THE FULFILLER OF DREAMS

     I want you to know that God is a God who fulfills dreams and visions when they are ones that He has given to us. Just as He fulfilled His promise of a son to Abraham and Sarah, taking it upon Himself to make that which seemed impossible, possible, so He does for us.

  I recently experienced this beautiful miracle in my own life. Something that I was “pregnant” with in the Spirit came to fruition in a miraculous, unexpected and marvelous way.

   A little over 3 ½ years ago the Lord gave me vision for a house of prayer that would be called WOWHOP (Watchmen on the Walls House of Prayer). The vision for this house of prayer is that it would ultimately be 24/7 and that the prayer going up from it would be exclusively for the peace of Jerusalem, Israel and the Jewish people. It would be filled with a combination of worship and intercession. I saw that it would be a place where we could help fulfill God’s prayer request for 24/7 prayer in Isaiah 62:6 & 7: I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They will never be silent day or night. You who call upon the Lord, give yourselves no rest and give Him no rest til He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth.”

  A small group of us from my Messianic Jewish Congregation began to pray for Israel in the “upper room” of our congregation every Shabbat after services. Then a door opened where I was invited to lead worship/intercession for Israel at the University of Minnesota House Of Prayer (UMHOP) on Monday evenings. Many of our little band of intercessors would come faithfully and regularly to pray for Israel there as well. We prayed there for a year every Monday evening, while still praying on Shabbat. Then, I was asked to lead a worship service in Buffalo, MN and the lovely woman who had invited me asked that I come every Thursday to her storefront and lead worship/intercession for Israel. So we had 3 worship/prayer times for Israel a week.

    All the while, with no obvious way to go about it or get it done, the Lord kept the vision for WOWHOP alive in my heart and mind. Our little band of intercessors would often pray for that time and place only the Lord knew about, but we prayed in faith that He would bring it about.

   A Messianic Rabbi in our community suggested my name to a visiting missionary from India to lead worship for his services. The woman who oversaw his ministry, Lisa, was a lovely woman and we connected heart-to-heart immediately.

  Later on I invited her to be a part of a new woman’s prayer group that a friend had just begun, so we began to fellowship together bi-weekly. This prayer group knew about the vision for the house of prayer the Lord had placed on my heart, and would often pray into it.

   I had been through a lot in the way of receiving ministry for generational curses, and doors opened for me to do teaching on spiritual warfare. As a result, people began to ask to meet with me to pray for them over generational strongholds in their lives. I would invite them to my apartment and a friend and I would team up to pray for people and saw wonderful breakthroughs in their lives.

   Lisa heard about this and told me she had some offices available in the building she and her husband owned in Long Lake for us to use for that kind of prayer. I finally visited the building a couple of months later…exactly 3 ½ years to the week that we had begun praying for Israel. The offices were perfect for the prayer ministry; and then I went around the corner of the offices into a 1000 sq. ft. space that Lisa had told me another vendor in her building was going to be renting. But, now she told me that person had backed off from renting it.  It had been vacant for 2 years. We both saw that it would be perfect for WOWHOP and she and her husband donated the space to us to begin the house of prayer.

  WOWHOP officially opened on May 20^th, 2014.  We had forty people come that first night to pray for Israel. The numbers aren’t always that high, but it doesn’t matter if there are forty, fifteen or five…the Lord is always SO present and SO leading us in strategic prayer by His Spirit.

  I wanted to share this testimony with you to strengthen you in your faith to believe for those things He has planted in your heart, even as you faithfully do those things He puts in front of you.  (I have included pictures of the beautiful WOWHOP space the Lord has so graciously given to us.)

Til next time,

Shalom!

  

HOW CAN WE BELIEVE?

One of the passages in Scripture that has really captured my attention lately is in the 5th chapter of John, where the following words of Yeshua are recorded: “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.  Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. I don’t receive glory from men. But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves. I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.  How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?  Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.  But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

I know there are those who are following a teaching these days that any encounter with Yeshua apart from the scriptures is deception. Yet, in these verses we find Yeshua telling the people of his day that they were believing that the scriptures themselves gave them eternal life, and he acknowledged that those scriptures testify of Him, but these same people were refusing to come to HIM, the Messiah in the flesh, not just in the Word.

