Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 30

“Keep pursuing shalom with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Messianic Jews (Heb) 12:14). Grace and Shalom to your home. I say it and type it several times a day. I need grace because it is the only way I receive righteousness. I need shalom because that is wholeness and well-being as well as peace. I cannot be at peace if I am not whole. And being whole means health physically, mentally, and spiritually. And the only way to get shalom is through a right relationship with my body, my mind, and my God.

I cannot be at peace with others when I am at war with myself. When I started this journey, I was at war with myself. My body, my mind, and my spirit were totally out of alignment with being right. I was a mess. So, I started getting my body and my mind right. I stopped poisoning myself and started focusing on health. As my body and mind began to get healthy, I began to get right with God. And once I started to get well-being in myself, then a peace with others began.

So, I know what it was like to be at war. Prior to shalom, I was constantly at war with myself and others. I was at war because I was not whole. I was not right. I was not well.

BUT, I also now understand what it is like to be at peace. It is so very difficult to be right with God and be at war, “How blessed are those who make peace! for they will be called sons of God” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:9). I needed to seek shalom with myself and a right relationship with Him before I could move forward and love my neighbor. And everything in my walk with Him hinges on listening to Him when He says, “‘You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ This is the greatest and most important mitzvah . And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot” (Mattityahu (Mat) 22:37-40). I cannot be whole, I cannot be well, I cannot be at peace, if I am not right with Him. Something is going to need to get aligned if I am not in a right relationship with God.

How can I be right with Him and not possess the fruits of Him indwelling within me, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things” (Galatians (Gal) 5:22-23)? It is not possible. Folks will try to make excuses. I will try to make excuses. BUT, “You will recognize them by their fruit” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:16). And be warned, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:21). “So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed — and its collapse was horrendous” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:24-27)!

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH

Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 29

“Arise, shine [Yerushalayim], for your light has come, the glory of Adonai has risen over you. For although darkness covers the earth and thick darkness the peoples; on you Adonai will rise; over you will be seen his glory. Nations will go toward your light and kings toward your shining splendor” (Yesha 'yahu (Isa) 60:1-3). God is light to a world filled with darkness. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness” (B'resheet (Gen) 1:1-4). And just like in creation, God’s light will dispel the darkness that is over the earth. We just need to go toward the light and turn from the darkness. “From that time on, Yeshua began proclaiming, ‘Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near’” (Mattityahu (Mat) 4:17)! Turn from our sins to God. Turn from darkness and embrace the light. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it” (Yochanan (Jhn) 1:1-5). His light shines in the darkness. His light overcomes the darkness. And, in turn, we need to embody that light, “You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:14-16). That is all of us that need to be His light. He wasn’t just saying that to His disciples. He wasn’t just saying that to folks that followed Him. He was telling everyone that they were the light. And we can all be light to the darkness. And we are warned, “And this is the message which we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him — none! If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth. But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin” (1 Yochanan (1 Jo) 1:5-7). And I need to take that warning seriously. I can’t walk in light and darkness. I can’t love and hate. I can’t be a peacemaker and bang the drum of war. I can’t be meek and want glory for myself. I can’t be the things of God and the things of the Goyim. I have to choose light or darkness. And too often we take goodness and light and push it to the side for the moment because being like Jesus isn’t practical. It isn’t popular to be based on His foundation. But if you want to know why folks think church folks are hypocrites, it is because they expect Christians to be based when, all too often, they are just church folks. They fail to be like Jesus, like the Messiah, like the Christ, and they all to often act like He isn’t enthroned and gave the path to being the light of the world. Too often they are not based on Him. Too often they are based on the world. And He warned about this as well, “So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed — and its collapse was horrendous” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:24-27)!

Why are churches falling apart? Why is attendance decreasing? Why are folks dechurching? Dude, I can’t blame them. I see too often the hypocrisy and I will always shine a light on that darkness. Hypocrisy was a driving force for me to leave church. Church folks have a weak foundation that is easily exposed by the slightest rain or wind of life. Christians are foundationally sound. And Christians are not blown about by the winds of the world. They aren’t supporting the next cause or the next thing of the world. Christians stand for Him and stand in His light. It is no great mystery why churches are failing, it is because folks are failing to be based. And people want Truth.

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH