SELAH Jubilee Lady Writes 4 Shalom

"...to open their eyes; so that they will turn from darkness to light, from the power of the adversary to G-d, and thus receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been separated for holiness by putting their trust in Me." ~ Shaul (Paul), taken from Acts 26:18 CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)

"But we are not among the timid ones on the path to destruction, but among the faithful one on the path to the preservation of the soul" Hebrews 10:39 Tree of Life (new Messianic Translation)

First of all it is to be noted that the first quote was taken from a discourse given by Shaul to the standing Roman Authority of that time, and is a defense of his new found faith in Yeshua as the long awaited Messiah, for which he had been arrested as a trouble-making heretic by his Jewish peers.

The other thing to which I want to direct your attention, is that in this sentence he effectively outlines the two major "works of grace" for us. The first being "remission from sins", or "deliverance from the power of sin"; and the second, being that we are "made an heir unto the Kingdom of G-d in Messiah". Meaning that we would become a recipient, by faith, of His power and resources.

The second quote reiterates the line of thought that I frequently pursue because I think it is pivotal to our understanding and success in how all this works, and that is that this whole thing, this whole Salvation gig, is a process, (a path) and not just a "decision". The "decision" gets the ball rolling and precipitates the process, it unlocks the gate to the "path" for us, it is, therefore, a prerequisite of the process, but it does not constitute, as many have sadly proclaimed, the entire process!

So from these two small "truth-bites", we see that first of all there is a progression and a process, and that we who have chosen (decided) to believe must now follow Messiah in those processes if we want to get all the way through this program (be saved) successfully.

The observant among us may also have realized that this "path to the preservation of the soul" may often be fraught with difficulty and even danger! (Please note that Shaul had been incarcerated, and was up against charges that would eventually cost him his life as well as his freedom, for example.) However, being made an heir to the anointing and resources of the Messiah, indeed of G-d Himself, is to be thought worth any earthly loss we might make in pursuing this process of holiness. Hence we are admonished to "count the cost" before investing in this process of Holiness/Salvation.

We get so caught up in the lingo! "Holiness" describes both the goal and the process - of staying on this "path". In G-d I have found that one of His delightful mysteries is that to Him the process, if you stay invested, is the same as the goal, since the process is working to achieve the goal! That is why He measures us by the motives of our heart instead of by our outward performance! Outward performance can be influenced by many things, but our motivations are often known only to Him. Sometimes we are not even sure what is motivating us! But we need to know, and are responsible to find out! Hence my daily struggles toward truth!

So, what I want you see is that Holiness is simply a state of being preserved, or set apart, for the process! But it is also called by many other names; it is righteousness and purity, it is dedication, it is refinement, it is the consolidation of all our parts into one direction, which is what produces wholeness and goodness, and is, therefore, the true meaning and source of any real Love! It is what is required for us to be able to 'see G-d". We tend to think of that, "seeing G-d"in literal terms, like "when we all get to heaven", but I think it means on , any level, spiritually or physically, now, by the spirit, or later face to face!

And it is becoming clear to me that what He uses to set us apart for this process is Observing Torah. Again I must say this (I think because I can still hear the religious spirits of my westernized "Christian" upbringing arguing against that thought), that when I say "Observing Torah" I amnot referring to "being in bondage to the Law"! I am not advocating, nor supporting the Rabbinic, Pharisaic, nor the Catholicised, or Protestantized versions of that Law, nor any other ultimately religious - air-choking, life-smothering, joy-stifling set of man-interpreted rules that being simply translated means"if it feels good don't do it"! (as I heard one comedian define his faith of upbringing, lol ) I say that it is "becoming clear" because I am in a learning curve, another religious sort and pitch session, struggling to balance what I thought I knew about this Book - the Holy Scriptures- that is, what I had been taught most of my life, with what I am learning, in this new discipline of Jewish/Messianic studies! Oy vey! What a shmuck I have been!? But I am still involved in this process, so no worries!

However, I am now concerned that in avoiding all those religious traps we may be tempted to "throw the baby out with the bath water"! Which will lead, has led, to a whole other array of traps, pits and prisons to hack our way out of!

