The Gospel Through Jewish Eyes - Afflicted or Faithful Remnant?

Yeshua said, “If you are My disciples you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”  But what if some of what we know isn’t really the truth? What if some things have been mistranslated or misunderstood?  Seeing through Jewish eyes corrects a number of translation errors which have led to some doctrinal misperceptions. There are truths that have been misunderstood or are just missing over the generations because of mistranslations and because of a lack of knowledge of Jewish ways, such as cultural norms. Idioms would fall into that category. 

Today we talk of being close to the end times. Yeshua spoke of end times as being of grave difficulties (See Matthew 24, for instance.)  But there is always a remnant of faithful believers. Let’s talk about those faithful believers. Matthew 5 talks about the “blessed.” The word has a meaning of being worthy of being highly regarded, to be envied. That sounds haughty, doesn’t it?  Not in a culture that values  integrity, generosity, humility and faithfulness to God and His word as their highest virtues. These would be people who live their lives to reflect godliness and purity. To receive a blessing is to bow your knee before the one blessing you. To receive God’s blessings is to be humble before Him, and to be awed by Him and committed to faithful obedience.  
 

Matthew  5:5 is translated as "Blessed are the humble" or "Blessed are the meek."  First of all, these ‘blesseds’ are said to refer collectively - to a group. What group? To the faithful, more specifically the faithful remnant.  There are about two dozen verses hidden in the English translations that use  another word for the Hebrew word ANAV which actually means faithful.  English translations use: poor, meek, lowly or humble.   How does ANAV change our understanding of the meaning of these verses? The Hebrew Scriptures, as opposed to our English translations, frequently use the word ANAV to refer to the faithful remnant which is always a minority, meaning those who remain godly through trials. Such as the 7,000 Israelis who did not bow their knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). Bowing is a form of worship.  Mordechai refused to bow to Haman. Daniel and his buddies would not bow to the king, regardless of the consequences. Keep this in mind in case, God forbid, you are ever required to bow in worship before anyone but God Himself.  You just never know. 

Being among the faithful can also mean not giving into the temptations of the world. And to a nation whose all sufficiency is their God, self sufficiency could be regarded as one of the temptations.   Where did Yeshua’s “sufficiency” come from? His dependency was entirely on the Holy Spirit and His Father.  So, a question arises: Where does  our “sufficiency” come from?  How should we each be living?  Self sufficiently, or in dependence upon our God?   Might this question bring any change(s) to your life in the Lord?  Ponder worthy thoughts!  

Following are a few verses to reveal how these verses were meant to be read. See what you think about how they present a whole different picture when God is addressing the faithful remnant rather than the down trodden, the poor, the blind, etc. It is not those aspects of life that brings the blessings and safety of God, but that we are counted among those who remain faithful to Him. Doesn't that make more sense? Doesn't it also tell us more about God and His special relationship with those who are committed to Him, no matter what?! The correct use of ANAV as the faithful means that we who are committed to being faithful to the Lord today and all the tomorrows, in the small and the big things that life brings us, can count on God to be there for us. As we are faithful to Him, He is faithful to us.  Yes, He heals those in need of healing even when they do not yet know Him. No one knew who Yeshua was when He walked the earth.  Healing is a wonderful evangelistic tool. But there is more to be seen in ANAV.

Consider not only the situations and who is really involved, but what they say about God Himself.  If you give some real thought to these verses, they might help you to see yourself as committed to being a part of the faithful remnant.  Some of these that we've read for years take on a new challenge when read correctly.  Even where I’ve only used faithful, a remnant is implied for the obvious reason that not all who say they are believers are in fact among the faithful remnant. Keep in mind that when being a part of the remnant, not everyone is going to agree with you, or accept you. It may be costly to remain one of the faithful remnant. But we already know that Yeshua told us that. He's worth remaining faithful to Him, Amen?  Please give these verses some pondering and see what the Holy Spirit might show you. Here are some of the verses:

“On that day the deaf will hear words of a book, And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.  The afflicted [Anav, faithful remnant] also will increase their gladness in the Lord,
And the needy [faithful] of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” Is. 29: 17-19 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted [Anav, Faithful]”  Is. 61:1.   It is only really good news to those who receive it, to those who are of the faithful remnant, not to those who are simply afflicted. 

