Tag Archives: Torah Life Ministries
Sufficient For Today
Sufficient For Today
(#361 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has its own worries. Each day has enough of its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)
Listen closely loved one. Yahweh says exactly what He means and He means exactly what He says. And He knows that to raise children; it takes repeating His words (Deuteronomy 4:9-10; 6:7; 11:19) and sometimes a rod as well (Proverbs 13:24). If He says that you should not be worried about tomorrow, then any concern for the future will be absent His anointing. Meditate over and over on these words: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to the Mighty One. And the peace of the Mighty One, which transcends all understanding, will guard the thoughts, feelings and purpose of your hearts [minds] in the Messiah Yahshua.(Philippians 4:6) If you are instructed to not be anxious or worried about anything, then losing your peace or having anxiety over your desires, hopes, or concerns for the future is foolishness. He is your everything today and your everything tomorrow.
Trust in Yahweh, and do good; dwell in the land [what is firm], and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in Yahweh, and He shall give [grant, set, appoint, assign] you the desires of your heart [satisfy your thoughts, feelings, and purpose]. (Psalm 37:3-4) Do you get how powerful this is? You have no need for anxiety about your future because Yahweh both assigns the desires of your heart and then He grants them. If you are living in obedience, you can be confident that the very desires you have in your heart were place there by the Mighty One and will also be fulfilled by Him. The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Yahweh; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. (Psalm 21:1-2)
You should have no anxiety about tomorrow, but this does not mean that you should not cultivate a vision for what Yahweh has for you, the purpose for why you were created. Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the Law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18) There is a call on your life, and obedience to that call brings happiness. Besides, the gifts of Yahweh are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). The desires that He placed in your heart are the very clues which identify your calling, define your purpose, and cultivate Yahweh’s vision for you. “I know the plans I have for you,” declares Yahweh, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) And the key to assuring that your desires are His desires is to be a man after the heart of Yahweh (Acts 13:22). It is the key of David; “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” (Isaiah 22:22, Revelation 3:7) When you are after the heart of Yahweh, you have in your hand the keys to the Kingdom.
Those keys unlock Yahweh’s vision for your life and help define your purpose. However, one thing above all will insure that you have no worries about tomorrow. It is to be satisfied with your cup being filled by the Almighty alone. If your happiness, peace, and contentment require a new job, or perhaps a better marriage, then your hope is in idols, something other than Him. It says that your emotional stability is subject to your physical or emotional satisfaction from people or things. To the contrary, when you are complete in Him, everything else is provided automatically (Matthew 6:33)! The mind (heart) longs for nothing else, needs nothing else, and is utterly and overwhelmingly satisfied with Yahweh alone!
If today, you cry out for Him to be your everything, to love Him and His will alone, then you will find that you have more than you could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). It will be too glorious to even think about tomorrow.
Secure Your Relationship
Mindbreaking
Mindbreaking
(#308 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Now it is the Mighty One who makes both us and you stand firm in the Messiah. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
He put His Spirit in your heart as His seal of ownership. This says so much more than what twelve words can express. Let’s unpack this limitless promise. Shaul DOES NOT mean that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in that eleven ounce organ in your chest. Both the Greek and Hebrew language identify the heart as your mind, character, inner life, will, emotions, and intention, or in other words, your center of intellect.
Your “center of intellect” is your heart. This is a heartbreaking (mindbreaking) reality to consider. Even times when speaking of your soul, the word heart is used. “As a man thinks in his heart [soul], so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) Said in another way, as a man feeds his desires, passions, appetites, and emotions, so is he. Yahweh is who He thinks He is; and you are who you think you are. With this important distinction you can see that the Holy Spirit, the very essence of our Creator, is actually transferred to your mind as thoughts, not “put in your heart.” By placing Himself in us; into our center of thought, we then experience His essence as “The Messiah in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
He has placed His Spirit right into the center of your mind, specifically to replace your old nature. “I will give you a new heart [inner man, mind, will] and put a new Spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone [mind of man] out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh [mind of the Messiah].” (Ezekiel 36:26) Only the transforming of thought processes could produce this renewed man. Your physical world simply serves as a reflection of what has taken place.
And, if you were made new, then how can the old you survive another day to rear its ugly head (Romans 6:2)? It is only possible because you have been endowed with the same resurrection power Yahweh used to raise His Son from the grave (Ephesians 1:18-20), and you can choose to use that power to accomplish things that would actually be separate from His will. Yes, be careful; you can exercise that new-found freedom and mistakenly use that resurrection power to raise the old you from the grave. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5) Unfortunately, it is far too common for Christians to use their freedom and power to set their minds on the things of the flesh; resurrect their old nature; and entertain mindsets which conflict with the mind of the Messiah. DON’T DO THAT!
