I had an incredibly fun afternoon. My oldest is in a Jazz Band at school. The band was invited to play at Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock. They entertained the guests and us parents with about 45 minutes of wonderful music. Levon Helm came over to tell them how wonderfully they played. Afterwards he came over to greet people and my husband snapped a picture of me with him. Hopefully we will get these pictures computer ready, but I am so proud of my son, he has taken to playing music and practicing hard. I just love to see him see rewards coming for his hard work. Christopher announced in the car that he has met four famous people this year, David Blaine (pictures shown earlier of them looking eye to eye when David was in the bubble), Levon Helm (from the Band), Arch Crawford (an economist) and Art Garfunkle who came to our school to talk with the kids. He is enjoying this tremendously.

Well, I got to talk a bit with Pastor Don on Friday, and it was an intense time of talking. One thing that I have come to grips with is that I have pretty low self-esteem, and because of that many of the situations I get myself into aren’t resolved satisfactorily. The Beth Moore study made me aware that low-self esteem is a stronghold that I have been dealing with, pretty much based on my past (testimony 3/24/06 – second entry). I began to realize that because of what my father did I came away with the image that I was stupid, ugly, unlovable unless I put out for others, and that God did not care for me. I now know that God did care, but there is still a part of me that walks around feeling like damaged goods, like something was stolen that could never be rebuilt (I know that nothing is impossible for God), and that I just don’t matter. To assert myself is not something that I am comfortable doing, so I tend to hide in the shadows (figuratively speaking), not speak up for myself, and too readily comply with others. Granted humility and transparency and giving to others is good, but it needs to come with a healthy sense of self too. Jesus was a humble servant, but He also could assert Himself, and He most certainly did His service from a position of self-assuredness of who He is. I am missing some of that and need to work on this.

Pastor Don says he sees me totally different from my internal experience. He sees me serving and doing well. But he also told me that I have to come to a different perspective of myself and model myself after other assertive people. To act more confident until that becomes more like me. I know he is right, because right now I am almost paralyzed, and it also shows in my worship which is more shy and retiring. Oh, I love God passionately, but am so afraid of drawing His attention to me, and I had been trained as a child to not be noticed. Not being noticed meant that I might survive another night and not get killed – so I had a high premium on being a wallflower. But that is not what is necessary now. I am in a safe situation and these strongholds of behavior are no longer applicable. Oh I could use your prayers to help sort out these issues.

I’ve been pretty raw and hurting, and it has been hard to even crack open the Breaking Free study (only thing that is making me do it is because God has put me where I am a small group leader and I have to do the work to do that service, I suspect He knew that this would be a tough study for me and didn’t want to give me a chance to escape.) So I thought I would share a bit of what I have been learning in week 9 of this study (one more week to go after this), and know that it is painful lessons for me, but I also know God would not give the pain if He didn’t expect good to come of it.

The text that is studied is Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.”

Beth Moore took this passage apart phrase by phrase. The first part is “you will keep”, and that implies a watchman standing on the walls of our mind. The word “keep” in Hebrew is “nasar,” and it means to guard, protect, keep, kind of like guarding  a vineyard and a fortress.

According to Psalm 139:1-2, 23 shows us that God is the perfect watchman for our minds and hearts for He knows our minds and hearts. Romans 1:28-32 shows that if we have knowledge of God and don’t retain it, that He turns us over to our debased minds. He will do that temporarily to teach a lesson, but can also let that happen permanently.

Phrase 2 “in perfect peace”. Beth points out that it is not that God will give us perfect minds if we are steadfast in Him, but that He will give us perfect peace in our imperfect minds.

Phrase 3 “him whose mind is steadfast” – “mind” in Hebrew is “Yetser” which means frame, pattern, image, conception, imagination, thought, device – what is formed in the mind like plans and purposes. Our minds frame our circumstances, and we see events from our own perspective and context. And our reaction to the circumstance depends on how we have framed the event.  The word steadfast means to sustain, be braced, and lean upon – so a steadfast believer would choose to lay their hand on God’s word and know that it is the truth.

Heather’s note: Have you noticed that sometimes satan’s heaviest attacks happen when we are alone. I think it is then that my imagination runs wild – the Bible has really helped me to sort out those things and often I will read, even if I am not comprehending the words, and after awhile the situation changes. It helps me to sort out the situation, and sometimes it helps even more if I speak the words out loud or under my breath. Sometimes I think the sound waves make things in the atmosphere easier to deal with.

Back to Beth: Phrase 4 “because he trusts in You.” “Trust” is “batach” which means to attach oneself, to confide, to feel safe, be confident, secure.

