Father Rejection and A Fresh Start

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Each day represents a fresh start.  As a temporal widow, that truth is so important to my emotional well being.  The past is gone, the regrets of yesterday must be left behind, and the lessons learned must be carried forward.

If we choose to live in the past we will be useless in today.

Having said that, deep healing sometimes requires a fresh look at an old wound.  The Holy Spirit pulls back the bandage for some fresh air on an old heart injury.

Mine is a big family.  Marriage became a melting pot of his, hers, ours and theirs.  God's purposes arranged for that beautiful tapestry of lives interwoven.  The trial of life and the hand of God always make for an interesting collision especially in the dynamics of relationships.

God's ultimate purpose is to bring us into the image of His Son.  The image He is after is not the physical but rather the relational image of a father to His child.  We are taught and have seen graphic examples of the physical torture Jesus suffered and the sacrifice He made for us.

The suffering Son was marred beyond human recognition:

"Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God. smitten by Him and afflicted.  But He was pierced for OUR transgressions.  He was crushed for OUR iniquities.  The punishment that brought us peace (with God) was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5)

I often wondered why Jesus had to go through all the maiming of His physical body.  I ponder the questions:

"Why did He submit to the torture inflicted by Roman soldiers and the Cross of crucifixion?  Was there not a less brutal way to save our souls?"

But then, the Lord delivers a mental picture of one of our wounded warriors lying on a hospital bed.  Their physical pain and emotional trauma are off the charts of any other human experience.  Jesus, the Savior of mankind,  looked down through the ages to this day and that wounded warrior.  He chose to go through all that physical torture to be able to whisper in that ear, "I know how you feel!".

The love of humanity's Savior caused Him to surrender to all the forms of suffering that His Beloved might go through, and there is nothing we can take to Him that He does not understand from His human experience in a flesh and blood body.

Today He is addressing an emotional injury that has been inflicted on all generations through weak human vessels.

The love of a father is the earliest and most important relationship we need in order to truly grasp the picture and face of God, the Father.  That sacred relationship between the father and child is the target of such evil in these end times.

Outside influences, personal rejection, and spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly realms have targeted fathers and wreaked havoc against  the role ordained to represent the Father Heart of God to their children.  I see how relational alienation and estrangement in our society makes it very difficult to find our way back to our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ the Son.

The Holy One welcomes me into His presence to share a truth for healing that is like the balm of Gilead to my heart.

Strained relationships seem more extreme in an Italian family.  Passions seem to ratchet up and perceived betrayal is often handled through the ultimate severing of relationship and disownment of the offender.  My temporal husband passed over into eternity with the stigma of being disowned by his parents and most of his family of origin.  

That emotional pain was always just under the surface of his ideas about family.  The sword of Christ is a God-ordained reality (Jesus said it would divide closest family members) but that does not lessen the sorrow associated with its purpose.

The Holy Spirit directs my intercession today to that deep family wound with a stunning truth:

"Jesus death on the cross nullified every curse.  He made all things new and gives everyone the hope of a fresh start.  Everything is washed and purified by His shed Blood".  

I believe that to be true, but He continues, "even the curse of the father disowning the son".

I am utterly speechless with that revelation and its profound implication.  Jesus suffered the emotional disownment that all of us fear and many have suffered in the human arena: Father rejection.

On the Cross and for the first time in eternity, the Son was emotionally and relationally estranged from the Father.

For the first time in eternity, the Father was emotionally and relationally estranged from the Son.

The picture of the Trinity broken is shocking to my mind and yet I realize the day when Jesus said, "My God, why have you forsaken Me?"  (Matt 27:46) was ordained before mankind ever sinned and the effects of betrayal were ever suffered.

I never really thought too far past the physical torture and human betrayal inflicted on my Lord to process the ultimate sense of abandonment and Father rejection He went through that day.  Human betrayal is one thing but Father God estrangement is complete devastation.

I feel the sorrow and I feel the joy.  My heart is broken and healed all at the same time.  "How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called Children of God" (1 John 3:1).

Jesus suffered the wrath of His Father, taking on our sin to remedy the separation and heal the Holy disownment all humanity would otherwise be forced to endure.  The curse has been broken as has the generational chain through which it was passed. Now I can and must take claim to the healing provided so that my Savior did not suffer His emotional (and physical) brokenness in vain.

