Embrace the Within no. 75

"If we love God we’ll love His children."

A. W. Tozer

I get caught up in my old way of thinking a lot during the day. It’s automatic that when someone asks me a question that I fall back into my mundane and secular old way of answering those questions. And that needs to stop. I need to stop reacting and responding to questions like the old me would and truly embrace the response the new me is really walking.

A lot of times I can see in retrospect what I should have said. How I should have answered that question. BUT I am not fully adapted and changed into the new person that answers in the way I should. And that isn’t fair to God or His image bearer with whom I conversing. My love for God and my neighbor should manifest in saying the correct things. My love for God and my neighbor should manifest in speaking the Truth. And all too often I do not speak the whole Truth. I sometimes only speak the partial Truth.

And part of the Truth is not going to get anyone anywhere. A partial Truth is getting us where we are yesterday and today. A partial truth leads to incorrect doctrine and folks saying things that are heretical. And there are whole systems of belief inside what is supposed to be the Lord’s assembly that are based upon heretical ideas. Sha’ul called out in one of his many letters to the church in Corinth reminded us to, “take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9 NMV). And a lot of what is passing as doctrine is helping new believers stumble and fall rather than support and elevate their faith.

There is too much doctrine and not enough love. There are too many arguments over minor things when we can’t even get the bigger things figured out. When we can’t love our God and our neighbor first, then we should work on that a lot more than whether we are going to allow dancing and instruments in church. When we can’t love our God and our neighbor, then what is the point in getting any of the rest of it right? We already forgot the most important part.

So, I am going to work on loving my God and my neighbor better. I am going to work on being a better ambassador as I walk on this side of eternity. I am going to walk in the Way of the Lord and let doctrine and minutia to the folks that have it all figured out. Because I don’t have it all figured out. And I don’t foresee having it all worked out on this side of eternity. Life is a work in progress.

Shavua tov. Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #NoKingButChrist #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows

Embrace the Within no. 74

"Fruit is evidence of the root.

John Blanchard

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (being lustful, loose or lewd; promoting lustful desires in others), idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, disagreement (dissension), emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God-The Father.

But the fruit of the Spirit [Ruach] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control: against such there is no law. And they that are Moshiach [Messiah]’s have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts.

If we live in the Spirit [Ruach], let us also walk in the Spirit [Ruach]. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:19-26 NMV

You can’t plant tomatoes and harvest corn. Yet, that is exactly what we see folks trying to do. Just as insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, these folks conform to the ways of the world of humanity and expect to harvest corn. There is such a great turning from the Way of the Lord in what portrays itself as the assembly of God these days. A deeply rooted brokenness that is not a failing of God to explain His Way to man BUT a perversion by man of His Way.

And that is entirely behind my reinvigoration with the Way of the Lord and not the way of humanity. Over the past few weeks, I have been recounting my experiences with walking away from the idolatry of nationalism. There is an even greater idolatry going on in churches today that pervert the Way of the Lord into something that so much resembles the way of humanity that they are often indistinguishable from each other.

Over the past week or so, I have been gifted with the insight about our ambassadorship to God. And that understanding is that we do not have dual citizenship. We are not both of a human nation and the Kingdom of God. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are ambassadors of His Kingdom to those still of the nations of humanity. We are not citizens of those nations.

And getting back into alignment with that kingdom is going to get us back into alignment with the Law and the Covenant. The Law does not end with Christ BUT is fulfilled through His action. So, I should be going back to the Law and the Way of the Lord.

And that is where I am going. I am going back to the Law. I am going back to the Jewish foundations of Messiah. I may not be Jewish BUT my Messiah is. And what I know about Judaism is mainly written in the Tanakh. So, I am looking forward to a deeper understanding of that Jewish heritage that is the foundation of the Way of the Lord. And a connection to Messianic Judaism and even Judaism itself is a great way for me to find that alignment with the Way of the Lord.

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things comes the wrath of God-The Father upon the children of disobedience. Be not you therefore partakers with them. For you were sometimes darkness, but now [are you] light in the Lord - Kurios: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit [Ruach] [is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord - Kurios. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them].

Ephesians 5:6-11 NMVShavua tov. Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #NoKingButChrist #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows