May 2021 – Light from the Word

Things That Matter Most

(Colossians 3)

The walk of life leads us to many directions in its distractions, accomplishing a lot, sometimes, but again, not a lot of great significance. At the end of the day, we ask ourselves, What did I accomplish today? Priorities get misplaced in the order of which we favor most. The things that demand more from us are those which we dearly care about. But what do we make of Paul’s words to the Colossians? If then you have been raised with Christ…How can we have been raised with our Messiah, if we are still in this body of decay? That’s a question we must consider in our spiritual walk. For many of us Christians, there is the thought that our salvation was free and that there is nothing else we have to do. I do pity the idea, for first of all, salvation was not free for our Lord, Who paid it with His life; and it is not free for us, who must deny ourselves, carry our cross and follow Him. We are not exempt from our duty before God to do our part, if we are to be saved.

Read the words from Paul: And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory (Rom. 8: 17). To be raised with Christ, it is to have died for oneself; raised with Him is He controlling our inner being; it is losing all that has to do with one’s desires; it is, “not I, but Christ lives in me.” The mind, the control center of the body, Paul says to keep focusing on what matters most- on the things above, where YAHSHUA is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 1:1). Dead to the world, we are of no concern to it, neither should it be to us. We, believers in YAHSHUA, are seeds which went through the process of death in order to be alive. The seed that does not die, will never become a tree. In YAHSHUA’S death, he planted in us the seed of life eternal; however, it does not finish there. In dying unto self, the believer gains sanctification, which is a process to attain glorification. Without it one cannot see God. When we go through the new birth, the Holy Spirit seals us with Himself. I call this a ring that unites us with YAHSHUA, confirming our engagement with Him. And that is the most important thing we must pay attention to while in this world. Although, the human heart tends to lean more toward the things of the world than heaven’s. We must make an effort to switch the priority’s direction to heaven. Our citizenship is not of this world; the longing of every Christian should be heaven, because Paul said, Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord YAHSHUA Messiah, Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Phil. 3:20-21)

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To The One Who Has, More Shall Be Given

(Mark 4: 2- 11; 23-25; Luke 19:12-26)

And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them: Give attention to this! Behold, a sower went to sow (Mark 4:2,3). From the time that the Israel’s authorities hardened their hearts to the teachings of Yahshua and considered Him do be under the influence of demons, He then used the meanings of parables to teach them. Everyone was left in the dark except His disciples whom were given the interpretation, as He said to them, To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God; but for those outside everything becomes a parable (vs. 11). As we see in this parable, the hearts of men –hard as a path, hard as rocks, difficult and stubborn as thorns, failed to receive the Word given them. Only those whose hearts are soft to hear the Word, will be blessed with the understanding of it. Yahshua said, If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend. That means, let him be making a conscious effort to hear, to take advice; to pay close attention to, to grasp mentally and understand.

The truth we hear must be received with a conscious and mental effort to acquire a deeper understanding and insight into it. Yahshua said that the measure in which we give attention to the truth we hear will be the measure of insight and understanding that will come back to us and more, and that’s why he who has, more will be given. In his diligence and faithfulness to the Word of Yahweh in his diligence in studying it and applying it to his heart, the Christian will be diligent in obedience. For him who has will more be given; and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away (Mark 4:23-25).

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The Man Abram (part 2)

ANGELS OF MERCY

When Abram stretched out his hand to slay his son, angels of mercy came before the Lord pleading for him and Isaac, saying, O Lord, You are a merciful and compassionate King over all that You have created in heaven and in earth, and You support them all; give therefore ransom and redemption instead to your servant Isaac, and pity and have compassion upon Abraham and Isaac his son, who are this day performing You commands; have You not seen Isaac the son of Abram Your servant is bound down to the slaughter like an animal? Now, therefore let Your pity be roused for them, O Lord.

