Stephanie Pavlantos's Blog, page 14

The Poor in Spirit

Are you on Twitter or heard of #Healthyfaith Twitter chat?

You can find it when you click on Explore and enter #Healthyfaith.

The topics on #Healthyfaith vary from night to night, but each leader has a different topic for at least 8 weeks. Recently, on Thursday nights, we led our #Healthyfaith chat on the Beatitudes. For me, it was fun to gather research on Matthew 5:3-12 and come up with questions based on these scriptures.

Since the Twitter chat topic changed to the Names of God, I’d like to share what I’ve learned through my study of the Beatitudes over the next nine weeks on this blog.

I hope you find it encouraging, educating, and even life changing.

Here we go!

And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

Revelation 5:10 ESV

Biology was and is my favorite subject. I loved learning about the different plants, animals, cells, and fungi in the world, especially how we as humans fit in to it all. This world belongs to our Creator and everything in it He made it with a purpose—except mosquitos….I’m not sure of their purpose other than to feed bats and dragonflies…but that’s another subject.

As a biologist, I have taught many classes on the six different kingdoms of biology. Starting from the smallest single-cell kingdoms like Archaebacteria and Eubacteria up to the largest multi-celled kingdoms of plants and animals—from the mosquito to the Blue whale. These kingdoms represent every life form on this planet.

The largest being the animal kingdom, which includes humans.

Amongst all the kingdoms we learn about, the most important one we will ever know is God’s. He created His Kingdom, and appointed Jesus as King, to represent and usher all humans into it.

Because we can’t see this awesome place God has for us, many people decide to build their own out of their dissatisfaction.

One way the enemy entices us is through our profession. We may be a secular business, a Christian ministry, or even an author—trying to build a personal kingdom of followers to buy our products and embrace our vision. Our kingdom and brand adopt our name.

You are the customer. Everyone we know—from people we worship with, to friends and family become potential clients and/or purchasers.

We become the king of our kingdom.

This is what others teach us to do.

Now, I’m not saying we are trying to usurp God’s Kingdom and authority. But, it is easy to get caught up in our own kingdom building.

Even the Pharisees had problems with this. They weren’t all bad either. We see in Luke 17:20:

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

Luke 17:20

What does that mean?

One rabbi said, “When a person committed himself daily to love God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, (by saying the Shema) he had “received upon himself the kingdom of heaven.” (https://engediresourcecenter.com/2019/09/04/what-is-the-kingdom-of-heaven/)

For us, the Kingdom of Heaven/God is in our hearts when we make the Lord- King of all we are and do. The Kingdom of Heaven lives in us!

For us, the Kingdom of Heaven is in our hearts when we make Jesus, King of all we are and do. #ThisSideofHeaven #BlessedarethePoorinSpirit

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In Matthew 5, we learn what type of people make up His kingdom.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The phrase Blessed are translates from the Hebrew as O the blessedness of or The gladness of. This is not a condition of the person who is poor in spirit, but the reality of the person.

What does it mean to be Poor in spirit?

The Hebrew term means to “crouch like a helpless beggar.” (https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Brit_Chadashah/Beatitudes/beatitudes.html)

This represents a person in absolute need of God to take care of them. This is humility at its best.

A person who is poor in spirit is the opposite of worldly thinking—independent, proud, with an “I have it all-I need nothing” attitude.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus begins with the poor in spirit in the Beatitudes?

Without the knowledge and understanding that we are nothing more than helpless beggars, we will never be peacemakers, we will never mourn, never be humble, or hunger and thirst for His righteousness….get the picture?

But that is only in this world. In the Heavenly places, God will esteem the humble, poor in spirit, peacemakers, persecuted, and the compassionate. God loves these traits in us.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

James 4:10

O the gladness of being poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matt. 5:3

 It is a blessing as well as a state of gladness to recognize we are poor in spirit. We will have the Kingdom of Heaven living within us until the day Jesus takes us to Heaven to live with Him forever!

The post The Poor in Spirit appeared first on This Side of Heaven.

Smelling the Fear of the LORD

And His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

Isaiah 11

Happy New Year! 2020 was a rough year, let’s expect 2021 to be better–Lord willing, it will be.