Beth gave such a convicting closing to day one, “Those who have never given their hearts fully to God are not very likely to offer Him the deepest, darkest crevices of their minds. Would you consider concluding with a prayer asking for a deeper trust so that you are more likely to have an open mind in which God can work this week? Remember, His plan is “not to harm you” but to “prosper you” (Jer 29:11). Invite Him to be the watchman on the wall of your mind.

I wish I could say that I have given God these deepest, darkest crevices, but I haven’t given all to Him. I think that it is part of satan’s plan to make us feel so vile that God wouldn’t want to be in all those dark places. But one time, in talking with Pastor Don I told him that there are areas that God isn’t allowed to be in. Pastor Don pointed out that God is everywhere, that I am just not choosing to see Him in those places, but when I am ready to open up them, He will make Himself known, but God will not be like my father, He will not force Himself on me in areas I am not comfortable with, for God is loving, and wants me to invite Him in. It has taken me a long time to come to grips with that, and to realize that this is truly how God works, but sometimes I feel so bound. You know the scripture where he says that He stands at the door and knocks. Sometimes I think I have lost the key, even though I want to open the door.

Tomorrow I will share some of day two, again it is a big ache because God is dealing deeply with me, and I am hurting.

I am hoping that you have a great weekend, and I will share pictures as soon as I can get my husband (the computer geek of the family) to post them, they are digital and I am not allowed to alter them, only him.

Have a blessed night.

Heather

I finally figured out what was wrong with the Darwinists (just joking), but I think this poem is something that they need to think about. Just because they want the monkeys to be our uncle, doesn’t mean that the monkeys are happy about it. This made me chuckle last night, but it also makes me sad. I got this devotional yesterday.

Thought for Today

One truth from the Bible is worth more than all the wisdom of man.

The Lift

The Monkey’s Disgrace
(Author Unknown)

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,
Discussing things that are said to be;
Said one to the others, “Now listen you two,
There’s a certain rumor that can’t be true:
That man descended from our noble race,
The very idea is a disgrace!

“No monkey ever deserted his wife,
Starved her babies, and ruined her life;
And you’ve never known a mother monk,
To leave her babies with others to bunk,
Or pass them on from one to the other,
Till they scarcely know who is their mother.

“And another thing you’ll never see,
A monk build a fence round a coconut tree,
And let the coconuts go to waste,
Forbidding all other monks to taste;
Why, if I put a fence around a tree,
Starvation will force you to steal from me!

“Here’s another thing a monk won’t do:
Go out at night and get in a stew,
Or use a gun, a club or a knife,
To take some other dumb monkey’s life!
Yes, they can theorize and they can discuss
but, brother, he didn’t descend from us!”

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I love it when I discover a used book that has hidden treasures of knowledge inside. I found a book called Miss Annie: God sent a 3cent stamp and more…., by Annie Goertz. It is her autobiography. She was born in Canada, and ended up being a missionary in India and touching many lives. When I opened up the cover I found out it was autographed by her as well.

I have been reading about her childhood in Canada, her parents were German speaking Mennonites, and she had 7 brothers and 6 sisters. Life seemed to be hard for her, but her family was God fearing and they were very happy. She seemed very concerned that after confessing her sins and asking Jesus to be her savior that she didn’t feel saved, so she kept silent and kept praying, wanting some sort of strong sense of salvation. While attending a Bible camp she saw that it wasn’t feelings that meant salvation:

Page 31-33 “I know she (her mom) prayed hard. Lo and behold, the morning that Dad was going to take them all to camp in our truck I decided I would go too. It was the Holy Spirit for sure. It did not take me many minutes to put some clothes in a bag and off we went. If I remember correctly the camp was to last a week. Rev. Edwin Erickson was the main speaker again. I attended all the meetings but nothing seemed to touch my heart, no conviction as I had experienced before. But on July 27, 1940 I sat between two of my sisters during the final meeting on the last day of camp and it was different.
     Rev. Erickson announced his text was Exodus chapter 12 and read it. Then he proceeded to imagine that we were all going to Egypt that night to visit some of the homes of the Israelites just prior to their sitting down to the Passover meal. “Let’s see how they feel,” he said. So we knocked at the first door and they swung the door wide open and said to come and join them.  They were singing they told us. When we inquired why, they told us how happy they were for the provision God had made. It was the blood on the doorpost. The Death Angel would see it and pass over their home. Their firstborn would not die. After a bit we left.
     We knocked at the second home once, twice, thrice and the door opened a few inches. A mother was at the door wiping her tears with the corner of her apron. We asked what was wrong. She wondered how come we did not know what was happening that night for it was so terrible. Yes, we had heard but why was she crying. Have you not put the blood on the doorpost and is the whole family inside? She assured us of both but with fresh sobs she said, ‘but what if the Death Angel does not see it in the dark?’
     Then he left the conversation there and asked us a question. ‘Which house do you think was the safest, the happy one or where the Mother was crying?’ I knew for sure the first one was but I was too shy to raise my hand. Then after a show of hands he shocked me by telling us that both were safe. I was puzzled for a bit. Then suddenly light flooded my mind and soul. It was not their feelings but the blood that mattered.
     I saw it! I saw it! I had pled the blood of Jesus hundreds of times to wash away my sins. I had prayed, cried and fasted, always hoping for the assurance to come through my feelings. Now through the illustration of visiting the homes I realized I had done exactly what the crying mother had. Then, I realized, Jesus must have forgiven my sins the first time I asked Him and I AM SAVED! At once I turned to my sister Martha who was sitting on my right and whispered almost out loud, “I am saved.” She was so happy she cried. Isaac was sitting behind me and I turned around and told him I was saved. He was happy”……… “Now I would like to invite anyone reading my story that is not saved to do as I did. Confess your sin, turn from it to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you. Turn your tangled life over to Him. Believe that He will do what you ask Him to do on the authority of God’s Word. For He says, “He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37. And Romans 10:33 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” No matter what, do not trust your feelings. I tried it for years, they change too often. God’s Word does not change. I have tested it too. He can be trusted to be with us in any and all circumstances. He does exactly what He says He will do. Then confess Him before your loved ones and friends.
     That last sentence reminds me of a chorus we sang a lot at camp. It goes like this:
                             Romans ten and nine, is a favorite verse of mine
                      Confessing Christ as Lord, I am saved by grace divine
                      For there the words of promise, in golden letters shine
                                                         Romans ten and nine!”

    I am so looking forward to reading more of this book and I loved the illustration of Exodus, hadn’t visualized it from that point of view (those who take Beth Moore Bible studies could see that it might be a way she would look at the scripture). Boy can I sure relate. I remember how many times on my own I said the sinner’s prayer to TV but did not FEEL saved. Yet, once I was finally convicted of the depth of my sins, and my need for a savior I said the Sinner’s prayer, did not really “feel” anything, but was told by Pastor Don to trust that I was saved, that it was God’s true Word, not my feelings that mattered.  And in retrospect, the footprints of God are so apparent in my life since that heart-felt prayer for salvation, when I was so broken, that now I know how true His words are. I still have to keep reminding myself that feelings are not facts. I find it so refreshing to find out that someone in the 1940′s also had those same sorts of doubts and fears about salvation. I think God is so awesome that He brings such encouragement by so many different paths.

I hope you have a blessed day. I want to sit down and do my Beth Moore homework, and may come back on and share some more from this autobiography. To think that so many times I visited the used book store, had my hands on this gem, put it back on the shelf, and finally on impulse purchased it. God surely knows what I need.

Thank you for coming to visit my site. I have been able to get around to yours these past few days. Sometimes I choose to visit your sites rather than make a new entry. I count myself so blessed to have my Xanga friends, and I learn so much from you.

Heather

Today’s Woman’s Bible study (Beth Moore’s Breaking Free) was a tough one for me, but I am beginning to see how much God has changed me. The subject was God’s agape love – and then some questions about how much we love God back.

Beth covered the fact that we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19)

Then she talked about how love motivates obedience (we trust Him when He directs us, even when it doesn’t make sense to us), it motivates perseverance, and safety. We need to know how much God loves us, then we can love others.

There are some common strongholds that prevent us from believing God’s agape love.

One is that we sometimes believe a lie. Satan’s scheme is to convince us that God doesn’t love us (that His love is conditional and we are so sinful, bad, dirty, ugly, etc. that God couldn’t love us if He wanted to). And also satan wants to convince us that we love God when we don’t love Him the way we think we do. We think we wholeheartedly love God, but we phileo (brotherly love) not agape (unconditional love) Him.

We talked about John 21:15-25 (Context, the disciples were fishing, and Jesus appeared to them, and had a conversation with Simon Peter – who had denied Christ three times, so Jesus will ask the same question three times. Note that the word “Love” is used in the text, and I am going to substitute the Greek word used so you can see something important.”

“So when thy had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you AGAPE Me more than these? He said to Him, “Yes Lord: You know that I PHILEO You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He (Jesus) said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you AGAPE Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord: You know that I PHILEO You.” He (Jesus) said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He (Jesus) said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you PHILEO me? Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you PHILEO me?” And He said to Him, Lord you know all things, You know that I PHILEO You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Note, Jesus wanted Peter to AGAPE him, but Peter was not fully committed, he could only PHILEO Jesus. AGAPE means to esteem, reverence, direct will, choose and be determined to love God, finding one’s joy in something or someone, love with the best interest of the other in mind. Phileo is brotherly love, love because of common interests.

