Do you ever stop and examine your life? When was the last time that you stopped everything that you were doing, and contimplated the things that you have done, where you are right now, and where you are going? This world continues to pile on the distractions, the going-going-going of day-to-day, and leaves little time for practical thought, or for anything of real value. Any time that you do have to sit is spent on the internet, or glued to the T.V. We then excuse this time as relaxing. When was the last time that you actually felt rested when you got off of the couch after watching T.V.? Did you really feel better than you did before you sat down? No way! Not possible. If anything, you were more drained than before you started. Not to mention, you just wasted that time doing absolutely nothing.
Now this post is not to bash television, it is just an example of the wastefulness of our lives. As Americans, we have been taught to go, and do, without stopping to ask questions. We don’t think about why we are doing something; really, we just don’t care. For example, why do you go to work? To pay your bills; so you can have nice things; to eat; a sense of accoplishment; to retire? No matter your answer, it all comes down to the simple fact that is what you have been trained to do. Do you know where jobs came from? Who was the first person that started “working?” Do you know why that person had to start working? My guess is you have no idea.
Here’s another one: Are you a good person? What makes you good, or bad? By what standard should you measure your actions; your heart? Are you good because you are better than some, or because a majority of people that you know do the same thing? Why are you a good person? Does calling on the name Jesus make you a good person? Does praying a prayer of salvation make you a good person? Does praying daily? What about reading your bible, or going to church, or doing your best, or tithing, or good works? Why do you think that any of those things make a difference? Who makes the standard that you live up to, or try to live by? How are you doing against that standard?
I challenge you to go before the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and lay everything that you have done at His feet. Are you so confident in yourself to go before Him and declare to Him that you are a good person? What about your plans, your goals, the direction of your life, are they pleasing in His sight? Do you feel comfortable taking these things to Him, and offering them as sacrifices? Is the sacrifice of your life a pleasing aroma in His nostrils, or is it be a pungent stench, disgusting? I know that you can harden your heart before Him, as pride overtakes your being, and exalts your will over His, but if you are truly honest, you know the direction that you are going is not towards Him.
How can I say with such confidence that you are not going in the right direction; that you are not running to Yahuah your Elahim, the Creator of all things? How can I know this? The Scriptures are clear in saying that if you were going in the right direction, running to Him, clinging to His righteousness, that the fruit of your life would be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). I know that if you truly believed in the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, Yahushua, the One and only Son of the Most High Elahim, if you truly believed in Him, the works that He did on this earth would be done in and through your life (John 14:12).
Why then have you fallen short? Why does your life not look like His? The answer is simple: COMPROMISE. You have compromised your life through the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things (Mark 4:19). Yahushua clearly stated that it is impossible to serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). Yahushua then states what a life that chooses to serve Him would look like in the rest of chapter six: you would be more radiantly clothed than even king Solomon as you are clothed in the very pressence of Yahuah; taken care of without storing in barns, with no thought of tomorrow; no worry–focussing continuously first on His kingdom is the only thing produces righteousness. At the beginning of this same sermon, Yahushua says that those who hunger and thirst after this righteousness, will be filled (Matthew 5:6). Filled with what? They will be filled with life–eternal life–the same life that flows out of Him, the life that flows from the very thrown of Yahuah, and later He says that that life would flow out of your belly like rivers of living water (John 7:38).
Now, some how it is of greater importance to please ourselves, than to please Yahuah. It is far more important to be accomplished, than to walk intimately with our Creator. It is of more value to follow the status quo, following after men, than to deny yourself and follow Him. After all, we can provide for ourselves what He can’t. We can protect ourselves better than He can. Our life, the life of this decaying world, is better than anything He has to offer. We don’t need Him. It would be nice if He would bless me a little more so that I could get a bigger flatscreen T.V. though, and if he would help me get a new car. As long as what He’s doing doesn’t distract from my life, the things that I want to do, having God in my life is great. Does that not sound incredibly foolish? Yet, that’s exactly what we are doing.
