back and being worried about what you can or can’t do- he is a God of stepping out and doing as you think God wants you to do.

God will always guide your footsteps, but you have to get off your tuchas and start walking.

So get going, and your faith in God to guide you in both words and actions will give you confidence in yourself, and through that confidence, you will be giving glory to God.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, share these messages with everyone you know, and if you like what you get here, you will love my books, which are available on Amazon or through my website.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Today I am going to present perhaps the most difficult to accept message I think I have ever preached.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

The title pretty much says it all: too many people, mostly Christians but Jews, as well, are taking the easy path to salvation, which is the wrong way to go.

The traditional Christian teaching is that so long as you “believe in Jesus” (whatever that is supposed to mean) and are a good person, you will go to heaven.

In Judaism, we are taught from the moment we start to interact with Gentiles that Jesus was a traitor to Judaism and created a new religion that kills Jews. Our path to salvation is to be Torah observant and, especially in the Orthodox and Chasidic sects, to accept the Talmud (called the Oral law) as scripture and do what the Rabbi says, whether or not it is in the Torah.

Practicing Judaism is a much more difficult road to salvation than the one that Christianity has mapped out, but neither can get you there if you do not accept that Yeshua is the Messiah (that is for Jews) and that Jesus never said you don’t have to follow the Torah (that is for Christians.)

The fact that Yeshua said he did and said only what God told him to do and say, which is what God has always told us to do (in the Torah) shows that modern Christianity has nothing to do, whatsoever, with the things Yeshua taught.

Our comfort zone is where we love to be-it is easy to do since we have always done it, there is nothing we have to change or relearn, and when all is said and done, it is quite…. comfortable.

Who wants to be uncomfortable when you can be comfortable, right?

Or, we could say who wants to learn something new when everyone you trust and love has always told you you don’t need to?

Or, bottom line? Who wants to know the truth when the truth means everything you think you know is wrong?

And that’s what this ministry of mine is all about- trying to get you to realize that what you have been taught all your life may not be right!

I won’t tell you what to believe, but if you listen to me AND (now this is the important part) are willing to re-examine and verify your comfort zone, then I have done what I set out to do.

Look- staying where you are with regards to your knowledge of the Bible is fine if you have spent years reading the Bible and are very familiar with it. But if you haven’t read the Bible at least 5 or 6 times, all the way through- even the really boring parts- then you are in a comfort zone that might just give you a comfortable ride all the way to Sheol (that’s Hell, for those of you who are comfortable not knowing the Bible.)

And for anyone who thinks that just going to services and hearing the Rabbi or Priest, Minister, Pastor…whatever…tell you what you need to know to be saved, you are in a comfort zone that will ruin your eternity. Believe me!

Being comfortable when it comes to knowing God and what he wants from you is dangerous, and can only lead you to a very dissatisfying tour of eternity. So don’t hurt yourself by remaining blissfully ignorant of what God wants from you.

Here are two adages that everyone knows and no one argues against:

1. Anything worth having is worth working for; and
2. When you get something for free, you get only what you paid for.

These are especially important to remember when we are talking about salvation. Yes, it is a free gift from God but it is not easy to keep; it is going to take work, and although no one can take it away from you, you can certainly throw it away.

How? By remaining in your comfort zone, which never takes you where you need to be.

PLEASE!! Listen to me, hear what I am saying- if you are comfortable in your spiritual life, you need to get off your tuchas and do more. Read the Bible more, especially the first 5 books and start to do what God wants you to do.

Christianity teaches to ignore God’s instructions in the Torah, and that is way more comfortable than obeying God, but think about this: since God never said to change how to worship him, and Yeshua never said to ignore his father’s commandments, then the teaching that you can reject the Torah must be from a human source. And when you meet God at Judgment Day and say you followed what a human being told you to do instead of what God told you to do, how do you think he will react to that?

And, for any Jewish readers who still want to reject hearing anything about Yeshua, I ask you to please consider that people who told you to reject Yeshua are just repeating what they have been told. Being raised Jewish, myself, I know that even listening to someone talk about Yeshua being the Messiah feels like betraying Judaism, but it isn’t. It requires you to leave a comfort zone that has prevented you from knowing the truth. Hey, look- if this guy Yeshua (Jesus) isn’t the Messiah, then what harm can it do to learn about him? And if he is, then you might just realize you have been missing the boat to salvation. And the best part is…you do NOT have to become a Christian to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah. I am more “Jewish” since I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah than I ever was growing up rejecting him.

Everyone– read my latest book, “The Good News About the Messiah for Jews:
Debunking the Traditional Lies About the Jewish Messiah” to learn how you
have been forced into a comfort zone that is killing you!

We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less. That is the constant challenge, and if you do so whole-heartedly, every day trying to be better than you were the previous day, you will never have to worry about being stuck in a comfort zone.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to this ministry on my website and my YouTube channel, as well. And I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for now, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

How many times have you heard someone ask, “How can a good God allow so much evil in the world?”

Maybe you have even asked this question, yourself?

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Well, the answer is actually so simple it is hard to accept: there has to be evil in the world to allow us to be good.

Think about it…if there were no rules of moral conduct, which define the difference between evil and good, then everything is either evil or everything is good. You can’t have a one-sided coin; at least, not in this plane of existence.

Shaul, that nice Jewish tentmaker from Tarsus, said it well when he wrote to the Roman Believers telling them that without the Torah there could be no sin. In fact, he went as far as to say the Torah created sin! (Romans 5)

Shaul explained that sin existed long before God gave us the Torah, and what the Torah did was to define sin, so that now we had a baseline, so to speak, regarding what was proper and what wasn’t.

The world has a problem with evil and good, though, because the different societies in the world each define what is right and wrong. There is no standard set of rules for everyone (such as within the Torah), but instead, evil and good are defined by whatever that specific society determines is evil or good.

We all have been given the gift of Free Will, the right to decide what we will do or won’t do. But in order for that opportunity to be exercised, we need to have options. The options God gave us are to do as he said to do or to reject what he said to do.

Doing what God says is good, and rejecting what God says is evil: pretty simple decision, right?

Wrong!

Why wrong? Because too many human beings have taught others to do what they believe you should do as being what God said you should do.

Example: God said to observe the Shabbat on the 7th day, which is Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, but the early Christian leaders (who, by the end of the 1st Century were mostly Gentiles) decided that they would celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, which is the first day of the week.

Another example: God told us the Holy Days he requires us to observe and how to observe them in Leviticus 23 (note: Holy Days are not holidays, the former being God-ordained and the latter being man-made), but Christianity has rejected every single Holy Day God demands us to celebrate (they didn’t fully reject the Sabbath, but they did reject the day God said to celebrate it) and instead created their own holidays.

Now, it is OK to have a holiday to celebrate God and his Messiah, but it is NOT OK to reject the Holy Days God said we must observe.

I believe God allows evil because it is necessary to have evil if we want good to exist; that sounds like an oxymoron, but it is a fact of life in the physical world.

Perhaps, when Judgement Day is over, the new temple, new Jerusalem, and new earth are given to those who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah and been faithfully obedient- obedient to God, not to men– there will be only righteous people and righteous acts.

Perhaps, in the eternal presence of God, we will be able to have that one-sided coin, the one where no evil exists.

To my flesh, that sounds a little dull, as in what fun is there in that? But, to my spirit, it sounds like eternal rest and joy.

I suppose when it happens, I will get used to it.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. Subscribe to my website, YouTube channel, and join my Facebook discussion group, Just God’s Word.

And please remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!