Author: Steven R. Bruck

If God Knows Our Hearts and Minds, Why the Need to Pray?

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Every morning when I take my daily meds, which is always proceeded by my thanking God for these meds and that they work for me and Donna, a thought came to mind…if God knows what I am thinking and he knows the gratitude in my heart, why am I thanking him? I mean, he already knows this so why be redundant?

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I thought also of when Yeshua told us to invoke his name when we ask for something so that he will make sure we get it, but that is the same thing. We are told in the Gospels that Yeshua knew (by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh) what the people were thinking, so to ask in his name is also somewhat unnecessary, right? God knows our minds and what we are thinking, so why even ask in Yeshua’s name when God knows that’s what we mean?

Then it hit me: the reason we need to pray is that relationships are strengthened by communication, and the more we talk with someone the stronger our relationship becomes. With God, it is mostly one-way communication, but we can still, now and then, receive a response, either verbally or that still, small voice we hear in the back of our head.

Personally, I never trust myself to know the difference between hearing from God or just telling myself what I want to hear, and so, for me, when that little voice tells me something that I really find difficult, or that is not really what I was hoping to hear, then I can be pretty certain it is from God.

For example, I once asked God (and still do) to excise any lustful or sexually questionable thoughts from my head when I see an attractive woman. That being my prayer, I waited for it to happen. After all, I asked in Yeshua’s name so when will it be?

Don’t get the wrong idea- I am not a pervert or a lustful man, really; it’s just that I have been raised in this country
where everything we see growing up on TV or hear on the radio is aimed at sexuality. This is terrible conditioning
that we all grew up with that makes us see nearly everything as some sort of sexual object.

Over time, even with constant prayer, there was no change; then, suddenly one day as I asked, again, for the umpteenth time, I heard this little voice in the back of my head saying, “It doesn’t work that way.”

“Huh? Whaddaya mean, it doesn’t work that way?!? I asked and I even asked in Yeshua’s name, so what’s the problem?”

The problem was, at least for me, that even though I trusted that God can rewire my brain, if he did that I would never be able to strengthen my spiritual muscles and withstand the temptations that the Enemy will throw my way, In other words, the answer to my prayer was not just doing it for me, but showing me that I had to practice self-control. And asking God to do it all for me isn’t going to help me, at all. I need to use the Holy Spirit to guide me to control my own desires and thoughts, as best as I can.

This doesn’t mean that God will not, or hasn’t in the past, done exactly what I asked for myself: to totally rewire someone’s head. But that doesn’t help anyone, really, in the long run. Although he did do for Charlton Heston in the movie “Exodus”, and I know if he wanted to, he could do it to me, too.

But as he told me, it doesn’t work that way.

So I continue to pray, which confirms our relationship and strengthens my trust and devotion to God. Praying is how God and I keep in touch, it is how we share our emotions in a way that I can hear and feel and know that God is listening. And I know he is because he so often lets me know.

Have you ever been praying and felt a chill go throughout your body? You’re not in a draft, and it may even be hot outside but you feel this shiver, this touch all over, and you begin to tear up because you know it is God letting you know he is there with you.

I have felt that many times, but not so much lately. I know it’s not because of anything of God’s doing, but my own, and I need to pray more earnestly and openly. I also know that one day, without warning, God will touch me through his spirit again, and I constantly look forward to when that will happen.

I know he guides me by the Ruach because there are so many times I realize how stupid I am acting, or (more constructively) by knowing that what I want to say is not to be said, and (believe it or not!) most of the time now, I actually don’t say it.

When I do or say something that is right, I know it is God working through me; when I totally screw up, then I can take full credit.

So pray constantly, earnestly, honestly, and ask for whatever you believe you need. Know, also, that God already knows what you want, he knows (better than you) what you need, and he WILL answer your prayer, one way or another, sooner or later, and always with exactly what you really need and just when you need it.

Prayer is our way of maintaining and strengthening our relationship with God, so as Shaul recommended, pray constantly.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages, and check out my books (I have written one about prayer.)

And remember that I always welcome your comments, here and on my Facebook discussion group called “Just God’s Word”.

I will be taking a vacation for the next 10 days, and will not be back with you again until later this month.

