When It Looks Like Satan's In Control.

A River of Baptism

History, as we know, often repeats itself. To not know history, is to be vulnerable to making the same mistakes. According to a note in my NASB Chronological Bible, during the inter-testimental period, much of Israel came to belief that satan had managed to take control of the earth away from God. Today there might be some who would wonder if that's not true in certain places in the earth.  Either way, we can see how being blind to God’s goodness, presence and sovereignty  can become through sin and unbelief. 

Despite the well intentioned actions of a priest known as Judah Macabbee and his five sons to free Israel from Titus and his desecration of the temple and imposition of paganism in the Hanukkah story,  that same family only two generations later became as apostate as Israel had ever known before. They   perpetuated much of the same things Judah and his sons had fought again. 

Israel was divided between those who aligned with ungodliness and those who held to various forms of traditional Hebrew religion. Inner conflicts in the land were so bad that the leaders invited the Roman’s in to arbitrate. They came and never left, having taken over as rulers of the land.  Any Israeli leadership from then on operated under the auspices and permission of Rome.  That Israel would turn to pagan powers rather than to God to solve their problems gives indication of how far they were from Him. 

The lesson to be learned here is that for Israel to look elsewhere other than to their God 

to resolve any crises is to put themselves under subjection to those to whom they look or defer.  

Case in point:  America has played a significant part in what was originally and ironically called “Peace Accords” to try and resolve the crises between Israel and her unfriendly neighbors. In doing so Israel was put under great pressure by America and other nations who are in alignment with America to refrain from defending themselves, only resulting in making matters worse. Would America refrain from retaliating if our cities were being bombed daily? But there is another point I'm trying to make here. 

With such sin in their hearts and such disregard for God’s word, it is easy to see how a prevailing thought would have emerged that God was no longer sovereign in the world but that satan had won over Him and now had charge of the earth and the affairs of men. Perhaps people think even today that God has been found to be ineffective and weak and of no real influence for good among men. If that is the case in people's minds, then there is nothing to keep them from acting like the devil, even if they don't believe in the devil. Where there is no fear of God in this life or the afterlife to maintain godly order there will be no motivation for righteousness among men.

  

How we see God will influence how we live our lives!  

But there is always a voice of reason, of hope, of truth., There is always the Voice of God for those who will listen and hear.  It is into this that Yohanan ha-mahtbeel, John the immerser (Baptist), arrives, preaching a baptism of repentance for sins. Finally, there was a way back to God!  It is no wonder that so many came out to this strange man with the message of salvation and a word that God was still there for them. Let's face it, everyone knows they sin. Even if they don't believe in God, they know they've lied, lusted, hated, stolen....  They may not label it sin, but we all know we're not without violation somewhere.

God always has a remnant that remains faithful to Him - or at least wants to but isn't aware that it's God they want.  I became an athiest at the age of eleven, yet within me I had a deep quest to know truth. I just hoped I'd recognize it if I ever found it.  To me, beyond all else Yeshua is, He is truth!  It may have been a truth-seeking remnant that came out to Yohanan at the Jordan River.  Mikveh required living water, that is to say moving water for immersion in order to be made clean for God.  The Jordan would have provided that moving water and the people apparently welcomed the chance to find God again, to repent of their sins and to re-align themselves with Him. 

When Yeshua (Jesus) came to Yohanan at the waters of mikveh (baptism) His first recorded words are, “We must fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). What a statement! What man had ever fulfilled all righteousness? Not even David. Not even Samuel whose sons did not follow God as he did. And surely not Shlomo (Solomon).  Yeshua fully intended that He would fulfill all righteousness, not one jot or yod of the word of God left out.  He uses the pronoun “we” in speaking to Yohanan, but that “we” can be extended to all who would follow Him.  To those people who would hear those words of His, what He was saying was that righteousness can still be fulfilled. All is not lost. Satan has not won and righteousness not only can still be attained, here was a Man who would prove to embody all righteousness.  

When voices speak to the contrary, and when circumstances appear as if God has lost control of the world, even your own world, Yeshua was, is and always will be the Voice of God, the Savior of not just the world but every situation we find ourselves in. He will never, no never forsake anyone who looks to Him, who trust Him and who desires to fulfill all righteouness - that is to say, be in right standing with God. He still is the only one to whom we can look for all hope and goodness. 

