Thankful No Matter What

I can remember working with a wonderful scientist, Dr. Lester Weintraub, who always said, "Could have been worse!" when describing something unpleasant that just happened to him.

Really, he had the right attitude of gratitude when I think back.

"Let the peace of the Messiah also rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful". Colossians 3:15

First you see the peace ruling in one's heart as we are part of the ONE Body of Christ.  Yahushua taught about obtaining that peace by not being overly concerned with what we will drink or eat or put on.  This excessive worry is given to those whose hearts are ruled by  anxiety and therefore LACK such peace.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Matthew 6:25

He places things in the proper order of importance.  You are alive right now which shows Yah's divine providence.  Many people in the world did not live to see this new day.   Young, old, rich and poor did not wake up this morning.  So if God cares to allow you another day of life, will He not also provide the sustenance needed to maintain it?  Likewise our bodies are fearfully made, miracles of creation.  So what are clothes as compared to the beauty and complexity of the human form?

We really need to consider these things because this will lead to greater trust and faith in Yah's ability to take care of us.  So...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Philippians 4:6

Prayer:  Yahuwah Yireh, my Provider!  Thank you for sending your Son so that I may have my sins forgiven and the hope of everlasting life.  No matter what my circumstances, let me be thankful and rest in Your given peace.  In Yahushua's name, Amen.

 

Yahuwah Yireh, My Provider

¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
   and plants for people to cultivate—
   bringing forth food from the earth:
¹⁵ wine that gladdens human hearts,
   oil to make their faces shine,
   and bread that sustains their hearts.  Psalm 104:14-15

I read this only this morning as part of my daily reading plan and though about Yah's going above and beyond filling our basic needs.  He not only cares for us but He also has great concern for the animals of His creation.  If the grass does not grow, even today, ranchers can not sustain their cattle.  The drought in Texas was so bad this past summer that many had to sell of a large part of their herds to keep them from dying.  If God withholds His provisions for them, they are dismayed,

²⁷ All creatures look to you
   to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
   they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
   they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face,
   they are terrified;  

Many agricultural problems today are often caused by poor land stewardship or natural changes in weather and seasons.  Still it says ALL creatures look to You.  We depend on animals for meat and hides plus many other products.  If they suffer, we also suffer.

Yahuwah cares deeply for us.  Giving us water would suffice to keep us alive but notice He also offers us wine to gladden our hearts.  That shows God is also concerned with our enjoyment of life.  Rely on Him for even more than just our basic needs.  Whatever our lot, we should trust Yah to provide for us.  Paul summed it up this way:  

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Tim. 6:17

PRAYER:  O Yah, bless Your name forever!  Thank you for not only providing so richly for my temporal needs but also for giving us Your Son and life everlasting through him.

Authority

^"1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2 1-4

We often think one political party has the upper hand or the other is causing all the trouble but that may only be part of the whole picture.  When we look at Paul's instructions to Timothy, we see that he was in fact asking 1st century Christians to pray for a rather corrupt, oppressive government, that of the Roman Empire.  This same empire under the prodding of the Jews had put their leader to death.  Still Paul asks fellow believers in Yahushua Ha Messiach to pray for representatives of this brutal order?

This is because he knew that there is no authority except by God.  In other words, even today, the rulers are in their position because our Heavenly Father allows it.

¹ Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ² Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.  Romans 13:1-2

Does this mean that God condones the evil and lawless things these governments do?  Certainly not but if we read further in Romans we'll see that God understands that the absence of authority is anarchy.  Can you imagine life with no structure or authority at all?  Believe me, you wouldn't want to live in a country like that but many of our fellow Christians abroad do.

⁴ For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. Romans 13:4-5 

Even though the various governments are far from perfect, they do serve God's purpose in protecting the lives and property of its citizens.  With that protection, we are able to carry out peaceful lives as chaos would be the likely result of no government authority at all.  As far as it goes with us however, each Christian should consult their conscience in choosing godly people for political office. 

Free Will

Every once in a while God gives me an epiphany.  As imperfect humans, we often think that our Heavenly Father can and will do anything we ask, including change other people.

This is unrealistic because each of us has been given "free will" to choose to do good or evil.  It is the choice to do evil that causes others so much pain and suffering.  Still we are not pre-programmed robots.  God would not want us to love Him because we have to but because we choose to.

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,"  Deuteronomy 30:19

This verse also tells us something else.  Contrary to the teachings of Calvin and other so called theological sages, predestination is not a Biblical teaching.  If certain people were predetermined to be saved and others not, why then would the Bible tell anyone to choose life in order that you may live?  Something is not adding up and when in doubt, I'd rather rely on the authority of God's words.