At that time the Lord appeared to Abram and called him from heaven saying, Lay not your hand upon your son, for now I know that you fear God in performing this act, not withholding your son from Me. Abram lifted up his eyes and behold a ram God had prepared for the sacrifice. Satan, however, kept the ram from coming to Abram. But Abram took hold of the ram and sacrificed it to the Lord. While Abram was engaged in sacrificing the ram to the Lord, Satan went to see Sarah, his wife in the form of an old man. He stirred up her heart’s emotions by telling her the lie that Abram had merciless killed her son. She lifted up her voice and wept and cried bitterly for her son. She threw herself on the ground and cast dust upon her head, weeping saying, O that I had died in your stead; my joy is turned into mourning over you. But I console myself with you, my son, in its being the word of the Lord, you performed the command of your God. She rose up afterward and went looking for Abram till she came to Hebron, inquiring of all that she saw and no one could help her. Satan came to her again in the form of an old man and said to her, I spoke falsely to you, for Abram did not kill his son; he is not dead. Hearing these words, she became extremely excited to the point of her soul leaving her. She died then without seeing her son alive. When it was all over, Abram returned home and looked for his wife, but he could not find her. After making inquiries about her, he found out she had gone to Hebron; when they got there, they found out that she had died. They wept bitterly over her; Isaac fell upon her face and wept over her, saying, O my mother, my mother, how you left me, and where have you gone? O how, how you have left me! Every one mourned for Sarah for several days a great and heavy mourning. The love of a mother is beyond what one can imagine, but Sarah’s love for her son and vice-versa touches one’s heart deeper than any other human’s love would do. YAHSHUA’S mother suffered greatly the death of her son, as the prophet Simeon warned her saying, Behold, this Child is appointed and destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against; and a sword will pierce through your own soul also – that the secret thoughts and purposes of many hearts may be brought out and disclosed (Luke 2:34-35).

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The Man Abram (part 1)

Abram, a man after God’s heart, and considered God’s friend, offers a rich history unknown to us found in the ancient non-canonical book of Jasher. Jasher is a wonderful book, covering the history from the time of Adam to Joshua. The book of Jasher is referenced more than one time in the Old Testament: Joshua 10:13: And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day; II Samuel 1: 17-18: David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, and he commanded to teach it, the lament of the bow, to the Israelites. Behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar (Hebrew for Jasher).

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Moses and Elijah on Mount Sinai and Mount Herman

(Exodus 19; 33; I Kings 19:8-14; Luke 9: 28-33)

Moses, as Israel’s leader to the Promised Land, was a remarkable man. No one that has ever lived, has ever experienced God the way he did. He was not only a leader for the nation Israel, but a prophet, who spoke with God face to face, although he did not see His face. From the signs and wonders seen in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, water coming from the rocks, mana coming from heaven as food for the people while in their journey of forty years through the wilderness, and much more, Moses’ life shines over all others.

As a baby, Moses was taken from the water when his mother tried to hide him in the time of the king’s command to kill all the Jews’ babies to control their population. He was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, who later adopted him. She named him Moses because she said, “I drew him out of the water.” For forty years he lived in the royal palace, however, he preferred to suffer with his brothers, as Hebrews 11:24-25 confirms: By faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter because he preferred to share the oppression and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.

One day, while checking out the slavery condition of his people, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his brothers. He then killed the Egyptian and buried him (Ex. 2). His zeal for the wellbeing of his people was a sign of what he was to become in the future. From that time on, he become a refugee in the land of Median, where he married and worked as a shepherd for his father- in-law. Moses had his first encounter with God at Mount Horeb, or Sinai, the mount of God, forty years after his ordeal that caused him to flee for his life. The Lord God appeared to him in a fire out of the midst of a bush. Curious about what was happening, he turned aside to see why the bush would not burn, when he heard the Lord’s voice saying, do not come near; put your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground (Ex. 3:2-5). In that encounter, God revealed Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses then hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Ex. 3:6). God spoke to him from the fire saying, come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people…out of Egypt. Moses’ conscious burned with guilt and fear of his past in the presence of that fire that symbolized the unapproachable holiness of God. Mount Sinai, the pivot point of Moses’ life, stood before him with a divine call to redeem his people from bondage.

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We Do Not Know What to Do

Have you ever been in a situation when you have said, I do not know what to do? Crossroads ahead causing a moment of confusion in the midst of fear in the situation, as if your world shrunk to only you in it? You are not alone. Learning how to get our problems off our shoulders at the beginning of things, is a good thing, so not to suffer the consequences that will follow the worries. There is a path however, a narrow path, not visible at first, but nonetheless, a path we must look for to alleviate the mind from the control of fear; hear the Lord speaking, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” This is the only path to victory; the path that God has directed us to go through. “Though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” The confidence of faith elevates us above circumstances and opens our eyes to its spiritual reality, giving us the certainty that God is ever so present with us. So, never fear, God is near.

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