Tag: jesus

Being Correct Doesn’t Make You Right

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One of the nicest slaps in the face I ever received was from Jim McGovern, one of the better bosses I have been blessed to work for. He told me that what I say to people is usually right, but I say it the wrong way.

That’s an important lesson for all of us.

I read this morning in Dear Abby about a woman whose uncle is (apparently) a person who believes in the Bible and what it says. However, at a gay marriage he was invited to (and he went?) he screamed out while the men were walking down the aisle that his bible says Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. He has also been very vocal (and impolite) at other occasions. She went on to say he was divorced three times already and on his 4th marriage, and by now I understood this person, and the way he was expressing biblical truths, was not using God’s word to honor God; in fact, he was dishonoring God by his actions.

Being a God-fearing, Bible-loving Believer is great! But ramming it down someone else’s throat doesn’t bring any glory or honor to God. Just the opposite- it dishonors Him, and will drive people away from the Lord instead of bringing them to Him. We need to show the word of God in the proper light- by being a living example of the love, compassion and forgiveness that God showed to us, and that Yeshua showed, as well.

I don’t believe that homosexuality is a correct way to be- it is a sin. So is lying, so is adultery, so is stealing, so is murder, so is gossip. To God, sin = sin. There is no sin>sin or sin<sin: sin=sin=sin. It is all the same to God, any one sin is just as bad as many sins, and it only takes one sin to separate us from the Lord.

By God’s grace and love, every sin is forgivable. Through Yeshua’s sacrifice, every one of us can be forgiven, and saved eternally from ourselves.

I have dear family members, on my side and Donna’s, that are gay. I love them, I visit them and love it when they visit me. I don’t ram down their throats what I think because I am just as much as sinner as they are- we are all in the same boat, we are all sinners, we are all in need of the salvation of God available through Yeshua ha Mashiach.

We should be allowed to voice our opinions but we need to respect the rights of others to make their own choices in life. We will all be before the Lord, sooner or later, and He is the final judge. God, and God alone, is the ultimate, final and only fair and just judge that is, was, or ever will be. And that is because He can see the heart, whereas we humans can barely see the nose on our face.

Hate the sin and love the sinner- we say it, we hear it, but do you live it? If you are the one who says what is right but says it the wrong way, the bottom line is that you are wrong. I am one who knows- I am the rightest wrong person you will ever meet. I am an old pro at being right the wrong way, and when you drive people away or hurt their feelings saying the right things, you are wrong.

Why? Because when you plant a seed you need to sow it gently. By shoving the truth down someone’s throat you are sowing seed then stomping on it, then kicking it, then stomping on it again.

Ain’t gonna get no harvest that way!

People don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do– the man described above may say he believes in the bible, but what he does says he is just a self-righteous, judgmental person who is using God’s word as his excuse to berate others and voice his own opinion. He isn’t giving honor or glory to God, he is only proving he is a “holier-than-thou” you-know-what.

If we are really God-fearing, and we really believe in the bible, and we really want to show others the truth and love of God, and we really want to bring others to salvation, we really won’t do it by preaching how wrong they are and insulting them. That won’t win people over to God because when you insult people all you do is force them to become defensive. Besides that, another truism I have learned from being in sales is that people only believe half of what you say, but 100% of what they say, so no matter what you say or how correctly you say it, they still won’t really believe you. They will, however, notice how you live, how you act towards them, and how you treat others.

If you want to win people over to God, don’t tell then how they should act: show them.

No One Turns to God When They’re Happy

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I may be wrong with today’s title. I am certain there are people out there who haven’t accepted God’s Grace and are enjoying fulfilling, useful and happy lives. Maybe there are people who have comfort and joy in their lives, but haven’t accepted God or His Messiah, then suddenly realize that it is not because of their own worthiness or power that they are so well off but because God is giving them blessings out of nothing more than His love for His children.

Maybe there are people who can appreciate Him and say to themselves, “Hey, know what? This is too good to be true, and I don’t deserve any of it because I am a sinner. So, while I am enjoying my life, let me stop and thank God for it, and take this time to accept His Grace, the salvation He made possible through Messiah Yeshua, and ask for forgiveness for the sins He is not punishing me for. ”

Maybe this is happening, maybe there are people who come to the Lord this way, maybe… but I really, REALLY doubt it.