“Seek the Lord, All you humble [Anav, faithful] of the earth who have carried out His ordinances”
 Zeph 2:3.

“He leads the humble [Anav, faithful] in justice, and He teaches the humble [Anav, faithful] His way.” Ps 25:9.   

Matt 5:5 was originally said in Hebrew, though later written in Greek. It has been proven that Matthew was in fact first written in Hebrew. So we can apply this to who will inherit the earth: “But the humble [anav, faithful remnant ] will inherit the earth and will delight themselves in the abundance of Shalom.“ Shalom means complete well being and peace; it comes from being faithful, not necessarily from being humble.  Yeshua was quoting Ps. 37:11 which says the same thing.   

Prov. 3:34 says, “Though He scoffs at the scoffers, yet He gives grace to the afflicted  [anav, Faithful]. Some English translations say, “…grace to the humble.”   In the past humble and meek may have been synonyms but if we say “He gives grace to the humble” in modern English, to us humble means lacking in pride but not a lack of (self) confidence, while meek means low self esteem and lacking confidence. Neither have anything to do with being faithful in hard times. 

There’s a difference between being loyal through hard times and just believing.  James 2:19 says “You believe that God is one (echad), you do well. The demons also believe and shudder.”  The demons know God and His power but they are certainly not obedient or faithful to Him.  What of those people who have no or little fear (awe) of God, nor are they obedient or faithful to His word, and yet  say, “I’m saved”?  Or about whom we may say, “Well, he’s saved because he ‘accepted the Lord’ but he’s just not walking with Him.”  I carry a burden for those who think lightly of what they believe it means to be saved, but are in fact, not. (Selah!) 

Recognizing that these verses above and others refer to a “faithful remnant” may very well give us cause to rethink what it means to be “saved.”   Praying a prayer once but not living a life of faithfulness to God reveals a tragic lack of understanding of the holiness of God and what it truly means to be His. It renders that prayer of supposed salvation of no real value if it is not followed by a changed life lived unto God.  Perhaps we need to preach a true Gospel to some who call themselves, or whom we may call, believers but whose lives do not reflect faithfulness to Him or His word. It may be that we have preached a different gospel than that of the first century remnant of faithful Jewish believers who changed the world.  But, it may also now be that today we are heading into an awareness that it is the faithful remnant that can once again change the world of which we are a part. We will take more about this in future writings.  

   

Is 28:16 says, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.  He who believes (in it) will not be disturbed.”  The issue here is the faithful remnant – a matter of remaining loyal and faithful. It is they who will remain unperturbed when others are. We must determine in our minds and hearts, before the Lord, to be faithful to Him and to His word – to commit to Yeshua Himself in dependence upon Him who will always give grace to the anav, the faithful. 

 Is. 28:16 is quoted in Romans 9:33; 10:11; and 1 Peter 2:6. Translated as ‘the one who believes has no shame.  “ NIV says, “One who trusts will never be dismayed. “  The Hebrew is stronger than that: “The one who believes or “one who trusts” is Ma’amim which has a root meaning of speaking of both training (real and effective discipleship) and loyalty or faithfulness.”  The way religious Jews wait for the Messiah is birthed out of their teachings of loyalty to God and His word, and results in a faithfulness that has remained through centuries, and even despite much suffering, yet they remain faithful (anav).

The Hebrew word Ma’Amim  represents a prayer and a song which religious Jews who are waiting for Messiah pray and sing.  This is a prayer prayed daily by religious Jews.  It is instilled within them to remain faithful to Messiah, though He may tarry. Their faith is strong though they don’t know Yeshua (Yet. Pray that they will!). Has it been the grace of God that has kept this faith so alive within them?  I suggest you google Ma’Amim and be blessed by the numerous Youtubes that will allow you to listen to beautiful and often heart-touching renderings of this prayer/song. Here are the words. We would do well to believe along with them. 