It has been a while since I have been on my blog. So many things have been going on.

My publisher released my Bible study, Jewels of Hebrews, December 1, 2020. It is available on Amazon, Walmart.com, and Barnes & Noble as a paperback or Ebook. I am so excited this labor of love is finally available to you.

Both my mom and aunt battle dementia and we moved them out of their homes. They had a hard time moving but, they’re thriving now and enjoying the places they are living. If you have been there with a parent, then you know the peace of mind that comes with knowing your loved one can’t get hurt from being alone and confused.

A New Word

Like a lot of people I know, I asked the Lord for a word this year. I haven’t done that before but decided to ask and wait for His reply. I felt like He gave me the word “merciful.” I immediately asked for a different word like “grateful” :).

The word merciful slightly scared me.

Why?

Because I thought that would mean the Lord wants me to be merciful towards people who might cause bad things to happen to me or my family in the coming year. But, as I thought more on the word, I realized the mercy of the Lord when I mess up. So, I decided to “keep” my word and look at it from the Lord’s point of view.

If He can be merciful to me when I mess up–and I really do mess up at times–then I can be merciful when others do as well.

I found this verse on the Lord’s mercy:

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
 The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalm 145:8-9

Delighting in the Fear of the LORD

The Lord also has me reading the book of Isaiah. I started in December, reading each chapter a couple of times and thinking about how it relates to me and what God wants me to learn from it.

A few days ago, I read chapter eleven and the Lord impressed on me the words of the first part of Isaiah 11:3. It says,

And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what His eyes see,
  or decide disputes by what His ears hear.

Isaiah 11:3

The verses before this are referring to the Messiah as a shoot from the stump of Jesse.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

As I read this I stopped and reread, “…His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” This verse is speaking of the Messiah’s delight, but I wanted that to be my prayer for the year. I want my delight to be in the fear of the Lord. So, I asked the Lord to help me make that my motivation and the place of my strength.

I did a little research to find out exactly what I was praying for.

Delight

The first word search I did was on “delight.” Hebrew often has meanings that we just can’t fully express in English. They have root words, too. Although not exactly like ours.

Hebrew root words use three consonants separated by a period – like B.C.D. When you insert the vowels you make different words. But because these words come from the same root it connects their meanings.

For instance, both “amen” and “faithful” have the same root word (Reading right to left):

א.מ.ך

This root word means, “to support, confirm, be faithful, uphold, nourish, carried, or make firm.”  (https://studybible.info/strongs/H539)

Add different vowels and you have two different words.

This brings me to “delight.” The Hebrew comes from the same Hebrew root as “smell.” So, delight=smell – delightful, right?

If you go back to the rest of Isaiah 11:3, you find it says, “He shall not judge by what His eyes see, or decide disputes by what His ears hear. (Emphasis mine.)

Hebrew likes to play with words. It happens all the time in the Bible which when translated by the Greeks, puzzled them. That’s why some phrases in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, are hard to understand.

Have you ever heard the expression about a dog or other animal being able to “Smell fear?” But this kind of fear has a delightful scent. One scholar spoke of it as “Fear of Jehovah is fragrant to Him.” Not His own fear of the LORD, but the fear He smells in others for the LORD.

(https://www.studylight.org/commentary/isaiah/11-3.html, Christ and the Fear of Jehovah)

Others say instead of using His sense of sight and hearing to judge, the Messiah will use His sense of smell to judge. Kind of like, “I can smell a rat” type of thing.

Respect or Fear

My second word search was on “fear.” Most of us have read this word over and over or heard it explained by our pastors.

Fear means, “pertaining to respect toward a superior” as well as “being afraid”.

(James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997)).

I think there should be a combination of both these meanings in our fear of the LORD. (The word for the Lord in this verse is YHWH or Yehovah.)

The Creator of EVERYTHING deserves all our respect, but we should also have a healthy fear of God.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

So, my prayer is both to delight in the fear of my God, Yehovah–the Maker of all things, and to delight in the fragrant aroma of YOUR fear of the LORD as well.

The post Smelling the Fear of the LORD appeared first on This Side of Heaven.

Fear has a Voice, but We don’t have to Listen to it!