Set your mind on things of the Spirit! Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be stubborn no longer! (Deuteronomy 10:16) If you embrace the spiritual surgery that took place, your reality becomes, “He who has waged the battle in my mind cannot lose.” And then, what Yahweh has placed in the center of your intellect becomes your chief desire. This is a mindbreaking, and now we know heartbreaking thought indeed!
Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your hearts. (Jeremiah 4:3-4)
Things Unsaid (Three)
Things Unsaid (Three)
(#299 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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A simple look at the life, and not just the words, of key figures in Scripture:
Without citing specific Scriptures, for a moment, let’s take a panoramic view at how a few prominent historical figures related to Yahweh and their calling. This is another piece to the pattern which helps unravel and reveal the calling in your life. Instead of recounting a series of scriptural narratives to reveal this pattern, we will pose questions, rather than recite verses.
A big portion of identifying your personal calling is having the ability to remove anything that hinders you from that calling. Most often it is a wrong mindset, which leads to a troubled mind. The ability to hyper focus and to ask Yahweh, and have answered, these broad stroke, yet essential questions is the next step.
• “Who am I to You Father, and what is my personal calling inside the body of the Messiah?”
• “What in my life, first in consciousness, and then in physical manifestation, would bring You the most glory?”
These questions should cause you to wonder just how many current personal priorities get in the way of you hearing the answers. Let’s take a look at just a few specific questions you might consider and how your answers affect the revelation of your calling:
1. Was Adam, before the fall (breach from perfected thinking), ever at risk of not having everything he needed to sustain his life and his personal calling?
2. Did the consequences of having to “toil” and “painful birth” remove the Father’s sovereign hand from our daily lives?
3. Is there any scriptural account that Abraham, Isaac, Israyl, Kepha, Shaul, or the Messiah Himself, were ever concerned that their basic provisions would be provided? And who provided them and why?
4. What are the common worries of mainstream American Christians today?
5. What are your greatest concerns?
These are just a few of many sample questions to help expose crucial mindsets, which will either hinder or lead to revelation about the calling in your life. If you are honest, many of the questions could be answered in a single statement. “American Christians spend most of their lives simply trying to “provide” for their families and, therefore, assume this is their calling in life.” Oh, how paradoxical this thinking is to creation. We pray instead that, at this very moment, His Holy Spirit would pierce your heart with this thought. “The revelation of your personal calling is already in you. The Messiah in you guarantees it.” If you have the courage and faith to accept that answer, it will expose all the deceptions in your own heart (mind). Then you are free to step into your destiny!
The Truth About Your Walk with Yahweh
It is so
(#216 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases suffering. (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
When a man begins to see things as they are, pain (thought turmoil) is increased. When the truth is illuminated, the number of lies one perceives is magnified as well, including blatant deception. Deception is food to the intellectually dishonest person, who would prefer to be told what truth is, rather than to gain spiritual discernment for himself. Sloth and laziness, first mental, and then physical, become apparent to those who gain understanding (“Binah” of the Tree of Life within you). The enlightened one begins to decree what the Father has already made known; “You are inexcusable, O man!” (Romans 2:1) Everything becomes clear, every excuse becomes easy to detect.
Once the deceptive ways (mind paths) of man (carnal thinking) become so easily detectable, love seems impossible. Seeing behind the veil actually makes it more difficult to increase love for mankind. It becomes obvious that the only way to have an authentic sentiment such as, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do,” is by supernatural intervention. It is only Him in you that makes you capable of love, and this comes only with daily supplication and practice. For he who practices righteousness is righteous.
Then self-loathing may come as you realize that you too are guilty of the same hypocrisy. You realize you are exactly what you despise in the blatantly sinful. The pain in your heart (mind) is compounded, as even the “perfect days” you have lose their glory because of one “bad day.” The battle inside, the one between flesh (carnal nature) and spirit (mind of the Messiah) consumes you. You detect the inconsistency, yet you have no ability to correct it on your own. This inner battle can lead to many sleepless nights as you recognize the disdain you have for the “you” in you. This is necessary as you must lose your life to find it (Matthew 10:39). But, “There is a life to live, mouths to feed, and debts to pay.” Which life is real; which life do you lose? The answer is simple, yet not easy; “Seek first…!” (Matthew 6:33)
And so we see why wisdom increases grief and sorrow, and by seeing only the surface of it all, we acknowledge there is so much more to learn. When you come to this beautiful place, “Be still and know that He is Yahweh.” (Psalm 46:10) And then, be wise enough to do this for just a moment; thank Him for the chance to figure it all out.
