Iyyar 6,5769 Fifth Day Yom Khah'mee'shee
Dear Ones, First I am thankful to our Elohim for giving us each new day...a day when we can praise His Holy Name. I am thankful that Israel just celebrated 61 years of Independence. A birthday that sparks terror in the hearts of her enemies but such joy in us who are called by the Name of the LORD to stand with her in ALL THINGS.
There are a lot of feelings going through me right now....a strong desire that all would receive the truth of the Gospel, not the version that has been peddeled for the past , oh 1700 years. Yes, I know that the whole 'christian' belief system is based on it but WAKE UP, it is not the truth. Oh, there are 'truths' within it but are you going to trust your salvation on half-truths? Yeshua said we must either be hot or cold...not lukewarm and too many are lukewarm, saying to themselves, "Oh I am ok, I am saved and I believe Jesus is the Son of God and He died for my sins and rose from the dead." Yes, this is truth...but what about Him being the Word..the same yesterday, today and forever? Does that have any bearing? When He, Who is the Word and was the Word from the beginning said that His Cammandments are forever and that His Sabbath is to be observed and kept holy forever...where does that put ALMOST ALL of the 'christian' religions? And doesn't His word say His festivals, His holy days are to be kept forever? What has happened to them?
Something DID happen. God's Way was usurped for the way of man. Man always thinks he has the better way and so he made up his own rules. Whether by misunderstanding the Scriptures or 'thinking' he is the 'Interpreter' of God's word. So man, elevated himself..most definately by the prodding of the enemy, because is it not the enemy who has always tried to make man 'think' he is a god and can do as he pleases? And so man began his own religion...far from the Way of Yeshua and His Teachings.
Man built a system of beliefs 'fashioned' after God but filled with the pagan. This religion tried to make itself a substitute for God's TRUE system. Because the Temple was gone, it felt it could just come in under the nose of God and do as it pleased. This new religion was a system that did not benefit its followers. It made up rules and regulations and greatly changed the way that God ministered to His people. God's Sabbath was changed because if this is a church built by man but claiming to be of God then it should have the right to change the day of worship, right? Then this manmade church did away with all of God's Feasts and Festivals...His Holy Days... and substituted its own days. So, the Believers could no longer worship God on His Sabbath but had to worship on the 'new sabbath..the day of the 'sun god' and they could no longer be in obedience to observe and celebrate God's special days but had to follow the pagan holidays of this usurper church...oh..easter, christmas, it's saint's days, its halloween AND it instituted all kinds of sacriments and even a new goddess to worship from the pagan goddess of old.
WAKE UP! God's Way is not the way of this church and even if you follow the Protestant way, you are still under the hand of this 'Great Pretender church' because in almost evey Prostestant church you go to church on sunday and you celebrate the days of the church of Constantine.. Christ's Mass, easter, halloween and now even more and more Protestant churches are observing the days of lent and advent and the list goes on and on. And remember, we were suckered into valentine's day and st. patrick's day. Come on! WAKE UP!
I WILL GIVE THIS TO THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT, AT LEAST IT DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE WORSHIP OF GODDESS MARY. But you hear more about those who are being numbed or is it DUMBED into believeing some of it. WAKE UP! Do not allow any of it in your thinking!
I will not ever stop speaking out about the catholic system because it is wrong...it is pagan and too many are being driven right to hell by it. And what is satan doing? He is laughing at you all the way tO HELL!.
WAKE UP! COME OUT! COME OUT! COME OUT!
DO YOU WANT TO BE RIGHTEOUS? The WORD of God says His commandments are righteous. Follow His Commands. Get your mind in tune with His. Get your religious life in tune from His. Get away from the pagan and into the Way of God!
We are facing the LAST DAYS my friends and where do you want to be during these last days? In the arms of our Elohim or at the mercy of this church system that soon will be more deadly than ever. It will all be tied in together..the One World government and the One World Church. and what better church would it be than one that already teaches a faith far from God? One that cAN make its own rules and force its followeres to believe as it says or be excommunicated from it? WAKE UP!
IN THE END IT IS ONLY UP TO YOU. You and you alone will have to make the decision as to whether it is worth staying in the church system of the world(satan) or changing your life and coming into the faith of Yeshua. I will not say it is easy. The 'church' allows you to believe its way is easy..just call on His Name and zap...everything is ok and you don't even have to change, most go on living as if nothing happened. And since almost everyone has been brought up semi-'christian', they are already celebrating christmas and easter BUT when you come into the faith of Yeshua, you DO have to change. You change your whole way of thinking and you change the way you do things and you no longer celebrate the pagan holidays, you instead look to His Word and follow His Holy Days.
It is up to you. As the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!"
I love YOU and want the best for YOU....His servant, gloria.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
FROM MY HEART AND SOUL
Nissan/Aviv 30, 5769 Day Six Yom Ha'Shee'shee
Hello my dear ones, it is another beautiful day in my little part of the world. We have a wonderful breeze blowing the curtains in my Angel room.
I cannot believe we are at the end of another week AND another month! Tonight is Shabbat and also the first day of Iyyer! AND also Rosh Kodesh.
The following is a long blog...long for me I think but as I titled it..it is from my heart and soul. This is not for debate and for any arguments. What I write is from me and also from the LORD.
I want to say something very important....we must all accept that things happen for a reason...for a purpose. As I have said before, our Elohim, Who IS Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sees the beginning and the end.(Think Quantum Physics here) Along the straight path He has set before us is our free will and many little paths shoot off of His pre-designed path. So, in ALL THINGS many different ways could have come to the same ending. He said His children would come back to claim their land...so He set up pathways for this to be fullfilled...not all being the best way but it did happen never the less. In ALL things there are probably the bad ways, the good ways and the best ways. We, having free will, determine which way we will go. But do not think He does not have a hand in it, He does try to steer us this way or that way...it is up to us to be listening to His Voice.
Why do things happen and it seems to take so long to get them straightened out? Because WE think WE know more than our Elohim! WE try and fix this and that and do it this way or that way because WE know best.
When Yeshua came He came for a reason and a purpose. But WE went off on different paths AWAY from what He brought to us. Thus WE were brought to our knees, and I am talking about human kind in general here, by a religion that sprang from His teachings but usurped it and began their own theology. And from this sprang all of the other 'Christian' religions. Elohim gave visions and words to some who were listening but they only took what they wanted to see and hear. So we have most of the Protestant religions mired in the false teachings that began with the Church of Constantine.
Down thru all of this, His chosen were ridiculed, persecuted, tortured and almost destroyed and this has included those who profess the Savior Yeshua but who 'Saw' with different eyes the true reality of what was really the Way of God. The Great Pretender church was going to have NO OTHER RELIGION BUT ITSELF so it had to destroy any other way but its way. Thankfully our Elohim had another plan.
So many have listened and have turned from this great rolling religion of false doctrines and sacrements, idol worship, the worship of a false god and goddess and belief that it is the only way to salvation and it is the final word because it is the word of God. WELL IT IS NOT!
Many paths.....many ways...but He sees the end. I read in an article a man questioning whether the Jews would have gotten Israel if the Holocaust had not happened. My belief is YES they would have but it would have taken a different 'way'. God said they would come back and He meant it. His covenant is forever and His promises never die. He said He would not forsake them and He has not.
The paths we take either make our journey easier or harder and it is up to us. Are we listening to Him? Are we studying His Word and getting instruction from His Torah because all instruction is there. Yeshua is Torah! He is the Word!
We are all wondering what tomorrow is going to bring....it sometimes does not look to be very good. But even with this knowlege of what these times are and who is running things, we must trust in our Elohim. Worry is not going to get us through all of the trials and tribulations that may come upon us.
My thoughts always go to those who were in the Holocaust, even the years before it. God's chosen suffered mightily. One man, heard the call of Satan and he listened intently. He was guided by the writings of Martin Luther, who is looked upon as such a great man, the Reformer. But Martin Luther had a dark side. He hated the Jews and did whatever he could to turn others against them, even to write that they should be destroyed. Hitler believed this too and because of the teachings of the Catholic church and many Protestant churches, Hitler found those who believed the same way he did.
Thus began one of the mose infamouse times in the history of mankind.
We ask ourselves, what makes humans so evil towards other humans? Well, it can be none other than HaSatan himself. The Catholic church was undoubtedly guided by him in its teachings and in the ways it treated those who did not believe as it did AND does.
(I am in no way saying Catholic people are evil, I have family who are Catholic and they are NOT evil just lost. But the church and its teachings ARE.)
