Tag: heart

Torah Is Compassionate

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Big Tent

Yah has room under His tent.

As I drive the country, occasionally I see a large tent set up in an open space. There is usually a sign saying something like “Revival” or “Tent Revival.” Whenever we see that, we should pray that lives will be changed. We should root for a true revival. We can lift them up in prayer, both the ministers and the attendees of this event.

The real thing that happens in true revivals is repentance. Simply put, we all get hit with the reality of our sins (no matter what level) and we are drawn to seek forgiveness and (big AND) to change our ways. Here is the door for a continued training after the decision point of repentance.

I have often wondered if anyone would just label the tent event as “Repentance” or “Tent Repent.” Maybe we need to market it in a more positive way, but that is what is essentially the goal. Large changes have followed when a cluster of communities bow down to Yah and repent.

The Weeping Wallow

Occasionally we are moved to weeping for the things that the Father weeps for. Jesus wept. Jeremiah wept. We can weep. This brings today’s characteristic of Torah. Because Torah is good and given by God, we can be sad for those who live without it. Those who live outside His word and His way, live outside His will. Living outside His will denies us the natural benefits, the blessings of Torah.

But Torah also brings death.

Yes the end of sin, is death. The end of Torah (think goal line) is YESHUA/Jesus.

Torah has blessings to the faithful and curses to the ones who reject it (the lawless).

Sadness through our joy

God doesn’t want us to fall into the pit of judgement. He doesn’t desire that we reject what He has to offer. He is compassionate and His Torah Is Compassionate.

Through Eyes Of Love

YHWH has eyes of love. Whenever we hear the words “eyes” or “ears” we need to keep in mind the different levels of our seeing and hearing. We need to see with spiritual eyes as well as our physical eyes. Our eyes of faith can see farther. They can see beyond walls and beyond the constraints of time.

Let us see with compassion. I have realized that my mouth, in prayer is more effective than my blabbing in the physical. I have rarely changed a mind, changed a heart by speaking or lecturing. I’m not that eloquent. However, I have prayed (out loud, with mouth and mind) and seen people change.

Don’t stop believing

Keep it up. Follow Messiah. Speak out when He calls you to do so. Preach the good news of salvation. But don’t forget how powerful it is to pray for the lost ones, and weep over their sins. But for the grace of God, we would all still be lost in our sin and lawlessness.

Prayer:

Father in Heaven, gracious and Holy are You. Be blessed in Heaven and earth. Keep us in your grace and let us not forget the lawless ones. Bring repentance to the lost nations and the lost sheep. Be glorified in your servants. Be lifted up in this land. Halleluyah! Blessed be your Name! Amen.

Torah Is Loved

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Can you say you love Torah? Would you say you hate those who are double-minded.

I would say I am frustrated by those who change their mind over and over, but I would not say I hate them. “I mean, pick a lane. Do you want a taco or a beef burrito? Move along here. We got places to go. People to see.” Right?

But I think, as the entire subject of the longest Psalm is Yah’s Torah and righteous living, this double-mindedness is in regards to God’s Ways. In many ways, the double-minded are worse than the ignorant, or the depraved soul.

Maybe that should give us some perspective on this principle.

So—because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit you out of My mouth;

Revelation 3:16 ISV

I do prefer the term “spew” but “vomit” works.

Again, Torah is the key

The hate, if you will, is directed toward those who are double-minded or half-hearted toward God’s Law, His Torah.

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Romans 9:13

This can be a confusing concept at first. But, keep in mind two things. 1. Yah is sovereign. 2. Our contemporary definitions are often somewhat off from original context.

However, you will see that this word “hate” is used more in scripture than we often want to admit.

Here’s My Takeaway

Yah spells it out for us clearly in His word that our part of the covenant is to obey His word. I go so far as to say, “obey His Torah.” If we choose to disobey, He can choose to reject (hate) us as he did Esau.

Now… Let me share a good video with you. This ministry does a good job on several subjects. I haven’t seen them all but this one gives, I think, a good perspective on the issue at hand.

As we know, God Is Love. But God can also choose. He can disfavor. He can reject (and He does). Often rejection helps bring us back to His home, under His loving arms of forgiveness. Torah, however, is a huge reason for His choosing (or hating). Even His special seed, Israel, was rejected for a season as they strayed from His Torah.

Let us choose Torah. Let us choose favor. Let us reject evil, even flee from it, to embrace, and run to, His instructions.

Prayer

Father in Heaven. I love you and thank you for bringing me back into your arms with grace, with compassion, with joy as I turned (shuva) from my evil. Help me to love what you love and hate what you hate. Amen

Do you love what God loves?

