TRUE IDENTITY

When you are asked the question:  Who are you? – how would you respond?
We live in a world where people’s identities-our own identities are often malformed, skewed.
People often take their professions and avocations as who they are, when these things are actually just what they do.
If identity is related to profession, finances, what is left when there are shakings and these things are stripped away?
The apostle Paul was of high birth and status, had a great job as a Gamaliel-schooled rabbi/Torah giant, and was highly respected …he clearly had been one who identified himself through these things, and but read here what he wrote when he “got it”:
“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8 NIV).

True identity is passed down by the spirit of adoption and sonship-given by God our Father.I have written this post not as an indictment against anyone,
but rather because I am traveling down this road myself  and even now have not gotten to the end of it.
Our identities are meant to be wrapped up in knowing, really knowing Yeshua.
In Him alone can we find Light and Life, and ultimately our true identity.
My goal is singular: To be apprehended by Jesus, to remain focused on knowing Him alone.
I am focusing on the great truth that His worth surpasses everything else, but it’s not always that easy.
Nonetheless, my hope, my peace, my joy and content-my everything-can only be found in Him alone.
The demolition of the old “man” and the transformation that life as followers of Jesus brings will continue until last moment on earth.
Ruth Bell Graham’s gravestone reads:”End of construction…thank you for your patience!”“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12, 13 NIV)

ANGER

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

and do not give the devil a foothold.” – Ephesians 4:26-27

Perhaps your life hasn’t worked out the way you had planned…behind you may be the wreckage of broken dreams and dashed hopes. Expectations may have been crushed, perhaps you are dealing with financial troubles; perhaps there have been betrayals from family members or best friends that have left you reeling, even from those you trusted the most and esteemed highly. Perhaps even your own body has let you down, where you are battling severe illness or disease.

Maybe you are in the throes of dealing with the death of a parent, a child, a spouse, your grief so severe that it takes every ounce of strength just to take the next breath…
It is human nature to point our finger, to want to make a target-to blame something or someone and sometimes when that target is difficult to zero in on we focus our anger on that special Someone – God Himself, especially when it becomes really apparent that we have absolutely no control.

God.

The supreme and magnificent ruler of the universe.

Our Father, whose very Name is hallowed.

The One who sent His own Son to rescue us from death and eternal damnation.

And yet we may find ourselves struggling with a secret anger, a rage that seeks to, seemingly cannot help but to blame.

So we ask questions like:

“Where were you, God?”

“If you really loved me how could you allow something like this to happen to me?”

“I have dedicated my life to you, and yet I can barely pay my basic bills, while the evil flourish and prosper…why?”

“How much longer will I have to endure these hardships?”

“Why me, God?”

We may think that we have the right to ask these questions, some of us may think that the Creator owes us,

His creations, an answer.

He does not.

Instead we must work hard to dispell anger, otherwise the enemy will get a foothold and the result is always  terrible. I believe that this is where the spiritual disease known as “hardening of the heart” begins.

Anger grieves the Holy Spirit of God, and since He is a gentleman He will not, cannot dwell in an angry vessel.

 So beloved, if this is you- if anger is hiding deep inside, let’s resolve to get rid of it- all bitterness, rage and anger, which are breeding grounds for every form of malice. (Eph.4:31)

Then what should we do?

We do what He commanded us to- to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, (Deut.6:5, Matt. 22:37, Luke 10:27) and trust in Him with all our heart (Prov.3:5-6), and keep on thanking Him, (1Thess 5:16-18) even when –especially when- we have no earthly idea why…

He really does work everything out for our good!  (Romans 8:28)

NARROW

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
– John 14:6 NIV

When I first heard this  in 1985 I was up late, drunk, watching a tele-evangelist on TBN.
How exclusionary! I muttered to myself,,,I was enraged, my thoughts were somewhere along the lines of “what a bigoted narrow-minded statement that guy is making”! How dare this man say that everyone who doesn’t believe in this Jesus, doesn’t get to Heaven/God…if in fact there is a Heaven and a God.”
I took my anger out on the man on the TV but he was only quoting Holy Scripture the words of Jesus Himself,
who in turn was not even speaking or acting on just His authority (which is more than enough)-
but on the authority of God-Adonai-Himself:
“For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—
what to say and what to speak.” – Jesus the Messiah, John 12:49
In this post-modern world it is politically correct to embrace all diversity. If you are seeking a job position it doesn’t matter what race or sex, etc. you are, what belief system you embrace.   Spiritual movements are flush with universalists and others who simply can’t grasp the idea- the reality – that there is only one way:
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” Matthew 7:13
Without having the “mind of Messiah” a worldly mind simply can’t grasp this truth, no matter how many diplomas they might have hanging on their wall:
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” – 1Cor.2:14 NASB

If you are irritated by this post then examine your heart and the Bible. The Lord God, King of the Universe, did not send Yeshua (whose very name means salvation) to be a doorman or a bouncer to keep people out; rather He sent His only Son to draw us- all of us- through this narrow gate-meaning only one way in- while there is still time.
One day this Opportunity, the Doorway to receive the greatest gift ever offered mankind will close forever.
Don’t miss it.
“…everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” – Acts 2:21

All Things

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  – Romans 8:28

There is probably no more recognizable image of the horrors of Hitler’s meticulous plan to exterminate the Jewish people- my people, dubbed the “Final Solution”, than the gates of Auschwitz- Birkenau. In this one massive hell-on-earth camp alone more than one million (1,000,000+) men, women, and children were gassed, shot, strangled, starved, tortured, experimented on, or worked to death. There were many other camps, as many as 15,000 in total: Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Chelmno, Dachau, Majdanek to name a few …more than 6,000,000 innocent Jewish people, and millions of other “undesirables”- gypsies, mentally retarded and disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah witnesses, communists suffered horrific deaths.  There have been countless other attempts throughout history at killing off God’s chosen people, not quite as shocking as what was revealed when Germany finally surrendered. European Jewry had been almost totally decimated, more than 5,000 Jewish communities were obliterated without a trace; homes, businesses, wealth, and other possessions confiscated. After being liberated the survivors were gathered in displaced persons (DP) camps, some making their way back to where they had previously lived, some for generations.
On the face of these circumstances the plight of the Jewish people seemed hopeless, yet against all odds and with the active opposition of Britain aiding and supplying  the Arab League nations, the modern state of Israel rose from the literal ashes of the worst genocide in the history.

“Who has ever heard of such things?
    Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day
    or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
    than she gives birth to her children.”Isaiah 66:8

I do not know of a more profound example of God working together all things.
God’s gifts and callings – starting with the house of Israel- are irrevocable.
You may not agree with me, but I believe that- not in spite of, but rather because of-
The state of Israel was forged out of the fires of adversity and had it not been for the horrors of haShoah
I personally doubt whether the nation of Israel would exist today.
God’s ultimate plans cannot be thwarted, beloved.
The Lord cannot be either surprised or ambushed.
He knows both the beginning and end.
I have read the end of the Book.
Adonai never promised us things would be easy,
but He does promise that as we seek Him He will be found
and He never leave us nor forsake us.
Perhaps this is why Rav Shaul aka the Apostle Paul encourages us to “rejoice in the Lord always!”