Today's Poem: Hope
Every night I look up
into the dark sky
Wondering when light will break
and shine down on our paths;
Bringing us together
Every night I look up
into the dark sky
Wondering if you are looking up too
and if our eyes have fallen
on the same bright star
That will soon shine down our paths;
Bringing us together
Tonight I looked up again
My heart leapt at the vast array of stars
I remembered Abraham as he looked up
and had faith enough to believe in the promise of a son
Becoming the father of many nations.
It seems great faith too is required of me now;
For as the years go by,
As the stars grow dimmer,
As the nights grow colder,
Will I have strength to hope against all hope?
Believing that the light will soon pierce
the darkness that surrounds
Bringing us together forever
PRAYERS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT --- PART 7
Avi, I abandon myself to You. Do with me as You will. Whatever You may do with me, I thank You. I am prepared for anything; I accept everything. Provided Your will is fulfilled in me and in all creatures, I ask for nothing more, my YAHVEH. I place my soul in Your hands. I give it to You, my Elohim, with all the love of my heart because I love You. And for me it is a necessity of love, this gift of myself, this placing of myself in Your hands without reserve in boundless confidence, because You are Avi. (Job 1)
O Almighty YAHVEH, when our vision fails and our understanding is darkened, when the ways of life seem hard and brightness of life is gone, grant to us the wisdom that deepens faith and enlarges trust. And whenever the ways in nature or in the soul are hard to understand, then may our quiet confidence, our patient trust, our living faith in You be great. . . . May we with a quiet mind at all times put our trust in You. (Job 12).
O YAHVEH, our great Companion, You are the light of minds that know You, the life of souls that love You and the strength of wills that serve You: Help us so to know You that we may truly love You, so to love You that we may fully serve You, who to serve is perfect freedom; through Yeshua HaMashiach. (Job 28).
Hear us, O YAHVEH, the Father of our Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach. Through Your Name the sea is calmed, the fire is quenched, and the grave and death are brought to nothing. You comfort those who are oppressed; You heal those who are suffering; those who are lost in the sea, You come to their aid. In like manner my Adonai, also come to help and deliver us from this time. For You are the true YAHVEH, the Help of those who are oppressed and in tribulation; and Yours is the power and the glory forever. (Job 37).
O YAHVEH, the King eternal, who divides the day from the darkness and turns the shadow of death into morning, drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our heart to keep Your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done Your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice and give You thanks. (Psalms 5).
I thank You, my Elohim and King Most High, that You have given me these joys in Your creation, this ecstasy over the works of Your hands. I have made known the glory of Your works to men as far as my finite spirit was able to comprehend Your infinity. If I have said anything wholly unworthy of You or have aspired after my own glory, graciously forgive me. (Psalms 8).
O Most High, Almighty, and wonderful YAHVEH, to You belongs praise, glory, honour, and all blessing! Praised be my Adonai Eloheinu and His creatures and especially for the sun, who brings us the day and who brings us the light; fair is he and shines with very great splendour; O Adonai, he points us to You! (Psalms 19)
Grant us, we pray, the lost who hunger and thirst after righteousness; the longing for YAHVEH. Grant to us that drawing power by which everything in us shall call for You. Become necessary to us. With the morning and evening light, at noon and at midnight, may we feel the need of Your companionship. . . . Though You do not speak as man speaks, yet You can call out to us; and the soul shall know Your presence and shall understand by its own self what You mean. Grant to us this witness of the Spirit, this communion of the soul with You; and not only once or twice: May we abide in the light. (Psalms 27).
I confess Adonai, with thanksgiving that You have made me in Your image so that I can remember You, think of You, and love You. But that image is so worn and blotted out by faults, and darkened by the smoke of sin that it cannot do that for which it was made unless You renew and refashion it. Lord, I am not trying to make my way to Your height, for my understanding is in no way equal to that, but I do desire to understand a little of Your truth, which my heart already believes and loves. (Psalms 51).
As the hand is made for holding and the eye for seeing, You have fashioned me for joy. Share with me the vision that shall find it everywhere: in the wild violet’s beauty; in the lark’s melody; in the face of a steadfast man; in a child’s smile; in a mother’s love; in the purity of Yeshua. (Psalms 65).
We had a tree fall last week. I have been out in the yard most of the time cleaning it up. It has given me the opportunity to listen to the Bible while I work. I was listening to Acts during one of the sessions. When I came to Acts 15, I didn't think I would find anything new in it. I've read the chapter multiple times as it is one that is incorrectly used to defend not doing the Law. But I did get something new; two things actually.
The first is that the initial group that says all the new gentile believers must be circumcised to be saved; they weren't random Jews of the circumcision party like I had previously believed; they were followers of Christ. You have Paul debating them, which you know he is using the Scriptures to back up his stance, and not coming to any resolution. This tells me they also were using Scriptures to back their stance. If these were non-Yeshua believing Jews, why would Paul need to debate them on how to follow Yeshua? It wouldn't matter what they thought. Most of Paul's letters are covering the traditions those non-Yeshua believing Jews are following and telling new believers they mean nothing. So what happens? They go to the council for a ruling on it. If these were random non-Yeshua believing Jews, there would be no need to go to the council. The council then says that these initial men, came from them. Acts 15:24 - "that some persons have gone out from us".
