THE SECRET INGREDIENT
Yahushua sells it!
“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see” (Revelation 3:18 RSB).
The white raiment relates to Messiah’s clothing dripped with His blood (Genesis 3:21). This is associated with the first sacrifice of animals to clothe sin. Yahweh made coats of skins and clothed them (Adam and Eve). Messiah’s sacrifice exonerates and clothes us from fear and shame. If you wash your eyes with the spittle, mud made with His saliva, as did the blind man, the living water will flow, and the miracle worker will be revealed (John 9:6). Obedience is better than sacrifice. The blind man returned to Messiah after washing his eyes with the hands that formed the clay patty. At this moment, a man born blind was able to see physically and spiritually.
Yahshua heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe in the Son of Yahweh? He answered and said, who is he, Master, that I might believe in him? And Yahshua said unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it is He that talked with thee. And he said, Master, I believe. And he worshipped him (John 9:35-38 RSB).
The Torah expounders and the Pharisees were eyewitnesses yet blind when Messiah stood among them. The Jewish leaders plotted to sway the masses from Yahshua! The same dilemma is in Israel today! Without this commodity called gold, you are blind and spiritually dead. You are neither cold nor hot for the things of Elohim. Yahweh desires Holy Spirit-driven believers to live their lives as shining lights in this fallen world. The Spirit of Yahweh reveals the truth, and truth removes the blinders from our sight. Only then can we see with clarity. Adam and Eve became ashamed of their nakedness once they disobeyed Yahweh’s decree. Deception entered their consciousness, and darkness and fear of the Almighty ensued. They disobeyed a command, and mankind, for the first-time, lived-in separation from Elohim.
“Yahweh Elohim called unto Adam, and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and hid. And he said, who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast, thou have eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? (Genesis 3:9-11 RSB).
Psychological warfare was introduced against Earth’s first family. Satan’s goal was to smite Elohim’s creation. The practice of Satan’s deception is present in every religion known to man. Mankind became a fallen vessel; his spirit, soul, and body were dead to sin. Satan deceives our spirit with enchanting words directing his attacks by challenging your soul relating to your emotions, will, and intellect. He wins the war when you question and doubt Yahweh’s authority. The death angel does the greatest damage to our flesh/body. Our flesh/body has a voice and speaks to you using your five senses, your touch, smell, sound, taste, and sight. Our flesh possessing a fallen nature, is weak. The serpent gained inroads into our inner workings through the fall of the first family, Adam and Eve. Every human has inherited a fallen nature at birth and is subject to wrestle continuously with temptation until death.
Elohim had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath Elohim said, Ye, shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1-5 RSB).
“And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:2, emphasis mine).
Eve mentions she is not alone by saying “we” Adam is there. Eve confirms they both knew the command of their Creator to stay away from this tree. Adam failed to protect and shield Eve, forsaking his authority as her husband. The serpent planted doubt in her mind causing Eve to question Yahweh’s command.
“But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:3-4 emphasis mine).
The father of lies continues to question Yahweh’s command with deception. If you do not believe the Creator’s Word, then you’re open to falling for a lie through manipulation of words. Satan now turns his focus on the body’s senses concerning the fruit of the tree.
the fruit of the tree.
Satan insinuates that Adam and Eve can be like the Almighty, thus appealing to the spiritual part of our being. Lucifer is a created being, a fallen entity. Man is also a created being, a human formed from the clay of the earth. Both are fooled, thinking they are wiser than the Creator. Can man ever be like the Almighty? Satan suggests you can be like Elohim, as do many intellectuals who think they are wise. This mindset continues to be alive in our present world. Mankind has continued to separate himself from His maker and His instructions.
Eve became deceived on all three levels. First, Lucifer entertained doubt about what Yahweh had commanded. Eve’s mind, her intellect, questioned Yahweh’s declaration. As her soul questioned, then deception crept in.
“For Elohim doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as mighty ones, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
The Serpent appealed to her body equipped with physical senses. She saw with her eyes that the fruit was good to touch and taste. Her senses became embroiled to know. The Serpent clinched the deal with the third lie that she could be wise as God. This spiritual attack was the knockout punch. Our fallen nature continues to believe we can be like the Almighty. This state of mind continues to play out in today’s society. There is nothing new under the sun but old dogmas and theology cleverly repackaged.
Obeying the instructions of Yahweh secures promises of prosperity and healing (Exodus 15:26). This is His promise for all humans. Christians today are fed gimmicks with crafty teachings, skirting the issue of Yahweh’s laws. Many church leaders today say the time of the law is passed, and now is grace.
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments (instructions) of Yahweh and the faith of Yahshua” (Revelation 14:12 RSB, emphasis mine).
This Scripture reveals that the New Testament believers were called saints and kept the Torah’s instructions, which is Yeshua’s faith!
Faith is what Yahshua, the Messiah, is selling! This is the secret ingredient, the sauce! Without faith, the law condemns us. Faith in Yahshua enables us to keep the love of the Torah. All the commandments hang on this one word, love! Messiah’s compassion for mankind enables us to follow Him as our King.
“Feed your Faith and starve your doubts to death!” (Lester Sumrall).
Who are kept by the power of Elohim through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time? Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it is tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Yahshua Messiah: Who having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the goal of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you (1 Kefa/Peter 1:5-10 RSB).
