3/27/2017

CHRIST Our PASSOVER







PASSOVER MEDITATION
for The Preparation Season
to commemorate
The Great --- and Final --- Passover
~ 2017 ~

 " CHRIST our PASSOVER
is Sacrificed for us,
therefore,
let us keep the feast... "
Romans 5
+  +  +

JESUS  said,
" All authority is given unto ME+
in Heaven and in earth."
Matthew 28:18




LET US PRAY:

O GOD our Heavenly FATHER, I thank THEE and praise THEE for sending us a SAVIOR+ Who+ is CHRIST the LORD ... the ONE+ Who+ saves me from my Self.

Forgive me, O LORD, for not yielding to Thy+ Authority. In so many ways --- starting with food and drink, to sleep times, and even dress --- I have not followed Thy+ leading, O CHRIST.

My ear has been deaf, my eye turned elsewhere, my feet chose my own way  when I wanted to indulge Self.

I have not yielded my tongue to THEE+ many times. And worse, the thoughts of my heart have oftentimes not come under Thy+ Authority.

I cry to THEE+ to come and rule and reign over this world, yet I  myself push away Thy+ Rule over me... even in these little, inconsequential matters that have nothing to do with the state of the world.

Or... perhaps, DO these matter
more than I realize,
O LORD ?

Therefore, I humble my Self to Thy+ LORDSHIP, even in these small matters that affect my soul and spirit.

Grant me cleansing from my Self-indulgent ways.  Help me to focus my entire being on pleasing THEE+ now. 

Then perhaps, in due season, it may be said of me also, " The effectual , fervent prayer of  a righteous man availeth much." 

+  +  + 

THOU+ hast turned for me
my mourning into dancing:

THOU+ hast put off my sackcloth,
and girded me with gladness;

To the end that my glory
may sing praise to THEE+,
and not be silent.

O LORD my God,
I will give thanks unto THEE+ for ever.
Psalm 30: 11-12


JESUS CHRIST

" WHO+ gave Himself+ for our sins,
that HE+ might deliver us
from this present evil world,
according to the will of GOD
and our FATHER. "
Galatians 1:4

3/18/2017

DID JESUS KNOW Judas was a thief ?



ELISHA and Gehazi and the Leprosy of Naaman


This he [ Judas ] said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. John 12:6

 Q:  If the disciple John knew that Judas was a thief, then did The LORD JESUS  know it ? 

Judas, it seemed, did not believe that JESUS CHRIST  was the SON+ of GOD , in truth. 


Unlike Peter, Judas did not BELIEVE into HIM+. 


This must be the case with Judas --- regardless of his being an eye-witness to all the miracles of JESUS and being included in the Teachings of JESUS first-hand. 


If Judas WOULD have received the Witness to the FATHER that JESUS testified, then Judas would have known something else: 


Judas would have realized 
that he could never hide 
his sly and evil thieveries 
and his deadly, traitorous scheme 
WITHOUT The LORD 
knowing full well what Judas was doing.


   If Judas really would have believed that HE+ was the SON+ of GOD, Judas would have known the truth of Psalm 139 ... GOD knows our down-sitting and up-rising and every word on our tongues. 


But NO... Judas thought he was hidden.  He thought he was more clever that the others disciples. 


Judas thought GOD did not see what he was doing! 


Judas did not recall the Old Covenant Prophet Elisha and his servant Gehazi after Naaman the Syrian had been healed of leprosy. 


Naaman offered to pay Elisha for his "services" , but Elisha wisely refused to take payment. Gehazi, though, schemed to take advantage of the situation and procure those gifts ... for himself. 


Elisha asked Gehazi: 


"Where did you go ? " 


Gehazi promptly lied to the Prophet: 


"Thy servant went nowhere." 


Elisha said, " Went not mine heart wither when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee

Is it a time to receive ? ... and Elisha listed even all Gehazi's hidden plans for temporal goods which Gehazi dreamed to obtain !

Now the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed for ever." 


Naaman's leprosy attacked Gehazi who thought he could succeed in "fooling GOD." 

+  +  + 

CHURCH, we had better monitor ourselves.  We had better engage TOTAL HONESTY before we are placed on the balance scales of the unchanging, immutable, ever-present Word of GOD. 


NO secret yearnings. NO hidden schemes. NO "pet" sins. NO "godly" appearance, yet our heart is far from HIM+. NO pretense in our walk. 


If we say we "love our neighbor as ourself" then we had better do for them AND THINK of them in the same way we would want ourselves to be treated. 