So we have Hitler and his plan to exterminate the Jews and a few other types of humans along the way but lets be honest and say...it was mainly to get rid of the hope of the world for the LORD to return..the Jews. And we have the Lutheran church, which comes from Martin Luther.....AND we have the Catholic church which had already been persecuting the Jews and we now have BIG TROUBLE.
We also have the German people who were defeated in the First World War and needed someone to be their hope, their savior, their messiah. They became very bold in their belief that they were superior to all others from the teachings of Hitler.
The Jewish people became a very passsive people. They kept to themselves. Even in the days of old when they conquered the lands, they did not demand for those around them to become Jewish. They have never tried to proselytize religion. The more they were persecuted the more they turned to God.
I keep asking, how did they keep their faith? I look at the pictures and the movies and read the accounts.....mothers with babies in their arms, or with small children in tow...even grandmothers with their grandchildren...all being led to slaughter but they did it and I wonder, "What were they thinking?"
I saw a small clip of a movie, shot by a passing Nazi soldier, of Jews being led to their deaths...all lined up near a gully. The shots ringing out...the murdered falling into the abyss. He got close to the Jewish men, they looked to be young men, all careening to see what was happening. Hearing the shots and looking...what were they thinking as they saw people they knew, falling over the side, murdered before them and knowing in just a few small steps they would be next?
I think about those getting off the trains after such a horrible trip, not really knowing what is going to happen. Hoping that the stories of a new life are true but in their hearts are they really believing the other stories about slavery and death?
This is what goes thru my mind. This is what I think about when I see a train on tv or even some other image will bring to mind what they went thru.
I also think about the other Holocaust that has been going on since 1973..the murders of the unborn. They flinch and try to 'run away' from the object that is there to kill them. They let out silent screams. They are the innocent taken to slaughter. Whether we like it or not, their blood is on our hands just as the blood of those who were murdered in WWII is on the hands of all those who turned their heads and did nothing.....not even a prayer.
So, this is my rambling...this is from my heart and soul but I read something yesterday that did help some.....
In the Hands of Hatred
By Boaz Michael
April 21, 2009
"May God have mercy and say "enough!" to the affliction of the Jewish people and to my personal torment. May He return to me my dear, sweet, and modest daughter Rekhil Yehudit, long life to her, who was kidnapped from me on the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, Friday in the week of Shoftim 5702 [August 14, 1942]." R'Kalonymus Kalman Shapira
Rabbi Kalonymus [tz"l] lost his life by the hands of hatred. Yet, his voice lives on. In the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto a fragmentary dairy was found that records the inner life of this martyred Rebbe. The book "To Heal the Soul" records his words. On this day of Yom Shoah (the day of remembering the Holocaust.) I thought it appropriate to allow his words to live on and encourage us. Here are some of his journal entries.
#12 "Leaving your mark on the world"
He who knows his place: Be creative and contribute to the world, give it the best you have. Make a niche for yourself that will always be felt in the world. Are not the "places" of our forefathers, the prophets, and other tzaddikim to this day not known in the world? What a void there would be in the world if, for instance, there had been no Baal Shem Tov?
So "he who knows his place"--who leaves a mark in this world with his life--his "place" will forever be known, even beyond his life.
#13 "The ultimate proof of God"
Certainly you have heard of or seen the books that deal with the existence of God. For those who find it hard to believe, they try to prove that there is a God. They bring their proofs from Creation itself, its inherent wisdom and almighty nature. But woe for you if you need their proofs.
Have you not felt, have you not seen, how your soul is so sure it sees God? You speak to Him in second person both in formal and informal prayer because the truth is that your soul does see Him present, right there before you.
And when your soul cries out in pain, "I shall not fear because You are with me" (Psalm 23:4), you feel as if you are clinging to God, who then will heal your soul. Or when you yearn or pour out your soul, you say, "God! Please bring me closer! Help me to surrender my very self to You, because I yearn greatly to come closer."
( Boaz Michael is the President and Founder of First Fruits of Zion.)
I shall not fear because You are with me.
I shall not fear because You are with me.
I shall not fear because You are with me.
Are we ready with faith like this? We talk the talk but can we walk the walk?
I believe we will find out sooner than later.
Hello my dear ones, it is another beautiful day in my little part of the world. We have a wonderful breeze blowing the curtains in my Angel room.
I cannot believe we are at the end of another week AND another month! Tonight is Shabbat and also the first day of Iyyer! AND also Rosh Kodesh.
The following is a long blog...long for me I think but as I titled it..it is from my heart and soul. This is not for debate and for any arguments. What I write is from me and also from the LORD.
I want to say something very important....we must all accept that things happen for a reason...for a purpose. As I have said before, our Elohim, Who IS Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sees the beginning and the end.(Think Quantum Physics here) Along the straight path He has set before us is our free will and many little paths shoot off of His pre-designed path. So, in ALL THINGS many different ways could have come to the same ending. He said His children would come back to claim their land...so He set up pathways for this to be fullfilled...not all being the best way but it did happen never the less. In ALL things there are probably the bad ways, the good ways and the best ways. We, having free will, determine which way we will go. But do not think He does not have a hand in it, He does try to steer us this way or that way...it is up to us to be listening to His Voice.
Why do things happen and it seems to take so long to get them straightened out? Because WE think WE know more than our Elohim! WE try and fix this and that and do it this way or that way because WE know best.
When Yeshua came He came for a reason and a purpose. But WE went off on different paths AWAY from what He brought to us. Thus WE were brought to our knees, and I am talking about human kind in general here, by a religion that sprang from His teachings but usurped it and began their own theology. And from this sprang all of the other 'Christian' religions. Elohim gave visions and words to some who were listening but they only took what they wanted to see and hear. So we have most of the Protestant religions mired in the false teachings that began with the Church of Constantine.
Down thru all of this, His chosen were ridiculed, persecuted, tortured and almost destroyed and this has included those who profess the Savior Yeshua but who 'Saw' with different eyes the true reality of what was really the Way of God. The Great Pretender church was going to have NO OTHER RELIGION BUT ITSELF so it had to destroy any other way but its way. Thankfully our Elohim had another plan.
So many have listened and have turned from this great rolling religion of false doctrines and sacrements, idol worship, the worship of a false god and goddess and belief that it is the only way to salvation and it is the final word because it is the word of God. WELL IT IS NOT!
Many paths.....many ways...but He sees the end. I read in an article a man questioning whether the Jews would have gotten Israel if the Holocaust had not happened. My belief is YES they would have but it would have taken a different 'way'. God said they would come back and He meant it. His covenant is forever and His promises never die. He said He would not forsake them and He has not.
The paths we take either make our journey easier or harder and it is up to us. Are we listening to Him? Are we studying His Word and getting instruction from His Torah because all instruction is there. Yeshua is Torah! He is the Word!
We are all wondering what tomorrow is going to bring....it sometimes does not look to be very good. But even with this knowlege of what these times are and who is running things, we must trust in our Elohim. Worry is not going to get us through all of the trials and tribulations that may come upon us.
My thoughts always go to those who were in the Holocaust, even the years before it. God's chosen suffered mightily. One man, heard the call of Satan and he listened intently. He was guided by the writings of Martin Luther, who is looked upon as such a great man, the Reformer. But Martin Luther had a dark side. He hated the Jews and did whatever he could to turn others against them, even to write that they should be destroyed. Hitler believed this too and because of the teachings of the Catholic church and many Protestant churches, Hitler found those who believed the same way he did.
Thus began one of the mose infamouse times in the history of mankind.
We ask ourselves, what makes humans so evil towards other humans? Well, it can be none other than HaSatan himself. The Catholic church was undoubtedly guided by him in its teachings and in the ways it treated those who did not believe as it did AND does.
(I am in no way saying Catholic people are evil, I have family who are Catholic and they are NOT evil just lost. But the church and its teachings ARE.)
So we have Hitler and his plan to exterminate the Jews and a few other types of humans along the way but lets be honest and say...it was mainly to get rid of the hope of the world for the LORD to return..the Jews. And we have the Lutheran church, which comes from Martin Luther.....AND we have the Catholic church which had already been persecuting the Jews and we now have BIG TROUBLE.
We also have the German people who were defeated in the First World War and needed someone to be their hope, their savior, their messiah. They became very bold in their belief that they were superior to all others from the teachings of Hitler.
