Tag Archives: Yeshua Messiah

Bitterness vs. Forgiveness

To Whom It Concerns

(#105 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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If you want me to suffer, suffer I have. If you want remorse, you have it. If you want me gone, I will leave. If you want me to be erased from your mind, time will do so. If you desire pain upon me, I have felt its touch.

And for you:

If you ever suffer, I will be there for you. If you ever have remorse, I will remind you that repentance is good. If others cast you away, I will take you in. If no one thinks of you, I will call you often. When you lose, I will help you regain. When pain comes, I will pray for your comfort, and that you may embrace the renewal.

I will always remember you, for I am you. I will always forgive, always hope, and I will always extend my love to you. You said we were brothers, a brother I will be.

And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the scum of all things until now. (1 Corinthians 4:12-13)

New In Yeshua

What Do You Do?

(#104 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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Reality, true reality, exists only where there is no human intervention. It exists between you and your Maker in the crucible of the refiner’s fire (judgment for every thought you think). Everything in you is exposed and laid bare. He enters by force, illuminating every crevice of your heart (mind). Every action, every word, every deed, and all your “secret motivations” are uncovered. There will be no waiting. You stand face-to-face with Him now!

Your emotions: naked, ashamed, remorseful, alone and bare. You wonder what’s left. You know, deep down, there’s no going back. When He exposes you, He lets others know. Directly or indirectly, others know. There is no more hiding the real you. At this point, it matters not if others know. You see it! Whatever was removed was not of Him; and so much has been removed, so little seems left. In truth, what is left is pure and holy; what is left is the “real you.”

You can’t run from it! Stripped bare, only what is of Him remains. You spent all those years running and hiding, and in an instant the lies are revealed. The weakness, the rebellion, the insecurity, and the fear, are all on display. Everyone can see what you believed in the past, because who you had become was the result. Now, look what’s left; there’s not much. What has been removed is now on display for all to see by virtue of what remains in the new creature left behind.

It is because of “Messiah in you” that you have hope (Colossians 1:27). You need it; it’s all you have. You hold onto promises not yet fulfilled. It is painful; it is a brutal realization of just how much He had to remove. “Just stop existing,” is the new emotion you so often feel about your own life.

You wonder if your suffering makes others happy. A voice speaks. “I will restore. I will repair. This was for good. Don’t give up. Dream again.” You cry. That’s what you do. You cry and hope, and hold on.

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve Yahweh acceptably with reverence and with fear and awe of the Almighty. For our Mighty One is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:25-29)

Encouraged with Hope

This New Desire

(#103 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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There is a new desire birthed in me, forged in the valley of humiliation, to become a servant who leads with a heavenly purpose and passion for only His will. This new desire is that every move and every thought are in alignment with the advancement of His good things. I am seeing a vision with new perspectives radically shifted and renewed. I have this hope, this new-found dream in which anxiousness is replaced by vigor and integrity. I am still bound in the natural, yet experience freedom. I am truly free for the first time. Yes, I thought so before, outside this valley, yet now I see. I am reborn. Even though I am a captive of man, I am experiencing a powerful surge of rebirth in the spirit. My temperament is reserved, yet, I am prepared to burst into newness. He will do it. Yes, He will do it!

Oh, and He spoke to me. He spoke so loud and clear. “Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed.” (Isaiah 49:23)

Like a thousand trumpets, He spoke. All my hope is in Him (Psalm 39:7). The prison in which I sit is the womb. Oh, His word is life. It is all that matters. I have been perishing and I must rise again to fulfill this new desire. The day of reconciliation will come. Restitution will come. Rebirth will come. Life I say, life!

It’s there, this new dream. Let it be Father. Let it be so. Yet, for these new dreams placed in my heart, dreams of things to come, I shall set them free knowing they can only come true if You remain my One desire. They shall be released to You, Father. You will retrieve your son from his captors. Only You can do it. Only you can. Your sons and daughters are meant to soar like eagles (Exodus 19:4). Oh Yahweh, we hope in You.

I say to Yahweh, “You are Yahweh; apart from you I have no good thing.” (Psalm 16:2)

Walking with God

Of Paramount Importance

(#102 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. (John 12:24)

“It’s not my life!” Have this mind in you My child. It is the starting place for all things: all hopes, dreams, ambitions, goals, and mindsets. If the foundation is not properly laid, all things will go askew.

Take a moment and ponder this concept, as it is the only way to true life. Are you hoping for things without My approval? Are you dreaming of things I have not asked of you? Are your ambitions undermining My will? If you have goals, where did you get them? Whose mind is guiding all of this?

Listen to Me! This one will be very, very difficult for you, but it must be done. How do I know it will be difficult? I made it that way. This is the narrow path, the path of true life. This must be a decision you make. Make it now, or you will only realize later how much pain your delay has caused. Decide whose life it is, yours or Mine. If you answered correctly, then you know what must be done.

Once you acknowledge that your life is Mine, My child, be ready to let go quickly. Ask Me about your goals and see if I approve. If not, let go. All of your hopes must be placed at My feet. Purpose to let go of all you have hoped for. Ask Me to return what was always of Me and to release all that was not.