Until the next time, then, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Nuttin, Honey!

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That’s right- I got nuttin’ today.

However, as a man of the cloth, so to speak, if I just start jabbering away, something will come to me.

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So should we talk about the current condition of the world?

The moral compass of our government seems to be pointing in the wrong direction, society is in such a severe case of division that we are almost in a de facto Civil War, and we are all being led down the path of fear.

I am not in any way reducing the impact of COVID or the importance of being careful, but for the love of Pete! Enough already, right?

As far as I am concerned, we should get back to normal, and let this thing run its course. I mean, are we even still in a “pandemic” situation? There are percentages that identify a pandemic, and with almost half the population inoculated, is it still a pandemic? Or has it been downgraded to an epidemic?

Maybe it’s now just a contagious disease that is hanging around? Like the “regular” flu or when we say there is a “bad bug” going around?

In any case, Donna and I have finally been able to get passage on a cruise ship and we leave from Miami this Sunday for a week. We are on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship, the Gem. It is a 7 day Caribbean cruise; that is where we normally go every February to celebrate our anniversary. Of course, we haven’t been able to cruise anywhere since February 2019!

NCL requires vaccination proof (which I got ONLY so I could take the cruise) but now, with this sudden revamping of the fear, they changed their policy to have to wear masks (which they didn’t require a week ago!) in some enclosed places.

We are living in an environment of fear.

Anyway, this is a ministry and not a forum for political debate or comment, so let’s bring this down a bit, and get God back in here.

Fear is what the Enemy uses to control us and to lure us away from God. When we trust in God, we know that tsouris will happen and we will be in a bad place regularly- that is how it is when you live in the world. But that doesn’t mean we have to be afraid- we can be cautious, we can be careful, and we certainly should watch our steps all the time, but being afraid is wrong.

Being afraid is showing a lack of trust in God. Look at it this way: even if something happens that is terrible- even if you are killed- if you know the Lord then what is so bad? You will no longer be suffering the idiots in the world, the stupid TV commercials, the weather, the political situation, or even a headache. You will be resting until the final judgment, and then you will be experiencing the total joy and peace of being in the presence of the Lord, forever.

In Philippians 1:21, Shaul said that to live is for Messiah and to die is gain. Living in this fallen and cursed world is not really a lot of fun, but it is necessary. However, no matter what happens, so long as we continue to trust in God, it will turn out for the good. C’mon, remember this…the worst thing anyone on this planet can do to you is to kill you, and that means being in the presence of the Lord, so what’s the problem, right?

I really wish I could go to some island, somewhere, and be away from all the mishigas, but I can’t. So what is left? Dealing with it by remaining faithful to God, doing what I know to be right, putting up with all the stupidity and waiting, (again) faithfully until we are past it all.

My friends, nothing mortal lasts forever, and even if this current state of affairs goes on for years, it will be over and done with, eventually. Trust in God, be patient, stick to what you know to be right, and still respect the right of others to do what they think is right for them, and it will all turn out OK.

And if you don’t believe me, believe history- nothing of this world, good or bad, has ever lasted very long. But God has always been there, is there now, and always will be there for you and me.

Thank you for being here and thank everyone who has subscribed to my YouTube channel recently. Please continue to share these messages (or ramblings, as I’ve done today) to help this ministry grow. Comments are welcomed, but please, even though I did open the topic, don’t make this a political forum.

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

Parashah Re’eh 2021 (Behold) Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17

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The Lord commands the people that when they have entered the land they are to go to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and with the people split into two groups, some on the one mountain and the rest on the other mountain, they are to announce to the land the blessings and curses that God will give them.

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Moses further relates that God also commands the people, once they are in the land, to utterly destroy all of the pagan altars, standing stones, and every remnant of the religious articles of the people they conquered.

God tells the people they are not to sacrifice anywhere they want to, but only where God will choose to place his name.

The other warnings that Moses gives deal with false prophets, and that a religious seducer (someone trying to get the people to follow pagan practices) must be killed as an example, even if members of one’s own family.

The laws regarding Kashrut (Kosher) and holiness are repeated, as are the rules for tithing and the Year of Release, treatment of slaves, and the Pilgrimage Festivals.

What I would like to talk about is the passage where God says we must not sacrifice unless it is where he says we should. Initially, this was at the Tent of Meeting which, during the time of the Judges, was located in Shiloh. Later, King David moved it to Jerusalem, and when King Solomon completed the Temple God then said that is where his name shall reside.

So why was it so terrible to sacrifice elsewhere? Isn’t God everywhere? If I sacrifice to him in my backyard, why is that different than in Jerusalem?

I’ll tell you why: because when we do whatever we want to do, we screw it all up.

The pagans would sacrifice under large trees and on the high places and God didn’t want us to do what they did, in any shape or form. In the Book of Judges, we read no less than three times that there was no king, and the people did as they wanted to. We know by reading that book, that every time the Israelites did what they wanted to, they ended up doing the wrong thing and were punished.

God gives us instructions for worship and treatment of others, and these are not just so that he can demonstrate his authority over us: he gives these to us so we can be protected. He is trying to keep us from harming ourselves, and I don’t mean falling off a ladder or burning our hands, but condemning ourselves to hell for all eternity. When we ignore what God says we should do, we ignore God.

This is a lesson that, unfortunately, Christianity hasn’t learned. They ignore most of the instructions God gave and justify it by referencing what men said, men like Paul, Peter, and James. And even though there are many good things that these men said, none of them is God, and not one of the Apostles or anyone after them has professed himself to be a prophet, hearing directly from God.

When King Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, the Jewish people had a place where they could go to be forgiven of their sins. That was the only place, and when the Romans destroyed it in 73 AD, the Jewish people were devastated because now there was no means of receiving forgiveness.

This is why they have to accept Yeshua as their Messiah because the resurrection of Yeshua was, in a way, a replacement of God’s name.

God said we could only sacrifice at the temple, and that has never changed, but when God raised Yeshua as a sign of his sacrifice being accepted, Yeshua then replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple. The commandment that we cannot sacrifice anywhere except where God places his name still exists and is valid; the only thing that has changed is where God put his name, which is now “on” Yeshua.

By accepting Yeshua as our Messiah, we have a new place where the sacrifice for sin is acceptable to God; through Yeshua, we can ask forgiveness without having to make a sacrifice at the temple.

All the other instructions in the Torah still stand- there is no “Get Out of Jail Free” card just because someone accepts Yeshua as their Messiah. We are ALL still expected to obey what God said we should do in the Torah.

Through Yeshua God has made forgiveness available to everyone, and he did it without ever changing his Torah.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages and check out my Facebook discussion group called Just God’s Word.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

What Doesn’t Work Without Why

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This is going to be a deceptively short and simple message today and is pretty much the definitive difference between Legalism and Faith.

It is such a simple concept that I am not even going to do a video.

Legalism is the belief in performance-based salvation, meaning that what we do is how we are saved, regardless of our actual feelings. This is what religion still teaches today, especially Christianity: just do what we tell you to do and you will be fine.

Faith-based salvation is what Yeshua brought to us because he went beyond the “just do it” legalistic teachings of the Pharisees, and taught us that why we do is just as important as what we do. He taught us the spiritual meaning of the law, the true “new covenant”, i.e. what it means to have the law written on our hearts.

And in the Torah, we are told that Abraham, the poster-child for faith, was considered righteous not just because he believed God (Genesis 15:6) but also because he DID everything that God told him to do (Genesis 26:5).

So no matter how faithful you think you are, if you don’t do what God said to do, and the ONLY place that is found is in the Torah, your faith is not going to get you anywhere (James 2:14). Conversely, if you don’t have faith but try to act in accordance with the Torah in order to earn salvation, you will fail because no one can do everything in the Torah perfectly. That is why God sent the Messiah.

So there you have it: faith and works are inseparable. They are two sides of the same coin and one can’t function without the other. Faith is what must motivate us to do as God says; despite what you may have heard, Yeshua never changed anything and Shaul (Paul) never rejected the Torah or his Judaism. If you do not do as God said you should- not Paul or James or your Rabbi or your Priest, Minister, or whatever- but as God said to do, and you do it because you believe God’s promise of blessings (Deut. 28) and that salvation can now only be through Messiah Yeshua, then you are on the right path.

