Tag Archives: christian
Your Chance
Your Chance
(#342 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Looking back on my life and pouring out my soul, I thought, “I want it to be better for my children. I want them to have opportunities I never had.” And then my mind was overtaken by thoughts from the one who restores my soul (Psalm 23:4), thoughts circumcised by the mind of the Messiah within. “How about you; what about your second chance; what about the life you still have in front of you?” It was so simple in that instant; yet an entire lifetime of prejudiced mindsets leading up to that moment had prevented me from embracing the simplicity of His words. “Because of Yahweh’s great mercy we are not consumed. His compassions fail not, as they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Do you entertain thoughts like, “My time is up?” Have you surrendered to the idea that your “golden years” have passed you by? It’s a sinful mindset loved one. It’s a way of thinking that not only denies the power of Yahweh in your life today, but also rejects that your yesterday was under His Sovereign control. Long before your physical existence, Yahweh set in motion the beginning and end of every aspect of your life. And it was only after having written the script of it all, He would at some point say of you; live!
Broken childhood? Failed business? Shattered marriage? Heartache? Sickness? These are as much under His Sovereign control as His Son’s nail-scarred wrists. Your brokenness was just as necessary. Each failure a display of what your best effort awards you without Him.
You cannot succeed without Him. Your failures afford you the opportunity to grasp this monumental truth. And once truly grasped, do you think it will not have all been worth it? We have spoken about this to you before, but He sees fit to remind you today. The broken ones; the meek ones; the ones who have been humbled, all have one common theme that runs throughout their thought world daily. “He is saving me from myself!” This radical truth, impressed upon you because of your past, should give you great hope and joy for what the future holds. In front of you there exists a new chance loved one; His mercies are new every day.
A man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. (Job 14:5)
A High Calling Indeed
A High Calling Indeed
(#339 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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It is so crucial that the mental picture to imagine is best described as “imminently catastrophic.” It is the idea that any burden you experience first affects you personally, your mind and your loss of peace and joy, rather than how it affects your obedience to Yahweh’s commands. Meditate for a moment on that concept. Now consider this; the very fact that you experience a burden is disobedience itself. And the impending disaster is that you do not see it. It is critical you receive this.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) He has taken your burdens; any you maintain on your own is disobedience. Whether you feel burdened for someone else or yourself, any yoke you attempt to carry is not of Him.
Now consider offenses. Do you experience offense due to your utmost desire to see Yahweh alone magnified, or is it personal? For instance: if your spouse is in an adulterous relationship, who are you burdened for? Is it a personal affront; is it about your spouse; or is it about the righteousness of Yahweh? To settle this matter is detrimental for you to begin developing a steadfast, immovable mind, an unoffendable mind! (Review “Unoffendable”: Suffer Well Devotion #295)
You would do well to consider, and you might just be astounded, how little concern you have that all sinful offences are first a rejection of Yahweh. Instead, if you receive the rejection or offense, it means that you fathom yourself “more worthy” than the offender. Yet, there is only One who is worthy to receive the offense for the Father. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:12)! Next time you are tempted to be offended, ask yourself, “Am I offended by this for You Father, or for me?” This is a critical determination to make with every offense. “Is it my personal and self perceived ‘right,’ or is Yahweh alone right?”
And so what happens when you begin this reprogramming process, the shifting of your conscious behaviors? When you consider that He alone has first rights to ALL offenses, and you submit to this hierarchy in stature, you will find that your reward is soothing, peaceful, connected, reverent, silent, and beautiful beyond anything you have ever experienced. No offense loved one. Become unoffendable.
Offenses will come (Matthew 18:7), but you do not have to receive them. I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward the Almighty and men. (Acts 24:16) A high calling indeed loved one, a high calling indeed.
