The Power of Yeshua’s Sacrifice
Whenever I heard, “Jesus died for your sins,” I often thought, “What sin did I commit that would deserve death?” I’m a good person; I keep the 10 commandments; I try to love God and love my neighbors as myself. Then I heard, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23). So I asked, “Which sins can I die from?”
For a long time I understood this to mean that if I live sinfully, I will live separate from God, not enjoy His abundant life, and maybe eventually die from a destructive lifestyle. All of those are true, but later I asked, “What did it mean to those who first heard it shortly after Yeshua’s death?” (more…)
Pentecost: 2000 Years Ago or 2025?
The Day of Pentecost – we remember the supernatural flames appearing in the room where Yeshua’s followers were gathered. Inside the room, there was the sound of a “mighty rushing wind” and the speaking of other languages they’d never learned. It’s the pouring out of God’s very spirit into mere humans (Acts 2). That’s plenty to celebrate and remember right there. But what’s the purpose in our noting it every year? (more…)
The Surprising Results of Submission
Submission. It’s not a very popular word in our society. Normally we think of someone giving up their will in deference to one with more power. More recently it seems it’s come to mean someone giving in against their will. Webster’s defines it as “humbly obedient, ceasing to offer resistance, to defer to another’s wishes.” Even those definitions don’t sound as bad as the word itself – “submission.” At least that’s how I felt. Then I began to learn a simple saying, but a difficult lesson: “The way we submit to our leaders on earth is the way we submit to God.” (Rabbi Kirt Schneider) Hmm, how am I at submission? (more…)
If MY People
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
I found this verse repeating in my head, so I posted it in a place where I’d see it every day, a place where I typically pray for my friends and family as I’m starting my day. I continued my routine of praying for various people, and the verse stayed on my wall for probably three weeks.
I came to understand the power of this statement: (more…)
Taking the Next Difficult Step is Easier Than I Thought
On a recent vacation, I decided to try rock climbing on the simulated rock wall. I had never done it, but watched several people in front of me, some succeeding to the top and some quitting part way up. With each one I could, I asked how they did it or what stopped them from finishing, trying to learn whatever might help me make it high enough to ring the little bell at the top, announcing my success.
When it was my turn, the attendant, Alex, roped me up and gave me climbing shoes to help me hold on. I took my first few steps on the holds and knobs. “This is pretty easy,” I thought. But like anything else physical, it got harder as I went along. (more…)
Faith is the Answer
Remember the story in Mark 5 of the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years? She touched Yeshua’s clothing and was not only healed, but captured the attention of Yeshua despite the throng of people crowding Him. While obviously a great account of Yeshua’s compassion and supernatural power, this story leaves me with a few questions:
- Why did the woman think if she touched Yeshua’s clothes she would be healed?
- Why did Yeshua feel the power go out from Him when she touched Him and not everyone else who was crowding around?
- And after a wonderful miracle, why was the woman fearful of Him? (more…)
The Holocaust – Wasn’t that more than 60 years ago?
Precisely the point! This year, by Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 19, the youngest Holocaust survivors will be more than 80 years old. For us who were born after the Holocaust and aren’t Jewish, the holocaust may seem like a long time ago. But for the survivors and the families of victims and survivors, the Holocaust is still an open wound.
The youngest survivor today would have been 13 years old at the time. (The Nazis considered children younger than that too young for work and sent them to the gas chambers.) Thirteen is a pivotal age in anyone’s life, but imagine growing up having the Holocaust as your coming of age introduction. (more…)
Abiding in Yeshua
Not long ago I saw a documentary featuring the gray whale migration from Mexico to Alaska. A mother and her new calf, born just a few months earlier, were passing off the coast of Monterey, California, when they were attacked by a pod of killer whales. The story showed the hunting strategies of the six killer whales and the rare escape of the two grays.
Since an adult gray is far too large for a killer whale to overtake, the baby calf was the prey. The main strategy of the killer whales was to separate the calf from its mother. A brutal struggle went on for hours. With the two grays becoming weaker and weaker, I couldn’t imagine how the two whales would ever rid themselves of the strong and determined predators. (more…)
Living as a Sacrifice to God
“A living sacrifice to God” (Romans 12:1). It’s a familiar term, one that’s always in the back of my mind as my position and purpose in God. Then, I unexpectedly learned a deeper understanding of what that actually means and how I can really live it out.
The idea of sacrifice to us today refers to giving something up. But the audience of Paul’s day at the time it was written would have understood it to refer to the temple sacrifices — animals, birds, oil, grains — which were a major part of their life and had been in their history for nearly 1,500 years.
