Tag: uganda

Faithful is Peaceful but Faithless is Worrisome

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When was the last time you had a really good night’s sleep?

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

I just had one the other night, but they are (sadly) few and very far between. I have a good mattress, and being next to my wife, the love of my life, is also very helpful in feeling happy, relaxed, and loved. But, still and all, I am more often than not restless, with either bad or (let’s call them) uncomfortable dreams. The kind where you figure, “I know it’s only four in the morning, but I might as well get up.”

I figured this was all just a part of life, you know…they say as you get older you need less sleep, or maybe there’s something in the back of my mind worrying me; and I know I shouldn’t review old memories that are still bothersome, but they always keep me awake. You know what I mean, don’t you? The kind of life experiences where you were mistreated or misjudged and you wish you could go back and give that idiot a piece of your mind.

But recently it all became clear to me why I usually don’t have a good night’s rest, and that was when I was read Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) the other day and came to Chapter 5, verse 2 which says:

For nightmares come from worrying too much; …

Then I began to think of all the other Bible verses that talk about having a good night’s rest, such as Psalm 3:6-7:

I lie down and sleep, then wake up again, because Adonai sustains me. I am not afraid of the tens of thousands set against me on every side. 

and Matthew 11:28, which many will be familiar with and says:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

and another well-known verse, Psalm 91:5:

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,…

I realized that my lack of sleep is not caused by anything physical, but by something spiritual- my lack of faith.

I have not faithfully trusted in God and accepted that vengeance is his, and his alone, so I review things that have hurt me over the years and want to just “tell that person off”, but it’s not my place to do so.  I have talked often about forgiveness and how it is the only way to stop the pain, yet here I am, not practicing what I preach.

I don’t think I am a hypocrite; what I am is a human being, with the same weaknesses as any other human being, and even though I know what I am supposed to do, I am having trouble doing it.  Shaul (Paul) confesses in Romans 7:14-25 that he does what he hates and doesn’t do what he wants to do, so I guess I am in pretty good company when I say I have the same problem.

The Bible tells me that if I am more faithful then I will sleep better, and I do not doubt that for a moment. The problem is this: to figure out how to be more faithful. Oy!

I wish there was a “faithfulness pill” I could take, but that doesn’t exist. I read the Bible daily, I know, ABSOLUTELY, that God exists and that Yeshua is the Messiah, and I also know and remember the many miraculous events in my life and blessings that God has given me, which are more than I could ever count. I also know and trust completely that he has more good things for me in the future. So with all this knowledge and trust, and faith, why am I still having trouble getting a good night’s rest?

I am sorry to say the answer is obvious- I need to be more. I need to be more faithful, I need to trust deeper and more completely, and I need to keep working at really forgiving those who have damaged and hurt me over the years, to the point where it is totally given up to Adonai to handle, and I wash my hands of it, completely.

That’s the answer to getting a good night’s sleep; at least, the answer for me. I confess I will have trouble doing this, but who wouldn’t? In reality, even the most faithful are still only human, and we all have to battle against the iniquity we are born with. It is an uphill battle that will never stop, not until we have shed this mantle of flesh and taken on a robe of righteousness in the spiritual world.

Maybe that’s the answer! I have to stop looking to the past and instead focus on the future.  I wrote a message once called “S.W.I.S.H.”, which stands for: So What, I‘m Saved –Halleluyah!  Looks like I need to go back and re-read my own message! That’s another problem I have to work on- practicing what I preach.

To be fair, that’s something everyone needs to work on.

So, nu?  I have come to the answer, which confirms the title of this message: if I want to be worry-free, I need to be more faithful.  And the way to become more faithful is to count my blessings every day, completely forget the bad things in my past and only remember how God has helped me. I need to keep reading the Bible to know all the different ways God has saved his people and those that trust in him and look toward the future knowing that God will always be there for me and when this life is done, I will be in his presence, completely rested and at peace for all eternity.

Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Thank you for being here, and please subscribe and share me out. This coming Friday I will be closing the Ugandan Messianic synagogue aid project I am managing through Gofundme, so if you haven’t donated to helping me send Messianic Bibles and Bible study materials to three Ugandan Messianic synagogues asking for help, please do so now. Here is the link to the site where you can donate:

Ugandan Messianic Synagogue Aid

I always welcome comments and all I ask is that you be nice.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

What to Expect When You’re Different

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Once more, Dear Abby comes through with something that I can use.

A letter to her this morning was from a woman who gave a friend’s 18-year old son an “adult” birthday card that was from a men’s boutique shop. After reading it he cried and ran to his room; his mother read it and asked the woman to leave their house. The problem later was revealed that he identifies sexually as a “their”, not male or female (or anything else that I’ve ever heard of) and the mother said the friendship was over.

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

The message for today has nothing to do with the boy’s sexual orientation (or lack, thereof) but instead with his and the mother’s reactions. It is obvious that the card-giver had no idea of the boy’s orientation and assumed that he was heterosexual. It’s not like he wore a sign saying, “I prefer androgynous boys to girls”, which is what the mother said his orientation was.  That being said, his childish tantrum in reaction to an innocently presented birthday card, which was supported by his over-protective mother, was uncalled for.

Here’s the segue into today’s message: the boy’s sexual orientation is not considered, even in today’s ultra-liberal viewpoint, as the normal sexual orientation for a male. As such, he is different.

When someone chooses to obey the instructions in the Bible that God gave to us (which are found in the first 5 books, called the Torah), that person will not be considered normal by the majority of the people in the world. At some point in their life, when a Believer is confronted by someone who doesn’t know their “spiritual orientation” and treated to a dirty joke, or given a pork sandwich to eat, or possibly subjected to some pretty foul language, should the Believer cry and run away?

Of course not.

And after asking the person to please stop cursing, or to please not tell those types of jokes in my presence, or to politely refuse the sandwich, explaining that as a God-fearing person these things are somewhat disagreeable to me, the difference will become obvious. And then what can be expected will be some form of harassment. Hopefully not, but in reality being different isn’t generally accepted by other people, and they treat you with disdain and (often) cruelty.

The 18-year old boy over-reacted and showed immaturity, which demonstrated that he wasn’t ready to go out into the world as a “their” and work or live among people who won’t accept his lifestyle. The mother also has (obviously) coddled him to the point where he isn’t able to face rejection. She certainly isn’t helping him, at all, to be able to live as he wants to.

Someone who is “Born Again” must have the opposite reaction when they demonstrate being spiritually, and thereby, behaviorally different from others. The way we should react to those who ridicule, disapprove or disagree with us is to be kind, mature, and self-assured. When I say self-assured, I mean to remain faithful; Yeshua told his Talmudim (Disciples) not to worry about what they should say when brought before officials, but rather to trust in the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to give them what they need.

This poor, confused and insecure 18-year old should have been able to accept the card with dignity, and if he wanted to, could have gently explained about his sexual orientation and how the card wasn’t really appropriate for him, but thank the giver for their thought. That, in my opinion, would have demonstrated maturity and comfortability this boy had with his sexual orientation.

We, as Believers, need to show that we are comfortable and secure in our faith. We shouldn’t react angrily or hurt when someone is surprised or even nasty to us because of our beliefs. Likewise, we should never try to force it down someone else’s throat or threaten them with destruction in hell for not believing, and never, ever insult their lifestyle or life choices. We should confidently and compassionately confirm our choice by explaining why we accepted Yeshua and why we want to honor God and show our thanks for all he does for us through obedience to the instructions he gave us in the Torah.

If you cannot do this, you need to work on your spiritual maturity and your faith in God; being faithful is not something everyone else has to be, it is something YOU have to be!

I will end with a quote from one of my favorite trilogies, “The Matrix.” When Morpheus demonstrates his faith in Neo, and Commander Locke says, “Not everyone believes as you do.”, Morpheus replies, “My faith doesn’t require that they do.”

My faith is between me and God, and your faith is between you and God- what someone else believes should not have any influence on you, but by the demonstration of your faithfulness through your actions, you may be able to have some influence on them.

Thank you for being here. Please don’t forget to subscribe and share me out.

I will be closing out the Ugandan Messianic Synagogue campaign to raise funds to send them Bibles, Talits, and copies of my books (which they asked for) at the end of next week, so if you haven’t contributed or this is the first time you have seen this, please consider..on second thought, there isn’t that much time left, so just go ahead and donate something to this very worthy cause. Here is the link to the Gofundme site:

Ugandan Messianic Synagogue Project

I always welcome comments, and all I ask is that you be nice.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

Parashah Chukat 2019 (Statutes) Numbers 19 – 22:1

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This parashah has some interesting events, some of which are hard, if not impossible, to understand.