 

"I believe with complete faith
In the coming of the Messiah, I believe

Believe in the coming of the Messiah
In the coming of the Messiah, I believe
Believe in the coming of the Messiah
And even though he may tarry
Nonetheless I will wait for him
And even though he may tarry
Nonetheless I will wait for him

Nonetheless, I will wait for him
I will wait every day for him to come
Nonetheless, I will wait for him
I will wait every day for him to come."

To which we can say, Amen. 

The Role of the Spirit - Part 1

 A friend of mine had the thought that she, that is to say we, need to focus on knowing the Holy Spirit in order to be more like God. I shared with her my “We need to know Yeshua more” thoughts, but then began to think about what she said.  My thoughts took me around a circle. Yeshua came to show us the Father, the Spirit was sent to remind us of what Yeshua had said, and then we see that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that the gifts of the Spirit are manifested in our lives to be more like Yeshua who is like God. The more I began to study the more opened up to me and took me where I had not expected.  And then I began to feel the Lord would have me share it with you folks. So I’m inviting you to come along with me on today’s wander through the Kingdom as I set myself in a place to hear from the Lord.

“I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected (informed).

Then the Lord answered me and said:

Write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come, It will not tarry” (Habbakuk 2:1,2). 

I’m surely no Habbakuk, and this is not a vision, but if we are thinking we are nearing “the end” that he mentions, perhaps we are actually living in the “appointed time” He speaks of.  Should we not stand our watch to see what God might say to us? I had not intended to write this for others (you!), but wrote as I attempted to think it through for myself. As you will see, I ask God, and myself, a lot of questions. I expect some of what follows the questions are answers as I come to grasp more.  This is how I often process things so it doesn’t read as a polished article might. It may seem a bit disjointed but by the end I hope you'll find it edifying.  I am breaking it into two posts because it turned out to be a bit long. The second one is below. May I suggest you write down your own thoughts as you read through this so you can remember what the Holy Spirit may show you.  These are the verses as they came to me or as I looked them up in www.Biblegateway.com and my thoughts as I process them.   

 “Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:8). Wow, Micah knew he was full of the power of the Spirit of the Lord. I wish I knew what his experience was. Full of the Spirit of justice and of might. Was he indignant of the injustice he now saw by the Spirit, or did he see it before and took it to God.  Was the might he felt God’s hatred for injustice? Did he feel that emotionally? Or just witness it? What was his experience with God in all that power?  Was it to inform him /to prepare him/to make him one with the heart of God for the task God set before him?  I so often want to know what is between the lines in so much of Scripture. 

“Then the angel who talked with me …and said to me…“This is the word of the Lord: … ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:5-7).  If I could see from above where God is, and I could see all the ways of mankind, would I see a world-full of useless attempts of might and power throughout the affairs and intentions of well meaning people? How much competition and building is there of so much in our lives that ultimately amounts to nothing if God’s not in it. So few people, and even nations (as in Psalm 2 for instance) are aware He even should be.  It reminds me of,  “They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1).  What do we guard? What do I guard, that in reality only God can guard or care for or see to its fulfillment?  What have I worried about, all in vain? It’s a choice: believe and trust God or not. My thoughts go to Miriam (Mary). Surely she had some significant things to be concerned about, but it could be that God chose her because she really knew how to trust and believe God in light of all she would have to go through in her life - or His, as Yeshua's mother? 

Announcing John the Baptist’s birth to his father, part of what the Angel Gabriel said to Zechariah was:  “…he will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” (Luke 1:15).   Months later, Miriam (Mary) goes to visit Elisheva (Elizabeth), not to see if it is true because she believed the angel that  Elisheva was indeed with child at her age, just as Gabriel had told her but undoubtedly to share this miraculous expectation they both were a part of.  Elisheva, is overjoyed at Miriam’s arrival, knowing what Gabriel had told her husband of the coming Messiah, that her son would precede Him to make Him known. So when Miriam arrived, part of what Elisheva exclaimed was, “For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (1:44).  This was God providing a fulfillment of part of what Gabriel had said to Zechariah and Miriam to confirm the promises to both mothers.   (This should end any discussion of when a baby becomes a living soul –  from conception –  and put an end to the vicious slaughter of infants we call abortion.)

