2010-10-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As you can see, the Holy Spirit has given us another segment in this series today called “Heaven’s Very Gate.” We will begin with our security in the covenant relationship. To whom did we turn before we came to faith when things went wrong? I can only relate my own experiences; I turned to my parents. They were of little to no help, which is why my life was as out of control from early on. Some people are born to be parents and have a real knack for helping their children and guiding them to adulthood. Sadly, others don’t have this knack. They see their children either emotionally, or in other ways, abused or left to their own devices. My parents were busy with their careers and other things, and they simply didn’t have the time or emotional health to do a good job with me. To make matters worse, I was the unplanned- one child too many- to boot. My parents were traditionally Jewish, so when it came time for me to ask questions about religion, the answer was, “You’re Jewish and you can’t turn your back on your heritage. You will go to shul and be prepared for your confirmation when you are 15, no ifs, ands, or buts!” As an adult, I can understand the reasons for this attitude, in that Jews have a long history of other groups attempting to assimilate them into their belief systems. So, the traditional Jews practice separation from Gentiles and are fiercely afraid of losing any of the children from the faith. However, my own experience is that this approach in rearing children in the faith doesn’t yield true faith, nor does it do much more than to cause a child to leave the faith as soon as he becomes old enough to make decisions for himself. Traditional Jews don’t believe in reaching out to Gentiles to bring them in the faith. In fact, they make it very difficult to convert to Judaism from another faith system.
Oddly enough, I now know that I haven’t turned my back on my heritage. I just took a walk through the neighbor’s garden for awhile and then returned to being Messianic Jewish. In doing so, I learned more than my parents ever knew about the word of God, both OT and NT. I’m not bragging here, just stating a fact. That’s because I know God is in charge and not me or my parents. This also doesn’t mean that I have lost respect for the memory of my parents. I always, with the exception of my middle school years, treated them with love and respect. In the beginning, I turned to them. Once I was free of their control, I turned to a cult in my attempt to fill my empty spirit. This lasted for 12 years, and then God lifted the veil of misinformation from me and opened my eyes to His word in a way I never understood it before. I compared it to the cult’s teaching and found the cult’s teaching wanting. God was moving me in to the position where He wanted me. What was amazing is that He was with me through this whole spiritual journey, gently in control the whole time, and never abandoning me. For the first 25 years of my life, I didn’t even know Him or that He was there. Then, He awakened me from this long spiritual “sleep” gently, and brought me to the place where I could make the decisions He wanted me to make.
Returning to the issue of security, I had never felt secure for the entirety of my early life. While I had an adventure around every corner, some of them were downright dangerous to my body, emotions, and spirit. Nothing made sense or felt complete. Nothing was consistent or could be counted upon, until the time when Jesus Christ, my Yeshua, made His entrance into my consciousness. Because I was an Army brat and because of the nature of my father’s work [he was an Army physician working on research into communicable diseases], I had lived all over North America, had spent my high school years in San Francisco, CA, after his retirement from the service and opening a private practice there. I had overcome running around with the wrong crowd during my middle school years, and had finally stopped some really foul behavior. Throughout this early period in my life, I felt useless, worthless, and unimportant. How very wrong I was! I was none of these things to God, but I didn’t know it. Because I was a girl growing up in the ‘50’s and in a very patriarchal religion, I felt I would never be given the chance to have the opportunities my brothers would have. So, with this scenario, what is the cure? In fact, what is the cure for anyone who seeks security and hasn’t yet found it? I had come to the end of myself and for the first time, prayed for help from God.
God allowed my first marriage to be a 15-year disaster. I was married to a man who was an Orthodox Jew, whose parents had raised him in that faith/cultural system. His immorality and unfaithfulness [please don’t take this to mean that all Orthodox Jews behave this way] left me miserable, and we finally got a divorce. God allowed me to hit rock bottom and then He lifted me out of the pit. PS 40: 1-2, “I waited patiently for the Lord’s help; then He listened to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a Rock and made me secure.” Moreover, PS 40: 3, “He taught me to sing a new song, a song of praise to our God. Many who see this will take warning and will put their trust in the Lord.” I began learning the difference between religion fraught with legalism and faith by God’s love and our gaining knowledge of Who He really is and what He really does. That Rock, which began to give me real security was the Lord Yeshua, and what would finally give me a filled spirit was having a covenant relationship with Him. While not everyone’s story will be the same as mine, I’ve spoken with enough people to know that the general pattern is often the same amongst different circumstances. It is beautiful to know that my nationality, gender, education, career, material wealth, or any other human-crafted criteria doesn’t matter. What matters is our willingness to enter into a covenant relationship with the Lord. His love, salvation, justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and forgiveness of sin is available to anyone willing to repent of his sins, listen to the truth of Jesus Christ, and believe in Him.
PRAYER: O Lord, You choose us first, at a time when we least deserve it. You teach us by Your example how to love. JN 15: 16-17, “You did not choose Me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of Him in My name. This, then, is what I command you; love one another.” In fact there is no time when we deserve the grace and love You give us. That grace is unmerited favor. EPH 2: 8-10, “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do.” In the beginning of our coming to faith, we really don’t understand how important the fruits of the Spirit are to you. GA 5: 22-23, “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.” In my own experience, You, Dearest Abba, have to teach us each one of these fruits, piece by piece, through the experiences You mapped out for us in the course of maturing us spiritually. And still, we have not reached perfection yet; we are still a sinners. But now, we can look forward to the day when we, as true believers in the Lord Jesus, will be taken up to be with You for a blissful eternity. In the meanwhile, there are still lessons for us to learn. We open our hearts to these lessons and to Your Spirit willingly and with clear mindedness. We offer You praise and thanks forever and ever, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will spend more time on what is the cure for feeling useless, unloved, and insignificant. We will learn more from the Holy Spirit on the security we can feel in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. And yes, we can see what it is like to stand at heaven’s very gate. There is no question that the evil one intends to harm us physically, emotionally, intellectually, and/or spiritually. In my own case it was mostly emotionally and spiritually, but his dirty work is real. Had God not loved me the way He does, I would have been ruined. But there is real truth in GN 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Can you see the truth of this as I do? Have you heard and felt the courage the Lord gives us? JS 1: 9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” He gives us wise advice in PS 1: 1, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His laws he meditates day and night.” God is our Help and Salvation. PS 23: 1-3, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He ledadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” The Lord is our Strength and Comfort. PS 71: 20-21, “You have sent trouble and suffering on me, but You will restore my strength; You keep me from the grave; You will make me greater than ever; You will comfort me again.” Be encouraged to know the truth of PHIL 4: 13. “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” Nothing is impossible with God [MK 10: 27] and that includes Him making us in to mature believers who have peace and feel joy in being faithfully obedient producers of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Praise and thanks be to God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15