It’s all a Test
It’s all a Test
(#215 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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He turned their heart to hate His people, to conspire against His servants. (Psalm 105:25)
“This is just a test! This is just a test!” Should I make this announcement to you every day? Need I constantly remind you that it is a test; or rather, would it be more effective if I simply reminded you to believe Me? You do realize that I give liberally to all who ask, but not to those who ask with doubt in their hearts (minds). “Hmmm?” trials, testing, asking for wisdom, doubting, or better yet, “NOT DOUBTING!” Sounds just like James 1:2-8. What is it all for? It is so you will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Would you prefer a different type of Father other than Me? Is there one whom would serve you better? Not just for protection child, but for growth as well? What exactly is the race Shaul reminded you to run? What is My kingdom? It is perfection in consciousness I tell you! The race is for perfection, a race into My kingdom of perfection. Therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses all around us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)
Stop proclaiming your deep love for Us, while you continue to cower at the first signs of affliction. How can you be perfect and yet fear man, or fear anything for that matter? Here is something deep to contemplate; how can you be perfect and doubt My provision and protection? Every time you doubt, you are telling Me, “I don’t trust You!” Every time you carry guilt and shame you tell My Son, “Your shed blood could not have possibly covered this!”
Stop and listen; think! Your enemies are merely tools to train you. Your suffering and chastening. . .tools to train you. Perfection is the pattern, and the testing assures its completion; perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4). You will not change My patterns, for how can one further perfect perfection itself? Yes loved one, My patterns are perfect already. There can be no variation to what is already pure in every way. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17)
I do tempt I tell you, but I Am not tempted by evil nor do I tempt with evil. I use set-apart (holy) tempting, which is nothing else than spiritual testing, so you can build your spiritual muscles (spiritual equity). My tools of temptation often come in the shape of humans, disguised as enemies. Why do I say disguised? Because I have already commanded that you leave your “enemies” to Me, while you pray for their blessing. Therefore, if in Me there is “no shadow of turning,” then how can you really have enemies?
Do you not know that those who run in a race indeed all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9:24) “This is a test! This is a test from your emergency, save your soul, Spirit broadcasting system!” Perceive! Adapt! Grasp! Move forward, and win the race!
Love’s Attributes (5) Love is not puffed up!
Love’s Attributes (5)
(#159 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“Love is not puffed up!” (1 Corinthians 13:4)
Love is not puffed up, and therefore, Yahweh is not puffed upped!
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles! (Proverbs 24:17) This holy instruction summarizes well this fifth attribute of love. As the redeemed of Yahweh, we must always remember from where we came. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18) It is only due to His love being shed abroad into our hearts (minds) and souls, as a gift from the Spirit (Romans 5:5), that we ourselves can stumble and NOT fall (Romans 11:11).
At love’s final attribute, all of the previous attributes are summed up as a whole. The continuing pattern that must be practiced with every thought is that one cannot fail at any of the sixteen attributes of love, and yet claim to love. You have been told to “Take every thought into captivity to the obedience of the Messiah” (2 Corinthians 10:5). And in this, every thought is accountable to love’s true standards. “Self” reliance, self-satisfaction, and self-aggrandizement all scream out, “Look what I did!” and all of these are puffed up failures.
Would it be too profound for you to acknowledge what He has told you throughout His written word; you are your own greatest idol and that the very thing you are being “saved” from is yourself, your pride?
Open your spiritual eyes loved one. See what is really going on.
I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]. (John 13:34-35)
Consider others with Love
Do you really understand what tenderhearted really means? Please see this video…
The Way of Man II
(#147 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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A man and his wife enter the church. After the worship, the pastor begins to preach. The wife is fully engaged while the husband dozes off. He tries his best to stay awake. She nudges him when the service is over. They rise up and leave. For many weeks, this same pattern continues. The pastor notices the husband’s tendency and labels the man as disinterested in spiritual matters. He wonders why the man even comes. Others in the congregation have noticed and wonder the same.
Several weeks pass since the last time the man and his wife attend when she appears alone at a service. Afterwards, she finds the pastor and asks him if she could speak with him. The pastor willingly agrees and quickly discerns the meeting will be about her “disinterested” husband. He is ready to minister to her heart as needed.