Yes, this is a death. I acknowledge that this is a fearful place for you. It is the place wherein you fully decide who I Am to you. Am I the I Am? Are My promises real? Will I give you true life? All of these are answered inside of your decision to let go. You must let go. I sent My son and My Spirit to help, but you must make the first move. Confess to Me that I have permission to do whatever I will with your life.

I love you. I created you for this moment. Give in to Me. I don’t lie. I don’t hurt. Give in and I will show you true life. No more guessing about who I am. Give in.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1:11)

Psalm 139 God Knows Everything

Psalm 139 Prayer

(#101 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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“You hem me in behind and before, and You lay Your hand upon me.” (v. 5) Oh how I love the thought of it, like the thought of a newborn snuggled in blankets. Protection Father, Your strong arms carry me and protect me. You are always here to guide, always watching over me. I need that Father, the touch in the core of my soul that brings warmth and comfort.

I have these pictures in my mind; pictures created by faith. I love that my days are numbered (Job 14:5) and not one shall be missed. Nothing shall happen to me that was not ordained by You. Nothing shall enter that was not allowed. I need to know these things. I need to feel, to consciously grasp, Your love. I have this longing in my heart, this desire that burns inside me, a desire to feel Your love. I yearn for my mind to be enveloped with Your love, so that all of my thoughts are permeated by You.

Must I work to feel it Father? Am I working too hard? I only know what I have attained up to this very moment. Anything new must come from You. Please bring something new Father, more love and a deeper understanding. I want to feel Your thoughts towards me, thoughts numbered like the grains of sand (v.18). I want to feel them all.

I need to know what I am. Take the words off this page and place them within me. Teach me how to receive Your love. Remove all that keeps me from the fullest measure. Come Yahshua; grant me this new dream, this dream to know You completely. I come in faith and ask for a new thing, a fresh thing: new comfort, new love and new thoughts that bring Your truth into clarity.

Look To Yahweh

If Today

(#100 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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If today I Am not your everything,

Then what will you hope for tomorrow?

Your plans to prosper in the material world,

Only strife and wounds and sorrow.

My Word is your tutor; it has not changed;

“I must be your all!” it claims.

If you’re looking for answers in some other place,

Only disappointment and frustration remains.

So many I see running in circles,

Looking for that MAGIC PILL.

The longing they feel was placed there by Me,

Which only My Kingdom can fill.

Among you I sent My son in the flesh,

And the flesh is what He crucified.

Yourself! You talk… of His death,

Yet, your carnality you claim is justified!

“Not of this world,” is My Kingdom,

Your quest to reverse this…useless.

I will never let this world appease you,

Expecting it to satisfy…fruitless.

The contrite and the humble hear My voice,

My love, their heart’s conviction.

They wait before Me every dawn,

“This way, walk in it!” MY PRESCRIPTION!

It’s never that I Am not attainable loved one. It’s your process of attainment that hinders you. How long will you attempt to process a Spiritual Kingdom with human intellect and understanding? (Proverbs 3:5-6) It is trust by faith that brings a sound mind, and the trust and the faith are spiritually imbued. This is why I must continually ask you to literally get out of My way, to decrease; so that My Spirit alone can take charge of your mind, to increase. (John 3:30).

Stop believing the lie, that there is anything about you that would embrace any patterns about Me. Did not your brother Adam (the 1st) set a firm enough example for you? He started perfect, yet he still failed! (Genesis 3:12) What you fail to realize is that any effort, whatsoever, achieved by your “self,” will always fail. If it were not so, why would I have let you murder My Son for your inabilities?

I Am your life and in Me you have everything you need (2 Peter 1:3-4). If you search for Me other than through your humble decrease, and adaptation to My never-changing patterns, then you will miss Me. And when you miss Me, you will naturally default to reliance on old things that seemingly bring comfort; the fleshly things.

I Am what you long for. I made it that way! If I had not done so, all you would produce are strife, wounds, and sorrow. Look to Me and be saved (Isaiah 45:22). Look to Me and for Me, not for things from Me!

Understanding Yahweh

If you don’t understand God you don’t seek God! He wants you to know him but you must ask if you want to receive.

Perspective

(#099 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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My precious little one, may I share something with you, something that will lift you and carry you? I always hear you. Even when I say, “no,” I hear you. Yes, I have complete control. When you see a mountain top from the valley below, I hear your favorite prayer. “Bring me back to the mountaintop!” My answer oftentimes, “no,” My child. Why? What parent chastens a child, only to then immediately restore them to a better place than before? Spoiled children would be the byproduct of such actions. Did Job deserve what he received? Yes, Job deserved to see the error of his way and to repent (Job 42:6). I do not make mistakes. I allow for trials; they serve a great purpose. Trials chasten to produce perseverance and maturity. (Read James 1:2-8)

Here is how I will carry you. The words I speak to you reveal patterns which should give you a new perspective. These patterns are a guide to seek and to know My ways. As My patterns are designed to be detectable and knowable by My children (Matthew 13:11), recognizing them is an opportunity to come to Me in boldness (Hebrews 4:15-16). Listen now; quiet your mind. Must I remove the mountain when you can climb it? If I take you to the top, at the top you will stand. Likewise, if you climb to the top, at the top you will stand. But what benefit to your faith will it be if it is done for you without your effort, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience and patience will have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:3-4) This is a new perspective. It is a new day with a fresh anointing for clarity, clarity that comes with wisdom and understanding. (James 1:5)

You see My loved child, we are going to the top. It’s inevitable. We will stand together once this is achieved. I will nourish you. I will help you. I will be your guide. Not one hair will be lost. Not one bone broken. Climb My child, to the greatest of heights. I Am waiting for you.

