Bruck’s 3 Rules of Prayer

September 7, 2015 Leave a comment

Everyone has rules, and I have my own rules for prayer.

Rule #1: God always hears your prayers.

There are places in the Bible where God says He will not hear us. For instance:

1 Samuel 8:18 (And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. KJV);

Isaiah 1:15 (When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. NIV);

Jeremiah 7:16 (So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. NIV)

But does this mean God doesn’t hear your prayers? I don’t think that is what He means- He always hears us, He is just not listening, as in paying attention.

He always hears us, but when we have rejected Him and have sinned so often and so purposefully that we have thrown a wedge between us and God, He will have no option but to ignore our pleas. Think of it this way- we are calling to Him, He hears us but holds up His mighty right arm to our face and says, “Speaketh thou to the hand!”

God always, always, always hears our prayers, but how he acts is His choice. Which brings us to the second rule.

Rule #2: God always answers your prayers.

And sometimes that answer is, “No.” As above, God hears you, alright, but decides to answer with silence. Or maybe He will just say, “Nope! Ain’t gonna happen.” And at other times His answer will be “You got it, babe!” and that answer will be wonderful, confirming, and blissfully full of blessings. Or it may be something totally unexpected, which leads to the last rule of prayer.

Rule #3: The answer usually isn’t what you expect or when you expect it, but it will always be just what you need and just when you need it.

God knows what we need better than we do, better than we can, and better than we ever will. And because He is a loving and compassionate Father, Judge and Savior , He will provide not what we want (which is usually not good for us) but what we need. And whereas our timing is usually lousy, God’s timing is always perfect because He knows what will happen and when it will happen, so He can make things occur just when they should. We won’t always get what we want, and we rarely will get it when we want it, but we will have a much better batting average if we learn to pray more in line with God’s plan for us. Look at the prayers of Abraham, Moshe, the Prophets, Yeshua’s prayers and those of His Disciples: their prayers were answered not only when they were asked, but often exactly as they requested. That’s because they were praying for something that was within God’s plan. And yet, there were other prayers which were not answered as requested. Take Shaul as an example, in 2nd Corinthians 12:7:

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Here is one good reason for us to expect God to decide what He will answer and when: God, and God alone, knows the best time to do something and the best time not to do anything, because it is all about Him. Shaul’s prayer was for himself, but God turned it into something that gave the glory where it belonged- to God.

God always hears, God always answers, and the answer is rarely what you expect or when you expect it. But it is always perfectly suited to help you and to glorify God. So, keep praying. Just because you don’t get the answer you want or expect doesn’t mean He didn’t answer you. It may be ,”Yes, but not yet”; it may be, “No. Now stop bothering me.”; and it may be, “As you request, it shall be done.” And when we pray in Yeshua’s name we will receive what we ask for, SO LONG AS what we ask for is in God’s will and glorifies God. If you pray in Yeshua’s name to win the lottery, don’t be disappointed if you don’t, and don’t blame God. Winning the lottery isn’t what God is about. However, if you pray for salvation for yourself or someone else, God will listen, and He will answer.

I pray every day for the salvation and reconciliation of my children with God, and Donna and I, and that we will be a family centered on God. I know that God will answer my prayer by giving my children every possible opportunity to come to Him, but in the end, it is their choice. God will not force someone to ask for salvation. I pray in Yeshua’s name for the salvation of my wife and children, but they have to choose it. God will answer me, I faithfully trust that He will send angels of mercy to them, that He will make sure they have every opportunity to recognize Him, His work in their lives, and that He will protect them from evil, both physical and spiritual. And I know that He hears and He is answering this very moment, but since they have to choose, if they never come to salvation it is not because God didn’t hear and answer my prayer.

Make your prayers “God-worthy” by keeping them in line with God’s plan for you, as best as you understand what it is. And keep praying- you never know what the answer may be or when the answer will come, but if you pay as close attention to what God is doing in your life as you want Him to pay attention to your prayer, I believe that you will, eventually, see the answer.

Whatever it is.

Prophet or Psychic?