Humans are self-centered, self-absorbed, self-important and hedonistic. And those are our good qualities!

I do not ever recall, in the 18 years I have been saved and even before, talking to anyone or hearing of anyone who came to the Lord in the midst of their joy. It is almost a foregone conclusion that when we are happy all we care about is staying happy. We don’t want to know or think of anything else.

In D’Varim (Deuteronomy) 8:10-20 Moshe warns the children of Israel against falling prey to their nature, in that once they have been secure and happy in the land they will forget it was God who did all that for them and that it was God who made it all possible, driving out the nations before them, and that it was because of God’s love for them that they have that security and abundance. He tells them to remember the Lord in the midst of their joy and not to think that they earned any of the peace they will have. In other places in the Torah he tells them to never think they are worthy of the land God is giving to them: in fact, Moses reminds them throughout the Torah about their stubbornness, their stiff-necked attitude and continual refusal to follow God’s laws wholeheartedly.

I think you have to agree with me- we don’t appreciate what we have until we lose it. We want, we pray, we get, and when we are happy we think it was by our power we now have it and we ignore God. When it all goes away, we cry and kvetch and, finally, when we are beaten into a sobbing hulk of self-pity, those who are still smart enough to remember where it all came from look up to God, repent and ask forgiveness.

And He forgives. Over and over, He forgives. Not because we deserve it, because we don’t. I mean, maybe the first, or second, or even third time we screw it all up I can see His forgiveness being given. But after 40 years in the desert and still not paying attention? After thousands of years of distorting His word, making our own rules from His simple commandments? And what about the religions with rules that are against His commandments? How can He still be able, let alone willing- actually, wanting!-  to forgive us time and time again?

The answer is as simple as the commandments He gave us- He can, He does and He wants to because He is God.

If you are reading this and don’t consider yourself saved, thinking that your life is your own, please take this test:

  1. Can you add even 1 hour to the day?;
  2. Can you change one hair on your head from black to gray (without medical intervention)?;
  3. Do you know when you will die?;
  4. Do you know when Yeshua will return?

If you cannot answer any of those questions with an absolute “Yes”, I suggest you reconsider your position about God. And soon, because the prophecies about judgement are all pointing to the unavoidable conclusion that it will be here soon….very, very soon.

If your life is joyful and serene, please thank God for it. It’s because of Him. And if your life sucks, you are unhappy, depressed, needy and feel rejected, then look to God for help. He is there to bring you out of the pit and into the light.

And know this- those of you who are joyful and at peace today may be in tribulation tomorrow, so enjoy it and thank God for it.

Never lose sight of the fact that whatever you have that feels like a gift from above is just that- a gift from above. Yacov (James) reminds us in James 1:17 that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

God doesn’t change, and we can. I think that is one of the greatest gifts that God provided for us, the fact that we have not just the opportunity to change, but the ability. They say the leopard cannot change it’s spots nor the tiger it’s stripes, but we can change; no matter how old we are, no matter how bad we’ve been (or good, for that matter- it can go both ways) and no matter how long we’ve been that way.

God will accept you whenever you ask His forgiveness and request His grace, so don’t wait for the bad times to do so and never forget to thank Him during the good times.

He is worthy and deserving of thanks, all the time.

SWISH

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How many times do we find ourselves looking back at a situation and thinking, “Why did I get so upset?” I know I do, and then I add to that, “And what was I thinking (or not thinking) when I said/wrote that?”

It’s funny how we always blow everything up from manageable to unmanageable. You know what I mean? We get to a new job, we settle in a little and see everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and we think to ourselves, “What’s the big deal? This isn’t so bad.” Then, a few months later, once we are fully settled in and as emotionally invested (so to speak) as everyone else, we are the ones running around and the new guy is thinking to himself, “What’s all the hubbub about? This isn’t so bad.”

Give it a few months, buddy, just give it a few months.

By now you are thinking, “Yeah, I know what you mean, but what the heck does that have to do with SWISH?”

I’m glad you asked.