Somehow we must be able to understand that Torah was given, not merely to restrict life, but that we might have Life! Yeshua came to get that point across to us! He came, by His own testimony, to fulfill it to that ultimate conclusion, not to annihilate it! He came to demonstrate the heart of G-d in writing it! He came to show us how to use it to our benefit, since we obviously were, and are, totally inept at that! He came to explain, demonstrate and assist with the process! He came to BE the "path", to walk it with us, to guide us in it! He left behind His Spirit, as an administrator of His anointing, as a facilitator of His grace, and as an instructor in Torah, for the purposes of the processes of Holiness/Wholeness!

What part of that sounds objectionable to you? Me neither! So what is our problem? If we ask Him, He will show us. But the catch is, that we must be willing to change. That is usually where the rub comes in. Most deception springs from the desire to "have our cake and eat it too", in other words, we want the inheritance, but we don't want the responsibility attached to it. Ultimately, however, we must choose, and choose we will, either deliberately and consciously, or by procrastination and default.

I am the proactive sort, and was "blessed" with little to no passivity about anything! So my life and times are consumed in trying to sort out the real options from the bogus ones, and from keeping my flesh from actively choosing things that will kill me! Hence the daily struggle that the ones who read this stuff, bless them, are trying to keep up with. I promise, I am not bi-polar! Not now at least, now, it is just the struggle between the spirit-man and the flesh-pot and it is a fight to the death! I am pulling for the spirit-man within me, for I have seen that it is the one that resides on the side of wisdom! But, alas, I find that I still feed my flesh way too much, a problem which I am trying to rectify. And so as we whirl into 2012 headlong, the process continues, the fight goes on, and the marathon has paused for another training session!

That being so I wish you all a Blessed Process and a Holy New Year! May you emerge closer to your goal, and may you know the security of His Divine will and the protection of His favor.

Shalom!

1/10/12 SCD

As I got into my devotionals this morning I found that I had skipped the last few days. I had read my Torah Portions, and a variety of writings concerning those, but my old faithful friend, My Utmost for His Highest had been overlooked as I got into the serving of birthday breakfasts, and preparing the household for Shabbot, etc. So today, being the first day of the week and for us, now, an extended rest time I spent some time in catching up. There was much revelation in reading the three together, a progression of sorts that brought me to where I need to be to face this week without trepidation! (The last couple of weeks have not been the best! lol) So, what I present today is a trilogy of devotionals, that unified into one central theme - How much I need Him! His Word! His Presence! His Anointing!

And so on and so forth! So that I may achieve the goal of My Utmost for His Highest!

January 6 - "And he (Abraham) pitched his tent having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east: and there he built an altar." Genesis 12:8

Each time G-d blessed Abraham his response was that he built an altar and Worshiped Him. It was a means of gratitude, and also of tithing, that is, of giving back of what had been given to him. Ai represented, or was the symbol of, the heathen, heedless, G-dless (though claiming many gods), flesh centered, man honoring, world. Bethel - which is the Hebrew word for "the House of G-d" - was a symbol of Messiah, that the Word -Torah/Law of Love/Spirit/Life - which was made flesh and Tabernacled among us! It was a symbol of communion with the Most High, such as Adam and Eve had in the cool of the day, it was a place to enjoy His presence, and to show gratitude for His Blessing.

Ideally, Brother Chambers points out, we are to "pitch our tents" between the two. I think this is so that we can "stand in the gap" - that is to represent those who are still in the world through intercession, as Messiah does for us. He goes on to point out that we are to "fill up" and "pour out", spiritually speaking, with such a seamless flow that no one would suspect that there was ever a time when we were empty! That is tall order. But it is one that the Anointing of Yeshua, as Messiah (The Anointed One), made it possible to fill! (*Note: A detailed description of this Anointing, its purposes and the extent of its power is found prophetically in Isaiah 61, and referenced by Yeshua in Luke 4:18)

We reach this difficulty eventually in the spiritual life, when we come to realize that we can not hope to benefit the men G-d wants to bless with His goodness if we never go up to the mountain of His presence to enter into the blissful ecstasy of oblivious worship, in order to obtain that goodness - the strength and faith materials - with which He would have them blessed! Nor can we hope to benefit them if we just stay up there, in that place of ecstatic worship, because those materials will not be transported back to them! So there must be a back and forth, a going out to the work, and then a coming in to the rest! Hence G-d's ordained Sabbath!