The Jewish people became a very passsive people. They kept to themselves. Even in the days of old when they conquered the lands, they did not demand for those around them to become Jewish. They have never tried to proselytize religion. The more they were persecuted the more they turned to God.
I keep asking, how did they keep their faith? I look at the pictures and the movies and read the accounts.....mothers with babies in their arms, or with small children in tow...even grandmothers with their grandchildren...all being led to slaughter but they did it and I wonder, "What were they thinking?"
I saw a small clip of a movie, shot by a passing Nazi soldier, of Jews being led to their deaths...all lined up near a gully. The shots ringing out...the murdered falling into the abyss. He got close to the Jewish men, they looked to be young men, all careening to see what was happening. Hearing the shots and looking...what were they thinking as they saw people they knew, falling over the side, murdered before them and knowing in just a few small steps they would be next?
I think about those getting off the trains after such a horrible trip, not really knowing what is going to happen. Hoping that the stories of a new life are true but in their hearts are they really believing the other stories about slavery and death?
This is what goes thru my mind. This is what I think about when I see a train on tv or even some other image will bring to mind what they went thru.
I also think about the other Holocaust that has been going on since 1973..the murders of the unborn. They flinch and try to 'run away' from the object that is there to kill them. They let out silent screams. They are the innocent taken to slaughter. Whether we like it or not, their blood is on our hands just as the blood of those who were murdered in WWII is on the hands of all those who turned their heads and did nothing.....not even a prayer.
So, this is my rambling...this is from my heart and soul but I read something yesterday that did help some.....
In the Hands of Hatred
By Boaz Michael
April 21, 2009
"May God have mercy and say "enough!" to the affliction of the Jewish people and to my personal torment. May He return to me my dear, sweet, and modest daughter Rekhil Yehudit, long life to her, who was kidnapped from me on the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, Friday in the week of Shoftim 5702 [August 14, 1942]." R'Kalonymus Kalman Shapira
Rabbi Kalonymus [tz"l] lost his life by the hands of hatred. Yet, his voice lives on. In the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto a fragmentary dairy was found that records the inner life of this martyred Rebbe. The book "To Heal the Soul" records his words. On this day of Yom Shoah (the day of remembering the Holocaust.) I thought it appropriate to allow his words to live on and encourage us. Here are some of his journal entries.
#12 "Leaving your mark on the world"
He who knows his place: Be creative and contribute to the world, give it the best you have. Make a niche for yourself that will always be felt in the world. Are not the "places" of our forefathers, the prophets, and other tzaddikim to this day not known in the world? What a void there would be in the world if, for instance, there had been no Baal Shem Tov?
So "he who knows his place"--who leaves a mark in this world with his life--his "place" will forever be known, even beyond his life.
#13 "The ultimate proof of God"
Certainly you have heard of or seen the books that deal with the existence of God. For those who find it hard to believe, they try to prove that there is a God. They bring their proofs from Creation itself, its inherent wisdom and almighty nature. But woe for you if you need their proofs.
Have you not felt, have you not seen, how your soul is so sure it sees God? You speak to Him in second person both in formal and informal prayer because the truth is that your soul does see Him present, right there before you.
And when your soul cries out in pain, "I shall not fear because You are with me" (Psalm 23:4), you feel as if you are clinging to God, who then will heal your soul. Or when you yearn or pour out your soul, you say, "God! Please bring me closer! Help me to surrender my very self to You, because I yearn greatly to come closer."
( Boaz Michael is the President and Founder of First Fruits of Zion.)
I shall not fear because You are with me.
I shall not fear because You are with me.
I shall not fear because You are with me.
Are we ready with faith like this? We talk the talk but can we walk the walk?
I believe we will find out sooner than later.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Nissan/Aviv 28,5769 fourth Day Yom Revee'ee
Dear Ones, by now, anyone who has read this blog knows that I do not celebrate ANY of the pagan days of the 'Christian church'...no Christ's mass, Easter, halloween, any of their saints days....any of the superstitious days..lent, advent, valentine's day....NONE OF THEM!
BUT...I do not consider any of our national days as pagan so I do celebrate Independence Day, Flag day, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Father's Day and such. So, I am recognising Earth Day. Not in the crazy new age way that most see it but in a respectful way. Giving thanks to our Elohim Who created ALL Things. He is so good His love and mercy endures forever!
I can remember when Earth Day first started. I was in high school and in one of my classes..it was English class..the teacher was rather modern and I think he was trying to give us 'hicks' a little more learning than we would have gotten otherwise. Anyway, he had all of us in the class write about the first Earth Day and make posters. I DO NOT remember what I did but I DO remember what my friend, Lynn, did. She had drawn earth from space and heading towards it was a space ship. She did it like you would see in cartoons....with the conversation of the two aliens inside in those balloon looking things. I don't remember exactly what they said but it was something like..."Oh look at this one. Maybe we can go here?" "No, I don't think we want to go there...too much polution."
I think about this every year.
Am I doing anything special? No.....except dressing Arrin all in shades of green. I guess I greened her.
Dear Ones, by now, anyone who has read this blog knows that I do not celebrate ANY of the pagan days of the 'Christian church'...no Christ's mass, Easter, halloween, any of their saints days....any of the superstitious days..lent, advent, valentine's day....NONE OF THEM!
BUT...I do not consider any of our national days as pagan so I do celebrate Independence Day, Flag day, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Father's Day and such. So, I am recognising Earth Day. Not in the crazy new age way that most see it but in a respectful way. Giving thanks to our Elohim Who created ALL Things. He is so good His love and mercy endures forever!
I can remember when Earth Day first started. I was in high school and in one of my classes..it was English class..the teacher was rather modern and I think he was trying to give us 'hicks' a little more learning than we would have gotten otherwise. Anyway, he had all of us in the class write about the first Earth Day and make posters. I DO NOT remember what I did but I DO remember what my friend, Lynn, did. She had drawn earth from space and heading towards it was a space ship. She did it like you would see in cartoons....with the conversation of the two aliens inside in those balloon looking things. I don't remember exactly what they said but it was something like..."Oh look at this one. Maybe we can go here?" "No, I don't think we want to go there...too much polution."
I think about this every year.
Am I doing anything special? No.....except dressing Arrin all in shades of green. I guess I greened her.
Monday, April 20, 2009
WHAT BOX ARE YOU IN?
Nissan /Aviv 26,5769 Second Day Yom Shaynee
Today is a beautiful day in my little part of the world. I am exceedingly glad and I rejoice in it.
I must have woke up in a wonderful mood and feeling great, right?
Nope....I woke up feeling like a 56 year old woman...well, maybe I feel a lot older..lol...my sleep was not good and my body was aching.
I wrestled during the night with thoughts and dreams and some were undoubtedly from the LORD. Things from my past kept popping up and in one dream it was all about Twittering.
But I will not allow my sleep at night or my thoughts or how I am feeling make me see the world as anything else but wonderful because He is the Creator and it is most marvelous!
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING...I am His Creation...I am the workmanship of His Hands. BUT, I will never take it too far...I will never allow myself to look upon myself as more than I am and on the other hand, I will NEVER allow myself to be degraded and looked upon as something not worthy.
I am me, plain and simple...no more...no less. I am not a great beauty and I am not ugly. But, there it is again...WE ARE A PEOPLE...A WHOLE WORLD...THAT REVELS IN THE FLESH.
In todays 'Daily Lift' by Rabbi Zeleg Pliskin, says.......
In Western society, the body has been deified. Many judge themselves by their physical beauty and strength (or lack of it). The Torah attitude is that our bodies are tools for spiritual elevation.
The value of a tool is not in its appearance but in its function. A person who looks at his body as a tool for spiritual growth does not think less of himself if he has a physical handicap. Since his body is a tool, he is only expected to utilize the tool that he was given.
Is this not what has been going on with the body since the beginning of time? All of mankind puts a beautiful face and a lovely body in a special place of honor. We have ALL been programed to do this.
I feel the whole world had a wake up call when Susan Boyle walked out on stage on the show 'Britians Got Talent' Now, I have read some of the 'popular' peoples quotes about her....and to be quite honest, it disgusts me.
One famous person likened her to 'Shrek'. another calls her 'ugly'.....friends, this woman was not ugly and she sure is NOT a 'Shrek'! Frumpy?..yes....dowdy...yes! You could call her 'plain' I guess but ugly?...NO!
We all have boxes we are put in and we see others in their boxes. I am amazed when people I know to be very spiritual are interested in me. Why me, I think? But, it is not me...it is the LORD they see. I want nothing of myself in there, although I know that is an impossibility.
