Hier ist das heutige „Schabbat-Nugget“.
Twenty years ago I was glued to the television watching the second plane crash into the side of a building I knew so well. I had spent many rush hours in the basement of both towers handing out Gospel literature to the thousands of men and women coming and going.
Watching the tower implode, I wondered how many of those people remembered the words of the Gospel – and in their last few moments made a decision for Yeshua.
Once again my eyes are glued to what is happening.
Shalom and greetings from Jerusalem!
This is Joanie_n_Jerusalem wishing you a blessed Shabbat as I bring to you a Sabbath Jewel.
Admittedly this “jewel” was written amid conflicting emotions, grieve, anger, shock to name the few that I can identify.
As my heart pounds, I recognize that I’m really speaking to and about those who claim to follow Yeshua, Jesus, or by any other name. What about the others who need to hear? Well God is our publicist! And of course you can help.
The title of today is: “My Way or Yours?
A very similar message will be published on the Lunchtime Prayer for Israel You Tube Channel under the category Sabbath Sweets with the title…..“Listen to Me”
Both versions will be found in the archive on Novea.org/media/video teachings under the appropriate category…
It will also be on Vimeo under Joan Lipis
Let’s take a deep breath!
Once again my eyes are glued as a country closer to Israel than New York was in horrendous turmoil. Just in the last few days, many have been beaten, tortured, and killed, as women and children taken into sexual slavery.
Almost the entire world is reacting, and many are responding. People in every nation are pondering the intense geopolitical ramifications of a complete takeover of country in a very strategic Middle East location. Others are more concerned with the economic factors.
Fortunately many put the plight of the people as a priority doing whatever they can to rescue and provide whatever is possible.
Probably the greatest number of people are dedicating themselves to prayer. Calls for prayer vigils abound along with commitment to fast as well as pray. Quite often these prayer calls include instructions ‘how to pray.’ At the top of the list:
• Rescue and protection for those trapped especially the Believers
• Salvation for the enemy
All this is to be applauded.
As I watch riveted to the news, I too pray but I find myself praying differently. Let me make it clear that I am NOT in any way suggesting that the way I pray is right or better.
I want to repeat that: I am NOT in any way suggesting that the way I am praying is better or right.
Like others, my heart was breaking for those left behind, yet I found myself praying
• That God’s will be done without hesitation and to the fullest.
• that God would reveal any and everything that needs to be exposed in the Government leaders who are and continue to be the most responsible for the situation. Were there motivations and decisions based on God’s righteousness? Let truth be revealed.
• May all who have a vibrant personal relationship with Yeshua know His presence and peace.
• That God’s peace despite fear, doubt and suffering will be a testimony to glory of God and impact those watching.
Strangely I didn’t pray for Believers’ protection. Was my heart so cold? Wasn’t I grieved? Of course I was grieved, for every man, woman and child.
But I found my focus going beyond today. I looked back to the suffering of the Jews during the Holocaust and then forward to The Tribulation when Christians will be hunted with a ferocity unknown to man.
Friends, we are already living in a world that is somewhere between the Holocaust and the Tribulation. Who among us is not already suffering to some extent? Who among us isn’t facing turmoil and hardships of some kind. While THE Tribulation is before us, remember the words of Yeshua
John 16: 33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Child of God, we can and we must walk victoriously through these times. We can and we must hold onto God’s promises for ourselves and those for whom we are praying.
Remember:
Regardless of circumstances, God promises that all our days are numbered in His book
Ps 139:16
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He promises to walk and comfort us through the shadow of death:
Ps 23:4
He even prepares a table before me in the fact of my enemy! (Not sure if I could eat though)
And He collects every one of our tears.
Ps 56:8
I wonder if, when we get to heaven, every one of those tears will be a precious stone which we will throw back at His feet with gratitude.
I prayed the words Yeshua sang on His last night and probably on His way to Gethsemane
Ps 118:6, 14, 17
The Lord is on my side;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.
I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the Lord.
So what was making my prayers so different?
It was the still small voice that seemed to bellow to me
They come with many requests and even praise but they don’t really know Me as I long to be known.
How can anyone fill the earth with the knowledge of My glory if they do not know me
Stunned I could only drop to the floor and weep. Do not our prayers reflect our faith and our focus?