You may have heard there are 365 “Fear not!” in the Bible–one for everyday of the year.

Fear is a stronghold. A stronghold is like an iceberg–the sea of our thoughts and emotions hide the majority of it. The ten percent we show to those around us is no indication of its depth and size.

Fear talks to us and for us, too! I hear fear in people when they say things like, “I’m not doing that!”, “I can’t do it!”, or “I won’t go there!”

God does not want us to live our life in fear. He wants us to be free!

For God did not give us a spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

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Why does this verse mention a sound mind? Because fear causes us to imagine everything bad that can happen to us. It messes with our thoughts and can make us irrational.

God gave us the power over fear through the Holy Spirit and the saving power of His blood. Jesus’ blood releases us from the bondage strongholds keep us in.

I admit, I have my share of strongholds. I am learning to be free by the truth of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit, reminding me of the lies of the deceiver.

Satan desires to keep us captive. But we need to come out of our cell.

Satan desires to keep us captive. But we need to come out of our cell. #ThisSideofHeaven #Fear #Getoutofthatcell

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[Jesus will] deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Hebrews 2:15 ESV

Did you know Fear has friends? Their names are Control and Untrust. All three usually go together. Fear loves to control everyone and everything around it.

Fear does not trust.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:18 ESV

In order for us to truly love, we must not fear. Fear equals distrust. Love is trusting.

Trusting God for answers, for wisdom, for healing. for light in our darkness and confusion. When we trust God, we show how much we love Him.

Of course, I am not saying we have to trust everyone and if we don’t we have fear. That’s not what I mean.

In order for us to truly love, we must not fear. #ThisSideofHeaven #Fear #Love

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Fear says, “Don’t trust anyone.”

Fear says, “I can only depend upon myself.”

When we think we are the only ones we can depend on or the only ones who have the answers, we are not trusting God. Our Father puts people into our lives to teach us.

We must be teachable. God lets nothing go to waste. If He can’t use it for our good, then it won’t happen.

Trust God with your day to day life–with your fears–your desire to control–and untrust.

He wants to free you.

Signing the Contract!

[image error]Signing my book contract!

I am so excited, and I wanted to share it with all of you who have not seen my FB page! 

I wrote about my Bible study, The Jewels of Hebrews, last week in the post called Gift of Gab. Mt. Zion Ridge Press will publish it in December 2020. Yay!!

It is definitely a huge praise and an answer to prayer! I am so thankful the Lord has allowed this to happen and I look forward to how He uses it.

 Who is like you, LORD God Almighty? You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

Psalm 89:8 ESV

He is faithful. So many times, I nearly gave up. So many times, I figured writing wasn’t for me….

The naysayers beckoned me to listen to them, too.

Satan’s voice was loud; but God’s was louder. He kept me on the right track and at the very moment I needed it, I received encouragement from someone who read my blog, or one of my devotionals, or a fellow writer or Word Weaver.

I remember a time I was praying, asking God if my writing mattered to anyone. That very day a woman named LuAnn sent me a message telling me how much my post on Yoga (which she read on Charismamag.org) meant to her. It was something I needed to hear.

God cares about our discouragement. If we ask, He will send someone to encourage us. I can’t tell you how many times He has for me and I am not special.

God cares about our discouragement. #ThisSideofHeaven #Signingthecontract #Biblestudyauthor

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Find out what God has for you. What was the last thing He asked of you? What was the last thing He told you to do?

Do it….He will guide and direct your path.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

    and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

    and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

He wants us to succeed.

Not in a worldly way, bur a spiritual maturing, God-strengthening way. Whatever your gifts may be use them to glorify Jesus.

You will be fulfilled and satisfied.

And you will influence others for Jesus. Don’t let satan steal your dream or gift. He has no right to it. We serve a great God.

The Lord says,

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Psalm 32:8 ESV

The Gift of Gab

A few years ago, I had some genetic testing done through 23 and Me, a branch of ancestry.com. 

In addition to finding out I have a few enzymes missing, I found out I am 71% Irish/English. My great-grandfather came from Ireland to the United States, but I had no idea I had that much Irish in me. 

Throughout my adulthood, I have been told by complete strangers how “Irish” I look. I have even been asked where I’m from because of my “accent.” When I said Ohio, they laughed and said, “No, it’s not an Ohio accent I hear.” 