So What, I‘m Saved…Hallelujah! That’s what SWISH is- keeping things in control, not going crazy, or getting upset, or allowing our self-absorbed ego’s to make us so frustrated that we say or do things we shouldn’t. SWISH is how we say, “Stand at ease!!” to ourselves.

The server is down and the clients are screaming they can’t work…SWISH.

I’m late and the car won’t start…SWISH.

My kids are driving me crazy and I need to get all this housework done, with no one helping me…SWISH

I’m broke, the bills are piling up and my marriage is falling apart…SWISH  (if you can SWISH with all that going on, you are a pro at it.)

This is hard to do, but we can all get there if we try hard enough and pray often enough.

SWISH isn’t to be used in a negative way, meaning we shouldn’t be apathetic, unconcerned or uncooperative. It is a way for us to be able to go through what is happening now without having to experience the emotional upheaval we feel at this moment (check out this post: https://messianicmoment.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/see-today-through-tomorrows-eyes/). It’s a way to keep things in perspective, to maintain control of ourselves and our feelings, and to demonstrate what it really means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, by keeping our heads on when everyone else is running around with their heads, well, somewhere other than between their shoulders.

It’s really easy to understand, but intensely hard to do. It takes practice (believe me, I am a novice at this myself) and dedication. And it takes more than human dedication- it takes a divine dedication, like when we first were imbued with His spirit, like when we came to salvation, like the first moment we felt His presence. Doesn’t it make you feel relaxed and joyful just thinking about that moment?

That’s SWISH. When you find yourself in the middle of “This is all wrong” or “All this bad stuff is happening” and you are thinking, “The world is falling in all around me: even Job had it better than I do!” When you get there (and we all do, sooner or later) just think for a second how it will all seem so insignificant when you are in your resurrected body, living in the New Creation and constantly in the presence of God. Imagine how silly you will think you acted when you look back at this very moment and remember what it was like to be human, as you sit in judgement over the Nations.

Have you experienced the overwhelming joy and total relaxation of  being held in the arms of the Lord of lords and King of kings?

Can you remember that feeling? Can you feel it? Right now?

That, my friends, is what SWISH is all about.

Intolerance is Not Bigotry

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Once again, thank you Ask Amy for ideas and inspiration.

She was answering a letter from a man who was shocked that a recent friend , who is a Christian, was against homosexuality. Amy answered that his friend is intolerant and Christians are taught to be that way (she didn’t say that outright, but she strongly implied it), yet she was tolerant by stating that the writer of the letter could learn to allow other people their opinion.

So the “Christian” with a politically incorrect belief is intolerant (i.e., hateful) and this man can be honorable by accepting that from him. The man who allows the Christian to be intolerant is correct, and the Christian is just pain wrong.

Intolerance is not hatred or bigotry. The difference (for me, at least- you may agree or not) is that bigots and racists hate people for what they are, whereas a true Believer will hate the things the person does but loves the person.

An intolerant person is someone who, according to Mr. Webster, is “not willing to allow or accept something“; there is also a second definition that says an intolerant person is one who is “unwilling to grant equal freedom of expression especially in religious matters.“

Let’s take a look at some of the intolerant people throughout history: God, Moses, the Prophets, Yeshua (Jesus), many of the kings of old (they’re examples of the bad type of intolerance because they would just kill people who had different opinions), people who never prostituted their ideals or accepted less than what they knew to be right (Edison, Ford, Gates, Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, to name a few.)

Intolerance isn’t the problem: it’s what we are intolerant of that is the true indicator of whether we are upholding ideals or being bigoted.

I do not agree with many of the ‘socially acceptable’ things people do.  I base this not on my personal feelings as much as on what I believe God tells us we should do, and what He says we should not do. In fact, I am intolerant of myself at times because (if I may paraphrase what that nice Jewish boy from Tarsus said when he wrote the letter to the Messianic Jews in Rome) I often do what I don’t want to do and do not do that which I would rather be doing

I am not a good example of doing what is right, but I am a good example of someone trying to do what is right.

Am I intolerant? You bet I am! I am intolerant: not of people, but of sin, and I am intolerant of those that define sin by what they want it to be and not by what God says it is.

The enemy wants us to be tolerant and to accept what everyone wants to do. When we do that, we have no scruples, no measurable level of right verse wrong. When we allow that everyone has the right to do what they want, we don’t have individual freedom- we have total anarchy. And, whether it is a legal anarchy, political anarchy, or spiritual anarchy, it is the perfect environment for the enemy to just step in and take over. Today when someone is “tolerant” they are not just expected to allow others the right to their opinion, but they are expected, indeed required, to give up their own right to their opinion.

If I believe <fill in the blank> is wrong, then I am intolerant. It doesn’t hold true so much if I fill that blank in with, oh, say….murder, or rape, or arson, or a legally defined criminal act. If I fill it in with something religious or godly, say adultery, or idolatry, or homosexuality, or lying, or even blasphemy, then I am probably going to be “called onto the carpet” for it.

That’s OK with me- I will stand for what God says and if He says don’t stand for sin, then I won’t stand for sin. I won’t allow sin to go unchallenged, and I won’t accept the evil I see just so that I can be considered “tolerant” by others.

Hate the sin but love the sinner. That’s a hard thing to do, but isn’t it the only thing that separates Believers from bigots?

However, don’t expect the world to see that very important difference because it doesn’t want to, so be true to God and to yourself, and don’t worry about the others.

After all, if they tell you you are wrong for believing what you do, doesn’t that makes them just as intolerant as you are?

Parashah Re’eh (Behold) Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17

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With this parashah we leave the First Discourse of Moses, the historical discourse,  and come into the Second Discourse of this book, which is the Rehearsal of the Code. Essentially, Moses reviews (as is pretty much what D’varim is- a review of all that has happened since leaving Egypt) the laws that God has given to the Israelites. These laws deal with religious institution and worship (although God doesn’t have any religion), criminal law, domestic life and concludes with tithing, first fruits and accompanying prayers.

The very first thing that God tells the people in this Parashah is that they have a choice, the freedom to choose for themselves, individually and corporately, whether or not they will obey the laws given to them. Obedience will bring blessings, and disobedience will bring curses. Seems easy enough, doesn’t it?

BTW…God doesn’t do bad things to people, but He does allow bad things to happen to those who reject His kippah (covering) of protection. God’s curses are not evil intentions designed to hurt us; those curses are actually self-inflicted. They are the direct result of “walking away” from God, which means leaving the protection He offers us from the world.

The world is a cursed place, full of evil and godlessness. When we obey God, it is like walking under an umbrella during a thunderstorm: we are protected from that which is all around us. Sure, our feet get wet, maybe from the knees down our pants are soaked, but overall we are not drenched by the rains. However, when we reject God’s laws, we are stepping away from the umbrella and showing that (to coin a phrase) we don’t have enough sense to get out of the rain.

The blessings are active actions, things God does on purpose to help and protect us. The curses are passive actions, things that happen to us when God is not protecting us. And it isn’t His choice to not protect us- we are the ones who choose to reject His protection.

Some may say, “Oh, yeah? Well, we aren’t really free, we don’t really have a choice because if we want the protection we have to do as God says.” That’s right- you do have to obey God to be protected. But the world has rules, too. Their rules are ones where you must conform, you must “take the mark” to be able to fit in with everyone else, and the world is not compassionate or understanding. If you screw up in the world, you’re dead meat.

God, however, is not like the world. If we should stumble and fall, He will move to cover us when we reach out to Him. He will bring the umbrella to where we are, lift us up, and let us come back under His protection. He will clean off the mud and the dirt and we will be able to keep walking with Him. Even when we totally walk away, we are always welcomed back when we realize our mistake and ask for His forgiveness and for His protection.

That ain’t happening in the real world.

So, yes- we do have a choice. As Yeshua said, we are all slaves to something, either to God or to sin. We choose, we decide, and we need to remember that to choose God is to choose a way that will  have us walking separately from the rest of the world, but under His kippah. If we choose the world, we will be uncovered in the storm. The problem is that once you get soaking wet, you don’t feel the rain anymore so you think you are OK. That’s how sin stays in our lives, and multiplies, until we get so soaked in disgusting things that the stench is no longer noticeable.

