My husband and I
received the okay to move to Israel. We had prayed and asked for
confirmations. The Holy Spirit
faithfully answered. So--how do you fold up a life in America for 50 plus
years? There were only 2 choices: sell or give away what you have.
To receive money for what has been precious to you for so many years seemed
too shallow. We decided to ask YHVH to give the items to the needy.
Fantastically, He did! It seemed as though each item was a testimony.
Individuals who had prayed for supply or been without and enduring saw
the love of the Heavenly Father
displayed. This ‘payment’ gave our faith and thanksgiving a super
increase. It ‘rewarded’ us richly.
So we set off to Israel with our only
possessions: 4 suitcases and a laptop computer. Our desire and delight in
the land of our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob made the practical end
of living in Israel obscure. I would love to say it was faith that kept us
confident and to some extent faith played a part, but our enthusiasm carried
us into this adventure. We spent the first 2 months at a ministry learning
under their wings how things operate in
the land. Then we set out for Bethany, 2 miles from Jerusalem and on the
down slope of the Mount of Olives. We were connected by YHVH to a
man who lived there and had been in the land for 20 years, an American.
When you are in a foreign land, English
speakers are like fresh water. This man carried us like a father in getting
established in Bethany. He helped us find a ‘furnished’ apartment. I say
furnished in quotes because it was minus a fridge, store and had only 1 twin
bed and mattress. Do you know you can survive without a fridge in the heat
of summer? Amazing! This kind father figure brought us a hot plate and we
purchased mattresses from him. He tried to console us with the starkness of
the walls saying, “You will get pictures to make it more
homey.” We weren’t daunted. Even the
fact that the town of Bethany as Yeshua walked in was no more Jewish
but Arab, wasn’t turning us away. It was Israel!! After a short month, our
dear father figure was suddenly deported to America. He ran a room rental
ministry for visitors to the land and had 3 fully furnished homes, including
his own. When Israel deports people, they leave with only the clothes on
their back. So our dear father figure
bequeathed all his earthly goods to us for our ministry in the land!
Wow--our small amount of possessions, 4 suitcases and a laptop,
exploded! We stuffed our bare but now very cozy apartment full of every
possible convenience and sold or gave to others the rest. I had read Luke
6:38 which says, “Give and it will be given to you, pressed down, shaken
together and running over unto your bosom. For the measure with which you
measure out will be used to measure back to you.” Like Job we could say, “I
had heard about you with my ears, but now my eye sees you” Job 42:5.
P.S. The word our father
figure spoke about pictures on the walls came true even though he didn’t
know that he was to be the source.
Since YHVH (God) is watching over
His word, so should we be watching as He performs it. Watching
and praying is something that Yeshua commanded (Mark 13:37; Luke
21:34-36).for all of us I used to think this meant to make sure I
was staying in the faith and not sinning. For sure that is true also
but YHVH showed me what watching meant by performing His Word in
my life. Being saved in 1978 and learning about the Christian faith
seemed to be all there was until 1991. I was at a conference where a
Jewish believer was speaking about anti-Semitism. I was convicted in
my heart that I had a prejudice about Jews. I repented of this and
it opened up a great new banquet of God's word to me. I saw myself
as part of His word being performed, namely that I was part of Israel.
He was turning me back to the fathers of my faith (Malachi 4:6). I was
being regathered into the whole house of Israel which is prophesied to
happen in the last days (Ezekiel 37:15-28).
Now I knew by experience what was meant by 'watch'.
The word 'watch' is defined in the Strong's #1277 as
to give strict attention, be cautious. Why is it necessary to give
attention to the word of YHVH. One good reason is to petition YHVH
to perform His word. Take the example in Daniel 9:2, "In the
first year of his reign, I Daniel, observed from the scriptures the number
of the years, according to the word of the LORD, given to Jeremiah the
prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem would be
seventy years." Daniel was a watchman for the House of Israel.
When he saw that the exile was complete, he petitioned YHVH for His word
to be performed and it was. As we see prophecy in the scriptures, we
can announce it to the Father in prayer. You are on sure ground if
you pray scriptures.
Another reason to watch the word of God is to be prepared
for His hand when it moves. YHVH's people should know His works and
call it so, not mistake events as human or natural. Daniels knew
that events occurring in their lives were the hand of God because
scriptures prophesied it would happen. "Therefore hath the LORD
watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is
righteous in all His works which He doeth; for we obeyed not His
voice" (Daniel 9:14). Since God is sovereign, we know He is in
charge of events on the planet. His word declared that the wicked
will be judged on earth as will the righteous (Proverbs 11:31).
Should His people not be warning the world about the events prophesied.
We have seen a lot of them occur just within the last year. The
dividing of the land of Israel (Joel 3:2); the Gaza pullout (Zephaniah
2:4); Iran (Medes) raising up against Babylon (Jeremiah 51:11&28); the
desire to divide Jerusalem for a PLO capital (Zechariah 14:2).
Watching the event occurring in the USA must not be
mistaken as natural or we will not answer the alarm being sounded.
America has not feared YHVH or His ways and are in judgment right now.