We are in these boxes and maybe it is not the box we see ourselves in but a box that others have placed us in. There is a man who lives near me and he is blind and in a wheelchair and cannot take care of himself. But I am humbled each time I am near him because he is an Apostle of the LORD. He is mighty in prayer. His wife says many nights he is in his room where he has a radio set and talks about the LORD to others and he will begin to wail and travail in the Spirit. I am sure those who come into his presence, who are of the world, do not realize in whose presence they are in because his box for them is of a blind crippled man..NOT A MAN OF GOD! They see no power in this man but if they had 'eyes' to 'see', they would know.
How many truly saw the great woman of God, Harriet Tubman? How do you see her? What kind of box is she in? Most would say "she was a slave, greatly mistreated who became a the Moses of her people by leading so many to the North into freedom." Yes, she was all of these but she was so much more. She had a 'call' from God upon her life that went far beyond her circumstances. She was so obedient that He spoke and she listened. She became accustomed to His Voice.
She was a great patriot..serving in the Cival War as a spy and as a nurse. She was greatly trusted in her knowledge by the 'supereor white man'. Her love for the LORD and her desire to free her people put her in a position to speak before groups of white folks in their nice 'white' dry churches. They had a desire to help and free the 'Negroes' but they had no 'spiritual' understanding of the relationship that Harriet had with the LORD.
So I see that Susan Boyle is in a 'box'..she is old, ugly, shouldn't have had such a wonderful voice...but why are so many pulling for her! Why are so many excited that this woman came from nowhere and now is known the world over? WHY?
Because, she is us....There a a few 'chosen' who elevate themselves or have been elevated to a standard that hardly anyone can reach. But she is in a 'box' that we can relate to. She has hit the world right where it needed to be hit.
God gave her a voice that is beautiful and she hasn't used it to gain power and money and fame. She was never what the world thought worthy of fame and fortune because she wasn't in their kind of box.
Yeshua came and was not in a box that was accepted. Friends, He is still in a box that few want to accept. Oh, many attend church, even went down to the altar call but truly...how many came out of their box and joined Him in His? They will accept the box of religion and all the trappings. But they will not accept His Way.
I pray that you will allow Him to show you His Way. Come out of the world box...come out of the worldly church box....come, get into Yeshua's box...you will never be the same.
Today is a beautiful day in my little part of the world. I am exceedingly glad and I rejoice in it.
I must have woke up in a wonderful mood and feeling great, right?
Nope....I woke up feeling like a 56 year old woman...well, maybe I feel a lot older..lol...my sleep was not good and my body was aching.
I wrestled during the night with thoughts and dreams and some were undoubtedly from the LORD. Things from my past kept popping up and in one dream it was all about Twittering.
But I will not allow my sleep at night or my thoughts or how I am feeling make me see the world as anything else but wonderful because He is the Creator and it is most marvelous!
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING...I am His Creation...I am the workmanship of His Hands. BUT, I will never take it too far...I will never allow myself to look upon myself as more than I am and on the other hand, I will NEVER allow myself to be degraded and looked upon as something not worthy.
I am me, plain and simple...no more...no less. I am not a great beauty and I am not ugly. But, there it is again...WE ARE A PEOPLE...A WHOLE WORLD...THAT REVELS IN THE FLESH.
In todays 'Daily Lift' by Rabbi Zeleg Pliskin, says.......
In Western society, the body has been deified. Many judge themselves by their physical beauty and strength (or lack of it). The Torah attitude is that our bodies are tools for spiritual elevation.
The value of a tool is not in its appearance but in its function. A person who looks at his body as a tool for spiritual growth does not think less of himself if he has a physical handicap. Since his body is a tool, he is only expected to utilize the tool that he was given.
Is this not what has been going on with the body since the beginning of time? All of mankind puts a beautiful face and a lovely body in a special place of honor. We have ALL been programed to do this.
I feel the whole world had a wake up call when Susan Boyle walked out on stage on the show 'Britians Got Talent' Now, I have read some of the 'popular' peoples quotes about her....and to be quite honest, it disgusts me.
One famous person likened her to 'Shrek'. another calls her 'ugly'.....friends, this woman was not ugly and she sure is NOT a 'Shrek'! Frumpy?..yes....dowdy...yes! You could call her 'plain' I guess but ugly?...NO!
We all have boxes we are put in and we see others in their boxes. I am amazed when people I know to be very spiritual are interested in me. Why me, I think? But, it is not me...it is the LORD they see. I want nothing of myself in there, although I know that is an impossibility.
We are in these boxes and maybe it is not the box we see ourselves in but a box that others have placed us in. There is a man who lives near me and he is blind and in a wheelchair and cannot take care of himself. But I am humbled each time I am near him because he is an Apostle of the LORD. He is mighty in prayer. His wife says many nights he is in his room where he has a radio set and talks about the LORD to others and he will begin to wail and travail in the Spirit. I am sure those who come into his presence, who are of the world, do not realize in whose presence they are in because his box for them is of a blind crippled man..NOT A MAN OF GOD! They see no power in this man but if they had 'eyes' to 'see', they would know.
How many truly saw the great woman of God, Harriet Tubman? How do you see her? What kind of box is she in? Most would say "she was a slave, greatly mistreated who became a the Moses of her people by leading so many to the North into freedom." Yes, she was all of these but she was so much more. She had a 'call' from God upon her life that went far beyond her circumstances. She was so obedient that He spoke and she listened. She became accustomed to His Voice.
She was a great patriot..serving in the Cival War as a spy and as a nurse. She was greatly trusted in her knowledge by the 'supereor white man'. Her love for the LORD and her desire to free her people put her in a position to speak before groups of white folks in their nice 'white' dry churches. They had a desire to help and free the 'Negroes' but they had no 'spiritual' understanding of the relationship that Harriet had with the LORD.
So I see that Susan Boyle is in a 'box'..she is old, ugly, shouldn't have had such a wonderful voice...but why are so many pulling for her! Why are so many excited that this woman came from nowhere and now is known the world over? WHY?
Because, she is us....There a a few 'chosen' who elevate themselves or have been elevated to a standard that hardly anyone can reach. But she is in a 'box' that we can relate to. She has hit the world right where it needed to be hit.
God gave her a voice that is beautiful and she hasn't used it to gain power and money and fame. She was never what the world thought worthy of fame and fortune because she wasn't in their kind of box.
Yeshua came and was not in a box that was accepted. Friends, He is still in a box that few want to accept. Oh, many attend church, even went down to the altar call but truly...how many came out of their box and joined Him in His? They will accept the box of religion and all the trappings. But they will not accept His Way.
I pray that you will allow Him to show you His Way. Come out of the world box...come out of the worldly church box....come, get into Yeshua's box...you will never be the same.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A CALL TO FASTING AND PRAYER
From a national Messianic body, and excellent call:
The UMJC Exec is calling for a day of prayer and fasting on Yom HaZikaron, the day of remembrance that precedes Israel's Independence Day. This will be the final day of Israel's 60th year, and it is fitting that we honor the sacrifice of those who died in defense of the country by seeking God for Israel's welfare. The fast will begin sundown, Monday, April 27, and last until sundown, Tuesday, April 28, the eve of Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day. Yom HaZikaron coincides with Day 19 of the Omer.
Please include these focus points in your prayers on that day:
1) The Iranian threat and the high possibility of Israeli military action
2) The threat of more pressure against Messianic Jews under the new Netanyahu government
3) Wisdom and direction for the Obama administration's relationship with Israel
4) Most of all, for widespread spiritual awakening that will bring many Israelis to faith in Yeshua, preparing the way for the fulfillment of Matthew 23:37-39."
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Another text for our prayers is Psalm 147.
Hallelujah.
It is good to chant hymns to our God; it is pleasant to sing glorious praise.
The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; He gathers in the exiles of Israel.
He heals their broken hearts, and binds up their wounds.
He reckoned the number of the stars; to each He gave its name.
Great is our Lord and full of power; His wisdom is beyond reckoning.
The Lord gives courage to the lowly, and brings the wicked down to the dust. Psalm 147:1-6
And to Jerusalem, Your city, may You return in compassion, and may You rest within it, as You have spoken. May You rebuild it soon in our days as an eternal structure, and may You speedily establish the throne of David within it. Blessed are You, Hashem, the Builder of Jerusalem. From the traditional daily Amidah (Artscroll Siddur)
Feel free to pass this prayer request on to others, and to print it as a guide. Thank you for joining this effort as we call on the Lord together on April 27-28.
