Discipleship

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
                                                                                      -Matthew 28:19   

     This scripture is widely used by pretty much everyone in the believing community.  It’s used by pastors, evangelists, (messianic) rabbis, teachers, “prophets,” as well as normal, everyday people like you and me.  Unfortunately, as widely as it is used, it is also miss-used.  What is a disciple?  Is it a convert? Is it one who believes in Yeshua (Jesus)? What do they do?  Is it fun?  Can I still spend my time watching T.V. and go about my everyday life?  Is it hard?  The bottom line question is…….. What is the cost?   Yeshua encouraged us to take a good look at what discipleship entails.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?

                                                                                                   Luke 14:28

      So now, come let us reason together, let us count the cost, and decide whether, or not this is a life we are willing to live.
     Let me start off by stating that becoming a disciple of Yeshua is probably one of the most dangerous things a person can do.  Death, my frinds, is in the job description.   The Scriptures say that a student is not greater than his teacher, nor is a servant greater than his master.  If our Teacher, our Master, our Rebbe gave himself up to die a grusome death, what makes us think that as His students, which are less than He, we will be able to live our normal, pleasant lives?  A student is not greater than his teacher.     

“All men will hate you because of me.”

                                                                                                Luke 21:17

  If we are truly disciples of Yeshua, then He promises us that we WILL be hated by ALL MEN.  Let us look at our own lives.  Are we living lives of such radical holiness and complete devotion to our G-d that all men hate us?  What, right now,  seperates us from the rest of the World, besides our vocabulary? 
   In the first century, discipleship was a big deal.  Being chosen to be a Rabbi’s disciple was way more demanding than even being a student at a top University like Harvard, or Yale.  It was a 24/7 deal.  You are required to memorize every word, teaching, custom, blessing, prayer, etc. of your Rabbi.  One would listen and ask questions until he could repeat back EVERY teaching of his Rabbi. Complete devotion was their aim. 
    When Messiah called for us to be, and make, disciples, THIS is what He meant.  A disciple is not a convert.  A disciple looks exactly like his teacher.

“A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

                                                                                               Luke 6:40

    A true disciple when fully trained will look just like his teacher!  Therefore, we should look JUST LIKE YESHUA!  We should imitate His every move.  We should walk like He did, talk like He did, pray as He did.  However, we must remember that His walk led Him to the tree.  His talk caused Him to be hated by all.  We must answer the call to discipleship, but, in truth,  it WILL probably kill us.
    In order to see the true cost of discipleship to Yeshua, let’s take a look at His first disciples.  Out of His twelve first, how many died of old age?  We know that eleven were mudered for sure.  We don’t know how John died, but we DO know that while he was living we was persecuted severely.  If eleven out of twelve were killed what does that say about true discipleship?
   I’ll leave you with those thoughts to ponder.

 May HaShem extend the merit of our Rebbe, Yeshua Ha’tsaddik, to us and may He give us hearts of true discipleship.  May He also give us the grace and peace to handle the tasks at hand.

 

Life Changing Love (Part 2)

In the previous message, to sum up what the Lord was showing me, I can only say that I will be brought out… but not until HaShem has taken me with an outstretched arm and fury poured out.  This is my God!

But even more amazing was what God did this past Sunday night.  And I can only express it by copying a message that I sent a friend while in the middle of receiving everything from God.

The message:
“Tonight I was really tired from this whole past week of staying up until 3-5am, so at 8:30pm I came in to iron some shirts. Well, when I got inside I decided that I would take a nap and then wake up around midnight to iron, take a shower, pray and write you. As I crawled onto my bed I just asked the Father to wake me up since I didn’t want to set my alarm clock. And that way I would know that I am suppose to wake up, since I never just wake up four hours after I fall asleep… especially when I exhaused. Guess what? At about 12:30 God woke me up, and then I fell asleep. A minute later He woke me up again… and I fell asleep. Yet again did He wake me up and this time He said, “didn’t you want to speak to me?” All of the sudden I was waking up as I realized that God woke me out of an extremely deep sleep because He was willing to be with me… He wanted to be with me! I crawled out of bed and on to my knees as the Father just started to pour His love over me. I couldn’t even think because I was still just opening my eyes… but I started crying. Crying for joy, and relief… as I was beginning to realized just how much God loved me. I know that He is taking me out with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and fury poured out so that He may reign over and judge me. But tonight… tonight is different. Tonight He is calling to me in the garden of my heart, and He is singing to me songs of love as He weeps over me with tears of joy! My God loves me, [friend]! I have never felt so loved in all my life! That is why He woke me up… to love on me. Kisses of love have fallen on my neck, as He wips away my tears He rejoices over me. And now I know that my God loves me! I have never before known the depth of love that he has for me, but now I do. I open up my mouth and He pours in His love. I open up my heart and love washes over me like a flood. I am so at peace with what I will have to go through, for now I know that my God loves me. And this isn’t a new side to God… this is the same God that loved king David… this is the same God whos love killed His own Son, Yeshua. This is my God… and He loves me!”

It was the most amazing night I have ever experienced.  I received the love of God more then, than I ever have in all my life!  But even more than my receiving God’s love, was that He implanted within me enough love to pour out to thousands of others.  And yesterday He tested me in that love.  Early in the morning I was made aware to a lot of death that was being brought into the life of others that I was investing my time in.  And this was on top of so many other people having come to me asking for help and having them tell me that no one sees them in their affliction. 

My heart was so burdened!  I had just received all this love from the Lord and now I was weighed down by the fact that most people are not receiving what I had experienced.  But God has been showing me how to share His love with others.  It is through an outpouring of myself.

 You know, as I sit here I am listening to old recordings of a Christian band that I was in during high school.  We are pouring out hearts out to God in very pure worship… it doesn’t sound that great as far as tone goes, but we just wanted to worship God, and that’s all that mattered.  Some of the lyrics are making me cry even now as I hear how far I’ve strayed over the years.  Where has my youthful exuberance gone?  One song we sang at a Battle of the Bands and the song was about my best friend’s grandmother and we were telling her to hold on because Jesus loves her.  At a Battle of the Bands!  Thats where punk rockers hang, and we were singing about Jesus loving an 80 year old woman.

So what is love?  I’ve experienced a lot of it lately… coming from a lot of different people and in a lot of different forms.  And I can say that it has been nothing less than a tremendous blessing.

However, love is not what I felt from others, nor is it something that I can conjure up within myself.  But this is love… that God would give His only Son to die on a tree for you and I.

Love is what calls to us in the night, it is what raptures our hearts and binds us to our God.  Love is what spoke when Ez. 20:44 was written: “And ye shall know that I am the LORD when I have taken you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.”

God loved us when we were still in sin.  And that is the love that compels me to love others.  All night and all day I feel Your love, Oh Lord.

I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know what your background is with God.  But hear me well when I say that God loves you!  He loves you.  All heaven is coming apart with joy at the scene of God pouring out His love on you! 

Gods desire is towards you… and you don’t have to do anything but come unto Him in repentance. 
I pray for you even now.

 

Life Changing Love

I haven’t written lately, and for good reason.  Because I haven’t known whats going on and I don’t want to speak too soon before I hear from the Father.

God has been taking me through so much.  I don’t even know where to start.  But I do know one thing… that God searches the earth for someone to desire Him.

I have been struggling in my walk with the Lord, but not because of a lack of closeness.  Rather, because I have felt such a closeness… I don’t want to go back to the way things normally are.  I don’t want to sin.  I’m sick of the sin I see in my life and also in others.  It has gone past hating sin… it has come to the point of hurting just knowing that it is in my life.

For a while God had been speaking to me, but I had been misunderstanding it.  I thought that He was saying that He would take me into a desert experience… not unlike that which the children of Israel experienced.  And I was to the point of wanting that desert experience that I wanted to fabricate/force it upon myself.  However, through the wisdom of the elders at my congregation I can now see that there is something greater at work than me trying to go off and make my own way into the desert. 

A week and a half ago, on Shabbat (Saturday) I came in from playing soccer with the kids outside.  When I came into the shul (synagogue), Mr. Schiller was giving a teaching on the Days of Taruah.  I came in and sat down toward the back because I was still sweating… but as I came in, Mr. Schiller asked someone to read out-loud a passage from Ez. 20:30-37.  I didn’t even have my Bible with me but as I sat down, Natani’el in front of me turned and gave me his bible and said I should read the passage out-loud.  I was like, “ok…” but took a second finding the passage.  Well, Trey was sitting up front and didn’t see me about to read so he raised his hand to read the passage.  Mr. Schiller recognized him and motioned for the microphone to be brought to Trey.  But Natani’el stood up and said that I was going to read the passage… and there was a little fumble as everyone was wondering who would read it, but Natani’el got the microphone to me so that I could read.  Once I found my place, I started reading… and what I read blew me away, and I almost started to choke up.

Ezekiel 20:30-37 says, “Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and play the harlot after their detestable things? 31“When you offer your gifts, when you cause your sons to pass through the fire, you are defiling yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “I will not be inquired of by you.  32“What comes into your mind will not come about, when you say: ‘We will be like the nations, like the tribes of the lands, serving wood and stone.’ God Will Restore Israel to Her Land 33“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you.  34“I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out;  35and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.  36“As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord GOD.  37“I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”

I was completely taken back.  This was God speaking to me.  He had used Natani’el to have me read that passage.