In G-d's heart the point is, and has always been, an eternal fruitfulness! It is to be perpetuated for eternity! We are not redeemed simply to bask in that redemption! Though there is most certainly a time and place for that! But then, having expressed thankfulness for it, and given instructions on what we are to do with it, we are to go and see to it that others are redeemed, so the cycle can continue!

In that way we are all gardeners of the eternal fruit of the Life of G-d - expressed and made possible in Messiah Yeshua! We are called to cultivate that Kingdom of Life on this planet - Earth! I for one believe that we will eventually be allowed to go and cultivate life on other planets, and perhaps our work in heaven will be to rule galaxies, but not until we have conquered this planet, and taken it back for the Kingdom of G-d, and have put down the powers of darkness! But future hopes aside, we have been invited to come back into His garden and to walk with Him in the cool of the day, and then to work with Him there in the heat of the day!

However, if we are to accomplish this continual fellowship we must pitch our tents between Him and the World and worship Him there - for that is where our LORD resides. That is where His presence continually IS. And it is where He will be until all things are rectified and brought back into His government once and for all! He will be found between Heaven and Earth, interceding for those still lost. Will we, who claim to love Him so much, "go to Him outside the camp" of our safe, limited, religious lives? Will we do the work of "dirtying ourselves with the world", and then allowing ourselves to be cleansed by Him, with the "washing of the water of the Word" as we come before Him in Worship, presenting ourselves as a "living sacrifice" each day? One thing is logically assumed, if we can not rule our own sorry sin-bent flesh through His power we need not think that we will ever really rule anything else. It is to that end that we must seek His face. It is for that reason our mettle is tested.

~ Selah !

January 7 - "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me?" John 14:9

This scripture has the ring of disappointment, rebuke and astonishment all in one. The surprised question rings in the air, "How is this even possible?". Most of us have had this feeling at one time or another perhaps as we have opened a gift, from a family member or a friend, that was so foreign to us, to who we are, to what we wanted or needed, that we were forced to stop and wonder at the possibility of one being able to live in such close communion with someone else and still have no clue as to who they really are! And yet we do it all the time don't we?

But as those who care enough to pay attention eventually learn, good relationships must be deliberately cultivated, they don't just happen. We can have a million casual, surface,"because it was there", kind of relationships in life, but the ones that are most meaningful to us are the one which change us for the better, those which bring the best of "who we are" to the surface and help us defeat that "persona" within us which we would rather not be!

Ideally, that is what the purpose of our relationship to G-d is supposed to be, and that is what it was meant to accomplish. In doing so, then, we pass the favor along to others, and the Kingdom of G-d thrives and grows. Brother Chambers writes in this entry,

" When once we get intimate with Jesus (Yeshua) we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, we can pour out all the time without being pathetic. (Oy! That one got me!) The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of Himself, but will only leave behind the impression that Jesus is having His unhindered way, because the last abyss of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is a strong calm sanity that our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him."

Wow. Those words leave me gasping in awe, and wanting to hide away in embarrassment at the same time! Last week was "one of those weeks" wherein I nearly fainted, and thought that I may surely die, just from being needed, from being "poured out"! In fact, for the last two weeks I have felt as though I have been in a wrestling match with a devil and barely emerged! Where is the glow of victory in that?! My conclusion then, if brother Chambers words are to be believed, is that obviously I have not had enough time in His presence!

Obviously something is restricting the flow of His power, which is supposed to be flowing through me to the ones within my sphere of influence! Having realized this I will now need to go inspect all the "corners" of my soul to see if my flesh is crouched down somewhere "pinching the hose", deliberately thwarting progress in a spiritual direction! Now, I know that this kind of activity would be akin to "spiting the nose off one's own face" but that is how terminally stupid the flesh is! The flesh is nothing but a willful, untrained two-year old - all tantrums and appetites, with no character or self-restraint! If it is fed what it thinks it wants it will be dead in no time! It must be forcibly trained to receive righteousness! As a two year old must be trained to receive that which will bring physical well-being!