We do have a choice, we do have free will, and we do have the exact same options that the Israelites had some 3,500 years ago: we can choose blessings or curses, we can choose to obey or reject, we can choose life or death. And when we choose God, we choose His laws as He gave them- that means living within the rules of the Torah. The whole Torah, not just the parts we like.

The world will make you live with your choice, and God will always let you change your mind, either for the good or for the bad. His gift of blessings and salvation is irrevocable. That means it will not be taken back, but that doesn’t mean we can’t throw it away.

The choice is yours, so choose well and remember this: whichever choice you make, the longer you stay with it, the easier it becomes to stay with it.

Those that have ears, let them hear.

See Today Through Tomorrow’s Eyes

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This morning’s Drash falls somewhere between spiritual maturity and anger management.

The other day I was praying and began to wonder why I, a person who knows Messiah, who knows God’s plan, and who knows the wonderful future I have to look forward to basking in the glory and love of the Lord, get mad at anything. Especially the stupid, little things that get under my skin, like, oh, let’s say, USERS!!!!

Sorry. If anyone reading this is one of the people my company supports, it’s not you I’m talking about.  🙂

So, as I was thinking about the future, I also started to think about how it always seems to take forever when looking forward to something, but when you look back it seems that life happened at supersonic speed.

That’s when it hit me- stop looking forward and only look backwards.

I don’t mean we should ignore the future, or never plan for anything- that’s silly. We all need to have something to look forward to because without a future there’s no hope. What I mean is that we need to look at what is happening to us today with tomorrow’s eyes, as if we were remembering this current event instead of living through it. That way the immediacy of the emotional impact is lessened to a large degree.

It does take practice, it takes retraining your own reactions, and it ain’t easy. I have not mastered it…not by a long shot!

But I am certain that if I can just stop for a second, remove myself from this moment’s feelings just long enough to force myself to believe it is days or years later, and I am looking back on what is happening at this very instant, what memory of this event would I want?

I truly believe that if I can do that, I will not react but will act; I will be able to do what I would have wanted to do, that so many times I wish, looking back, I had done.

This simple, but not so simple, thing is what can make a difference in one’s life. It can help us to be more like what God wants us to be, and less like what the world has trained us to be.

God’s time is not like ours- I think that is often why He can be so wonderfully compassionate and understanding, and also so angry at us when we don’t think we are doing anything that bad. It’s because God sees what is happening and what will happen, whereas we can barely look beyond the end of the nose on our own face!

That is what looking with tomorrow’s eyes allows us to do- see past our noses. It takes work, and as I’ve said, it isn’t easy. That’s where the spiritual maturity part comes in. With a powerful prayer life, and constantly dying to self to allow more room for the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to fill us, we can call on God’s Comforter to help us overcome our emotional, fleshly reactions so that we can look at what is happening this very second as if it were a memory.

And when you learn to see now as if it were long ago, your emotions will slow down, your anger will abate, and you will be able to make what you do now the memory you want it to be later.

Try it! After all, what have you got to lose except unpleasant memories and people being angry at you?

No Deals for Forgiveness

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Remember those old movies, the ones from the 40’s and 50’s? The tough kid whose brother is in the hospital, or the troublemaker who finally comes to terms with his own anger when the only girl he ever loved is dying, and they go through this kind of a speech:

“Lord, you know I ain’t no praying person, and I always kinda thought you were there, and if you are now, and you’re listening, please save (place name here.) S/he’s better than I am , I ain’t never been any good, so take my life and give it to him/her.”

I’m almost crying now, just thinking of those heart-wrenching prayers.

Poppycock!

Get real, people! God doesn’t make deals, you can’t swap your life for another. Each person who sins must deal with their sins; first, by accepting them (you can’t give away what you don’t own) and then by wanting to be rid of them. When we realize our own sinfulness and realize, at the same time, our inability to overcome it, that’s when people come to God and ask forgiveness for themselves. Praying for others is fine, interceding is godly, and asking God to forgive others is good to do. However, when it comes down to it, each person must have their moment with God. Each of us must form that relationship, that personal relationship, with God, and that has to start by asking forgiveness for ourselves.

This is clear throughout the Bible:

  • Jeremiah 31:30 (Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes–their own teeth will be set on edge.);
  • Deuteronomy 24:16 (Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.);
  • Ezekiel 18:20 (The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.)

These are some examples I found in the Tanakh, and even if it isn’t stated specifically in the B’rit Chadashah (Good News / New Covenant) Yeshua didn’t say or teach anything differently that what is in the Tanakh.

I am not saying that to pray for someone else’s forgiveness is not valuable or good to do- far be it for me to deny the power and goodness of interceding. If Moses hadn’t interceded for the Israelites, and more than once, we would all be remembering father Moses instead of father Abraham.

What I am saying is that God is not going to swap out your righteousness for someone else’s sinfulness. You can pray for them, I often pray for my kids (like every day often), and lift them up to the Lord. Ask His forgiveness of them, which He will do by sending others to show them the path to Him. They still need to come to Him on their own, and He can (and will) send angels of mercy to direct them, and (as in most cases) human beings who know the Lord to help those you pray for see the truth. I know that if not for the people who were mature of spirit and could approach me without telling me I had to convert, I would not be saved today.

Isn’t it best when we follow the rules? The Bible tells us what to do:

  1. Ask forgiveness for yourself, so that through the cleansing that comes from Yeshua’s sacrifice you can approach the Lord:
  2. Ask the Lord to save these people from themselves by forgiving them, not because they deserve it but because He is God, and ask that He do so for His names’ sake;
  3. Ask that God send angels of mercy to lead these people away from sin; and finally
  4. Pray that you are a better example to them of the peace and joy that is found only in God’s salvation, brought to us through the Comforter (the Ruach HaKodesh, Holy Spirit), so that they will become jealous of your peace and how you find comfort even in the midst of troubles.

Of course, you may have a better prayer, or something you are more comfortable with. The above is my prayer, it’s how I try to intercede for my loved ones who don’t know the Lord.

Don’t try to make deals or swap out your salvation for someone else. It makes for good fodder in the movies, but not in real life. In real life we all have to deal with our relationship to God and others, and what we do is what we will be held accountable for.

As I have said before, and will (no doubt) say again: people don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do. God will hold us accountable for what we do, so pray for others, and pray that they come to know the Lord so they can turn from their sin. God will always answer prayer, I believe that He will send angels and people to help those we pray for, but always understand and accept that each of us must come to the Lord, on our own.

Trust in God to answer your prayer but remember that He will not force anyone to worship Him, so as much as God works to lead others to Him, most will reject Him. Get comfortable with that truth, that Biblical truth, because you will see many you love turn against you and against God when the Tribulation comes.

We need to pray for others, accept that God is listening and working on their behalf, but it is, ultimately, up to them to come to God.

Parashah Ekev (follow) Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25

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Most of D’Varim (Deuteronomy) is a discourse from Moses reminding the children of Israel all that has happened to them over the past forty years, reminding them of God’s commandments and encouraging them to obey God after they have gone into the land and conquered it.

This parashah starts with Moses continuing his discourse on the history of their journey. He reminds them of the wonderful ways God has protected and fed them, and also of the horrible ways they have rejected God and tested Him. Moses goes back and forth from what God has done, what He will do to help, and how He has kept His part of the covenant, then about how they have, for their part, broken the covenant because they refused to obey and what will happen to them if they continue to refuse.

He tells them they are to go in and take over the land, destroying all the pagan items and peoples, and that even though the people there are stronger and mightier than they are, God will go before them and battle for them.

Moses warns the people that they shouldn’t become complacent when God has done all these wonderful things, and begin to think that they deserved any of it. He is quite adamant that they don’t, and they better not forget that. They are getting the best not because they deserve it, but because God loved their ancestors, who did deserve it. They don’t. He wants them to continually be humble before the Lord- as should we all.

I  like how Moses tells them in chapter 10, verses 12-13 that all God requires is for the people to fear God, walk in His ways, love and serve Him. Sound familiar? Read Micah 6:8.

The message here for all of us is that we need to remember that God will do for us all that we could ever want, and when we walk in trusting faithfulness, He will be there, in front of us, protecting us and forging a path for us so we can complete the trip. He will smooth the path, place hedges on the right and the left to keep us straight, and destroy the enemies blocking our way. And if we fall, He will pick us up. If needs be, He may even carry us for a way. However, He won’t carry us all the way; there may be a smooth path but there will be hills to overcome and valleys to pass through. It won’t be easy, it won’t always be fun, but we must keep going.