I have never been to Ireland, but I am dying to go! 

I started reading more about Ireland and things to do there. One interesting article I read had to do with the Blarney Stone found near the top of an old castle. You must hang upside down and kiss it to receive the gift of gab. 

The gift of gab is defined as the ability to speak with eloquence and wit. 

I need to kiss that rock! 

 The Irish American Mom, whose website you can visit here, quotes John O’Connor Power, an Irish politician. 

“Blarney is something more than mere flattery. 

It is flattery sweetened by humor and flavored by wit. 

Those who mix with Irish folk have many 

examples of it in their everyday experience” 

~ John O’Connor Power (1846 – 1919) 

I really love to talk but write, uh, not so much. 

I want to speak with eloquence and wit. But, I’m not sure that is me. 

Sometimes I write like I talk, too. Ugh! 

So, when God called me to write I felt obligated to explain to Him that I was NOT a writer. He seemed unconvinced. 

I wrote and taught a Bible study twelve years ago on Revelation. It was okay and my class liked it. Soon after that I felt led to write a Bible study on the book of Ephesians. I included Spiritual warfare since it is covered in Ephesians 6 and I titled it The Few, the Humble, the Church; A Study in the Book of Ephesians and Spiritual Warfare. (You can purchase yours at the bottom of my web site.) 

I self-published it eleven years ago. Since I was inexperienced in marketing, I did my best to get it into churches and bookstores. I got very discouraged when it proved to be difficult. 

I knew I was to keep writing, but I really had no interest in it. I avoided it for many years until 2017. 

The Lord led me through the book of Hebrews during my quiet time. When I wanted to move past it, I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to write a Bible study on it. 

I didn’t want to! 

“Who will read it?” I asked. “What’s the purpose?” 

He replied, “I can’t do anything with it if you don’t write it.” 

“Okay, fine!”  

It has been quite a ride writing this study. I have learned so much from Him and His Word. I began small Bible studies as well as attending writers conferences, and I have recently become a chapter president for a critique group called Word Weavers, International. My sister was an immense help reading and working through it as I wrote each chapter. 

Its title is: The Jewels of Hebrews 

Each chapter is named after a beautiful gemstone, like amethyst, ruby, sapphire, emerald, plus many more. #JewelsOfHebrews #ThisSideOf Heaven #StephaniePavlantos

Each chapter is named after a beautiful gemstone like, like amethyst, ruby, emerald, oe sapphire, plus many more.

You will also STUDY the Bible! 

I take you through the Torah, or Law, the Prophets, and the New Testament as we study Hebrews. It is a mixture of reflection, teaching, and fill-in. I pray God will use it to set people free and reveal His Son to everyone who reads it.  

Here is the “back cover” for the book: 

You are a treasure hunter on a mission to find hidden jewels. Your guide Stephanie Pavlantos has gone before you and now joins you on an expedition to unearth a hidden gem from each chapter of Hebrews. When you open your beloved Bible and dive deep into the book, you will find a rare diamond, ruby, sapphire, and other gems. You will explore the rich history of the early church and the connections the book of Hebrews has to the Old Testament. The supremacy of Yeshua and his royalty will be revealed as the Jewels of Hebrews are discovered one chapter at a time. Learn about these jewels and the meaning of their color as you find relatable and practical applications for modern times. Get ready for a life-changing journey! Yeshua is eager to reveal the Jewels of Hebrews to you and crown you his prince or princess. 

Jewels of Hebrews

It is not published, yet. That’s my next step. 

But someday, Lord willing, I will be able to gab with you through my book while you read and study God’s Word. 

I may not be the most eloquent or witty, but my desire is to teach you about Yeshua through my studies. 

Be on the lookout for it! 

Breathe

As I was driving home this weekend from my sister’s house, I saw a sign on the overpass with the words, “Are you breathing?”

Obviously this sign referred to the senseless death of George Floyd.

But, as I thought about it, I also realized that Covid-19 took away the breath of many people. As we all know this virus attacks the lungs, leaving its victims unable to perform the most basic of needs–breathing.

