Awake! – Part 13 – Illusionary Living – B
For post link:
hisimagenme.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/awake-part-13-illusionary-living/?preview=true
✡ Grace and peace in Yeshua the Messiah – go Ye therefore, and make disciples! ✡
Biblical Education
I love that God saw fit to teach things that through time science has backed up His teaching. I hate that the same science has found a way to remove Him from the source of Truth.
Here’s proof:
Psalms 97:4
His flashes of lightning light up the world; the earth sees it and trembles.
Psalms 77:16-18
The water saw You, God; the water saw You and writhed in anguish, agitated to its depths. The clouds poured water, the skies thundered, and Your arrows flashed here and there. The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind, the lightning flashes lit up the world, the earth trembled and shook.
Jeremiah 10:11-13
“This is what you must say to them: ‘The gods that did not make heaven and earth will perish from earth and from under heaven.'” God made the earth by His power, established the world by His wisdom, spread out the sky by His understanding. When He thunders the waters in heaven roar, He raises clouds from the ends of the earth, He makes lightning flash in the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.
Job 37:2-4
Just listen to the rumbling of His Voice, to the thunder that comes from His mouth! He sends it out under all of heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth. There follows a sound, a roar – He is thundering with His majestic Voice, and He keeps releasing the lightning even while His Voice is being heard.
Job 37:11-13
He weighs the clouds down with moisture, and they flash forth His lightning. He, by His plans, turns them around, so they do what He commands them anywhere on earth; He brings them forth on the earth sometimes to punish, sometimes to express His grace.
I’m always so worshipful of Him! That before scientific endeavors, He explains all things. That even though the scientific math and equations are missing from His explanation – what really matters – He reveals and it’s enough.
Are you looking for how God has explained the things man takes credit for having discovered and proven? It’s quite helpful to those whom you may be planting seeds, watering and exposing to the Son! Someone once told me, “it’s hard to argue when you say “God said.” This is true. It’s even harder to argue when you can show how you are only repeating what God has said, Himself.
Job 38:22-27 – God speaking to Job out of storm.
Have you gone into the storehouses for snow or seen the storehouses for hail, which I save for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? By what path is light dispersed, or the east wind poured in the land? Who cut a channel for the downpours, or a way for the lightning and thunder, causing it to rain where no one is, in a desert without anyone there, drenching the waste and desolate ground, till the tender grass sprouts?
I think it’s interesting how most references to weather related things in the Word of God, are connected to His Voice and battle.
I wasn’t born into a scholarly home, my folks were hard working, Bible believing, people. They didn’t drill religion, they just believed what they read in His Word. They encouraged me to read it, both by spoken word and by example. I watched them read it all my life. Not because they were in distress or crisis, but at all times, everyday most the time. When I was young we would go to Fairplay Colorado where we had a small family cabin amongst one of the wonders of the world of Aspen trees. When we would take hikes they simply gave God the glory and credit for the things we’d see. It was in their speech, because they believed what He said. There would be incredible thunder storms up there at almost 10,000 feet! As a child I would get scared. They comforted me by assuring me that the same God who put the bush on the mountain that held the eggs of the robin we’d seen that day, was in charge of the lightning and thunder and rain. That, yes, He was mighty and powerful, but He cares for His creatures with tenderness. That the thunder was Him talking to the earth. Though I felt often still scared, and thought perhaps the earth was is trouble and being scolded, it still comforted me to know it was God flashing and calling out in the storm. I grew out of my fear, now I long to hear Him thunder from Heaven, having learned that He’s not talking to the earth, but telling His enemies to stand down! Reminding them He is still watching and taking account! Warning them, that one day these little spurts of storms will become a last and final one to their undoing!
The real truth to know about lightning and thunder has little to do with what this world thinks it does.
✡I pray this encourages you to search for Him in all things. To discover that The One True God who created everything, really does say something about everything, and it reveals a Creator that did so for much better reasons than science and technology. He didn’t and doesn’t need any formula to make anything, yet He gave one to each created thing. May we worship Him who created all things, not worship the things He made! Grace and peace in Yeshua the Messiah! ✡
Awake! – Part 13 – Illusionary Living
The picture above is the most common depiction of sleep walking. Yet, in reality, it looks like this.