If you deny that you have become nothing less than an enemy of Yahuah, you are relying upon your own goodness, and you will most certainly find that you aren’t good enough. In fact He views your good works, your righteousness, as a menstral stained rag; disgusting, putrid (Isaiah 64:6). That is the life that you are depending upon when you face you judgement. You will find no mercy. You spit on His precious grace. You didn’t want to be burdened by His goodness during this life, and therefore you will be burdened with your own for eternity.
Will you continue to ignore that your life is miserable, that your life is substandard? Will you continue to harden your heart against the cry of the Set-apart Spirit, the cry of the good Shepherd calling for His lost sheep? Or will you begin to contemplate these questions; begin to examine your life? There is only one standard: HIS. There is only one life that measures up: HIS. Will you choose Him, to receive His grace through which all the promises of Elahim are Yes and Amen? You have no excuse to continue in sin. You have no excuse to live a life that is not pleasing in His sight. You have been given everything necessary to walk in the righteousness that He has called you to. All you must do is trust Him; deny yourself (everything that you know), take up your staff, and follow Him. In losing your life in this world (all the things you once treasured), and setting your eyes upon Him, you will gain His life; eternal life that can be lived today. Eternal life is not something that speaks of heaven, but what has been given for you to walk in today. Eternal life comes from intimacy with Yahuah, today.
You can truly know Him. You can go past reading about Him, go farther than just knowning His name, and begin to experience His pressence. You can find your purpose, what you were created for. You are created to be His living temple in this earth; that He would abide in you, and for you to abide in Him, inseparable. You were created to manifest His pressence, His character, to the rest of creation. You were created to take no thought for yourself, but to rest, to trust, in Him as your Lover, your Husband. When you focus all of your attention on Him, do you not understand that the infinite Elahim focuses His attention on you? He cares for you far more than you can imagine. His plans for you are far greater than you can comprehend. He is the only thing worth treasuring, the only thing worth setting your eyes on. Do not fail to see that He has set His eyes on you.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in knowing Him who loves you.
Do you ever stop and examine your life? When was the last time that you stopped everything that you were doing, and contimplated the things that you have done, where you are right now, and where you are going? This world continues to pile on the distractions, the going-going-going of day-to-day, and leaves little time for practical thought, or for anything of real value. Any time that you do have to sit is spent on the internet, or glued to the T.V. We then excuse this time as relaxing. When was the last time that you actually felt rested when you got off of the couch after watching T.V.? Did you really feel better than you did before you sat down? No way! Not possible. If anything, you were more drained than before you started. Not to mention, you just wasted that time doing absolutely nothing.
Now this post is not to bash television, it is just an example of the wastefulness of our lives. As Americans, we have been taught to go, and do, without stopping to ask questions. We don’t think about why we are doing something; really, we just don’t care. For example, why do you go to work? To pay your bills; so you can have nice things; to eat; a sense of accoplishment; to retire? No matter your answer, it all comes down to the simple fact that is what you have been trained to do. Do you know where jobs came from? Who was the first person that started “working?” Do you know why that person had to start working? My guess is you have no idea.
Here’s another one: Are you a good person? What makes you good, or bad? By what standard should you measure your actions; your heart? Are you good because you are better than some, or because a majority of people that you know do the same thing? Why are you a good person? Does calling on the name Jesus make you a good person? Does praying a prayer of salvation make you a good person? Does praying daily? What about reading your bible, or going to church, or doing your best, or tithing, or good works? Why do you think that any of those things make a difference? Who makes the standard that you live up to, or try to live by? How are you doing against that standard?
I challenge you to go before the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and lay everything that you have done at His feet. Are you so confident in yourself to go before Him and declare to Him that you are a good person? What about your plans, your goals, the direction of your life, are they pleasing in His sight? Do you feel comfortable taking these things to Him, and offering them as sacrifices? Is the sacrifice of your life a pleasing aroma in His nostrils, or is it be a pungent stench, disgusting? I know that you can harden your heart before Him, as pride overtakes your being, and exalts your will over His, but if you are truly honest, you know the direction that you are going is not towards Him.