Garment of Praise

Garment of Praise

(#098 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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Father, I come in need, and the need is great. I come to inquire of You Father. I have learned to rejoice and praise You in the midst of my suffering; the suffering has not ended. Most of the songs I know and sing to You are about Your love towards me. How I long to sing new songs, songs of my love for You. I know they will please You as they are being birthed from the deep waters within my soul.

My prayer Father, my earnest desire is to learn what it means to wear a garment of praise. I want to be clothed in such a way that Your presence and power are magnified. How shall I wear it? What does it look like, this garment of praise? I am now convinced that offering songs of thanksgiving during immense suffering is how we clothe ourselves with this garment. I have faith that this is the pattern You created, the one You desire us to follow. What does it look like, this joy in the midst of trials? You rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, [living as having already] received the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls. (1 peter 1:8-9)

I need Your help Yahshua. I need Your help Holy Spirit. Please clothe me in what pleases You: new songs, new garments, new melodies, and new words. You pick; You decide. Lead me to Your will as I listen, look, and wait for You. You know my needs; this confession affirms it. I will wait and hope for my new garment. I will bow before You and wait. I will wait for new songs in my heart Father; songs about You.

Yahshua was sent:

“To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of Yahweh,
that He may be glorified.”
(Isaiah 61:3)

One This I Do

One Thing I Do

(#097 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it [the mind of Messiah]. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which the Mighty One has called me heavenward in Yahshua the Messiah. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Yes, Paul understood, and his journey to Damascus was his place of revelation (Acts 9). It is the same “light from heaven” that is available to knock you off your “donkey” (stubborn religious pride). All of your energies should strain towards this one goal. This one goal, if achieved, fulfills all other goals. This is Matthew 6:33 (Seek first…) obeyed in all of its fullness. This is the race towards perfection: perfect oneness, perfect speech, perfect unity, and perfect peace. It is a violent “rooting out” of all that does not conform to this one goal. The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12) The process is a precision analysis and dissection of all that is not of Yahweh, which then moves us toward maturity (the unoffendable mind).

Yes, Paul understood this revealed gift, this unchanging pattern. This is the superior pattern that girds up all other patterns. It is the quest for Messiah-likeness, or in other words, the mind of Messiah (1 Corinthians 2:16). For righteousness is nothing other than right thinking. It is a call that requires all your attention; your face set like a flint (Isaiah 50:7-9). This should be your one overarching purpose for living after you have come to “know Him” (Philippians 3:8, 10).

The goal is to gain understanding, but not just any understanding. The goal is understanding with wisdom; wisdom to navigate on the way to the finish line; wisdom to know that if anything gets in the way, it is not your problem. You just simply hand it over to Yahweh! Understanding and wisdom together, intimate knowledge which comes with a guide. Oh, that it would manifest in even greater measure. Keep your mind stayed on Yahshua, set like a flint. You are almost there; the finish line is in sight. Victory!

Humility

My Choicest Flock

(#096 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)

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That suffering one, he’s Mine. That weeping one, he’s Mine. That rejected one, he’s Mine. That scared one, he’s Mine. Have I not told you, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick?” (Luke 5:31) I do not care about natural ability. I am focused on the heart (center of intellect, mind) and the issues of spiritual transformation. The transformation from foolishness (ego driven mind) to wisdom (righteousness driven mind) is what brings Me glory. Those who come to Me “sick” are a perfect fit, for who would be left to come if not the sick?

Your heroes are nothing to Me. Your famous too, do not impress Me. Your wise, all of them devoid of true wisdom. I Am not impressed at My dust in its natural state. A broken and contrite spirit is what pleases Me (Isaiah 66:2). From the old creation to the new, that is the transformation project I like. My characteristics of greatness are humility, peace, wisdom, and joy in the spirit, not like what man values. Fallen man would rather celebrate money, status, and praise from other men.

If these words bother you, you are probably in danger of being devoured. Yes, if you leave the flock I cannot watch over you. Wolves and lions wait for you, and they have a taste for you, as you have been feeding them for quite some time. My flock knows its Shepherd. My flock would never leave My care; they would be afraid to leave My care.

View things as I do. Understand My wisdom. Desire My righteousness as opposed to worldly values. I can only bless what I approve, and I stand in opposition to your fleshly desires. Give in! Succumb to Me at all cost. You could not possibly perceive what I have planned for you; it’s more than you could ask or imagine. If you would taste even a morsel from the table I’ve prepared for you, you would dine with Me and never eat from the pig trough again.

Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” (Luke 15:15-17)