This is what the Father said to me from Ezekiel.  I have “defiled myself after the manners of my fathers” and He hates that for He will have no other gods before Himself.  He also showed me that He will not be inquired of by me.  If I am to have a relationship with Him it is only to be because of His love for me… not my having sought HaShem.

Then the Lord struck me, He said that I had sought out to be “like the nations, like the tribes of the lands, serving wood and stone…”  I had professed with my mouth that He was Lord but with my actions I had relied on other things to save me.

And then He showed me where I was wrong in thinking that I was about to go into a desert experience.  He said, “with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and fury poured out, I shall be king over you.”  Then He said, “and I will bring you into the wilderness of the desert, and there I will judge you face to face.”

God showed me that I could not go into the desert first without having been taken by His mighty hand, outstretched arm, and fury poured out, that He should be king over me.  Otherwise, without first having exerted Himself as king over me, He would destroy me in the desert when He judges me. 

But then He showed me that I had to pass under the rod (a picture of His discipline) to be brought into the bond of the covenant.  Hebrews 12:6 said that every son whom the Father loves, He disciplines… for whom does the Father love that He does not discipline?  So it is a good thing that the Lord is disciplining me, but I know it will be hard.

… I’ll continue this tomorrow, but right now Im really tired and I still have some emails I need to send :-]

Blessings

 

Steep narrow path

There is a yearning within the body of Messiah’s bride.  I have been pray and asking to understand what is going on… but a week or so ago HaShem (God) showed me something.  It wasn’t the full picture, but He allowed me to see some of whats going on.

It was on Shabbat (Saturday), after morning services at shule, and God called me to go strait home to pray.  I usually stay and partake of the Oneg (meal of joy)… but this time I knew that God was very serious.  I got in my car and drove strait home.  But on the way home I started to get tired… and I wasn’t even sleepy earlier.  But I feel asleep four times on the way home.  Each time I woke up I would have made a lane change, or one time I was slowing down for a stop light.  It was a direct attack from the enemy and once I realized it for what it was, I cried out for salvation.  God opened my eyes enough that I could stay awake, but then I became intensely hungry.  So much that all I could think about was eating.  This was another attack.

Once I arrived at home I had a choice… to eat and sleep, or to sacrifice my flesh and seek the Father.  The moment I entered through the door I made the decision to die to my flesh.  The moment I did and cried out for help, HaShem came and took every one of those desires away and called me to Himself in prayer. 

I began to pour myself out in prayer and then part way through God spoke to me.  He told me to sit up and put my head between my knees.  He said, “In as much, I am birthing purity in the body of Messiah’s bride.”  And then He showed me a passage in Revelation 12 that speaks of a woman in travail with child, as the dragon (satan) stands over her to devour the child.  In the same way Satan is standing by to devour the purity that is being birthed in the bride of Messiah.

I told a friend and co-author, Michael Murray, about this and he shared with me the fact that to put one’s head between one’s knees is the ancient position of labor/birthing.

HaShem is bringing about purity in the body of believers.  Halleluyah!  But there is much to guard against, because Satan is standing by to devour this child of purity as it is being birthed.  Just as in child birthing, there will be pain and agony.  But from Scripture we know that the agony is soon forgotten once the child is born. 

One of the pains of this birthing process is confessing our sins to one another.  Satan can keep us away from purity if he can shame us into thinking that our sins are so horrible that we can’t talk about them.

May the Lord protect each one of us as He brings about this purity!  There is such joy in the heavenly realm as the angels look on what God is doing.  We must be guarded against the attackes of the enemy.  May the Lord bless us with a quick birthing process, and may this child of purity grow up in safety and maturity.

Brachot b’Yeshua
(Blessings in Jesus)

 

My Tutor

As you may know– I have recently come out of Jewish Orthodoxy/strict observance.  I was obsessed with the Law while I was walking that way.  But now… having come out from under it… I don’t know how to place it.  But at the same time, I do.

The Law was my tutor.  But it was more than a tutor; for, it lead me by the hand as I tried to learn the difference between right and wrong.  It guided me like a parent might as I tried to stay pure.  However, as with a parent, it could not keep me pure, and I soon learned that I could not walk according to the law.  But then the Law pointed out Someone that I hadn’t seen before.  It pointed out Jesus (Yeshua).

Galatians 3:24&25, “Wherefore the law was our tutor to bring us unto Messiah, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor.”

I remember when that reality hit me.  I was driving home after having Erev Shabbat with my parents.  The moment I began to see why the law was in my life, I began to cry.  I cried almost all the way home.  That night God delivered me from the spirits of anger, fear, and why (questioning).

