ISSUE: #22

MEM

Message

Are You Disturbed?

What a month!

The presidential elections are over and depending on your persuasion you are either happy or angry, rejoicing or saddened, or just ambivalent. Is Elohim’s hand in this?

Arafat died. What does this have to do with the scheme of things? Will the world be better off? Some proclaim there is hope for a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian situation. Others are saying the hatred he promoted among the Palestinian people will not disappear because of his brainwashing and the educational system he established where two-year-olds are paraded with bombs strapped to their little bodies, and the women think their womb is nothing more than a bomb factory.

Are you disturbed? Is your trust in the LORD (YHVH)? Is that trust all that is needed? In reading Psalm 11 [NLT] I realized YHVH has a few questions for us.

v-1 I trust in the LORD for protection. So why do you say to me, "Fly to the mountains for safety! (What does Yeshua say in Matthew 24:16 about the end time?)

2 The wicked are stringing their bows and setting their arrows in the bowstrings. They shoot from the shadows at those who do right. (shadows can be dark or secret)

3 The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?"

4 But the LORD is in his holy Temple; the LORD still rules from heaven. He watches everything closely, examining everyone on earth.

5 The LORD examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates everyone who loves violence. (Read what we are told about those that shed blood in Proverbs 1: 10-19.)

6 He rains down blazing coals on the wicked, punishing them with burning sulfur and scorching winds. (End time wrath of YHVH?)

7 For the LORD is righteous, and he loves justice. Those who do what is right will see his face. (So ‘Why flee to the mountains?’)

We need to be actively seeking the removal of all that obstructs the presence of our Savior in our lives. In so doing we will hear His voice when He tells us ‘to flee to the mountain’ that we may see his face.

Blessed be YHVH.

Proverb

Proverbs 1: 23 "Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

24 "Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.

28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD.

Saying

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.
(John Ruskin)

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.
(Syrus)

You will become as small as your controlling desires; as great as your dominate aspiration.
(James Allen)

Bible Quiz

1. Where in Bethlehem was Yeshua born?
2. What feast did God institute to commemorate the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt?
3. Where was Asa king?
4. What will God meet according to His glorious riches in Yeshua?
5. What reward of gift did Elisha take from Naaman after Naaman was cured of leprosy?
6. Who was the girl that danced at Herod’s birthday party?
7. Who said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them"?

Hebraic Lesson

The New Moon

Genesis 1:14 And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. [in the Hebrew the word seasons can mean appointed times, sacred seasons, festivals]

Is there significance to the New Moon? Let’s look at some of the Scripture references about the new moon:

Numbers 10:10 Moses was told – "Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow with the trumpets"… [Israel was to blow the trumpets at the beginning of their months (New Moons).]

Colossians 2:16,17 Let no man judge you …in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come:… [Paul’s instruction include the new moon - These days picture things to come]

II Chronicles 2:4 "Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, …on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel." [When Solomon built the first temple where Israel worshipped God on the Sabbaths, Feast days and also the New Moons.]

Isaiah 66:23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me, says the Lord (YHVH). [The new moons and the Sabbaths are to be celebrated when the Messiah returns and all mankind will bow down before Him.]

Ezekiel 46:1,3 Thus says the Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the Sabbaths and in the new moons. [Ezekiel has a vision of a future Messianic temple when people will worship on the new moon and on the Sabbath.]

New Article Spotlight

In marriage, we may sometimes find ourselves hurt and discouraged. In today’s society, we see relationships dissolve in bitterness all the time.

When we face difficulty in marriage, we have a choice to make. Either give up on the relationship or give it all up to YHWH.

Are you weary in your marriage or do you know someone who is? For encouragement, see the article "Surrendering Our Marriages to YHWH" Click here for online article.

