Who is Like Our God?

Who then is like our El, (God), Yahweh of Hosts? There are so many wonderful attributes of the One True El that we can praise and acknowledge. Did you know that the Muslim god, Allah is given many wonderful features but is never, ever called "Love"? Allah is the Moon god of Saudi Arabia and his worshipers believe in the Koran as their holy book. The Bible speaks of trading the image or glory of the One True God for the abasement that can only come from the worship of false gods.

"and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles". Romans 1:23

This includes the worship of created things such as the sun and moon:

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen." Romans 1:25

This means that the glory that we could have has been bartered for something much less luminous. This will effect not only our world view but how we treat others. Yahshua said that his followers would be characterized by love. Since Yahshua reflects his Heavenly Father so perfectly, we would recognize and respond to love immediately.

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:8

So who is like our God? Well, first Yahshua because he gave his life so that we might live in a renewed relationship with the Father and then those who truly love God and others. If we submit to Yahshua, we will find ourselves being changed into the image of Yahweh just as he is.

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." Colossians 1:15

So we are given this wonderful promise if we are in Messiah, (Christ):

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Be Prepared

Lazy summer days! Oh how tempting it is to take off from the ministry and relax as you see my guitar doing here. Still, we are told to be prepared to minster in season and out of season:

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." 2 Timothy 4:2

It is pretty obvious that Satan doesn't take a vacation from evil so how can we ever abandon doing good? Now I'm not talking about taking a well needed rest. Yeshua and his disciples often did that but even so they did not take their eyes off the most important thing....preaching the Word of God. Even while resting at the well, Yeshua reached out to a Samaritan woman with the offer of life everlasting.

Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again;
But anyone who drinks the water that I shall give
will never be thirsty again:
The water that I shall give
will turn into a spring inside welling up to eternal life. John 4:13

As tired and thirsty as he was, he cared enough to extend himself just a little bit more. The result? Not only did the Samaritan woman believe but so did the others living in her community. They relied not on her testimony, but came out themselves to see if Yeshua was indeed the Messiah. This is such a great example for today when many are tempted to self indulge or "take it easy". We can ask Yah and His Son Yeshua for eyes to see opportunities to bless and spread the Gospel message with those who are thirsting no matter if in good season or bad.

What's My Focus?

These days it is so easy to focus on the negative, daunting things of this world. Sometime we think that the more time and attention we give such things, the better it will all turn out! Fact is, all the worrying, pondering and plotting in the world can not change the behavior of someone else. Still that is what makes life interesting. We all have free will and the freedom to either obey or disobey our Heavenly Father. This also means that there is a potential to hurt and be hurt by others.

God Almighty, Yahweh of Armies is not a puppeteer! People ask, "Where was God on 9-11?" Really the question should be where were the terrorists' morals on 9-11? Man's inhumanity to mankind has long been documented. The Bible gives the reason why although many people don't wish to believe it:

The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. Genesis 8:21

In Noah's time, many people were being hurt, abused and killed by the Men of Fame or Renown called Nephilim. These were mutant freaks of the ungodly union of fallen angels and women. These evil men forced God to intervene at that time. However as we see in the last sentence, God would never again destroy all life, (except those preserved in the ark of course), to punish evil. Another point is that not everyone at the time was an evil giant! There were human bystanders who never really responded to Noah's preaching enough to get in the ark.

We know now that the ark is symbolic of Yeshua, Ha Messiah. He is the vehicle of Yah's Salvation. In fact that is what his name, Yeshua means! This is how Yeshua is now the captain of our salvation. When we get on board with him, we obey HIM as commander and chief. A parallel is drawn between the fence sitting people then and those doing the same today:

Luke 17:26-27 (NIV) "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all."

This tells us that at Christ's second return, people will be going about their business as usual, focusing and fully involved only on the daily concerns of this world. Doing so will not change one's outcome at the time of Yeshua's arrival to rule. Answering his call now will.

Friends of God

One of my favorite Praise & Worship songs is "I Am a Friend of God". The chorus goes, "I am a friend of God, He calls me friend!" Some people think that this is true simply because God is Love which is indeed His main attribute. However there is a reason why we can now be called friends of God as this was not the case for most people in times past. In fact the first person to be called "God's friend" was the patriarch Abraham from the land of Ur which is present day Iraq. Abraham is called a "friend of God" three times (2 Chronicles 20: 7, says, "O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?" & Isa. 41: 8).

Abraham's friendship with God came as a result of his faith in God's promises to bless all nations through his seed. This intimate friendship did not come through Abraham's obedience to the law or even the covenant of circumcision as his righteousness before God was reckoned long before this.

"How was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision." Romans 4:10

It was Abraham's faith in the coming Messiah, who would be one of his descendants, that justified him before his Maker. In fact Romans 4:17 says that Yahweh appointed Abraham the father of many nations because he believed in a God "Who causeth the dead to live and calleth the things that are not as things that are." The things that were not included the promised seed of Abraham. Yeshua was not yet born nor was he in "Heaven with God" as part of some unbiblical "trinity". Abraham's faith in God's promise to rule the world by one of his seed or fleshly descendants was the cornerstone of that belief. God's creation of the Messiah in Mary's womb means that like Adam, Yeshua is the Son of God. Read Yeshua's geneology in Luke chapter 3 verse 38. It clearly says, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God. The Messiah has always been anticipated to be 100% human. If he were not, then he could not fulfill what God promised to Abraham about one of his descendants ruling and blessing all the nations. If Yeshua were some immortal being, he also could not die because that is the definition of immortality... one who is not subject to death.

So if we believe that the Messiah's death, finished work, faithfulness and obedience were enough, we will have faith like Abraham that Yeshua will rule God's Kingdom. By this same declaration of faith, we too are friends of Yah!

"Having therefore been declared righteous by faith, let us have peace towards Yahweh through our Master Yeshua the Messiah." Romans 5:1