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Rosh HaShanah 2007 |
“He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? [Original Greek: The spirit, which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy… James 4:5]
By God’s grace we have arrived at another phase of our adventures in God. We are like kids on this earth learning about our eternal origins and the purpose of life, and our mission on this planet. The closer we come to knowing the Father the more alien this earth becomes, at least to some of us. We pass through it with a sense of purpose and a much deeper meaning than just the propping up of our bodies with food or medicine. Those with just the bodily senses will never comprehend those that enjoy the heavenly senses, which are the source of great happiness. In John 4: 24 Jesus speaks of God as the spirit, but for some strange reason the translators wrote SPIRIT with small ‘s’. Yet, the Holy Spirit explicitly speaks of being born of God as one would be born of the Spirit, which is one and the same. Those who are born of God the Spirit sin no more for they cannot; they are not even able to sin—says 1John 3:9. This is the final birth and it is not a new doctrine, but a progression, a journey that must end there. Jesus said that those who are thus born have a secret relationship with the Father and no one knows where they come from and where they go. Dear friend you may feel wretched and poor in spirit, and words like these may sound too lofty for you, making you aware of your earthliness. That is exactly the purpose for these words, not to be sad about it, but to start seeking the final reunion with your Maker. The bodily senses only create attachments to the wrong things. Some believe that they would never attain that place so they settle for just the intercessor that intercedes for them before the heavenly Father. Others have even difficulties with believing in the intercessor so they seek His anointed messengers. And if they do not look too far they have found one already. But this intercessor is not in the business of just pleading with God on your behalf, but to shower you with the holy rain after which comes the fruit. The field won’t spring up, for it is lifeless and selfish, it drinks up the moisture if it were just for itself. The tares quickly and selfishly spread out grabbing the choicest spots, but the rain was not sent just for them either. The tares serve as the physical clothing; it is also compared to the chaff, which encloses the seed. The rain is not sent for the chaff or the tare, but for the seed of God. Jesus said: life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! [Luke 12:23-24] Did He say this to all of us or just to His apostles? Perhaps this is the most difficult thing for us to accept. But does it mean that we should have no barns or storages, which speak of preparing for hard times, just as Joseph did in Egypt. Jesus did not tell us to stop doing it, but rather He spoke about the priorities in our lives. The chaff or tares treat their storage houses as their god, yet the chaff will be burnt up. Insecurity breeds worry. God’s sons and daughters have other sets of priorities, which come from the eternal Kingdom of God. To some, such words sound strange because of another set of priorities. But those who embarked on the spiritual journey will eventually enjoy the other reality, which makes one free from the worries of this world. One begins to see the miraculous in everything when one’s perceptions become spiritual. This season of feasts, New Year, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles speaks of being filled with God’s plenty therefore we should never come before Him empty handed. The reason for it is to help us get detached from things that give us the physical sense of security and wealth. The reality is that no matter how much we gather, the flesh always asks for more, for it does not know when enough is enough. On the other hand, the spirit man remains happy and satisfied. For this reason God said to the Israelites to give the land a Sabbath rest so that the poor might glean from it. One must really work hard on the fleshly greed; one must purposely detach his or her emotions from it. God said, just let it be, leave it for others. Do not attach to it the sense of a possessive ownership. God also said to not forget the Levite, (God’s anointed vessel), who has no inheritance on earth, (Deut. 12:12). For a Levite that’s also very hard for he sees how others gather and store, become wealthy while he must only see it. But it’s even harder, he must depend on the kindness of those who do gather and store. So the Levite hangs in that “insecure air” wondering “how long might this kindness continue?” Will it all cease one day? People are not used to paying for spiritual services because their spirit man is not really alive. The Israelites were exiled because they forgot the Levites, abused the land, which supposed to rest every Shabbat year; they have become selfish and insensitive and so they brought a curse upon themselves. Had God not set up the system of sevenths the earth could not endure it. He visits those who “HATE HIM”, which means: those that have cast aside His admonitions and embarked on the “attached to flesh” journey. But God is love and He longs for His seed so He comes at His appointed feasts, as it were to see if one has repented yet or still walks in sin. He comes to lift the curse. He longs for a relationship; not servitude. He visits the iniquities of the fathers upon their children to the THIRD and FOURTH generations. In the fifth generation He gives grace. In the sixth comes the retribution. But in the seventh generation God lifts all curses; He must cleanse and restore the land and the people unto it. But at the same time He becomes more distant as He keeps on giving us over to our own ways until we become hardened and totally earthly. His Son intercedes for us so that we might be saved, but what remains just religion, a symbolical acknowledgement of God’s existence, a lip service and nothing more. Today the Father cleaves to His overcomers, His sons and daughters, so drink up this blessed dew and blossom. Hallelujah! Amen
