We are told that God knows the heart and mind of everyone (Chronicles 28:9, Jeremiah 17:10), so if he is able to know what we are thinking and feeling, why then do we need to speak to him in prayer?

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I have always been reluctant to pray from the Siddur (prayer book) because I felt that if God really wants me to speak to him, why use someone else’s words? How can I make a heartfelt prayer when the words aren’t even mine?

This has always been an issue with my prayer life. And recently I have come to understand the value of praying to God, even though he already knows what it is I want, how I feel, and, much better than me, what I need.

The reason we need to pray to God, even if we use someone else’s words (although I still prefer to use my own) is to establish that personal relationship, a relationship that isn’t just one-sided. You see, if we don’t speak to God, purposefully letting him know what we want and how we feel, as well as thanking him, then the relationship is really one-sided: God to us, but not us to God.

We need to acknowledge who God is, how he has helped our lives to be better, and to allow him to hear our voice- even if it is a silent prayer- because that is our communication to, and with, him.

True, for 99.99999% of the time (5-9’s after the decimal point is an IT thing) God will be listening without responding- at least, not verbally- to us when we pray, but it is not a one-sided thing because we are both involved in specific and directed communication.

We pray: God listens; we wait for an answer: he does.

Sometimes it’s exactly what we want; sometimes it isn’t what we want but it is what we need; sometimes it comes when we ask for it; sometimes it comes when we least expect it; and sometimes it is just, plain “No.”

But whatever we pray for, and whichever way God answers, the important thing is to establish and maintain that interpersonal communication, which strengthens our relationship.

Even within human interpersonal relationships, talking to each other is essential to create and maintain that intimacy. Sharing our thoughts, desires, and problems helps us to strengthen the bonds of love between ourselves.

That is why prayer is so essential in our relationship with God, and why I pray every single day.

I started to do this when I first wanted to test if God really existed, and there was no answer for months, Then, one day, at Shabbat services in aa Messianic temple I was attending, I was ready to accept Yeshua as my Messiah; the Rabbi anointed me, and I felt the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) enter my body. It was a life-changing experience, and even though it was more than a quarter of a century ago, I still get chills when I recount it to myself or others.

That was the answer to my prayers. At that moment I knew- absolutely- that God existed, Yeshua was the Messiah he promised to send, and since that day I have received answers to prayer. And I know he is listening.

So even though God knows what we want, what we need, and what is truly in our hearts, we MUST pray to him to maintain that interpersonal relationship. Often enough, when I talk to God, I know even if he doesn’t reply, that I am not just talking to him, but with him because he is listening, compassionately, lovingly, and intently.

How he can do that, hear me among the billions of people all praying at the same time, and give each and every one of us the same level of attention, well…it’s beyond me.

But, then again, he is God, isn’t he?

Thank you for being here and please remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

In Numbers 15:32-41, we read about a man who was out gathering sticks on the Shabbat, well after the commandment about not doing any work on the Shabbat was known to all, and he did this in full view of all the people. His punishment, which Moses asked God to proclaim, was to be taken outside of the camp and then stoned to death by all the people.

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Many years later, after the people had entered the land and destroyed Jericho, in Joshua 7 we read about a man named Akhan who disobeyed God’s commandment regarding the booty of Jericho, which resulted in God abandoning the people at their very next encounter during their attack on the city of Ai, causing the death of 36 Israelites.

God had told Joshua that no one was to take any of the booty from Jericho, it was all to be destroyed or dedicated to God. But Akhan took some silver, a block of gold, along with some nice clothing and buried them all in his tent.

The people didn’t know of this, and when they went to attack a much smaller, easier target – a town called Ai- they were routed, with 36 of the Israelites killed. After their miraculous victory at Jericho, this loss had them totally demoralized, wondering why God had abandoned them. Not only that, but now they were scared for their lives, knowing that once this defeat was known, the other people they were to fight would have a renewed sense of courage.

God told Joshua what had happened, and after throwing lots to find the one person responsible for this defeat, the lot fell to Akhan. The punishment decreed by God was to have him and his entire family stoned to death buy all the people, and then their remains and all their possessions burned to ashes.

What do these two seemingly different events have in common?

They both are examples of the first time someone disobeyed a direct commandment from God. And God came down hard- REALLY hard- to demonstrate to everyone else the terrible consequences of disobeying the LORD.

