Tag Archives: YHWH
From Prison to Praise – Sing In Darkness
The End from the Beginning: a Journey into Faith
(#026 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that the Almighty does from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
I worship nonstop and I endure. It’s all about His will for me and yes, the unknown of that is mysterious and sometimes it can even seem overwhelming. I am learning to trust more in the process every day and am comforted by that fact. Yahweh knows the truth of all this you know. Do you know? He has declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:10)
“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and this is their vindication from Me,” declares Yahweh. (Isaiah 54:16-17)
I am comforted by the reality that the weapon that now wounds me so very deeply is formed by His hand. Its intent is to heal, and yet, it profoundly does so through loss. My experience has made me know what it means to fix my gaze upon Him. Because Sovereign Yahweh helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:7) Yes indeed, I set my face like a flint, and I determine to suffer well, for my life, my true life, my spirit life, is found in the suffering.
As for blessing those who harm me and praising Yahweh in the process, they are keys to effective Kingdom living. Yes, blessing others and worshipping through pain; that’s what He’s looking for, I am quite sure.
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)
Burdened with Blessings
Burdened with Blessings
(#025 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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The Words of Yahweh!
If you return to Me and obey My voice:
I will bring you back from captivity;
I will prosper you and multiply you;
I will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants;
You will love Me with all your heart and with all your soul and you will live;
I will put curses on your enemies and on those who hate you and persecute you;
I will make you abound in all the work of your hands and the fruit of your body;
I will increase you in all ways for good;
I will again rejoice over you…
…if you obey My voice, to keep My commandments and My statutes which are written in this Book of the Law! (Deuteronomy 30:1-10)
Have I not given you ample opportunity to be blessed My child? Have I not made the blessings bountiful and ripe with new opportunities? Therefore, I implore you; Let no one cheat you of your reward…being vainly puffed up by [your] fleshly mind. (Colossians 2:18) I know your propensity to satisfy the lusts of your flesh. And for this reason, I know that to entice you with blessings alone is not enough. Because the carnal mind is enmity against [Me]; for it is not subject to the [My] Law, nor indeed can be. (Romans 8:7) Therefore, as you naturally stray from My commands, there must be consequences; there must be a cost for your disobedience (Read Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
I tell you these things so that you understand the burden of the blessings available to you on every side. The burden is this; the road is slim and the curses (consequences that steal inner peace) are meant to keep you on the narrow path that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14). Do you understand My plan? Can you now see how, like an eagle with her young, I protect you and intend to prosper you? The only way to do so is to keep you under My wings [protective custody; commandments] (Psalm 91:4).
Your willful sins are truly a burden to Me, for what Father wants to continually chasten a child created for love? The mature in faith understand that My blessings come through obedience. That is why I say, “I will rejoice over you if you obey My voice, to keep My commandments and My statutes which are written in this Book of the Law!”
My blessings are meant to appeal to the dreams I have placed in your heart. Each blessing will reveal the perfect plan for your life, and then extend to My entire body. Be mature My child, for the time is short, and My Body depends on it.
I am Jewish – Provoke Me
I’m a Jew
(#024 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke THEM to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! (Romans 11:11-12)
Your testament that causes you to become most zealous,
Your goal of which it testifies is to make Jews so jealous.
You tell me you have the scriptural truth;
And yet, you rename our Messiah “Hey Zeus!”
If that’s not enough, let’s look at your Sabbath,
Pick a day, any day; is that what you have for us?
Have you not studied your feasts and celebrations?
They’re filled with traditions from demons and pagans.
Some of us sense what’s missing; it’s sad;
That you sell your savior like a marketable fad.
I am a Jew; and I wait for the Hebrew Messiah;
How can I trust that to Him you will guide us?
Perhaps you’ll consider and listen to me;
I have things to offer, a rich history.
Does your own book teach you were sent the man Saul;
Who was transformed by Jesus who He then renamed Paul?
If the Jewish Messiah was sent to your people,
Did He teach in the synagogues, or churches with steeples?
I’m a Jew and my temple and my sacrifices ceased;
So I’ve watched some of you, and I covet your peace.
I could believe based on just what I’ve seen,
The one you call Messiah is true savior and King.
Perhaps I’ll look past you and back to His days;
To make Him my savior and keep Jewish ways.
I’m “them” from your testament and I’m looking at you,
To provoke me to jealousy, but to do so…be true!
Who Made These Things?
Who Made These Things?
(#023 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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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)
Love, peace, joy, contentment, patience, goodness, faithfulness, humility, wisdom, integrity, tenderness, and all other good things come down from Me, the Father of lights. You might be tempted to apprehend these things through your own selfish desires (James 1:14), but do not be deceived (v. 15); do not be enticed to believe they come from anywhere but Me.
What exactly are these things that your soul longs for? Yes My child, ask yourself. And in a sober moment you will realize that they all belong to Me. Each one was created to entice My children to enter My domain, to be as I Am. In other words, to search for the Kingdom of Heaven that is in you. (Luke 17:21) It is very risky to think you can gain access to any of these apart from Me? If you could, if anyone could partake apart from Me, then what did My Son die for, and how are your desires different from the pagans? No My child! These things are only for My children and obedience is the key that releases access to them within you.