Peace floods my heart.  Just as the Holy Trinity was restored in love, we can trust that our families can be restored too. I know that my Prayers and petitions have a strong basis in the principles and precedents established by my Heavenly Father.

Today is a new day and a fresh start.  Even as we have felt the pain of human rejection, we can know the unconditional love of the Father.  The Blood of Jesus atoned for everything in me that would cause my Father in Holiness to have to reject me.  Perfect Justice has been satisfied and the penalty for sin has been paid in full. 

I understand even better today, that by His wounds we are healed, even and especially those emotional ones.  

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?        

   

 

The Dark Corridor

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Earlier than my usual 4 am conference, I am reminded that Yeshua prayed all through some nights in His earthly visit and time spent among His created.

Since 3 am is the time I have come to call the "witching hour", when evil tries to torment me, The Lord speaks to that fear: 

"The enemy comes at this hour to torment you but I will use this time to teach you, so don't be afraid". 

I have recently developed the habit of listening to worship music as my mind comes to attention and prepares to receive all the Lord might want to speak as we get to the sunrise and light of this new day.  

The Jewish day as revealed in the Torah and back at the beginning of time as conveyed in His Word, begins at sundown.  Just as the Spirit of Adonai hovered over the darkness of a world in chaos and brought order, so He brings us out of the darkness into the light of His ordered creation and life. 

Worship is therefore a brilliant way to welcome the Heavenly Light and purpose of the new day.

As I'm going through my playlist of favorite worship, I am drawn back in time to the worship time during the National Day of Prayer when Believers in Yeshua from all over the nation and even Believers from other countries assembled in Washington DC before the 2020 election to cry out to the God of our nation in repentance and beseech Him for Divine intervention as we see our personal and collective sin and make our plea for His forgiveness. 

As I am thinking back to that time and all that has happened since, I hear Him say, 

"That was when you entered into a dark corridor, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  You are in a birthing canal, about to come forth with and in new life." 

Truly, I and so many others are moving through that dark corridor being squeezed and stripped of what represents our flesh comforts and familiarity with the things of this world.  What we hoped and even assumed would be a Divine manifestation of immediate answers and protection from a supernatural enemy and his human agents of a wicked agenda being proposed as our "choice, reality hit us hard in ways that made no sense to our common collective minds.

"Do you trust ME?"   

Humanly speaking, we hate what we cannot control yet we are being asked to put our full dependency upon our Savior here and now not only in a future there and then.  

I understand His great mercy in what He speaks to my heart and the picture He paints in my mind.  Hope comes forth like the sunrise of this new day.  I repent for the impatience and the doubt that follows when being asked to persevere through all the contractions that are now seen as a "birthing process". 

Yeshua's  ancient words come to life from Matthew 24:4-8 (CJB):

"Yeshua replied, "Watch out! Don't let anyone fool you!  For many will come saying,  'I am the messiah!' and they will lead many astray.  You will hear the noise of wars nearby and news of wars far off;  see to it that you don't become frightened.  Such things must happen but the end is yet to come.  For people will fight with each other, nations will fight with each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world.  All this is but the beginning of the birth-pains". 

There is a command we must follow nestled in His expose of the conditions we find and experience in the corridor, "See to it that you don't become frightened".

The renewing of our mind takes place when we re-place the threats of the evil one we hear in our ear with the powerful Holy Word of Adonai as in Psalm 91 NKJV  Here's some excerpts of this wonderful Psalm:

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High 
shall bide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will SAY of the Lord "He is my refuge and my fortress
My God. in HIM I will trust. 
Under His wings you shall take refuge 
His truth shall be your shield and buckler
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night
Nor of the arrow that flies by day
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness 
A thousand may fall at your right side,
But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look,
and see the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord Who is my refuge,
even the Most High your dwelling place.
No evil will befall you,
nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you.
Because he has set his love upon ME, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he has known MY name.
He shall call upon ME, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will extricate (deliver) him and bring him honor.
I will satisfy him with long life
and show him MY salvation".

The dark corridor is a passage way to new life when seen in the light of Adonai's Word and promises.  But as every birthing experience is personal and unique, we must draw close to the Holy One with calm perseverance to find that wonderful light at the end of the dark corridor we find ourselves in at this moment in time.