There is still time to repent and turn from our wicked ways (not following
Torah) as 2 Chronicles 7:14 says. Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of
Biblical Theology defines watchfulness as a preparedness
in order to avoid being taken unaware by an enemy. It involves
fighting to reach a goal. Vigilant watchfulness demands
alertness and detachment from earthly pleasures and activities. Our
calling is like Ezekiel's. "And the word of the LORD came to me
saying, "Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to
them, 'If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one
man from among them and make him their watchman; and he sees the sword
coming upon the land, and he blows on the trumpet and warns the people,
then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning and a
sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be upon his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood
will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have
delivered his life" (Ezekiel 33:1-5).
Let us all be
watchmen and be blessed. "Blessed is
the man that heareth me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the posts of my doors" (Proverbs 8:34).
The government called me to be one of the 12 juriers for a life and death
trial. Before I was asked to be a juror I knew the words of God in
Deuteronomy 19:15 which say, "A single witness shall not rise up
against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed;
on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed."
Throughout the trial of 4 days, I was seeking YHVH (God) on the matter.
It is very serious to come against God's word and YHVH gave me more of a
healthy fear of Him. I also knew that as I judged the person, I would
be judged as God says in Matthew 7:1-2. "Do not judge lest you be
judged. For the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your
standard of measure, it will be measured to you."
The court case was truly God calling me to be there to represent Him in this
matter. A true fear of the Lord is a strong desire to do only His will
not my own will (as Yeshua came to do the will of the Father Psalm 40:7-8)
plus a strong desire to not add to His word or take away from it
(Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 22:18-19).
As the trial progressed it kept coming to my mind that Yahveh sees all
things and knows the guilty and the innocent. All the evidence against
the person stacked up to say he was guilty, but there was no witness to the
crime. The day before we had to make a decision of guilty or innocent.
I cried out to Yahveh for a yes or no. It was early in the morning,
like 3 o'clock, while I was crying out for an answer when God answered.
As I quieted my soul, He gave me a vision that showed the person was guilty.
Finally I could go back to sleep. God always answers when we ask to do
His will.
The next day the jury had to deliver a decision. This was very serious
as a person's life was in the balance. Some of the jurors were
weeping and sad that they had to know make a decision. A lady in the
jurors looked over at me and said, "I know that you know something
that the rest of us do not know." I told her, "Yes, I do but
would not tell her until we have voted so as to not sway the decisions of
the jurors. After we had all voted, she asked me to share what I
knew. I told her how Yeshua spoke to me that morning showing me that
the person was guilty. The jurors were all relieved and Yeshua got
the glory. We need this true fear of God to be always in His will and
know His voice from a stranger as John 10:27 says. The more we fear
the Lord, the more we will hear His voice. "Who is the man who
fears YHVH? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
His soul will abide in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the
land. The secret of YHVH is for those who fear Him, and He will make
them know His covenant." Psalm 25:12-14
DO WE KNOW WHAT BORN AGAIN MEANS?
Yeshua says we must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God (John
3:3-8). When we are born again the Holy Spirit of God comes into our
temple and starts seeking after the things of God. Before I was born
again I followed my old nature. Now that the Holy Spirit has come into
my temple, I follow the things of the Spirit. Remarkably, He does this
without our help in a lot of issues. What should we expect the Spirit
to look like when He cleans our temples? John 1:1 says, "In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
The Holy Spirit will conform you to the whole word of God from Genesis to
Revelations. We will look and do just what Yeshua (Jesus) did.
John 6:63 says, "It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits
nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life."
Yeshua is Spirit and His word is Spirit, the whole word of the Bible.
Do not believe the false teaching that we are all children of God.
Not true. We are born with the old Adam nature. In Genesis,
before the fall of Adam, Adam was born in the likeness of God. After
the fall of Adam, man was made in the likeness of Adam. (Genesis 5:3)
So we are all born in the old nature of Adam and need to be regenerated
(born again) in the likeness of God by His Spirit. His Spirit is life.
He allows me to be free from the man of sin and walk in righteousness by His
Spirit. Righteousness is obedience to His teachings or truth.
These are outlined for us in the whole Bible. Before I was born again,
I walked in darkness (walking contrary to God or lawlessness). Now
that I am born again, I walk in the light or truth. John 17:17 says,
"Thy word is truth".
It is the difference between salvation or damnation to know if you are
truly born again. As the Spirit enters into our lives, we gratefully
turn from our old nature and take on the new nature of our Messiah Yeshua.
Remember that we only receive the Spirit by trusting God, by faith.
Being born again is by God's grace and by His choice. John 1:12-13.
If you have never received a conviction of sin with a fear of going to hell
for eternity that made you cry out for a Savior, you have never been saved.
Yeshua's death and resurrection was for our sins and our salvation.
When He rose to be with the Father, He said the Holy Spirit would come to be
with us. He enables us to walk with the Father in this world.
Do you have this testimony?:
Do you walk as Yeshua walked or do you live to fulfill your desires?
Are you saved by grace through faith or are you relying on traditions of
men or religion to save you?
Do you keep the commandments of God or the rules of men?
Are you hungry for the word of God and fellowship with true believers or
do you spend your time chasing the world?
We write this to warn you to take a sober look at your walk and not be
fooled. It is a matter of eternal life or death.