“But Steve, your title for this message is about God’s compassionate understanding. Sorry to say, he doesn’t sound very compassionate, or understanding from what he did to those people.”

You’re right- the punishment God exacted on those people was terribly harsh, but it was done to set an example for all the others. Although most “compassionate” people don’t want to accept this, the punishment was to show compassion for the rest of the people, in that by this example of the terrible consequences of disobedience, God might put the real fear of him into the people who were thinking they might do the same thing.

Let’s go back to the man stoned for collecting sticks. The very next commandment God gave Moses after they stoned the man was that everyone should make and wear tzitzit-

• because when everyone sees the other person’s tzitzit, they will all be reminded to obey God’s commands.

The compassionate understanding here is that God recognized our weak nature, and how easily we succumbed to “Out of sight, out of mind”, so he ordered us to wear the tzitzit to keep anyone else from making this mistake. He was protecting us from ourselves.

When Akhan took the booty that was to be dedicated to God, not only did he disobey God’s command, but he stole from God! That was a double-sin, and God made the punishment doubly terrible because he wanted the people to realize that even what is done in secret is known to God.

The man who collected sticks wasn’t sneaking out at night- he was in full public view. People could think it was easy for God to know about it. But what Akhan did was in secret, yet God was still well aware of what happened. The people needed to know that nothing- absolutely nothing- is unknown to God.

So where was God’s compassion after Akhan and his family were destroyed?

It was that God decreed that when the people destroy Ai, and from that point on, they may take whatever booty they want. Again, God recognized and compassionately allowed for our weak natures.

Clearly, if Akhan had gotten away with what he did, it would eventually become known, and then others would figure, “Hey! If he could do it, why not me?” So, God headed off that sin by allowing them to take the booty.

Now there will be those who disagree with my understanding, and that’s OK- I am not the “Duty Expert” on the Bible. And there are those people who say they don’t believe in God because he is supposed to be loving and compassionate, but he kills men, women, and children, so something is wrong. They come to their own conclusion that since God kills people, he isn’t compassionate and loving, and since he isn’t what they say he is, he must not be real.

God is compassionate and loving, and that is the very reason why he punishes those who disobey. I think the real reason people choose to reject God, thereby not having to practice any religion, is because they don’t like the idea of someone having absolute power over them.

Pridefulness and obstinacy are the main reasons many people will not have a very enjoyable eternity.

You can decide for yourself if God’s punishments were a loving or unloving thing to do, despite how terrible some of those punishments were. But remember this: God doesn’t exist on the same plane we do- he is eternal, we are mortal, and whereas we can’t really see beyond this existence, he sees things from an eternal viewpoint. As such, he isn’t so much concerned with how long we live this life as he is with where we spend eternity.

The bottom line is this, whether somebody likes it or not: God makes the rules, and we either obey them or get our tuchas in a sling.

The most compassionate and loving thing God has ever done was to send the Messiah to us, so that we have the ultimate means of receiving forgiveness when we repent of the sins we commit.

Thank you for being here, and please remember to subscribe, and I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

You may be thinking there are only the 10 Commandments- the ones God gave Moses on the mountain. So, how can there be any other “10 Commandments”?

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In Deuteronomy 5 (I am quoting from the CJB), Moses recites the 10 Commandments, but his version is significantly different than the one God gave him on Mount Sinai!

Here’s what I am talking about:
1st Commandment:
God said: “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.” (Ex. 20: 2)
Moses said: “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves.” (Deut. 5:6)

3rd Commandment:
God said: “You are not to use lightly the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who uses his name lightly.” (Ex. 20:7)
Moses said: “You are not to misuse the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who misuses his name.” (Deut. 5:11)

4th Commandment:
God said: “For in six days, Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why Adonai blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself.” (Ex. 20:11)
Moses said: “You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore Adonai your God has ordered you to keep the day of Shabbat.” (Deut. 5:15)

5th Commandment:
God said: “Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land which Adonai your God is giving you.” (Ex. 20:12)
Moses said: “Honor your father and mother, as Adonai your God ordered you to do, so that you will live long and have things go well with you in the land Adonai your God is giving you.“ (Deut. 5:16)

10th Commandment:
God said: “Do not covet your neighbor’s house; do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Ex. 20:17)
Moses said: “Do not covet your neighbor’s wife; do not covet your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’” (Deut. 5:18)

So, nu? So many differences between what God said, and what Moses repeated many years later. If Moses had truly written down all that God said, as we are told he did, then why such significant differences?