Can a wicked man enjoy peace? Never! I will not allow that man to experience real peace (Isaiah 48:22). Can an adulterer have love? Never! I will not allow that perversion to stain My love. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with [Me]? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of [Mine]. (James 4:4) Can a greedy man know contentment? How could he when greed takes the life of its owners (Proverbs 1:19)? Only the one who prospers in Me will know true contentment. Can a contentious woman know tenderness? It can never be, as she is like a continuous dripping that cannot be contained (Proverbs 27:15-16). My tenderness is for the contrite, which is a blessing reserved for My obedient children.
All things were made through [My Son], and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:3) And He has become the open door that you might attain them. Those who do not know Him, and therefore Me, will never experience these spiritual blessings. They are reserved for My children only. But you cannot stand at the doorway; you must walk through it.
Do you need help? Ask and you shall receive. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:10)
Heart Threads – Understanding Love
A very difficult topic to understand in the Bible is True Love. It shouldn’t be because it is extended to us everyday from our Creator. This devotional has helped me figure some of it out more clearly.
Heart Threads
(#022 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what the Almighty has joined together, let no one separate.(Matthew 19:6)
Imagine, My child, if I behaved towards you as you behave towards each other. You once persuaded many souls that I had Sovereignly brought you together, that I had ordained your union. And now you look to find anyone who will agree to your separation. I tell you the truth; although you believe your intentions are justified before Me, I do not condone your desires.
When you fail and disappoint Me, when you do not live up to what I expect from you, shall I turn away from you and withhold My love? Shall My Son also withhold His affections? Have I not taught you that it was the wickedness of your own heart that killed My Son? Are you not being like the wicked servant who demanded to be paid on a trivial obligation, after he was forgiven a fortune in debt (Matthew 18:23-35)?
Cease and repent! I declare that you are not innocent in the matters that plague your relationship. My love is a consuming fire. It will penetrate and soften even the most violent and stone-cold heart. Therefore, I will not tolerate your misuse of My words, saying you “love,” while your intention is to satisfy your “self,” even if it harms the one whom you’ve been joined to. Love does not harm (1 Corinthians 13:7)!
You cry for the love you believe you deserve while failing to love the undeserving. This is not love; love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8)! Go to your quiet place and speak to Me. Acknowledge before Me that you know I only speak the truth to you, then listen. It is only your pride that is injured. I cannot bless a lack of humility. Tears of repentance are what I desire; I require true repentance, a broken and contrite heart [center of intellect, mind] (Psalm 51:17).
Come, and I will fill you with My love, a love that cannot be concealed or withheld from the one I gave you. It is in this exchange that you will then have no choice but to love the one who now wounds you, the one I gave you for life, bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh (Genesis 2:23-24).
A Little Leaven Suffer Well
A Little Leaven
(#021 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed the Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. (1. Corinthians 5:6-7)
A Little Leaven…
Mom and dad fight and use angry words
The Lump
The children hear the fight and fear enters their hearts.
The fear turns to anger and then bitterness.
The children act out with rude behaviors toward friends.
Friends feel unloved and insecurity enters their hearts.
Friends tell their parents how they were treated badly.
They don’t want to play together anymore.
Even the friend’s parents build unhealthy mindsets towards the children.
Offenses destroy friendships!
The Lump
Mom shows impatience with store clerk due to anger at dad.
Store clerk gets upset, as she is tired of being treated badly by customers.
Store clerk yells at mom in frustration.
Boss hears of the account and fires store clerk on the spot.
Store clerk was a single mom who can no longer support her family.
She develops unhealthy fear, self-condemnation, and regret.
Fear destroys future opportunity!
The Lump
Dad neglects to show up at a vital business meeting due to frustration with mom.
Dad’s business partner takes over the meeting in a pinch.
The business partner is not prepared for meeting and loses a big account.
The partner becomes angry and bitter because the dad missed the key meeting.
The dad becomes angry and bitter because the partner is ill-prepared.
They have a huge blowout.
The future of the company and income for partners and all employees are in jeopardy.
Bitterness destroys lives and futures!
…leavens the whole lump!
It only takes a little leaven to leaven the whole lump (Galatians 5:9). That is a very dangerous thing if you use the leaven of the Pharisees: bad doctrine (Matthew 16:11), and hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). Therefore, purge out that old leaven. Instead of the leaven of the Pharisees, sprinkle the “leaven of the Kingdom” on your lump (Matthew 13:33). The Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Kingdom leaven will restore and preserve friendships; it will eliminate all doubt and fear; and it will neutralize bitterness with the sweet Fruit of the Spirit. Purge out that old leaven and hope is restored!
Two of You. Take Action!
Two of You
(#020 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:21-25)
It is in love that I come to both of you. Yes, although you are one person, your heart is certainly divided; you often forget what you look like in the mirror. I do not; I see both faces! And it might come as a surprise, but My mature children can see both faces as well. They can spot you through the mask and cannot be preyed upon like My younger sheep. Know this; I Am a fierce Shepherd and will not excuse the fleecing of My flock, especially My young defenseless ones.
