Tag: prayer

Power of Prayer or Power of God?

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I was waiting at the hospital yesterday for Donna to finish a procedure and the TV had on one of those “daily” shows, which was talking about a “miracle” kid whose parents state that he has survived because of the power of prayer. Although I was intently playing on my laptop, I stopped to listen for a bit.

They even had a medical doctor who was confirming that study after study has shown people who believe in the power of prayer have remarkable results. He went as far as to say medicine and religion are a powerful combination. It’s about time someone who works in a scientifically-based profession is willing to speak up for prayer.

It was then that I thought- is it really “prayer” we should be giving the glory? Isn’t prayer just a spiritual conduit to God? Shouldn’t we really be saying that it was the power of God that caused the miraculous survival, and not the power of prayer? The family that was being interviewed, and the young man who was the one surviving, knew who to credit as they constantly said it was God who has done this. Yet, don’t we hear often about how powerful prayer is, and it almost seems as though it is prayer that is given the credit. I am afraid that some people are giving the glory to prayer instead of the one being prayed to.

The inherent danger I see in this is that not everyone prays to God; at least, not the God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob. If people believe that prayer is their salvation, to whom are they praying? Is it God? Is it Allah? Is it the Enemy? Is it just a generic activity, some “New World” idealism that we are able to heal ourselves through some mystical biofeedback mechanism called “prayer?” All of these are viable concerns, don’t you think?  The Enemy has the power (and will have the authority) to perform miraculous signs, so if I am just praying for something to happen, not praying to anyone in particular, and it happens, could it have come from the Enemy? He will do good things for you if it can lead you to trust him enough to accept his mark.

We need to stay focused on the giver of salvation and not (so much) the means. We say we are “saved by the blood of Yeshua”, but in reality we aren’t saved by his blood, we are saved by the fact that He gave it on our behalf. We are not saved by Yeshua, but by God. It was God who resurrected Yeshua (because He was a proper sacrifice) and because Yeshua performed works and lived (and gave) His life in order to make it possible for God to save us; we are saved, ultimately and wholly, by God. Yes, the blood was important, as was the life Yeshua led to make the blood acceptable. The suffering, the passion, everything about Yeshua’s life and death was what made the salvation through His sacrifice possible, and it is because of Yeshua that we can be saved. But it was, it is, and it always will be God who saves us through His Messiah, Yeshua.

In a nutshell, it isn’t prayer or blood or anything other than God who saves. Read the Psalms, listen to the Prophets, and hear what Yeshua is telling us.

The problem with humans is that we always try to complicate things, and add our own meaning. Remember the snake in the desert (Numbers 21)  that Moshe made at God’s command? When people were bitten by the snakes God sent as punishment for their rebellion, if they looked at the bronze statue they would not die. The snake didn’t save them, it was God- the snake was nothing more than a symbol of His mercy. Later, though, we read about how the Israelites worshipped the snake (2 Kings 18) and even gave it a name, Nehushtan. The snake was to be a symbol, just like the blood of Yeshua and the Cross, but these have become almost like idols to many people today. Didn’t God say not to bow to other gods, yet in the Catholic church they bow and worship a graven image on a wooden cross! I know they don’t mean to do wrong, but isn’t that exactly what God said not to do? No graven images, of anything? No bowing down to anyone or anything else? When did they miss that part? Do you think Yeshua is happy that many Christians (forget the Catholics, this is Christian-wide) pray to Him not to intercede with God, but instead of God? Yeshua is the Messiah of God, not the replacement. He is Lord, yes, but not the Lord. His Father is who He worshipped, and still worships, and still gives the glory, and to Yeshua God still is “The Man.”  We pray to Yeshua to intercede, to ask of God, so when we pray to God in Yeshua’s name we are doing what Yeshua would do, aren’t we?

When you talk to people about the power of prayer and the wonderful things that Yeshua did, please make sure that you do not create stumbling blocks by making prayer, blood, even Yeshua, an “idol” that replaces God’s true part in the plan of salvation.  Prayer, by itself, is useless; you must be praying to God, the one, true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If you pray to Him, you are to pray in the name of Yeshua. That is the promise Yeshua made- when we pray in His name; that doesn’t mean pray to Him to deliver you, it means pray to God, the one who grants your prayer, the one who is the giver of salvation, the one who is Judge. Pray to God and not to anyone or anything else, and ask Him to answer your prayer, and ask it in the name of Yeshua. Don’t pray to someone else to ask Yeshua to ask God. That’s just silly: why pray “retail” when the manufacturer of your salvation says you can get it “wholesale.”

Maybe I am being over-cautious. Maybe I am making something out of nothing, but I believe we should always be vigilant and careful not to create idols and stumbling blocks in our spiritual lives. In John, Yeshua said that whatever we ask Him to do He will do when we ask in His name, but that doesn’t mean to pray to Him instead of God because Yeshua then adds that it is so He can glorify the Father. It is still all about God. And the easiest way to avoid misdirected prayer is to keep focused on God, pray only to God and ask that God grant your prayer by invoking the name of Yeshua.

You have to decide if you want to pray to a saint, or Yeshua or to God. It is going to be your decision, and you will have to square it away with God, individually. As for me, I pray to God and I ask that He grant my prayers in the name of Yeshua Ha Maschiach. That has worked for me.

Prayer is powerful only because of the one to whom the prayer goes, so when you are talking about how powerful prayer can be, please remember to give the glory not to prayer but to the one who answers your prayers.

Is It Me or Him?

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I was going to write about Baptism for babies because I find it ridiculous that anyone thinks God will send an infant to hell because they didn’t have a baptism, and because the idea that someone else can make statements of faith for another person, baby or not, is also not something I believe will fly with the Lord.

To get my facts straight I looked up baptism and saw a site that is about clarifying Christian thought. I figured I’d find a lot of good fodder there, but when I read it the statements were all in keeping with what I think.

Needless to say, I was surprised and disappointed, all at the same time. Here I was, ready to stand and defend God’s word and His love, show how baptism was a Jewish thing from the start (it’s called a Tevilah or a Mikvah) and rail against the anti-Semitic Church!

Now, here I am, stuck with nothing but my own preconceived (or, more correctly, ill-conceived) ideas that I can’t use because they are wrong.

That’s when it hit me- who am I really defending?  Am I doing what is right in God’s eyes or just spouting my own personal thoughts, in the name of the Lord?

OUCH! That’s a tough thing to figure: am I talking on behalf of God or on behalf of Steve? Am I feeling a righteous anger at the misuse of God’s word or am I really just exercising my influence to expound on my personal “peeves” and, as such, misusing God’s word myself?

I pray each day when I ‘blog’ that I am saying only what is right in His eyes, making points that lead people to salvation and understanding as God wants, and doing His work. Yet today I am finding myself wondering if that is what I was doing when I decided to bash baptism of babies.

BTW…for the record, baptism is important and it is a Jewish thing. The Tevilah is an outward expression of an inner change. It is a symbol of cleansing oneself, and is an important activity/ritual to go through when accepting Yeshua as your Messiah. It should be done when one has reached the age of understanding and can make one’s own decisions; as such, it cannot be done by proxy.

Back to my confession of pridefulness, which is exactly the right word to use if I am saying things I believe in order to teach people about God that may or may not be what God wants taught. Yeshua tells us that those who teach are held doubly responsible for what they do, and how influential we are and how important it is to do what is right. I don’t want to be one of the blind leading the blind, or one of those who sin and teach others to sin. Yeshua says that person will be least in the Kingdom of God. Teaching is an important responsibility. The Prophets were teachers, in a way, reminding the people of what God said they should do. And how often did God warn the prophets that if they did not tell the people what they need to do then the blood of the people would be on the Prophets own head?

I believe, and it has been confirmed often to me, that God has given me a gift of teaching, but that doesn’t mean I can’t screw things up by my pridefulness and ego. And, trust me on this, I have plenty of both. The only way I control it is by understanding that I have it and owning up to it, so I don’t forget to always be looking for it to rear it’s ugly head. It is sin crouching at my door.

So what lesson is there today from all this soul-searching? The lesson is to remember that old Greek aphorism: “Know Thyself.” When we do things in God’s name, make sure it is for His glory and in accordance with His word and what He stands for. When positive it is from God, preach it; when in doubt, don’t.  You may be doubting something that is from God, but better to not take the chance you are misusing His word or His gift. If God has a word He wants you to preach, He will make sure you get it out. Maybe the word is good but the expression is not, so just wait: if it is from God, I guarantee it will gnaw at you until you finally figure out how it should be taught.

I ask anyone reading these ministry blogs of mine, or my book, to reply and let me know if you think I am off topic, ever. I appreciate your input and ask for guidance. I always pray to God for guidance, and often He answers through the interaction of another person. So, nu… don’t be shy.

Thank you, Abba, for your gifts and your Word which You have provided, and please lead me with your Ruach to do and say only that which pleases You and gives You all the glory. Halleluyah.

Do You Really Mean It?

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Have you ever complimented someone, then they returned a compliment to you, but you knew that they were just saying something because they thought they should? Did it really mean anything to you?

When you pray to the Lord, do you really mean it? I’m not talking about when you ask for something you want, or when you have a dire need or are praying for someone else’s dire need. Stuff we pray for that we want, we do really want and we do really pray for, earnestly.

I’m talking about the “regular” prayers; you know, thanks for the food, thanks for the job, etc. When we give thanks for something do we really feel the emotions that we state, or are we just doing what we were taught we should do?

Are we just zombie praying? Are we just going through the motions without the e-motions?

I like to thank the Lord for the medicines I take each morning, and especially for the fact that there are so few of them. I like to thank God for the veggie egg wrap I get each morning from Dunkin Donuts each workday on my way to work (and occasionally I really, really pray they will bring back the turkey sausage one.) And when I thank God for the job I have, the people I work with, my wife, our love, the life He has given us together, and everything, (not to brag) I really mean it.

I have been blessed in having to scrounge up enough coins to buy a Dinty Moore Beef Stew can for my meal that day. I have juggled bills so well I could have starred on the Ed Sullivan Show (ooh- I am really dating myself now.) I have been bankrupt, came back and gained a good financial foothold, then lost all the money I saved to alimony and child support, only to see it go to smoke because I paid a ton of money for 2 years and my son was still wearing T-shirts for diapers, even though his mother lived rent-free.

I say this not to engender pity or respect, but to point out that, yes- it was a blessing to go through those trials because they taught me how to be really thankful. Someone who never has had a lack of anything (I believe) can not be truly thankful for anything. How can you appreciate having what you have never lacked?

And, since we are talking about God, about ethereal things, about salvation and eternity- all things that we humans can’t appreciate as much as we could if we were ,oh, say…a fallen angel, then how can we pray and really feel it?

It is possible, but you need to allow the Ruach to help you. I know what  it feels like to be with the Lord- when the Ruach entered my body, I was ethereal, I was in the Spirit, and I was there for a second or two. But I will never forget what it felt like.

I have felt God’s touch, His embrace, and it brought me to tears of joy. I haven’t felt that so much in the past few years, most likely because I have become inured in my prayer life and in my worship. I pray as David prayed, to be given a clean heart and have a right spirit renewed in me, to remember the joy of my salvation. And because I knew God’s touch, I know how much I miss it when my worship is half-baked (my fault), and so when I pray for it I really mean it.

