PURE JOY FROM THE HEART

Psalms 5:11

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

Joy--joy from the Spirit—is the trademark of messianic faith. The child of God who truly puts his trust in his God rejoices because he has the assurance that God has answered his prayers even if he doesn’t presently see it. The Child of God doesn’t ‘hope’, he doesn’t ‘wish’ that his Heavenly Father will answer his prayers, he simply knows. He knows because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) The Greek word used for “substance” in this text is “huposthasis”, meaning the “title-deed”. So the verse could also be translated as: “faith is the ‘title-deed’ of things hope for”. He know that he owns the answer to his prayers just because it is written on a piece of paper called a ‘contract’, in this case, in the Torah written on the hide of a flock of sheep.

Each child of God has this biblical contract with God signed in the blood of the Lamb: Yeshua, the Messiah. The promises in His Words are the terms of the contract and they cannot be broken (John 10:35b). We have His assurance of supply (Philippians 4:19), of protection (Psalms 91:1), and of His love (Hebrews 13:5b).

Abba Father, grant to have opened eyes that we may see and behold that they that are with us are more than they that are against us (2 Kings 6:15-17). Completely throw us at Your feet in the total trust and confidence that, not only You will take care of us and defend us, but in the realization that You are already doing it.

May our countenance reflect this inner peace.

May our spirits emanate the joy of this confidence and trust in You—that those that cross our paths today may know that you are Adonai, our God, our Redeemer, the Restorer or our souls and Defender.

May we rejoice in You always (Philippians 4:4).

STAND

Psalms 5:10

Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

God’s people do not have to worry about anything, especially their enemies. God’s children have the assurance that their enemies will be swallowed by their own counsels. The only time when this does not happen is when God gives permission for His children to be hurt. At such times, God even uses their enemies as a form of chastisement for their disobediences and evil deeds. God even said that He would fight and be His children’s enemy at times, and He often does that by using their opponents.

If our heart is right, if we obey our Father’s commandments, we do not have to worry about the ungodly and the wicked. If we live the way we know God wants us to, if we stay within the parameters of His pavilion in obedience and submission to His commandments, we abide under the security of His protection. The demise of satan, the adversary of God is certain; his fall has been predicted from the Garden of Eden, and we can live with the assurance that in God, we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37) (emphasis mine) .

Lies, deceit, rebellion, disobedience and transgressions cannot stand before God. Those who practice them seal their own fate. We don’t have to fight darkness, its people and influences; all we have to do is stand; stand for God and His ways unmovable and unshakable (Ephesians 6:13). This is the picture of the true soldier in Messiah’s army, adamantly standing in defiance against the influences of the enemy’s world. He doesn’t budge an inch from his position; he knows his Lord has drawn His sword of justice and already destroyed the enemy.

APPROPRIATE GIVING

Proverbs 18:23

The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.

This proverb is a sad expression of the inhumanity of man. We witness the roughness of the rich against the poor in politics and business dealings. Domestically, everyday we hear of working folks loosing their jobs, then their homes due to foreclosure. Internationally , due to the financial manipulations of richer countries, most of the world lives in poverty. Since ancient times, the upper class has always lived their affluent lifestyles though the work of the laboring class. Things have not changed very much.

In reading this proverb, the poor and the working man find the meager consolation that when a rich man insults him, nothing unusual occurs. The poor man may also remember that a warning stands for the rich who divested himself of humanity by mammon; against him, as Isaiah said, who grindeth the poor by hard stubborn-hearted conduct, and grindeth his bashful face (Isaiah 3:15). The master said that in that Day when the books are opened, only the merciful will obtain mercy. Yeshua told of Lazarus who had lived a poor life on earth that now he could rest in the bosom of Abraham, while the other who had lived his comfort on earth, needed to go through the fires of need and poverty.

We must also make a note on the proper way of giving, of merciful giving. Many who are involved in philanthropic activities have no concern whatsoever for the poor. Their generosity is only motivated by a need for personal promotion and free publicity. These individuals and companies would not give anonymously because their whole idea is of advertisement. That is also grinding the face of the poor, using the misfortune of others the make a profit for oneself as much as the person who lends to his bankrupt brother with interest.