Wide awake, but totally unaware of the REM that consumes. R – reality, E – escapes, the M – mind. I’m not talking about the real phenomenon of literal sleep walkers. Yet, even in this, the arms don’t go out like some entranced mind controlled zombie. That actually happens and people look very much awake. Just turn on CNN and watch the news anchors for 5 minutes. They don’t look like the first picture above, but they reflect the image! Or the countless young actors taking part in pretty much any movie or TV show these days. Put on SpongeBob (or any of today’s cartoons) for a group of children, leave the room for ten minutes – when you return REALLY look at them. They are zombies, in trance-like stares. It’s scarey!
The Truth about subliminal messages has been out for decades. Yet anyone who speaks about its reality gets categorized as “conspiracy mongers”. The science has proven it without a doubt yet the reality of its dangers goes ignored. Lets not talk about the evidence we can see! That is until an awakening happens by some circumstance like the one I suggested above, then it’s undeniable. The question becomes: “What do you do with the truth in your face now?” Statistics show the answer.
Sadly, this poll is true. It’s reflected all over in the world we live in today. If our children were being protected by the onslaught of mind control, and taught the Bible correctly, far less would be asleep. I say this respectfully, and with great sadness: even in churches the same sermons are being preached, the same scriptures taught through great misinterpretation, and the church is right on course for the Words that many have heard, read and been taught doesn’t apply to them.
1 Timothy 4:3-4
For the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching, but will cater to their passions and gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear. Yes, they will stop listening to the truth, but will turn aside to follow myths.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11
When this man who avoids Torah comes, the Adversary will give him the power to work all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders. He will enable him to decieved, in all kinds of wicked ways, those who are headed for destruction because they would not receive the love of the Truth that could have saved them. This is why God is causing them to go astray, so that they will believe the Lie. The result will be that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken their pleasure in wickedness, will be condemned.
Let’s face it, that’s a lot to swallow, and paints a pretty harsh picture of God. Yet, the goodness of God is that it’s there, for anyone to read! It doesn’t have to be ignored, a harsh God would not say, “hey look out, there’s deception headed your way“. The enemy of souls is the harsh one, he doesn’t care if you or I are deceived, in fact, that’s his goal! God sent His Word, in all its written beauty, then in the form of a living human being, Yeshua (Jesus), and has shouted the plan He is executing for thousands of years! If one is sniffing about how God seems mean, they are sleep walking. Focused on the symptom of their own unwillingness to the truth, rather than squirming (we all do) under the weight of it and letting it shape us, change us, and keep us fully aware of all that is around us. Keeping us on track with His plan, in His will, and ready to see His glory! God has only one intended target of His wrath – that is for Evil itself (the Enemy and all his minions) – those who join with his plan having had the opportunity to resist it and live counter to it. God created human beings, His intention is to save them, not deceive, mislead, task-master or manipulate them. It’s the enemy of God who does these things to human beings and he’s repeatedly tipped his hand in that he suggest it’s God who does what the enemy, himself, does. History is repleat with proving the enemy’s tactic never changes. Neither does God’s. Teach, warn, plead for people to listen to Him, watch as time proves He knows and is undoubtedly correct and be saved. Yet also, God minces no words about His intention to totally destroy evil! I, for one, am immensely glad, and totally on board with that!
So the church seats fill up every weekend, the same sermons trickle down to the masses, tailored to the current culture and trends. Teaching the Word, but watered down, totally avoiding the hard stuff to explain. Warfare, the angels that fell and how they have been operating in the world all the way to current day. Where they are infiltrating, what tools they are using, teaching their history so that we can understand what they will do in our day and how it will be the same as its always been but only appear different because the instruments of their affliction vary with time. The enemies tactic of convincing us all to “stay safe” and only focus on “Jesus”; not in the way that the Bible teaches, but in the spirit of “Let’s all just get along”, is viral. It incapacitates the body of Messiah! How can this scripture hold the power of God given this perspective:
Ephesians 5:8-16
For you used to be darkness; but now, united with the Lord, you are light. Live like children of light, for the fruit of the light is in every kind of goodness, rightness and truth – try to determine what will please the Lord. Have nothing to do with the deeds produced by darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things these people do in secret. But everything exposed to the light is revealed clearly for what it is, since anything revealed is a light. This is why it says: “Get up sleeper! Arise from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you!” Therefore, pay careful attention to how you conduct your life – live wisely, not unwisely. Use your time well, for these are evil days. So don’t be foolish, but try to understand what the will of the Lord is.