I don’t wish hardship on anyone but, well…I lied. I do wish everyone would go through hardships in their life. The gold will never be refined if it doesn’t pass through the fire, and metal will never stand up to stress if the slag isn’t removed. I pray (and I mean it, too!) that everyone who wants to be blessed by God go through want, and depression, and suffering (both physical and emotional), and hunger, and unrequited love. All the worst things that can happen to a person, only so that they will all the more appreciate and be thankful, truly thankful, for when they receive from God all that they had lacked.

If life is good and nothing is wrong, pray with thanks to God for His protection, but also realize that the Enemy will leave you alone if you aren’t doing anything for God. Trials and tribulations strengthen us- just ask Jimmy (his book is in the New Covenant writings) and pray that God will strengthen you. And get started doing more for God.

I am really thankful when I am thankful, and I hope that you can say the same. Look deep into your soul, because that’s where God sees you, and make sure that you are truly thankful when you pray. If not, I think it would be better to just not say anything.

Better a truthful lack of thanks than a hypocritical attempt to be “correct”, so don’t pray just to pray- pray as you feel.

The Ultimate Anger Management Tool: Prayer

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There are a number of things that just can’t be done in this life:

1. You can’t scratch your ear with your elbow;

2. You can’t make a leopard change its spots;

3. You can’t make the person ahead of you in line go faster; and

4. You can’t stay angry with someone when you pray for them.

I have a few people in my life that have not only worked hard to earn my anger, but no matter how many times I have tried to overcome their nastiness and bad manners, they always prove their extraordinary talent for obstinacy and spitefulness is more powerful than my meager attempts to ignore them.

That’s when I pray for them. Not always, mind you- I ain’t no saint; not by a long shot. But there are times when I remember the title of this blog and pray for them.

When you pray for someone you need to “get in their shoes” so that your prayer is appropriately aimed at helping them overcome the very thing that gets you so mad at them.

I have a previous life, with two children and an “ex” that has constantly, and consistently, overcome all my attempts to ignore and diffuse her spite, anger and hatred, which she has instilled in my children against me and my family members. I pray for the kids every day, waiting patiently and prayerfully for their reconciliation with me and their turning to God, in whichever order He thinks is best. And sometimes, I am happy to say, I remember to pray for her. Since the day we separated she refused to let us buy things for them and do things for them, insisting she get the money instead of the children getting the clothes , furniture, or whatever we wanted them to have. Over the years she had proven that giving her money is the same as throwing it away, so in the end, the kids have lost out. The worst part is that the kids think everything she has told them is true, and they actually are just as brainwashed as if they had been growing up in a cult. Someone that mean, that hateful, and so hurt that she will eat her own children in order to hurt me is so desperately in need of the love of God that I cannot possibly refuse to pray for her.

And during those 20 plus years of trying to overcome her, the courts were useless (the mother always wins unless she is a drug addict or something like that.) Now the kids are long past majority, and I am helpless. All I have left is prayer. I haven’t even talked to them for a few years now.

All of this kvetching is not to vent or ask for pity, but to give you an idea of the background, so that when I say I have plenty of ammunition for hating and being angry with someone, you can understand just how powerful prayer is, because when I pray for her and for them all I can feel is pity. The anger is gone, and a genuine desire for them to find forgiveness and peace, as I have, is paramount in my heart and spirit.

When I have one of those conversations (you know, the kind where you tell the person what you have always wanted to say and they listen attentively, because it’s all in your mind) and feel myself getting a little worked up, I can now (thanks to the Ruach inside me) stop because I realize what I should be doing is not “getting it off my chest” (which, by the way, never works- you don’t put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it) but placing it before God and asking His intervention. Not for retribution, or even the justice that is deserved, but for help. And not for me, but for her.

For this to work you have to really mean the prayer, and the way I do that is to recall what I have that she doesn’t. I have the Lord; I have Yeshua as my intercessor, and I have salvation with a guaranteed seat at the table. I have everything that is important in death (that’s not a typo- what is important in life is to make sure you know where you go when life is over. Life is short, death is forever, so I want what is important in death more than what is important in life. Don’t you?) and all she has is her hatred and anger. And that is useless to her; it brings no warmth, no love, and no satisfaction since she can’t hurt me anymore. She has used up all her cards, laid them out on the table, and the other players are already gone.

She has nothing. Even though she has the children, what she has taught them is to be self-centered and unappreciative of anything and everyone. She has not shown them how to be useful members of a relationship, how to love properly, how to be independant and self-assured. She has only taught them the way to grow old and alone, with no friends and no God. If they should ever come to their senses, she may lose them, leaving her absolutely nothing. I have already lost them, and I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone. Not even her.

How can anyone be angry with someone so pitiful? And when I pray for her, and for my kids, I can feel the pain she feels. I can realize how hurt she is. I even feel (sometimes) useless and ashamed that I didn’t make more attempts than I did (and believe me, I made a lot of them) to apologize and help more. All I did is not relevant here, so please understand that I did a lot, travelled a lot, spent extra time and money trying to help them and be as close as one can be when two states away.

It is prayer that has helped me, too, to be less angry and vengeful. I know that God is a loving Father and a merciful Judge, but He is, when all is said and done, God. He will judge mercifully but fairly, and those that have come up short and rejected Him will get the short end of the stick and be, themselves, rejected by Him. Without a significant change in their lives, my ex and my children, blind leading the blind, will all fall into the pit and spend eternity in Sheol. I am not happy with that thought…not happy at all.

So I pray. I pray everyday for my children, and I pray now and then for her. As I said, I’m not a saint and do not pray for her as earnestly as I pray for my children. After all, it is anger management, not anger removal. I think it takes more than just prayer to remove the anger totally; prayer is just one of the tools God gives us to do that. There are still things, even from decades ago, that get under my skin, to to speak, and I try to release it all to the Lord, but I seem to have sticky fingers.

Maybe one day I will be cleansed enough by the Living Water, Yeshua Ha Mashiach, so that my fingers will no longer be sticky.