God has no religion, but men created religion to have power over other men, so if you succumb to religion you will be taken off the path of righteousness and directed down a path made up of ritual and false worship which ends in destruction.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages, and remember that I always welcome your comments.

L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Do You Pray Unconditionally?

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We all know (at least, I hope we all know) that unconditional means without any requirements or minimums. And we all know (at least, I hope we all know) that when we pray we are to pray to God and not to anyone else. We do NOT pray to a saint or even to Yeshua (Jesus), only to God; but, we should pray in the name of Messiah Yeshua because he said that when we pray in his name, it will be done.

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For the record, even though in the Gospel of John where Yeshua says when we pray to him he will do as we ask, he means that he will intercede for us with his father, which is why he adds that he will do it to glorify the Lord. To pray exclusively to Yeshua would be wrong because Yeshua is the Intercessor of our prayers, not the Interceptor of them. John’s Gospel is ultra-spiritual and uses too much metaphor to be able to be understood easily. God said not to bow down or pray to anyone or anything but him, and that is one of the Big 10, so it really seems incomprehensible that his son, Yeshua, would tell us to do differently.

All that is well and good, we know what unconditional is, we know to pray to God, but what do I mean when I say to pray unconditionally? I mean to trust God to know what to do and how to do it.

Over the past 2 1/2 decades of my knowing the Lord and his Messiah, I have heard many people pray. And when they pray I hear them telling God what he should do, or how he should do it. For example:

“Lord, so-and-so is suffering with (whatever) so please do this, make that happen, ensure this is done this way, don’t forget to close the doors and turn off the lights, remember to feed the cat while they’re in the hospital, yadda-yadda-yadda…”

You know what? God knows what needs to be done, and in which order, and even all the sideline activities that are necessary. We don’t need to tell him what to do, and the truth is, he knows better than we ever will what is best to do and how to do it, so when I ask if you pray unconditionally, what I am asking is do you simply ask God to do something without all the requirements, instructions, and details?

In Numbers 12, after speaking out against Moses, God struck Miryam with leprosy. Did Moses go through a dissertation with God, asking him to make her skin as white as a newborn, or to give her back the cleanliness she once had by removing her leprosy?

No, he didn’t; all he asked was “God, please heal her!”

The reason I say we should pray without conditions or, worse yet, instructions, is because we should trust God to know what to do, how to do it, and even when it should be done. He is the LORD, he is the one who can heal and make well, and he is the one who punishes the unrighteous. Perhaps what we are praying against is something that God did for a purpose. Who can know? But when we pray, we need to do so without conditions so that God knows that in our hearts, we trust him to know and do what is best.

That’s all there is to it. Either we trust God or we don’t, and when we tell him what he should do and how to do it, that ain’t trust.

May I share my own experience? Long before I knew the Lord, I had a divorce, and at that time we had two children, aged 7 and 2. I constantly lift up my daughter and son to God, children who have been brainwashed by their mother over many years to hate and reject me, which they have done. There are so many things I want God to do to exonerate me but most importantly, to reconcile us. And as much as I would love to ask God to let the children know so many things about me that they were misinformed about, I don’t ask for that. I simply ask that he reconcile us and if that is not in his will, then to help them find him. I think that if they find God, then by his spirit they will want to reconcile, but the order and the timing are completely up to God.

I also know that God will never force anyone to accept him, which means no matter how much I pray, he will not force them to accept him or reconcile with me. I have done all I can for years to get them back, and now it is all up to God. But despite his unlimited power, I know also that if this never happens it isn’t because God didn’t try, it is because they refused to listen to him.

Yes, God can do anything, but he won’t force people to accept him or take away their free will.

Trust God to know and do what is necessary when you pray to him. Don’t place conditions on him or give instructions, just ask for what you want. Remember that Yeshua also told us God already knows what we want, and I think that he still desires us to ask him because that shows we are trusting in God to hear us and act.

