Monthly Archives: December 2019

Let Us Rejoice!

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Luke 12

1 In the meantime, after so many thousands of the people had gathered that they were stepping on one another, Jesus began speaking first of all to His disciples, “Be continually on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees [that is, their pervasive, corrupting influence and teaching], which is hypocrisy [producing self-righteousness]. 2 But there is nothing [so carefully] concealed that it will not be revealed, nor so hidden that it will not be made known. 3 For that reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.

Hypocrisy still lives today. Let us not be named among it. Verses 2 and 3. I am counting on this!

4 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will point out to you whom you should fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority and power to hurl [you] into hell; yes, I say to you, [stand in great awe of God and] fear Him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? Yet not one of them has [ever] been forgotten in the presence of God. 7 Indeed the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are far more valuable than many sparrows.

Verse 5. When the Love of GOD does not reach the Stoney, Self-righteous, Hypocritical heart, nothing remains but the Justice of GOD for that soul. Let us beware. Let not the heart of man become so callus that the LOVE of GOD does not get his/her attention. Verse 6. Let not the fools of this world tell you GOD does not care; that He does not pay attention; that He does not LOVE YOU.

8 “I say to you, whoever declares openly and confesses Me before men [speaking freely of Me as his Lord], the Son of Man also will declare openly and confess him [as one of His own] before the angels of God.9 But he who denies Me before men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God.10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit [that is, whoever intentionally discredits the Holy Spirit by attributing the authenticating miracles done by Me to Satan], it will not be forgiven him [for him there is no forgiveness]. 11 When they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be worried about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” source

This is truly GOOD NEWS spoken before thousands that day and now having been read these thousands of years by millions. The WORD of GOD does not fail, nor pass away! Let us rejoice!!

Shall We Pray?

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Luke 11

It is often called the LORD’s prayer but really it’s not; it’s the Disciples prayer. Here in Luke 11, they asked YESHUA to teach them to pray. Obviously, they were impressed with the LORD’s prayer life and they were aware that John taught his disciples to pray. Perhaps they wanted to compare notes — or not. So in verse two (2), He said this:

2 He said to them,

“When you pray, say:
‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 ‘Give us each day our daily bread.
4 ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended or wronged us].
And lead us not into temptation [but rescue us from evil].’” source

Will you allow me to share my thoughts?

Father – family. First, to pray the Disciples prayer we must make sure GOD is our Father; that we are His family.
Hallowed be your name. Hallowed means greatly revered. Do we? Do we greatly revere Him? Does our prayer life reflect that we greatly revere Him?
Your Kingdom come. Do I, do you want the Father’s will? Do we want His Kingdom Rule here on earth? Are we eager to see His Kingdom, His Authority, His Ways and Will in force (in operation) here on earth?
And with all that established, we are encouraged to come and talk with the Father about our daily needs; you know, all those things we need to successfully live here on planet earth.
And then verse 4 – sin. As we live on this sin-cursed earth we see that we sin and that we are in constant need of cleansing – so we ask. And, as we recognize this about ourselves, we are ready to forgive others when they sin against us for they surely will because we are all sinners.  Right?
And we know O LORD, You will not lead us into temptation, for You are here to rescue us from evil.

All temptation is evil; if only we would believe that.

 

Right?

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Luke 10

21 In that very hour He was overjoyed and rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and He said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things [relating to salvation] from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants [the childlike and untaught]. Yes, Father, for this way was [Your gracious will and choice, and was] well-pleasing in Your sight.  source

You are getting this, right?

YESHUA (JESUS) was overjoyed and rejoicing greatly. This is flat-out happy. We are talking laughing out loud, hand-clapping, pure pleasure and giddy. You do know JESUS is the author of flat-out happy and joy, right? And do you see Who He first shared that happy with? Yes. His Father. Out loud, in front of everybody, sharing.

What if we did the same?

An All Night-er

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Luke 6

12 Now at this time Jesus went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 When day came, He called His disciples and selected twelve of them, whom He also named apostles (special messengers, personally chosen representatives):  source

I am unaware of anything further in Scripture to tell me what Yeshua and The Father talked about on this occasion, but verse 12 tells me it was an all-night conversation. Considering what He did the next day (verse 13), I think they discussed the calling of His Disciples. Perhaps they discussed Peter and his quick-temper and that in time when the Holy Spirit came to live within him, he would be a devoted and powerful witness. Perhaps they spoke of Judas and his ambitions. Perhaps they spoke of each and every one of the Twelve and by morning’s light, JESUS knew exactly the course before Him and He did it. Always He did the Father’s Will.

On Earth

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Luke 5

Verse 24 sparked.

24 But, in order that you may know that the Son of Man (the Messiah) has authority and power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.”  source

Two words. See them?
On Earth.
So important!

The Scribes and Pharisees were indignant – I mean red-faced, nostrils flaringly offended!
Allow me to offer two words as a clue. On Earth.
Perhaps they did not want GOD on earth. Perhaps they wanted Him in Heaven at a safe distance; a distance far enough away to mess not in their lives or their plans.

Let us not follow suit.

Let us instead rejoice that GOD came down to Tabernacle with humans; for if we do not we shall never live in His Heaven.

So, what on earth are we doing?