The verse that immediately came to me was:

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis 2:7 ESV

What sets us apart from every other created animal? God Himself breathed into us.

EVERY human being gets their life from God.

But what do we do with that breath? Scripture tells us…

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
    for false witnesses have risen against me,
    and they breathe out violence.

Psalm 27:12 ESV

Our country has seen so much violence over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, there are those who “breath out violence.” Anger and bitterness can breed this kind of aggression.

Forgiveness can put an end to it…even undeserved forgiveness.

Satan wishes to divide us….that is not God’s will. Yet, here we are living in a divided world in many ways, a divided country with divided families.

In John 20, Jesus met with his disciples after He rose from the grave. After He showed them His hands and feet, He said, “Peace be with you…”

…He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

John 20:22 ESV

As Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them, He spoke of forgiveness. We need filled with the Holy Spirit in order to live the life God wants us to and be able to give forgiveness as well.

\What are we to do with this breath the LORD gave to us?

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:6 ESV

I saw many videos of people praising God instead of the hateful, hurtful speech and actions of some. Where there is praise, the Spirit of God resides. God is the answer for this world.

We are broken.

Only Jesus can fix what is broken…

He gave us His Word that we may know Him and know His ways. It says in 2 Timothy:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

God breathed out His Word as Jesus breathed out His Spirit on those He breathed life into. His Word with the power of the Holy Spirit can change the hardest or most wounded heart. HIs Word will teach us His ways and His will, it shows us our faults and sin, it corrects us and judges our intentions, and it trains us to be righteous and mature.

God breathed out His Word as Jesus breathed out His Spirit on those He breathed life into. #Breathe #ThisSideOfHeaven #Forgiveness

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Without God’s Word, we will not grow and mature. How can we understand His Word?

But it is the spirit in a man and the breath of the All-powerful that gives him understanding.

Job 32:8 New Life Version

Take a deep breath…because you can.

Let the Spirit of God heal our wounds as we forgive. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves.

Is Healing for Real?

Has God healed you from an illness, injury, or some other condition?

Do you believe God heals today?

My pastor preached a sermon this past Sunday on healing and I thought it was worth discussing on this blog today.

In my Bible study on Hebrews, I wrote about Jesus/Yeshua healing us body, soul, and spirit. I had someone proofread two chapters for me and surprised me when she suggested I remove the part about Yeshua healing physically and rather say, “He heals the sickness of our sin.”

Unfortunately, she no longer believed Yeshua healed our physical bodies since God had not healed a few people she knew. I thought that was sad, but I know sometimes Yeshua does not answer our prayers for healing in the way we hope.

Why? Why doesn’t God always heal our bodies from the aches, pains, chronic illnesses, cancer, and injuries we sustain?

I believe there is more to it than we can understand.

I have had a nasty fungal infection for at least ten years on my foot…I have tried everything. Nothing gets rid of it. I prayed for healing, I have gotten all sugar out of my diet since I know fungus feeds on sugar. But no change.

I also have TMJ, which is when the joint in my jaw becomes inflamed and often slips out of joint. As many of you know this is painful. After it popped out while flossing my teeth, I prayed and asked Yeshua to heal it.

For about two weeks it felt great. It stopped dislocating and I could yawn and floss my teeth without pain.

One day while reading my Bible, my jaw suddenly went out. I immediately asked God why.

I said, “I thought you healed my jaw, Lord, why is this happening?

He spoke to my heart with the words, “Don’t believe satan’s lies.” I rebuked satan and his lies and told him, “Yeshua has healed my jaw and nothing you do can change that.”

My jaw has been fine since that day two months ago.

There are reasons we don’t experience healing:

I think God knows whether the healing or the suffering will keep us close to Him. Does the pain or the healing give testimony to Yeshua? Does the pain bring you closer to God in complete dependence or will the healing bring you closer to God? Only God know which one it is.

Are we sabotaging our health by our diet? Has God put people and doctors in your path to instruct you about eating right, yet you ignore them? God has given us many good fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and lean meats to eat. Has He spoken to you about your way of eating? Our poor diets will affect our bodies negatively. We want to eat all the fats, sugar, and bad carbs, then we want Yeshua to take away the adverse effects of it.