God, the God who created everything that ever existed, the God who speaks to the sun and it rises or stops at His command, God who speaks to the rain, the snow, the hail, God who feeds the animals…this God, the one and only WANTS to be known by His creatures. .
The word “knowledge” comes from the Hebrew root “yada” which means to know by personal experience. And that’s the way God wants us to know Him… By personal experience
Beloved, I suggest that simply reading His word will give us head knowledge, but not the deep personal relationship we have been designed for.
God wants us to KNOW Him not only by His word, but by His presence, His rhema words whispered to your heart by the Holy Spirit and His works in your life
. It’s why He gave us His new covenant:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
And yet still people don’t recognize Him or worse don’t WANT to know Him.
Many use the parable that Yeshua told to encourage us not only to pray but to pray without ceasing. May I add that we should speak to God (prayer) not only when there is a need but at all times.
Luke 18:1-8 – the persistent woman and the unrighteous judge.
Beware of using a parable to develop theology for doctrine.The “circumstances” of a parable are not to be interpreted closely [the judge is not representative of God.] Parables are mere appendages to the narrative.
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The purpose of the parable is the all-important question “Who is God to me?”
If we are honest with ourselves, we may find that we think of God as a faraway king, unapproachable like the unrighteous judge. But the reality is that God is our Father who cares and is committed to the best for our lives. He cares more for people than either you or me. It is God who is intimately and actively involved in our lives!
Who we believe God is will impact how we approach Him with our prayers.
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• Do we pray believing IN God or believing FOR something?
• Do we make demands expecting our request to be answered because He had made a similar promise somewhere and in a totally different context, yet we choose to apply it to our lives and circumstance
or
are we simply placing our need before Him and allowing Him to do what is best…
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Fasting: prayer and fasting is not a “work” in which to labor. It is an act of faith and obedience…as Jesus said “some must include fasting”. Friends whether or not to fast is not for us to decide but by listening we obey the Holy Spirit.
Finally are we honestly surrendering our need or our request totally and completely to His decision?
I often think of King Hezekiah who begged the Lord for an extension on his life. The Lord granted his request giving him 15 more years of life. In that time, Hezekiah who had been an excellent king not only disobeyed the Lord, he had a son named Manessah who was the worst king of Israel. In fact, Manasseh was so evil that despite the good works of Josiah who succeeded him, the Lord’s anger was so fierce He determined to remove Judah from His sight.
Hezekiah begged and the Lord answered! It was a selfish request that was the catastrophe for Israel.
What about the people begging for meat in the wilderness on their way to the promised land? They were tired of the manna…so God gave them quail. And while the quail was in their mouths, the Lord struck them with a severe plague.
Bottom line…are we praying according to our desires or laying ourselves and our desires at His feet? It’s a question of “Do we really know Him?” Scripture says, “Those who know your name…will put their trust in You.” (Psalm 9:10)
Now we come to what is probably the hardest for us to face…..the issue of suffering.
How many of us would willingly offer himself to suffer?
Romans 5:7-8
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
But God
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Yeshua died for us.
Indeed, as followers of Yeshua, we are encouraged to do as Yeshua did:
Philippians 2:5-8
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, .
Here is another stunning thought especially in the current situation for those who are facing great suffering and probably death at the hand of others….
While God hears prayers for deliverance from suffering and probable death, He deliberately delays.
I wish I could give credit for the following:
The prayer is heard, but God, in the exercise of mercy and forbearance, has dealings with the oppressors. It were easy for the Almighty to grant an immediate answer, by visiting some of the oppressors with immediate punishment, and this is not his way of working. God bears long before his judgments swift and terrible are sent forth.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Beloved, the best news of all is that God will avenge His people! we are not to seek revenge because vengeance is the Lord’s. Certainly we don’t have to lose hope even when our prayer is not answered. In fact how many have lost faith when their childhood prayer for healing of a parent or a marriage does not get answered?
We might have to wait longer than we want, but our blood and the blood of others will be avenged! The time, place and way is up to God, but He will do it!
So as the prayer music plays, search your hearts.
Do you KNOW God as He wants to be known?
Do You trust that as Scripture says, He is just and all that He does is perfect?
Search your hearts…who is He in your life?
Now is the time to lay down all false expectations and all misconceptions.
Bow before Him, allow Him to be all that He wants to be in Your life for His glory through Yeshua and by the Holy Spirit.
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Before we say “Amen” please read with me Psalm 121.