As the meeting begins the pastor says, “I have not seen you in church for quite some time. How have you been?”
The lady, with tears streaming down her eyes says, “It’s my husband.”
“Yes, I figured that,” the pastor replies.
She continues, “You see. He has cancer. He is dying. He takes his medication and it makes him very tired and sleepy. He was embarrassed about coming and falling asleep so we’ve just stopped coming. He does not seem to have much time left and he wanted me to tell you something. He said that it made him so happy to be able to come and see you, to listen to you preach. You are his favorite teacher. He asked me to thank you.”
Never judge loved one. Never think you know what’s going on within someone, just by the external appearance of things. Caring takes time, and if you are willing to ask yourself the tough question, do you struggle with caring for others? Healing comes from a mind, spiritually redeemed, that can admit, “I don’t really care about other people as much as I should; help me Yahshua. Give me a heart (mind) that cares for others more than it cares for myself.”
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Conform, Unify and Act!
One of the greatest wickedness of man is their denial to unify with other brothers and sisters of Yeshua.
Won’t You?
(#142 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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But Yahweh said, “You have had pity on the vine for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:10-11)
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Philippians 2:3) My people must focus on others more than self! Consider My Son; His entire existence was for others. He poured Himself out so that you might live. To do the same, My people must develop a steadfast spirit and become unified. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Master, one faith, one baptism; one Mighty One and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)
Here is how to develop a steadfast spirit and become unified:
Step one, conform! “Direct your steps by My word, and let no iniquity have dominion over you!” (Psalm 119:133) As an individual, stand before Me on the narrow path. Decipher My ways and know My will. Have your home in order.
Step two, unify! “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.” (1 Peter 3:8) Have one mind and one speech. Be one people and become a unified force against the many principalities you will face.
Step three, act! “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Yahshua is the Son of the Mighty One?” (1 John 5:5) That’s you! Move out and take dominion. Have I not told you that you are greater than he who dominates the world?
Conform, unify, and act; My plan is global. Won’t you consider what I Am doing for the entire world, and not just your world? I Am looking for watchmen (Ezekiel 3:17), watchmen who will change the world. I have many children who would rather choose to die under the vine. Who will rise up for Me and go to the lost? Who will honor Me and thereby receive honor from Me?
Test Everything and Everyone
Fallen Leaders
(#141 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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This is what Sovereign Yahweh says: “Behold, I Am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.” (Ezekiel 34:10) And this wake up call for the American “Christian church” needs to be understood. It was commanded to each individual to guard his own “life and doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:16), and yet, too many pastors have assumed the role of doing this for the people, believing that their shepherding means that everyone was intended to “see it their way,” or else be deemed “spiritually lacking,” or even “contentious.” The pastor himself is merely a part of the body; Yahshua Messiah being the head (chief) part (Ephesians 1:22).
Because their lives and doctrine are in error, many sheep are led astray in error. The key now is to teach the sheep how to stand firm, after having had their “man” headship removed and their “Messiah” headship restored.
These crucial elements will aid in this most precious of endeavors:
1. Everyone must die to “self” in order to fully understand and obey Yahweh, His son, and His Spirit; even the pastors.
2. When a pastor falls, he shall be redeemed as Yahweh will never forsake the one who truly served, and yet still had “ego” that needed to be revealed, and therefore, eventually removed.
3. If you judge the fallen one, Yahweh will be quick and faithful to remind you that “there be I but by His grace.” And how very close you are to falling in the very same areas of sin in which you judge.
4. A fallen pastor is not to be viewed as one whose former messages, and yes, that means all of them, cannot be taken seriously. If the messages had scriptural truth, truth that should have been affirmed by each individual who received the word anyhow (Acts 17:11), then the messages stand as anointed by the Spirit. Truth was always Yahweh’s, and if it meant that only the sinless could teach His word, we would have no teachers whatsoever.
5. Rejoice that Yahweh is always faithful to His word. The fallen one will rise again (Proverbs 24:16) and he will return with praise on his lips that Yahweh does not and will not let any man get away with anything that rejects Yahshua Messiah and His sinless sacrifice.
Everything will be shaken beloved, and those who are “exposed” and convicted of sin will learn to appreciate and be grateful for their humbling experience. These things the sheep must know when a mighty one falls. All is well. They need to know that all is well! For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked are overthrown by calamity. (Proverbs 24:16)