But what really stood out to me in this passage are the two times Yeshua asks how we can believe. The first time he asks  us how we can believe if we receive glory from one another, and we don't seek the glory that comes from the only God. He's telling us that  seeking to be praised by one another rather than by God makes it impossible for us to believe in him! That's something I had never considered before. Where and how we seek to obtain glory affects our ability to believe. I know we have all suffered from this malady of wanting the praise and applause of men more than praise from God. But, Yeshua isn't just recommending we seek the praise that comes from His Father and not from each other--he is equating it with our ability to believe at all!


 But how do we walk this out? False humility, where we are constantly pointing to God when we get compliments about our ministry isn't the answer. We may think we're seeking God's glory in that, but what we're doing is walking in fear--fear of taking glory away from God and fear of not appearing humble before men. It can also be a subtle form of pride that tells the person who is complimenting you that they really need to see more truth and not give you any credit or praise for your efforts. That actually hurts people who are looking for a way to express their gratitude for what God just did through you! It really is OK to hear each other tell each other how the anointing and the gifting God has placed in each of us has blessed our hearts. The correct response is to rejoice with them over the wonder that God would use weak jars of clay to display His glory, and respond with a loving, "Praise God! I'm so glad you were blessed! I was blessed, too!" That is walking in love and humility, not fear. It's all about our hearts' motivations and our needs. Seeking the praise that comes from God is found in spending time with Him in the "secret place" where we find our inestimable worth in his eyes. Only that can leave us satisfied and not seeking our sense of worth elsewhere. Then we are able to take the compliments without them meeting a need that is unmet by God. I believe that is a key to what can deliver us from seeking glory from one another and not from the only God. Yeshua put it this way in Matthew 6:5 & 6:And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I don't believe Yeshua is saying we should never pray in public. But if the heart motivation is like the Pharisees he is referring to--"to be seen by others"-- then it's time to get into the secret place with God and pray to him there. That is where we find our worth.
I can tell you from experience that when I journal my prayers to God, he pours out praise on me! He just goes on and on about how much he loves me, how he sees me, what I mean to him. I come away from those times with fresh revelation of my inestimable worth in his eyes; and my heart is filled with the love of God!

Another statement Yeshua makes about our ability to believe in Him is that if we believed Moses' writings then we would believe Him. Then he makes a statement that I have never heard a sermon preached on in my whole life. He says "But if you don't believe his (Moses') writings, how will you believe my words?" 

When Yeshua spoke of the Scriptures that were being searched out,  he was speaking of the Law and the Prophets--what is now called the "Old Testament." And he tells us that these scriptures "testify" about Him. He tells us that seeing how the Old Testament scriptures testify about Him makes it possible for a person to come to Him to have life. We see an example of this after his resurrection when he walks with the two disciples who are filled with doubt and unbelief on the road to Emmaus. This is what he tells them as they express their dismay over all that had taken place when Yeshua was crucified, and how their hopes in his being the Messiah had been dashed:  He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Here we see what he had said in John 5 confirmed; we are foolish and slow to believe when we don't know what Moses and the prophets say concerning Him. It kind of makes the doctrine that is commonly preached that all that Moses has said and, in fact, the whole 
Old Testament are "done away with" a dangerous one, doesn't it? So many are taught that all scripture before the Book of Matthew  is no longer relevant to our faith. Yeshua himself has told us the exact opposite---that not only should it not be ignored, but it is vital to know what Moses wrote about him in order to believe in him, and might I add,to know who he truly is!

So in this one passage he speaks of two conditions of our faith, our belief, our hearts that determine our ability to believe in Him and believe His words. One is if we seek praise from each other, and not from God. The other is if we don't believe what Moses wrote about Him. I know the Holy Spirit is at work throughout the earth to bring correction to the children of God in regards to both of these detriments to our believing. May He use my little offering here, which is spoken in love and compassion for all who are seeking to truly believe, to do that work in our hearts.

Til next time,

Shalom!

Strong In Me

You are My loved one and you are My child.

The world you walk in is untamed; it is wild.

Roots on the path make you stumble and fall.

Voices will whisper and night owls will call.

Just know I have walked it, I know every bend.

And for every step you take, My grace I’ll send.

Just learn to access Me with eyes looking up.

I’ve water to give you; just hold out your cup.

I know that at times it is hard just to lift

Your arms up in order to receive My gift.

But if you will do this, and if you’ll oppose

The forces of evil that try to impose

Their will on your feelings; their thoughts on your mind,

I promise you there will be power you’ll find

working on your behalf that was there all along.

My child, I am telling you, in ME you’re strong!