Are you still angry about something? Are you still feeling a need for justice and yes, wanting revenge? Or maybe just to see someone get their “comeuppance?” If you want to get over it, pray for them. Pray earnestly, pray as you know Yeshua would pray for them (“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”), and if you are having a hard time with that, think about this: you get to be in Paradise forever, and they will be in eternal suffering with no chance for parole. Think about how close you came to their fate, how much better your position than theirs, and much more love you have in your life because you have the Lord, Yeshua and the Ruach HaKodesh. Think about all that you have and all that they don’t, and if you don’t feel pity and remorse for them, well, you should question your own salvation!

I don’t want to believe that anyone who knows the love of God, the suffering of Messiah and the forgiveness we have received could possibly want to deny that to anyone. No matter what they did.

Anger is not a sin, and Shaul tells us that we should not sin in our anger. Be angry if you are mistreated, misjudged, hurt and humiliated. It’s natural to be angry, just don’t sin in your anger. If you want to get rid of it, pray for the person who did it to you. Anger and vengeance are a wormwood that will eat you up from the inside out, so let God have it.

Proverbs says to not return evil for evil, but wait upon the Lord. It’s good advice. Pray for those that have hurt you and made you angry and you will see that it really is the ultimate anger management tool.

 

Is God Really Invisible?

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We often hear about the “Invisible God” of the Jews. Whereas the pagan worshipers of old had gods that one could see and feel, the Hebrew God was an invisible god that no one had ever seen.

And, for the most part, God is invisible. Good thing, too, since He tells Moshe that no human being can look upon His face and live. On the other hand, He does show Himself, now and then, in visions (Daniel and Ezekiel saw nearly His entire body) or directly, as He did with Moses.

Is God really invisible? Or, is it that we can’t see Him because we aren’t looking?

After all, what is invisible? When we are in the daylight we see the white light of the sun but none of the colors inside that light. When we go out into the sun we get a sunburn, but we don’t see the UV rays that are burning us. We can see the light, and we can feel the warmth, but we don’t see the colors or feel the burning rays.

Here’s the kicker- those invisible aspects of sunlight are not invisible. They can be seen; all you need is the correct filter. If you look through a special filter, such as a prism to see the colors or one designed to allow the frequency that the UV rays operate within to be visualized, we can see those here-to-fore “invisible” things. They may be invisible to normal sight, but they are real and with the proper filter they are no longer invisible.

God is like that. His presence can be felt, His works can be seen, and His existence is obvious. As obvious as a sunburn. But we don’t “see” Him. Yet, as I said before, Moshe, Daniel and Ezekiel all saw Him. He made Himself known, visually, to them. How is it that they could see and we don’t?

Think about Elijah and when he was being hunted. The story is found in 2nd Kings: the King of Aram sent his army to kill Elijah, who was able to foresee by God’s spirit the ambushes being set against the King of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and when the servant of Elijah awoke and saw the troops surrounding the city, Elijah told the servant, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed to God and asked that He open his servant’s eyes. God did as Elijah asked, and then the servant could see the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Essentially, that which was invisible became visible because the servant was looking through a special filter- the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) enabled him to see the invisible army of God.

If we look for God through that same filter, I believe we will see Him. It may be as an angel, it may be as a vision, it may be as a normal human being who does His work in our life. God is real, God is present, and God is visible when we look for Him using the filter of the Holy Spirit.

We cannot see His face, we know that already, but we can see Him as clearly as the nose on our face if we just look hard enough. I see Him, in the beautiful sunsets and sunrises that remind me as I wake and as I go to sleep that God is a wonderful artist, and His presence is with me, always. I see Him in others when I see someone do something nice for another person, when I do something that I know I don’t want to do, in my flesh, but need to do because in my spirit I know I should. I see God whenever I see goodness, love and compassion in the world.

Don’t get me wrong and think that I see God all the time. That’s not true, because I am still sinful and weak. I never saw God at all before I accepted Him and Messiah Yeshua. He wasn’t just invisible to me, He was non-existent. Now He is real, I feel His presence, I see Him through the Spirit (occasionally) and because of this I know Him to be real.

Do you have the spiritual sight? Have you seen God? Again, let me emphasize: I am not saying you will see Him in totality, or as you see another human being. You will see His effect, His presence, His armies and maybe, if He chooses to allow it, His physical being (not the face- stay away from the face!) in a dream or vision. I haven’t seen that part of Him, yet. Maybe someday?

The truth is God is invisible because we choose not to see Him. It’s all on us, just as many don’t see His presence or His works because they refuse to accept His existence. I believe that many people who say they believe in God are just saying it. I have nothing to go on to justify that statement except my personal feelings, and my experience of having seen so many people who profess to believe in God do and say things that they would never do or say if they really knew the Lord.

If you are unsure about God, whether or not He really exists, or whether or not He really cares about you, take off the filter of the world and try to look through the filter of trust, faith, and the spirit. God will make Himself known to those that genuinely seek Him out. Don’t expect that one half-hearted request will get Him to drop everything and show up on your doorstep. He requires us to be faithful, which means to keep trying even when things don’t happen. Just keep at it, keep asking, and keep expecting, in faith, for Him to show Himself to you.

If you do that, I believe that He will show Himself to you. You need to keep looking through the proper filter to see Him. It took about 3 months of constant requests and prayer, when I was first saved, before He made Himself known to me. And when He did, WOW!! I felt His Ruach enter my body, and I was (for a second or two) totally ethereal. I was spirit, not flesh. That was nearly 18 years ago, and when I think about it or relate the story I still get chills and teary-eyed. It was a life-changing experience (I think I have a link to it somewhere on the Home page of this blog.)

Pray, be faithfully expectant, and ask God to let you see through the filter of the Ruach HaKodesh so you can see Him.

God isn’t invisible to those who want to see Him.