Believe it or not, even critical attitudes, bitterness, and unforgiveness can affect our health. We open a door to demonic spiritual influence through our sin.

Our sin can make us sick.

I have told this story before, a friend of mine called me complaining of her heart palpitations. She made an appointment to see her doctor but wondered if she should be worried. We prayed for healing.

Within a few days, the heart palpitations had stopped…. but within two months they were back. When we prayed together again, the Holy Spirit dropped a line into my heart: “Her heart problem is a heart problem.”

This friend was dealing with bitterness and resentment, which she confessed to me later. Once she asked for forgiveness, her heart problem went away.

Satan can also lie to us about our healing. God heals us, then satan comes along and makes all the symptoms return, leaving us feeling like the healing was not real.

That is what he wants us to believe. Does satan have that kind of power? Yes. He has the power to deceive us. Without knowledge and understanding of satan’s’ ways, tricks, and deceit, he steals what Yeshua has given, destroys our peace, and kills our faith.

Without knowledge and understanding of satan’s’ ways, tricks, and deceit, he steals what Yeshua has given, destroys our peace, and kills our faith. #IsHealingforReal? #ThisSideofHeaven

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I have heard of many healings which have “reversed” themselves. We must not allow satan to steal our healing!

I was once praying over a young man who had come up for prayer. He wanted prayer for healing of a family member who had cancer. While a friend and I prayed for him, the Holy Spirit surprised me by saying, “I will not heal him on this earth. I’m taking him home.” I wasn’t sure I heard correctly, so I ignored it…The next morning, I began praying for this young man’s family member, and again the Holy Spirit stopped me with, “Don’t ask me to heal him, I will heal him in Heaven.” I stopped praying for his healing and instead prayed for the family.

This may sound strange or even unloving of God, but I know of a close friend who also had God tell her something similar while praying for healing.

God’s compassion and love says, “I will not let you suffer here for long; I am taking you home.”

So, our physical healing can be instantaneous, over time, or in Heaven. It is God’s decision.

There is a word in Greek which means saved. It is sozo.

Sozo means: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, rescuing one (from injury or peril), to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, or to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue.

https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Lexicon.show/ID/G4982/sozo.htm

The woman healed from a bleeding disorder when she  touched the fringe of Yeshua’s prayer shawl in Matthew 9:21…

For she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well [sozo].”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g4982

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save [sozo] the lost.”

Luke 19:10

 Yeshua came to find us and to save us by giving us eternal life, healing of our hearts, souls, minds (emotions), and bodies, and by rescuing us from the evil one. He is our hope, our Savior, and our Refuge.

How has Yeshua saved you? Please share your story!

A Sign and Seal

This past weekend was Pentecost or the Feast of Shavuot. It is celebrated fifty days after Passover and the death of Jesus/Yeshua.

In the Christian church we think of it as the day the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples waiting in the upper room. But the first Pentecost occurred for a different reason.

Exodus 19:17-20 tells us the first Pentecost was when God came to Mt. Sinai to meet with the people. God called Moses to the top of the mountain so He could give him the Law as we know it. It is also thought Moses received the Oral Law or Talmud at this time as well.

Exodus 20:18 says, “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid[a and trembled, and they stood far off.”

Can you imagine walking towards a smoking, trembling mountain with thunder, lightning, and fire coming from it as the God of the Universe descends upon it because He wants you to hear His conversation with Moses?

“Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder…” Exodus 19:19

Moses apparently understood thunder.

Exodus 20:18 is describing the same scene, and according to what I have learned, the original Hebrew states this verse as “The people saw the voices and fires…” It’s an interesting way to think of this, but as God spoke they saw His voice as fire and the people were afraid. 

How does that compare to Acts 2?

In the New Testament Pentecost, we read Yeshua gave the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire to His disciples. The people who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks heard  the disciples speaking to them in their own languages and were puzzled, amazed, or amused.

It may not have been thunder or fire coming from their mouths, but it was still impressive.

The very first Pentecost, God spoke to everyone through Moses.

After Yeshua ascended, God spoke through His Holy Spirit through fishermen, tax collectors, shepherds, and other people.