First, a red heifer is completely burned up, mixed with cedar, hyssop, and scarlet yearn, to make ashes that are used to cleanse someone who has become unclean, such as when touching a corpse.

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

Next, Miriam dies and Moses and Aaron bring water from a rock but do so without giving Adonai the proper respect and honor so are punished by not being allowed to enter the land. Imagine…after 40 years of perfect service to God, they make this one mistake and they do not get to see the land God promised to the people!

They come to Mount Hor where Aaron is to die, with Eliezer taking over his duties as Cohen HaGadol. Later, the people rebel against Moses (again), and God sends serpents to plague and kill the people, who repent and ask forgiveness. This is when Moses sets up the brass serpent, so that anyone who is bitten and looks at the brass serpent, will not die.

The parashah ends with the conquering of Og and Sihon, the kings that ruled the land East of the Jordan river.

Every year when I come to this parashah, I usually talk about the serpent. I discuss how later in 2 Kings 18 we read about it being worshiped as an idol, and how the prophecy Yeshua gave in John 3:14 doesn’t just talk about the method of his death, but how Christianity will turn him into an idol, replacing worship of God, just like what happened with the brass serpent.

But I’m not going there, today.

Today I want to talk about the title of this parashah, Chukkat, and what it means to us.

There are three types of laws in Judaism: Mishpatim, which are laws we can perform and understand the meaning for, such as do not murder, do not steal, do not lie, etc.  There are also the laws that come under the title of Eidot, which are like a testimonial, such as the commandments to wear Tefillin (phylacteries), to eat matzah during Hag HaMatzot (the 7 days after the Passover), or to rest on the Shabbat.

The third type of laws are the ones for which this parashah is named, Chukkim, which we accept as divinely ordered, even though they are, for the most part, incomprehensible. Some even seem to be contradictory.

For instance, in this parashah, we are given the process for creating ashes to make us clean, but everyone associated with that process becomes unclean. The ashes, themselves, are kept outside the camp where unclean things are, but their use makes one clean.

Huh?

Also, the dietary laws (Kashrut) don’t seem to make any sense at all. For instance, why is an animal that chews its cud and has a split hoof clean, but an animal with a split hoof or an animal that chews its cud, but doesn’t have both these features, is unclean?  Why are fish with scales and fins clean but lobster is off the menu?

And why do we have to have 12 loaves of showbread (Exodus 25:30) that sit for a week?

Would you like to know the answer?  So would I. There is no answer, really. Human beings just HAVE to know everything, so we make up answers that we think sound good. But, when it comes down to it, we don’t know why God gave us Chukkim, and we will probably never know why.

And even more important is that we don’t need to know why- we just need to know that God said this is what we should do. And, frankly, if that isn’t enough for you, then you will have a problem going forward with your spiritual growth.

Here is today’s message: don’t ask, don’t wonder, don’t complain, just do.

Any questions? I hope not, because if you do have questions then you haven’t learned today’s lesson.

Faith is more than just confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1); real faith is doing something when you don’t know why you are supposed to do it, but you do it because God says to do it, and that is enough for you.

It is easy for someone to say they have faith in God and faith in Yeshua, but how can we or anyone else know that? Yes, we all know that God knows, but it is almost as important for you to demonstrate that faith to others as an example of what it means to know and worship God.  My regular readers have heard me say this many times: people don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do. Someone who professes faith in God, but ignores God’s instructions and lives their life the way they want to, is demonstrating a lack of faith. That is not the type of example which will help bring someone into the kingdom of God.

I don’t know why God gave the instructions he did in the Torah, and I don’t care why. I don’t need to know, I just need to follow them the best I can. That’s it. No answers, no explanations, no divine inspiration, and no supernatural understanding. All I need to know is what God told me to do and to do it.

Human pridefulness is the main reason we must know why, and here is how I handle that: I say, “Get thee behind me, need-to-know!” You DON’T need to know… you just need to obey.  And if anyone tells you why these laws were given and which ones you don’t need to obey, they are not edifying you or helping you become more spiritually mature; what they are doing is leading you down the pathway to destruction.

Thank you for being here, and please subscribe. Also, check out my Gofundme campaign to send Bibles and Bible study materials to three Messianic synagogues in Uganda who follow this ministry and have asked me to help them. I have to close this campaign in two weeks or so and only have about 1/3 of the donation amount I need. Please help with anything, and send the link to the campaign to everyone on your contact list. Here is the link:

Ugandan Messianic Synagogues 

I wish you all Shabbat Shalom, and until next time…L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Which is More Important?