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Torah Is Enjoyable

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The pull of Torah

Simply put, the pull of Torah is a lifeline to keep us from destruction.

Torah gives us a hope. Torah gives us something to cling to. Will we go through the life of a disciple without a rope, without a lifeline?

If it was so wretched, I would not crave it.

If you’ve been told that Torah is burdensome, you’ve been lied to. The scripture says that His commandments are NOT a burden. They are to be loved. As Jesus is to be loved, we are to love His instructions.

It is because of that love, we are sustained during affliction, famine, disease, and destruction. We can be held up from the death of the sinners.

It is a Tree of Life

Cling to that central root of the olive tree. If you were grafted on, do not push off. Do not be as one who is pruned off the tree. Live and learn from the Yeshua (salvation) of your soul.

Prayer:

Thank you Oh Father of fathers. Thank you King of kings. You have sent me a lifeline. You sustain me in persecution and distress. Keep your servants in your Way. Help us cling to your lifeline. Help us wander not away. Give us strength to pursue the truth. Thank you that there is joy, and not pain in Torah. Amen.

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Again, Torah Is A Delight

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Through compassion, we receive His favor.

“May Your compassion come to me that I may live,
For Your law is my delight.”
— Psalm 119:77

Am I a broken record.

If so, I’m a true record, even in my brokenness. In my life, as gracious Father let me repent and be made new, I was brought to my knees. I was at a point that if I knew one thing, I could at least go to paradise with that one thing in my brain. At least I know that God’s law is truth.

Why do I keep saying Torah is a gift, Torah is a benefit, Torah is, simply good? Because the Bible keeps saying it. God keeps saying it. It wouldn’t be repeated so much if it was insignificant or detrimental.

Halleluyah. I can be like a tree planted by the river. I can bear fruit, even as an old crickety dad.

Compassion is undeserved. Life is borrowed. We have zero life in ourselves. We get breath from God. He is the author of life. He is the giver of life through His loving compassion. And our God has given us a way to live. That way is in Torah. Why would I be like the one who walks in the counsel of the ungodly? Why listen to scornful? I guarantee, demons and deceptive spirits do NOT like God’s principles for living.

Do you like, do you delight in Torah?

this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.

1 John 5:3

We don’t understand every precept instantly. Let’s be like the new converts in the time of the Jerusalem council. Let’s start following Messiah, then read through and incline our ears to Torah as we go.

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

Acts 15:19-21

First Things First

As Mike Sundin of One In Messiah, Tallahassee points out. Modern churches don’t really teach the first part of the Jerusalem council conclusions. Take a look and ask yourself if you’ve been taught to be careful of any of these food guidelines.

What about verse 21? Are you hearing the Torah each week? The new converts from Paganism (former gentiles) in that time were being taught Torah. It is not warned against. It is not important, or even possible to make sure a pagan is fully observant before coming to Messiah – entering into the fellowship of Israel.

Let them come to Messiah and turn from immorality, then learn as they go. We all do this. Unless we tell ourselves that Torah dishonors YHWH.

I found Messiah, but many years later, I found His delight in Torah. Guess what. Still not perfect. Good thing I didn’t hold off until I was perfect.

But I know YHWH. I breathe His spirit in my lungs. The Messiah is in me and I am in Him. His Torah is a delight. And this won’t be the last time I tell you that.

Prayer:

Father, I love you and delight in your presence. Thank you for rest, and health. Thank you for shalom in your Way. Keep me inside your compassion and love. I do not call your ways a burden. I call it a delight. Dwell in me and let me forever be in your faith and provision. Amen.

Torah Is Most Valuable

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More than gold

The proverb says that wisdom is more valuable than gold and silver. Where do we start with wisdom? Reverence for Yah.

The psalmist tells me that Torah is worth more than gold or silver. More than thousands of pieces. Have you betrayed the Savior’s teaching? His Torah? If so, how many pieces of silver did it take?

Cha-Ching

Do you think, with all the prophecy in Psalms, David could have known that Paul would abolish the Torah? Sarcasm. Did David know that preaching would depend upon a philosophy of the law being a curse and being done away with in the new testament? Sorry, sarcasm again.

My purpose in this series is to define Torah with the very words of Yahweh. What is Torah? What is its purpose and benefit? For me to know this, I want to know what God thinks of it. Was Paul working against the grain? Or have contemporary Christians largely misunderstood him? Have we misrepresented the Torah from the lecterns across this world?

How can the law be such a blessing and be such a curse at the same time? Perhaps we should cling to the many biblical praises for Torah and dissect the sayings of Paul in Galatians.

Who are the lawless ones?