Does this mean we can’t really trust what the Bible says?

No, a Bible is trustworthy: it’s the people writing them who aren’t.

C’mon, Steve… how that can be? Either the Bible is true and accurate, or it isn’t. The hard to accept truth is that both are true- the Bible is an accurate narrative of the relationship between God and his chosen people and the history that occurred during the times we read about. But these events are recorded in different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) and the interpreters cannot avoid their own bias as to what the words mean, in the context they are found. Also, there is the unavoidable “lost in translation” issue: for example, when a Hebrew text is translated into English, there will be some loss of meaning simply due to the fact that there were cultural and linguistic differences between what those words meant then, and what the current words they translate into mean now.

Later, when the Hebrew to English version is translated into Chinese, or Dutch, or whatever other language, after which that version is then translated into another language, and so on, these differences will be multiplied.

And then there is the copywrite law, which says no one can exactly duplicate a copywrite version, so there must be (literally) hundreds of words different in order to be a legal version.

So, the truth is that no two Bibles can be the same, and the differences may be significant.

As for Moses, we are told at the very beginning of this book (D’varim 1:5) that “Moses took it upon himself to expound this Torah.” In other words, Moses repeated what God said, but apparently, he felt that in some places he needed to emphasis the point in his own words.

God said he brought them out of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery, but Moses said out of Egypt, where they had lived as slaves. This isn’t so great a change, but when we look later at the 4th Commandment, God said he created the Shabbat as a day to rest, as he did, but Moses completely changed that to say God ordered them to rest on the Shabbat because they had been slaves. Perhaps Moses wanted them to know the Shabbat not as something God created as a result of his resting, but in order to be a blessing to the people? That could be why there is a relationship between the 1st and 4th commandments, as Moses gave them, that wasn’t there in God’s original version.

Moses also added to the 5th commandment that not only will they live long in the land (if they obey), but that things will go well with them. Maybe this was more prophetic than we realize? After all, we see that when the people disobeyed God, they still lived in the land but under the yoke of oppressors; however, when they obeyed God, they lived in the land peacefully.

Finally, in the 10th commandment, when God said not to covet, he placed the person’s house first, then his wife and property, but Moses said the first thing not to covet was the wife, then his house and field, then the property (remember slaves were considered property then).

Moses did this reversing of priorities earlier, when the tribes of Reuben and Gad asked for the land won from kings Sichon and Og (Numbers 32); they said they would first build enclosures for their animals and towns for their wives and children, then go ahead of the other tribes into the Land and not return to their portion until everyone else had conquered the people living there. When Moses approved this, he said they would first build towns for their wives, then enclosures for their animals. Moses placed the value of humans before that of property, and we see here, repeating the 10th commandment before entering the Land, that he did so, again.

You may be thinking this is all interesting, but what is my point? I’m glad you asked that.

The point is that if Moses, one of the greatest prophets ever and unquestionably as faithful and respectful of God as any human could ever be, could repeat something as important as God’s commandments with his own “spin” to it, then clearly any teaching or Oral Law (that includes the Talmud) passed down orally through the centuries, must be questioned and verified to what is quoted directly from God, in the Bible.

That means what is taught in seminaries, in Yeshivahs, in churches and synagogues, or anywhere else people teach about the Bible and God (which includes this ministry), you must verify it for yourself from what God says. The only time we can be sure- at least, as sure as possible- what we are reading is really accurate, is in the Hebrew Torah, where we are told “And God said to Moses, tell the children of Israel… (whatever)”. Because of the strenuous and detailed actions taken by the Sopherim (those trained to write the Torah), we can be certain that any Hebrew Torah is exactly the same, letter for letter, as the prior Torah, all the way back to Moses!

The Hebrew Torah is accurate, and any translation from the Hebrew will be as accurate as the skills and unbiased attitude of the translator. So, when you read whichever version of the Bible you prefer, please make sure that you have an open mind, and relate what you read in any one part of that Bible to what is written in other parts, and use multiple biblical sources, as well, to get the biggest picture of what is being said that you can.