The poor may certainly benefit from the action, but in the eyes of God, the virtues and heavenly rewards of any good deed are cancelled out when they are done in order to receive a benefit. In fact, the virtues and heavenly rewards of any obedience to any of God’s commandments are cancelled out when done with personal motivation. Even King David said, I will not give unto Adonai of that which has cost me nothing.

Let us therefore today remember this warning against the hard-hearted who answers roughly to the poor either verbally, or by taking advantage of him.

Let us offend neither in words nor in deeds.

THE FAVORED WIFE

Proverbs 18:22

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.

The idea in ‘good wife’ in this text does not refer to a ‘well disposed’ or ‘good natured’ woman, but rather to a ‘favored’, as in ‘favored by God’. Our author speaks of a woman who is part of, or found within the covenanted people.

Marriage in the eyes of the Almighty is a very serious thing. God asked Abraham to send away Hagar and her (his) son. After the return from Babylon, the people of Jerusalem who had married women from the land had to put away their wives and offspring (Ezra 9 and 10). This may sound cruel, but disobedience is a serious thing, and we should not take God’s instructions lightly, especially about Marriage.

While the patriarchs went far and wide to find their wives, waited long in order to find the right one and were blessed, both Ishmael and Esau married the inhabitants of the land. This is one of the reasons why they were not fit for God’s Covenant. I guess God knows that the heart of a man cleaves to that of his wife, so if she is not a covenanted woman, he will stray from God. Yeshua rightly said that we cannot ‘serve two masters’. A woman can definitely make or break a man, so God wants to teach us to take these things seriously.

This principle mostly teaches us about our attitude towards sin. The Scriptures tell us of a man who is ‘bound’ to his sin and iniquity in the way that a man is bound to his wife.

Like Abraham with Hagar, we have to learn to put our sin away from us.

Like Jacob with Laban, we have to have to withstand it and refuse to be bound to it.

Like Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, we have to flee from it even leaving our coat in its clasp as we run away in disgust.

Like King David, we have to hate even the sights and sounds of it.

So shall we be a ‘favored’ wife, fit for our Master.

THE APPROACHING DEADLINE

Proverbs 18:21

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

When the Children of Israel arrived near the Promised Land, Moses reproved the people in the long discourse called: Deuteronomy. Moses signs off his reiteration of Torah with the following words:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Deuteronomy 30:19

Did Moses really put ‘life and death’ before the people, or was he simply God’s tool in the doing? How did God put life and death before the people? By words; words spoken through Moses His emissary. Yeshua also said of the words He spoke to the people from His Father: the Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life’; . that the Words He spoke to the people from the father as ‘word of life’.

How do we ‘choose life’? How do ‘love’ the ‘fruit’ of God’s ‘ tongue’? How does God’s tongue bring us ‘life and death’? Moses implied that the life or death would incur as per our obedience to these words that he spoke from God. The Words of God can only bring us life when mixed with obedience to the Commandments. Let us not deceive ourselves with the idea that the ‘believe’ in the promise of eternal life through belief in the Son, is a completely ethereal belief, empty of obedience. James warned us that faith in the Son without works is dead, and what are the works of our belief? Obedience to the commandments of the One we believe in. Our author believed that; here what he wrote in another place: For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Proverbs 6:23-24. The flatteries of this evil woman lead us to death. God’s commandment keep us from it.

God has spoken from Mt Horeb. Moses has spoken in the plains of Jordan. Yeshua also came, spoke and sealed God’s contract with us with His blood. Yeshua explained the assignment and he said only God knew the deadline to turn it in. The next time He comes, we will be graded and the report cards will be given to God.

We are without excuse now. Let us therefore known and today ‘eat’ the Words that have been entrusted to us so our children enjoy their fruits in the generations to come.

CRITICALCRITICISM

Proverbs 18:20 KJV
A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.