It is true what My Word says. The enemy flees

At the sight of my warriors down on their knees

Entreating and calling on My holy Name.

He flees because he knows that now he’s fair game!

Then all of the darkness that tries to deceive

Returns to its haunts because YOU, child, BELIEVE!

So keep your eyes open. I’m not far, but near.

The moment you turn to Me, you’ll find I’m here.

Just KNOW that it’s true I’m at your beck and call.

I proved that to you when I gave you My all.

So call on My Name and receive what I died for.

Then My zeal will fill you to get what I cried for—

The children of Abraham scattered abroad

Gathered in the shadow of the wings of God!

 

TAKE MY NAME

The Lord recently gave me a revelation about the third commandment that seriously rocked my world.  The scripture in Exodus 20 verse 7 states:  “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” (NKJ)
Now, if you’re like me you were told what that commandment meant was that God’s Name was not to be spoken in a careless way, or to be used as a swear word or as a curse.  But for my whole believing life that never quite sounded right to me. I felt like there was more to it than that. And whenever I would apply the commandment that way, I didn’t feel the Holy Spirit witnessing to it. It was just a few months ago that the Lord dropped this revelation on me (and I keep calling it that, because that is how it felt) about what the word “take” means in this verse. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” He showed me that when a woman marries a man she “TAKES” his name. Her husband gives her his name and it speaks of their unity and the covenant between them. Mark Cohen marries Rachel Sheldon and she becomes Mrs. Rachel Cohen. When people see that’s her name, they know she is in partnership and covenant with Mark. But if she were to start running around paying more attention to other men than to her own husband; if she dishonored him by acting like they weren’t even married; if she rebelled against him, ran away from him and refused to listen to him it would seem she had taken Mark’s name “IN VAIN”.  She would no longer be honoring him, his name or the covenant between them. That is what the Lord was warning the Israelites (and us) against. That if we are going to claim to belong to Him, then our walk and our lives should reflect our commitment to Him and our love for Him.

Now I had to look up that word “take” in the Hebrew to find out if what I was hearing was accurate and truly from the Lord. Imagine my excitement to find that the word translated as “take” in Exodus 20:7 is the Hebrew word תִשָּׂ֛א (tis-sa) which means “to lift, carry, take”. So it can be translated as “You shall not CARRY the name of the Lord your God in vain.” That makes sense since the Lord said He would put His name on the children of Israel.  And what He puts on people they then “carry”.

We see this in Numbers 6:22-27 when God gives the Aaronic blessing to Aaron the high priest and his sons and states that when the people are blessed in this way the priests will be putting His Name on the children of Israel:  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:  “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’  “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” (NKJ)

The covenant that took place at Mount Sinai between God and His people is often looked at by the Rabbis as a marriage covenant. As we read in Exodus 19:3-8: And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:  ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”  So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him.  Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (NKJ)

This was the “I do” of the marriage covenant between God and Israel.

This concept of a marriage covenant between God and Israel is confirmed in later prophetic books where God refers to Israel as His bride. In Hosea 2:16 & 17, God speaks of restoring Israel to Himself and part of that restoration is they would no longer be known by the names of the Baals: “And it shall be, in that day,” Says the Lord, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’and no longer call Me ‘My Master,’¹⁷ For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered by their name no more.” (NKJ)

It's clear from this passage that God wants Israel to call Him her Husband and wants her to be remembered by His Name and no other's.

As New Covenant believers we  have taken the name of Yeshua because we are His bride. We are told to heal people, make requests of the Father, receive little children, rebuke the enemy and touch the world “in His Name”. I do not want to carry that name in vain! I want to represent Him, His power, His authority, the love with which He loves me and the covenant He has made with me through His blood. I want to carry His Name in a way that honors the One whose name I have been given!

Since the Lord gave me light on this I have seen one Messianic magazine article and one Facebook post that expressed this same interpretation of the third commandment. So I know the Holy Spirit is making this known to His people right now. And I want to join Him in making it known by sharing it here. It so blessed my heart and gave me such a determination to carry His Name in the Spirit and love it was given to me…and not in vain.

Til next time,

Shalom!

