Tag: david

Does God Require Praise?

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

Let me start out by saying, unequivocally, that God deserves praise.

David praised Him constantly throughout the Psalms, the Prophets praised Him, and Yeshua told us to praise Him at the beginning and the end of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-14), which serves as a template for all prayer. I found plenty of places where we are told to praise God.

But does God tell us to praise Him? Does He ask for us to do that anywhere in Scripture? I couldn’t find any place in the Bible where God says we must praise Him.

God is very clear we must worship Him, and Him alone, but worship isn’t praise. I believe praise is a form of worship but not worship, itself.

So if God doesn’t require praise from us, why should we do it?

First off, let’s make sure we are all talking about the same thing: for the purpose of this discussion I am defining praise as a verbal expression of wonderment, appreciation and respect. It references specific events, such as acts performed for the benefit of others, for the benefit of the one giving praise or just as a general statement showing respect for the one being praised.

Now, let’s go back to the original question: Does God want us to praise Him? Do you think He feels a need to be praised? Is He a little shy? Maybe He wants our approval? Could it be that God desires praise so He can feel better about Himself?

Of course not- those thoughts are just plain silly.

God doesn’t need anything from us, but He does require worship from us. He tells us exactly how to do that, which is through sacrifice and obedience. Those are the things God requires of us.

So why should we praise God? I think we praise God because by praising Him we are reminding ourselves of all the wonderful things He has done in our life and that makes us feel better. That is why the Bible is full of verses telling us to always praise the Lord.

Praising the Lord makes us feel better.

When we praise God I am sure He appreciates our heartfelt emotions, but the real power of praise is how it lifts our spirits and makes us feel better. God doesn’t need us to make Him feel good, but we need God to make us feel good and the effect of praising God is that we receive joy.

It is that simple: the act of praising God makes us joyful. When we are down, praising the Lord reminds us of all the good He has done in our life and helps overcome the sadness of the moment. When we praise God, the memory of the events that justify our praise brings back that emotional “high” we had when it happened.  When we praise God, our spirits are carried into the very presence of God and we fell elated.

Praise is the best way to get over the doldrums we experience every day when we have to live in a cursed and fallen world. It is a “Happy Pill” we can take anytime, anywhere, without ever needing a prescription.

The most important thing to remember about praise is that it is just as effective when you already feel good as when you feel bad! Now…ain’t that the coolest thing? Praise makes us feel good when we feel bad, and when we feel good praise makes us feel even better.

Praise the Lord every day: every time something good happens in your life, and especially every time something bad happens.

Remember Job? When everything he had was taken from him all at once, his immediate response was to praise God. His praise sustained him through the worst trials and tribulations anyone could ever have to endure.

Here’s a final lesson about praise: it is one of the most powerful weapons we have to use against the enemy.

Starting right now- this very moment- join me in shouting, “Praise the Lord for He is good, and His love endures forever!”

Let me leave you today with Psalm 150:

Halleluyah!  

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.  Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Halleluyah! 

Faith ain’t easy

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Have you ever read the Psalms, and looked past the P’shat (plain language) to see the Drash (underlying meanings) of the writings of David?

I read a little of the “Manual” every day, and I go from Genesis through to the end of Revelations (sometimes I even check out the maps at the end) and then I go back to Genesis, to start all over again. Currently I am in Psalms, and as I read them, I pass the beauty of the writings and see the pathos of the requests.

David is clearly in need of Prozac; he is constantly upset with the conditions of his life. And it’s no wonder: his king and father-in-law, Shaul (Saul), wants to kill him for no reason at all. David constantly talks about his enemies trying to destroy him, Shaul mainly, but there were the Philistines, too, always trying to take land or goods away from the Israeli’s. David spent years wandering in the desert, under constant fear for his life, living as a marauder, plundering the enemies of Israel to survive. He also had nearly 400 men to support. If you have ever been in a position of management or authority, it is a very heavy burden.

Let’s not forget that his own son, Absalom, tried to take over his kingdom. And almost succeeded.

And yet, David was faithful, righteous, kind and forgiving: all of the very best qualities that any God-fearing person should possess. Except for a few biggies, now and then, he was a sinless and upright man and king. So why should he have had to suffer the way he did, through almost all of his life?

The answer is the title to today’s message: faith ain’t easy; add to that righteousness takes a lot of hard work, and when you are righteous and faithful, you are so different from nearly everyone else that you will be alone, often. Not only that, but people will hate you and try to take you down to their level of sinfulness because you represent to them what they can’t, but inwardly want, to have. When someone wants to be like someone else, but they aren’t, they have two choices: they can improve on themselves, or they can make the other person become less than what they are.

Simply put, if I am dirtier than you are, and I am too lazy or sinful to clean up my act, I will throw dirt all over you so that now we are both dirty.

Despite having had so many wives and children, having the loyalty and friendship of his elite guard, having his cousin Yohav as his general ( who may have been loyal to David but was also a source of pain, killing who he believed should be killed, even when David said not to) and, of course, being the king (as Mel Brooks has said in his film “History of the World, Part I”,  “It’s good to be the king!”), overall I believe that David lived a very tough and often lonely life.