Criticism may be the biggest verbal poison of our day. Do we really need to say to that person whatever we, in our own biased perspective perceive as an error, a mishandling or a mistake? And really, do we do it for the other person’s benefit? For God’s? Or merely to validate ourselves, inflate our ego, all in an effort to sustain our emotional balance and heal the hurt born of an inferiority complex? Or maybe, it comes from an uncontrollable desire to control (pun intended!). The truth is that the world will go on accomplishing the exact purposes of God with or without us.

How many wars, divorces, conflicts, divisions and just plain dramas are initiated and sustained just because we open this mouth of ours too wide and too often. James did tell us that he that offends not in words, the same is a perfect man. In the Scripture, the spoken word is compared to a knife, a fire, a hammer, a poison, just to name a few examples. Aren’t those things that need to be handled carefully? I

Whereas words that we speak seem abstract, in several proverbs, King Solomon teaches us that words define destiny, ours, and that of others. Yeshua and James in the apostolic Scriptures reiterated this same theme. Words, the spoken and the unspoken ones define both our present and our future. The fruits of our words, are the reaction that they create, and that we have to live with.

As the new Gregorian year approaches, people have a habit of making of making new resolutions. Let us remember the precious life-giving Words of our Master who said: It is not what goes in the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth.

May we learn to eat good fruits from the words that either come, or don’t come out of our mouth.

AS WE LIGHT THE LAST CHANUKAH CANDLE…

Psalms 5:9

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulcher; they flatter with their tongue.

What a feeling of utter disgust David had with the accepted moral modus operandi of his generation. David abhorred unfaithfulness to God’s spirit in one’s speech; he detested wickedness of heart (the definition of ‘wicked’ is ‘twisted’, as a ‘wick’ is twisted); he hated lying flatteries.

In our present world, success in the areas of entertainment, politics and commerce often stands on the ability to present a spirit of rebellion against God’s ways, to speak words of hellish deception and to flatter mankind thus leading into evil traps.

If we want to be filled with the spirit of the Lord, we need to empty ourselves of the devil’s data first; we need to develop a holy repugnance for what is not godly. We need to honestly ask ourselves: Do I, like David, Moses, Yeshua and many others, have a holy repugnance for the things of the world, the the very ideas of wickedness, lies and deceit? Do I allow my heart, mind and spirit to be day in and day out filled with things that are opposite to the spirit of God?

As we light our last Chanukah candle tonight, let us remember what we celebrate.

This story of the Maccabees tells of the miracles God does when people decide to refuse the influences of the world and to dedicate themselves to follow His Words of Torah. In our day and age the devil disposes of many media tools to shape and frame our minds.

As we light our last Chanukah candle tonight, let us like the Maccabees of old also shout a shout and say: NO to the devil’s wickedness.

As we light our last Chanukah candle tonight, let us again rededicate the Temple of our bodies, and the lamp of our soul to follow and show the ways of Messiah to the world around us.

YESHUA, OUR JUSTICE

Psalms 5:8 Lead me, O Adonai, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make Thy way straight before my face.

Do you have enemies? Have people hurt you and caused you rancor? Is there bitterness in your heart because of unjustly received evil?

Let us not seek revenge. Let us resist the desire to straighten our own righteous cause. Yeshua is the ”lifter-upper” of the righteous. He is the one who vindicates and fills all those who seek and hunger after His righteousness (Matthew 5:6). We only need to ask Him to help us to stay in His way in spite of all that tries to trip us off. To stay in His way is our greatest vindication. When unjustly buffeted, let us ask the Master, our King of Righteousness to show us how to not be perverted by the desire to return evil for evil.

This desire to exact vengeance is where the devil, who is the enemy of all virtue, wants us. He knows that there is no end to the vicious cycle of vengeance and retribution for evil between men. He also uses these injustices to get us to be led by self-righteous emotions. He knows that whenever we are led by our own emotions, he is the one at the helm of our life instead of the Lord’s spirit. The only way the devil gives up, is if we don’t give in, so don’t give up. Let us pray therefore, and the Master will help us be perfect, as His Father in Heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:38-48).

ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY

Psalms 5:7

But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

Hear the cry of King David, a king who has been harshly humiliated in the face of friend and foe. Hear the assurance of one who, when everything including his own self has failed, has unshakable trust in the multitudes of the mercies of his God.

So many of us live a constant life of misery while all the time the Father waits, with patient and moist eyes, for the slightest inclination of our cry to Him for help. What a mistake we make when we measure the mercy and grace of the eternal God by our poor limited failing and selfish standards of love.. In doing so we separate ourselves from His forgiveness and grace. In doing so, we become as the prodigal son, but afraid to come home.

The Kingdom of Heaven can seem so far away to those who don’t know how to find the Father and His grace and yet, God cries daily for everyone to find it. If they would only for a moment unite their heart with Him, they would find that, just as two heart cells pulsate in unison when in contact, the heart of the Father is just one heartbeat away.

Oh, that we would learn to make a temple of our heart to house the love and the multitudes of the mercies of the Almighty God.

Oh, that our hearts would shine so with His love for the world to see and give Him glory; then, His righteousness would begin to cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.

May our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify the Father which is in Heaven.

NOTE: The word used for mercy in the Hebrew text is: chen: meaning: covenant faithfulness.

MESSIAH MARRIAGE PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS

Proverbs 18:19

A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Brother are essentially meant to be close. The irony is that we often hurt most those who are closest to us. This phenomenon is probably due to the dynamics of higher expectancies imbedded in more intimate relationships. The solution is to be an island and be close to no one (sarcasm intended!).

Because of this higher expectancy, a brother who has been offended is stronger to win back that a strong city. God seems to agree with this principle: of all the enemies of Israel, of all those whom sought its destruction in ancient times, because he sought the annihilation of his brother Israel, Edom who is Esau gets the strongest ‘ax’ from God in the fact that God annihilated its civilization (Obadiah). Because he was Israel’s brother, Esau was held to higher standards.

Married people are not biologically related, (even though the Song of Salomon merges the two relationships (S.O.S. 4)), but the same phenomenon seems to happen between couples. Because of the higher expectancies in marriage, offenses are more sensitive, and the wounds harder to heal. It is more difficult to forgive and restore a broken trust. The Messiah knows something about that. He also has His marriage problems with His wife’s unfaithfulness! What’s His solution?

The example of Messiah solving his ‘marriage’ issues with His Bride is very beautiful: He pays the price. After evil has been revealed, after confession has been made, He offers the option repentance and return. It is then that, as undeserving as we may be, He pays the price and takes upon Himself to do whatever He can to promote the restoration of trust and unity. He swallows His right to be eternally offended.

The apostle Paul teaches us that nothing can separate us from Messiah’s love (Romans 8). We are not Messiah, but as followers, can we still take sample of Him and be like Him?

IT’S HIS FIGHT

Psalms 5:6

Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: Adonai will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

Here is the cry of David, a man who has put the total sum of his trust in the Lord of his salvation. As a result of this trust, this man who does not indulge in exerting vengeance. He does not yield to the temptation to vindicate his own cause by his own means.

This is the beauty of being certain of the righteousness of your cause; of knowing that you are with God and that most of all, God is with you. You do not have to justify yourself to yourself nor to others; you do not even have to argue with the adversary. Any time the righteous and his cause are attacked, the avenging battle belongs to the Lord, and to Him only (Isaiah 63:4).

In all of our battles for Him, let us have the assurance that our heavenly Father God is the One who upholds our cause. May we have the assurance that He Himself will show His power against those who malign His children. Let us not be guilty of the sins of leasing and bloodshed practiced by the enemies of righteousness. In our time of trouble, let us find refuge in God and in the surety that He repays. Moses wisely advised the armies of Israel Adonai shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:14

Note from the King James dictionary:
”LEASING”: Falsehood; lies; obsolete or nearly so.