Ideally, then, the idea is that I will eventually spend enough time in the light (of His Torah/Word/Law of Life) so as to eradicate all the "corners", those shadowy places, where the flesh can plot mischief against the spirit-man (the "me"which I would prefer to be)! And that, eventually, I will have spent enough time in His presence to exhibit that"strong calm sanity" which brother Chambers alluded to. Until then I will pray for grace to hang on, and request grace from those with whom I relate as well!

~ Selah !

January 8 - "And Abraham built an altar...and bound Isaac his son." Genesis 22:9

In this entry, from My Utmost for His Highest , brother Chambers gives the balance to the above entries' conclusions! Right when we are ready to shout, "death to the tyrannous flesh!" He steps in and calmly and sanely brings our attention to the fact that a dead servant is a useless servant! Should we be dead to unprofitable appetites? Sure! Is it necessary that we be dead to everything we love? Not so much! Once we get the fleshly appetites which war against true life dealt with, we begin to find that there are desires which G-d put within us which we are meant to pursue. Therefore if we begin to habitually and indiscriminately execute everything for which we sense an affinity we may eventually kill off the very life of G-d within us! Aesthetics for aesthetics' sake is not necessarily a virtue!

Brother Chambers, in all his English eloquence says it this way:

"This incident is a picture of the blunder we all make in thinking that the final thing G-d wants of us is the sacrifice of death... We seem to think that G-d wants us to give up things! ... (When,) It is (more) a question of loosening the bands that hinder the life (of G-d within us), and immediately those bands are loosened by identification with His death, we enter into a relationship with G-d whereby we are able... to become a living sacrifice..."

A sacrifice that is useful and profitable. We humans tend toward such "all or nothing" thinking in every area of life! This unfortuante characteristic of the terminally stupid flesh stems from the stronghold of pride, which makes every stubborn self-willed two-year old scream, "I do it myself!". With no regard as to whether they actually can or not! The biggest lesson to learn in life, and I think the hardest to receive, is that we certainly can NOT "do it ourselves"! The job was designed to be worked in tandem with the creator from the very origin and He has not changed His mind about that! Our mission, therefore, if we choose to accept it, is to find that place of fellowship which makes us available to His Power! We want to think of it the other way around, of course. We want His power made available to us! And in a sense that does take place. But more accurately, I have observed that the times it works best, is when we have humbled ourselves and made ourselves available as a conduit of that power/ anointing. You see, us wielding His power is too much like work! But merely stepping out of His way so that His power can flow through us, that is Yielding instead of Wielding, is less stressful for all concerned! If we ever appear to wielding the weapons of our warfare it is only because He is not manifested to natural vision. We are just not up to it! We need to be "yoked", joined, and constrained only by and with Him! We must have His strength! We must have His power! And He will never give it to us and just walk off, no more than we would give a loaded 30 gauge to a two-year old! That would be irresponsible! We must stop seeking it apart from Him! We must stop trying to sneak into His gun cabinet when we think He isn't looking! He wants to be part of the package! He designed so that He must be part of the package! He can not be separated from the package! One can not have Yeshua's Salvation apart from Him! His Salvation can not be accomplished without His Anointing!

We will of course be all nodding our heads at this point, and yawning like this is stating the obvious! But is it? If His fruit, the Fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5) isnot in abundancein our lives, then somewhere He is NOT being given the room to work, somewhere He isNOT being given the place of LORD in our lives!Ouch.

But it is the TRUTH that makes us free, not religious fairy tales. I don't write it, I just preach it! In preaching it, however, I must also hear it! And since we are admonished to be doers of the Word that we hear, and not just hearers of it, I guess I've got my work cut out for me today! I will take my still smoldering self back to the Word and back to His presence, and "pitch my tent between Ai & Bethel" , and hopefully, do a better job at staying yoked to Him while I plow, this week, than I have the last few weeks!

~ Selah !

Shavua Tov everyone! Happy plowing!

"From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." Jn. 6:66 This is a sad commentary on the loyalty of mankind. We get all fired up about a movement, and there is free food or something that entices us to follow, but then, when the first hard truth hits home, or when "persecution arises because of the Word" (as it always does), then we turn yellow-belly-up and go home! It is easy for us to get all Siskel and Ebert, from the sidelines over here and to demand to know what in the world would have made them leave Him!? I mean, He was obviously the Messiah, right? But the Priests seem to question that. But, He made bread and fish come out of nowhere, He raised up dead people, He gave guys vision that had been blind since birth! Who could leave that right?