It is interesting that in 1 Peter, he finally can say that he AGAPE’s Jesus, so His love grew as He walked in obedience to Jesus, 1 John 4:7

It was pointed out that often we think we love God, but sometimes we do not really Agape God. And we were given a little quiz to grade ourselves. The answers were often, sometimes and rarely. I ended up drawing tick marks to show where in the continuum I was located, for sometimes I was not often, but more than sometimes, etc.

Here is the quiz:

1. Does He (God) regularly circulate into my thoughts? (Ps 63:6)
2. Am I often drawn to spend time with Him?
3. Does my life demonstrate a love for God? (Romans 5:8)
4. Do I often enjoy God? (Ps. 16:11)
5. Do I find relief or satisfaction in the obedient life? (Ps. 51:8; John 14:21).

This test was meant to locate our areas of strength and weakness in our relationship with God, not to condemn. And I suspect on one day some questions would score higher than on other days.

She then said that since she was 20, Beth has prayed a simple prayer that goes something like this: “Make me have a heart that loves you with all my heart. God, I can’t make my feet move, but I am willing for you to drag me, nothing’s worth being out of the will of God.”

I so want a heart that loves God without reservation, but there are still pockets of resistance, but I pray, and I know that one day these pockets will be removed.

Have a blessed day.

Heather

I want to thank you for all your well wishes for Mother’s Day and the trip to Rocking Horse Ranch. I can guarantee to you that a good time was had by all, but I have a confession to make. I got up on a horse and before it left the corral I got off of the horse. I was too scared, so I guess horseback riding isn’t one of my gifts. Katherine mentioned what a good time we had. I concur. Later I will try to put up some pictures.

Last time I wrote I mentioned the term sin-sick, referring to the fact that when we sin it affects us physically and emotionally. And that sickness comes from pockets of sin. Someone asked if it was a sin to have diabetes or to have depression if it is a chemical imbalance of serotonin.

This may be my last entry for a few days, Rocking Horse Ranch is this weekend. My daughter is now very happy about the weekend – I am thinking that the Middle School Concert stress may have prompted negative attitudes, but now that is done – she did beautifully – and can look forward to Rocking Horse Ranch. I still can use prayers for this weekend, it is supposed to rain, and I am hoping that when it rains is not during the kinds of activities the kids want to do that are outdoors. And I am praying that no one gets hurt. And I am praying hard for a gentle horse – last time we went there it was snowing, the horse I had was antsy and biting the tail of the horse in front, and I was scared stiff which horses can sense – and of course his foot slipped on the snow – his name: Avalanche. I am praying for some sort of horse like Gentle Shepherd, or Peaceful Spirit or something that will keep me safe. Of course, Avalanche kept my prayer life active.

Well, continuing in this study that is impacting me so much by Beth Moore, I wanted to share a few other things that struck home. Day two is a continuation of learning about God’s unfailing love. Pages 164-167

One thing that interested me that I could relate to, is that she did an experiment with a group of women once, one in which she told them to look into eye to eye with the person next to them and say, “God loves me so much.” The women instinctively did that, but instead said, “God loves YOU so much.” They switched the words. They talked about how much easier it is for us to see God loving the other person, rather than ourselves.

I can certainly relate to that!!! and she stated, “Why do we have such difficulty believing God could love those we perceive as good and those we perceive as bad with the same unfailing love? Because we relentlessly insist on trying to humanize God. We tend to love people according to how they act, and we keep trying to re-create God in our image.” P.164

That has been one of my biggest problems, trying to separate God from my earthly father and realize that He is loving in a way that I can’t even imagine, a way that is not a violation of my person, but an enhancement of my life. There are a lot of self esteem issues I still struggle with, and one of them is feeling unlovable, unworthy of love. I am still recovering from feeling ruined by my father’s actions – sort of sub-human. You know, the haunting question of if my parents could hate me so much to do the hurtful things they did (My testimony 3/24/06), it must be because of something that is awful in me, something that even God couldn’t love. I know that is a pack of lies, but there are still pockets of resistance to accepting fully God’s love.

We then discussed Psalm 107: 1-3, 10-22 a Psalm that shows that God will keep pursuing those who are rebellious until they finally come back to Him. Sometimes the pursuit will be corrective, but the end goal is freedom in the Love of God.

She points out that God’s love extends to the most rebellious captives and the most afflicted fools, it is not only given to those who are good, perfect and righteous. But sometimes his correction is challenging because often we do not turn to God until we are hurting so badly that we realize our need for Him – so sometimes He will let us stew in the repercussions of those rebellious acts of us until we come to our senses.

Then she states that although not all depression is a result of rebellion, rebellion can lead to depression. I think she may have something there – although before I knew God I lived in a perpetual state of depression, now a lot of times my depression is linked to pockets of resistance to God – where I keep Him out of certain areas, and end up hurting because without His help, I can’t sort out the problems. I have failed so much to solve things in my own strength, you would think I would learn that I need God in all areas, but I still struggle.

Beth asked an interesting question, P. 165 “Why do you think rebellion could lead to a deeper depression in the life of someone who has experienced closeness with God?

Have you found that to be true in your life? I am beginning to see that, now that closeness is a little developed in my life – I miss that sense of safety under God’s wings when I step out in my own power to solve a situation.

She uses a term, “Sin sick” implying that when we sin, or lose that closeness to God, then we end up in either physical distress such as eating disorders or health issues or spiritual distress which can lead to a deeper darkness and gloom. I can say honestly that I have felt sin sick.

One of the most encouraging points in this lesson (p. 167) “The best of our churches tend to welcome those captive (to alcohol, drugs, homosexuality, promiscuity, and so forth) at first, but if they don’t “fix” pretty quickly, they will probably soon be despised. We like success stories–powerful testimonies. A captive in our midst soon wears out her welcome if she doesn’t get with it pretty quickly.
     In gracious contrast, God stands by us until we are free. He uses various forms of discomfort to woo us to cry out to Him, but He never forsakes us. God is the only One who is not repelled by the depth and length of our needs. Although God never excuses our sin and rebellion, He is fully aware of what drives our actions. In fact, he understands things about us we cannot even understand.”

Oh, I pray that I can fix this truth in my mind, because it is so comforting, and feels so safe. There is an incredible depth and length of need in me. And there are still deep voids and areas in me that have not yet been opened up to God. I do work at it, but the hurt was deep, so I guess the recovery is taking some time. I am grateful that God is patient with me.

I hope you have a blessed day, and if you like the holiday, a Happy Mother’s Day. If not, a wonderful Sunday.

Heather

Today has not been a stellar day for me, after a year of working with my Girl Scouts to raise money for a weekend at Rocking Horse Ranch, yesterday my daughter informed me she is figuring it will be a miserable weekend, because of certain conditions – one of them being me, the other being the endless worry about pairing of kids, and the fact that two of the girls tend to hang together and exclude her, and the fourth girl tends to stick with her mom, and Katherine doesn’t want to deal with me. These could be untrue situations, but her imagination is running wild. For some reason she changed from being so sweet on Saturday where we had a splendid mother/daughter day to being a shrew – and truthfully there was nothing I did or said to merit the kind of abuse I got. In the car driving home last night from our meeting she was pretty nasty, so I started praying under my breath- it was either pray or say something I would regret later – then both my daughter and my son started yelling at me for being annoying because I was praying. sigh.

After I dropped a book off for my son this morning I saw her, and told her that we don’t have to go, I can get the money refunded to the troop. She then said, I’ll go, but in such a way that it was apparent that it would be with longsuffering. I came home later than she did today and I think my husband talked with her because she said she wanted to go, and that she loved me, and it doesn’t help. The joy of the weekend has been sucked out for me. Yet, before I got home in my heart to heart with God, I had forgiven her, prayed for her, and sort of calmed down. I don’t know if I am ever going to be able to survive the teenage years of my kids. I also know that I have to work on my attitude and make the weekend fun again.

Well, the interesting thing is that I sat down because the kids are out and about and picked up my Beth Moore Breaking Free Bible study, and what are we discussing? God’s unfailing love. This topic I needed today!

I want to share it with you, but by having you actually do some of the work yourself, it is kind of cool. Material is pulled from pages 160-162 of the book.

She talks about  Isaiah 54:10 “‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Then she gives us the Hebrew meaning for the word compassion – racham which means to soothe, cherish, love deeply like parents, be compassionate be tender, it refers to a strong love, rooted in a natural bond, often from a superior to an inferior – and then part of the definition is small babies evoke this feeling.

She then talks about how teenagers are probably difficult (difficult?????knock me over with a feather) to make it easier for parents to push them out of the nest. Makes sense to me.

But then Beth says, ” All our lives God retains the strong feelings toward us that infants evoke in their parents. Do you realize why? Because He never has to let us go! God is not rearing us to be independent of Him. He’s not rearing us to leave home! God is rearing us to come home!” p. 160

Now my Bible (NKJV) – uses the word Mercy in the refrain, but the NIV Bible uses the word Love – in this case I think Love is a good word.

We were told to read Psalm 136 and find the main theme of the chapter. Which is:___________________________________________________________.

We then broke down the verses to the following categories: God the Creator, God the Conqueror, God the Compassionate one – (an example verse 1 = “for He is Good – would go under compassionate).

Then Beth says, that God’s works change, but His love stays simple, steady, and strong. And then she adds (and this is true) that the moment we think we’ve grasped His ways, figured out His methods, they change.

We read Isaiah 55:8-11 (another good thing to read),

Then we had to write four statements reflecting variables in our life.

And then (the cool part) we added the refrain from 136 between the four statements – thus writing a very personal and simple Psalm.

We then read Romans 8:38-39 – and again put in personal things in the following blanks,

For I am convinced that neither __________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
will separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Then Beth mentioned how Nazi war camp prisoners were sometimes loaded on a train to be transported to a death camp, and she said this: “If we don’t allow God’s truth to take up full residency in our hearts, we may learn just enough to move out of one prison into another. We’ll probably echo the words of Psalm 51:6 many times before our study concludes: “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the innermost place.”

That is as far as I have gone in Day one of this week’s lesson, family came home and I have to get dinner together because my daughter’s middle school band concert and chorus is tonight. I will share more with you as I do more of the lesson, but I am so grateful to God to have instigated the lessons to give me one in season that I needed. And I suspect that I will be muttering to myself, Even though ________ happens, His love endures forever. I need to hold onto that thought.

Hope you are having a peaceful and wonderful day, and know that He also loves us in the peaceful and wonderful days, I wouldn’t mind one of those myself.

Heather

My husband took my oldest son, Christopher, to New York City today to attend a meeting. They parked near where David Blaine was, so naturally they went to take a peek. They were the last group to visit David Blaine before they cordoned off the area for the final challenge.

Here is Christopher near the bubble.

And Christopher and David looking at each other.

Heather

You may want to read the previous entry so that this makes more sense – this is more research that I did regarding notes I took on Friday’s Bible study.

I found a better explanation for the Isaiah 52:13-53:12 passage that is more clear than what I stated. Comes from the above book.

Page 332-334

    (a friend of the author describes his reaction to the above passage as follows):

     “I vividly remember the first time I seriously confronted Isaiah 53, or better still, the first time it seriously confronted me,” Barry explains. “Being rather confused over the identity of the Servant in Isaiah 53, I went to my local rabbi and said to him, ‘Rabbi, I have met some people at school who claim that the so-called Servant in Isaiah 53 is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. But I would like to know from you, who is this Servant in Isaiah 53?’”
     Barry was astonished at his response. The rabbi said, “Barry, I must admit that as I read Isaiah 53 it does seem to be talking about Jesus, but since we Jews do not believe in Jesus, it can’t be speaking about Jesus.”
     Barry didn’t know a lot about formal logic at that point, but he knew enough to say to himself, “That just doesn’t sound kosher to me! Not only does the rabbi’s so-called reasoning sound circular, it also sounds evasive and even fearful.” Today Barry observes, “There are none who are as deaf as those who do not want to hear,
     For those who do want to hear, Larry Helyer (Yesterday, Today, and Forever: The Continuing Relevance of the Old Testament, Salem, 1996) does a fine job of summarizing the characteristics and accomplishments of Isaiah’ Servant. Beginning with the first Servant song in chapter 42, Helyer makes the following observations about the Servant”

 1. He is elected by the Lord, anointed by the Spirit, and promised success in his    endeavor. (42:1, 4).
 2. Justice is a prime concern of his ministry (42:1,4).
 3. His ministry has an international scope (42:1,6).
 4. God predestined him to his calling (49:1).
 5. He is a gifted teacher (49:2).
 6. He experiences discouragement in his ministry (49.4).
 7. His ministry extends to the Gentiles (49:6).
 8. The Servant encounters strong opposition and resistance to his teaching, even of a physically violent nature (50:4-6).
 9. He is determined to finish what God called him to do (50:7).
10. The Servant has humble origins with little outward prospects for success (53:1-2).
11. He experiences suffering and affliction (53:3).
12. The Servant accepts vicarious and substitutionary suffering on behalf of his people (53:4-6, 12).
13. He is put to death after being condemned (53:7-9).
14. Incredibly, he comes back to life and is exalted above all rulers                        (53:10-12, 52:13-15).