 

 

WWJD? Probably Not What You Are Doing.

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Ooh- what a nasty title, Steve! How dare you say I am not doing what Jesus did! You don’t even know me.

That’s right- I don’t know how you worship, but (as the title says) from my experience watching and hearing about “Christian” service, you are probably not doing what Jesus (Yeshua) did when He worshiped God.

That’s the emphasis here- is your worship life the same as Yeshua’s?

*  Do you read the Torah parashah every Saturday?

*  Do you pray morning, afternoon and evening?

*  Do you pray to Saints?

*  Do you kneel to a wooden cross?

*  Do you celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday?

And here’s the BIG question: Do you worship God or do you worship Yeshua?

If you are saying “No” to the first two, and “Yes” to the others, and if you worship Jesus (what I am mean by this is are you praying to God in Yeshua’s name, or are you praying directly to Yeshua for the answers you want?), then you are NOT doing what Jesus did, at least with regards to worship.

Yeshua never prayed to Himself, and never, ever said we should pray to Him. What He said (look it up if you don’t believe me) was to pray IN HIS NAME, not pray to Him. That means we worship God, the Father, and pray to God, the Father, and no one else. We do not ask saints to intercede- why would you even want to? They are not God’s son, they are not the Messiah, it is not their job to intercede. They are, if anything, soldiers for God. They are the martyrs under the altar, they are waiting for the Acharit HaYamim (End Days), they are praying to God for their own retribution and for justice. They are not intercessors, and they are not who you should pray to if you want to do as Jesus did.

Did you enjoy your Christmas ham? Ever think that what you ate and shared with others as a celebration of the birth of the Messiah would be an abomination to Him?  He would never even have it in His house, let alone on His table. How would you feel if someone wanted to honor you and did so by inviting your enemies to have a good time and to eat and drink foods that you found disgusting? Would you feel honored?

You want to do as Jesus did? Than stop listening to people telling you what to do, and read the Bible. Read the whole Bible, starting at Genesis. That’s where you will learn how Yeshua did things.

You want to be able to answer the question: “Do you do as Jesus did?” with a resounding “YES!!”, then start with your worship life. If you worship correctly, you will know how to live correctly. That means to read the Bible, not just hear what others tell you it says. You also have to ask the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to guide your understanding.

You need to live as Yeshua lived. Try, even if it is just an experiment, or as a religious fast, if you will, to eat according to what you are told to eat in Leviticus 11. Just that one thing.

I am not trying to be a “Judaizer”, or proselytize you into becoming Messianic. I only want to help you see that there is a major, identifiable, and gigantic difference between the way Christians live and worship (traditionally) and how Yeshua lived and worshiped.

I am Messianic, and my worship is made up of an opening prayer, followed by music, singing and dancing (most of which was likely part of Yeshua’s worship, but I can’t accept that He would be singing for an hour before getting into the real meat- the Torah), then we read the portion of the Torah that is specified and the sermon/drash/messages on that parashah. Here is where we separate from what Yeshua would have done, since in His time there was no New Covenant to enhance and define the Torah reading. The Haftorah we read is just as often from the New Covenant as it is the traditional one for the Torah parashah. Also, we may not read the Parashah and delve into a different topic. That is the major difference, but I feel confident in saying that what we are discussing would be acceptable by Yeshua. After all, the Gospels (Besorah, or Good News) are the life of Yeshua and His teachings, and the rest are spirit-led revelations and witness to the teachings of Yeshua.

That is where I am different, where I do not do what Jesus did in His worship life. Frankly, I love studying and paying attention to the teachings of Yeshua as part of my worship life. I pray to God, as Yeshua did; I ask for things from God, and ask them referencing the name of Yeshua and (respectfully) reminding God that Yeshua, His son, said that He would honor what we asked for if we did so in Yeshua’s name; I read the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelations, and I celebrate the Sabbath the way Yeshua did- Friday night to Saturday night. I have a diet in accordance with Leviticus 11, I celebrate the festivals of the Lord as defined and commanded of us in Leviticus 23. And I call myself a Jewish man- I am NOT a Christian-Jew, Hebrew-Christian, or any other non-defined, wavering sort of hybrid religion. What I really am is a Believer- I believe in God, I believe Yeshua is the Messiah, and I believe that I should worship and live as Yeshua did, to the best of my abilities, faithfully trying to obey God’s commandments. All His commandments, because they are all valid and current.

There is nothing “new” in the New Covenant, and God has no religion. Only rules and laws and commandments.

I do not live a sinless life, and in that way I most certainly do not do as Yeshua did. But, thanks to Yeshua, and the grace of God that allows me to have the indwelling Ruach, I am getting better.

WWJD? If you want to do as Jesus did, if you want to know how He lived, ate, and worshiped, then DAYD- Do As Yeshua Did. You don’t have to convert to Judaism; actually, you would need to be Messianic because traditional, or as I like to call it, “mainstream” Judaism doesn’t do exactly what Yeshua did,either. But just try it for awhile.

Really? Will it kill you to give up pork and shellfish for a week? That’s all it really comes down to to maintain the proper Kosher laws, according to the Bible. Or read the Torah portion on Saturday mornings as well as whatever normal biblical reading you do. The traditional Jewish prayers during the day are the morning prayer (shacharit), afternoon prayer (minchah) and evening prayer (arvith or maariv.) You don’t need to recite them verbatim, or do them exactly at sunrise, noon and sunset. You don’t need to spend from $250 up to maybe $400 for a set of Tefillin. Just try to pray these three times during the day, maybe 5 or 10 minutes each time, for a week.  You do need to pray only to God, the Father. Ask in Yeshua’s name, but pray to God, just as Yeshua did. Trust me, He is there, at the right hand of God, interceding for you. Just go to the source of everything and Yeshua will be involved. 