John 3:19-21
Now this is the judgement: the Light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the Light. Why? Because their actions are wicked. For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won’t be exposed. But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God.
Proverbs 28:4-5
Those who abandon Torah praise the wicked, but those who keep Torah fight them. Evil people don’t understand justice, but those who seek Adonai understand everything.
The polls don’t reflect that the church has been taught and armed. Therefore, the children have not been taught, and not been taught, and not been taught – and now – the days of illusionary living have arrived and 26% remain that believe the Bible is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help us God! The graph shows the great falling away is in our midst. Once again, God’s Word is proven accurate and true – and the world scoffs at those of us who dare to stand as light. The ‘hate speech’ of the day is now the truth of God’s Word. Those who have searched on their own because the church has failed, are now kooks and conspiracy theorist who are spoiling the fun and, just like Yeshua was accused, spoiling the religious fervor that has hid behind the safe walls of ignorance and fear. They say that not speaking of the evil is the heart of Ephesians scripture. Overlooking the obvious that it says to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness – yet how else can they be exposed if we are not to speak out against them? We need not enter the deed doing to expose the doing of the deeds!
(I’m not, of course, saying every church fails this way – but I have yet to sit in a “pew” and hear this kind of teaching.)
Sleep walking is a state of being convinced that God will change His mind about the end! Yet hear Yeshua’s own words –
Luke 21:9; 36
And when you hear of wars and revolutions, don’t panic. For these things MUST happen first, but the end will not follow immediately.
Stay alert, always praying that you will have the strength to escape all the things that WILL happen and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man.
All the things that must and will happen are found in the entire chapter of Luke 21. He tells us how to read the signs, how to prepare, what to look for and then says, “Take it to the banks folks, evil is going to be destroyed! The only question is: will you be asleep or awake to what I’m doing?”
Look again at the little girl in the picture above. She’s been decieved, she is asleep – who will wake her up? God can, without the slightest help from His body, but we will stand accountable for not obeying Him. We will stand accountable to the other 64% of those who have been deceived by the enemy that again poses the question “Did God really say…?” if we do not speak and expose in the little tiny part of earth we’ve been placed in, with the people who we influence everyday. God wants His kids to come Home!
Understanding the will of God is far easier than understanding our own! Bring His kids to Him! Pass the waking salts under noses, expose and reveal the deceptions, live and speak and tell the truth of God’s mercy and grace but also His justice! Believe Him when He says, “Don’t be afraid, for I Am with you…even to the end of the age!” Live – live like that’s true dear fellow-sheep! It is! To the glory of God, it is!
John 21:14-18
So make up your minds not to worry, rehearsing your defense beforehand; for I, Myself, will give you an eloquence and a wisdom that no adversary will be able to resist or refute. You WILL be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends; some of you they WILL put to death; and everyone will hate you because of Me. But not a hair of your head will be lost. By standing firm you will save your lives.
I believe every Word of God is literal Truth, applicable to every age and generation, complete in its accuracy and reliability. I believe, every Word Yeshua said, and every Word He is and was and is to become. I’m of those 26%, not ashamed, and ready to give an answer to the hope of what that IS!
Are you?
Or…are you still stuck on the things that got said here that argue over controversies that offend the current status? Illusionary living seeks to state opinions based on interpretations rather than standing on the very Words we are instructed to – repeat and live – nothing more and nothing less. Our perfection in the doing is undisputed – we have none. Yeshua was all the perfection needed. He promised to teach, lead and guide us into the perfect will of the Father. Obviously the Father has no problem with imperfect people doing His will. After all, we are required only to have sought Him with all we got, studied at His feet, fear not to go forth with what He has taught us, stay awake and be ready. There’s not one mention of us being perfect. Yes, I know the Scripture one will argue to the contrary – “Be perfect, as My Father in heaven is perfect.”
Once again let’s look at the context.
Matthew 5:43-48
You have heard that your father’s were told, ‘Love your neighbor – and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! Then you WILL become children of your Father in heaven. For He makes His sun shine on the good and bad people alike, He sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike. What reward do you get if you love only those who love you? Why, even the tax-collectors do that! And if you are friendly only to your friends, are you doing anything out of the ordinary? Even the Goyim (unbelievers) do that! Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Romans 13:8
Don’t owe anyone anything – except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow human being has fulfilled Torah.