  In addition to Helyer’s observations, we note that the servant is also sinless (53.9)

   Just a casual reading of the passage should leave little doubt that the suffering Servant is Jesus. In fact, the traditional Jewish interpretation of the Servant passages was that they predicted the coming Messiah. That is, until Jews began having more contact with Christian apologists about a thousand years ago, at which point they reinterpreted the suffering Servant to be the nation of Israel. The first Jew to claim that the Suffering Servant was Israel rather than the Messiah was Shlomo Yitzchaki, better known as Rashi (c.1040-1105). Today Rashi’s view dominats Jewish and rabbinical theology.
     Unfortunately for Rashi and many present-day Jewish theologians, there are at least three fatal flaws with the assertion that Israel is the Suffering Servant. First, unlike Israel, the Servant is sinless (53:9) To say that Israel is sinless is to contradict and negate virtually the entire Old Testament. The recurrent theme of the Old Testament is that Israel has sinned by breaking God’s commandments and by chasing after other gods instead of the One true God. If Israel is sinless, then why did God give the Jews a sacrificial system? Why did they have a Day of Atonement? Why did they constantly need prophets to warn them to stop sinning and come back to God?
    Second, unlike Israel, the Suffering Servant is a lamb who submits without any resistance whatsoever (53:7). History shows us that Israel certainly is not a lamb–she lies down for no one.
    Third, unlike Israel, the Suffering Servant dies as a substitutionary atonement for the sins of others (53:4-6, 8, 10-12) But Israel has not died, nor is she paying for the sins of others. No one is redeemed on account of what the nation of Israel does. Nations, and the individuals that comprise them, are punished for their own sins.”

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Another thing to keep in mind is that the Great Isaiah Scroll was written some 100 years before Christ and the material it contains is even older. Manuscripts and manuscript fragments of the Old Testament, including Isaiah,  were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls, and those predate Christ by hundred’s of years.

The book continues with more good arguments and passages that are helpful in showing the prophesies that are fulfilled in Jesus, and Jesus alone.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

The second half of Friday’s Bible study was so very interesting to me. I seem to be focused right now on ways to approach others about Jesus, ways that are not insulting, but still show the love of Jesus.

Dr. Ed’s dad was pretty distressed when Dr. Ed converted to Christianity. And Dr. Ed spent time talking with his father, and even rabbis and a rabbinical counselor about his conversion. He asked a lot of questions based totally on Hebrew texts. And Dr. Ed was glad that his father insisted on reading the original Hebrew, in Bibles where English and Hebrew is parallel, the English translations are adjusted somewhat to make the text fit Hebrew thought, but they dare not tamper with original Hebrew.

So this is, according to Dr. Ed, the Jerusalem Road – I will include the texts and Dr. Ed’s comments.

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” According to Dr. Ed, this verse is controversial among the rabbis. They try to prove that it is not a virgin birth. The context of the verse is Ahaz is told by Isaiah to ask for a sign from the LORD your God, and Ahaz says he will not test the LORD. (Kind of a rebellious attitude when the Prophet of God tells you that God wants you to ask for a sign), so God says, I will give you a sign. And he gives the sign that tells the story we know so well – about Jesus. And then it talks a bit about the child refusing the evil and choosing the good, that the land will be forsaken by both of her kings and the King of Assyria will invade the land. Isaiah tells him in Chapter 7:9″…if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.” Well, the LORD will give them a sign – and the word for woman is ALMAH – which means young woman, and a young woman in that day must be a virgin, or she would be stoned to death.

Dr. Ed pointed out that if someone cursed a blind man by saying, “You shall not see,” it is not much of a curse for he already is blind. If God caused a young woman who wasn’t a virgin to be a sign, that isn’t much of a sign for anyone who has had relations could have a child, but for a virgin, never touched by a man, to bring forth a child is a miracle, a sign.

The word ALMAH (my spelling by sound) is used 5 times in the Old Testament and in each of those times it refers to a virgin, so why would the Isaiah use of the term not imply a virgin? In Hebrew the is a word BEJULAH which is a virgin, unmarried woman who could be anywhere from young to 90 or more years old. But Almah is just a virgin. The other places this word, Almah is used is Genesis 24:43, Exodus 2:8, Psalm 68:25, Proverbs 30:19 and Song of Solomon 1:3, and 6:8.

Was there a virgin birth? Isaiah 9:6-7 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgement and justice from hat time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

According to Dr. Ed, the rabbis forbid the reading of the prophets. He mentioned a few important points, the name Jesus is pretty much associated with some awful stuff like Hitler, and the killings done by Christians in Jesus’ name. It is better to speak of Yeshua, and also not to wave the New Testament in their face, better to show about Yeshua in the Old Testament. But remember, the Jewish people do not consider what we call the Old Testament, the Old Testament – it is their entire holy book, so you might want to talk about older testament – or just refer to the books in the Bible. Often the best thing to do is to listen more than you talk, there are serious questions.