Woe to you who praise Me before the multitudes and then steal from My people. And I don’t just mean money, but even more insidiously, the theft of truth. Woe to you “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what you say nor the things which you strongly affirm.” (1 Timothy 1:7) Woe to you who use Me to market your goods and increase the scales in your favor. Woe to you who use your “righteousness” to ravish My elect.
Who told you My punishment would be immediate? Who told you that My rod only manifests in ways you can perceive? Did you not believe Me when I warned, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, and again, Yahweh will judge His people. It is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living Mighty One?” (Hebrews 10:30-31)
Yes, I do desire mercy over sacrifice; however, I judge every wrong, as this is what I promised My Son I would do. And I will not shame His sacrifice as if I were a man and as if He were an animal. Let it never be said that I did not warn you that His shed blood only guarantees your eternity. That’s right, His blood has secured your eternity; but your daily choices secure My favor while you live. As it is written, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2) If you insist on living in sin, being a hearer and not a doer, My chastening is perfect and well deserved. When My right arm moves against you, it will correct your wrongs. Will you not repent and return to Me before then?
“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of the Almighty rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6) Yes, mercy over sacrifice is pleasant to your ears; of that I Am certain. It is your acknowledgement of all that I Am that is in question. If you had, you would be doers and not just hearers.
Broken Cisterns Equal a Broken Life
What fills us? What drives us? What helps us? The only answer we should have it, it’s not about what we want but what Yahweh wants. We must learn to deny ourself and follow Him.
Broken Cisterns
(#019 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
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“My people have committed two sins [evils]. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of Living Waters, and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
Am I not I Am who points out transgressions in order to save you? Am I not I Am who sent My Son so that you would return to Me in repentance? Consider this before you readily entangle yourself with the world’s delicacies. My Son was sent to manifest My desire and to redeem a people unto Myself. This could only be done through a demonstration of My power (Ephesians 1:19-20). And, it is only by that power that you can overcome your disobedient choices to continually eat from My forbidden tree, the carnal desire for “free will.”
Stop! Listen! Think! Remember! It is I who draws you back to Me (John 12:32). It is I who chose you (John 15:16). Are you really so dull of mind to think you can fill your own cisterns and be satisfied? The abundance you long for, what will truly fulfill your soul’s desires, can never be “self” generated. I will ultimately dismantle anything that does not align with My will. The vessels I fill have no leak and no lack, and do not desire more than I freely give.
Loved one, I cannot be housed in unclean vessels. Dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14) will be your reward apart from Me, nothing but whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27). How joyful you were the day I found you. Now, you must count the cost of every thought and action (Luke 14:25-33); this is what I require from My children.
I call Heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19) Stop trying to fill your own cisterns; they can never hold Living Water. Instead, choose life.
WARNING Beware of Tovia Singer Outreach Judaism
Rabbi Tovia Singer has a ministry called Outreach Judaism and tries to teach people Yeshua (Jesus) is not the Messiah. This video is a public call to repent to Tovia Singer and a warning.
Never a Robot! His BLOOD!
I am no longer a slave to sin. I am a child of God. HIs Blood has saved me. The life is in the blood. Are we following Yahweh by choice? How important is free will? We discuss all that in this video.
Never a Robot!
(#018 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold as a slave to sin. (Romans 7:14)
A quaint conversation joined midway through:
Church folk 1: Well, I do have free will. I can make my own decisions, like choosing Jesus.
Church folk 2: Hmm. The bible says, “I [He] chose you.” (John 15:16)
Church folk 1: Yes, but that’s because He knew I would choose Him.
Church folk 2: Where does it say that in the bible?
Church folk 1: Well, I’ll have to look it up, or ask my pastor.
Church folk 2: I am positive it does not say that in the bible, or anything like that. As a matter of fact, it says you were chosen before the foundations of the world (Psalm 90:2), even in your mother’s womb He was your Mighty One (Psalm 22:10). So, are you saying He predestined all of this based upon what you would do?
Church folk 1: Yes right, that is what I’m saying. Well, I think that’s what I’m saying.
Church folk 2: The bible says that the carnal man is at enmity [hostile] towards Him and will not subject himself to Yahweh (Romans 8:7). It also says that we all sin and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). So, how did you get holy enough, you know, get over your carnality, long enough to choose Him?
Church folk 1: Well, I did ask Him into my heart. I remember the day like it was yesterday.
Church folk 2: I believe you. I am curious however; was that before or after He gave you a new heart (Deuteronomy 30:6)?
Church folk 1: Well, I guess after.
Church folk 2: So then, did you ask for the new heart before He chose you, or was your new heart His gift to you before there was anything in you good enough to seek Him (Romans 3:10-18)?
Church folk 1: Now that you put it that way, I guess it was His doing.
Church folk 2: So then, what you are really saying is that the new heart He gave you (Ezekiel 36:26) is what prompted your choice to believe, to “ask Him into your heart,” right?
Church folk 1: Well, I guess so, but I’m not a robot you know.
Church folk 2: No, you’re not a robot, just a slave.
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)