The only thing God intends and can perfect in us completely, this side of heaven, is how we love. The Holy Spirit was given that we might love as He loves us. Yet, speaking truth and how the hearers receive it has nothing to do with nor depends on the perfection that humanity defines perfect as. Love speaks truth, regardless of its popularity. Regardless of its “welcome”. It’s speaks it to the good and bad, righteous and unrighteous…circumstances not dictating – it speaks! It does it boldly, without hesitation, and full of Love! This is how that scripture was meant to be taught, not pulled out and attached to any subject man can apply it to, however they will. Yeshua taught it in the context He did for a reason. We are not to change its application.
Repeat what He said, how He said it, it’s 100% reliable! There’s no illusions in the Words of God. They keep awake, slay the enemy, heal, encourage, exhort, teach and comfort all by themselves.
I pray, that we be strengthened by His Word in these days. That we be fully studied in it and ready to throw all our weight behind it. It says hard things to those who are evil, but to those who are being shaped and corrected by it, it’s the power of God unto Salvation! Yeshua! Amen!
May He get the glory, now and forever!
✡ May the fullness of His grace and mercy be yours and the richness of His Love keep you. In the name of Yeshua the Messiah and for His Names sake! Shalom. ✡
Awake! – Part 12 – Freedom of Choice
1 Chronicles 4: 10
Jabez called on the God of Israel: “Please bless me by enlarging my territory. May Your Hand be with me! Keep me from harm, so that it will not cause me pain.” God granted his request.
God promised us the whole earth! He made the whole planet for us! Now take the perspective that the enemy has slowly reduced us to. Look at the map of Israel, The one with the largest borders, where God promised the nation. This tiny slice of land is roughly 1/100000th of the whole earth! Now I’m not saying what God promised Israel is insignificant, but look at Jabez’s prayer, God granted his request! Why? Because Jabez saw that God offers far more than we can ask for or imagine, He wanted all God has to offer! Don’t you?
For a moment, now, let’s look at the miracle of God giving us freedom of choice. To sum this up, attacking every question that can arise from this fact – God gave us freedom of choice because:
- He wanted us to choose Him, knowing all the other choices. Or not, choose Him.
- He thinks it’s far more important to have us, than to start over, taking all the other choices away, which would eliminate human kind made in His Image. He has no plan B, and will settle for nothing less than His original plan, us – humans and Him as a family He desired, with those of His host in heaven.
This is why freedom of choice is such an amazing thing given to us by God! It involves letting us be able to choose very evil and awful things – yes – but also the best He has to offer! Which brings me to my next point.
In order for us to have access to all God has to offer us, we must be rid of anything and everything that would place God’s all and put it in a container. Labels are good for things, not people. When we go to the store, labels help us define one thing from another. When we walk through life, labels on people close the doors to what God is doing and will do. We are central to God’s plan, this is why Yeshua took the label making question: “who is my neighbor?” and turned it on its head. Humans are our neighbor! Every shape, size, color, nation! There is only one ‘label’ for *God’s children and I just said *it. Hence why we are instructed by Yeshua to love our human ‘enemies’. To do good to those who hurt us. Not to be confused with His enemies! Today’s world puts such labels on people’s.
Can you honestly say that all that can be found throughout history about the label “Christian” is what you want to limit your walk with God – THE MESSIAH (which means Christ, where the term Christian came from) to?
Most labels start out well meaning, AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) for example: this was a spiritual revival, started by men of God to reach a certain sector of people, trapped by the enemy of God by the poison of alcohol. The principles it was founded on were/are straight from God’s Word, the intent for which God inspired it was freedom. Yet now, it hardly resembles what it started out like. Man was led astray by the enemy of God who, as He does everything God makes originally, twist it by the causing doubt in/of God. So now, just chose your higher power, door nob, teddy bear, flower, anything, you’ll get sober! It’s sickening! Why would any of these things require accountability of action, they are inanimate objects! Likewise, being called a Christian used to stand for nothing but a follower of Christ, but throughout history, ‘Christians’ have followed the anti-Christ doing nothing that resembles Yeshua whatsoever! So when we choose – we best just choose God, the God of the Bible, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we can place many other names from that Word from which He has named Himself, but anything other than this, we stand to limit what we can know of Him, do because of Him and claim that He said is ours! We must understand that freedom of choice, does not mean we should make up our own choices. If we claim to be a child of God, we best reconsider any label we have assigned ourselves with. Catholic, Luthern, Baptist, evangelical, Calvinism, Republican, Constitutionalist, Democrat, conservative, traditionalist and the list goes on. Given a true study into any of these labels will prove to show where they all inevitably vere from the Truth the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth as defined by God. The enemy invades and has access to do so with anything man decides they can “hang their hat on” as a labeled sect of people. Have you ever wondered why God hated censuses? Is makes a number out of a person, the enemy of God loves to count his sheep, Hitler labeled his prisoners this way. God doesn’t need to count, He makes them part of who He IS! You and I are special, unique and wonderful, just because He made us. This takes the value of any label you or I could attach to our value and throws it into the pit of hell!