So what is the message? The message today is: stay the course! Be prepared to be lonely, to be hated and ridiculed, to be kidded even by your friends, and to suffer for the name of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) as you live a faithful and righteous life.

When you are a light in the darkness, what that means is this: think about what it is like when you have been sleeping, get up in the dark and suddenly turn the lights on. Your eyes squint, it is uncomfortable, and it is not a pleasant experience. Imagine that feeling multiplied exponentially, on an emotional and spiritual level, and you will have an idea of what it means to those who live (and are quite comfortable) in the darkness when the light of your righteousness shines upon them.

When the light enters the darkness, those who live in the darkness don’t cry out, “Welcome! Thank you for allowing us to see better.” Rather, they will be angry and will scream, “TURN OUT THAT LIGHT!!”

Don’t. Don’t ever let your light go out, no matter how loud they scream, no matter how vindictively they berate you, and no matter what they do to you. Remember that Yeshua told us we will suffer for the sake of His name, but that we will be rewarded for it.

Faith ain’t easy, but after all the troubles and tribulations you will have to suffer in order to maintain your faith, the eternal reward will make it all worth the effort.

 

 

“What if…” thinking is faithless living

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What do you think about when something is about to occur? Do you look forward to change? Do you embrace new ideas and new challenges?

Or are you the type who thinks, “What if…?” whenever something different is about to happen, or you need to do something?

Those of us who profess to believe in God and trust in Him should not be living out a  “What if…?” life.

So what if “what if…” happens?  Do you really trust in God? Do you really believe that there isn’t anything on the earth, or in the heavens above, or in the depth of the seas that God is not in control of?

When I read the Psalms, and the Prophets, and the letters from Shaul (Paul) to the newly formed Messianic communities (there was no “church” in the first century) I can read what is in-between the lines: they all suffered much. The Prophets suffered much, as did Moses (emotionally), as did Jeremiah (emotionally and physically), as did David, as did Shaul, as did Kefa (Peter), as did…well, just about every righteous person we read about in the bible experienced suffering. Being righteous in an unrighteous world is asking for Tsouris (Yiddish for “troubles”) and even Yeshua (Jesus) tells us that if we wish to follow Him we must be prepared to carry our own execution stake (Matthew 16:24); Jesus is telling us that to follow Him is no bed of roses, and will, in fact, cause us strife and difficulty.

So if you want to wonder “What if..”, you don’t need to: if what you are going to do is pleasing to God, it will be difficult, you will have troubles, you will have to suffer, emotionally, physically, maybe even both, and you will not like it.

So, you may ask, if doing what pleases God will cause us pain and suffering in the world, why should we do that? The answer is: because it is pleasing to God. Because it is what leads to righteousness, it moves away from sin, it works to bring you closer to God, and in the long run (meaning eternity) it will bring rewards that are so much greater than the level of suffering that the suffering will be forgotten.

In other words, keep your eyes on the prize, look towards the goal, and do not hang your head and see nothing but where your feet are walking. Tunnel vision is a handicap and dangerous when walking. With regards to your spiritual life, having tunnel vision (i.e., looking only at what is directly in front of you and not seeing the end result) is more than dangerous- it can lead to spiritual suicide.

We need to keep walking in God’s will, along the pathway He designed for us, individually and corporately. God’s path is a straight path, it is a narrow path, and we can always see the end. When we walk with our heads hanging down, looking only at each step we take, trusting only in our own ability to walk, we are forced to wonder “What if…” because we can’t see where we are going. People- you can’t see where the path leads when you are only looking at your feet! It’s no wonder that you wonder what will happen with each and every step you take.

Keep your spiritual eyes ahead of you, trust in God, I mean, REALLY trust in God and show Him you trust in Him (as you will also be showing others) by confidently walking in faith. Walk tall, walk securely, walk with confidence that no matter what dangers or trials you will encounter on the road, you know God is there, walking alongside you and guiding you. It’s like the poem about footprints in the sand; trusting in God means walking looking ahead and never questioning or doubting God’s presence and help.

We all want to be like fine gold and pure silver; the good news is that we will be, so long as we continue to walk in God’s will; the bad news is that it can’t happen without going through the furnace. So, Brothers and Sisters, look forward to going through the furnace, and never ask “What if…” because God already knows what will happen, and He always allows whatever happens to work to the good for those that trust in Him and are called in accordance with His word (Romans 8:28): so, be confident, be sure, be faithful.

Living a “What if..” life is living a faithless life.

 

Change sucks

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But I do change…every day! I change my socks, my shirts, sometimes I go to work taking a different route. Why, once I even tried a new blend of coffee!

That’s all fine and good, but when was the last time you changed your job? And not because the boss suggested a different career path, but because you wanted to try something new?

When was the last time you decided to try a new food at a restaurant? To try reading a different type of book? To learn a new language?

Or, what I really would like you to try: when was the last time you tried to stop doing something you know you shouldn’t?

AHA!! Now we’re getting somewhere. AHA!! Now we’re hitting close to the mark. AHA!! Now we’re breaking a sweat just thinking about it! AHA!! Now we’re……Okay, okay, I get it: enough with the “AHA! Now we’re…” stuff.

Change does suck, mainly because we all get comfortable, even when we are talking about the miraculous workings of the Lord, God Almighty. The Israelites walked through the desert with a cloud to lead by day and a column of fire at night, and after a while all they saw was the cloud and the fire; they lost the “feeling” of wonder at what God was doing. Not only did God miraculously feed them good tasting manna every morning, but He provided water and food in the desert. And eventually they complained about how boring the manna was and how they wanted vegetables.

What has God done in your life that you have become inured to?  As for me, I miss the sense of His presence I used to feel when I was first saved. I miss His touch, which I haven’t really felt for years. That’s not His fault- His hands are always reaching out to me. It’s my fault because I am taking for granted what He has done, and what He still does. I am thankful that, every once in a while, I still get teary-eyed when I think of the moment the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) first entered me. I am thankful for the way God has protected me and Donna, and how He is answering my prayers to reconcile me to my children. Slowly, all too slowly for me, but I trust in His timing more than in my own understanding.

We come to trust God, to feel comfortable with our salvation, and to take advantage of His protection. Even David, a man after God’s own heart, said in Psalm 51, verses 10-12:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation; oh, how many times have I asked that from Thee, Oh Lord? As if You should do that, when it is really my responsibility, it is my job, my actions that will restore the joy. The joy You gave me is still there, deep inside, covered with dust from all the times I left it sitting and unused, hidden under the moss that grew as I did not move myself, spiritually, farther along the path of righteousness You have laid out before me, and rusted from my lack of care and maintenance.

I started this message with nothing, and look what You have given me, given us…a message that is straight from Your heart, Lord: “Come closer to me and I will come closer to you” We need to move, we need to change, we need to break out of our comfort zone and push the envelope, and we need to stop using so many cliches and just do it!

I must try to identify something that will please the Lord and work it into my life. I must try to pray to God to remind me of His wonderful gifts that He provides, every day, and thank Him constantly. I must try to see, what I have gotten used to seeing, in a new light, and I must commit myself to doing more in His name; at home, at work, at worship, and even at play.

This is what I must do, and I will try to do it for the rest of my life. There is nothing wrong with being comfortable, and everyone needs to take a breather, now and then, to enjoy what they have. I ask you all to recognize, right at this moment, what God has given you and thank Him, reach out to Him and ask for His touch and open your heart to receive it. Even if you don’t get that sensation, that tingling all over, that sense of relief that causes you to cry tears of joy …wait for it. We are not supposed to test God, but He is right and just in testing us, After all, He never goes back on His word and we do so often it almost seems silly to even promise anything. So keep asking, as the woman asked the unrighteous judge for justice (Luke 18), because whereas even sinners will do what is right for their own sake, how much more so will God do what is right because He is righteous?

Just keep at it, keep asking, keep working towards being a little different every day, doing something a little differently now and then. Be comforted by God’s gifts and protection, but don’t get too comfortable.

Will Rogers once said that even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there. So, get off your tuchas, get moving and change into what God wants you to become.

Change sucks, and it is scary, and it is disquieting, and it is hard. However, stagnation is worse.

 

 

fear abounds where faith is not found

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Has a nice, catchy “ring” to it, doesn’t it?

Fear abounds, where faith is not found…..I would expect to see that on a marquee outside a synagogue or a church.

But what is the “fear” I am talking about? Is it fear of loss? Fear of death? Fear of going hungry? Fear of being unpopular? Fear of success? Fear of failure?

Yes. It is all those fears, and (just about) every other fear you can think of. And the cornerstone of fear is the lack of faith. Of all the things to be afraid of, I think the only thing that faith will not help with is fear of pain. No matter how faithful or spiritual you are, if someone kicks you in the groin, it’s going to hurt.

I know people who have been so controlled by fear that their lives have not changed for years. I know one person who has held the same, low-level position in a firm for over 30 years. I know another who refuses to drive; another who will not see a doctor. Another who hasn’t held a steady job, ever.  And when you talk to them, they have their prepared answers rationalizing why they can’t, but it is clear that they are just plain afraid of change and of trying something new.

You all know someone like this, too- it is an epidemic, this fear of something that we can’t even justify being afraid of. They say, “Oh, I could never do that- I’d be too afraid.” It doesn’t really matter why they are afraid, the problem is that it controls them.

I am afraid of many things, but I do not let that control me. Fear of death keeps me from doing things that are foolish, fear of pain keeps me from doing things that might result in my breaking a bone (although I do like physical challenges and often play on the Treetop Trek at the Brevard Zoo), and I am afraid that one day I may go blind or be crippled from arthritis (I already have some). These are normal fears, and although I don’t like the idea of these things happening, the difference is that my faith in God allows me to overcome these fears.

Yes, I may go blind, but I know that God will provide someone to help me. You know, when I think about it, by not seeing people with my eyes I will be better able to see them as God does, without first judging by their appearance (this would actually be a good thing for me because I do judge by appearance); and if I am crippled and cannot do the physical things I love to do, I will have more time to read, write and study- nothing wrong with that.

Fear is healthy when it is used to remind us to be cautious in dangerous situations. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the strength to overcome it, and the best way to gain that strength is to have faith. You need to have faith in God that He can, and will, make all things better and that He has nothing but the best in store for you.