Do we not yet realize GOD knows our thoughts ?


Are we not yet convinced that The LORD sees into our hearts DEEPER than we do ... or will acknowledge, even to ourselves ?
 

What kind of hidden pride exists in our bosom when we lift ourselves up over the people we know and think we are "better" than they are ? 


If we say we follow The LORD JESUS CHRIST, then we will be wrestling with our hearts until we DO His+ words... from our hearts. 

 All have sin. But now, we have an ADVOCATE+ Who+ is able to help us walk well-pleasing in His+ sight. 


Because HE+ has ENABLED us to do so, we had better DO RIGHT.  We have no more excuse. 


+  +  +


LET US PRAY: 

O LORD, I have walked like a Judas and a Gehazi, thinking YOU+ did not know the thoughts of my heart.  

GOD, forgive me !  I am not fit to be Your+ friend nor Your+ servant.   

Shine the Light of Your+ holiness into the secret recesses of my being and help me to see WHAT YOU+ SEE.  I will look at it, without flinching. 

Cleanse me. Make me fully WHOLE... fully YOURS+. 

In the HOLY NAME of the only-Begotten SON+ of GOD, the LORD JESUS CHRIST I offer this my imperfect prayer. Amen.   
 

3/15/2017

REBELLION and STUBBORNNESS ... YEARNING for the UN-CLEAN


The Prophet SAMUEL


REMEMBER:You are dust, 
and to dust you shall return.

Therefore... 

REPENT, and believe the GOSPEL+. 
+  +  +

Most HOLY and Most Merciful ABBA... 

We confess to THEE and to one another and to the whole communion of saints in Heaven and on earth and before Your Heavenly Host... 

that we have sinned
by our own fault

in thought, word, and deed; 

by what we have DONE
and by what we have
LEFT UN-DONE. 

 As it is written:

Thou shalt love The LORD thy GOD, The ELOHIM, with ALL thy heart, with ALL of thy soul, and with ALL  thy mind, and with all of thy strength.  

This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 

On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. There is no commandment greater than these.
+ + +


ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS...

Hang ALL the Law and the Prophets.


ALL of The Mosaic LAW ?  ALL of the words of the Prophets?

Did our Righteous+ SAVIOR The LORD  Y'SHU+ the M'SHIKHA --- Who+ never broke the LAW of Moses --- state this ?

Yes, HE+ did. Matthew 22:40 and Mark 12:31 both record this stunning fact.

If we love The LORD our GOD with ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength ...

·                   THEN we will not have anything left over to YEARN AFTER other things , events, activities, or persons.

If we love The LORD JESUS CHRIST with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength ...

·                   THEN we will not yearn after imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself AGAINST --- as the enemy of --- the knowledge of GOD.

Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing
that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of GOD,

and bringing into captivity
every thought
to the obedience of CHRIST;
2 Corinthians 10:5

+  +  +

Now herein does the difficulty lie:  We hide our YEARNINGS under a cloak of righteousness. 

For instance, The LORD has told us to leave that un-redeemed person aloneThe LORD has told us to stop yearning over him ( a son, a brother, a friend, an uncle, and even a Dad), desiring his friendship, desiring his closeness.

Does The LORD do that because HE+ is "hard-hearted" ?  NO. There is more love in His+ heart than in ours for ANY abject sinner.

HE+ tells us to "leave them alone"
and STOP YEARNING for them
because our yearning is UN-CLEAN. 

That person has heard the Word.  That person has received the witness clearly. That person has rejected the Witness and the Word and is going to live life  "his way," come what may. 

Every one of us has someone whom we hold dear

--- a son or daughter, a brother or sister,
a Mother or Father,
a dear friend or close relative ---

who has heard the Word. He HAS learned of the Love of The LORD JESUS for his soul and has heard that he must repent of his sins in order to get right with GOD.

He refuses to do so.

We over and over again tell him of JESUS'S LOVE.  We gently and clearly write to him that sin will keep him out of Heaven; he must repent. In great desperation, we beg him to change. We all but do it for him.

Yet, he stubbornly refuses to yield
to what he knows is right.

He is in REBELLION
against the Truth
that he knows.

The eyes of GOD are upon his stubbornness and rebellion against what he knows is right.  That becomes offensive to The LORD. Here is how The LORD evaluates our rebellious friend or relative... no matter HOW DEAR that person is to us. 

For rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft,

and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because
thou hast rejected the Word of the LORD,

HE+ hath also rejected thee
from being king.
I Samuel 15:23

Now hearken to another truth:  the eyes of GOD are ALSO UPON US as we yearn over that person.  ( See 1 Samuel 15 and 16.) 