The saying: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” is so true. These ‘good intentions’ are the stuff made up of what man calls good. The perspective must change for something to truly be good. That perspective must be God’s! Since we know our ways are not like His, our thoughts, not like His, it stands as true logic that before we call something good or innocent we might check in with Him first. Good and bad are labels too! We say, “that person is a good person. Or bad person.” Achhhem – we may want to ask Adonai about that! Most especially are we in danger if we label ourselves in such a way! Good according to God is functional. Bad is dysfunctional. This changes everything when taken from His perspective, and when we consult Him, we find our knowledge expands even more in definition making and it’s dangers. Knowledge, the quest for knowledge alone is the enemy of God’s number one temptation. God’s knowledge leads us to Himself, which gives growth to humility, not pride or confidence in ourselves. Labels classify so we can decide who we think is worthy of our prayers, attention, time, effort, etc. It’s best to side with God, and leave the fighting up to Him as to who needs to be ‘rearranged’ or not. He gives us judgement, the ability to assess and act on something, for our actions and thoughts alone! Not for everyone or anyone else. We may be told to steer clear of someone by God, but that gives no permission to judge them. We just obey, pray for them, love them as best as He directs us from a distance.
I will wrap this up with a list of scriptures, that hopefully will be seen from a whole new perspective given what has been said so far. Then, as always, study, and consult Adonai for anything of value to be gained from this post. I’m no “authority”, to say I’m inspired is only to speak to my passion for Yeshua. But not to say, these words are equal to the Inspired Word of God. I’m His child, I claim this as the gift He has made available to all. I’m unashamed to be called a follower of Yeshua the Messiah. I stumble and lose my balance in my learning to walk with Him, as anyone else. Yet, He covers my every word, move and being with His blood! What an honor the choosing of Him is! It’s so much easier to stay awake, be awake, knowing the value and limitlessness that God gives with choice.
Deuteronomy 28:9-14; 30:15,19
Adonai will establish you as a people separated out for Himself, as He has sworn to you – if you will observe the mitzvah (commands/instructions) of Adonai your God and follow His Ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that Adonai’s Name, His presence, is with you; so that they will be afraid of you.
Adonai will give you great abundance of good things – of the fruit of your body, the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your land in the land Adonai swore to your ancestors to give you. Adonai will open for you His good treasure, the sky, to give your land it’s rain at the right seasons and to bless everything you undertake. You will lend to many nations and not borrow; Adonai will make you the head and not the tail; and you will be only above, never below – if you listen to, observe and obey the mitzvot of Adonai your God and not turn away from any of the words I am ordering you today, neither to the right or the left, to follow after other gods and serve them.
Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants, loving Adonai your God, paying attention to what He says and clinging to Him – for that is the purpose to your life!
Isaiah 54:5
For your husband is your Maker, Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of all the earth.
Micah 6:8
Human being, you have already been told what is good, what Adonai demands of you – no more than to act justly, love grace, and walk in purity with your God.
Malachi 3:10
Bring the whole tenth into the storehouse, so that there will be food in My house, and put Me to the test, says Adonai-Tzva’ot. See if I won’t open for you the floodgates of heaven and pour out for you blessing far beyond your needs.
Psalms 19:7; 103:13
The Torah of Adonai is perfect, restoring the inner person. The Instruction of Adonai is sure, making wise the thoughtless.
Just as a father has compassion on his children, Adonai has compassion on those who fear Him.
Proverbs 10:22; 21:1
The blessings of Adonai is what makes people rich, and He doesn’t mix sorrow with it.
The kings heart in Adonai’s hand is like streams of water – He directs it wherever He pleases.
I Chronicles 16:11
Seek Adonai and His strength; always seek His presence.