That’s really the whole story, isn’t it? From beginning to end, the basic A-B-C’s of salvation are:

A– Accept your own sinfulness and need for God, Accept the rule of God, and Accept His Messiah;

B– Be obedient, Be dedicated, Be an example of God’s wonder and goodness;

C- Continue to work at being more of what God wants you to be so you can Complete the journey.

That’s all there is to Salvation: it’s easy to attain, it’s hard to keep, but it’s well worth having.

Why They Just Refuse to Believe

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I’m no psychiatrist (although my going to one has been suggested) but I think I know, from personal experience, why so many people just refuse to accept the truth about salvation.

I think it’s from fear of loss. And what they fear losing is their freedom to sin.

No one will say that they want to sin. Well, maybe there are some who will admit it, but most people won’t say they want to sin, and being “saved” means they can’t, so they would rather reject God.

But I think that’s the real reason why they reject God.

I know when I was rejecting (and ridiculing) God and all who accepted Him and the truth that Yeshua is the Messiah He promised, I was afraid of having to become “holy”, meaning that I couldn’t joke around, drink, have sex without marriage, make dirty jokes, curse a blue streak when angry, etc. And yet, when I thought about it, I realized that these things aren’t the best parts of my humanity, but I still didn’t want to be ‘transformed’ into the image of Messiah.

Also, as a Jew, I was told that this Jesus guy was a Jew who started a new religion, and history can support the teaching I received, which was that Christianity hates Jews. I  will talk about why Jews reject Jesus in my Monday, 8/3 blog.

Yet, deep down, I did want to change. I didn’t like the cynical comments I made all the time, I didn’t like it when I hurt people (although I blamed them for being hurt) and I didn’t like embarrassing myself. I didn’t like some things about me and I did like other things about me, but being a “saved again Believer” seemed to require giving up everything.

Man, oh Manischevitz, am I glad I was wrong! I finally got sick and tired of not making a choice and when I did I found out that what I really wanted was to have God’s spirit in me to help me get rid of the dreck and improve what was left. I didn’t become a different me, just a better me. There is still plenty of “wrong” stuff to work on so that I am still the “me” I was before, but just with a lot less of the stuff I didn’t want.

I think most people don’t want to review their thoughts and beliefs about God and Messiah because they are comfortable where they are, even though they have a first class seat to Hell. They are enjoying the ride without any thoughts about the destination. That’s a shame, and it’s what the enemy can use to win souls to him, even when those souls have no idea what is happening.

What really frustrates me is when you meet that person who was raised a Gentile and has heard about Jesus all their life, and is comfortable with what their religious leader told them. Most are told either you are going to hell if you are a bad person and heaven if you are good, or that Jesus died for your sins so you are OK, don’t worry about that “Jewish” stuff in the Old Covenant and just be a good person. It’s all OK.

That teaching is a one-way ticket to the hottest spot in creation, and I’m not talking about a night club.

Do you know someone who says they believe in God, pretty much, and they know about Jesus (Yeshua is His real name, and the only name that has a meaning to it) but they don’t want to talk about the bible or God? They just want to go to church on Easter and Christmas and be left alone. If so, try to reach them by reassuring them that whatever changes they may have to make to live a more Godly life will be welcomed changes. Tell them that you changed and you now can look back and realize how much more blessed your life has been, how much happier you are and more calm and peaceful, even when you are in the midst of terrible times. Let them know that they will have to change some of their behavior, take time and make the effort to read the bible and get to know God’s word (which is the best and fastest way to get to know Him) but that with the Ruach HaKodesh helping and guiding them, this work will feel more like enjoyment. Basically, they can still have a really fun ride while also going to the right destination.

I know people, close to me, whom I love, who refuse to accept that they need to make a decision on their own and to face up to accept or reject. God is binomial- either you are with Him or you are against Him; there is no other choice. And yet, these people just want to stay where they are, lean on the broken stick that their religion taught them about salvation (just be a good person) and refuse, adamantly, to save themselves. It really hurts to watch people run to destruction.