The Ways of The Righteous
The Ways of The Righteous
(#338 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“For the administration of justice will return to the ways of the righteous and the upright in heart will follow it.” (Psalm 94:15)
Justification has only one source, Yahshua the Messiah. Justified: to be right; to make right. And, what was He sent to justify? His purpose was to turn the hearts (mindsets) of the children back to the Father. (Luke 1:17 from Malachi 4:5-6) He was to justify your mind!
How often He exhorted, “You have heard that it was said…. but I say to you….” In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, Yahshua introduces Himself as the great agent of change. But, was it the Law of His Father or the words of the prophets He came to modify? Let it not be! On the contrary, He said, “I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17) Fulfill? No, not do them for you, but rather to fill them with their fullest meaning. In other words, He came to correct your wrong thinking about them.
He was the agent who came to change the paradigms of your mind, not the truth of His Father’s word. His teachings exposed erroneous patterns of thought that men were learning from other men and then applying to their own belief system. Oftentimes, the deception was from purposeful misdirection; other times, it was simply ignorance. I think the modern term for such heresy is RELIGION. Yahshua is the premier anti-religion educator who, throughout all His instructions, reiterated one overarching theme: “Not your thoughts; not your will; but the will of the Father alone!”
In the Garden (protective thought realm controlled by Yahweh alone), the first Adam was given commands, not choices. “Eat from these trees, not from that one!” Never was man intended to “think” for himself. Failure came as Adam believed that he was given a choice to do other than what was commanded. Listen very closely loved one; If everything in the garden was in its perfect state (mental of course) before the fall, then “choosing” to do other than what was already commanded was no less than a quest to change perfection! You do the same when you “choose” your own way (self). You desire and attempt to “add” to or “take” from what is already perfect. Essentially, you are thinking, “I can do better than His perfection!” This same wrong thinking is what you might describe as “free will.” Listen closely! Your covetous desire and fierce determination for free will is really a rebellious determination for a will apart from the Father. Your resistance to this reality is very likely why you return to your vomit over and over again.
Big boy and big girl talk is where we have arrived. You are no longer infants on milk, but now are craving solid food. The doctrines of the immature must give way to deep spiritual substance. (Hebrews 5:12-14)
But the Mighty One has revealed [His hidden wisdom] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of the Almighty. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of the Mighty One except the Spirit of the Mighty One. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from the Almighty, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by the Mighty One.
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of the Mighty One, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of Yahweh that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of the Messiah. (1 Corinthians 2:10-16)
And now the Psalm makes so much more sense! “For the administration of justice will return to the ways of the righteous and the upright in heart will follow it.” (Psalm 94:15) He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
How a Bible Woman Should Act
How a Bible Woman Should Act
I will not be ruined
I Will Not Be Ruined
(#337 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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My friend, my brother, my confidant, and the co-author of this devotional journey; I cried to him on the phone; “I lost my family Jeff. It’s my fault; I lost them Jeff.” He listened to my weeping; he always does, and then he spoke. “I kind of see it like an investment Michael. If you sell while the markets are down, then of course it’s a loss. But if you hold on… [and at that very moment the mind of Yahweh came into my conscious thoughts] …if you hold on until the market turns…” Jeffrey and I talk about everything. For me, he is that friend who sticks closer than a brother; be warned, ruin awaits those who have unreliable friends (Proverbs 18:24). But, I will not be ruined.
“Don’t sell Michael; don’t quit.” Those words resonated in my mind later that afternoon, and do so even now, as my pen meets paper. I’m still here, my body still imprisoned. But, I will not be ruined. I still have hope, I still have dreams. I have followed the patterns and I am reminded today that obedience always leads to Spiritual fruit first, and the physical shadow will appear later. I will not be ruined. I am reminded of the fear I experienced battling to be free within, even though I remain slain in my physical existence. Though my body remains in captivity, yet will I serve Him! Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him! (Job 13:15) I will not be ruined.