April 21, 2015 Leave a comment

Necromancy is strictly forbidden by God. The dead are dead and we are to leave them alone. Remember how much trouble King Shaul got into when he called up the spirit of Shmuel? Not a very happy “seance reading” when the spirit you call up says that you will be joining it for dinner, is it?

Below is a list of Wikipedia’s definition of what “psychic powers” are composed of:

Apportation – Materialization, disappearance or teleportation of an object.
Aura reading – Perception of energy fields surrounding people, places and things.
Automatic Writing – Writing produced without conscious thought.
Astral or Mental Projection- An out-of-body in which an astral body becomes separate from the physical body.
Bilocation or multilocation – Being in multiple places at the same time.
Clairvoyance or Second Sight – Perception outside the known human senses.
Death-warning – A vision of a living person prior to his or her death.
Divination- Gaining insight into a situation, most commonly through a ritual
Dowsing- Ability to locate objects, sometimes using a tool called a dowsing rod.
Energy medicine- Healing by channeling a form of energy.
Faith healing- Diagnosing or curing diseases using religious devotion.
Levitation- Bodily levitation and flying.
Mediumship or channeling – Communicating with spirits.
Precognition, premonition and precognitive dreams – Perception of events before they happen.
Psychic surgery- Removal of diseased body tissue via an incision that heals immediately afterwards.
Psychokinesis or telekinesis – The ability to manipulate matter by the power of thought.
Psychometry or psychoscopy – Obtaining information about a person or object, usually by touching or concentrating on the object or a related object.
Pyrokinesis – Manipulation of fire.
Remote viewing – Gathering of information at a distance.
Retrocognition or post-cognition – Perception of past events.
Scrying- Use of an item to view events at a distance or in the future.
Telepathy- Transfer of thoughts or emotions in either direction.

There are 22 different psychic powers here. Some we read about in the Bible as being revelations from God, such as predicting the future (this is, in fact, one of the tests of whether or not someone is a true prophet), healing, and astral projection (being lifted up in the spirit, such as Daniel was.)

Talking to the dead is also included. On TV there is a show called the Long Island Medium, and she seems like a nice person, but her life is devoted to telling people that her psychic powers allow her to channel and talk to their dead loved ones. Are you wondering why am I concerned about a TV show with a lady who can talk to the dead? After all, we also have ghost chasers and survival experts now searching for BigFoot (you would think searching for food would be hard enough!) on TV, so why worry about a medium?

It’s because I see this as just another “nail in the coffin” to Godly spirituality in our society. TV is so prevalent and consumes so much of our children’s time (and our own, as well), not to mention that humans will believe anything if they hear it said enough times, that whatever is heard or seen on TV is sure to become a fact to many people. Think about conversations you have with people- how many talk about a TV character as if it were a real person?

This TV medium, from the little I have caught having to watch the commercials, seems to always tell people exactly what they want to hear. I never see her say that, “Your Dad said he is glad that he is dead- now he doesn’t have to hear your whiney voice anymore.”, or “Your husband says he is in eternal suffering and can hardly wait for you to join him.” No…it seems that all she says to people is how their parents or friends loved them and are watching over them and are happy now. It’s all happy-happy, lovey-dovey heavenly stuff. But the Bible tells us differently, doesn’t it? Aren’t we told that only a few are chosen? That the gate is narrow? That there will only be a remnant? How is it that this medium only finds the few, happy and blessed people? If you were to say maybe she is in “touch” only with those that are in heaven, the ones that are Yeshua’s sheep, then why would those people, being followers of Yeshua, even allow her to contact them, since what she does is strictly forbidden by God?

The Bible is clear: a true prophet will tell us what God wants us to know. In my opinion, those who are psychically channelling the dead are telling us only what we want to hear, and doing that in order to get us to accept their sinfulness as proper and, thereby, trap us into sinning, also.

What God tells us is proper in His eyes almost always seems to be the opposite of what the world tells us we should do: God says love others and take care of them, the world says watch out first for Numero Uno. God says to worship Him and the world says to worship money, material things, sports stars, celebrities and fancy cars. God says to love one another in a holy and faithful way while the world says sex out of wedlock is not only acceptable, but practically expected.