However, we all know that following someone isn't that simple. There are personal characteristics to get used to, and, well face it, in order to follow anyone else we must deny ourselves! If He says something to which we strongly object a decision must be made, do I stick with my own life-learned experiential gut-instincts, or ditch them in favor of this new information? And the struggle ensues. And if we should face discomfort because of having followed, or deprivation or, G-d forbid, danger or disaster? Well, the choice is clear isn't it? To the flesh it is very clear, "this guy is endangering numero uno, I'm outta here!" But if we have made Him number one, if He really is Lord, Adonai, if He is the "be all to end all" for us, then we will follow on to see where the danger may lead, for those who know him know it will be good!

But before we get any further, I want us to first note the reference number of this scripture, the number of man - in triplicate, it represents that breed on mankind who will try to be in the place of triune G-dhead. It is the number given in the book of Revelation that will mark those who are sealed by the enemy, the number that represents those who have become totally deceived anti-messiah flesh. I can't help but make a mental note, that those who end up at that place, where they have left G-d to the point that they are okay with that number being tatooed on their heads, began that journey here, where something caused them to "turn back and walk no more with Him".

If we are honest, even the most mature and the most devoted of us have faced those times. Times when it seemed not only a waste of time, but definitely not in our best interest to keep following. And had we not remembered that it was "not about us", or not supposed to be anyway, we would have turned back! The times when His Word stunned us to the very core!

and of course, the enemy will always bring the heat to our flesh in order to turn us back, since he is hell-bent on keeping as many of G-d's creation away from Him as he can! But if we would escape the final deception of which we have been warned, then we must press into The Spirit of the Living G-d at those times and not give in to our fleshly urgings to turn away, to "run for our lives", to "get out of Dodge", or whatever! Yeshua did say that He who would seek to save his own life would lose it, and he who would be willing to give it up for the sake of the Kingdom would be the one to actually save it! For Life is defined by the Kingdom of G-d, and not much that can actually be called life is found outside it.

We have all heard the popular command, "Lead, follow or just get out of my way!". We will find ourselves doing one of those all through life. But we need to know starting out that there is only One true leader, and that we can not be in His place and ours at the same time. If we insist on trying to lead, then we will completely miss Him, for He will never follow flesh, and we can be sure that our flesh will never manifest Spirit! So the choice remains, will we "Lead", "Follow", or just "get out of The Way"? I think the ramifications of each are clear enough at this point, so, for another day at least, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back....." Selah.

T'was the night before Christmas, and Chanukah too - Day Five!

And so down at the Synagogue things are coming alive!

The Family Chanukiah's will be kindled with care,

To celebrate the victory, a "great miracle happened there"!

Later, back at Duncanshire all beings will be hopping,

all cooking and preparing, and last minute crazy shopping.

For we must be at the shelter, by a quarter past four,

yes, A.M., so the folks there can have breakfast once more!

It's been our beloved tradition now for many a year,

To help us find true meaning in this paganistic gear!

In honor of the Real Son whom some worship on this day,

It was a mikvah we could do to help us follow in His way!

You see, you won't find jelly doughnuts in the Torah, or a game,

that quite resembles gambling, I must say, if its all the same.

There is pagan, fleshly, manmade stuff, that creeps in on its own,

even in G-d's Moedim that we are clearly shown!

As Chanukah is "optional" for those who "only Torah" observe,

though "Yeshua celebrated that at least!", still, you guys have some nerve,

to judge the other members of His body, for their way

of honoring His coming, though someone did choose the horrid day!

Still, despite the cunning evil of the enemy's intent,

many righteous souls do truly cherish our Messiah's advent!

Many truly hear His heart, and truly lift Him up, you see.

For He's theOne worth celebrating, and His eternal victory!

So we celebrate the miracle of Judah Macabee,

beneath the dimmly lighted glow of our little Christmas tree.

To which we've never bowed in worship, it only holds for us,

the meaning of this season, and it isn't worth all this fuss!

It is only a decoration, like the Chanukah display,

or like the harvest emblems I put out in autumn, the same way.

We do not worship our small pilgrims we set out at each Thanksgiving,

they are but a small reminder of those who established our free living.