Rabbi Russell Resnik
Executive Director
Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
The UMJC Exec is calling for a day of prayer and fasting on Yom HaZikaron, the day of remembrance that precedes Israel's Independence Day. This will be the final day of Israel's 60th year, and it is fitting that we honor the sacrifice of those who died in defense of the country by seeking God for Israel's welfare. The fast will begin sundown, Monday, April 27, and last until sundown, Tuesday, April 28, the eve of Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day. Yom HaZikaron coincides with Day 19 of the Omer.
Please include these focus points in your prayers on that day:
1) The Iranian threat and the high possibility of Israeli military action
2) The threat of more pressure against Messianic Jews under the new Netanyahu government
3) Wisdom and direction for the Obama administration's relationship with Israel
4) Most of all, for widespread spiritual awakening that will bring many Israelis to faith in Yeshua, preparing the way for the fulfillment of Matthew 23:37-39."
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Another text for our prayers is Psalm 147.
Hallelujah.
It is good to chant hymns to our God; it is pleasant to sing glorious praise.
The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; He gathers in the exiles of Israel.
He heals their broken hearts, and binds up their wounds.
He reckoned the number of the stars; to each He gave its name.
Great is our Lord and full of power; His wisdom is beyond reckoning.
The Lord gives courage to the lowly, and brings the wicked down to the dust. Psalm 147:1-6
And to Jerusalem, Your city, may You return in compassion, and may You rest within it, as You have spoken. May You rebuild it soon in our days as an eternal structure, and may You speedily establish the throne of David within it. Blessed are You, Hashem, the Builder of Jerusalem. From the traditional daily Amidah (Artscroll Siddur)
Feel free to pass this prayer request on to others, and to print it as a guide. Thank you for joining this effort as we call on the Lord together on April 27-28.
Rabbi Russell Resnik
Executive Director
Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
ELIZA
Nissan/Aviv 22, 5769 Fifth Day Yom Khah' mee shee
Dear Ones, The story below about Eliza is truly amazing but oh so true! Our God is alive! He will heal our bodies! We can trust in Him!
I told you about my broken leg but there have been other healings for me....I have suffered with a back problem for several years. I fell while staying with my daughter in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Her husband, now ex, was in Iraq and I wanted to be with her while she was pregnant and after the baby came...which by the way is wonderful five year old Arrin.
I truly did not know how badly I had hurt myself but in just a few weeks the pain was almost too much to bear. I DID NOT go to the hospital or even a doctor, though. I suffered it out. I did my best to aliviate the pain. It did get worse, I could barely walk and at times I felt I might not be able to go on. But then I would allow my faith to kick in and pray and I would feel better.
So I have dealt with it for five years. Sometimes feeling better and most times feeling worse. I was awakened one morning very early and turned on the tv to see an informercial about an amazing back machine. i felt I was to order one. The LORD said.."You won't go for help so it will come to you."
The back machine has helped but in the past few weeks I seemed to get even worse than before. I had to start using one of the carts at the stores to ride in just so I could do my shopping. Then on Shabbat, the 17th of Nisan or April 11...as I played my music I began listening to Keith Green's version of 'the easter song' which I choose to call 'The Resurrection Song'....I played it over and over again and Holy spirit ministered to me and my prayers went before our King and my dear ones, I was healed.
Now, I was also given instruction with my healing. Yes, I had injured my back but it was also a stress related back ailment and also because I have not been as active as I should be. The LORD worked on me..I lay on the floor and He gave me an overhaul. I was instructed that I would be sore..but not in pain and I must stretch and use my muscles. I must exercise this now.
Well, I have been sore but not in pain. I can walk and I am not walking lopsided and I can lift my legs. The Divine Physcian did a work on me and in me and I give Him praise.
Be filled with Holy Spirit...pray in your unknown language in which Holy Spirit prays thru you and knows just what to pray for. Use Holy spirit in the most marvelous way.
BELIEVE! BELIEVE! BELIEVE! AND RECEIVE!!!!!
I love YOU and want only the best for YOU!
With love to YOU in and through our Savior and KING Yeshua HaMashiach, His servant, gloria
ELIZA by Harold Smith
He Shall Arise With Healing In His Wings
Her complexion was pasty, almost white, and her eyes had become glazed, having lost the luster that I had come to know. Her walk was halting, and slow as she tried to maintain her balance from one step to the next. I had heard various accounts in my life of people on the verge of death before, but there are just no words, really, to describe the different things you notice when you are up close to someone who is in that condition.
Slowly, we made our way down the long corridor, stopping ever so often to allow her a few moments to gather herself for the next leg of the journey to the doctor's office. When we arrived in the sparsely furnished waiting room, she collapsed in a heap on one end of the chair-bench. I was amazed at the resilience she showed, in spite of her weak and noticeably haggard condition, as she proceeded to fill out some forms on a clipboard handed to her by a nurse when we entered.
I had only come to know Eliza for a few short months before she had asked a friend and I to accompany her to the hospital. In her mid-fifties, she was fighting leukemia, a cancer of the blood, after having been diagnosed with it 12 years earlier. This disease had already left her at death's door several times previously and that she had remained alive this long was a miracle in itself! She had been getting progressively weaker and weaker, to the point where she was beginning to be unable to manage even the mundane things of life by herself. A solitary woman to begin with, she stayed in her apartment most of the time, paying a taxi driver to retrieve her phoned-in grocery order from the store to her when needed. Just to walk down a flight of stairs to her mailbox and back had become so arduous that it was sometimes the only adventure outside her door for several days at a time. A simple cold would put her in bed for a week or more.
A woman of faith, she had determined that she was going to see God heal her - no matter what - and she was a very determined woman. She would sit in her apartment, day after day, reading scripture, praying and watching Christian television, believing that she was as good a candidate to receive healing as all the testimonies of those people being healed on the television screen. It was only at the mounting insistence of some of her closest confidantes that she finally agreed to go to the hospital. I believe her agreement was primarily motivated to shut them up so they would leave her alone. She was not going to be found lacking faith - even if it killed her.
The tests showed that there was no blood in Eliza's body - only water
We sat waiting for her blood work to arrive back from being processed by the lab when the doctor, a woman, approached us very apologetically. It seems that the lab had made some sort of mistake, she said, and that they would have to draw some more blood to re-run the test. The tests showed that there was no blood in Eliza's body - that it was only water. "We know that can't be true," she animatedly quipped, "because then you would be dead. Right?" So, they drew more blood and sent it off to the lab for a second testing.
When the doctor reappeared, her face was as white as the lab coat she was wearing as she informed us that the first test was not a mistake. The second test confirmed that there was no blood in her body, only water. To which Eliza was promptly escorted into a room where they proceeded to intravenously inject two units of blood into her. The following day, we brought her back where she was given two more units of blood and was advised to come back another day for yet two more. After the first injection, I saw the life begin to reappear in her eyes and her complexion return to its rosy hue.
Eliza told us on the way back from the hospital that the doctor had wanted her to begin chemotherapy immediately to combat the leukemia. Eliza was determined however, that even though this had been a setback for her, Jesus was going to heal her and she was not going to give in to the unbelief surrounding her. I sat in amazement at this woman's faith in the Lord in the face of overwhelming circumstances and, at the same time, wondered myself at why she wasn't finding that place of healing.
She had become very disillusioned with trying to "keep the faith" about being healed
A few days later, as we were talking about this whole incident, Eliza said that the doctor, in the face of her adamancy about treatment, had told her that there was a less intrusive, non-evasive chemotherapy treatment in much lower doses that she could administer orally that had shown much success in placing this disease under control. Eliza confessed to me that she didn't know what to do - that she had become very disillusioned with trying to "keep the faith" about being healed and was very tired of trying. She began to recount all of the discouraging trips she had made to this place or that event where she was prayed over; of the numerous people who, when she wasn't immediately healed, inferred that it was according to her faith (or more exactly, her lack thereof) and of the perplexing disappointment heaped upon her that she had carried for all those years of not being able to "measure up" to everybody's expectations - indeed, even to her own - of what it meant to not have enough faith to "be healed" in the Name of Jesus.