If you are reading this and seeing yourself, please don’t be afraid of the change. You will be more peaceful and able to find that “calm in the midst of the storm” as you go through life when God is your pilot. Life is a storm, we get tossed about like leaves in a tornado sometimes, and there are things we can’t control. But God is in control of everything, and when you choose to be on His side, He will keep you safe. The changes you make will be at your speed because God won’t put on you more than you can take (Yeshua told us His yoke is easy and His burden is light) but you do have to work at it. You will need to live more and more in accordance with the Torah, which is God’s commandments to everyone who worships Him (God has no religion, remember?), but it isn’t hard.

Face up to the reality that you are on a trip to eternity, like it or not. You can choose what you do while traveling, and you can choose who you want to travel with, but the destination is coming and you never know when you will reach it. It may be years from now, it may be today. But you will reach it, it is going to come, and it will be where you remain for all eternity.

The trip is short, as James says, it is a mist that is here and then gone; think about how long it takes for something you really, really want to arrive, and when you look back how quickly the time seems to have passed. Stop thinking you have all the time in the universe, because you don’t. Your destination will be here before you know it, and when you have to get off the ride you will not have any choice.

Enjoy the ride, sure, but make sure that you are going to the right place first.

I’m Drawing a Blank Here

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Ever find yourself just sitting, staring at nothing? That’s where I am right now…listening for an idea and all I hear are crickets chirping in my head.

Maybe I shouldn’t write anything; after all, just because I don’t have a word from God doesn’t mean I have to force something, right? I mean, I know He’s there, I know He has blessed this blog and that so long as what I write is justified and qualified by what is in the Bible, I will continue to reach people who need to know that God is God, His word is true, His Torah is still valid and applicable to everyone, and Yeshua (Jesus) is still the Messiah promised in the Old Covenant writings.

So what do I write about? Maybe I just found my topic- God is always there, even when we don’t hear from Him.

I remember that poem (I think just about everyone knows it) about the guy walking on the beach with God, and there are two sets of footprints, but as the man goes through tsouris and tribulations there is only one set of footprints. Later, there are two sets again, so the man asks God where He was when the man needed Him and was walking alone. God answers that the one set of footprints belonged not to the man, but to God- and God was carrying the man during those troubled times.

We need to maintain faith, which isn’t too hard when you are in the midst of the blessings. In fact, you get absolutely no “bragging rights” for being faithful in the midst of blessings. It’s when those blessings are absent, when we are walking in the desert and we see no oasis, no rocks gushing water, no birds flying to us and landing on the ground that we need to maintain our faith. It’s when we are surrounded by snakes and scorpions that we need to be faithful, and remember that just because we don’t see God in our life it doesn’t mean He isn’t there.  He is always there, waiting in the wings. Maybe He is waiting for us to return from wandering off on our own, trying to do something in our own strength instead of His; maybe He is testing our resolve, our faith, or maybe He is just letting us walk a little on our own.

Maybe we will never know (that’s probably the most accurate answer) because what God does we can’t always understand. I read once that a God who can be understood by the mind of Man is not worthy of the worship of Man. I couldn’t agree more, and those people who dare to say they know what God is all about are the ones you need to leave alone.

Yes, there are times when we realize that God is doing something in our life, and we should appreciate and always be on the lookout for those times, but to understand God? To know His mind? I don’t think so.

This is why I really get a kick out of God! Here, I start out thinking I have nothing to write about, so I start to walk (or write, as the case may be) in faith, humbly admitting my lack of ability this morning, and God just steps in and gives me something to say that glorifies Him.

God is always there, just like the sun: it’s always there but we can’t always see it. Sometimes there are clouds blocking it (humanity and the world), sometimes it’s because at night the sun is out of our sight and sometimes we just stubbornly have our eyes closed.

But the sun is always there, just as the Son is always there, just as the Father is always there. Just because you don’t see Him doesn’t mean He is gone.

There will be times when we won’t see God in our lives, and when you feel that way remember what Yeshua told us: if we seek , we will find, so seek the Lord by doing those things He tells us we should do and you will find Him.

He’s always there.