So chill out all believers, please just follow your own hearts,

leave the judging to our Elohim, and we'll not have to part.

For I was not brought up Jewish, but I serve a Jewish Lord,

who is faithful to instruct me by His Ruach, in Word!

He has brought me on a journey, and I have not reached the end,

by the time the journey's over I may pitch trappings that offend.

But I can not be led around you see, by the opinions of mere men,

I have learned who I must please, and I answer just to Him.

I've weeded and corrected to get down to what would please,

the risen Lord of Glory, to whom we bow our knees!

Not the "baby in the manger", not his cross and not his mother,

He, alone is King of Glory, and there is not any other!

So settle down my brothers, take it easy, take a rest!

G-d will teach His children how to love Him, as to Him it does seem best.

He gently will correct us, when we've been led astray,

He tenderly, though firmly, will instruct us in His way!

But if we would find the center of the path you seem to know,

love, not bitter criticism, will entreat us all to go,

that path you securely travel, but we won't come while you're throwing stones!

We have gotten enough gravel from the ones who were our own!

Let's resist that war this season, let us learn the truest heart,

that the "Reason for the Season, should not pull us all apart.

True, He's called "the stumbling stone", for those who simply won't believe.

But He also is the mortar to join as one, all who receive!

Hene Mah Tov, Umah naim, Chevet achim gam Yachad,

In unity we'll win again, in division we'll be sh'much-ad!

So Shalom, Shalom!, this "holiday", be it Christmas, or Chanukah,

Let's rest in His abiding Love, and all his own be "One-i-cah"!

Shalom and Selah,

SCD 12/23/11

Typically this is always a hard one to grasp. We are down with the giving, as long as it doesn't include any "strings attached", but we can not seem to reconcile the "taking away" parts as having any possible good! But, we should be able to grasp it! As parents are we not required to do the same thing? To give and take away. as seems best suitable to the situation? As any good parent or caregiver of toddlers should know, in order to truly care for a small one, or even teens who are learning to stretch their imaginary wings toward a life of independence, there must be giving, and there must also be taking away!

You don't just hand a four year old the cookie jar and say, "here you go, have a nice life"! You give him access to the cookies only at certain times and then you take that access away so that they do not ruin their appetite for more nourishing things! And with teens privileges are given according to character. If they handle the freedom in a responsible way then they are given more freedom. If they behave in ways that are a danger to themselves or others, or if they behave irresponsibly, then the freedoms are withdrawn until a later time, until there is repentance from wrong attitudes or behaviors, until there is growth on the inside, then things and privileges can be released to them on the outside!

It is a constant process, often so natural in flow that it is barely perceptible, and sometimes so tumultuous in struggle that it seems to be all that is noticeable! But it goes on daily in the lives of those who care about the ones that they have been entrusted with! You see those caregivers occasionally who are too broken or self absorbed to make or keep boundaries, and the ruined lives that come from them. It is sad to watch. But my point is this, if we, who are imperfect and inherently flawed know the good of the system of giving and taking away, and can work it to any good end, then how much more can our Heavenly Father who designed and formed us know what we need to have and when? And what may not be in our best interest! How much more will He know when it is best to give and when it is best to take away? How much more should we trust those processes in His hands?

Now I should note that, of course, there are times when it clearly isn't Him who has done the taking! There are times, because we do have an enemy of our souls, that we, or someone in authority over us, have opened the door and enabled our enemy to take an unfair advantage of us, and rob us of something that was precious to us, or that we badly needed! Then what? Why do we have a hard time remembering that our Father has promised us restoration and restitution if we will trust Him! Notice that both of those words begin with "rest". As the sheep in Psalm 23, we must rest in Him! We must trust that we have Shepherd who is able to deliver us. Sheep that do not trust, who do not have a sense of safety and well-being will NOT lie down! We must trust that He will take nothing away except what will harm us, and that He will allow nothing in except what will bless and increase us in some way.

Evil comes, that is just a matter of course. But usually if it succeeds it is because we, or someone in authority over us, gave it the legal right to operate! There are times when we, in our stubborn defiance, will climb after the cookie jar, determined and hell-bent to eat as many as we want! We think we are so smart. We think we deserve this treat! After all, we have done most of what was asked of us! We are certain that we know ourselves better than He does! That surely we will know when to stop!