God still speaks through His Holy Spirit! #ThisSideofHeaven #ASignandaSeal

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In Exodus 32, Moses came down the mountain to find the people worshipping a golden calf. In verses 25-29, Moses instructed some people to strike down those who built and worshipped this idol. Three-thousand people died on that [Pentecost]…

Fast forward to Acts 2:41 and we read on that Pentecost, three-thousand people were added to the numbers of those who believed in Yeshua.

God does not work on a linear timeline, but a circular one. Everything comes back to redemption.

I miscarried my first baby in late September 1995. The following year on September 23, 1996, I brought my twins home from the hospital. That date was not lost on me. I knew God was redeeming the loss we experienced.

He is so kind. He loves us like He loves His Son.

Nearly everything God did in the Old Testament reflected Yeshua.

As the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God had Moses number each tribe and gave them a specific order when they camped and traveled according to Numbers 1 and 2. As they camped, all twelve tribes sat around the tabernacle, in four groups of three, while the Levites circled the tabernacle in the center of all the other tribes.

Most drawings I have seen of this looked like a mess of tents and camps around the tabernacle.

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But, using the numbered group of tribes as “legs” you see a pattern in the orderly arrangement of this camp. 

They were arranged with the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali grouped together with 157, 600 north of the tabernacle.

The tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad were south of the tabernacle numbering 151, 450. These two groups are close in size giving them equal “legs.”

Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun were east of the tabernacle with 186, 400 – the longest leg.

And finally, west of the tabernacle numbering 108,100 were Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamín, with the shortest leg. When you lay the tribes out as they would have looked from the top of a mountain, you get a shape like this:

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https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Tabernacle-Typology-Part-3

In the Hebrew alphabet, the last letter is a tav, which at the time of Moses was shaped like a cross or a lowercase “t.” Their alphabet letters have meanings unlike ours. According to the Talmud, the tav means truth. It is also the first letter in the word Torah. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/137287/jewish/Tav.htm

Along with truth, the tav means a sign, seal, or mark.

Deuteronomy 6:4-8 is called the Shema. God told us His commands (Torah) should be on our hearts. It should be taught to our children and spoken about in our homes and wherever we go.

“You shall bind [my commands] as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

Deuteronomy 6:8

The Torah was a sign or mark of following the Lord.

In the New Testament, we read that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a sign of our faith in Yeshua as born again believers.

Ephesians 1:13 tells us, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit

From the beginning of time as we know it, God has orchestrated signs, wonders, and miracles to show Himself to us, lastly sending His Son as a sign of His love for us and desire for relationship.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Hebrews 1:1-3

When Yeshua said, “I am the Alpha and Omega,” in Hebrew it would have been, “I am the Aleph and the Tav. Aleph being the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet meaning Leader or First. This letter is used to represent God. Essentially what Yeshua was saying is, “I am God, and I am the sign of the covenant.”

When I Sin

Today’s post is a little different for me. It’s a poem which comes from a friend, Brita Alaburda, who is very artistic and has a love for words. She loves God, people, poetry, and chocolate cake (: among other things. She is also a fellow Word Weaver. Please let her know what you think of her poem! Thank you.

Corrosion comes to this corruptible goblet

When a decision is made

to play out

my mind’s ecstatic imaginations

eating away

at the incorruptible lustrous silver

of the conversations

between the King and I

preferring the gradual, vain destruction

of thoughts causing selfish reaction

and in doing

the organic metallic is blemished

I am left dull

as a woman tarnished

I succumb to my stained silence

no longer articulating the artistic,

with the only sound being my discolored groaning

I close my eyes

feel a sensitivity to

majestic Life unlike myself,

commanding a seeking

So I do what I know to do – ask –

If it is possible, my cup has become dark–

clean me?

And I am empty–

fill me?

Allow the words of my living to speak freely again?

I am made anew

substance bringing forth utterance

drink of delight

with pronunciation properties peculiar to myself

yet dignified possession refined to His liking

receiving a royal refreshing

going from gray to gold

can copious producing

now occur

of only pure

liquefied gilded word glory

now reflecting

Lord, help my unbelief

Have you ever had a very sick child?

Or maybe you found out your child would be diabetic, deaf, blind, autistic, or have some type of disability.