I told her I wanted to pray and stand with her and asked her what the Lord had specifically said to her about what position she needed to take in the midst of these new developments. She said, "I don't know." Now, it needs to be stated that Eliza is well read in scripture, able to quote verse after verse, and in the ways of the Lord found therein. She had vigorously sought after Him about her condition these past 12 years and why she wasn't being healed. She knows the book front to back and can hold her own in just about any theological discussion. Consequently, I was rather dumb-founded when, after asking her if she had asked Jesus about this situation and what she should do about it, she answered rather meekly with, "no." But she believed God could heal her.
Jesus said that He did not do anything unless He first saw the Father do it and He did not speak anything unless He first heard the Father speak it. (John 5:19 & 12:50)
"Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained…" Philippians 2:5-6 (Amplified)
"For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as fatted calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 4:1-3)
Variables vs Absolutes
Derek Prince, a valiant warrior of the faith, wrote a book in which he said that in the spirit walk there are variables and absolutes. Too often as believers, he went on to say, we tend to place our focus on the variables rather than allowing the absolutes to be the guiding pillars in our lives. There are many variables in this story, but only one absolute - the source of healing rests in the wings of Jesus (Malachi 4:2 above) and unless God speaks the word of healing as He did to create the universe, there is none. It becomes an issue of supreme importance, then, that we first hear what it is the Lord has for our life before we embark on a course that might cause us to land in a place different from where He wants us to be.
We know absolutely that God wants us to be healed because we are told over and over in the scriptures "…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." Acts 10:38. Where the religious folk of the day quarreled with Jesus was not in God's ability to heal, but the manner in which He was doing the healing. It didn't fit into their preconceived notions of how that should take place.
Since their traditional way of approaching healing rendered God powerless, they also didn't see much of it.
So, then, the question becomes HOW that healing is to occur and it is here that we run into all types of variables. The appropriation of healing is as different as there are individuals. There were some that He merely spoke to and they were immediately healed. There were others that some action was required on their part in order to obtain their healing. Since Jesus never healed anyone the same way twice, it becomes paramount that we should take our cue from His Way and first hear the voice of God in matters that involve our direct participation.
In Galatians 5:22, faith is listed as one of the Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT and, like repentance, is a gift not to be wielded at our discretion but at the direction of WHOSE IT IS. Our faith (different from the faith imparted by the Holy Spirit), while important, is but one element in the process of healing and, traditionally, has been amplified way out of proportion from what it is intended to do.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him' for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:1-6)
The Essential Message of Jesus
The rest of that chapter in Hebrews goes on to list example after example of men and women who, after having FIRST HEARD GOD SPEAK, then went on to see the performance of that word because their faith was IN THAT WORD THAT THEY HEARD GIVEN AT THAT MOMENT. Their obedience to that word was the evidence of their faith in it. However, before hearing Him speak, they first had to occupy that realm of being pleasing to Him. Pleasing God means what? The pre-requisite to hearing God speak is to believe that He is and that He will reward us for seeking Him. But being pleasing to Him does not constitute the reward. Becoming pleasing to Him creates an environment that enables Him to operate because He can only operate in a realm of faith. That is what is known as the measure of faith that is given to each of us that allows us to come across the threshold of the doorway to the kingdom. Once inside the door, we can then receive the reward. What is the reward for seeking Him? That we will find Him and WE GET TO HEAR HIS VOICE! That was the essential message of Jesus - that if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, WE WILL BE FILLED (Matthew 5:6). That does not necessarily mean we immediately get what we are asking for. We too often mistake the place of merely believing that He is as that place of reward and fail to wait to hear His voice of instruction….and, unless He speaks the word FOR THAT MOMENT, all the believing in the world on our part won't make it happen. This is not to say that our prayers and petitions do not have an effect on the word that He speaks, for they do; but, ultimately, if the word does not come from His mouth there is no power released to cause anything to happen. Because we wish and hope and pray for it to happen does not make it so nor does it place any obligation on God to do anything.
Once we obtain a clear word from the Lord then the faith fruit of the Holy Spirit kicks in and becomes added to the measure of faith we were granted to enter the door. As we exercise our belief in the word by our obedience to that word, that is when the power of the Almighty is unleashed and we can then expect God to fulfill the Word He has spoken. This process takes all the emphasis off of us and, instead, places it onto the creator of the universe to do what He said He will do.
"You do not have, because you do not ask. (I John 3:15). [Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and selfish motives." (James 4:3 - Amplified) One of the basic tenets of faith is listed in the Ten Commandments, "You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) The dictionary defines vanity as something that is used or done for selfish purposes. God was trying to say that when we attempt to force our will and desires into the realm of the spiritual, the atmosphere of faith he needs to operate in becomes nullified; hence, we can not be "pleasing" to Him because we have not sought after Him and His will first.
"Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases…" Psalm 103:3
Jesus touched Eliza. She has been healed and made whole. She is taking no medication and her last test results showed her blood count to be ABOVE normal. Hallelujah! So, what happened? What made the difference? As I said earlier, there are many variables in this story that are unique to her, but, ultimately, as she lay at death's door, she decided to wait on hearing His voice and His direction and then became obedient to it. When He spoke (He had been speaking all along - she just finally got to a place where she could lay down all her preconceived thoughts about how to hear Him and only Him) and she became obedient (the evidence of faith) to the action He had for her, the resurrection healing power resident in His Wings was released and engulfed her.
She simply quit running to this one and that one, this meeting and that rally, looking for someone else's touch; humbled herself before the Lord to wait only on Him and became obedient to those things He had given her specifically to do. If He does not speak the Word of Healing into our bodies, all the faith we try to work up won't do a thing. Since, as believers, God is more concerned in the eternal state of our spirit before He is interested in the temporal nature of our flesh, it is imperative that we "go to the source" to find out what He has to say about whatever condition we find ourselves in and leave all our preconceived ideas about how that is to happen behind. In scripture, He never healed the same way twice. We want formulas. "So faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of God." (Romans 10:17) "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) The Word is not a book, it is the person of Jesus. The book only speaks of Him. "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." (John 5:39.40) When we lift our eyes off of ourselves and our problems and put them squarely on Him, it is then that we will gaze on the Source of Life. No one else can do that for us.
Today, there are many who want you to believe in this way or that way to obtain favor from God. There is only One Way, however, and that Way is the example set forth by the One who created the Way - Jesus - and that Way is to wait on God. That is why Jesus spent so much time alone with the Father, training His ear to hear God's voice. So should we. He is speaking to you now - are you hearing?
Dear Ones, The story below about Eliza is truly amazing but oh so true! Our God is alive! He will heal our bodies! We can trust in Him!
I told you about my broken leg but there have been other healings for me....I have suffered with a back problem for several years. I fell while staying with my daughter in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Her husband, now ex, was in Iraq and I wanted to be with her while she was pregnant and after the baby came...which by the way is wonderful five year old Arrin.
I truly did not know how badly I had hurt myself but in just a few weeks the pain was almost too much to bear. I DID NOT go to the hospital or even a doctor, though. I suffered it out. I did my best to aliviate the pain. It did get worse, I could barely walk and at times I felt I might not be able to go on. But then I would allow my faith to kick in and pray and I would feel better.
So I have dealt with it for five years. Sometimes feeling better and most times feeling worse. I was awakened one morning very early and turned on the tv to see an informercial about an amazing back machine. i felt I was to order one. The LORD said.."You won't go for help so it will come to you."
The back machine has helped but in the past few weeks I seemed to get even worse than before. I had to start using one of the carts at the stores to ride in just so I could do my shopping. Then on Shabbat, the 17th of Nisan or April 11...as I played my music I began listening to Keith Green's version of 'the easter song' which I choose to call 'The Resurrection Song'....I played it over and over again and Holy spirit ministered to me and my prayers went before our King and my dear ones, I was healed.
Now, I was also given instruction with my healing. Yes, I had injured my back but it was also a stress related back ailment and also because I have not been as active as I should be. The LORD worked on me..I lay on the floor and He gave me an overhaul. I was instructed that I would be sore..but not in pain and I must stretch and use my muscles. I must exercise this now.
Well, I have been sore but not in pain. I can walk and I am not walking lopsided and I can lift my legs. The Divine Physcian did a work on me and in me and I give Him praise.
Be filled with Holy Spirit...pray in your unknown language in which Holy Spirit prays thru you and knows just what to pray for. Use Holy spirit in the most marvelous way.
BELIEVE! BELIEVE! BELIEVE! AND RECEIVE!!!!!
I love YOU and want only the best for YOU!