One of the offerings required was a “whole burnt offering” — the Hebrew word “olah” (referred to repeatedly in Lev. 1-6). This offering was used to symbolize that the worshipper had offered himself in service and obedience to God. But what I didn’t know was that the word “olah” was also used to describe bondservants. (more…)
Availability vs. Ability
Have you ever felt God asking you to do something for which you know you’re not talented or maybe not qualified? No doubt Esther felt this way when Mordecai instructed her to speak to the king about saving her kinsman. Esther’s obvious gift was in her beauty, her speaking of political matters with the king was never a thought. In fact she hadn’t even had an audience with him in a month, and then only at his request. A person could be sentenced to death for approaching the king without his summons.
Esther’s asking the king to save the Jewish people must have seemed ludicrous. There must have been a mistake in translating Mordecai’s message or in Mordecai’s understanding of God’s will. (more…)
Humility: God’s Plan for Reconciliation
As I was pondering Yeshua’s path to death and all that came before that, one word rang in my mind loud and clear: humility. Yet the word, as we know it, hardly does justice to what Yeshua displayed.
“But [He] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:7-8
This is God Himself in the flesh, being crucified as a criminal by those He created, in order to pay their penalty for them. That’s humility–and more, a concept for which we have no frame of reference.
What was He hoping to achieve? The answer was another astonishing realization: (more…)
God Answers Prayer in Surprising Ways
At one point, I committed to praying on a weekly basis for several of my friends and family to come to faith in Yeshua as their savior. I did so for six months. Once I started praying, I began looking for signs of a change in their spiritual perspectives, and for opportunities to speak with them about Yeshua. This story is another example of how prayer changes not only the lives of those for whom the prayer is offered, but the one praying as well.
During those six months, I saw miraculous things. (more…)
Being With the Father
The father of a tiny baby girl takes delight in every new little thing she does and can spend hours watching her — even when she’s sleeping. This is how God views us. He created the joy that comes from watching our children. He then put that same joy in our hearts. Just as when He finished creating the earth, He marveled at how excellent it was, He marvels at us now. (Genesis 1:31)
As a child grows up, she makes her own decisions and chooses her own way. She may choose to include her father in her life or not. She may choose to include God in her life or not. But when she does choose to include him, it brings him great joy. To have a child grow to be a friend and want to be with you is a great blessing.
But there’s a deeper intimacy that is rare. (more…)
Alignment with God’s Promises Brings God’s Blessings
God has promised us so many blessings in His word. Many of these are conditional – that is, they require something of us in order for God’s full blessing to be released. Some of the most familiar are the “be-attitudes”: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:7-9)
There are three promises I’ve decided to make a pursuit of mine in recent years — promises of blessings that require my action. These are probably some of the most explicit promises of blessing in the Bible, yet possibly some of the most overlooked. I began pursuing these three within a few months of each other. Not too long afterward I felt showered in unexpected blessings. (more…)
God’s Road Map to a Life of Blessing
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8a
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you…” Matthew 7:12a
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33
I have come to think of these verses as my road map. (more…)
Nature Displays a Picture of Psalm 91
On a recent vacation, my husband and I stayed at a house beside the Wenatchee River in Eastern Washington. There were two families of geese, one with three goslings, one with four. The cute babies were very young, their feathers still fluffy yellow. We watched them in our small yard for nine days.
It quickly became obvious how completely trusting and dependent on their parents the goslings were. The parents did all the planning and leading. The goslings were only concerned with eating, sleeping and following their parents. (more…)
The Blessing of the Sabbath
The Sabbath – we think of the Jewish day of rest, or maybe any day when we’re not working, or the day we attend church. Yeshua says of the Sabbath, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath is one of the blessings God made for mankind to enjoy. He practiced it Himself on the seventh day of creation. Was God tired? Had all the work He’d done on the first six days worn Him out? I can imagine it could, but no — God created it along with the world and its inhabitants as a gift to man, animals and the land.
A day, 24 hours, of no work — to most people that is a luxury. When I first got a hold of the concept that the Sabbath was to be a blessing for man, and decided to try it, it was difficult. (more…)
A Messianic Perspective
In Leviticus and other sections of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), we read about the myriad of offerings and sacrifices, the ceremonial cleansings, and the stipulations for coming near to a holy God. On The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), for example, the high priest would’ve prepared for weeks ahead of time to perform the duties prescribed for the one day — with all its garments, offerings, animals, his family and other priests involved and contingency plans in case something didn’t go as planned. Then on the actual Day of Atonement, it would probably take him all day to perform the list of duties.
Granted, The Day of Atonement was the most holy day of the year, but there were six other holy days equally as rigorous in their requirements, not to mention the daily and weekly procedures of the temple and the offerings and sacrifices brought in by the people of Israel that were also required.
In Yeshua, we see the fulfillment of all of these requirements. (more…)
Messianic Sabbath 
