No King BUT Christ no. 8

“Praised be God, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, compassionate Father, God of all encouragement and comfort; who encourages us in all our trials, so that we can encourage others in whatever trials they may be undergoing with the encouragement we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians (2 Co) 1:3-4). God is one that encourages and comforts. Likewise as disciples of His Kingdom, we should encourage and comfort others just like God encourages us.

It is so easy to take our Goyim practices from our old lives or even pick up the Goyim practices in our daily walk among them and become folks that are bitter, discouraging, and uncomforting. I was definitely a guy that was all of those things and worse. I would look down my nose at folks that struggled. I had no hope for them or myself. I was definitely not comforted and I was definitely not giving out comfort. I was giving out a lot of judgment and wrath. And those are hard habits to break BUT they are not unbreakable. And the Spirit will work to fix those problems in me when I allow Him to do that.

Just like all skills, being a comfort and encouragement are skills that need practice and development. I often feel like I am not making much progress in those skills until I get into situations among folks I have spent significant time with prior to my current journey. Sometimes comparison can be the thief of joy and sometimes comparison can give perspective. What I choose to see are opportunities to comfort those that need comforting and encourage those that need encouragement even if it is only through asking to pray for them.

I am a huge advocate for praying more. Prayer not only encourages me but it also comforts me. Praying for others encourages them and comforts them. Communion and fellowship with God is always a great source of comfort and encouragement. I have never felt discouraged or uncomfortable in prayer.

I pray that I am an encouragement and comfort to others today because I need a lot of work on doing that. I pray that I work on those skills rather than falling into the traps of the Adversary. May I reflect the comfort that I feel when going to God in prayer and radiate the encouragement I get from reading His Word.

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 #NotMyWayYHWH

No King BUT Christ no. 7

“My Father has handed over everything to me. Indeed, no one fully knows the Son except the Father, and no one fully knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mattityahu (Mat) 11:27-30). Some times there is an over emphasis on the difficulties and struggles of being a follower of Jesus, however, He says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. So, how do I sometimes get confused into thinking it has to be difficult? Because I make it difficult.

Wait, I make it difficult? Of course I do. There is nothing difficult about following God’s commandments. I mean it’s basically love God and love your neighbor. That’s the whole of Torah right there. Sounds really easy and light BUT then there is the whole problem with me. I don’t want someone else to rule me. Now, whether that is sin or American independence, it’s there. I like to sit on the throne. Or sometimes I can put other things that have easier rules on the throne. It is a whole lot easier to put man-made things on the throne. They can’t judge me or convict me when I’m doing wrong. They also are not going to make me any better. And I have gone down many of those false paths like drinking, drugs, football, and politics . . . those creations of men did not convict me to make things right or be any better. They were just diversions from the reason for my creation.

Things got a whole lot easier when I set myself up for success rather than failure. And that was a whole process that I have been writing about for over three years now. God never forgot me when I was putting other things, including myself, on His throne. He never made things more difficult for me. He is always looking to unburden me and give me rest. And following Him and taking up His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And it’s easy to see that His Spirit is making things easier by the fruit I produce, “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). When I am not seeing that fruit, when things are no longer easy, and I start to feel burdened, then I need to take a look at my journey because He promised “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”.

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 #NotMyWayYHWH