Once we have been baptized as a new believer to profess your faith in Yeshua, we need not enter the waters of mikveh again to be made clean before God (though if someone feels to do so, say in starting anew with God after a difficult time or time of uncleanness, go right ahead. I've done it.)  Repentance, and turning away from whatever unrighteousness has troubled you, is available just by going to Yeshua and confessing your sin and receiving the forgiveness He offers to us all.  It is that easy. He already did the hard part.You may not need this message today, but I pray God tucks it somewhere in your spirit to bring it back to mind should you ever need to be reminded that He is still the One to fulfill all righteousness on our behalf.

PASSION OR LOVE?

God's love enables us to 'love' others who are not at all like ourselves!

We live in an emotion-hyped culture today. We often define ourselves by our passions. Famous people on TV are asked about and admired for their passions even when their passions have no socially redeeming value whatsoever. I’ve heard people speak of having a passion for everything from concern for world hunger to a passion for things as insignificant as wearing the right make-up, or for red shoes, or working out at the gym, or for Starbucks coffee.

 I googled the word passion to see what would come up. Here’s is some of what I found: Any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling such as love or hate; a strong amorous feeling or desire; strong sexual desire such as lust. Passion is an intense and irresistible emotion toward a person or thing; a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or overpowering emotion. Passion can be used as a motivation for a person, an occupation, a cause, or a hobby.  The passion or emotion to want something strongly beyond what is needed is called lust, such as the fulfillment of sexual desires or even for food.  

And here are a few of the links that came up:  Poems about Passion, Finding Your Passion, Passion Test, Quotes about Passion, Characteristics of Passion, Finding Your Passion in a Quiz, Passion for Success, Passion for Something in Life, Origin of Passion, Famous Passion Quotes….to name a few.  About finding your passion in a quiz, it seems to me that if you didn’t already know, would taking a “passion test” bring you to the realization of what the commitment of your life really is, or should be all about?  Well, one thing is for sure, passion is fueled by feelings and emotions. So could we say that we live in a feeling or emotion driven culture today? I suggest that the “passionate” use of the word “passion” today leans in that direction. 

Curious as to what the bible had to say, I looked up the word in Biblegateway.com, my favorite online Bible go-to help.  The New American Standard Bible lists seven uses of the word as follows:

·  “A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bone” (Proverbs 14:30).

·  “A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn her away?” (Jeremiah 2:24).

 ·  “But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion” (2 Corinthians 7:9).

 ·  “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).

·  “…not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thessalonians 4:5).

·       “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality” (Rev. 14:8; 18:3), used in speaking of Babylon which the bible refers to as “a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit.” You may wish to read the whole of Revelation 18 to see this statement in context.

 Yeshua’s experience on the cross is also referred to as His passion (see Acts 3:1), from the Latin verb pati meaning to suffer. I doubt that suffering is what we’re thinking of when we refer to our passion.  

As you can see, that’s a whole different perspective on passion than God’s idea of love. Biblically speaking, passion is something to be overcome, to repent of and to flee from, not to boast in nor seek in order to define or wrap your life around. Rather, passion is that which the ungodly partake of. It is listed as an idolatry, and we know how God regards that!

Is this just a matter of semantics, of redefining a word, or is there something else going on here? As I said in the beginning, we are a passion-hyped culture today. But if those are the true definitions of passion, do they not apply to our society today where it is equally sin driven?  Have we as Christians picked up the lingo of the world and applied it to how we feel about Yeshua?  Well, I would like to rescue here those believers who think there is something wrong with them because they don’t “feel” the passion others seem to.

There are some of us whose “lover” is broken. By that I mean they have been hurt, damaged, abandoned, abused…..  and more, and those  folks are often less likely to feel what others who have lived well loved lives feel, even about or from God. They love God and are entirely surrendered to Him, but when it comes to emotions, for those who have not known what it is to experience a secure and adoring love, they may not know how to receive it from God. But that does not mean that they don’t know that God loves them, or that they don’t love God. What they may not feel is the “passion” that others seem to experience, say, during worship.

 If that’s you, and you are afraid you don’t love the Lord as you are expected to because your lover doesn’t work as it should, take heart. This will release you from your malaise.  Let’s look at a very familiar passage of Scripture, 1 Corinthians 13.  But as you read it, I would like you to be looking for where your feelings are to be employed and where it speaks about “feeling” love toward others.  

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all thing. Love never fails” (:4-8a). 

Is patience a feeling or a choice to wait? How about kindness – do we chose to be kind or does it just rush over us as a feeling we can’t control? You get the point, I’m sure.  

Love, from a Hebrew or Scriptural perspective, is not a feeling but an attitude and a commitment. It’s not something that comes over you that you can’t control, like “falling in love” or for that matter, falling out of love.  Love is what you do for the benefit and betterment of the other person or persons. Love doesn’t brag because there’s nothing really about love in bragging; it’s all about you and calling attention to yourself. Love doesn’t keep mental lists of wrongs done to them, or remember the wrongs of the past, even if the past is still fresh. Forgive and let it go and it’ll dwindle, and if it doesn’t, keep forgiving till it does. 70x7, remember! Love rejoices with the one who rejoices. They’re just there with you and for you. Passions usually have to do with things or people that you personally relate to, that are you're kind of thing, but love, real love, loves those who are aren't the least like you (see photo above) but you know that God loves them so you can love them with God's kind of love. 

The best Person who will be with you when you’re loving like this is God Himself. When we love the way He loves, all kinds of possibilities and joys come to our lives.  Unlike passion that may or may not have anything to do with warming the heart of someone else, focus on living a life of God’s kind of love. Be an example to others of His love and you’ll find you’re loved in return.

HOW TO CAST YOUR CARES ON THE LORD.

God is always speaking. Are we listening?

A Jewish friend of mine mentioned to me that she was considering learning how to meditate which would require learning to empty her mind. I woke up the next morning with all this going through my mind as it often does when an article is being downloaded to me from the Lord.  I thought it might be helpful to some others. So here goes. 

The Jewish and therefore biblical way of meditating is never to empty your mind which we cannot really do anyway – our minds were not meant for emptying but for being wise, for having discernment, for “knowing” what is right and what is not, what is godly from what is not.  There’s so much good stuff to be meditated upon in the bible God has given to us that emptying our minds doesn’t seem like fun at all. Besides, He wants us to hear what He would say to us. Time and time again He told Israel to heed His voice. In fact, the Sh'ma, one of the most familiar prayers in all of Judaism begins,"Hear O Israel...." which translates into listen and understand what I'm saying, says the Lord.

I woke up this morning to the verse that says,“Be still and know that I am God” going through my mind.  When things come to me like that I know it is God informing me of something meaningful.  The more I thought about this verse (I meditated on it), the more I felt myself becoming calm, and being still. Why? Because I can put all things into His hands and trust that God has His eyes upon me and is watching over me  and will give me wisdom for all things as I look to Him for it.  Another verse says, “Cease striving and know that I am God.”  Well, doesn’t that just put being still in perspective. Being still means to stop striving which we can do because God is in His place of sovereign and loving authority. 

I thought of where there might be areas in my life where I’m still striving, though surely not the way I used to before I knew God as I do. Take worrying, for instance. Worry is a kind of striving, though a useless one. Unlike just thinking something through, worrying carries stress. It’s a mental exertion to try to make things work out differently, to try to solve a conflict by rehearsing it over and over in your mind though your thoughts only go in circles and don’t come to rest or a new conclusion. 

So when I realize I’m worrying, I bring my worrying thoughts to God, ask Him for wisdom about it, and leave it in His hands.  There sure is a whole lot less stress when God is in on it with you and the weight of the matter is on Him and not me.  I remain quiet in my innermost being, in my kishkahs, as I turn each concern over to Him and receive His peace, expecting that He will give me the wisdom to know what to do or He will take care of it Himself.  Often the situation ceases to have great importance when I give it over to Him and I don’t have to do anything because God Himself has actually seen to it that it is resolved, just because I trusted Him with it. The problem dissipates once I put it in His hands and trust that He’ll fix it or fix me.  

As we read through the Bible we find that the greatest thing God asks from us is faith, that is, our trust in Him and His goodness.  That’s why the Bible says, “Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you.”  That word cast means to release them to him the way you would release a bowling ball into an bowling alley.  Release the things and send them rolling off to Him. Scripture says, “You have not because you ask not.”  So ask!  This too is a kind of meditating, seeing your concerns in God’s very able hands and the weight lifted off of you. Whether it’s a sick child, someone making seemingly unwise decisions, or the state of the world, God will carry the weight if we’ll let Him.  He says, “My burdens are light and My yoke is easy,” meaning whatever He allows in our lives will not be too heavy a burden if we let Him carry the weight of them.  Once we meditate on that reality it becomes a part of our consciousness and way of life.  Now that’s productive meditating as God meant it to be. Emptying your mind has nothing productive or strengthening about it. 