As much as we'd like to see positive world changes such as peace and brotherhood, the success of that is largely dependent with others.  Right now God is changing those who are willing to avail themselves of the precious blood and sin atoning sacrifice of the Lord Yahushua.   Each man, woman and child must step up and confess their sins and wish to be made over in Christ's image.  Some people will never do that, even when they see others who have been completely transformed by this holy process.  They would rather live for themselves and die in their sins because of pride and their love of decadent pleasures.  So we can only ask God for things He has under His authority.  God does not rule our wills.  We look forward to the day when the whole earth will be filled with those who willfully submit to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Encourage Someone

"I will bless Yahweh at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1. Later on in David's Psalm of praise and exhalation he invites others to join him in worship by saying:

"Oh magnify Yahweh with me and let us exhalt His name together." Psalm 34:3

Although there was no specific mandate at the time for Israel to proselytize to the nations, it is obvious that David was calling on members of the covenant. How are we today? We are to speak to one another with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. This can be like giving one of Christ's believers a cool drink of water. We all need to be refreshed especially with the constant drone of economic woes, natural disasters and human tradgedy playing 24/7. Focusing on God's superlative goodness and power gives us confidence to work and walk victoriously knowing our labors are not in vain.

As the Proverb says, iron sharpens iron, so we can find others of like faith to encourage and be encouraged.

Put Your Hope in God

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2

We should be so ready to to share the gospel with those who do not know it.  Still Paul here is not just speaking of those ignorant of the Good News.  He is reminding Timothy to keep those in the Body of Christ on alert as well.  How do we know that Paul is including those who have already been exposed to the Gospel Message?  We can look at the next verse which says:

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3

No longer means that they did listen to sound teaching at one point.  We can see this now with "prosperity preachers" or the "name it claim it crowd".  Paul said he knew how to be content no matter what his circumstances because he could do all things through Him who gave him strength.  Why wasn't he preaching that God wants you to prosper and have material wealth?  Well, probably because it wasn't part of the Good News!  Instead Paul warned:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17 

Uncertain is right!  Here today, gone today.  If that is the sum and total of our lives then when we loose our possessions we may feel we have nothing to live for.  Now tornadoes, floods and other disasters have taken more than people's property.  It has cost hundreds of Americans their lives too.  Yahshua said seek first the Kingdom of God all these other things will be added to you as well.  Since he also said we can not serve both God and mammon or money at the same time, we have to make a choice as to what or who will have first place in our affections.  The greatest command is to love Yahweh our Elohim with all our heart, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves.   

Whom God Raised from the Dead

Paul said, "For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised," 1 Corinthians 15:16 

Just reading this verse will give us a lot of understanding.  Some people believe in myths such as the immortality of the human soul when the Bible flat out says "None can keep alive his own soul" (Psalm 22:29).  These stories were introduced by Greek philosophers who believed in other things the Jews did not such as multiple gods and their gods coming down in the form men.  Paul saw all of this for what it was, pagan belief.
So if inside we believe that the Messiah Yahshua raised himself up because he was really "God in human flesh", the above verse from Paul makes no sense.  The Bible clearly says over and over again that GOD raised Jesus from the dead.

"but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses." Acts 3:15

The apostles were witnesses to the fact that GOD raised Jesus from the dead, not that Jesus raised himself!  If we believe that Jesus is God and as such was able to raise himself from the dead by his own power, where does that leave us?  We are not God!  Paul was facing the same sort of pagan philosophies in his time hence his letter to the Corinthians.  Gnostics and other 1st century groups were saying that Jesus was really only a spirit (God) and not a flesh & blood man or human.  To these heretics, he only appeared to be human but did not sweat, urinate or perform any other normal bodily functions.  Some cults to this day believe that Jesus was originally an angel despite the first chapter of Hebrew's clear testimony to the contrary.  Paul stated:

"By this ye know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh, is from God:"  1 John 4:2

In the Hebrew mind and religion, these is no such thing as pre-exisitance so when they speak of "come in the flesh" they are simply saying that Jesus was a flesh and blood man and not a spirit.  Remember that only God Almighty Yahweh is immortal meaning not subject to death.  If Yahshua was equally immortal, he could not have really died and been raised from the dead.  It follows that if this is the case, Paul says:


"And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless." 1 Corinthians 15:14

So it is very important to 1.) Test the spirits.  2.) Believe that Jesus was 100% human and truly died.  3.) Believe that God raised him from the dead as a reward for his faithfulness.  If we overlook these key points, our faith and preaching will likewise be in vain.