Did you know:

Jim Thorpe (1888-1953), US athlete of American Indian descent. He was an All-American football player at Carlisle University, later a professional. He won the decathlon and pentathlon events at the 1912 Olympics and was a major-league professional baseball player for six seasons. He was stripped of his Olympic gold medals when it was discovered that he had been playing minor-league baseball for pay in 1909 and 1910 and thus had lost his armature status.

1. King Gustav V of Sweden presented Thorpe with a bronze bust during the 1912 Stockholm Olympics and told him, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world." "Thanks, King," said Thorpe simply.
2. Questioned about his running ability in football, Thorpe smiled and said, "I give ‘em the hip, then I take it away."
3. When word got around that the Carlisle Indians had an outstanding track team, Harold Anson Bruce, coach of the powerful Lafayette College team, invited "Pop" Warner’s athletes to a dual meet on Alumni Day. Reluctantly, he agreed to pay a large guarantee. The meet was sold out. But when Bruce went to greet the visitors, he was disconcerted to find only a few young men getting off the train with Warner. "Where are your Indians?" Bruce demanded.

Seriously

This is for older people. Younger people try it at their own risk. This is working well for me.
For those of us getting along in years, here is a little secret for building your arm and shoulder muscles. You might want to adopt this regimen. Three days a week works well.
Begin by standing straight, with a 5-LB. potato sack in each hand. Extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can-try to reach a full minute. Relax.
After a few weeks, move up to 10-LB. potato sacks, and then 50-LB. potato sacks, and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-LB. potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight out for more than a full minute.
After you feel confident at that level, start putting a couple of potatoes in each of the sacks, but be careful not to overdo it.

Links

A link to an answer to one of our greatest needs.

www.PracticeGodsPresence.com

THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD
Brother Lawrence's Conversations and Letters

Bible Story

Passing The Torch

What a life Moses lived. When we step back and think of all the events in his life we see the Hand of YHVH from the beginning:

• Escaping death as a child
• Being brought up in Pharaoh’s house
• A military leader
• Premature attempt to deliver Israel
• Forty years in Midian as a humble shepherd (more training)
• The burning bush experience
• Facing Pharaoh in Egypt
• Preparing Israel to leave Egypt
• The Passover
• The Red Sea crossing
• Dealing with the Israelites in the wilderness
• Mount Sinai
• The golden calf
• The representative of God to the people
• Dealing with other nations on the way to the Promised Land
• Conquering the land on the east side of Jordan
• Preparing Israel to go into the land

Moses had great responsibility and Elohim required much of him. When he failed to give YHVH the credit at the Rock, he was judged and not allowed to enter the Promised Land. We find, in the end of Deuteronomy, Moses going to the top of Pisgah and viewing the land before dying. He was then buried in a valley of Moab. No one knows the location of his sepulcher even to this day (Deuteronomy 34:6). If the location were known, relics or shrines would have been erected. (See Jude 1:9).

Moses had one important job before he died; that was to appoint Joshua the son of Nun as Israel’s leader. He laid hands on him to fill him with the spirit of wisdom (Deuteronomy 34:9).

We find a fantastic obituary for Moses in Deuteronomy 34:10-12

10 There has never been another prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

11 The LORD sent Moses to perform all the miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and his entire land.

12 And it was through Moses that the LORD demonstrated his mighty power and terrifying acts in the sight of all Israel. (NLT emphasis added)

Now all this great responsibility was on the shoulders of Joshua. Was he up to it? Could he endure? Was it enough that he was trained by Moses; that he was hardened by the battles he fought in the wilderness? We already see he had a special spirit put upon him. Was something more needed? How would you feel being left without the direction of the mighty Prophet of YHVH?

Quiz Answers

1. In a stable (because there was no room for them in the inn) Luke 2:7

2. Passover Exodus 12:3-30

3. Judah 1 Kings 15:9

4. All your needs. Philippians 4:19

5. Nothing 2 Kings 5:13-16

6. The daughter of Herodias (Salome) Matthew 14:6

7. The Holy Spirit Acts 13:2