I once spent a whole interesting summer “meditating” on when God blessed people and when He didn’t. I wanted to know how to stay in God’s blessings and how to avoid not being on His good side, for lack of better words.  I went through the books of Psalms and Isaiah, one of Israel’s major prophets.  I made a kind of chart with 4 columns:  Blessings and the cause; Curses (the opposite of blessings) and the cause.  Sort of like positive and negative cause and effect.  

For example, like in Psalm 1:1, it says, to begin with, people are blessed who do not seek or take seriously the advice or opinions of those who don’t think like God thinks. It says “wicked” in one translation, another translation of that word wicked is “ungodly.”  Either way, not godlike. I ask myself where am I taking advice that is not what God would be saying. I think of all the news commentators who report all kinds of awful things that don’t come from God and don’t bring me His peace, and also who speak against Israel. Surely that’s not godly. They never talk about what God’s doing or His promises to take care of Israel, or that He loves her and says that land is His land which He gave to Israel. The news commentators may not be ‘wicked’ but their opinions are not what God is saying.   

There is so much crazy stuff going on in the world today, but Scripture says to “focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy…. Then the God who gives shalom will be with you.”  There’s enough to meditate on for quite a while in just those words. We can opt out of fear and worry.

I want blessings so I should not take too seriously the advice or opinions of those who do not know or are not speaking from a knowledge of God.  The Psalm goes on to say to avoid those who are “scoffers” (who speak against others, to mock them or speak derisively). There are a lot of voices ‘out there’ who speak negatively about people who in their own opinions are not worthy of respect or honor. God never does that. Even when He rebuked Israel for her backslidden ways through the prophets, He did so with encouragement to be all He wants her to be. God never beats us down, He always reaches for us to lift us up. 

To try and empty your mind is mysticism and, quite frankly, it opens you up to what is not godly. Hinduism seeks to empty your mind and that’s surely not Jewish. The Jewish and biblical way of meditating is to roll a thought over and over in your mind, and in fact, to say it out loud as you think about it.  Isaac meditated, but he surely wasn’t emptying his mind.  He was thinking with God about all going on in his life, about his new wife coming.  It says, “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming” (Genesis 24:63 – though some translations leave out the meditation part). How exciting. Just as he was talking with God about the promise of a wife, there she was, coming with the camels!  

God spoke to Joshua as he was about to finally lead Israel into the promised land with these words that were not just for Joshua but for every Jew and follower of God:  “This book of the law (Torah) shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8). Here is your foundational instructions from God about meditating – to ponder, to consider, to dwell on what the Bible says, to make God’s words our reality. Torah can mean the whole bible and not just the first five books because the prophets are all about trying to get Israel to observe Torah, for instance.  

So you can see that God does not want us to empty our minds.  That is not a godly way to seek peace. His word is our way to peace. When we know what He has promised – and the Bible is filled with His promises – then we can put our trust in Him, regardless of what circumstances may look like.  A good example is His promise that the land of Israel is ours, and there is much that He has said that is recorded in the bible about what’s going on in the world today, especially about Israel that will help us understand that He is still in control even when the world seems to be going crazy. We need to not be empty of thoughts, but to keep our thoughts on what He gave us in the Bible and firmly trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for He alone is wholly trustworthy, both for us personally and regarding Israel. In fact, regarding the whole world for, “the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Psalm 24:1). 

As King David said in Psalm 48:10, “God, … we meditate on your grace.” Grace means the goodness of God on our behalf so meditate (think) on all that He has given to you in your life: health, sound mindedness, provision, protection, loved ones, beauty, comfort, eyes to see and ears to hear.  There is much joy in being thankful to “God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” There’s enough to meditate on right there, to come to a new realization of how blessed we are, and to thank Him for what we may have taken for granted before. A thankful life is a full life. 

Psalm 119 has much to say about meditation. It is the longest Psalm and talks about meditation at least seven times, including:  “I have more understanding than all my teachers, because I meditate on your instruction.”  Now there’s a good reason to meditate.  To be a person of wisdom, seek His instructions for life in His Word.  They are many other mentions of mediation in the bible and all have to do with giving much thought to what God has to say, but never about emptying our minds.  That would entail a constant striving to empty your mind and a waste of time. It might be good for Madonna, but not for those of us who know we have so much else in God available to us. Heneni, Lord, We're listening!!