Was The LORD pleased with Samuel's continual  mourning over Saul’s apostasy ? NO.


Well, would we keep company
with a WITCH in our family?

NO, of course not !

We would say to that WITCH:

"Enough is enough. You have been warned. You know that I love you.  You know enough to choose right from wrong. You are stubbornly choosing to sin.  Let me know when you want to come clean before The LORD. Good-bye."

Furthermore, if we were MORE IN LOVE WITH THE LORD, we would be angry at the willful sin being practiced ! We would refuse to eat with , meet with, be in the same room with our loved one who turned to witchcraft.

We definitely would NOT be yearning over that person to call us, to write to us, or to come to see us ... until that grievous SIN of WITCHCRAFT had been dealt with.

The LORD would be pleased with us, for HE+ has heard our prayers and seen our tears for the salvation of that sinner. We can trust that HE+ will give them a bed of thorns until they either repent or leave this earth in their sorry state because HE+ has heard our prayers.

Taking this to another level, are we yearning after something else that The LORD has said "NO" to us having ? 

Perhaps that dream job, a career, a degree, a position, a reputation, a "finer" dwelling place, to be married, to develop a "perfect" physical body ... even a ministry we desire ?

That yearning is un-clean.

Our yearning needs to be yielded unto The LORD; we let HIM+ decide what we "need" as we seek FIRST the Kingdom of GOD and His+ righteousness.

Once HE+ has said "NO" about a matter, we must obey and CLOSE THE DOOR to it, giving it no secret glances of desire for what is inside of it. We must LOCK that door and give HIM+ the key ... and be about Our HOLY FATHER'S business. 

During these tumultuous end of days, we are seeing persecution on every side and a destruction of Institutions which we have trusted in heretofore.

Some Followers of  JESUS may have  indeed moved on from personal and temporal yearnings, but  NOW they are distraught because "their culture, their country" is dissolving into chaos and war. The countries are being eaten up with the evil of their collective sins. 

But the prayers of the Christians ?
      " Oh, GOD, save my country! Save my life-style … home, land, bank account, material possessions! Save this culture handed down to me by my forefathers ! 

“Oh, GOD, if only things were like they used to be; don't let the ( leaders, politicians, war-machines, left-wingers, right-wingers, women’s libbers, etc.) destroy our land ! " 

No-one wants their land destroyed.

After 9-1-1, even the thieves, thugs, and ruffians in New York City had tears in their eyes as they saw "their culture" being destroyed. No-one was mugged that day.

When the "un-clean" have ignored
the repeated calls to repentance,

the YEARNING over the "un-clean,"
becomes UN-CLEAN itself.

Peoples through-out Europe ...  Germany, Great Britain, France, and in the United States ... have received SOME kind of witness of The LORD.

For decades the Word of GOD has gone forth via the radio and television, billboards, magazines, newspapers, movies and music, books, and now the internet.

Nations in Central and South America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Islands and all points in-between are generally aware of the GOSPEL of CHRIST ... aware enough of IT+ to persecute its Followers.

Have the nations, like ungodly Ninevah, repented for their killing, stealing, and satanic, evil ways against CHRIST ?

NO.

Instead, we have Christians and Jews JOINING IN with the evil, portraying the character of The ELOHIM as approving of un-godliness in the name of "tolerance " or, GOD forbid, "love."  

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ... as Isaiah the Prophet told us ( 5:20 )


Thus, GOD is clear when HE judges and justified when HE speaks.


 For verily I+ say unto you,

Till heaven and earth pass,

one jot or one tittle

shall in NO wise

pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled.
Matthew 5: 18
+  +  +

We set ALL of our yearnings upon The LORD, with ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We veer not to the left hand nor to the right. We love our neighbor as ourselves.

On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets. 

There is NO COMMANDMENT
GREATER THAN THESE.

 Heaven and earth shall pass away,

but My+ Words

shall not pass away.

Matthew 24:35

Thus saith The LORD.
+  +  + 


 Create in me a clean heart, 
O GOD and renew a right spirit within me. 
Cast me not away 
from Thy+ Presence; 

and take not Thy HOLY SPIRIT 
from me. 

Restore unto me 
the joy of Thy+ SALVATION; 
and uphold me with Thy free spirit.
Psalm 51
+  +  +

Ashes to Ashes,

Dust to Dust

in sure and certain hope
of the Resurrection

unto Eternal Life

through

JESUS CHRIST

our LORD.




+ + +