Matthew 5:3-10
How blessed are the poor in spirit! For the Kingdom of heaven is theirs. How blessed are those who mourn! For they will be comforted. How blessed are the meek! For they will inherit the Land! How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness! For they will be filled. How blessed are those who show mercy! For they will be shown mercy. How blessed are the pure in heart! For they will see God. How blessed are those who make peace! For they will be called the sons of God. How blessed are those who are persecuted because they pursue righteousness! For the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!
John 17:26
I made Your Name known to them, and I will continue to make it known; so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I Myself may be united with them.
Acts 17:26-28
From one man He made every nation living in the entire surface of the earth, and He fixed the limits of their territories and periods when they would flourish. God did this so that people would look for Him and perhaps reach out and find Him although in fact, He is not far from each of us, for in Him we live and move and exist. Indeed, as some of the poets among you have said, “We are actually His children.”
Romans 8:33-39
So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God – He is the One who causes them to be considered righteous! Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and – more than that – has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf! Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War? As the Tanakh puts it, ” For Your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are considered to be sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are superconguerors, through the One who has loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
Ephesians 1:3; 3:20
Praised be Adonai, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who in the Messiah has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven.
Now to Him who by His power working in us is able to do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine, to Him be the glory in the Messianic Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation forever. Amen.
✡ May the grace and peace in Yeshua the Messiah be yours in full measure ✡
Awake! – Part 11 – Salt
Mark 9:49-50
Indeed, everyone is going to be salted with fire. Salt is excellent, but if it loses its saltiness, how will you use it? So have salt in yourselves – that is, be at peace with each other.
Matthew 5:11-16
How blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow Me! Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great – they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way. You are the salt of the land. But if the salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except being thrown out for people to trample on. You are light for the world. A town 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.
Before I get to the main thread of this blog, I wish to add a side note. I, myself, as well as many others who have shared with me have had to learn the difference between being persecuted and being rightfully called a hypocrite for speaking truth. To be slandered and lied about, and persecuted for speaking truth is done whether a person is righteous our not. The Truth, these days is out of favor. I’ve spoken truth unkindly, God can still use the truth, but the consequence of being without love in the doing nonetheless was warranted. This was not persecution. Just because we speak truth to people or are what some may term “brutally honest” doesn’t mean we are glorifying the Father. There’s a huge difference. For those who feel justified in ignoring a truth because it came from someone less than lovingly or they didn’t in your opinion have “the right” to say it, don’t feel justified all the more by what I’ve just said. Yeshua IS Truth, and if it comes to you in any way, we are capable of applying the truth and separating it from the messenger. For in truth, none of us are qualified to speak it. We are all learning it at all times, we are all in various stages of absorbing it at all times, we are all disqualified to speak it based on our humanity alone. So what’s the difference? What makes us called to be salt and light, revealing truth, teaching truth, testifying to THE TRUTH? Simple – Yeshua’s righteousness alone, His love, His example. His call to follow Him, do as He did/does.
In my own process of learning, I found that if I have not been broken by a truth I’m so eager to share, I’m not qualified to share it. A quick look at my motive, then asking God to show me what I can’t see all of them, so He then shows me my motives, proves to be effective. If they are anything but to give God glory and show that it’s the goodness of God that brings repentance, if there’s even a little nudge inside that desires to show someone how wrong they are instead of the beauty of how trustworthy God is, my lips remain sealed. Adonai is serious about us being careful, setting a guard over our lips. As we look to Yeshua’s example we see what we are aiming for. He rebuked the religious leaders, he rebuked demons. He overturned tables in the temple, but this was not a teaching moment. He was passionately angry for what was being done in His Father’s house. We notice He never once spoke about it. He did it. End of story. When He taught truth, He didn’t interject His opinion, He spoke it (the worth dying for truth) straight out, not shouting, not pounding it in a zillion times. When He repeated Himself, His audience was vastly different, in that, He was always speaking it for the first time to the majority of ears. When He “repeated” Himself to His disciples, usually the repeat was addressing a different aspect of a certain truth. To really understand what it means to speak truth to anyone we must all have spent some time at Yeshua’s feet, showing those truths have changed us first. For then, we learn the loving-kindness of Adonai in teaching and guiding us through all truth. Then when we are pressed upon the Lord to share it with others, our hearts are ever aware of our lack of qualification to teach it, our lack of control of its reception, and our lack of any origin of it from ourselves. So naturally we are more mindful of: “How will my words bring glory to You my Lord? Give me Your words, give me Your heart, Your amazing love.”
