I Must Decrease

I have found that the best way to overcome problems in my life is to get my mind off from myself and get it on to somebody else, namely, Yeshua or someone in need. After all, He said that when we help the least of these, we are really ministering to Him and this is part of "seeking first the Kingdom" which naturally sets things in order in our lives.

This works really well if someone has hurt you. Instead of rehashing it over and over again in your mind, try praying for Abba to bless that person, or think of something nice to do or say to them. If you can't be nice to them, try to bless somebody at least! We spend way too much time thinking about ourselves and our problems when we need to concentrate on Yeshua and His Kingdom. This is the natural way things get worked out in our lives, not the worldly, psychological way.

I have tried to make this a habit because I have found that before you know it, the hurt feels better and I am much happier inside ~

The Wasted Emotion

Jealousy is a wasted emotion. When I get tempted to be jealous, I remember this passage:

John 21:18-23 (CJB)
Yes, indeed! I tell you, when you were younger, you put on your clothes and went where you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. " He said this to indicate the kind of death by which Kefa [Peter] would bring glory to God. Then Yeshua said to him," Follow me! "
 Kefa [Peter] turned and saw the talmid [disciple] Yeshua especially loved following behind, the one who had leaned against him at the supper and had asked," Who is the one who is betraying you? " On seeing him, Kefa said to Yeshua," Lord, what about him? " Yeshua said to him," If I want him to stay on until I come, what is it to you? You, follow me! " Therefore the word spread among the brothers that that talmid would not die. However, Yeshua didn't say he wouldn't die, but simply," If I want him to stay on until I come, what is it to you? "

I think the disciples must have naturally been a little jealous of John since he was so close to Yeshua. Yeshua's answer to Peter when he asks about John (the disciple that Yeshua "loved") says it all, " If I want him to stay on until I come, what is it to you? You, follow me! "

" You, follow me! " If we are following Him and pleasing our Father, that is the best thing to do and we have no need for jealousy because we can have absolute assurance that we are pleasing our Creator! After all, that is the very reason we have been created! The King James Version says this best:

Revelation 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

For His pleasure is the reason we were created and if pleasing Him is our only concern, there will be no room for jealousy!

Wanting HIM

Six years ago, on Mother's Day, I walked out of the traditional church I was attending and never looked back. Please do not take me wrong....honoring our mother is a very wonderful thing! There is nothing wrong with it and it is one of our Father's commandments, but today, as I see people denying the Messiah and the world going to hell, full of lawlessness (which is sin) and death, I feel the same way I did that day the pastor spoke 1 or 2 verses about moms, then handed out roses, never once lifting up the Name of our Messiah...Jesus, who's Hebrew name is "Yeshua" which means Salvation. I do not care what people think of me. I only care about HIM. I only want HIM. I am nothing without HIM...Yeshua, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world who leads me to my Father, who has baptized me with the fire of the Holy Spirit. 

Counting the Cost

I am reading the book, "The Heavenly Man" about Chinese brother, Yun, who went through so much because of his faith. He endured horrible torture and was put in prison 4 different times. Abba Father was very faithful to him and he witnessed many miracles including walking out of prison without the guards even seeing him! One thing I have taken note of and feel it is important to remember. The Chinese government often used spies that acted as believers to find out about the underground churches. Even while brother Yun was in prison, the government would plant false believers as prisoners in his cell to try to find out more info on other believers and house churches.

I know people tune me out and think I am off my rocker because I have said this for so long, but the day is coming when we very well may be in this position ourselves. We know that history repeats itself and these things start very slowly until the next thing you know, believers must go underground to worship the Lord. We will probably not have our Bibles anymore. We will probably be treated like criminals. We can see that true faith is being wiped out of the public square and people are being persecuted and prosecuted for taking a stand for Yeshua/Jesus. This is only the beginning of a much bigger tsunami looming on the horizon.

As I read brother Yun's testimony, I feel very convicted and I ask myself if I can endure this kind of torment. Quite frankly, I cannot. I must trust that if Yeshua told me to take up my cross and follow Him, that He certainly will give me the strength when I need it. He is always right on time - HIS time. Meanwhile, I am going to do everything I can to be spiritually fit for the evil days I see ahead. I want my lamp to be full of oil! I can see we must really be exercised in the gift of discernment. Even now, there are people who have given themselves nice, religious names and know how to talk the talk, but they are fakes. They do not walk the walk. Some have evil motives and do not really follow the Shepherd. Yeshua said:
John 10:1-5 (Complete Jewish Bible) 
 "Yes, indeed! I tell you, the person who doesn't enter the sheep- pen through the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. But the one who goes in through the gate is the sheep's own shepherd. This is the one the gate- keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out. After taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They never follow a stranger but will run away from him, because strangers 'voices are unfamiliar to them."

We must never, ever deny Yeshua! We must never, ever bow to anyone other than Him and we must know the difference between our Shepherd and a wolf in sheep's clothing.

I remember the old song:

Lord, you are more precious than silver,
Lord, you are more costly than gold,
Lord you are more beautiful than diamonds,
And there's nothing I desire compares with You!

Thou Art the Potter

My husband and I were on our way home from our vacation. We happened to pick a small, family-owned, Christian restaurant for breakfast. I won't say the name of the restaurant, but it showed this scripture underneath it:
Isaiah 64:8 (KJV)
But now, O Lord, thou art our father;
We are the clay, and thou our potter;
and we all are the work of thy hand.

I noticed that the waitresses were wearing T-shirts with mostly "Old" Testament verses. The old boy even noticed and commented that this must be a Christian restaurant. Our waitress was wearing a shirt that said, "God's love never fails",  with these verses referenced :
Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV)
It is of the Lord 's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
 They are new every morning:great is thy faithfulness.

