chosentofollowhim

The truth is unpopular, usually despised and rejected. As in the days of the Prophets who were martyred and laughed at for speaking truth; today people would rather hear false promises and positive affirmations. Words of love, mercy, and favor are embraced while words of chastisement and judgement are disposed of. But what happens when we abuse God’s grace and covenant? Do we become like His children of old who strayed, lacked intimacy, and prostituted themselves, following other gods and worshipping false idols? Are we subject to God’s punishment?

When we decide to follow Yeshua and His spirit occupies our inner being it does not mean that we are void of our own flesh and sinful nature. It means we have Holy Spirit’s help to crush our flesh and grow deeper in Him. Our spirit man needs to battle our flesh daily so that we can thrive in our obedience to the Father and live under His wings of protection and abundance.

Pray: Father, thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Help me to not neglect His promptings but to incline my ear to Him and be sensitive to His voice. Help me to resist the temptations of my flesh and give me the will to die to myself. In Yeshua’s name, Amen

The church struggles to acknowledge that God still remains a God of wrath and judgement. He is the same today as He was and will always be. Judgement is coming for the wicked and those who neglect and deny Him. We cannot be lukewarm in our walk or He will spit us out and claim to not know us.

When contemplating the Torah and the gifts it holds, such as the Sabbath and the Feasts, I get a picture of two “diamond” rings. From a distance, they look rather similarly but up close they are dramatically different. One is made of cheap plastic and the other has the rarest, fresh cut diamond, set on a ring of pure gold.

The plastic ring was purchased at a dollar store and represents manmade holidays and false teaching. The true and precious diamond ring was bought at Tiffany’s and represents God’s perfect Commandments and His Holy Days. The counterfeit ring has been manufactured to reflect a glimpse of the truth, but infuses false narratives which play on the emotions of its consumers, leaving them depleted and void of intimacy with the Father and the Son. The costly ring demonstrates a vivid story of the the One True King and the depth of His relationship with His creation and His children. This ring shows God’s precise orchestration and purposeful timeline without neglecting His divine order. It projects His glory and mysteries while the fake materializes the story for its own gain. The dollar store knock off gets forgotten and thrown out in the trash while the treasured, more valuable purchase, gets flaunted for the entire world to see and remember. She is a light to the nations.

The Torah holds the keys of truth and God’s awesome and perfect will for humanity. It is the setting and Yeshua is the rock! God desires our hearts to be true and honoring to Him but how can we do this if we are neglecting His own gift to us? Why do we settle for counterfeit stories and fluff? When do we lay down our manmade traditions and submit to His way? Can we trust Him and believe He knows what is best for us?

This is the truth that sets us free.

In Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount He said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

The Psalmist in the 119th chapter writes, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law
And keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.”

In 1 John it is written, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

In the book of Deuteronomy Adonai says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?”

In speaking to the woman at the well, Yeshua said, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The LORD spoke to Jeremiah and said, “Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; for the customs of the peoples are delusion; because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter.”

Again, in Deuteronomy the LORD says, “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully follow in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you are going to dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. And you shall tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones to pieces, and burn their Asherim in the fire, and cut to pieces the carved images of their gods; and you shall eliminate their name from that place. You shall not act this way toward the Lord your God.”

Finally, the last scripture is from Deuteronomy 6 which Yeshua also quotes while being tempted in the wilderness. In addressing Israel, Adonai says, “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the LORD your God who is in the midst of you is a jealous God; so follow Him, or else the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth. You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His provisions and His statutes which He has commanded you. You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may go well for you and that you may go in and take possession of the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, by driving out all our enemies from you, as the LORD has spoken.”

As we can see, the Lord is serious about our worship and our obedience. If we are looking like the world by doing as the world does, then we must ask ourselves if it is truly what God loves or hates.

MARANATHA!