I pray that will help clarify much as we move on. 😊
Here are some things salt is used for:
It preserves from corruption.
It irritates and hurts wounds.
It softens water and skin
Enhances flavor.
Cleanses and purify’s.
It can also be corrosive.
It enables water to conduct electricity.
Melts ice/keeps water from freezing.
It is like an electrolyte.
It’s a bleaching agent.
It was used in all the offerings, incense, and sacrifices.
It can destroy, overcome, and over take.
Babies used to be rubbed with it just after birth.
Without salt, no life would exist.
As I studied this list I found it amazing. It’s dual nature. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with it (Gen. 19). Yet covenants were preserved with it (Numbers 18:17-19; 2 Chronicles 13). Elisha purified water with it (2 Kings 2:18-22). The Dead Sea was destroyed with it. Yet in Ezekiel 47, we see that God will restore it. In Jeremiah 17:5-8, we see it represents trust! To be salt we must be a living trust in action and word in Yeshua – all He said, did, does, and will do.
Salt irritates wounds. Yet applied correctly it will heal them. The application is always our choice. Even if it’s “dumped” on us, we can still make use of it. If we are awake, we are salt. Every single thing on that list above applies in a spiritual sense as well as a physical. Notice the Matthew 5 verse. I suggest you read the whole chapter. So often that salt part is selected out of its context. Yet it’s sandwiched between blessed are you if you are persecuted and you are a light for a reason. What might that reason be? To be awake one must seek this answer for themselves. Every single word of Matthew 5 is showing us what salt and lights function is and how it is to be used. Every single word Yeshua said was perfectly applied as salt and light. (Not just in Matthew 5). If any of those words become empty or inapplicable to us, our salt will lose its flavor, our light will dim. Notice the first place we are to adopt the Truths is in our own lives. Too many people are good at preaching what they themselves are completely dead to. When our salt loses its flavor something dies in us to the truth and it spreads like a virus to those around us. We are doubly accountable in this case. It’s one thing to be naive, not knowing the truth, it’s another to reject it. To clarify without any fuzzy lines – on Judgement Day – there will be not one naive human being standing before the God who reveals Truth to all in order that they might be saved. All will have had the chance to reject or be reborn (changed, transformed in the Image of God) by Yeshua, The Way, The Truth, The Life.
An interesting note: there such a thing as ‘smelling or waking salts’. You know, we’ve all seen them used in movies. Salts that awaken. In order to be changed into the glory of His likeness, one must first be awakened. These salts irritate. They snap someone out of one state into another. It’s offensive – hence why Yeshua said “blessed is anyone not offended by Me”. (Matthew 11:6) Who can argue that it’s much better to be open to Truth, no matter how hard, than to be offended (defensive) by it?
Now notice how interesting the verses in Mark 9:49-50 are? Salted with fire? What is Yeshua saying here? Then it ends by suggesting that our saltiness will produce peace among people? These are very strange references. When considering the main by-product of saltiness in this day and age will be persecution. So what peace is Yeshua referring to here? It seems to contradict itself. Let me assure you He does not, yet again for this to be understood, one must seek Him for the clarity of the meaning here for themselves. Begin with every scripture from Genesis to Revelation where salt is mentioned. The Beginning and the End is where answers are found and Yeshua is both!
There are four covenants Yahweh’s people can enter into. One is called the Salt covenant. Seek out and study these, you’ll begin to understand salt in a whole new light – pun intended.
I hope I’ve raised curiosity here, caused a thirst or hunger to seek Yeshua and His Word for yourself. I wonder often, if we wouldn’t be more effective, not giving all the answers, but sending out questions that seek to be answered? For some this may be a smelling salt, for others flavor, for others cleansing, for others a bleaching agent, and yes, for some corrosive, irritating, even destructive (to all things evil). We are just told to be salt, God directs the function of it. We can be absolutely sure of His heart to love and save. An interesting note: it takes salt to make light 😉!
✡ May the Bread of Life be salted with your tears of joy and sorrow for those who suffer from lack of salt, may His glory be the treasure we seek every day in ourselves and the world around us! His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven! Grace and peace be yours in full measure in Yeshua the Messiah. ✡
Unfolding My Wings One Day at a Time
buttrflygrl14