If you are serious about wanting to know Yeshua, about wanting to follow in His footsteps, and about wanting to do as He did, take this challenge. It’s not too hard, and it only has to be for a week- Shabbat to Shabbat (uh, that would be Friday night to Friday night) and see how you feel. Honestly, if it doesn’t make you feel any closer to Yeshua than you had been, I suggest you might want to consider how close you were before you tried. I say that because I really believe that anyone who does this will feel closer to God, closer to Yeshua, and more “complete” as a Believer than they felt before. It doesn’t have to be forever, it doesn’t have to change your life (although it might), it just has to be for a week.

Do it as a Nazarite vow; do it as a sign of devotion, do it as a special fast; do it as a spiritual adventure.

Please…just do it. Nu? Try it;  maybe you’ll like it!

One Way to Beat the Holiday Blues

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It’s the happiest and most joyous time of the year, so naturally, suicides and a general feeling of the Blues are at their highest level of the year, also.

Those who do not have the knowledge, trust, faith or belief in God, at this time of the year, feel that emptiness more than at any other time. This is more my opinion than substantiated fact, but I don’t think anyone will disagree with me. We read about the holiday blues symptom every Christmas season.

Even those people who are adamant God doesn’t exist, or those who refuse to accept Yeshua in the way the Bible says we should and think they are OK (because their Priest or Minister has taught them that so long as you are a “good” person you go to heaven), feel a sense of “incompleteness” because (again, my opinion) they know, deep inside, that they are missing the most important part of what this holiday is supposed to be about.

No one can tell you you are saved and no one can tell you the Spirit of the Living God, the Ruach HaKodesh, is in you. This has to be from your asking God directly, and from your acceptance from God, directly, privately, and faithfully. If you haven’t accepted your own sinfulness, that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah God promised to send to take away your sins, and committed yourself to doing T’shuvah (turning from sin), you can’t receive the ultimate gift, which is the Grace of God, and the the Holy Spirit. And if you don’t have this, then you are missing out. We all need to admit our own overbearing and natural sinfulness, and that we cannot stop sinning without God’s help, and (this is the important part, the part that shows you have really “turned”)  that we do not want to sin anymore. When we do this, and then ask for His forgiveness and guidance for the rest of our life, we can receive the Ruach HaKodesh.

I was afraid that this would make me a different person, that I would have to stop being who I was (although I really didn’t like much of who I was, I didn’t want to lose it.) Here’s the surprise: now that I have been on that path for years, I realize that I haven’t stopped being me, I am just becoming a better me. And I don’t feel that emptiness, or incompleteness that I did before I made that leap of faith.

It’s that emptiness that causes the holiday blues. No one is immune; even those who know and love the Lord have “down” times, and this season seems to make any sadness worse. Maybe because all we see on TV, hear on radio, and are exposed to everywhere we go is joy-joy, happy-happy people and family that all get along and love each other. Yuch! That’s not the real world. And that is what makes this season so joyously unhappy- everywhere we go and everything we see is rose-colored utopia, but then real life hits us in the face.

You may be asking, “So, nu? Steve- what’s this “magic bullet” you have to overcome the holiday blues?”

I was looking over answers to essay questions from a class about incense and prayer that I took when getting my Certificate of Messianic Studies degree and I found this:

Praise has power that is hidden from us until we begin to use it. Praise reminds us of who we are- the children of the Almighty! Praise brings back to our minds all He has done in our lives, and the lives of others. When we praise the L-rd we can’t help but become joyful, for His spirit is awakened in us as we call on His name in thanksgiving. The best way to get out of the dumps is to count your blessings, and that is a form of praise. Praise makes us feel better, and isn’t that a powerful thing?

That’s the answer: thankful prayer and praise. It is so simple and it is so necessary for us to remember to do. In order to praise God we have to enumerate those things that are wonderful and glorious about Him, and when we do that we naturally have to personalize it. That causes us to think about all the things God has done for us. We are a self-centered and egotistical species: when I review the history of our people throughout the Millennia I think, “How can anyone doubt there is a loving, compassionate and forgiving God? If there wasn’t, how else could Mankind have survived for so long?” I mean, really- we are the most self-destructive thing that there ever has been. Yet, despite ourselves, we have survived. Yes, not just survived, but thrived. There just has to be a God in heaven protecting us.

Praise and thankful prayer invigorates the Ruach inside a Believer. C’mon, admit it- I do- sometimes we stifle the Spirit and instead of dying to self we manage to hang on and continue. We overcome the Spirit, which is a shepherd and guide, but can be ignored if our sinful nature is allowed to take charge. It is the constant battle, the reason Shaul (Paul) called himself a wretched man- the little devil on one shoulder and the little angel on the other.

When we praise and give thanks, the little angel turns into Arnold Schwarzenegger and the little devil turns into Steve Urkel.

When the holiday blues start to creep up on you, and anytime during the year you feel down, praise the Lord, give thanks for His salvation, think of all that you do have, and remind yourself that no matter how bad it is now, you have a guaranteed reservation at the Hotel Paradise. And when you get there you won’t ever have to check out. Eternity in Eden is yours, and all you have to do is wait a while longer before you are there. That hope should be able to get you past any temporary situation, which means anything in this life because this life is not the destination and it is not all there is…it is nothing more than the crossing from one place to another.

When you feel down and out, lift up your head and shout, “Thank you, Father! Thank you, Yeshua!! Thank you Ruach!” And when you tell them why you are so thankful, you will feel better.

As my people say, “Try it: you’ll like it! After all, what could it hoit?”

Remember to Forget

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Have you heard the one where two guys are talking about their ex-wives. The first one says, “My Ex isn’t too bad to me. She is still mad at me but she is getting over it.” The other guys says, “My Ex is the kind to forgive and forget- only she never lets me forget what she forgave!”

