Shalom, shalom!
How we need the shalom of the Most High in these days!
I received a prophetic word in my e-mail this morning that really touched me. Through this word the Lord says, "Why have you not learned to trust Me? You are living now in the future you feared years ago."
How true those words rang in my heart! I began to look back on years past when we worried about the "days just ahead." Many were in great distress about Y2K - the year 2000 - and stored up truckloads of food and hid gold and silver in their back yards. On 12:01 a.m. January 1, 2000 the computers all advanced to the next day - just as every other day - and our bank accounts were still there, our clocks were still ticking! December 21, 2012 came and went and the world was still here, Old Faithful was still erupting in Yellowstone, but the region did not explode like the 2012 movie would have us believe! In fact, the true "Old Faithful," the Ancient of Days, the Creator of the Universe, was still on the Throne and we all went to work and made dinner and tucked our children into bed and gave thanks.
Of course this does not mean that we are not drawing closer to the end of the age and the times of Great Tribulation as foretold in Scripture; it only means we should be learning to TRUST our God to protect and defend us in the midst of it. The last few weeks of explosions and terror have threatened to keep the people of this nation in a state of fear and anxiety. I read an article yesterday that spoke about the high level of stress and tension that most people are in, and the rising rate of suicide in this country. But for those of us who are learning to dwell in the Shadow of El Shaddai, trusting Him to keep us, fear has no place in our hearts.
It seems fitting to reprint a blog I sent back in May, 2010. I hope it blesses you again. After all - we are living now in the future we feared years ago - and we are safe!
May 27, 2010
Once in a while I like to get out The Message version of the Bible and just enjoy the creative translation. This morning I spent some time there in Psalm 46. What a meaningful Psalm for our time! Let these words wrap around your heart and speak to your anxious soul:
Psalm 46 (The Message)
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
River fountains splash joy, cooling God's city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
"Step out of the traffic!
Take a long, loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything."
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
Loved one, have you been wrestling with God? Have you been wondering where He is in the midst of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and oil spills? Have you wondered if He's asleep while our nation seems to be crumbling?
Jacob wrestled with Him too, all night long - and what Jacob learned from that experience is that God fights FOR us - not against us. He wrestles us out of our flesh and our self-preservation and into that place of quiet Trust. He may not stop that flood or tornado, but He is in the midst of it. He is there to help us pick up the pieces, to learn the lessons of what matters in this life, to let go of possessions and things, and grab hold of His marvelous shalom, His unending love.
"Step out of the traffic," He says, "and take a long, loving look at Me, your High God - above politics, above everything!" Oh, Father, how good it is to remember that You are sovereign and above all the corrupted politics of our world and above all the failed economies and currencies. We can take a deep breath and calmly say to others as Peter and John said, "Gold and silver have I none, but I will give you what I do have: come and meet Yeshua, the One who gives Life and sustains it, the One who sleeps in the boat in perfect peace, in the middle of a great storm, the One who commands the Angel armies, the One who wrestles with us in the night and then puts His great, loving arms around us in the morning and dries our tears.
Step out of the traffic and the TV. Take a long, loving look at Him, your High God.
Be still and know that He is God.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Do You Know Him?
In our Passover celebration in North Dakota - and also our teaching time at Greeley Place Retirement Home yesterday - I spoke passionately to the people about the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew chapter 25. We are all familiar with the passages - but how many of us have truly understood Yeshua's message regarding the oil?
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
The foolish did not have enough oil. In desperation they go to the wise and implore them, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." These are believers, whose hearts must have some compassion for the foolish! These are people who must desire that all should know the Bridegroom and go with Him into His kingdom; yet, they respond, "go and buy for yourselves." What is it then that I would have, that I could not give to another in need? It could only be my relationship with Yeshua, my King, my brother, my best friend, my husband, my Lord. I would love to give that to others, but I cannot. They must come to know Him for themselves. I am putting that word know in italics because it does not mean the same thing in Hebraic understanding as it does in English. It does not mean to "know about Jesus." Most of the world has heard about Jesus Christ and knows about Him. But this word in Hebrew is yada, Strongs H3045. This word implies a very intimate knowing of someone, as in the relationship of husband and wife. Definitions of this Hebrew word include kinsman and intimate friend.
When Yeshua our Messiah (the Bridegroom) returns for His Bride, the foolish will be desperate and scrambling for oil; but this oil cannot be purchased with cash or gold or silver. It cannot be bought, borrowed, or exchanged. It can only come from the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit), who has been abiding in the wise virgins all along. And as much as these people, who live and move and have their being in Yeshua, would like to share this oil with others, it cannot be shared! Each must cultivate his or her own relationship with the Living Word.
Having meditated upon this parable for weeks now, you can imagine my surprise when I read Oswald Chambers' devotion for today, April 9, from My Utmost for His Highest. He wrote, "Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no on can see Jesus with your eyes. And division takes place when one has seen Him and the other has not. You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it."
Have you seen Him? Do you know Him? Do you spend time with Him each day in prayer, conversing with Him like an intimate friend? Do you have His Word hidden in your heart?
DOES HE KNOW (YADA) YOU?
Ask God to fill you with this oil now, and do not delay. The Bridegroom is returning soon - and while others' lamps go out and they race to search for this oil - the door will be shut.
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And
while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready
went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
The foolish did not have enough oil. In desperation they go to the wise and implore them, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." These are believers, whose hearts must have some compassion for the foolish! These are people who must desire that all should know the Bridegroom and go with Him into His kingdom; yet, they respond, "go and buy for yourselves." What is it then that I would have, that I could not give to another in need? It could only be my relationship with Yeshua, my King, my brother, my best friend, my husband, my Lord. I would love to give that to others, but I cannot. They must come to know Him for themselves. I am putting that word know in italics because it does not mean the same thing in Hebraic understanding as it does in English. It does not mean to "know about Jesus." Most of the world has heard about Jesus Christ and knows about Him. But this word in Hebrew is yada, Strongs H3045. This word implies a very intimate knowing of someone, as in the relationship of husband and wife. Definitions of this Hebrew word include kinsman and intimate friend.
When Yeshua our Messiah (the Bridegroom) returns for His Bride, the foolish will be desperate and scrambling for oil; but this oil cannot be purchased with cash or gold or silver. It cannot be bought, borrowed, or exchanged. It can only come from the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit), who has been abiding in the wise virgins all along. And as much as these people, who live and move and have their being in Yeshua, would like to share this oil with others, it cannot be shared! Each must cultivate his or her own relationship with the Living Word.
Having meditated upon this parable for weeks now, you can imagine my surprise when I read Oswald Chambers' devotion for today, April 9, from My Utmost for His Highest. He wrote, "Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no on can see Jesus with your eyes. And division takes place when one has seen Him and the other has not. You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it."
Have you seen Him? Do you know Him? Do you spend time with Him each day in prayer, conversing with Him like an intimate friend? Do you have His Word hidden in your heart? DOES HE KNOW (YADA) YOU?
Ask God to fill you with this oil now, and do not delay. The Bridegroom is returning soon - and while others' lamps go out and they race to search for this oil - the door will be shut.
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