All I am trying to say in this Drash is that you need to be aware of what is happening around you- be sensitive to your surroundings and don’t believe what you hear on TV or in the newspapers. And never, never, NEVER believe what someone tells you about God without checking it out in the Bible for yourself. I am amazed, although not surprised, at how lazy people are, even when it comes to their eternal soul. I mean, really? You are going to watch a TV show about who Jesus “really was” and take that as gospel instead of reading the real Gospel? Or see a movie that says Moses and Rameses were brothers? We really don’t know which Pharaoh was the one that ruled when Moshe went back to Egypt. In fact, Moshe was 80 years old when he went back and the average lifespan for a human back then was much less than that, so there is little reason to even think that the Pharaoh Moshe went to was the one he knew when growing up.

We need to be aware of what we are hearing, what we read, and especially what our children are exposed to. In order to make sure they grow up knowing what they need to know to protect them from falling into the traps of the Evil One, we need to know the truth, first, and we need to know what they are being told. The only way to get your kid to tell you about their day is to wait until they are adults (just joking): seriously, the way to get our kids to communicate with us is to communicate with them. Have dinner together without TV, without the I-Phone and without interruption. Talk to them as you would talk with another adult and allow them to talk as they feel comfortable (watching the language, of course) so they can feel that what they say is important to you. And it should be- they are telling you how to raise them, what to teach them and how to protect them. I think it is more important to listen than to speak when dealing with our children (not that I am any better at this than anyone else: in fact, my kids don’t even talk to me anymore.)

Salvation is from faith and trying to follow what God tells us to do; eternal suffering is from the Enemy telling us what everyone else is doing and that we should be like them. God on one side, Satan on the other, and us in the middle.

That’s why we need to watch every step we take and stay focused on the right path.

Why Teaching about God is so Important

February 9, 2015 Leave a comment

Back from a week off, having been cruising around the Caribbean with Donna. We celebrate our anniversary this way, with the special day being finished with a fancy dinner, in a fancy restaurant, on a big ship somewhere in the Caribbean. It used to be we went there from a frozen and snowy Philadelphia, and there was always the concern if we could get back home, and then how much snow would I have to shovel after hours of plane and airport “fun” just to get the car in the garage? However, it is definitely better to just get off the ship, walk over to the parking lot and get in the car, then drive home in a few hours. Living in Florida does have it’s advantages.

It was on the cruise that I discovered, anew, my dislike of most people. Yes, that’s right- I really can’t stand being around a lot of people because they are so rude and inconsiderate. I can certainly understand why God has had so many issues with us. And that is exactly why it is so important for us to teach everyone we meet, especially our children, about God.

When we read the Bible we are told how people should treat each other, but God is such a “second-class person” in today’s world that His rules and commandments are more like nice ideas than necessary ways to be. People push and shove, cut you off in line, and children run around screaming and disturbing the people around them (while the parents totally ignore them.) And if you were to say something, no matter how politely, you get an earful from them about how intolerant you are, or how they are just children (yes, that’s exactly what they are: children, and as their parents you are supposed to teach them the proper way to behave in public!) and to mind your own business.

God tells us that we are not supposed to look out for ourselves only, but that we should treat others as we want to be treated. Indeed, love others as we love ourselves. Hey, wait a minute! Maybe that’s the answer right there…maybe these people are loving others as they love themselves, and the problem is that they don’t really love themselves? Without a godly perspective, without understanding how much God loves us, and without really feeling and “owning” the pain that Yeshua went through to save our souls, then we can’t really feel love, for anyone, including ourselves. That would explain a lot of it, wouldn’t it? People are self-absorbed, ego-centric and unconcerned with anyone else because, deep down, they don’t know the love of God and the Messiah. They have nothing to go on but what they were given as a child, and the only dysfunctional family left in the world (I think) is the one that isn’t dysfunctional. I mean, just about everyone has some skeleton in the closet, just about everyone has wanted someone else’s mother or father to be their own at one time or another, and just about everyone wishes their life could have been different in some way.