God forgives and forgets, and He tells us we should forgive, also. In fact, it is a commandment. Check out Mattitayu 6. After Yeshua gives us a template for prayer, He warns us that we are to forgive otherwise we won’t be forgiven.

Do as you would have others do means not just be a nice guy, but treat and consider the other people in your life, all the other people, as you would want them to do to you. That means don’t remember their sins that you have “forgiven” and move on with your life. And I am not talking about reminding them of what you’ve forgiven, as in the story above; what I am saying is that we all must really forget. We have to put it totally out of our mind.

I think God gave us scabs over our wounds to help us remember to forget. Ever peel off a scab too soon? It hurts, and then the wound starts to bleed, all over again. It’s the same way with sin and forgiveness- the sin hurts, we forgive (which forms a scab over the painful part) but if we keep picking at the scab, eventually it starts to bleed again and we have to try to heal all over. And if the wound is deep enough, and we keep working at it, we can not only take much longer to heal (if we ever do) but we may end up scaring ourselves in the process.

Sounds really stupid when you sit back and think about it, doesn’t it?

Forgiveness takes work; it doesn’t come naturally or easily. It requires humility, strength, and compassion. It is the Godly thing to do. Don’t you recall the old saying: To Err is Human; to Forgive, Divine? Methinks there’s a lot more truth in that old Saw then we realize. God forgives our sins when we ask for forgiveness, Yeshua took on our sins to provide forgiveness that is now an everlasting forgiveness, and after all they did for us, the Father and Son simply ask that we do what they did, also.

There’s the parable about the man who owed a fortune and was forgiven the fortune, but then he didn’t forgive a measly sum he was owed. Do you remember what happened to him?

Leave the scab alone. Make an effort to forgive. I say this not because I am better at it than you are, but because I am no better at it! I still have some level of anger about things that happened to me from many, many years ago. The people who sinned against me are probably dead now, and when I think about what their final fate may be, it does make it easier to forgive them for what they did to me because what they will be going through for eternity is so much less than what they did to me, and so much worse than anything imaginable. How can I still have any animosity against them? I can only feel pity for them. Even if it is a deserved torture, it is torture and I don’t think anyone who professes to love God and follow Yeshua can see another living creature suffer and not feel compassion for it.

I don’t believe I can have the Ruach HaKodesh inside me but not feel pity and remorse at knowing about the suffering of another. It just doesn’t seem possible. I know that we will always have the poor, and that suffering is natural in a cursed world. I also probably won’t do a whole lot about most of it. But I still should feel that remorse and pity, otherwise I need to ask myself if I really have accepted Yeshua, if I really have the Ruach HaKodesh inside me, and if I really have done T’Shuvah.

In the criminal justice system, to prove a person is guilty of a crime you need three things: a motive, a means (to commit the crime), and the opportunity.

Salvation is our motive, Yeshua is the means by which we can receive salvation, and God will constantly provide us the opportunity to show we have done T’Shuvah. We live in a sinful and corrupted world, so there will always be someone more than willing to sin against us. There’s the opportunity for you- that’s where you can do what is Godly and right, that’s where you can please the Lord, and that’s where you can show your holiness by forgiving. That’s where you can obey the commandment.

All we need to remember is to forget.

Parashah Vayishlach (He sent) Genesis 32:3 – 36:43

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Verse 32:11 stood out to me in this Torah portion, as a reminder not only of God’s trustworthiness, but also of the fact that we can bring God to task by reminding him of His promises.

Not that God ever forgets promises. He does forget something, though: He forgets the sins He forgives. Much better than humans, who say we forgive, and I think most of the time really want to, but we still relive the hurt. Sometimes we don’t want to forgive.

Silly Rabbit! Hatred is for losers! The only way to make the hurt go away is to forgive, then forget. We tend to think forgive and forget means never let them forget what we forgive.

In any event, this verse is where Jacob, soon to be Israel, prays to God to protect him from Esau, who is coming with 400 men to greet his brother. Jacob reminds God of the covenant God made, in essence, calling God’s hand and saying, “You promised my descendants would be numberless, so if Esau destroys me your promise will be broken.”

Of course, he didn’t say it that way, but that’s what he is saying, isn’t it?

We see this a number of times in the Bible, where God is called upon to remember His promises. Apparently this isn’t a problem for the Almighty. I would suggest a respectful reminder, but still, even though God never forgets we are allowed to remind Him.

How many times did Moses (almost) remand God when He wanted to destroy the rebellious people, telling God it is isn’t a good idea because it would make God look less than all-powerful to the nations? Here is a human telling the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the Almighty Creator of the Universe, “Hey, ya’ know…that’s not a good idea. I think we should revisit that plan.”

The fact that we, little more than worms compared to God, are allowed to remind and, to a point, even remand God shows His merciful, compassionate nature.

Maybe he allows this because He is testing us? Maybe He wants to see if we remember what He says. That makes sense to me, since I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning. Pretty soon I won’t even remember if I had breakfast, let alone what it was.  So to make sure that we remember His promises is just s step away from making sure we remember His commandments.

The point here is that we need to not just listen to God, but remember what He tells us. When the fecal matter hits the air circulation device we will need to know God’s word, His promises and His commandments. More than that, we will need to know the other parts of the Bible, too: Shaul’s advice, what the Prophets tell us to expect, and what John tells us about the Acharit HaYamim (End Days.) All this needs to be read and remembered.

And when we are in the midst of troubles, there is nothing wrong with kvetching to God. He can handle it, and (I like to think) He actually likes it when we call out to Him, even if it is to remind Him of his promises.

I pray for my wife and children every day, and I remind God that His son said whatever I ask, if I ask it in His name, will be given. Then I remind God that He, Himself, said He doesn’t want anyone to die in their sin, so it certainly is in His will when I ask for the salvation of my loved ones. I remind God of these things every time I pray.