I began to read the menu and found that the only thing I could hope to eat that was not full of pork were the eggs and pancakes. I was quite annoyed, since who knows if they were fried in bacon grease. It made me very unhappy to think that more and more people seem to idolize bacon now! I began to wonder why these people did not read ALL of the "Old" Testament? What about the Sabbath???!!! The Sabbath is today! It is one of the 10 commandments, so why are they opened today???

....Uh oh! That's right! Today is Saturday, the seventh day, the Sabbath...uh, Shabbat Shalom? Remember? Yes, it was that awful moment when the rest of my fingers were pointing back at me and I felt that very, very sick feeling in my gut.  What was I doing here? Why was I pointing out their mistakes while ignoring my own? What made me so much better then them?

You see, I was too lazy to boil up some eggs before we left and make sure we had some juice, cheese and fruit to have a nice little breakfast with my husband. I have done this on other trips we have taken in order to rest and to spend as little money as possible on Shabbat, but my nerves were shot, I reasoned. Hadn't I been through enough trying to get along with family, observe the Sabbaths and Passover, not to mention, having a talk with my relative about why I do not accept Easter candy etc. etc....?

The truth is, I chose to disobey Adonai's commandment and even worse, began to criticize people who truly love God and were honestly doing the only things they knew to do in order to spread His love.

I could not finish my pancakes, and asked Abba Father to please forgive me.

Later that night, after we arrived home, I read something that a sister wrote and it hit home immediately. There are no coincidences with our God! Here is a quote from the article:

"What good would it have done to judge Paul before his Damascus Road experience? We know his eyes had to be supernaturally opened. Paul was a scholar from Tarsus, the creme de la creme of Pharisaic Judaism, he had to fall a long way in order to be humbled -- which is why I believe YHVH* waited so long to open his eyes. You see, when we judge the people who have less revelational truth than we do, we are really judging the One who gives that revelation, for not working according to our timetable." ~ Elizabeth TylerDawn Rosenquist

Oh, Abba! I am a piece of work! What a hard, lump of clay I am. Please do not stop molding me and I will try to be more pliable in your hands! Blessing, Glory and Honor to you. In Yeshua's** name.

* Hebrew letters or "tetragrammaton" for the name of God
** Hebrew name of Jesus

My Pagan Vacation

I love snow, but after the tremendous amount we received this winter, I was eagerly anticipating a much needed vacation. My in-laws (who shall be referred to as "the folks" from now on) and the old boy and I are spending 2 weeks in sunny Florida. They have graciously provided a place for us to stay for which I am very thankful.

Sometime in the middle of February I realized that we would be arriving on the day of Passover and it would also be the feast of Unleavened Bread. It would also be the season of Easter and my husband's birthday! Alarm bells started going off in my head like crazy! It is hard enough to honor Sabbath when no one else does, not to mention these 2 appointed times. I am not big on birthdays either as I do not see them celebrated in the Bible, however, I am sure this is highly debatable, so I decided not to worry so much about that and to concentrate on Shabbat (Sabbath) and observing Passover. I have brought my matza to eat so I can abstain from eating bread in order to observe the feast of unleavened bread (see Leviticus 23 please).

How can I do this with out offending my Easter loving family, I wondered? Would this cause problems with my relationship with the old boy and the folks? Oh, and let's not forget about eating kosher... they are very kind people, but I am sure that they probably think I have gone off the deep end!

Well, we arrived here separately. The folks got here a day later which solved the Passover problem. We had a number of hurdles to cross when checking into our room, and arrived very late, but I managed to have my own little Seder, which is the traditional meal for Passover. It wasn't what I would have wished for, but I felt I did the best I could despite so many obstacles put in my way!

Today is Easter and I woke up to a large glass full of Easter candy and a large chocolate Easter bunny. Today is the day I officially declare my faith and prayerfully take a stand for what I see as truth. You see, the Holy Spirit has convicted me. During prayer, He clearly showed me that I was doing my family no favors by avoiding them. It is time to take a stand no matter how many problems it causes!

I am praying that Abba Father is working on their hearts to receive my loving response to their celebration candy. I am praying that they understand how much I love Yeshua...who they know as "Christ", which seems like such a cold name to me now! I pray that Yeshua is who they see in me and that I would not cause Him shame.

I know there are no coincidences with our God and He does things His way and in His time.

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (Complete Jewish Bible) 
but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah!
 So, my dear brothers, stand firm and immovable, always doing the Lord's work as vigorously as you can, knowing that united with the Lord your efforts are not in vain.

Growing Up

 Hebrews 5:12-14
For although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the very first principles of God's Word all over again! You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who has to drink milk is still a baby, without experience in applying the Word about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by continuous exercise to distinguish good from evil.

Children point fingers and call each other names.
Mature believers simply walk away and examine truth.

Children run to their parents and "tell on" their brother or sister when they feel wronged by them.
Mature believers ask Abba what they could have done better and how they can let go and forgive.

Children sulk and cry. They feel sorry for themselves.
Mature believers die to themselves and look for someone to bless and share the love of Yeshua with.

Children are selfish and care only about how things affect them.
Mature believers remember the golden rule. They try to remember how things have made them feel and treat others accordingly. If it hurts them, they avoid doing it to others. If it brings them joy, they pass it on.

Children run away.
Mature believers know they must conquer their problems in the situation they are in because if they don't, and they run, they will eventually encounter the same problem and have to start over from scratch.

Lastly, children are innocent and can easily be abused, cut down, deeply hurt and scarred.
Mature believers realize this but are rooted and grounded in the love of Elohim and show great mercy and grace with wisdom given from knowing they have received the same kind of love from Him.

I have been a child for way too long.

Isn't it time we all grow up?

Shalom, Shalom ~