Just as with Christianity, there are those who are very religious, others secular – showing up only at high holy days, and many degrees in between. Many do not know the Torah, or read it frequently. Some choose New Age and occult paths. It is important to know to whom you are speaking and their religious orientation, for that will determine how you approach the scriptures.

Ok, here is the Jerusalem Road – the footsteps to Messiah.

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Dr. Ed pointed out that this is where it begins – to remember that a head wound is fatal, a heel wound is a minor annoyance. And you can ask, who is God talking about? They know the story of Adam and Eve, and most know that a woman does not have a seed, that men have seeds, women eggs. Just ask whom is God talking about.

Then you can ask, how do you make atonement for your sins? You can’t sacrifice anymore, there is no temple. When Yeshua died on the cross for our sins, there was no need anymore for sacrifice. Why would God allow the temple to be destroyed if he needed an altar for sacrifice.

There is in a text (not sure of the name, sounds like Youman 9b), about the scapegoat. The scapegoat used to have a red ribbon tied around it’s neck and if the ribbon turned white, God accepted the sacrifice for the atonement of sin – and it is mentioned in this text that once Jesus died, the ribbon stopped changing color. Why?

The curtain in the Temple split, the Temple was destroyed, there is no sacrifice for sins, and you can detail these facts and the attitude could be don’t confuse me with the facts.

Where would the Messiah be born? Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting.” Ask who this passage is talking about. It can’t be King David, because he was not from everlasting, he died and was buried. There is no ruler in Israel that was from everlasting.

Micah 5:3-5 “Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace.” David’s rule was over Israel, it did not extend to the ends of the earth. Who is this she talked about. We know it is Mary and Yeshua, and that it is through Yeshua that we gain peace.

The child is born in the flesh, in the spirit for given from God.

Col 2:9 “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

Pele – wonderful
El Gibor – Might God
Abi Ad – everlasting
Shar Shalom (sp) – Prince of peace.

This is a clear teaching form God that we would be getting a savior, born in the natural but with the essence of God in the Spirit.

Was Jesus just sent for the Jewish People? No!

Isaiah 49:5-6 “And now the LORD says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength), Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to Raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

Isaiah 42:1-9 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold. My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law.” Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will uphold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the LORD, that is My name, and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Behold the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Again, you can ask who is he talking about.

Deuteronomy 18:15, 19 The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me (Moses) from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. Moses is a type of the Messiah, he delivered Israel out of bondage, and this new prophet would come out of Israel. The Israelites would not have accepted a non-Jewish Messiah, Moses was speaking as God, and Jesus spoke as God. And as we know, Jesus did not get listened to by those in power in Israel.

Psalm 2:1-8 Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure; “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

Again, who is this passage talking about. We know from History that the Rabbis did take counsel against Yeshua, and yet, this is the one whom God made his King. The Rabbis were looking for the warrior king, not the suffering servant, but as verse 9 points out at one point He will rule them with a rod of iron, and that is what will happen in Revelation, when Yeshua comes back as the Mighty King.

Isaiah 52:13-all of 53 is a problem for the rabbis, it is too long to type out, so I will let you look up the scripture. But in verse 4 you might ask who is our? (Israel)  The Rabbis try to make out the suffering servant to be Israel at the hands of their enemies.  But the passage clearly states that he suffered for others. A careful look at the passage implies the suffering servant – who was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of My people (that is Israel – and so Israel can’t be cut off from Israel). And all we are like sheep gone astray. If they try to make the case that this is a passage about Israel, not a savior it falls apart when you look at the individual pieces of the passage.

Isaiah 1:1-18 God in verse 11 has had enough of Israel’s sacrifices, verse 18, come now and let us reason together God tells the people., in this passage God talks about a remnant,

Other passages that are of help in talking with Jewish People are,

Psalm  41:9
Ps. 22
Ps. 110:1
Ps. 118:22-23
Isaiah 28:16

It is important to ask questions, to ask what they think. If they know anything about Jesus these passages should make them wonder which testament they are reading. Dr. Ed stated that when he read these passages he wanted to know why Mr. Jesus Christ was in the Jewish Bible. It is important to know that Christ means anointed one, it is not Jesus’ last name.

I hope this is helpful, it was challenging to take notes, so I hope I got the gist of what was being said, but there was much I also missed.

I was given a pamphlet from Jews for Jesus, and will read that and include any new information on my next post.

Have a great Sunday.

Heather