Now, having come out from under that “parent” or tutor, I must admit… that I am kinda stumbling.  Those rules were nice in a way.  And I am in no way saying that the law is done away with… but it has a slightly different role now.

Its hard now that I am truly having to walk without a tutor.  But then I remember the Holy Spirit… may God be praised for His kindness

 

Thoughtfulness

I haven’t written in a while.  And this is not the way I had planned it.  I got a new job selling specialty optics, and the job has me working 70 hours per week.

I haven’t gotten to sleep or think much and I don’t have a lot to say, but I want to share an experience that I had this past week.

In the past, I have had those “dry” experiences with God; where I sin and He removes Himself from me.  And usually when that happens I don’t realize it until I am already quit a ways into that dry period.

This past week has been a really hard one and I haven’t had a lot of one-on-one time with the Lord.  It was like we were playing phone tag.  He would call me but I would be busy and couldn’t talk with Him, and every time I called Him- someone would walk in and ask me to do something, etc… 

So I was mowing on Wensday and I usually use the time that Im mowing to pray and to think about some plans that I have.  I was sitting on the mower planning out all these amazing plans and everything, when God came to me and reminded me of Himself.  Well, I went inside and I found an email that I had gotten from Michael Murray (a new contributor to this blog).  The email that he had sent me reminded me of an email that I had gotten from another friend.  Both of these friends were saying almost the exact same thing that Paul was saying in the Brit Chadesha (New Testament) Gal. 3:3, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”  I had all these lofty goals and HaShem (Hebrew for the Name of God) had to show me that it was He who had given me the job and it was He who had given me favor in the eyes of my employer that I should obtain manager status.  It has been God all throughout my life and yet I try and gain things by working hard when it is He, and He alone that gives me all good things.

It is amazing how quickly I lose focus.  But in this case, God showed me before I got into that “dry” place.  He is continually giving me grace where it is unwarranted.  Bless the Lord!

 Brachot b’shem Yeshua HaMoshiach!
(Blessings in the Name of Jesus Christ!)

ps. btw, this is a picture of me since I can’t seem to figure out how to put one in the side bar

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Softened with Oil

It is the will of our Messiah that we would know the Holy Spirit.  “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 that I said to you.”~John 14:26

The Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh in Hebrew) is sybolized by many things in the Bible.  One of those things is oil.  According to Scripture the High Priests and kings were anointed with oil to be set apart unto God.  And the flowing of this oil was likened to the flow of heavenly blessings. “It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”~Ps. 133:2&3

Even as oil kept the lamps in the Temple burning so that there would be light; the Holy Spirit gives us light.  Otherwise we would be in spiritual darkness.  “And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring you pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.”~Exodus 27:20 

If we are without the Holy Spirit then we are sick.  ”Anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them … Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord”~Mark 6:13, James 5:14.

Joel 3 likens the Spirit of God as to something being poured out over the flesh.  God pours out His Spirit over us that we may be made whole.  That is His desire!  Isaiah 65:1-3 says, “1I was accessible to those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’  To a nation which did not call on My name. 2“I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, 3A people who continually provoke Me to My face…”  God really wants to have a relationship with us, if only we would draw near to Him.

There is a healing that must happen…
“From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is nothing sound in the body, only bruises, welts and raw wounds; not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil.”~Isaiah 1:6

This is a spiritual picture.  There are bruises, welts and raw wounds in the body of Messiah’s bride.  Isaiah says that they are neither pressed out, bandaged or softened with oil.  This is the key!  So often in church or synagogue we keep everything lite and friendly, but really we are dying… from the inside out.  The work of the Holy Spirit is to heal us.  But before we are healed we must bring everything to the surface.  Just as Isaiah said that the wound (sin, generational iniquity, abuse, etc…) must be pressed out, so James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  Then there can be healing (the wound being bandaged up) and ultimately the oil can be applied to the wound that it may be softened.  God said that He would remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.  The Holy Spirit coming in and softening us is apart of that process.

Blessings!

 

“O God…In wrath, remember to be merciful.” Habakkuk 3:2

Recently I have been through so much.  So much has been happening in the spiritual realm that I can’t even keep track of it.  The Father is continually teaching me from His Word.  I am a little bit hesitant to share everything becuase I know that it is a lot.  But I want to let my life shine before men that they may glorify my Father in heaven!

 So this is the story of my life.  I have made a lot of mistakes… more than most people.  However, Romans 10:20 says, “But Isaiah is bold, and saith: ‘I was found by them that did not seek me. I appeared openly to them that asked not after me.’”  I found God even when I wasn’t looking for Him.

I want to share everything that God has shared with me because I want you to know that you are not alone and that there is always hope… even if there are demons controlling your life.