Since my son was premature, he didn’t hit developmental milestones on time. He was taking his time crawling; he did more rolling to get where he wanted to go.

When we felt like he should be walking, we held his hands while helping him stand. But he did not want to do that. He cried and was terrified we would let go of him. After a while of this, and taking him to our doctor for regular checkups, our doctor recommended an orthopedist.

Matthew was nearly two years old when he saw Dr. Schrader.

After being in his office for three minutes, Dr. Schrader told us, “I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong, but let me do some x-rays first.”

He came back to the room with the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy.

Mike and I were shocked and in unbelief. I had heard of this, but my husband did not know what this meant. He immediately thought it was like Muscular Dystrophy, which can mean death at a fairly young age.

The doctor assured us Matthew would get no worse. He would need physical and occupational therapy but will be fine.

Still, it was hard to see our son barely able to walk at four years old, and needing extremely painful surgery. It killed me. He recovered well but used a tiny walker for two years or so, and needing multiple surgeries.

My husband didn’t take it well. We sought prayer for healing many times; even taking him to a local faith healer. We wanted Matthew to have a “normal” life.

We wondered what God was doing, and why He allowed this. We struggled with our faith at times as well.

Mark 9:14-29 tells us of a story of a man struggling with his faith.

The disciples could not cast out the demon in his son, so he took it up with Jesus. The father asked Jesus,

“If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” I love Jesus’ answer…”If I can?”

The father cried out, “I believe; Lord help my unbelief!”

What does this mean? I have heard many explanations about it and have attempted to explain it myself.

I read a devotional on this by Chaim Bentorah from Biblical Hebrew Studies. He explains that a certain Aramaic (another Semitic language) word for faith or believe (there are more than one) refers to a mother nursing her baby. There is an underlying meaning, he explained:

Faith or belief in the Semitic mindset is a bonding, an expression of love, honor and respect.  We tell people in our Western culture that they must believe, like it is a great effort. They must grit their teeth, clutch their fist and like the child in “Miracle on 34th Street” keep repeating over and over: “I believe, I believe.” Yet hayaman (belief, faith) is as natural as a mother nursing her baby.  The baby looking up into its mother’s eyes and the mother looking into her child’s face shows pure love, commitment, and bonding.  Nothing is forced, disciplined, it just happens.

https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2013/01/devotional-mark-924/

We can imagine the father in Mark’s story having plans for his son’s future just as we do for our children. When Matthew was an infant I dreamed about his life and what he would be and do and what sports he may play.

When this father said, “Help my unbelief,” the Aramaic word for unbelief correlates with “little faith” more than lack of faith.

Chaim goes on to say this father loved his son and he loved Jesus, but he needed his love in the proper order. We know we need to love Jesus more than anything, but when your child, spouse, or other loved one needs healing, it’s hard to think of anything else.

Chaim explains this even more:

His love at that moment for his son was greater than his love for Jesus, but what little love he had for Jesus he asked that Jesus accept that as its priority. The man was literally saying: “I want to love you more than my son, but to be honest, that is a little hard right now, accept what love I can give you.” 

How did Jesus respond to this..?

Jesus responded by healing the man’s son.

He is so good! When we struggle with unbelief or putting our love for God in the right order, He understands!

He understood how much we wanted Matthew healed. He understands the love of a parent for their child…God knows the love of a child as well as we do.

When we struggle with our faith, sometimes it’s not that we don’t love Jesus, it’s just that we need our love put in the proper order. Jesus can help with that. He doesn’t hold back healing or His love because we struggle.

Jesus doesn’t hold back healing or His love because we struggle.

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God did not heal Matthew all at once. He had other issues, medications, and surgeries until he was seventeen. But God loves us and always knew our needs. He has never stopped providing for us or our children.

Matthew still has some minor difficulties. Our pastor at that time, asked us if a complete healing meant Matthew’s personality, love for God, and his gentle spirit changed, would we still want it?

Our answer was NO.

Matthew’s struggles (and ours) is creating us to be who God wants us to be. Matthew’s love for the Lord is evident to all who know him. He has never felt sorry for himself or wanted pity from others. He is stronger than most people I know.

We wouldn’t want it any other way.

In what ways do you need help putting your love for Jesus in the proper priority?