Are You Weeping Today?

A friend of mine taught me something many years ago. She told me that whenever she started feeling sorry for herself or became depressed, she would start praying for others. Many times, she would bake them something or send them a note. Sometimes, it was a simple phone call with a word of encouragement for them.

It is part of life to go through sorrow, grief, sadness and depression, but I have found that when I follow my friend's advice it has not only helped others, but has actually made ME feel so much better.

This is one of the quickest ways to get over being angry with someone too. Instead of thinking about it over and over again (which does not hurt them one bit!) pray for the person. Try to do something kind for them and ask our Father to bless them. Sometimes, I have had to do this about 100 times a day, but eventually the anger leaves. This is actually very scriptural as it says in Proverbs 25:21-22:
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat;
and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,
and the Lord shall reward thee.

As children of the Most High, we are expected to do things differently than the way the world tells us we should do. We are expected to be a humble servant and to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, just as Yeshua did. The world tells us to lift ourselves up, but scripture tells us:
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time he may lift you up. 1 Peter 5:6

The world sees us doing this and they scratch their heads and are amazed. It is totally foreign to them because we are taught to look out for number 1, but we follow Yeshua! We trust that the Lord Himself will lift us up one way or another!

Philippians 2:3-8
Do nothing out of rivalry or vanity; but, in humility, regard each other as better than yourselves- look out for each other's interests and not just for your own.
Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua:
Though he was in the form of God,
he did not regard equality with God
something to be possessed by force.
On the contrary, he emptied himself,
in that he took the form of a slave
by becoming like human beings are.
And when he appeared as a human being,
he humbled himself still more
by becoming obedient even to death-
death on a stake as a criminal! 

Yes, we will struggle with sorrow, anger and grief in this world, but we must remember that Yeshua was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. The scriptures tell us that He wept, but He obeyed the Father and gave everything for us!

Are you weeping today? That's okay, but get out there and find that person who is worse off than you are and try to love and encourage them. Just try it. Ask Abba Father to show you who needs your love and care, and trust me, he will!

Celebrating His Way

I don't think anyone has ever said we are not to acknowledge Yeshua's birth or resurrection. We should be rejoicing everyday because God sent His Son to die for us and that He is alive! We run into problems when we start appointing times and using things that are forbidden by our Father to celebrate these things.

To say this is ok is like saying the big party with the golden calf was just fine. After all, it was a feast to Adonai (the Lord) as proclaimed by the priest:
Exodus 32:5 (CJB)
On seeing this, Aharon built an altar in front of it and proclaimed, "Tomorrow is to be a feast for ADONAI."
Oh yeah, we can see how happy our Father was about that!

Using the argument that the Bible does not specifically tell us that we shouldn't celebrate Yeshua's birthday or resurrection day is not a valid argument to say it is acceptable. This is purely human reasoning. For example, the scriptures do not specifically tell us that we should not pray to Mary, but we know that this is sin because scripture shows us this. The passages are too numerous to go into, but we clearly see that it is wrong simply from Deuteronomy 5:7
ב "'You are to have no other gods before me.
We need to base our arguments on the Word alone.

I would caution people that choosing specific dates (not specifically appointed by Him) is just risky and may be displeasing to our Father. This is how we run into problems. We are to follow Him and obey the appointed times just as He has set them up to the best of our ability, according to scripture. It is our fleshy, human nature to try to do things our way in order to please Abba.

John 4:23-24
But the time is coming- indeed, it's here now- when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him. God is spirit; and worshippers must worship him spiritually and truly. "

Now, another way we run into trouble is when we start hammering this into people's heads. I have been very, very guilty of this, so I know! I can't remove the scales off from people's eyes. It took many years of the Ruach (Spirit) tapping me on the shoulder, so to speak, before I saw this, so we can only live our life in an uncompromising way and let Him do the "hammering" if He chooses. We must never, ever compromise, but we must ask our Father to show us how to do this in the most loving way as possible.

We are living in very spiritually tricky times! We must learn to be wise like Daniel was when he was told he must eat the king's unclean food. Instead of preaching Torah in a fit of flesh and rage, he chose to be led by the Ruach (Spirit) and quietly asked the chief officer to help him , and with the help of Adonai, he did! (See Daniel 1)

Oh, and if you are one of the people being hammered and you just don't see it, try very hard to forgive your brother or sister and be patient and loving with them, too. You see, they are being worked on as well and need lots of your patience! Please remember one of my favorite and most often quoted verses:
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (CJB)
For now we see obscurely in a mirror,
but then it will be face to face.
Now I know partly; then I will know fully,
just as God has fully known me.
But for now, three things last-
trust, hope, love;
and the greatest of these is love.