I have reflected on my life plenty of times, and wish that I had been less of an ass many, many times. However, now I know the Messiah and I know the love of God, and I have a wonderful loving relationship with Donna (with whom after 17 years of marriage it still feels like we just started dating) so I really don’t want anything in my past to change, because then my present would be different, too.

I just can’t help believing that the more people know about God and His ways, the history and the truth of His Word, the more they will recognize that there is more to life than what we have. It is the belief that this is all there is that sucks the hope out of everything we do, and makes us so self-centered that we are impolite and unconcerned about anyone else. Even, to some degree, those we love. If this is all there is, then it makes sense that people would want all they can get now. Even something as little as trying to shove onto a crowded elevator when you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean…where the heck are you going to go? It’s a ship…in the middle of the ocean…and you’re rushing so much you need to crowd onto an elevator? Then they end up going up or down one level! What? Your legs are broken? There’s no crutch, or wheelchair, you are standing up fine, but you need to crush in on everyone, even before the people on the elevator try to get off, so you can go down one flight of stairs?

Okay, okay…yes, this is getting a little personal, I confess, but the point is valid, is it not? People don’t care about others because they don’t know how much God cares about them. Do you agree? People who have been brought up well show their love by properly disciplining their children ( read proverbs- it doesn’t say that sparing the rod spoils the child, it says that sparing the rod condemns the child to death! And read also how the Bible tells us a father who loves his children will discipline them, just as God disciplines us because of His love for us.) Today we are too concerned about being friends with our children instead of being parents to them. We are all victims, and we surround ourselves and our children with this teflon coating that says we aren’t responsible for ourselves, or our words, or our actions- it’s all someone else’s fault. I shot someone but it’s because my parents beat me, or I stole because society hasn’t given me a chance, or I didn’t go to school because there was a bully there, or whatever because of anything. There is always an excuse why it isn’t their fault when they do something wrong.

Yet still, before the Lord, they are guilty. I don’t like people, but I like even less the idea of the shock and terror they will have to go through when they face God. It’s because of His spirit within me that I feel I need to try to help those poor souls before they face that terrible truth.

We need to bring God back into society. We, who are Believers and understand why this is so important, need to show the faith and courage God demands of us and be anti-political by bringing up God in every way and opportunity we have. At work, yes, at work, and at play, and at social events. Do it properly, don’t do it in a way that compromises your job or friendships. After all, if we are so strong about discussing a topic most people don’t want to hear, then we will end up not being invited anywhere or having anyone talk to us. Then we can’t do what we need to, which is instruct people about God. Talking to the wall isn’t good, and we already have a “saint” who preached to the birds, so we don’t need another one of those. We need to bring God into the discussion in a non-threatening way; just a mention of His rules and ways. For instance, instead of saying something like, “Don’t you know the Bible says this…..” try something more abstract, such as : “I read in a book that people should act this way because it brings them closer together, socially.” That will leave it open to someone asking which book, and you can follow up with saying it’s an old book, a sort of history book and self-help book, all in one. If they haven’t guessed it’s the Bible, you have their interest enough now to say, “Believe it or not, it’s the Bible. You would be surprised at how many things in the Bible are all about treating each other well and self-help.”

I am not saying to demean the Word, just give it a “spin” that won’t immediately make people think, “Quick, Mr. Scott- bring up the shields!”

I have a friend who once told me that he thinks humanity is a great thing, it’s just all the people that ruin it. I couldn’t agree more. But we are all “the people”, you and I, everyone. We can’t avoid them, and the sad truth is, we need them. We are a social animal and we need the company of others or we go insane. Funny, isnt it? Alone we go insane and other people drive us insane. Maybe insanity is the norm?

Talk God, think God, act godly, and always, always, always teach your children what God tells us we should do and what kind of person we should be. And more than that, teach by example. We need to show the world what knowing the love of God and the love of Messiah Yeshua has done for us so they have a chance to redeem themselves, and really, finally, know what it means to be in love.

Don’t deny people the chance to know true love, the love God has for them. It’s greater than anything they can get from you or anyone else on Earth, and like most things from God, the more you give, the more there is.