It’s just like confessing of sin: God knows when we sin, and he also knows when we repent. He is willing, able, and more than that, desiring to forgive us, but the way it works is that we have to ask. We have to ask God to forgive us, we have to ask God for what we desire, and that is all we should do- just ask, trusting that he knows what to do and how to get it done.

Thank you for being here; please subscribe and share these messages. Also, check out my website, books, Facebook page, and discussion group (Just God’s Word).

And I always welcome your comments.

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

Parashah Ekev 2021 (Because) Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25

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Moses continues to advise the Israelites that when they obey the Lord’s instructions they will be blessed. God will go ahead of them into the land and slowly weaken the people there so that they will be more easily defeated.

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Moses reminds the people how God has tested them, afflicting them when they ignored him and yet, keeping them alive and protected for 40 years while they were in the desert.

Moses again warns the people that when they have settled in the land and are happy and safe, that they should not abandon God or think that they have all they do because of anything they did. He tells them that when they do that, the Lord will drive them out of the land, just as he did the ones that were there before them.

This discourse continues, reminding the people of the sin of the Golden Calf, God separating the Levites for service to him, and how he, Moses, suffered for them to have God spare them and give him the 10 Words, again.

Over and over Moses tells the people to remember all that God did for them and what happens, or will happen, when they reject God. He relates the story of the rebellion under Dathan and Abiram and pleads with the people to maintain their faithful obedience to God so that it will go well with them when they are in the land.

When I read this book, I sometimes think the name should be the Book of Redundancy. Over and over, and over, and over Moses tells the people the same darn thing: when they obey God’s commandments they will be blessed; when they reject God, they will be cursed and driven out of the land. He says this so many times, that you’d think the people would reply, “All right already! I get it!”

But history shows that they really didn’t get it.

Despite the many miraculous demonstrations of God’s power and ability to save, the people were no different then than they are now: if it is right here in front of me, I see and know, but once I am on my own, I don’t care and will do what I want to.

Even with strong and righteous leaders, such as Moses, Joshua, and many of the Judges, later on, people need to be strictly controlled in order to remain righteous. We desire to do evil, which is called iniquity, and it is part of our DNA! What we really need is to be strictly controlled by strong and righteous leadership in order to keep us in line.

So what can we do? If you’re asking me, and even if you’re not, I believe the only thing to do is for each individual to determine what they want from eternity. This life is temporary, and quite short, even insignificant compared to forever, but it is all the time we have been given to decide where we want to spend eternity.

And what is worse is that we never know when our time is up!

So do as Moses wanted his people to do, and faithfully accept that God is the one to listen to: not Moses, or your Rabbi, or the Talmud, or the Pope, or your Pastor, Minister, or Saint Paul, or non-Believing family or friends, but G-O-D.

And God tells you exactly what he expects from you here, in this Torah. Nowhere else in the entire Bible does God say what he wants us to do, how we are to worship him (Leviticus 23) or what we are to eat (Leviticus 11) or what kind of intimate relationships are righteous (Leviticus 18), and other ordinances and regulations found throughout the Torah that outline the kind of society and lifestyle we should have.

People think that religion is the way we are to worship God, but it isn’t. God has no religion, but people created religion in order to have power over other people, and the best way to disobey God is to obey a religion.

If you want God’s blessings, all you have to do is live your life the way God said you should. It’s really that simple: the reason there are so many different ways to do that is that religion has confused everything.

And for those who refuse to believe in God, or accept that Yeshua really IS the Messiah God promised to send, well…you’re on your own.

Good luck with that.

If I may, I suggest you check your history books because every civilization that rejected the God of Israel or came against Israel has been so decimated that it has never recovered its full strength, or is no longer in existence. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Spain, and more currently the Nazis- all gone. And no matter how many times Syria or Jordan or Iran or Iraq or anyone else surrounding Israel tries to defeat and destroy them, they fail.

Not because of how great Israel is, but because of how great God is, and as long as Israel tries to do as God has commanded them, they will continue to survive and flourish.

God isn’t just for Israel, though- the good news for everyone else is that this is possible for them, too; all they have to do is reject their religion and worship God as he said to do.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages, and check out my books on my website. I have a Facebook page and discussion group called Just God’s Word which everyone is invited to join, so long as you agree to the rules.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!