But, all too often, we find that we are not in control of all things, and that, therefore, stuff happens that we were not prepared to handle! We may, for example, get very sick from glutting ourselves on cookies, or we may fall, in the process of climbing after the prohibited item, and break something, either the cookie jar, or a limb. Then we are not only in intense pain, but we also lapse into fear! Our self-assurance goes out the window! We need help, but we dare not ask for it - right?

Suddenly we are aware of the fact that we "deserve" only to be disciplined! And we are quite sure that we will be! For He Chastens and corrects those whom He loves! But even His discipline is different than what the most loving of humans can dish out! He does not tell us that we may never have another cookie as long as we live, or that He is glad for our pain, and that it is "good enough for us, since we couldn't behave ourselves for five minutes", or that we deserve the pain! He isn't vengeful or offended that we went against His direct commandment!

Why not?! His anger is reserved for the sin that caused our misbehavior. It is reserved for the tempter. He will correct us, no doubt about that! But, what we frequently miss, is that it is truly for our good that He does, not because He is angry with us. We will feel remorse, maybe for just getting caught at first, but then, when we see the love in His eyes we will feel remorse for not trusting His judgment. And as He gently heals whatever it is that was broken or replaces that which can not be fixed, we will weep at our own foolishness, and something in us will be made more solid, more noble, more trusting and more responsible.

You see, He promises us that repentance is a grace that puts us right back into right standing with Him. II Chronicles 7:13 & 14 says, loosely translated, that even if we open the door for the enemy so wide that all the curses of disobedience come on us (sickness, poverty, diseases of every kind, untimely death, etc.), even if we get so far out of His protection that the enemy is laying waste at will, still if those who are His (the ones who are called by His Name) will seek His face (not His hand), will pray (not pout), will confess their sins (not judge everyone else's sins) and turn from all of their wicked (doubt-fueled, mistrusting, disobedient, rebellious) ways, then, He would hear them, forgive them, and heal them! If we will come down off our high horses of self-willed, self-indulgent independence and submit to His Word, His Life and His Way, then He will fix every mess we have made!

What a deal! Why are we not quick to jump at that? There can only be one reason, and that reason is that we do not believe it. We do not believe it because we have not been taught to believe it! We have not been taught how to trust Him! We have not dared creep close enough to even find out what He is really like because religion keeps us at such a distance! And often those who represent Him to us had that same very problem, and we learned their bad habits!

Alas, it is the human dilemma. But there is hope for us still! There are those who have had glimmers, who call out to us through the ages, through the pages of books or writings, who have overcome the barriers of religion and have found the delights of freedom in a true relationship with G-d! We can still choose to follow them if we will. Messiah has made the way for us! We can follow Him! His Spirit is still available to us! His Word is still within our grasp! "He is still near to us, even in our midst", as His Writings declare! He is still drawing us toward Himself if we will come! We can gather our courage, find our chutzpah and dust off our dreams of the adventurous life in G-d which we imagined as we started this journey and press into Him! And if we do, He will fix it!

He does give and He does take away, but, as it is in child-rearing, that has a lot to do with how responsibly we handled what we were given! Let's stop allowing ourselves to be victimized by religious bullies, be they thoughts, spirits or folks, and let's take responsibility for our own actions and decisions! We want to have authority? Well then let's do what it takes to grow the character that will support it! We start by trusting Him enough to do what He says! We start by Loving Him with all our heart, soul and strength, and our neighbor as our selves! We start by humbling ourselves enough to grasp the reality that it is not about us, and that He knows more than we do about how to get us to be who and where we need to be. Trust and Obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!

It is time we got real about a relationship with the Lord. He is wanting a bride, not a trophy date! It is time we gave Him our hearts and not just our hands. It is time we follow Him in being about His Father's business. But we can do none of that without His help, and we can not receive His help if we do not trust Him more than we trust ourselves and our five senses!

As most of the world settles in to celebrate the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah (the Christ/the Anointed One) let those of us who claim to really know Him, let those of us who believe Him to be our Savior, our Shepherd and our Lord and Master, begin to act in ways that support those beliefs! If not, we have not only "taken the Christ out of Christmas" but we have already taken Him out of our lives anyway.

Selah! (Pause and Calmly think about that!)

SCD 12/12/11