Completely Like Yeshua
Home Inspection
(#315 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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So often we hear others say, “I need to try harder,” in reference to their spiritual life, their commitment to Yahweh. Nothing makes the Ruach (Holy Spirit) cringe more than a statement like this. It is this type of thinking that reveals a foundation built upon sand (Matthew 7:26), a foundation that will not remain when the testing comes.
A simple question should suffice to turn the sand into solid rock. “If there was anything at all about you that was good enough to satisfy the standard of righteousness required by Yahweh, then why was it necessary for His Son to be impaled?” Can you acknowledge that? You must decide whether or not Yahshua the Messiah died because you had some shortcomings and erroneous thought processes, or if He died because there was nothing good in you and your entire mindset was depraved. How you answer this has EVERYTHING to do with your ability to build your house (dwelling for your thoughts), and on what kind of foundation you build it. We’ll give you two hints!
1. Unless Yahweh builds the house, the builders labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
2. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. (Mark 3:25)
The natural mind, led by ego, must repeatedly deal with thoughts that tempt you to reminisce about some goodness that was in you prior to the Messiah’s work in you. It’s simply not true loved one; there was none. The goodness in you now is only because of Yahshua in you. The only goodness you will ever have is the Messiah in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). You must continually arrest any thoughts that attempt to convince you that all of the sudden you have (your “self” has) what it takes. You must demolish all arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of the Mighty One, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to the Messiah. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
John the Baptizer prophetically announced a prevailing thought pattern that must constantly invade your mind; “I must decrease!” (John 3:30) His denial of any “self” goodness was the declaration of his spiritual beheading, a foreshadowing of his physical beheading (Mark 6:14-29). If you were reclaimed by His redemption, you have testified, “Behold, the Lamb of Yahweh,” but have you had your beheading?
It’s time to listen closely again loved one as we expound on this idea using a crucial incident in the Scriptures. When the Philippian prison guard asked Shaul, “What must a man do to be saved” in Acts 16:30, the question is far more profound than it appears when you read it in the English language, or even as represented in Greek translations. Consider for a moment the Hebrew idea of salvation as understood by Shaul who was being asked the question. In context, he would be answering this question; “What must a man do to be yasha (yaw-shah)?” The word for saved in Hebrew is no less than a derivation of the name Yahshua. Say it to yourself out loud and let the ramifications settle deep within your soul. “What must a man do to be Yahshua?”
The wise ones personify this; “I must decrease; thank You Yahshua that anything good in me is You! What must I do to be like You?” And they never leave this place. Ever!