How can I say with such confidence that you are not going in the right direction; that you are not running to Yahuah your Elahim, the Creator of all things? How can I know this? The Scriptures are clear in saying that if you were going in the right direction, running to Him, clinging to His righteousness, that the fruit of your life would be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). I know that if you truly believed in the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, Yahushua, the One and only Son of the Most High Elahim, if you truly believed in Him, the works that He did on this earth would be done in and through your life (John 14:12).
Why then have you fallen short? Why does your life not look like His? The answer is simple: COMPROMISE. You have compromised your life through the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things (Mark 4:19). Yahushua clearly stated that it is impossible to serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). Yahushua then states what a life that chooses to serve Him would look like in the rest of chapter six: you would be more radiantly clothed than even king Solomon as you are clothed in the very pressence of Yahuah; taken care of without storing in barns, with no thought of tomorrow; no worry–it is through focussing continuously first on His kingdom that we can walk in His righteousness. At the beginning of this same sermon, Yahushua says that those who hunger and thirst after this righteousness, will be filled (Matthew 5:6). Filled with what? They will be filled with life–eternal life–the same life that flows out of Him, the life that flows from the very thrown of Yahuah, and later He says that that life would flow out of your belly like rivers of living water (John 7:38).
Now, some how it is of greater importance to please ourselves, than to please Yahuah. It is far more important to be accomplished, than to walk intimately with our Creator. It is of more value to follow the status quo, following after men, than to deny yourself and follow Him. After all, we can provide for ourselves what He can’t. We can protect ourselves better than He can. Our life, the life of this decaying world, is better than anything He has to offer. We don’t need Him. It would be nice if He would bless me a little more so that I could get a bigger flatscreen T.V. though, and if he would help me get a new car. As long as what He’s doing doesn’t distract from my life, the things that I want to do, having God in my life is great. Does that not sound incredibly foolish? Yet, that’s exactly what we are doing.
If you deny that you have become nothing less than an enemy of Yahuah, you are relying upon your own goodness, and you will most certainly find that you aren’t good enough. In fact He views your good works, your righteousness, as a menstral stained rag; disgusting, putrid (Isaiah 64:6). That is the life that you are depending upon when you face you judgement. You will find no mercy. You spit on His precious grace. You didn’t want to be burdened by His goodness during this life, and therefore you will be burdened with your own for eternity.
Will you continue to ignore that your life is miserable, that your life is substandard? Will you continue to harden your heart against the cry of the Set-apart Spirit, the cry of the good Shepherd calling for His lost sheep? Or will you begin to contemplate these questions; begin to examine your life? There is only one standard: HIS. There is only one life that measures up: HIS. Will you choose Him, to receive His grace through which all the promises of Elahim are Yes and Amen? You have no excuse to continue in sin. You have no excuse to live a life that is not pleasing in His sight. You have been given everything necessary to walk in the righteousness that He has called you to. All you must do is trust Him; deny yourself (everything that you know), take up your staff, and follow Him. In losing your life in this world (all the things you once treasured), and setting your eyes upon Him, you will gain His life; eternal life that can be lived today. Eternal life is not something that speaks of heaven, but what has been given for you to walk in today. Eternal life comes from intimacy with Yahuah, today.
You can truly know Him. You can go past reading about Him, go farther than just knowning His name, and begin to experience His pressence. You can find your purpose, what you were created for. You are created to be His living temple in this earth; that He would abide in you, and for you to abide in Him, inseparable. You were created to manifest His pressence, His character, to the rest of creation. You were created to take no thought for yourself, but to rest, to trust, in Him as your Lover, your Husband. When you focus all of your attention on Him, do you not understand that the infinite Elahim focuses His attention on you? He cares for you far more than you can imagine. His plans for you are far greater than you can comprehend. He is the only thing worth treasuring, the only thing worth setting your eyes on. Do not fail to see that He has set His eyes on you.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in knowing Him who loves you.