The second thing is that this is a Church vs. Bible comic playing out in Scripture. Not only that it is playing out in Scripture, it is still happening today. We have believers that are telling other believers what actions they must take in order to be saved. They might not use the blunt wording of "to be saved", but they will make a lot of blanket statements that lead to no other conclusion. "Not a true follower", "being deceived", and "following pagan theologies" are a few examples. I've run into several of these statements just this last week online and in our fellowship. They are doing the same thing the "men from Judea", as Scripture calls them, were doing. They are taking things that may be things believers should be doing and tying it to Salvation. As stated, these are things believers should be doing, yes, but that isn't their Salvation.
I've written about several times on this comic and in my blog on things I have done wrong. My first ~25 years as a believer, I wasn't doing Biblical things. I was doing traditions. It didn't make me less saved. Once I started trying to follow the Bible more and do Biblical things, I still did things wrong. We still made people work for us on the Sabbath, by going to grocery stores, shopping malls, and restaurants. We did that for almost a year. We weren't any less saved. The Holy Spirit eventually convicted us of it, causing us to search out Scripture on the subject and we stopped doing it. Now, 5 years later, there is probably something we are still doing wrong. And that is okay. His Grace covers us and when He sees we are ready, He will have His Spirit convict us to test us and see if we will be obedient. It won't come from Joe Bob Believer, who has been on a tangent about some subject, trying to make everyone do what he thinks is best. It will come from God and it will be unmistakable.
http://thestraightandnarrow.cfw.me/comics/363
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I came across something good this morning and I want to share:
One time, a small town needed rain and all the residents gathered together at the town hall for prayer. Only one little boy came with an umbrella --- That is Faith!
Every night we go to bed without the insurance of waking up the next morning, but we still set the alarm to wake up --- That is Hope!
We plan big things for tomorrow, but we have zero knowledge of the future --- That is Confidence!
We see the world suffering, but we still get married and have kids --- That is Love!
#readmethebiblegarth now includes Matthew 1-28 in Greek with translation, and in the Lawful Literal Version, here: https://youtube.com/playlist?l....ist=PLvpqSEOjm625MyT
Keep in mind that when Yeshua cried out "Eli Eli..." he was reminding his hearers of Psalm 22 which gives a clear explanation of the situation: God "hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard" (Psalm 22, compare Hebrews 5:7). Christian preachers commit a great error, ignorant of Scripture, through their repetition of their imaginative tradition that, say they, "God could not look on the sin Christ bore." False. Yeshua's sacrifice, like a lamb without spot or blemish, was an acceptable offering, a pleasing aroma to God, not a thing despised. Yeshua did not 'become sin' or suffer the whole wrath of God, but he made himself a worthy sin offering to reconcile repentant sinners to God.
The Matthew 18 LLV124 recording reveals the true meaning of "where two or three are gathered together in my name" and why your church that you say you have a fellowship with is almost certainly no part of the Body of Yeshua. Repent and unite in the true commitment of Yeshua's Body, the true partnership with the Father and the Son and with each other. Write to me.
The Matthew 7 Greek recording has a special message at the end for those who say to themselves that, "Jesus is my rock, so I shall never be moved." Be ye careful how ye hear.
The Matthew 13 LLV123 recording has a special exposition for those who've not realised the need to discern between those of the world and those of the Body of Yeshua.
The Matthew 25 Greek recording shows the true meaning of 'talent' in the Bible.
#readmethebiblegarth now includes the whole book of Luke 1-24 in Greek with translation, and in the Lawful Literal Version, here: https://youtube.com/playlist?l....ist=PLvpqSEOjm625MyT
The Luke 16 LLV124 recording includes a warning for those deceiving themselves into thinking that the grace of God means ignoring what God commanded before Yeshua: repent! Yeshua clearly teaches you that the Law remains and is to be taught and obeyed, even in its details. Deceive not yourselves, for there is a true grace which makes people careful to keep God's rules, and there is a mystery of lawlessness that motivates men to believe and preach excuses not to obey, so that by the faithless choice to listen to such excuses, they shall receive the judgement in the end that is due to those who walk not in obedient faith.
The Luke 10 Greek recording shows what role the one, true, unleavened Body of Yeshua has in the eventual fall of the Satan from the sky. Get with YHWH's program. Confirm yourself as a known and committed member of the Body of Yeshua. Write to me.
Thought for Today: Monday September 27: Guard against Pride
Pride is the soil from which all other sins grow, and the parent from whom all other sins are born.
Humble yourselves therefore, under G-d's mighty hand, that He might lift you up in due time --- 1 Pet. 5:6
Beloved Holy Heavenly Father, help me never to think to much of myself, so that I will not come to a fall. Remind me to always praise you in good times and bad times, in all success and in all failures, in laughter and in heartbreaks, amein
https://nclalegal.org/2021/08/....professor-beats-geor