What God wants to do for you may not be what you think is best, but you need to absolutely accept and trust that He knows better than you do what you really need.

I am a little ashamed to say I have very little patience with people who live in fear of everything, who have no ambition to improve themselves or help others, and who always have tsouris (troubles) in their life. Have you ever noticed how people who live in fear always have more things go wrong with them that they can’t get passed? Maybe it’s because fear causes problems and that is why the enemy uses it to control us? If so, then courage is what God gives us when we trust in Him, and those who are faithful may still have troubles but they overcome them. Living in fear is allowing the enemy to use you and control you, which can only separate you from God. But faith and trust that God is in control (which, BTW, is absolutely true) will allow you to overcome the fear.

In 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, Shaul (Paul) tells us of a “thorn in his side”, some weakness or issue that Shaul couldn’t overcome:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.…

This is what faith overcoming weakness and fear is all about: God’s Grace is all we need to know. When we allow the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, to come into us and to rule over us, we then are inside a protective barrier that will reflect the arrows of the enemy, quench the fire of disillusionment, and block the attacks of the world that come against us.

I “googled” fear in the bible and found at least 40 different verses about how we can overcome fear through faith. Here are just a few of them:

Isaiah 35:4:

Joshua 1:9;

Psalm 23:4;

Psalm 94:19;

Romans 8:38-39 (this is a really good one!);

Psalm 27:1 (this one just about says it all)

and there are many more.

Fear is not the enemy, but the enemy uses fear. God is not fearlessness, but courage to overcome fear. Only the foolish have no fear; the brave have courage to overcome fear and do what is right. Righteousness takes strength: strength of character, strength of conviction, and strength of will. These are things that are weak in humans, but strong in the Lord. As Shaul told us (above), we can be strong in our weakness when we allow the Lord to be our strength.

David was a man of great courage, a man of many battles, a fierce warrior and the one who set the standard for how a King should rule. And yet, when you read the Psalms, he was fearful on a regular basis, and he always found his strength and courage in God.

In Psalm 18 David says:

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock,in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.…

If you feel fearful, are unsure of yourself, and find that what you want and need to do is beyond your ability to try because you are afraid, then trust in God and give up relying on yourself. Let God’s strength and awesomeness be manifested through your weakness, and allow the Lord to be your power.

The Green Lantern recharged his ring from his lantern, and recited the oath:

In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!

It’s important to note that his power didn’t come from himself, or even from the ring, but from his lantern:  you can be just like a superhero yourself, and you already know where you get the light that is your power:

Psalm 119:105– Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

The light that powers us is the Light of the World, Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), and the strength we need to overcome evil comes directly from the Word that is within us, the Ruach HaKodesh.

Don’t be afraid anymore- you are a superhero! You are the lantern of truth, justice and you have divine protection! You are the sidekick of the Almighty, El Elyon, The Lord of lords and the King of kings; you are Robin to God’s Batman, you are Bucky to God’s Captain America, and you can be even more because with God, there are no limits.

Just remember this: when you are feeling inadequate to the job and fearful, don’t trust in yourself but put your trust in God, ask for His favor and walk in faith, because…

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

The answer is: no one!

Know when to hold ’em; know when to fold ’em

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I read Dear Amy this morning. As I have often mentioned, Dear Abby and Dear Amy provide wonderful fodder for this ministry because the people that write to them are so lost and confused about the relationships in their life, and almost never do I read a letter from a Believing person asking for advice. Maybe, just maybe, that’s because we have a better adviser to ask.

In any event, the letter this morning had to do with someone whose friend is emotionally unstable and despite being close for many years, the writer is concerned about her own health and how dealing with her friend is draining her. She wants to know how to break away without totally closing her friend out.

I feel the same way, often, about family and friends who are not Believers, who desperately need God in their lives, and whom I try to tell about God and about the wonderful peace I receive from knowing Him and having the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit) in my life (despite the sad truth that I often fail to show this peacefulness, I DO have it.)

I try to tell people of God, I bring him up in conversation, even with clients (which is not always appropriate so I am very careful in how I do that) and I throw out my line with a little bait to see what I can catch.

What I do is simply add to the conversation something from the Bible, but I won’t say “The lord tells us this or that”; instead, I will lead off with, “I read this in a really good book about relationships, and the book said…..”. If they ask me the name of the book, then they have taken the bait. After I tell them it’s the Bible, and it was said by (whomever), I will follow up with , “Have you ever read the bible?”

This is an example of how I bring God into the conversation, slowly, deliberately, and with an open-ended aim: all I want to do is plant a seed. That is what the aim of today’s message is about: we need to plant a seed, we need to know when we can “hold ’em” (keep going on with the conversation) and know when to “fold ’em” (let it go if they don’t want to discuss it.)

People don’t like having something jammed down their throats, especially something as exotic tasting as spiritual things. They don’t want to hear that they are wrong in what they say and do, and that most everyone they know (friends, family and acquaintances) have all steered them in the wrong direction. Remember the old adage: birds of a feather flock together. That means people who aren’t “saved” won’t be hanging around with Believers. So, when we start to tell them about God, about the Torah and Yeshua, and what it means to be saved, and what it takes to stay saved, they are hearing the kind of stuff they have been ignoring their whole life.

And they don’t really want to hear it.

It is up to us to be patient, to understand what they are going through. I think the fact that so many Believers have been raised that way, or accepted Messiah at a young age, could make them poor missionaries simply because they can’t relate to what the people are going through when they hear the Good News.  I know what it is like to have people preach the Good News to me before I was saved by it- it was annoying. Because I spent so many years on the “outside”, I know when to hold and when to fold. And because I remember what it was like, I have the patience to allow them to accept what they will and reject what they need to.

And, yes- they NEED to reject what we tell them because if they don’t, they have to admit they have been lied to by everyone they have ever trusted and admired their whole life.

What we need to do is allow them the time they need to process that the people who have misled them have done so innocently, because they, too, were misled by those they trusted and admired. The incorrect teaching of the “Church” goes all the way back to Constantine in the Third Century CE. It’s been going on for quite a while.

When you talk to people about God, remember to say little and watch very, very carefully their response. You need to play your hand well, to watch what they discard and what they pick up, and (ultimately) when to call and when to fold.

Missionary work is not spiritual- it is sales. You have to ask what they feel they are missing, listen to what they think they want and make sure you only tell them what they need to hear, and it all starts with listening. Too often people go out there and just talk talk talk about God, without letting the other person tell them what they feel they need.

David says, in Psalm 38, that we should “taste and see that the Lord is good“; well, when you have something rammed down your throat you don’t get a chance to taste it. We need to let them savor the flavor of salvation, let them smell the steak sizzling on the grill, smell the bread fresh from the oven, let the aroma of peace and joy fill their nostrils to the point where they want more.

And when they ask, that’s the time we can, bite by bite, let them taste more of the Lord.

Most people will not make a leap of faith- they won’t go “all in” right away. They will make small bets, watch their cards and be very wary of the other players.  We need to deal honestly with them (pun intended) and go at their pace, not ours.

Offer, wait, watch, listen, and most important of all, be patient- those are tools you need in your creel when you go fishing for people. Also, know when to cut the line and re-bait your hook.

It’s not how big the fish is, but how many you end up catching.

 

Does God change His mind?

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Yes, He does. How can anyone say He doesn’t?

He changed His mind when Abraham asked Him to spare Sodom and Gemorrah if He found just 10 honest men there. He changed His mind when He allowed the enemy to harass Job (first it was don’t touch Job, then He allowed Job to be touched.) He changed His mind when He sent Jonah to Ninevah (after they repented). He changed His mind about destroying the Israelites after their sin with the Golden Calf.

And that’s just off the top of my head. I’ll wager I could find a few more times He changed His mind.

But then how are we to trust in salvation? If God changes His mind about those things then He can change His mind about His gift of salvation, too, right?

Of course He can…but He won’t. How can I be so sure? Not because of the fact that God changes His mind about things, but because of which things He changes His mind about.

God never has gone back on His word regarding the good things He has done for us: He has honored His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; to Moses,; to David; to Solomon, etc. and so on and so on.

As the Psalm says, His love endures forever. Fortunately, His anger doesn’t.

God changes His mind (sometimes) about destruction and punishment. Even when he continues through with His righteous and just punishment/judgment, He does so with mercy and compassion. It is always (and only) with regard to judgment and punishment that God has changed His mind. Everything else He says He will do, He does. Everything else He said He would provide, He has provided. Everything else He says He will make happen, He has made happen.

We can trust God totally to do whatever good He has said He will do for us, and also hope eternally that He will be merciful and flexible regarding His judgments upon us, all of which we always deserve.

There is nothing wrong about changing our minds, and (in truth) the people who don’t change their minds are the ones not to trust. I once read that good managers are the ones that can make decisions quickly and change them slowly, and bad managers take a long time to make a decision, and then change their minds quickly.

God is certainly a good manager. He has changed His mind only for certain times when He said He would punish the sinners, but never about the promises He has made regarding our land, salvation or His protection and love. And absolutely NEVER about anything in the Torah. The followers of Replacement Theology should remember that next time they profess that God has abandoned the Jewish people. Hasn’t happened, ain’t happening now, and ain’t evah gonna happen.

Those who are repentant, have accepted Messiah Yeshua as their Messiah and who have done T’shuvah in their heart will receive all those good promises about salvation; so long as they maintain their proper attitude and continue to worship God as He said we should, continue to move forward spiritually in maturity, constantly working towards the goal.

Don’t be concerned that God has changed His mind about judgement- He will judge the unrighteous and unrepentant as they deserve, and even they might still receive mercy. Not absolution, not getting off free, but merciful judgment. And those who are faithfully obedient and continue to work towards the goal will be rewarded with every good promise God has made about salvation.

You can bank on it because that’s how God rolls.

 

Suffer the sins of thy government

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We have heard, over and over (which is a comforting thing for us) that God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. We understand this to mean He is always compassionate, forgiving and merciful.

We also know that His timing is perfect, and all that He wishes to accomplish He will. Throughout history we see God doing what He wants done, using the peoples and nations He wants to use to fulfil His plans.

So, when something works, you keep doing it the same way, right? I always say to my clients,  “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken.” Therefore, if God is the same all the time, and what He has done to accomplish His will has worked all the time, then doesn’t it make sense for us to expect that He will do things the same way today He has in the past?

Let’s look at how God has worked in the past:

  1. 1 Samuel 31 (King Saul and his sons all are killed, and Israel is defeated with many killed because of Saul’s sin of offering the sacrifice)
  2. 2 Samuel 24:15 (God sends a plague against Israel for the sin David committed);
  3. 2 Kings 15:29 (first attack against Shomron by Assyrian army because of the sinfulness of their kings)
  4. 2 Kings 17:3 -6 (Second invasion of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria under Shalmaneser and Sargon in 721 B.C, resulting in destruction of Israel and dispersion of the 10 tribes)
  5. Isaiah 37:1 (Assyrian incursion into Judah under Sennacherib in 701 B.C. Jerusalem was delivered, but Assyrian records indicate forty-six cities and 200,150 captives were taken)
  6. Daniel 1:1 (Fall of Jerusalem to Babylon about 605 B.C. Many from Judah were carried to Babylon at that time)
  7. 2 Chr. 12:1 -12 (Shishak, Pharaoh of Egypt, invaded the country, plundered the treasures of the Temple and the royal palace, and destroyed a number of newly built fortresses)
  8. Jeremiah 52 (the invasion and final destruction of Judah by the Babylonians)

This timeline is incomplete- as we read through the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles we read about the punishing destruction that rained on these kingdoms, all because of the sins that the people performed. But it doesn’t say that the people were punished for their sins- it says that the people punished because of the sins of their kings.

In Jeremiah 52:2 we are told:

“He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.”

Jeremiah is talking about King Zedekiah, but the wording is the same we read throughout those books I mentioned, throughout the history of Israel and Judah. When the king sinned, the king and all the people were held guilty. In fact, if the king sinned and there were righteous people in that kingdom, they suffered as well. You can read it throughout the bible- the young and the old, the men, women and children, all who lived in the kingdom and under the rule of those kings who were sinful suffered for the sins of their kings and of their kingdom (in other words, God doesn’t seems to be adverse to the idea of guilt by association.)

This is how God has punished those that sin against Him. We are in the early stages of the End Days, the Acharit HaYamim that God promised (through His prophets) would come and which Yeshua talked about to His Disciples. It is no longer time to judge Israel or the Jewish people- this is the time of their regathering to their Homeland.

The judgement is coming upon the Goyim, the Nations; those who have been attacking Israel and/or sinning against the Lord by ignoring His mitzvot (commandments) are the ones coming under judgement now.

The Lord, as I have shown above, historically has punished nations by using other nations to destroy them. Assyria was God’s rod of punishment, and for their sins they were punished by the Medes, who were punished by the Babylonians, by the Greeks, by the Romans, etc., etc., etc. throughout history.

And now it is our turn. America, along with the other major nations of the world, are feeling God’s wrath through terrorism. It is not a large powerful army that is attacking, it is a small, annoying flea. Yet, enough small. annoying fleas can drive a large, strong bull mad.

I would pray that we find and kill every terrorist out there before they have a chance to attack us, whether it be America, or France, or Europe… whomever. But I know that prayer is bound to fail because  it goes against God’s will.

Our country, America, has fallen into sin, and it is our government, our “kings” that have caused this punishment to come upon us. We have rejected God’s word, we have kicked Him out of our courts, we have encouraged and legally allowed sinful relationships, we have literally shaken our fists in the face of God and told Him we don’t care what He says, He isn’t ‘politically correct”, He is a bigot, He is intolerant, He is outdated and His commandments are no longer valid in our “modern” world.

Gee, ya think maybe the Lord is a little upset with that attitude?

I don’t disagree that we should be aware of the political tenor of the day, and I think it is a good idea to be up to date on your current events. Yet, I don’t read the paper (except for the comics and word puzzles) and I don’t follow or listen to the President’s speeches, or what the candidates say. I can glean what is going on just by listening to what I hear around me and on the radio between songs. I don’t follow politics, and the reason for that is simple: I know where it is all going to end up. Like it or not, this country will be punished for it’s sinfulness, we will all, righteous and unrighteous alike, be punished. Just as God causes rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous, alike, so too will the hammer of His justice fall and crush all of us.

That hammer is ISIL, Al-qaeda, ISIS: whatever name these cowardly, murderous psychopaths want to use, they are (and they don’t even know it) the rod of punishment that God (not Allah, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) is using to bring judgement upon the nations.

We can stop them- we have the military might and ability to kick their butts and take no names. All we need to do is set the Marine Corps on these guys and that will be it.

What we really need to do is send an international army against Syria and totally clean it up. If we put an internationally-sponsored government in there by sending in the United Nations army (just like we did in Korea in the 1950’s) we will essentially set up what is a beneficial dictatorship (aw, c’mon- we’ve done it plenty of times before: Panama, Guam, Iran, and many other places you never even heard of) and we will destroy these terrorists. That will put an end to ISIS/L.