 

 

 

DUAL COVENANT DECEPTION

 

2 Corinthians 3:6 NLT
He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.





Sometimes it astounds me how many false doctrines regarding God's heart and plan for the Jewish people are preached and find acceptance in the church. Although, since this issue of God's plan and destiny for Israel and the Jewish people is foundational to so many aspects of what we believe about God's character and about his plan for the nations, I shouldn't be surprised that the deceiver has recently introduced a new deception called "Dual-Covenant Theology". People who ascribe to this doctrine believe that the Christians have one covenant and the Jewish people have another covenant, just as "viable" as the one Christians have. It's a convenient way for these people to "bless" Israel while removing the offense of the Gospel and the persecution that follows preaching it. They not only preach that believers in Jesus are not obligated to preach the Good News to the Jewish people, but that they would be remiss in doing so! Where they find this in Scripture I have no idea. You would have to not only throw out the 9th, 10th and 11th chapters of Romans, but you would have to throw Paul, his heart to reach his people with the Gospel, and his conversion experience out with them! If Paul already had a covenant, then why did he need to be saved? Why was he knocked off his horse? Why did he repent? Why was he baptized? Why did he preach to the Jews?  And to make it more personal...why did I have to receive my Messiah? Let me tell you how I was saved, what I was saved from and what I was saved into. Hopefully my testimony will convince anyone who is considering the Dual-Covenant theology to re-think and realize the error of it. I had a conversation with someone who believed in a dual covenant. He said to me, "I would never preach to a Jew! They are all going to be saved in a day!" My reply? "I'm certainly glad the person who preached the gospel to me didn't believe that!"

I was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota; not exactly a Jewish mecca. But, there were around thirty Jewish families and there was a synagogue.  I was raised to love the idea of being Jewish, but didn't have much understanding of why I was Jewish, except that my parents were, and their parents were, and so on. Around the time I was twelve, I desired to attend services every Shabbat, but my parents, leaning a bit more toward being secular than religious, didn't see the need to attend except for the High Holy Days and the Jewish festival days. So, I would often light the Sabbath candles by myself on Friday nights. I was seeking God and would pray to Him, mostly because I was plagued with questions and fears about what happens after we die. I would beg God not to let any of my family members die, bringing each one of their names before him every night.
One day, when I was around thirteen, I read an article in a magazine about reincarnation. Being desperate for some kind of hope after this life, I embraced this belief. Later, that opened the door for  exploration of Eastern religions, astrology, numerology, transcendental meditation, etc. But, in the midst of all of this spiritual odyssey, I felt very lost. Nothing ever gave me peace. Nothing I did, be it stare into candles or sit in a lotus position saying "Ommm" touched the emptiness I felt in my soul. When I was seventeen, I wrote a poem that described this emptiness I felt:

These empty words could never tell
The language that is known in hell.
These empty thoughts could never find
A peaceful place within this mind.
These empty tears could never flow
As far as this despair can go.
This emptiness cannot portray
The emptiness I feel today.

At this point I'd like to ask that if I, as a Jew, already had my own "covenant" with God which would save me and bring me into relationship with God, why would I write a poem like that?

Another struggle I had was that I had no moral compass. I depended on the world to tell me what was right, acceptable and good and what wasn't. Unfortunately, the world I lived in didn't have a moral compass either. Drugs, promiscuity, rebellion, lying...all of it was deemed "Okay" in my generation. I had no sense of right and wrong, evil and good. I was only trying to survive emotionally and spiritually in a world that had things backwards. "Freedom" meant freedom to live a self-centered, self-gratifying life with no thought of how it would or could affect others.

Finally, when I was 18 years old, I actually looked up and asked God a question about my search for Him. I had come to a point where I realized that staring into candles wasn't making me a more humble, loving person. It was one night when I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't get into an argument with anyone in my family. I made it through dinner just fine, but then my sister and I had to clean the kitchen. We got into such a huge screaming match we were almost throwing pots and pans at each other! I went into my bedroom, slammed the door and for the first time looked up and asked God a question that I had been depending on books by gurus to answer. My question was, "How long does this take?"  I was worried I had a few more "lives" to go through to get spiritual enough to know Him! Immediately, I was given an answer. A thought came to me with such clarity, it was almost like a voice spoke inside of me. And the voice said, "Do God's will." I had never considered that before. So, very seriously, I stood up and quietly prayed, "I want Your will done in my life from now on." The next day an old friend called me and told me he wanted to go out to coffee with me. I hadn't seen him in months and couldn't imagine why he wanted to get together.  As we sat in the booth of the restaurant later that evening, he told me he had become born-again and it had totally changed his life. In my infinite wisdom I replied, "That's nice. There are as many ways to God as there are men." But he told me something that would change my life forever. "No," he said. "Jesus said 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)  Well, I was pretty spiritually sensitive since I was constantly searching out spiritual experiences, and when he said that scripture verse and quoted what Jesus had said, I saw something bright white in front of my eyes cut through something grey, like a veil. I said to him, "What? He didn't say THIS is the way, or THAT is the way? He said "I AM the Way?"  My friend replied, "Yes. He said that many would try to climb up from other ways, but they were as thieves and robbers." I put this together with what I had just prayed about God's will in my life. I went home hoping this wasn't the way to get to God. I knew if it was,  it was going to cause all sorts of trouble for me with my family!  But I wanted to know God more than anything. So I prayed, "Jesus...if you are the only way to God, then come into my heart." And He did! The next morning everything looked and felt different. It wasn't long before I realized what it was. I could tell the difference between right and wrong for the first time in my life! I had a choice! I could choose what was right because I could see! I had light to see by! I remember thinking how a person born blind would never know they were blind until they saw for the first time. That's what it was like for me! And love? I felt God's love for me and my love for Him in a way I'd never known was possible. I was like a young girl who had just fallen madly in love with someone! (And I've been madly in love with Him ever since!)