Many years later…“…Yeshua being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan (River) and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness….. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee (Luke 4:1, 14).  Yeshua was filled with the Spirit at His baptism, but then the Spirit came upon Him in power later. Contrary to what we might expect as we tend to think of good things coming from the Spirit, it was the Spirit who led Him into the wilderness where He had to overcome the temptations of the evil one and through that process, came out in the power of the Spirit. By the power of the Spirit our trials and troubles should make us stronger if we will use the experience to learn to overcome the devil, and become more like Yeshua when we see the troubles as having that purpose.  When we intentionally enter into looking into His sufferings we enter into sharing what His suffering might have been like for Him, getting to know Him there. Then we can bring Him by the Spirit into our suffering as we seek to be more like Him in them.   It was after His ordeal of various temptations including  of hunger that He returned in the power of the spirit. 

It would appear that being filled and being empowered by the Spirit are not equal.  They do not always manifest at the same time but both are necessary to follow the Lord.  The power enables us to overcome difficulties and trials by a ‘lock’ on God and His ways and His words so that, by the Spirit, we do not allow ourselves to be pulled into the accusations, rejections and temptations of the enemy that are always there, tempting us, lying to us, berating us.  Those can be overcome by the Power of the Spirit, when we stay in agreement with Him like this.  There is so much more to look at on overcoming the attacks of the enemy but learning to become one with Yeshua in His trials and the power of His merciful, "Forgive them, Abba, for they don't know what they're doing," goes a long way toward the freedom of being one with Him.     

“…God anointed Yeshua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). He said this out of His own experience. If we are to do all things as He did, then we need God to anoint us with the Holy Spirit and power.  The power comes from the Holy Spirit as a result of God being with us!  So where is the power? Even the “doing good?” Do we not believe the Spirit could/would anoint us as He did Yeshua?  We certainly don’t have either as the early church did. Why, Lord?

“…But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  Witnesses prove the testimony of the one we are being a witness for. Evidently our first century brothers and sisters testified of Yeshua wherever they went, as they were “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47).  How wonderful is that?  In short, they began to change the world with their witness of Him.  Most believers I know are frightened to even go beyond mentioning that they are believers and have never led another person to the Lord. Why is that? This leads me to something Yeshua expected of His disciples:  “Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17). My question is, if we are not fishers of men, if the spiritual wellbeing of others is not a part of our lives, then are we really being His disciples?!

So being filled with the Spirit isn’t just about speaking in tongues, it is being filled with Yeshua’s care for the spiritual condition of humankind. Why else did He come? Why else did He die? The point of being a witness to Him is being fishers of men. So then, if we are to be conformed to the likeness of Yeshua – that is Abba’s goal – then shouldn’t His highest goal be ours? I’m not talking about notches on our salvation belts. I’m talking about a deep caring and love for all people, including the lost. Do I have any friends who are not my saved buddies so that they are in my life as friends?  A few. I need to work on this.

The term “witness to Him” is correct. We are not to be witnesses of Him, though it may appear to be the same thing.  To be a witness on a stand in a courtroom, is to say, “I saw that person do this, or I heard this person say that.”  It is to personally attest to your knowledge of the actions or words being true and valid through your own witnessing it.  We can read the bible over and over, but how real is any particular part of it so that I can say, I have seen that reality in my own life; I have witnessed it as being true? I have heard these words and have seen them manifest in my own life experience?  In other words, how deeply do I really have knowledge of Yeshua?! 

The original question about knowing the Holy Spirit which led to this study brings me to this thought: The Holy Spirit witnesses to all Yeshua said and did, but Yeshua came to be a witness to His Father, that we would know Him. 

·         “Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things” (John 8:28).

·         “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (10:37,38).

·         “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).