But it won’t stop God’s punishment. Once we kill off ISIS/L, another “nation” will arise- it will be the international army we created, which will be the means by which the Son of Perdition will arise and take power.

Mark my words- it may not happen as I describe above, but it will happen. These terrorist attacks will grow and spread, the governments of the world will unite (seemingly in a first-time ever peaceful coalition) to destroy this threat, but the threat is no more than the bait, a lure which will bring the world governments together and allow the enemy to rise to power.

Not a very pretty picture, but definitely not a pessimistic one. Did they call Jeremiah a pessimist? Did they accuse Elijah of being a Debbie Downer? No- they called them foolish, and even treasonous, but not pessimistic.

In fact, my view of the future is very optimistic, because the worse things get, the sooner we will receive our eternal reward. Not good for the non-Believers, but great for those of us who have accepted Yeshua as our Messiah and have the indwelling Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to guide us and comfort us throughout these terrible times.

If you are reading this and haven’t accepted that Yeshua (Jesus) is really the Messiah God promised us, and you haven’t really accepted that you are a sinner (just like everyone else), you need to know that being a “good person” is not going to do you any good. The only way to really be saved from the second death is to accept the gift of grace that God is holding out to you, to accept your own lack of ability to be what God wants, and to ask His forgiveness in Yeshua’s name. And even if you do all that, if you aren’t willing to do T’shuvah- turn from your sins- then understand that asking forgiveness is useless if you don’t really want to try to stop sinning.

The times are only going to get worse, and because the rod of God’s punishment is not selective you cannot possibly know when or where you are going to “buy it.”

I used to sell Revocable Living Trusts. One of the objections I received often was that the person liked the idea and would probably want to have one when he dies, but he isn’t ready yet to invest in it. He wants to wait until a better time.

I would agree- why pay for it until you need it? I would explain the process of  writing the trust and getting all the assets transferred into it so that the family is fully protected takes at least three months. Then I would pull out my calendar, and say, “OK- we know you need three months for this to be done, so tell me when you are going to die and I will make an appointment now to be here three months before that day.”

If you think this “God” thing is probably something you should consider but just don’t feel you need to do it now, or want to put it off till you have more time (after all, we’re all soooo busy, aren’t we?) then make an entry in your calendar for an hour before the moment you are going to die and ask for God’s forgiveness.  I think since you know, absolutely, you are going to die that your desire to be forgiven will probably be an honest one.

Got your calendar out?

Just because we don’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there

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Ever see the wind? Do you see sound waves when listening to the ocean? When you get a sunburn, did you see the UV rays all around you?

There are many things we don’t see, yet they exist. And how do we know they exist? By their effect on our world.

We don’t see the wind, but we see flags moving in the breeze, we see trees bend over, we see waves in the pond and we see smoke traveling sideways. And we feel it.

We see the red skin and feel the pain when we are in the sun too long, we get a ringing in our ears when we go to a concert or have the radio too loud, or when a fire truck goes by blaring its siren.

There are so many things we don’t see that are there. We easily accept their existence because we see their effect on our physical world. Sometimes it is immediate, sometimes it takes a while to appear, but because we see the effect it has on our physical world we trust that it is real.

If it is so easy for us to accept the existence of UV light, of wind, of sounds we are incapable of hearing, of mesons, and so many other things that we have never seen, why is it so impossible for us to accept that God exists and that He is always there?

I am sure most people reading this already accept that God exists, but do you really, really believe that He is always there? Always watching and aware?  I do. Just because I don’t see His work in my life, at that time of my life, it doesn’t mean He isn’t present in my life.

God’s time is not like our time: we live in a lineal timeline, flat, one-way only, from this moment to the next one. We can’t go backwards, and we can’t go any farther into our future than right this second. God, on the other hand, is unrestricted by our timeline. He is in the ancient past at the same moment He exists in the distant future, all the time being right here with us, now. That’s why He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow: it is all the same time to Him.

When Joseph was in the dungeon for 12 years did he think God had abandoned him? When Daniel was praying for answers, did he think God was ignoring him? When David cried out his heart to the Lord through his psalms, while being chased for years by Saul, did he think that God was missing in his life? Did Yeshua think God was ignoring Him when He prayed to “let this cup pass by me?” When Shaul (Paul) was in jail and chained, did he think that he was singing to the wall?

When you are going through tsouris, are you praying to God and expecting relief right away? There’s nothing wrong with expecting God to answer prayers- He’s good that way. But we need to be doing much more than just faithfully expecting the answer: we need to be looking for it, too! The answer to prayer we receive is (I believe) more often not what we expect but it is always exactly what we need. God knows much better than we do what we need because He can see what will occur from what is happening to us right now. We can only hope and try to make things happen the way we want them to, but God can make things happen the way He wants them to. Every time.

That is why we can’t really know what He will do when we ask something of Him. Yeshua told us in the Gospels, when we ask in His name we will receive, and we need to be expecting to receive. But what we receive may not be what we asked for, yet it will be the answer to what our prayers were about.

That sounds a little convoluted, but it is true. At least, it has been for me. When I have thought that maybe God was too busy to deal with me, looking back I see that I was too busy dealing with myself to see what God was doing. And sometimes, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, it just wasn’t time for the answer to my prayer to be realized. God’s timing is perfect because, well, He controls time. Duh! When you make the rules you always win.