There is the parable of the woman who asks justice from the unjust judge. Eventually he grants her justice, if for no other reason than to get rid of her.

God is a totally righteous judge, so how much more will He do for us when we continually ask, and respectfully remind, Him to do what He has told us He would.

Are you defragging your spiritual hard drive?

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I am that guy you call when you don’t know why your computer isn’t doing what you expect it to do. One of my personal peeves is that people work with their computers all day, and it’s almost impossible to find a job, other than manual labor, that doesn’t require you to have a modicum of skills when operating a computer. Yet, all I hear all day long is, “I just don’t know anything about computers.”

You know to check the oil, water and tire pressure in your car, you know to oil the iron cooking pan, to change the filters in your air conditioning system (you should know these things, you know!), but people don’t know how to care for their computers! Think about it: you can take a bus to work if you don’t care for your car and if your pots and pans are rusty and filthy you can order food in, but if your computer isn’t working you can’t do your job. And what happens to people who don’t do their jobs? Do you think it’s important to know enough to (at least) maintain the computer in fairly good working order?

One of the things that is important to keeping the computer running well (not so much with Windows 7 and newer operating systems) is defragging the hard drive. All this is, essentially, is removing all the space between the bits of data (all zero’s and one’s) so that all the little bits line up neatly. This saves space and makes searching for the data faster.

So, nu? What’s any of this got to do with my spiritual life?

We hear so much stuff every day; there is so much information in the world, and so much of it is so easily absorbed through web sites, ebooks, radio, cable TV news that is 24/7. Yet, out of all this information, there is so very little of it which you can trust. We get all types of fertilizer coming into our brains, and to sort it all out is nearly impossible. We hear televangelists telling us to touch the screen so they can heal us, our own Rabbi’s, Pastors, Ministers and Priests telling us what we should believe because this is what our religion teaches us, and then we have the everyday people, telling us that these laws were for health reasons, those don’t count because the world is changed (although they forget that God doesn’t change), and the worst part is the Discovery Channel. Although Discovery, History and TLC are some of my favorite channels, I never watch anything they do regarding the Bible or religious history. That’s because they are TV, the air waves are controlled by the Enemy (he is called the Prince of the Air, remember?) and their point, always, is to make God seems like a fantasy, explaining away His wonderful works and interventions and making science the real cause for celebrity.

All of these bits and bytes of data going into our brains, every day. And we can’t really stop it, unless we wear blindfolds and stuff our ears with wax. That would give us some peace, but it makes getting anything done really, really hard to do.

That’s why we need to defrag our spiritual hard drive. We need to clean out and delete the stuff that is wasteful, not-edifying and confusing. Then, after a good clean up of the temp files and deleted items folder, we need to re-arrange the data that we want to keep. We do this by getting back to basics (hmmmm…nice title for a book- check out the one I wrote) and re-establishing our relationship with God by simply sitting, in a quiet place, turning off all the data-streaming drek in the area, and letting God come in and clean up our spiritual hard drive. Let the Ruach take over- you can pray, think of heaven, concentrate on your favorite scripture, meditate on His word (King David did that often) or (one of my favorites) create a list of all the things you are grateful to God for giving you. Start with your birth and work your way forward.

We need to keep it simple (the KISS Rule) when we worship. No fancy-schmancy prayers; get real, people- we don’t live in the 17th Century so don’t pray like you are reading from the Kings James Bible. How can you be pouring your heart out to the Lord when you need to concentrate on getting all the fancy words right? God sees the heart, He knows what we want and (thank God) He gives us what we need, so just let Him do what He does best. Let His shalom fill your soul.

Be careful, also, what you download. The best way to keep a computer running well is to “feed” it correctly- no viruses, no malware, be careful what you buy, and watch where you “surf.” Always have a good anti-virus running that keeps up to date. This translates, spiritually, into reading the Bible every day. The best antivirus, in this case ‘anti-Satan software’, is the Word of God.  Read it every day to keep your spiritual hard-drive clean. Be careful of what you download means when you are watching the TV specials or reading extra-Biblical books and magazines about where the Ark is, who Jesus really was, and all the other apparently useful shows to help us understand the truth about God and the Bible, be very cautious and wary. Never take what they say as valid or truthful, and check it out against the Bible. If there is archaeological proof, or at least evidence, of a biblical event, that is fine, but listen carefully. I have rarely gotten more than 10 minutes into one of these shows before I start to hear the message between the lines of script. That message is (almost) always that there is some physiological reason for the event, that science can explain it and their “experts” are almost always agnostic in their approach. The one or two “religious” people that will give glory to God are made to seem like fools. By the end of the show miracles and Glory to God are reduced to seismic events and explainable anomalies.

Science thinks that because it can explain something and understand how it happens that means God didn’t have anything to do with it. That’s something we have to overcome- the thinking that says if it can be explained it isn’t a miracle or a divine intervention. God created everything, including science. So why can’t He use what He created to intervene? How many cancer patients die after undergoing every known treatment type? Yet, others go into remission and the cancer never returns. They’re both humans, they’re both treated the same way, yet it works in one and not in the other. And no one can explain that, but no one sees the cure as a miracle. It’s science, it’s modern medicine, it’s explainable so it can’t be divine. Oy!

There is so much garbage, so many bits and bytes of data that we take in, without even knowing it is happening, and we need to defrag ourselves daily. Meditate, read the Word (best bet for success) and pray to God. Pray simply, pray honestly, and don’t try to be different than who you are when you pray. Just pray from your heart, do it without interruption, and get all those little zeros and ones in your spirit back in alignment.

Computers are binomial- it all boils down to a zero or a one. God is also binomial: it’s His way or the hell-way. Don’t let your spiritual hard drive become corrupted with the viruses and malware of the world; keep it defragged through prayer and keep it clean with a daily install and upgrade of God’s word. It’s the best anti-Satan software in the universe.