To grow spiritual fruit often requires significant physical sacrifice (Romans 12:1), with no concern for return on investment for your flesh. Jeffrey spends many hours each day seeking the Father in prayer and then in editing the devotions in this body of work. Through that process he decides what the final work will say, piece by piece. It’s Kingdom economics loved one. The world would never ascribe to such unsound business practices. But, my friend Jeffrey does his accounting on a spiritual balance sheet in an upside down Kingdom.
If you have been reading along with us, hopefully you have met the Father, Son, and Spirit in a more intimate way. You have certainly met me. And, today I am glad that you get to meet a little more of Jeffrey. He’s your brother and perhaps a friend. One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24) I will not be ruined.
Do not be deceived: the Almighty cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Galatians 6:7-10)
Note from Jeff: Michael wanted this included, so I do so humbly and with my eyes ever focused upward. It is not I who lives… JH
Facing Fury
Facing Fury
(#335 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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It starts with a question. Did you know that the road to perfection (the mind of the Messiah) reveals resentment towards Yahweh? For some, the resentment is obvious; for others, it is hidden in the secret places of the heart. For all, in order to reach the high calling, this resentment must be faced?
It begins with the acknowledgment that without the Messiah your heart remains deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; and that you do not even have a chance to recognize it without Him (Jeremiah 17:9). All of your thoughts, all of your “self,” can only ever produce total depravity. Even what you consider righteous is not cleaner than filthy rags without Him (Isaiah 64:6). You can better appreciate why when you consider that in order to be deemed perfect, even Yahshua had to acknowledge, “Of My own self, I can do nothing.” (John 5:30) The equivalent of those words for you loved one, would be, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body [totality of thoughts] of death?” (Romans 7:18; 24)
The acceptance of this reality causes a deep valley experience in your conscience: “If at my best, all I could ever produce on my own is a body of death, thoughts that are horrific and depraved, then only Yahweh can set me free from this depravity.” Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank the Almighty—through Yahshua the Messiah our Master! (Romans 7:24-25)
Everything contained within this thought: “O wretched man that I am!” is upheld in the totality of Scripture, and yet, at a certain point in the valley, this thought will birth in you, a fury you had never known existed, and this ferocity towards the Almighty Himself. From, “Please don’t let my will be done Father. Please don’t let me even attempt to think for myself;” to, “Why are you letting my thoughts still enter in Father? Why is my conscience still aware of thoughts that defy all that You say is true?” Your greatest longing will become the need to not think for yourself, and to never want your personal will to even enter the equation. And yet, it does! “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; I know of myself I can only produce wickedness, and I repent of all that I am, yet You still leave this battle within my mind. You still let this wickedness win in me, my emotions being corrupted by it. Why? Why do You leave me like this? Why are You cruel to me?” These are the furious thoughts you will have to face on the road to perfection. You must come to the place where you realize that His timing in your personal resurrection (saved mind) is as much under His control as your redemption itself. This “why” is under His Sovereign control and will be revealed in His perfect timing. This was not intended to answer why for you loved one, but to inspire you to hold on. We can relate, and we hold on with you.
Here is your meditation; “I have been impaled [because it was and continues to be necessary] with the Messiah and I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of the Most High, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Fellowship and The Congregation
The Congregation
(#330 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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The congregation is the gathering of redeemed minds called to think and do as the Messiah did. It is meant to propagate His teachings and His thinking, which then produces evidence that is demonstrable in the physical realm. By faithful execution of this calling, we will produce even greater works than His because He demonstrated to us how He “went” to the Father (John 14:12). This is best understood in context as if Yahshua went “the way of” His Father, as in “not My will but Your will be done.” (Luke 22:42)
The metaphysical picture of the congregation is to imagine many souls gathered together, the gathering of redeemed thoughts, or in other words, the congregation of minds pressing in together to apprehend the mind of the Messiah. Your commission is to hear and understand the Father’s language. “Why is My language not clear to you?” Yahshua asked. “Because you are unable to hear My word.” (John 8:43) And what were His words as a manifestation of the Father’s mind? “I am He and I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me.” (John 8:28) Can you recognize in His words that He went the way of the Father? This is the pattern; His mind congregated with the Father; He received direction; and He spoke only the Father’s words. The Messiah, as with all men, had two minds within, His own and the Father’s. He always submitted to the Father’s mind, expressed as “His will,” and it always produced greater works. Within first, and then without! And you?