Just because we don’t see God at work doesn’t mean He isn’t doing anything. You know, sometimes just waiting is the best thing to do. Doing nothing is, in many ways, doing something.

In my high school was a guy named Mike Santoro (Mike, if you ever read this, how ‘ya doing?) Mike was the best wrestler we had, state-level champion. He taught me that my body could be maneuvered into positions that you couldn’t imagine. When Mike wrestled, he often just sat on the opponent- doing nothing. The other guy was face down on the mat, and Mike is sitting on that guys’ butt, just waiting. The ref would whistle and tell him to stop stalling, but Mike wasn’t stalling- he was prowling. He was stalking the prey, and the moment the other guy moved- POW!! Like a snake striking, Mike was intertwined in this poor guys limbs, and the next thing you knew the ref was on his belly smacking the mat three times.

That’s how God works. He waits for the right moment, and when He moves it is immediate and devastating. Just because we don’t see God doing anything doesn’t mean He isn’t doing something. And  when we don’t see God at all, it doesn’t mean He isn’t there, or that He doesn’t exist, and never means that He doesn’t care.

People who are agnostic, atheistic or just sheep believing what they are told to believe have doubts about God, and refuse to see His effect on their world. The bible tells us of all that God has done, and I am constantly disappointed in how people believe a priori what Huffington Post or Wikipedia says,  but doubt the bible. The people who wrote the bible didn’t do so to make themselves rich, or to appease some special interest group, or to make themselves look to be heroic. They were often ridiculed, stoned and killed for their writings. As a point in fact, we are currently celebrating Hanukkah, and the Maccabees are the heros, but when you read their story you find out that just about every single one of them was assassinated later. Not a very happy ending.

We need to stop looking for the Son of Man to come down with power and glory from the skies. It’ll happen when it happens. In the meantime, just look for the effect that God has on the physical world- that is what we can use to prove His existence when we are ministering to the world.

As for all of us, when we go through tsouris and feel that God is ignoring or forgetting about us, and we don’t see His presence in our lives, please remember that just because we don’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Owning Up To It or Really Owning It?

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You know that person, the one who is willing to say, “Mea Culpa” as soon as they realize they have done something wrong, but they never seem to stop doing the wrong thing? They say they’re sorry, they promise it won’t happen again, then they do it. All over again.

They own up to their sin but they never really own their sin. That’s why they repeat their sinning.

David knew what it meant to own his sins- just read the pathos of Psalm 51. The prayers of Daniel (and he wasn’t even the sinner- it was his ancestors), the cries of Jeremiah, the prayer of Jonah (who felt absolutely terrible while he was drowning, but by the end of the book he seems to have recovered from it.) And Shaul- he called himself a “wretch.”

We know that Yeshua (Jesus) died for our sins, and that when we are asking for forgiveness (in His name) we can give our sins to the Lord. Well, there’s a small problem with that- you can’t give away what you don’t own.

There are people who are made out of Teflon- nothing “sticks” to them. They have plenty of excuses, they never run out of people to blame, but they, themselves, are never really the ones at fault. Even when they say they did wrong, it was for some reason; there’s always an excuse, which (in their minds) makes it acceptable.

That doesn’t work with your friends (although friends and family are more forgiving), it doesn’t work with your boss (never with the boss), and it certainly won’t hold water with God. Come Judgement Day (and we all will face the Lord) you can try all you want to excuse away your sins, but without Yeshua in your corner, you have no chance. Even if you say that you just did what the Priest, Rabbi, Minister, Pastor (whatever) told you to do, I expect you will hear something like this from God, “I know what they told you, but it’s what I say that counts!”

We need to do more than just own up to our sin, to do more than pay “lip service” to the pain we have caused to others (and especially to God) when we have sinned against someone. We need to own our sin, completely. We need to feel even more pain at what we did than the pain felt by the one(s) we did it to. We need to feel that frustration and anger that results when we want to make it right, but we can’t. When we want to “get back” at the person who caused such suffering, but we can’t (because it is ourself.) When we want to turn back time and make it never happen, but….we can’t.

Thanks to Yeshua we can give up our sins, we can be washed clean of our iniquities, and we can have eternal peace in God’s holy presence. But we can’t have that until we are dead, and while we are alive we need to deal with the consequences of our sinfulness.

They say you get what you pay for, so if something costs you nothing it has no real value. It is the same way with sin: we won’t ever truly do T’Shuvah until we take possession of the things we do and say against others, and pay the cost of those actions, so that it really means something to us. When we “own” our sin, then we feel the pain and regret, and that is a feeling you will want to avoid.

If you really, really want to overcome the sinful nature you were born with (which we are all born with) then own your sin. Accept not just that you made a “boo-boo”, but that you actually hurt someone. Take possession of your sin: don’t just own up to it, but completely own it.

Yeshua is waiting to take the sins you own away from you, and all you need to do is ask. He will make an uneven trade where you get the best part of the deal: He takes away your sin and you receive Grace.

The only way to really be rid of your sin, and to sin less, is to first own it completely.