The ones who get literally locked out of the Kingdom of Heaven. The lawless ones. Jesus doesn’t even know them. Why would we preach lawlessness? Why would we practice lawlessness?

Lawlessness? Gulp!

Doing the will of God is an evidence of relationship. We want to heal, to prophesy, we want to cast out demons? All those things are possible without a relationship. What? Matthew 7:21-23 tells us. Messiah tells us this will happen. Who wants to ignore this warning? Not me. I want to be His friend. His servant. I know I’m not perfect, so does He. I want Him to claim me. I want to stand strong in the judgement.

Yes, I want to please Him. Is this legalism? Not according to the Word of God. According to God, that’s being rich. That is to be sought as precious gold and silver. Have you ever, perhaps unknowingly, turned away from Torah, seeing it as legalism? Why? What have you been taught regarding the Torah of Yahweh?

Torah Is A Rich Delight

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Some people delight in their riches, in their Feasts, in their pretend kingships. We are so blessed to have the richness of Messiah and His Torah.

Their heart is covered with fat,
But I delight in Your Torah.

Psalm 119:70

And he replied: Go and say to this people: Listen carefully, but do not understand! Look intently, but do not perceive! Make the heart of this people sluggish (literally: fat), dull (literally: heavy) their ears and close (literally: blind) their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart understand, and they turn and be healed.

Isaiah 6:9-10

In this passage, I believe fatness of heart is contrasted again, with an obedient spirit to God’s Torah.

Cure For A Fat Heart

What is a fat heart? Well, as I understand, it’s not like a heavy heart. It’s one that is satisfied and not in need of any nurishment. Self satisfied or even self-satiated.

We would not want a fat heart because we wouldn’t see that we need the Bread of Life. The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well did not have a fat heart. She was hungry and she found Messiah face to face.

If you have been where she was, with a hungry heart, you likely had that moment where you realized, “I need a Savior. I need Messiah. I need Him to open my eyes as well.”

Then, you invited Him in. How amazing. We are so blessed to not have a fat heart. We are so blessed to hear from the mouth of God through His Torah. What a delight it is to partake.

Communion is a visual representation of our receiving of the Bread of Yeshua and the saving blood. Next time you have kiddish (communion) think about the fruit of the vine (grape juice) first as a representation of his washing of sins. Then the bread which sustains us as we walk in His Way. Halleluyah!

Here is a long (really long) study of this term as well as “hardened heart” and more. By the way, it’s long. Can you tell I have ADD (or AMG attention multiplication gift)?

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1010-99192017000100009

Here’s a quote which is shorter.

John Oswalt writes: “The faculties of perception and response (eyes, ears, and heart) will be dulled and apathetic,” and “A ‘fat heart’ speaks of a slow, languid, self-oriented set of responses, incapable of decisive, self-sacrificial action.”

Scielo.org

Don’t let your heart get fat. You have Torah. Let it be the lamp that leads your path as you follow Messiah the true King.

Prayer:

Father, King of my heart, creator of the world. I worship you. Thank you for the delight of Torah. You have given it to your chosen seed. Thank you Father for your matchless grace, for saving me through the blood of Yeshua. Bless your Name. Please feed me with the bread of Messiah.

Let the world do what they do. Let it not bring pain to my family. I pray for the famine. Let them see that they need Messiah. Amen.

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Torah Is 24/7

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His presence is with us at all times

O YHWH, I remember Your name in the night,
And keep (guard, keep watch) Your Torah.

Psalm 119:55

How do we keep Torah at night.

Prayer, study, worship. When we pray, our prayers go forth as offerings of sweet savor before the throne in the Heavenly temple.

It’s beautiful. One thing that Covid did to me is start a new insomnia. Well, I will use this time to spend time on my bed remembering His Name and spending time with Him. Receiving a hug from my Father. Receiving prophetic words for my family.

Like David, I think of Him through the watches of the night.

The enemy is a night prowler.

So it makes sense to do warfare during the night watches. Halleluyah. Awake and do some warfare for your family, for the children around the world. Do some good for the Kingdom as you speak truth to the heavenly wars. It’s not flesh and blood. It’s spiritual battle. Many people worldwide need your prayer. It’s 4 am where you rest, but 4 pm on the other side of the world.

Be blessed as you sleep. But before you do, spend your time with your King. And when you awake, guard your Torah. Honor His word and bring about victory on earth. Amen.

Prayer:

Thank you Father for the time we spend in the night. Let me not waste those hours and hear my prayer. Bless the little children, the widows as they spend hours in coldness and fear. Send forth your ministering angels. Let me not forget your Name and your Torah. Amen.