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?

***Note:  for those who might be word sensitive in our interpretation of these verses, plague is a Biblical word usually in reference to a Divine chastisement like that which we read about in the days of Moses and the Pharaoh of Egypt as opposed to a sickness that IMO may have been unleashed by human agents under the influence of evil celestial beings who hate us.  

  

Draw Me a Picture

 When a person gets saved, it's been envisioned like taking off an old worn coat and putting on a new garment like unto a clean white "robe of righteousness".

I am a visual person and have always asked the Lord to draw me a picture so that I can grasp the important lessons He has for me to understand.

Our gracious Lord accommodates my need for visuals and has always granted me mental pictures that are symbolic of the principles that words sometimes cannot convey or that I fail to understand from His perspective. 

Yeshua spoke in parables for similar effect to an audience of people in the culture of His day so that simple minds could grasp deep eternal principles.  

For me, one such mental picture came about when I was struggling with a sin stumble and feeling so dirty in my spirit.  

I got this moving picture of being on my Father's estate.  It was grand land with lots of room to roam around and so many exciting things to discover and enjoy.  On this estate was a place and a pig pen I was warned not to go near.  Of course the "child-me" was fascinated by that forbidden place.  

On this day, I was playing on the edge of that pig pen and low and behold, I fell in.  My robe got dirty and just then I heard my Father call to me from the big house. I couldn't go in and have him see me in my dirty robe, so I found a hose and started rinsing off all the yuck.

After I assured myself that my robe was clean enough, I went into the house and found Him waiting.  He looked me over and I thought I was "good enough", but then his face contorted and he began sniffing the air.

He looked at me and said, "were you playing by the pig pen?"  I knew I was busted.  I realized at that moment, nothing I could do would eliminate the stench of my sin in his nostrils.  But what could I do?

I confessed my sin, told him the whole story about having fallen in and how sorry I was for my disobedience.   I was ready to face the punishment.

To my surprise he told me to go to the closet and get a fresh clean robe with the parting words, "And don't go near that pig pen again."

In that visual experience much was learned that I carry in my heart and mind today:

There is a reason the pig pen is forbidden:

IT STINKS

Our Heavenly Father sees and knows all things:

STOP TRYING TO HIDE SIN

No matter how much we try to cleanse ourselves:

THE STENCH OF UNCONFESSED SIN REMAINS

Our Heavenly Father is gracious and forgiving:

HE IS THE ONE WHO CAN MAKE ALL THINGS NEW

I continue to ask for mental pictures to understand spiritual principles and my Lord continues to provide them.

If you struggle as I do sometimes, to understand God's ways, maybe its time to ask Him to "draw you a picture".  Just sayin'

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him? 

When God says No

Our Journey with Jesus is life long once we begin it.  Lessons in Holiness as well as sweet blessings in getting to know the One I will spend eternity with, come all along the way.

The mystery of God's Sovereignty keeps me fascinated and excited in our Sacred Romance.  There is so much to learn and experience in the fellowship being offered this side of Heaven until I see Him face-to-face.  

None of us will ever reach that place of all-knowing and that's in part what makes for the thrill in the journey, as there is always one more delightful thing to learn about our Lord and His ways.

Learning to discern the voice of our Shepherd is the basic lesson for all us little lambs. Once you know His voice more and more of the relationship opens up and delightful fellowship begins.

Prayer is a wonderful dialog when you know the One with whom you are communicating. 

There are times when our prayers meet with Heaven's "No".  I find that a "No" response to some of my petitions opens the way for a greater intimacy if I don't run away to lick my wounds but stay for some time in His Presence to understand the why of it should He choose to share His wisdom with me. 

There was a time when my sweet momma was sliding into dementia. It was a hard situation to watch as her full time caregiver.  She was the last remaining member of my family of origin and losing her mind before her body was such a struggle.   Caring for her meant praying for all her needs, spiritual, physical, emotional and even mental. 

In prayer, I asked my Lord, her Healer, to restore her memories.  I confessed my trust knowing He can do anything including what my petition represented. 

I heard Him say, "Please don't ask Me for that... and here's why". 