The Lord showed me there are three keys to salvation for the Jews in the way I came to know Him.
The first is that I turned to the Lord and asked Him a question about how to find Him. 2 Corinthians 3:15-16  says speaking of the Jewish people "Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."

The second was that I told God I wanted His will done in my life.  In John 7:17 Yeshua said, "If any man seeks to do God's will, he will know whether My words come from Me or from God."

 And the third was that I accepted Him on an "if" basis. I didn't know "if" He was the Messiah, but "if" He was, then I was willing to receive Him into my heart and life. And He honored that prayer and saved me.

So, when sharing with a Jewish person, encourage them to have a conversation with God, and ask Him what the best way is to draw close to Him. 

You can also ask them if they would want God's will done in their life. If so, you can ask them to pray that with you. It will give them ears to hear God's Word and know it is from God. That is what happened to me. That is why the Lord didn't come to me and say, "Jesus is the Jewish Messiah". He just told me, "Do God's will." Then I had ears to hear!

You can ask a Jewish person another question. "IF Jesus is the Messiah, do you want Him? IF he is the only way to God, would you want to follow Him?"  Because if they receive Him on that basis, He will show up and make Himself real to them, just as He did for me! 

Again, I thank God that my friend who shared the news of my Messiah with me hadn't been falsely taught that you should never witness to a Jewish person. Because I would have missed out on a relationship with God, a new beginning, forgiveness and cleansing of my sins, the joy of knowing how loved I am and the assurance that I  have eternal life.  Please, don't withhold these beautiful gifts of salvation from a Jewish soul. It's easy to say "I love Israel. I bless Israel. I respect the Jewish people." The hard part is being willing to endure the backlash and persecution that often come with sharing the Messiah with them. But Paul thought it was worth it. As you read about his ministry, see how often he went to the synagogues to share the good news of Yeshua with his brethren. And see what happened to him as a result! But it was all worth it to him to see some saved. He even said he made much of his ministry to the Gentiles in order to see some of the Jewish people find the Jewish Messiah.

Don't be fooled. Don't be deceived. The salvation of the Jews and their receiving their Messiah with open arms is what it will take for Yeshua to return to Jerusalem. He told them in Matthew 23:29

"For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”  Let us all pray and labor to that end. For it is God's desire, and it was Yeshua's when He wept over Jerusalem, to gather the Jewish children under His wings. Let's all work to help give Him the desire of His heart.

 

Until next time,

 

Shalom.

 

The Only Light

 

 

 

 

 

In light of the events in Connecticut and unspeakable loss and pain those families and community are feeling, I wanted to share a poem the Lord once gave me. I hope it will comfort us all.

 

 

Life can be so hard sometimes;

it can get so confusing

when deep down I know I've won,

but I still feel like I'm losing.

Oh, Lord, ain't it hard

hanging on a tree;

hanging on to knowing that

 it is a victory.

 

I hear talk of sunshine,

and I hear talk of rain.

I hear peals of laughter,

and I hear cries of pain.

I hear words of love rise up

above the sounds of war.

And, oh, Lord ain't it hard sometimes

remembering what it's for?

 

And I'd like to say I've got it straight,

but really, God, I don't.

 I'd like to find a peaceful place

in this world, but I won't.

And I'd just like to cry out to You

and tell you I can't see.