So the Spirit enables us to know Yeshua, Yeshua came so that we would know the Father. We cannot have the Spirit unless the Father sends Him.  While the Father anointed Old Testament prophets, priests and kings with the power of the Spirit to fulfill their callings, it was only available to the people at large, to those who believed Yeshua is Messiah and our kipporah (atonement) as the One who died in our place because we, having sinned against God’s holiness, would be eternally separated from God if it were not for Yeshua’s intercession on our behalf.

So this goes in a circle: Father sent Yeshua to witness of Himself; The Spirit empowered Yeshua to do the  work of the Father;  Yeshua asked the Father to send the Spirit, which He did. The Spirit empowers us to live in the fruit of the Spirit and holiness, and teaches us to know Yeshua by recalling all He did and said to us, and then empowers us to do great exploits, as Yeshua did and more because Yeshua said, “Greater things will you do,” all to the glory of the Father.  [See Part 2 following.]

The Role the Spirit - Part 2

This is picking up where The Part of the Spirit - Part 1 leaves off.  

Paul speaking here of what he’s been doing says, “…in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ”  (Romans 15:19). Given, he’s Paul and an apostle, (tho apostle only means one sent by another and is not meant to be a title), having been sent by Yeshua after his experience on the road to Damascus and realizing he had been wrong about who He is, his life was about sharing Yeshua wherever he purposefully went to do so.  But the point right here is this:  “with mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God…he fully preached the gospel of Messiah.” My underlines are to give cause to what’s being said here.   

Paul is bearing witness to Yeshua with mighty – how big and extraordinary is mighty? – signs – signs of what? Signs of Yeshua’s power and caring still being with them, and wonders, things that were beyond their ability and knowledge and way of life, letting them know there is so much more to life and God’s love for them. All accomplished, Paul well knew, not by himself, but by the power of the Spirit of God, who was there brooding upon the waters with God when He was building the world, that same power that had manifested God’s power throughout Israel’s history, and that same Spirit that was with Yeshua in power to bring those mighty signs and wonders to reality.

Ponder that it is the same Spirit that chooses to indwell us who are Yeshua’s.   Paul, confident that the Spirit’s power would be there as he preached Yeshua, as he shared what he knew of Yeshua, fully preached the gospel, the good news of Yeshua.  To many who lived in the religious world they knew, there was no hope. Paul’s message was new. The fullness of the words of hope, even eternal hope that Paul spoke of, were validated by the miracles and the power of the Spirit.  

I want that Lord. So many people all around us need to know what we have but we are largely without the unction to share it.  Why is there no unction? It surely isn’t about You. Why are people without the power that is available to us?  Is it that we are not being disciples in the true sense of the word? We say we follow you, but Lord, it seems that it is in following You, Adonai Yeshua (Lord Jesus), just reading Your Word to see how to get to know You, I need to really engage You, to allow Your words and Your experiences to permeate my soul, as must have been the case with Your disciples. It seems you would have us make being like You one of our highest goals in life, not just “being a good Christian” which could, by many church standards, actually be contrary to Your ways.  It will take the power of the Spirit to reveal Yeshua to me and to empower me to be as He was while on the earth.  

But I need to be in the word for it to take place. Not just to read it, but to allow it to penetrate into the division between my soul and my spirit. My soul may be damaged by life, but my spirit is pure and of God and holy.  I thank God for the word of God, in whatever way it comes to me, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrew 4:12). Selah!  So that what’s the goal here? To allow the word of God to make me holy.  This can only happen as I become like Yeshua; to be holy as Yeshua was holy in the thoughts and intentions of my heart. Only the Spirit can do that work as I make myself available to Him.

To the extent I know Yeshua, I know the Father. To the extent I know Yeshua’s holiness, I know the Father’s holiness. This is worth a life time of pondering and I dare to say, that the more we become aware of the holiness of God, the more sensitized to holiness we become. It has nothing to do with religion; religion in fact gets in the way of knowing His holiness. It can and does come only from Him and through His Spirit (of) the Holiness.   How wonderful! We can be increasingly like Yeshua who was and still is…” declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).

Which brings up the issue of the “Spirit of Holiness”. Power or authority without holiness can be quite destructive.  In Hebrew the term Holy Spirit is rendered Ruakh haKodesh, which translates as Spirit the Holiness.  There is no verb to be in Hebrew so they wouldn’t say the “of” as we do. The ha, means the.  He is Spirit (of) the Holiness – the holiness of God. We are so used to saying the Holy Spirit that we can completely miss that we’re talking about holiness which cannot be compared to anything else in the world; it is only and entirely of God.  We can speak of the Spirit in many ways and manifestations, but we must remember that He is first and always the Spirit (of) the Holiness of God.   

We can think of the Spirit as power and of signs and wonders but first, He is the Holiness of God manifested to us through those ways.  Perhaps if we began to think of the gifts of the Spirit and the manifestations of the Spirit we experience as God’s expression of His holiness to us, we would be more impacted by His presence and consequently become more open to receiving His love, for His holiness is mutually inclusive with His love. One does, and cannot, exist without the other.  When we begin to grasp that His love is the expression of His holiness, and His holiness is the expression of His love, this reality is likely to open up a whole new revelation of what we have been granted by the Great Grace of our God.  

Notice we don’t say Miracle Spirit, or Power Spirit, but He has been made known to us as the Spirit of Holiness before anything else.  When healings and miracles take place, whether through Yeshua or one of us, it is meant to be wrapped in holiness and to make us happily aware of God’s love toward us. How much more would we be awed by His power on our behalf when we see His love as part of His expression of holiness toward us, toward wanting to make us whole and to lift us out of any darkness, whether it be sin, sickness, depression, poverty….   The list could go on and on.

There is, of course, no darkness in Him. What then is darkness? Awareness of God’s absolute goodness, which is a part of His holiness, is unhindered light. We don’t see such light on the earth, but as we become closer to God and know Him more, very often the light of God can be seen in the eyes of someone we recognize as one of Yeshua’s followers.  My experience is that often we can know one another by the light we see in that light in someone’s eyes.  I’ve experienced it myself and have asked them if they are believers, and the wonderful fellowship we have for a few minutes.  Also, we become aware of darkness for what it is, unholiness.  Yeshua certainly could see it far more than we do, but we have a tendency to shun the darkness and flee from it, meaning having little or nothing to do with people we see living in darkness.  (Sects of the believing community, attempting to set themselves apart unto holiness to please God, often led to isolating themselves so that they had no influence for the Lord on anyone else, beginning with the Essenes.)  Yeshua shocked many of the people who followed Him and especially the religious folks, by embracing those most in darkness and making them the very ones He sought to make whole, which is to say, to bring them into the light.  Dare we do the same?     

The Father’s ultimate character and nature is of holiness. He cannot be unholy. Nor can anything or anyone come near His holiness, which is why Yeshua is our mediator to make us holy in order to enable us one day to come before the Father. How grateful I am for His generous and courageous heart.  I expect by now some of my readers are thinking that this emphasis on holiness can make them weird and other-worldy. Quite the contrary. It will make us more loving, kinder, more helpful, and easier to live with. And it may make us more likely to be like the Samaritan who helped the man fallen on the road that the Pharisee wouldn’t touch. It will also likely make us much more peaceful. Like Yeshua.

To draw some final perspective here in this meditation (Is anyone still with me?), it would seem that our first priority in seeking the Holy Spirit’s power and presence, is to ask Him for the power to be holy and to ask Him to reveal to us through His word, just what He means by holiness.  This would be to know Him as He is.  Paul certainly desired to be holy unto God as His primary longing.  So did King David. So did so many and we can read through Scripture and see the correlation between trying to live  a holy life, according to the context of Torah and the prophets, the only books of the bible the new testament believers had. It proved sufficient.  So that it appears that Paul knew how to let the Spirit speak through Him without getting in His way, so that he could say, “my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 5:4). 

If you, dear readers, wish to pray with me, do so here:  Lord, I want that demonstration of the Spirit, and of power in my life. I want to know You more than I ever have. And I want to share it with others who are like minded and others as well, who don’t know you at all yet. Establish, Lord, a community of love and the power of the Holy Spirit such that you can add daily to our numbers. B’shem Yeshua, (In the name of Yeshua), Amen.