With love to YOU in and through our Savior and KING Yeshua HaMashiach, His servant, gloria
ELIZA by Harold Smith
He Shall Arise With Healing In His Wings
Her complexion was pasty, almost white, and her eyes had become glazed, having lost the luster that I had come to know. Her walk was halting, and slow as she tried to maintain her balance from one step to the next. I had heard various accounts in my life of people on the verge of death before, but there are just no words, really, to describe the different things you notice when you are up close to someone who is in that condition.
Slowly, we made our way down the long corridor, stopping ever so often to allow her a few moments to gather herself for the next leg of the journey to the doctor's office. When we arrived in the sparsely furnished waiting room, she collapsed in a heap on one end of the chair-bench. I was amazed at the resilience she showed, in spite of her weak and noticeably haggard condition, as she proceeded to fill out some forms on a clipboard handed to her by a nurse when we entered.
I had only come to know Eliza for a few short months before she had asked a friend and I to accompany her to the hospital. In her mid-fifties, she was fighting leukemia, a cancer of the blood, after having been diagnosed with it 12 years earlier. This disease had already left her at death's door several times previously and that she had remained alive this long was a miracle in itself! She had been getting progressively weaker and weaker, to the point where she was beginning to be unable to manage even the mundane things of life by herself. A solitary woman to begin with, she stayed in her apartment most of the time, paying a taxi driver to retrieve her phoned-in grocery order from the store to her when needed. Just to walk down a flight of stairs to her mailbox and back had become so arduous that it was sometimes the only adventure outside her door for several days at a time. A simple cold would put her in bed for a week or more.
A woman of faith, she had determined that she was going to see God heal her - no matter what - and she was a very determined woman. She would sit in her apartment, day after day, reading scripture, praying and watching Christian television, believing that she was as good a candidate to receive healing as all the testimonies of those people being healed on the television screen. It was only at the mounting insistence of some of her closest confidantes that she finally agreed to go to the hospital. I believe her agreement was primarily motivated to shut them up so they would leave her alone. She was not going to be found lacking faith - even if it killed her.
The tests showed that there was no blood in Eliza's body - only water
We sat waiting for her blood work to arrive back from being processed by the lab when the doctor, a woman, approached us very apologetically. It seems that the lab had made some sort of mistake, she said, and that they would have to draw some more blood to re-run the test. The tests showed that there was no blood in Eliza's body - that it was only water. "We know that can't be true," she animatedly quipped, "because then you would be dead. Right?" So, they drew more blood and sent it off to the lab for a second testing.
When the doctor reappeared, her face was as white as the lab coat she was wearing as she informed us that the first test was not a mistake. The second test confirmed that there was no blood in her body, only water. To which Eliza was promptly escorted into a room where they proceeded to intravenously inject two units of blood into her. The following day, we brought her back where she was given two more units of blood and was advised to come back another day for yet two more. After the first injection, I saw the life begin to reappear in her eyes and her complexion return to its rosy hue.
Eliza told us on the way back from the hospital that the doctor had wanted her to begin chemotherapy immediately to combat the leukemia. Eliza was determined however, that even though this had been a setback for her, Jesus was going to heal her and she was not going to give in to the unbelief surrounding her. I sat in amazement at this woman's faith in the Lord in the face of overwhelming circumstances and, at the same time, wondered myself at why she wasn't finding that place of healing.
She had become very disillusioned with trying to "keep the faith" about being healed
A few days later, as we were talking about this whole incident, Eliza said that the doctor, in the face of her adamancy about treatment, had told her that there was a less intrusive, non-evasive chemotherapy treatment in much lower doses that she could administer orally that had shown much success in placing this disease under control. Eliza confessed to me that she didn't know what to do - that she had become very disillusioned with trying to "keep the faith" about being healed and was very tired of trying. She began to recount all of the discouraging trips she had made to this place or that event where she was prayed over; of the numerous people who, when she wasn't immediately healed, inferred that it was according to her faith (or more exactly, her lack thereof) and of the perplexing disappointment heaped upon her that she had carried for all those years of not being able to "measure up" to everybody's expectations - indeed, even to her own - of what it meant to not have enough faith to "be healed" in the Name of Jesus.
I told her I wanted to pray and stand with her and asked her what the Lord had specifically said to her about what position she needed to take in the midst of these new developments. She said, "I don't know." Now, it needs to be stated that Eliza is well read in scripture, able to quote verse after verse, and in the ways of the Lord found therein. She had vigorously sought after Him about her condition these past 12 years and why she wasn't being healed. She knows the book front to back and can hold her own in just about any theological discussion. Consequently, I was rather dumb-founded when, after asking her if she had asked Jesus about this situation and what she should do about it, she answered rather meekly with, "no." But she believed God could heal her.
Jesus said that He did not do anything unless He first saw the Father do it and He did not speak anything unless He first heard the Father speak it. (John 5:19 & 12:50)
"Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained…" Philippians 2:5-6 (Amplified)
"For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as fatted calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 4:1-3)
Variables vs Absolutes
Derek Prince, a valiant warrior of the faith, wrote a book in which he said that in the spirit walk there are variables and absolutes. Too often as believers, he went on to say, we tend to place our focus on the variables rather than allowing the absolutes to be the guiding pillars in our lives. There are many variables in this story, but only one absolute - the source of healing rests in the wings of Jesus (Malachi 4:2 above) and unless God speaks the word of healing as He did to create the universe, there is none. It becomes an issue of supreme importance, then, that we first hear what it is the Lord has for our life before we embark on a course that might cause us to land in a place different from where He wants us to be.
We know absolutely that God wants us to be healed because we are told over and over in the scriptures "…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." Acts 10:38. Where the religious folk of the day quarreled with Jesus was not in God's ability to heal, but the manner in which He was doing the healing. It didn't fit into their preconceived notions of how that should take place.
Since their traditional way of approaching healing rendered God powerless, they also didn't see much of it.
So, then, the question becomes HOW that healing is to occur and it is here that we run into all types of variables. The appropriation of healing is as different as there are individuals. There were some that He merely spoke to and they were immediately healed. There were others that some action was required on their part in order to obtain their healing. Since Jesus never healed anyone the same way twice, it becomes paramount that we should take our cue from His Way and first hear the voice of God in matters that involve our direct participation.
In Galatians 5:22, faith is listed as one of the Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT and, like repentance, is a gift not to be wielded at our discretion but at the direction of WHOSE IT IS. Our faith (different from the faith imparted by the Holy Spirit), while important, is but one element in the process of healing and, traditionally, has been amplified way out of proportion from what it is intended to do.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him' for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:1-6)
The Essential Message of Jesus
The rest of that chapter in Hebrews goes on to list example after example of men and women who, after having FIRST HEARD GOD SPEAK, then went on to see the performance of that word because their faith was IN THAT WORD THAT THEY HEARD GIVEN AT THAT MOMENT. Their obedience to that word was the evidence of their faith in it. However, before hearing Him speak, they first had to occupy that realm of being pleasing to Him. Pleasing God means what? The pre-requisite to hearing God speak is to believe that He is and that He will reward us for seeking Him. But being pleasing to Him does not constitute the reward. Becoming pleasing to Him creates an environment that enables Him to operate because He can only operate in a realm of faith. That is what is known as the measure of faith that is given to each of us that allows us to come across the threshold of the doorway to the kingdom. Once inside the door, we can then receive the reward. What is the reward for seeking Him? That we will find Him and WE GET TO HEAR HIS VOICE! That was the essential message of Jesus - that if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, WE WILL BE FILLED (Matthew 5:6). That does not necessarily mean we immediately get what we are asking for. We too often mistake the place of merely believing that He is as that place of reward and fail to wait to hear His voice of instruction….and, unless He speaks the word FOR THAT MOMENT, all the believing in the world on our part won't make it happen. This is not to say that our prayers and petitions do not have an effect on the word that He speaks, for they do; but, ultimately, if the word does not come from His mouth there is no power released to cause anything to happen. Because we wish and hope and pray for it to happen does not make it so nor does it place any obligation on God to do anything.
Once we obtain a clear word from the Lord then the faith fruit of the Holy Spirit kicks in and becomes added to the measure of faith we were granted to enter the door. As we exercise our belief in the word by our obedience to that word, that is when the power of the Almighty is unleashed and we can then expect God to fulfill the Word He has spoken. This process takes all the emphasis off of us and, instead, places it onto the creator of the universe to do what He said He will do.