This powerful understanding of “the congregation” is lost when the erroneous translation of “the church” is substituted. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of church? Honest introspection is warranted and advised at this time. When you hear church, do you think of internal things, like the mind of the Messiah that only thinks what the Father thinks? Or, do you see external things, like ministries and buildings? Do you think mindsets or ministries? If “church” immediately conjures up thoughts of external things, it is because you do not yet speak His language or hear His words. It’s good that we have congregated to discuss such things; two or more of us gathered to propagate the Father’s thoughts.
Our Daily Bread
Our Daily Bread
(#329 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“My Kingdom is not of this world!” (John 18:36)
Listen closely loved one, and do so with an inquiring mind. If Yahshua proclaimed that His Kingdom was not of this world, then are His teachings of or about this world? If you believe that everything in Scripture pertains to the physical realm, you are severely hindered from grasping the spiritual truth intended with each word He spoke. “Yahweh is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth; I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” (John 4:24; 8:28)
And so, what will enable you to grasp the truth; what will give you the “keys” to this Spiritual Kingdom, so you understand what it means that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven?” (Matthew 16:19) If you need keys to the Kingdom, then it should be obvious that the door is locked and you must obtain the keys in order to open it. And this Kingdom does not come with physical observation; it is within you (Luke 17:20-21). It takes spiritual eyes to see it!
Do you erroneously believe that by saying you “trust in Jesus” the door automatically swings wide open to you? Not so, not so! Yes, it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:11), but you must ask, seek and knock (Matthew 7:7-8). And be wise all who are redeemed; for just as you must diligently seek it, it will not prevail in your life if you are divided in your thinking (Mark 3:24), like a wave of the sea tossed by the wind (James 1:6).
For the longing soul, needy for more, and desperate for the power promised, your mind cries, “What are the keys? What are the keys?” First go back and read paragraph one above again. Stop attempting to attain spiritual manna from a fallen world. The precepts of Yahweh are for the conscience, the renewing of the mind, and never for this physical world. Yes, this paradigm in thought will wage a war within you for quite some time, but let it rage. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another. (Galatians 5:17)
The daily bread you are offered is spiritual manna for the renewing of thought processes (Romans 12:2), and only after the spiritual man is fed can anything good be transfigured into the physical realm. Your fears of lack of earth’s food and resources only exist because you have been seeking the world’s bread, and not the bread of life. When the conscience is perfected loved one, all things are yours, on earth as it is in Heaven.
And Yahshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) The key loved one: put on the mind of the Messiah and stop seeking the earth’s junk food. Then, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.
A Good Gauge
A Good Gauge
(#328 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, for I have chosen you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19)
As your mind continues to conform to the mind of the Messiah, let this thought continue its invasion into your old ways of thinking. Eventually it will be all that is left in you. “Everything is born in the mind first; it happens within. And then it is manifested in the physical; it happens without.” Everything that Yahshua the Messiah taught was true to this pattern. Let’s reread His words, and this time be mindful of the pattern, within and then without.
“If the world [material, carnal thoughts born in the conscience and people who are void of the Spirit] hates [has enmity toward] you [redeemed mind and redeemed person], understand [stand under this truth] that it hated Me [the embodiment of a saved mind and a saved person] before you. If you were of the world [material consciousness and material people], the world would love [the type that always fails, yet continues to embrace] its own [carnal thoughts and carnal people]. But because you are not of the world, for I have chosen [pre-determined / predestined to save] you out of the world, for this reason the world [carnal thoughts striving to rule your mind and unholy people] hates you.”
Let’s reassemble His words. The carnal thoughts born in the conscience by people who do not possess the Holy Spirit are full of hated for any beliefs or ways of thinking that start transforming to Holy thinking patterns. Carry this truth like an umbrella. It is not about you personally; it is actually prejudiced against and despises anything that embodies a mind that prospers with a Kingdom mindset. If you persist to think like the world, and remain focused on what the material world can offer you, the world will continue to love and embrace you in the only sick and perverted way that it can. Its type of love always fails; and is flooded with carnal thoughts for carnal people. But, because you have been predestined to not remain part of the world, you will always be at enmity with the carnal thoughts striving to rule your mind and the unholy people who support that way of thinking.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The carnal mind is enmity against [Yahweh]; for it is not subject to the law of [Yahweh], nor indeed can be. (Romans 8:6-7) The carnally minded will always hate the spiritually minded, and the majority of humanity, ego driven thoughts and people, are carnally minded (are of the flesh). The road that leads to destruction is broad and many follow it (Matthew 7:13-14).
The predominant thinking patterns in the earth are destructive and lead to physical calamity as well. In order to prevail, you must expect to be abused, not embraced, for your choice to take the narrow road. The spiritually mature walk with Yahweh within and then without, and they never concern themselves with being liked by those on the broad road.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of [Yahweh] dwells in you. (Romans 8:9)
Ten Virgins
Ten Virgins
(#327 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to ten virgins…” (Matthew 25:1)
The intent of the parable is to express what the Kingdom is like, and knowing this has vast significance for your life of discipleship. As of yet, are you ready to sum up exactly what the Kingdom of Heaven is? Could you do it with one word? Let’s explore the parable and see what it produces; and let’s do so simply by defining Yahshua’s words in Matthew 25:1-13:
1. The Kingdom of Heaven is… [This is what will be produced in a moment!]
2. Ten = 1 (one is male) and 0 (zero is female, womb), in Hebrew Numbers (gematria) ten = 1 + 0 = 1; Yahweh is one!
3. Virgin: child yet held accountable;
4. Five and five: five senses (to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell); five spiritually redeemed and five carnally bound to the material world. Five is also grace.
5. Trimming: pruning or refinement;
6. Lamps: glistening light;
7. Bridegroom: to give away; Yahshua the Messiah gave His life for you.
8. Oil: spiritual illumination, anointing;
9. Jars: thoughts that are concealed or confined;
Two signifies opposition (male and female), unless of course there is redemption (two becoming one flesh—Genesis 2:24). Virgins are like little children who are not yet held accountable, who can be raised in homes with the Holy Spirit, or carnally without. They remain innocent (virgins) until they become accountable for their own choices. The five wise (prudent) senses are used solely to promote the Kingdom of Heaven. Yahshua the Messiah did so completely and so was deemed the [fill in the blank] sacrifice. The trimming of the lamps signifies pruning or refinement in thoughts in order to be reckoned spotless. It is the light in you becoming like the Messiah. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. (John 1:9) The oil in the jar signifies an anointing on the once confined minds of those who master the five senses for spiritual purposes alone.
If you can now fill in the blank above correctly, you can answer the question about what exactly the Kingdom of Heaven is. Doing so, you will be absolutely amazed at how you now perceive eternity. It is [perfect] loved one. The Kingdom of Heaven is the perfect conscience, a permanent perfect mind. It is the mind of the Messiah in you (1 Corinthians 2:16), the Kingdom within you (Luke 17:21). It is a mind completely free from any and all sin, a mind made innocent forever with no capacity for “self” will. It is the resurrected mind. The Kingdom of Heaven is perfection!
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2) “Behold, the Lamb of Yahweh who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Looking at Yahshua, John announced, “Turn back to Yahweh; that is what the Kingdom of Heaven is. It’s the fullness of Yahweh manifesting in man!” His eyes transfixed on Yahshua; “That is what it looks like!”
From this day forward, every time you read in the Renewed Covenant, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like,” meditate on what has just been revealed to you.