Using just one Bible, listening to just one teacher, and accepting whatever you are told is like trying to see the entire house when looking through the mail slot in the front door.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (but make sure you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in).

I would also ask that you check out the books I have written- if you like what you get here, you will like my books, as well. There are links to them on my website, and you can find them in the Amazon bookstore.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

To many Christians the Torah is a set of laws, and (sadly) most Christians have been taught that these laws apply mostly just to Jews. Christians have been taught that Jews are saved by the Torah, but Christians are saved by faith in Jesus and all they need to do is be a good person and love each other.

Oy! If only it was really that easy.

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In fact, the laws that are in the Torah are really more like commandments, given directly from God, so let’s take a look at the actual Hebrew word for commandment, which is Mitzvah (מצוה).

Mitzvot (the plural form of mitzvah) are laws that God said we must perform. Until Yeshua taught us the deeper, more spiritual understanding of these laws (called the Remes), the Pharisees had been teaching just the plain language of the law, called the P’shat.

Here’s an example: the Pharisees had been teaching that you should not murder, but Yeshua said it was more than just not murdering- we should not even hate in our heart!

Another example is when the Pharisees taught not to commit adultery, but Yeshua said not to so much as lust with your eyes.

Yeshua taught that we must do more than just obey the law, we must personalize it. The New Covenant God made says (Jeremiah 31:31-33):

“I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;”

What does it mean to write it on our hearts? To me, that means that we will not obey what God says to do just to meet the letter of the law, but it will be a part of us- just as breathing, as eating, and as any other autonomic function of the body because his mitzvot will be a part of our very essence, written right into our DNA.

So, what about the Gentiles who accept Yeshua? Will they also have to have God’s mitzvot written on their hearts?

I think the answer is pretty obvious- of course they will! Anyone who wants to be part of this new covenant God made (which, ironically enough, is what Christians believe they are under) will have to have God’s mitzvot written on their hearts.

Do you Gentiles out there get it yet? Being a good person won’t be enough; besides the fact that Yeshua, himself, said no one is good except God (Mark 10:18), God said (through Jeremiah) that anyone who is going to be part of the new covenant will have God’s mitzvot written on their hearts, so they will be (here it comes…get ready…) OBEYING THE TORAH!

Here’s another little goodie for you… a mitzvah has a secondary meaning of “a good deed”. That means if you want to stick by the improper teaching of all you need to do is be a good person, well, good people are known by the fact that they do good deeds, right? So, to be a good person you have to perform mitzvot, and since mitzvot means both good deeds AND God’s commandments, even under the traditional Christian idea of being a good person, that requires you to obey the Torah.

Oy gevalt! Traditional Christian teaching has always said the Torah is just for Jews, but now you tell me that to be a participant in God’s new covenant I have to obey the Torah?

That’s not what I say, it’s what God says. Those who God makes this new covenant with will have his laws/mitzvot written on their hearts, and the only mitzvot that existed, in fact, the only ones God cares about, are the ones HE gave us, and they are in the Torah.

That’s the reason why any person, Jewish or Gentile, who wants to be under this new covenant God is making with us will have to have his mitzvot written on their hearts, which means they will obey the Torah: not as a result of some legalistic motivation, not to earn salvation, and not from fear of going to hell if they don’t. No! Anyone who will be under the new covenant will obey the Torah because it will be as natural to them as breathing!

My advice to anyone who wants to be in God’s presence throughout eternity is that they will have to be under the new covenant God said he will make, and so the first thing they need to do is unlearn whatever their religion has told them. Next, whether Jew or Gentile (sadly, most Jews don’t know the Torah any better than most Gentiles do), they should read the Torah over and over to get familiar with the mitzvot God gives so they will know how to worship and treat each other the way God says to do it. Finally, and this is directed to my Jewish brothers and sisters, they need to accept the truth that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah God promised to send.

There you have it! All your Christian life you have been told just being a good person and loving others will get you a ticket into heaven, but now you know that is a bunch of drek. You need to obey God, not a religion, if you want to be in his presence.

Thank you for being here. Please subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, “like” my Messianic Moment Facebook page and while there, join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”- but make sure you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in.

Share these messages with everyone you know and, if you like what you get here, you will like the books I have written, as well.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!