"You do not have, because you do not ask. (I John 3:15). [Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and selfish motives." (James 4:3 - Amplified) One of the basic tenets of faith is listed in the Ten Commandments, "You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) The dictionary defines vanity as something that is used or done for selfish purposes. God was trying to say that when we attempt to force our will and desires into the realm of the spiritual, the atmosphere of faith he needs to operate in becomes nullified; hence, we can not be "pleasing" to Him because we have not sought after Him and His will first.
"Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases…" Psalm 103:3
Jesus touched Eliza. She has been healed and made whole. She is taking no medication and her last test results showed her blood count to be ABOVE normal. Hallelujah! So, what happened? What made the difference? As I said earlier, there are many variables in this story that are unique to her, but, ultimately, as she lay at death's door, she decided to wait on hearing His voice and His direction and then became obedient to it. When He spoke (He had been speaking all along - she just finally got to a place where she could lay down all her preconceived thoughts about how to hear Him and only Him) and she became obedient (the evidence of faith) to the action He had for her, the resurrection healing power resident in His Wings was released and engulfed her.
She simply quit running to this one and that one, this meeting and that rally, looking for someone else's touch; humbled herself before the Lord to wait only on Him and became obedient to those things He had given her specifically to do. If He does not speak the Word of Healing into our bodies, all the faith we try to work up won't do a thing. Since, as believers, God is more concerned in the eternal state of our spirit before He is interested in the temporal nature of our flesh, it is imperative that we "go to the source" to find out what He has to say about whatever condition we find ourselves in and leave all our preconceived ideas about how that is to happen behind. In scripture, He never healed the same way twice. We want formulas. "So faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of God." (Romans 10:17) "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) The Word is not a book, it is the person of Jesus. The book only speaks of Him. "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." (John 5:39.40) When we lift our eyes off of ourselves and our problems and put them squarely on Him, it is then that we will gaze on the Source of Life. No one else can do that for us.
Today, there are many who want you to believe in this way or that way to obtain favor from God. There is only One Way, however, and that Way is the example set forth by the One who created the Way - Jesus - and that Way is to wait on God. That is why Jesus spent so much time alone with the Father, training His ear to hear God's voice. So should we. He is speaking to you now - are you hearing?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Never Again - No, Never Again! By Jan Markell
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Never Again - No, Never Again!
By Jan Markell
Yom HaShoah is the annual day to remember the slain six million Jews who perished under the crush of the Third Reich. This year the date falls on April 21. More than Jews perished. Hitler wanted to do away with his enemies and anyone who didn't have blue eyes and blond hair. During the Carter administration, America officially recognized this important day as well. Many non-Jews attend memorial services in their area.
Let me take you to Israel for just a moment and relate the scenario on Yom HaShoah. The land literally comes to a halt, at least for two minutes! At precisely 8 AM each year, a two-minute siren is sounded throughout the land. Everyone in Israel freezes in their tracks. Rowdy teens grind to a halt. Children climb off their toys and stand at attention next to teachers or parents. All vehicles stop, forming a line of paralyzed transportation. Many drivers stand by their cars and trucks in solemn silence.
Some say the two minutes seems like eternity. In their hearts, every Jew in Israel is saying, "Never again; no never again!" But now Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he plans on doing it again! He'd also like to perpetrate a Holocaust on Americans.
There is something unprecedented about the European Holocaust. For the first time in the bloodstained history of the human race, a decision was birthed in a modern state, in the midst of a civilized continent, to track down, register, mark, isolate, dispossess, humiliate, concentrate, transport, and murder every single person of an ethnic group as defined by the perpetrators --and for purely ideological reasons.
This was targeted at an ethnic group who so generously contributed to the culture of the world; to a people who have borne the brunt of enmity towards them basically because they dared to be different and dared to insist on their difference. To the Christian, another perspective enters, for our Messiah, Jesus, was a Jew.
Israel doesn't want the world to forget, nor do they want us to buy into the devilish lies of "historical revisionists" who insist it either didn't happen or that the number of six million is grossly exaggerated. They believe that what mankind forgets, he tends to repeat.
Israel has memorialized the Gentiles who helped them during WWII, and particularly at Yad Vashem, the memorial to the Holocaust in Israel. There were many Corrie ten Booms but not all the stories became public.
In 1979 I wrote a true story of Holocaust survivor Anita Dittman. It is ironic that back then both Bethany House and Tyndale House were vying for the manuscript. Today the major publishing houses have no interest in this kind of inspiration, truth, and history, and I am thankful that Lighthouse Trails polished up the book's image in 2005 and republished it. It is now titled Trapped in Hitler's Hell. It will change your life if you will read it, and I am not trying to make a sale. Anita's story has been read or heard by tens of thousands and all would say their life was impacted in some way. God's protective hand on Anita and her mother in Nazi Germany, in the concentration camps, in the escape, and many more scenarios, is gripping. Readers will never forget the story.
Anita lived in a Romans 8:28 world. No matter what atrocity she faced, she claimed that "all things worked together for good." That plays out in every chapter. She spread her supernatural faith amidst disorganized chaos almost daily. Anita and her mother were Jewish believers.
Show your love for the Jewish people by participating in local Yom HaShoah activity. Many who went along with Hitler were members of a church. Some were pastors who put Hitler's picture in place of a cross. The Nazis had a cross on the belts or one was worn around their neck. These images have kept deep wounds in the hearts of Jews for 70 years.
They would love to hear you say, "Never again!" as well.
Never Again - No, Never Again!
By Jan Markell
Yom HaShoah is the annual day to remember the slain six million Jews who perished under the crush of the Third Reich. This year the date falls on April 21. More than Jews perished. Hitler wanted to do away with his enemies and anyone who didn't have blue eyes and blond hair. During the Carter administration, America officially recognized this important day as well. Many non-Jews attend memorial services in their area.
Let me take you to Israel for just a moment and relate the scenario on Yom HaShoah. The land literally comes to a halt, at least for two minutes! At precisely 8 AM each year, a two-minute siren is sounded throughout the land. Everyone in Israel freezes in their tracks. Rowdy teens grind to a halt. Children climb off their toys and stand at attention next to teachers or parents. All vehicles stop, forming a line of paralyzed transportation. Many drivers stand by their cars and trucks in solemn silence.
Some say the two minutes seems like eternity. In their hearts, every Jew in Israel is saying, "Never again; no never again!" But now Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he plans on doing it again! He'd also like to perpetrate a Holocaust on Americans.
There is something unprecedented about the European Holocaust. For the first time in the bloodstained history of the human race, a decision was birthed in a modern state, in the midst of a civilized continent, to track down, register, mark, isolate, dispossess, humiliate, concentrate, transport, and murder every single person of an ethnic group as defined by the perpetrators --and for purely ideological reasons.
This was targeted at an ethnic group who so generously contributed to the culture of the world; to a people who have borne the brunt of enmity towards them basically because they dared to be different and dared to insist on their difference. To the Christian, another perspective enters, for our Messiah, Jesus, was a Jew.
Israel doesn't want the world to forget, nor do they want us to buy into the devilish lies of "historical revisionists" who insist it either didn't happen or that the number of six million is grossly exaggerated. They believe that what mankind forgets, he tends to repeat.
Israel has memorialized the Gentiles who helped them during WWII, and particularly at Yad Vashem, the memorial to the Holocaust in Israel. There were many Corrie ten Booms but not all the stories became public.
In 1979 I wrote a true story of Holocaust survivor Anita Dittman. It is ironic that back then both Bethany House and Tyndale House were vying for the manuscript. Today the major publishing houses have no interest in this kind of inspiration, truth, and history, and I am thankful that Lighthouse Trails polished up the book's image in 2005 and republished it. It is now titled Trapped in Hitler's Hell. It will change your life if you will read it, and I am not trying to make a sale. Anita's story has been read or heard by tens of thousands and all would say their life was impacted in some way. God's protective hand on Anita and her mother in Nazi Germany, in the concentration camps, in the escape, and many more scenarios, is gripping. Readers will never forget the story.
Anita lived in a Romans 8:28 world. No matter what atrocity she faced, she claimed that "all things worked together for good." That plays out in every chapter. She spread her supernatural faith amidst disorganized chaos almost daily. Anita and her mother were Jewish believers.
Show your love for the Jewish people by participating in local Yom HaShoah activity. Many who went along with Hitler were members of a church. Some were pastors who put Hitler's picture in place of a cross. The Nazis had a cross on the belts or one was worn around their neck. These images have kept deep wounds in the hearts of Jews for 70 years.
They would love to hear you say, "Never again!" as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
