Come Seek With Me

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Deuteronomy 6:4 TLV I am so excited to share my most recent treasure from God's Word.  It has everything to do with this verse that has become a stumbling block for many.  Let's skip forward to the gospels in the new testament, to begin unpacking.... The gospel books tell and retell many of the same histories from different perspectives.  I love fitting them together to make complete pictures of the events that took place during the ministry of Yeshua.  Today's treasure has to do with one of those "fit togethers" that supports Deut 6:4.  I mentioned that this verse is a stumbling block for many.  Those who do not understand that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one (echad) believe that those of us who do are worshiping multiple gods (little g gods) and are therefore guilty of breaking the most important commandment.  That's a BIG deal...so, are we guilty?  Let's put some puzz

Back in the days when we still sang hymns at church, I recall singing a hymn about building my house on Christ the Solid Rock.  Do you remember that one? On Christ The Solid Rock I stand,  All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand... I can hear it now, and oh how I want my "house" to be built on Christ The Solid Rock!   While reading in Luke 6 today, and I ran across the passage that likely inspired that famous hymn.  Yeshua is teaching, and He notes that a certain group of people are, "like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock.  And when the flood came, the torrent burst against the house but could not shake it, because it had been well built" (v48 TLV).   Boy, I want to be one of those people with a well built house! So let's find out who the "solid rock group" is by learning who they are not....   "Why do you call Me 'Master, Master' and do not do wha

Has that ever been your prayer?   Mark 9:24 I must confess that I have prayed many prayers with this attitude.  Of this fact I am ashamed, but I do take comfort in knowing that I am not alone.  If you can relate, be encouraged.  God's Word shows us that we are not alone AND provides us with the remedy so that we may be confident in the abilities of our Heavenly Father.  Today's challenge will be to try the remedy! We will begin today in Mark 9.  Yeshua is ministering to the crowds, and the disciples have just failed to cast out a mute spirit.  The father of the suffering boy says to Yeshua, "but if You can do anything, have compassion and help us!" (v22 TLV).  Wow!  Did you catch that?  Yeshua sure did... "'If You can?' Yeshua said to him." (v23a) Oops...have you ever been there?  I know I have.  I feel sorry for this dad.  He has likely struggled greatly to care for his son, and he has already experienced the failure of the disc

I was recently asked to provide my written testimony for an organization that I will be joining, so I thought it might be a good opportunity to do a little blogging about me.  Ahhhh... where to begin? Well at the beginning, of course! As a child I was surrounded by loving parents and grandparents who showed me the unconditional love of Christ.  Overall, I was a pretty good kid.  (Don't ask my brother to verify that).  I "accepted" Jesus during vacation bible school when I was seven and was baptized shortly thereafter. Looking back with the eyes of a 40+ year old, I would call my "good" childhood behavior more compliant than saintly.  I was a kid who followed the rules, didn't rock the boat, and wanted to please.  That worked great throughout childhood, but as a young adult, I really tested the patience of my parents and loved ones (and especially God) through several rebellious years. I was 22 when God got my attention and showed me that there were two

I am still in the book of Matthew getting to know the earthly ministry of Yeshua.  Again, this is not my first trip through, but The Holy Spirit has been busy pointing out new insights to me.  But first, in order to understand today's new testament scripture, let's go back to the burning bush... When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, He introduced Himself this way: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (Ex 3:6 TLV).  I've read that many times, and each time my mind wanders back to the ancient histories of the three men.  I think about their lives and remember their deaths.  I think of them as great men...who are dead. Now, let's skip forward to Matthew (22:23-33).  In this passage the Sadducees are posing questions to Yeshua in hopes of entrapping Him in some falsehood or blasphemy.  I find it interesting that in this instance, the Sadducees are asking about the resurrection, when scripture tells us that they did not

Jesus, or Yeshua, as He is known in Hebrew, is confirmed throughout the scriptures as The Messiah of Israel.  But do we, His followers, actually know what those confirmations are?  If someone asked you today to give an example in scripture to confirm the Messiahship of Yeshua, could you do it?  If you're not sure, I challenge you to find at least one confirming scripture today.   I stumbled upon this topic this morning as I was reading in Matthew 4.  This is where Yeshua is tempted by satan in the wilderness.  I have read this many times, but today the Holy Spirit led me to notice that satan himself is used to confirm the identity of Yeshua within this chapter.   "'He shall command His angels concerning you,' and 'upon their hands they shall lift you up, so that you may not strike your foot against a stone.'"  Matt 4:6 TLV This is satan quoting Old Testament scripture...accurately...about Israel's Messiah (Psalm 91).  Satan KNEW th