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Like many people, I get my best ideas when I am doing something totally different than working, such as when I am in the shower or riding my bicycle.

The other day, as I was riding along on my bike and praying, I started to think about which would be more important for us as Believers to do: is it more important to not sin or is it more important to repent of our sin?

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

The answer seems obvious- just don’t sin. If we don’t sin, then we have nothing to repent of and nothing to be concerned about because not sinning is the pathway to salvation.

I know- you are saying that we are saved by faith, not works, but the truth is if we lived a sinless life, we would be demonstrating perfect faith, wouldn’t we? In fact, if we lived a sinless life, as Yeshua did, we could be certain of salvation.

Of course, it then struck me that there is a significant fly in the ointment with regard to living a sinless life, which is this:  no one can live a sinless life.

TIME OUT

There are just too many places where the Bible tells us that we all sin, so I am not going to quote chapter and verse. If you need to verify that we all sin, do the research. It will be a good experience for you.

TIME IN

I often say “We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less“, and that is how I try to live out my life, but even that is hard to do. So what is left to us? Repentance, and trying harder.

The obvious answer is not the right answer because even though living a sinless life is what we want to do, it is not possible, so the most important thing to do is to repent. And I mean REAL repentance, not just saying”

 

 

and going on with our life as if we did nothing wrong, thinking a simple apology is enough.

It isn’t. God sees and knows the heart and minds of everyone, so if you are not really sorry for having sinned against him- and every sin is first and foremost a sin against God- he will know. He won’t accept insincerity and he can’t be fooled.

And it gets worse: many, many people have their religious leaders telling them that if they confess their sins they can be forgiven. Well, that is biblically accurate, but the truth is that we have to really feel bad about sinning, not just confess we did it and continue to sin. Unrepentant repentance may get you absolved by a Priest or given the “OK” by your Pastor, but it won’t hold water with the Big Guy upstairs. As for mainstream Jews, meaning Jews who haven’t accepted Yeshua yet, repentance is necessary but they also have to accept Yeshua as their Messiah because, without him, there is no means to be forgiven since the Jerusalem temple is gone, and that was the only place (according to the Torah) where a sin sacrifice could be accepted.

Without Yeshua’s substitutionary sacrifice, no one (Jew or Gentile) can be forgiven of their sin.

Therefore, the answer to my original question is this: it is more important to be truly repentant than it is to not sin because we cannot avoid sinning but we can always be repentant. And when we really feel bad about something, it motivates us to better discipline ourselves to not do that something, again. True- it doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s no excuse to stop trying.

That old cop-out “I am what I am” may be OK for Popeye, but not for those who want to please God.

Thank you for being here and please remember to subscribe. Also, I am going to have to wind down my campaign to send Bibles and Bible study materials to poor Ugandans who follow this ministry, so please send something to help me to help them at the link below:

Ugandan Ministry Appeal

Please help- I don’t usually send money through the Internet, but this is a legit cause, and I barely have 1/3 of what I need. I will end up paying for the copies of my books they want out of my own pocket, so please help with money for Messianic Bibles and prayer shawls, and especially just to help defray the exorbitant cost of mailing these items.

Remember that God blesses those who bless others.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

Special Request to Help Ugandan Messianic Synagogue

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Hello, friends.

I am trying to help a Ugandan Messianic Synagogue, actually three of them, who have asked me to send them 4 Messianic Bible’s, 9 prayer shawls (Talit) and 18 copies of y books (6 of each of the three books I have written.)

Last year I sent them 2 copies of each of my books with 2 Messianic Bibles, and the cost was well over $100 just for the shipping. They have constantly thanked me and told me how often they use my books for their Bible study.

Now they are asking me for these additional items, the cost of which would be somewhere around $650, which includes (probably) $200 or so just to ship these to them.

Here is the link to my GoFundMe campaign- please donate something:

Ugandan Messianic Ministry

 

The average monthly income for a Ugandan living in a rural area (as they do) is 303,000 Ugandan Shillings, which translates to only about $80 USD, so you can imagine how far out of reach it is for them to get these things on their own.

Thank you for your help- anything you can send will be a blessing to these people, and I give you my personal guarantee that every penny you send to this campaign will be spent for their benefit.

 

Steve