That answer confirmed much about Adonai and our relationship as He went on to explain the deep knowlege of her life and her vulnerbility at her age and condition to the dark pain those recalled memories would cause.  

For me this incident taught me much about the Lord's care of my mom, and His honoring of His Word and promises to me.  

Jesus said, "Whatever you ask for in My name that I will do and the Father will give."  

In keeping with that promise, He requested I withdraw my petition, which I did.  In the explanation He gave as to why the petition should be withdrawn, an even greater intimacy with Him was found.  Prayer is a two way conversation but it takes a while to realize and recognize the sound of His voice speaking back. 

Once we are saved, the relationship with our Creator becomes one of  a growing friendship that eventually turns into a sacred love story of epic proportions.  We understand His love as we learn about Him.  We rest in His love as He provides and protects us.  We act in His love as we realize it pleases Him.  All our life after the moment of salvation is to be spent in that personal intimate fellowship with our amazing God getting to know the Very One we will spend eternity with.

Interaction with us, is part of the dynamic of Who He is, not just as an overseer but an active Lover of our soul.

When Adonai passed through the camp of Abraham on the way to see and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, it is written that He said, "Should I hide from Abraham what I AM about to do?"  

Genesis 18:17 CJB 

With humble thanksgiving for what that one verse tells me about our potential relationship with the Holy One of Israel, I seek to be open to what He is willing to tell me in the circumstances of my life.  Whether I hear yes or no to my petitions, I am thankful to know that He is speaking to my heart.  

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?       

Do you Trust My Ways?

Whatever we give to the Lord, He takes it and will transform it from death to resurrection.  But we must leave what we give to Adonai with Him and watch what He does, and how He does it.

The Holy One has spoken to my heart and asked me, "I know you trust My ultimate will but do you trust My ways?"

Are they not the same?  "NO, they are not the same".

The Lord reminds me of the story of Mary, the mother of Yeshua and the wedding feast in Cana and the crisis of no more wine.  Running out of wine was a devastating social situation for the family of the bride.  They were facing a form of "death" to their social status. Upon hearing that they had run out of wine, Mary solicited the help of her Son.  She brought the problem to Jesus, trusting that He could and would bring about a resolution to the crisis.  (John 2)

Notice what Mary didn't do.  In bringing Him the problem, she did not come to Jesus with a long list of potential ways for Him to handle the problem. She gave the problem to Him, told the servants to do whatever He directed them to do, and then she just watched His miracle unfold.  

Sometimes His rescue from out of a crisis situation is not so instant.  Trusting Adonai's ways can be hard when the resolutions are delayed.  Mary and Martha called for Jesus to come and heal their brother Lazarus who fell ill.  They had seen Jesus heal others and  they hoped Jesus would come heal their brother too. (John 11)

As they waited Lazarus died a physical death.  They were distraught in grief and for three more days they clung in hope to a cultural thought of the day that the spirit of the person hovers for 3 days over the body of the dead so there is a slim possibility of revival.

Four days later..... after the the outer most hope for revival had passed it's time, Jesus finally arrived. 

Jesus tarried His arrival for four days during which all human hope was extinguished.   BUT THEN....He did arrive with the ginormous blessing of resurrection life for Lazarus and in that day, provided a lesson for all of us to see that He, Jesus, is the source of resurrection life, post our temporal death, for those who Trust Him. I also found the profound principle in play:  the sisters' desire and Adonai's Will for them were one in the same but His way was not their way. Hope had to be resurrected along with Lazarus.  

How many times have I given a problem to Jesus in prayer then set about trying to resolve it according to my own "way" of intellectual  reasoning rather than in faith believing and trusting in His "Way" of bringing about the resolution. 

As in the situation in Cana, where the servants had a job to do to be part of the answer, we too may be called to participate but always in obedience to Yeshua's directive.  I'm pretty sure the servants were questioning in their natural mind,  how water was going to get by the "master of the banquet" when wine was expected, but when the "Master of the Universe" is in charge, we must not doubt or question His ways.

When we give our problems to Yeshua for Him to resolve, we must refuse the temptation to take it back.  Being in doubt, we will go back to the mental struggle we were in at the beginning.  