A love letter to you from your Heavenly Father “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.” [Exodus 20:5] Today you will discover the great value of YOU - part V. In John 15:23-25 Yeshua said: He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works, which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ The Creator is unable to hate, yet He suffers the brunt of human hate. In God and His kingdom the ‘hate department’ is nonexistent. Even if He would want to hate He just can’t. Can a father hate his own children? “Even these can, but I cannot, I am unable to” — says the Lord. That is your God even the Father who is unable to hate His own children. God is one and He is both the Father and Mother. In Isaiah 49:15-16 He said: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Only people are able to forget, able to despise and grow cold and strangely oblivious to the needs of those God sends their way. Strangely, only people kill the unborn. RAHAM in Hebrew means compassion; the same sounding word REHAM means womb therefore womb is a place of compassion most tender. Yet the most delicate and cherished place has also become a killing field… only humans are able to do it. Is that what Darwin’s evolution brought upon us? His rationale infers that since animals keep on ‘evolving’ they might one day become humans, and if so they will also put sharp instruments inside their bodies in order to abort the unborn? Yet God keeps on visiting the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generations upon those who hate Him because He is a jealous God. He longs for His rebellious creation, but why only few want to learn His ways. People do not want to hear yet another sermon on morality or about the love of God or testimonies of other people’s miracles, because the SELF hates it — “If it did not happen to me then I do not believe it” — such people only grow more bitter and colder. Solomon received just a glimpse of God’s sensitivities when he judged the two mothers. One smothered her own baby and then stole another woman’s living baby. When they fought over the living baby Solomon conducted a test of truth by ordering the living baby to be split in half. The test was simple. The real mother only cared about her baby’s life while the selfish mother cared just about her self; she was willing to watch the horrid act. Her selfish instincts had taken over her moral senses. She figured that if she could not have the baby, neither would she let the real mother have hers. The heavenly Father cannot ever be selfish. He is unable to; it’s a totally foreign thing to Him. God gave us something He does not have, the physical planet and physical bodies and with these the power to rule. (John 4:24) God is Spirit. Yeshua also said (in John 5:31): “If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.” ‘Self’ relates to just the physical, earthly and bodily, while the God-identity is true because it comes from the Spirit of Life or the Spirit of Truth. A man can ascend as high as God’s throne, but also using the same power he can descend to the lowest pit. In the Bible you won’t find even one verse saying that God hates. For lack of better-suiting words translators have used the word ‘hate’ to make a contrast, but in God’s dictionary hate is nonexistent. When God visits He comes to offer all sorts of opportunities so that perhaps one might change, repent and then be showered with blessings. As He had shown His heart in the story of the prodigal son the Father cannot revoke His invitation; His offer stands. The Father cares, He just can’t help but care. He longs to have a feast, which is the primary reason for all of His visitations. Just in case you've made yourself ready for Him He sort of checks up on you. He visits the spiritually blind and yes, also those who hate Him, those blind fools. He also loves them exactly because they are blind fools. The more ‘damaged’ you are the more desirable to Him you become. The more you might feel lost, sinful and inadequate all the more He wants to visit you just so that He might shower you with His heavenly pleasures. He already knows that you are royalty, now it is your turn to recognize it. He wants to show you off to His angels in heaven. He set trumpeters upon the walls of the New Jerusalem who are about to sound their horns announcing your return to Him and the beginning of a great feast. Before Yeshua, none of these truths were accessible to us. He did not and could not have even one ‘hateful bone’ in His body. He was all love. He said (in John 14:23): “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and WE will come to him and make OUR ABODE with him. In this case ABODE means to pitch a tent and settle down, just as it is today in Bedouin tents where one reclines having a festive meal together in a relaxing and happy atmosphere. He will never cease visiting you until He possesses the last atom of your being and makes you one with His Spirit. Meditate on Him day and night, as you rise in the morning and when you lay to rest in the evening. He will be there with arms open wide. Amen |
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