I'm walking blindly, God, by faith

that you are leading me.

 

And I don't know where I am going.

And I'm looking for whatever light is showing.

But, in this dear God, I thank You that I'm knowing...

 

You walked this earth.

You laughed and cried.

You felt the pain well up inside.

You lived, my God,

and then you died

hanging on a tree...

in victory.

 

You are the only light I can see.



The Fire of His Love

 

 

 

                                                                          



We have come through the High Holy Days--Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur and now we are in the midst of the Feast of Tabernacles, the "Season of our Joy". I'm convinced that it was during this Feast of Succot that Yeshua took up His "temporary tent", His earthly tabernacle and was born into this world that He might tabernacle with us. The angels announced to the shepherds "Tidings of Great Joy" during a Feast where the Jews were commanded to rejoice! There are many other reasons why the Scriptures point to this Feast as the time of Yeshua's birth, but what I want to focus on today is what it means to us that He came to "tabernacle" with us. (By the way, I'm getting that from  John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth." {Young's Literal Translation}).

Before I knew Yeshua I was so empty. I was like an abandoned dwelling, a broken down shack, with the windows boarded up and no light streaming in. When He came into my heart after I invited Him in, it was like someone had come in and swept my dwelling clean, shone light into it and opened all the windows to a fresh, fragrant breeze.

What I discovered was that Yeshua wanted to take over my tabernacle, my house, my temporary tent, my body, and fill it with the essence of who He is--His Spirit--that I might become a Tabernacle of His Presence. He wants it to be that everywhere I go, people will see His light and feel the refreshing wind of His Spirit blow into their lives.

But how does this happen? Certainly by faith in the finished work of Messiah. But it's also a process. One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 10:14 "because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."  So we are already seen as perfect forever, even as we are being made holy!. It is during the time of Teshuvah, the 40 days between the first of Elul and Yom Kippur, and especially between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, the Ten Days of Awe as they are called, that the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, shines His light and brings His fire to bear on the things in our lives that are obstacles to our being one, at peace and in unity with God.  He is always at work in us, but it's during this time of year that this process seems to be intensified. I have seen believers who have no idea what time of year it is, during these days, exclaim, "I have been under so much conviction lately!" You see, God deals with His Body according to His appointed times, even when His body is oblivious to those times.
Well, this last season was especially "hot" for me, as I sought to draw near to God. So, being the loving and merciful God He is, He gave me a prophetic poem to encourage me to stay close in spite of the heat. He knew I needed that kind of encouragement because I was feeling the fire, and it was hot! The fire I experienced from His gaze, His jealous passion and determination to see those things that stood between Him and me consumed by the fiery love in His heart was enough to make me want to run and hide! It felt to my soul the way it feels to my skin when I stand too close to a big bonfire! But what follows is what He told me in the poem...and I want to share it with you to encourage you to draw close to His heart, even when it's very apparent our God is a Consuming Fire; because that Consuming Fire is His Love.

There is a fire that burns within My heart

That few will draw close to, for when they start

To let their hearts draw closer to My own,

They find that what is hidden becomes known,

Not only to Me, but now to their soul;

Those hidden things that show they are not whole.

And so they hide in shame and run from Me,

Not knowing staying close would make them free

Of those things that in My fire are exposed;

For only in my Fire are they deposed.

For if a person stays close and decides

That they will remain where My Fire abides,

Allowing it to refine what is dross,

And being willing to count all as loss

Compared to the profit of knowing Me,

They’ll find that what they’d always hoped would be

Becomes what’s real, and they walk in the Light,

Now unafraid that what’s in them’s not right.

For they’ll have given up that which was broken,

And traded it for what My Mouth has spoken:

That apart from Me they can do no good;

That only with Me they’ll do what they should.

For they have traded their own hearts for Mine,

And so partake in the Nature Divine,

Til it’s no longer them living, but Me.

It is THIS Fire that sets the captive free.

Not trying to take a scalpel to the cancer.

Cutting away a part is not the answer;

But killing the old man til there’s no trace

Of anything that’s not empowered by grace.

For grace is that by which the new one stands,

And only by that grace heeds My commands.

It is My grace poured out from heaven’s stores

That frees a man from guilt, regret, remorse,

And lets him see he’s nothing on his own,

And that by grace He stands, and grace alone.

It is my fire that does this work in man.

Nothing else will perfect him; nothing can.

 

So may we all be given the courage to draw close to the fire.

Til next time,

Shalom!