Hebrews 11:1 "Trusting (faith) is being confident in what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see". CJB

May we learn to leave what we give to Adonai with Him, listen for what He may want us to do to facilitate His move, and watch as He does His work. Any time He enters into our dilemma, it becomes a supernatural event and we must accept His Way to resolve us, whether natural or supernatural.   Praising Him in the "tarry" time, keeps us in anticipation of His Divine Way of bringing about our resolution and His Will.

Jesus alone can turn what evil means to use to harm us just as He turned death into resurrection life. That is His Will! That is His Way!   We must learn to trust both.

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?     

  

 

 

Renewing of the Mind

 The Holy Spirit calls to me this morning.  Our household has been attacked by the dreaded flu that has brought such fear to people all around the world.  I hear my Lord say:

"It's time for the renewing of your mind!"

When trials hit our lives often we become so overwhelmed with the struggle that we fail to take into consideration that there might just be an important lesson from Adonai and a purpose beyond the temporary suffering. 

True confession.  For a few years I have struggled with anxiety that I am sure many can relate to.  All the upheaval of life and the fears that we are in a dark time in history for those who follow prophecy, can bring out the fear of what we cannot control.

Anxiety can become a familiar "spirit"; one that hovers and at first we don't realize the oppression is actually a supernatural being who turns our thoughts to the negative worst case scenario rather than how we have been instructed to think by the Word of God.

The conversation continues with my indwelling Counselor.

"Do you notice all the negatives that are flooding the airwaves and impacting people?  Don't give audience to the negativity".

It is a fact that we are being bombarded with negative things day and night and since we are addicted and connected to cyber space we cannot escape negative thinking that comes with negative knowledge.

The saddest part of all the information is in the reality that many are subtly being trained to think that Adonai is responsible for all the bad things that are happening or that He is angry.  He is, after all Sovereign and can stop or start any and all things in the twinkle of the eye.

If we know and understand the Word of God, then we are reminded that Adonai delegated the ruling authority of this world to humanity. He delegated oversight and assistance for redeemed humanity (Hebrews 1:14) to His other created beings: "angels" or the elohim, who are powerful supernatural beings, yet created as we were by Yehoveh God.

The rule of Eden was broken by humanity in allegiance with the adversary, a fallen elohim. God's rule was to be enacted by humanity with help from the elohim but both fell at different times and now have engaged in the wicked destruction of Adonai's creation by rejecting and rebelling His Divine order.

This understanding begins to explain why all the negativity. God's will is positive, good, ordered, delightful and creative.  People and fallen angels have chosen to oppose Him and any who are called by His Name.

The reason this is important to understand as Believers is that God sent One to deliver us from the grip of the evil ones.  The first step in our deliverance is to have our sin nature forgiven and replaced.

That is what our Savior Yeshua was sent to earth wrapped in flesh to accomplish.  That is what He did!

By His death we have been forgiven of all that separated us from our Creator at the fall. For flesh to be forgiven, flesh had to die whether ours or Yeshua's. This is a Holy God requirement for eternal life with Him.

By His death and resurrection, Yeshua defeated the adversaries of our Kingdom and our God, leaving us a legacy of eternal peace with our Creator should we choose it along with the ability to exercise forms of dominion over the dark rulers of the age. 

It seems that Adonai awaits His image bearers to commit to Him and to call for His ruling authority to govern our lives and hereby influence the lost world around us.  The Holy Spirit enables us to faithfully fulfill our commission and be in alignment with Adonai's Will.

To that end we are commanded to proclaim the wonderful Good News of God's Love against a backdrop of negative evil

As I focus my mind on whatsoever is good, true, noble, admirable, praiseworthy, and pray all the goodness of Adonai's Kingdom to come, and His will to be done here on earth as in Heaven, I am emulating the life of Yeshua and renewing my mind.

With His enabling, I can push back the ungodly ruling authority of evil that I see.  Apart from Yeshua I can do nothing, but with Him nothing will be impossible.   

Yeshua said, "The gates of hell will not overcome My community" (Yeshua followers.)  Until we are evacuated, our assignment is to reject the evil and stand firm in the delegated authority Yeshua died to provide.

We must make it our ambition to represent our Heavenly Father well, true to His character in a world that is being lied to.  If you are bound by the negative, it's a good time to work on the renewing of your mind. 

The Holy Spirit is calling  Can you hear Him?