You + Yah Can Take the Land
Parsha Sh’lach L’cha, Numbers 13-15, is centered on our first glimpse of the Promised Land after leaving Egypt. We read the exciting report that the scouts brought back, the good and the bad.
But I want to focus on just one verse – not even a whole verse, just one sentence. It’s a statement that is easily overlooked in the highs and lows of the story. It’s easy to miss the significance of it, because in most of our cultures today, it doesn’t carry the same meaning. However, in this case, it was life-changing and destiny defining. If we can capture the significance of this concept in our own lives, it can be the same for us. (more…)
God’s Blessing & Provision: All Who Call on the Name of the Lord Will be Saved
In the posts leading up to this, I discussed the balance between stewarding our resources for the difficult times ahead, while maintaining complete dependency on Yehovah’s provision during those times. In Part 2, we looked at Joseph as a type of Messiah who foreshadows how Yehovah will provide for us during times of tribulation. But all of this assumes one very important requirement on our part: Calling on the name of the Lord.
This is certainly not a new concept. It might seem obvious to most. But I hadn’t seen the full meaning of this principle until I put it into the perspective of tribulation. What had been a wonderful spiritual understanding now took on literal significance. (more…)
Our Spiritual Journey Inside the Tabernacle – Part 8: The Curtain
Inside the Tent of Meeting
To this point in our series we have progressed through the tabernacle courtyard into the Holy Place. We stand in front of the Altar of Incense participating in the spiritual realm to bring about God’s purposes on earth through intercession.
In the Hebrew scriptures intercession was the role of the prophets and priests. This is a lofty position and a wonderful place to be. But YHWH wants us even closer. However, there’s an elephant in the room: (more…)
Our Spiritual Journey Inside the Tabernacle – Part 4: The Bronze Basin
Inside the Tabernacle
In Parts 2 and 3, we’ve looked at God’s gift of faith that enables us to enter through the fence enclosing the tabernacle, representing His kingdom. We’ve been forgiven because He offered His own Son at the Bronze Altar.
Saved and forgiven – this is a great place to be. Some people stay at this place for years, maybe forever. But God has so many other gifts He wants to provide us to bring us into deeper intimacy with Himself. (more…)
Our Spiritual Journey Inside the Tabernacle – Part 3: The Bronze Altar
Inside the Tabernacle
In Part 2 of this blog series, we looked at the first obstacle that separates mankind from a holy God – represented by the fence enclosing the courtyard of the tabernacle. The fence reminds us of how Yehovah gives us the faith to believe in Yeshua as the only entrance into His kingdom, so that we can accept His invitation of communion with Him.
But our sin keeps us from dwelling in his kingdom, keeps us from living in full relationship with Him. Once we’ve entered into relationship with Him through faith, we become aware of our sinfulness as compared to His righteousness. (more…)
Our Spiritual Journey Inside the Tabernacle – Part 2: The Fence
Inside the Tabernacle
As I stated in Part 1 of this blog series, the tabernacle is a physical representation of the spiritual process that Yehovah has created for mankind to draw near to Him and for Him to dwell with us. However, there are several things that separate mankind from a holy God. The first thing that comes between Yehovah and man is faith. Until we have faith, we cannot know Yehovah. However, what we see as a barrier, Yehovah sees as an opportunity for blessing. (more…)
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…)
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…)
Messianic Sabbath 