Kefa/Peter gives the comparison that faith is more precious than gold. Gold is a sparkling alloy once smoothed and polished, a desired commodity to this day. Gold is solid, tangible, something you can possess and be worn, and yet can be lost, stolen, and destroyed with intense fire. Messiah is not telling us to purchase this tangible precious alloy called gold. Our faith, when tested, becomes priceless through a crisis of faith. Abraham’s faith was tested; he did not withhold his son from Yahweh. Faith is unseen, invisible with our naked eyes, and yet this type of faith moved holy people to trust Yahweh.
“But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to Elohim must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 RSB).
Faith can be easily explained. Imagine a solution to your dilemma, whatever it may be… then picture it completed according to His sovereign will!
For as many as are led by the Spirit of Elohim, they are the sons of Elohim. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bearest witness with our spirit that we are the children of Elohim: And if children, then heirs; heirs of Yahweh, and joint-heirs with Messiah; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together (Romans 8:14-17 RSB).
As His children, we are expected to walk in faith, led by an unseen Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. This makes our walk pleasing and miraculous… to purchase this golden faith from Messiah, you must believe in who He is.
The Bride has made herself ready!
by permission, Helen Jesze... http://www.devotionalsjust4u.co.uk
The bride has made herself ready! “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready, “Rev. 19, 7 ESV. “
…so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless,” Eph. 5, 26 + 27 Amplified Bible
A few nights ago, I had an unusual dream which seemed to be prophetic. I dreamt that my husband and I had been invited to the wedding of a young lady whom we knew personally, but we did not know the bridegroom. As this young lady was a fine Christian of exemplary character, we were looking forward to meeting her groom. In my dream, there was no wedding service, but all the guests were seated at tables, and I was one of those serving the food. The first time I came near to where the bride was sitting, the groom was nowhere to be seen. The next time I approached her, he was standing next to her, and as he turned around, I gasped in surprise. We happened to know this young man, who went to a different church than his bride-to-be, and we knew something of his character, which left much to be desired.
I stared in dismay at the bride-groom. His hair was greasy and unkempt, and his clothes were dirty and looked as though he had slept in them. His nails had dirt under them, and his tie was all askew – how could he have turned up to his wedding in such a state! How could this young woman have chosen this man to be her husband? What would the rest of their lives be like if he showed her such a lack of love and respect on his wedding day?
Then my gaze fell on a wedding invitation lying on the table, and I saw the actual date for the wedding was in another four months, not today! That day was a kind of special party in preparation – the wedding day had not yet arrived! Then the thought came to me in my dream – Reprieve – and the words seemed to be spoken: “The Bride has made herself ready!” Then I woke up with the dream still vivid in my mind and these words repeating in my spirit.
Every born-again Christian is invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which will take place one day in Heaven. “The Lamb” is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Pascal Lamb, by his death, becoming God’s sacrifice for sins. Being now bought by his blood, accepting and believing in him, we will one day be part of the worldwide Church, accepted as his Bride.
My dream showed a bridegroom who was in a disgusting state and not fit for his bride. When we look at our lives and the Church in general, we must ask ourselves the question: “Are we ready to meet our Bridegroom? In our Bible verses, we see two works of preparation taking place. One is done by the bride herself: “She has made herself ready.”
Our Lord Jesus does the other work of preparation. He washes us by the water of his Word and his blood, sanctifying us, cleansing us so that he might present his children to himself, making them glorious, with no blemish or sin in them.
We are drawing nearer to the End of Time as we know it now and that Marriage Supper, and still have the opportunity to ‘make ourselves ready,’ although we do not know how much time it will actually be. Just as I saw the wedding day was four months later and had the thought “Reprieve” (which means a putting-off until a later date, a postponing or cancellation of punishment), we also have time to prepare ourselves, putting away those things which would harm our spiritual lives, making us unfit for our Bridegroom.
If we ask him, the Holy Spirit will show us what those things are, and as we reach out to the Lord, confessing our sins, reading and searching the Scriptures, we will be washed and sanctified. We have a part to play, and God has a part to play in our preparation as his Bride.
Would we be ready if he called us today? Let’s make sure we are!
The Bride has made herself ready! Part 2 by Helen Jesze
Last week I wrote about a bridal couple I saw in a dream and how the words “Reprieve” and “The Bride has made herself ready” came strongly to me. One lady wrote to me, saying that in my dream it was the groom who was dirty, unkempt, and not fit for the wedding, but surely it is the “Bride,” the Church of Jesus Christ, who has to get ready, not Jesus, our Heavenly Bridegroom. She is absolutely right. If I had not received these words in the dream, I would probably just have dismissed it, but it seemed clear that God was speaking to me, and there was another meaning here.
I think there are two possibilities for how it can be interpreted in a dream or a vision. One is that everything we see in the dream or vision is exactly as it would be physically. Another interpretation is that we are seeing something symbolically. On this occasion, it was symbolic, the truth is shown that one of the bridal couples was not fit for the wedding – in our case, the Bride of Christ – but God is giving us a “reprieve,” so the twofold work of preparation might be done to make us ready; the work that Jesus himself does in us and the steps that we, the Bride take, to make ourselves ready.
Another lady wrote that this is just what the Lord has been impressing on her for a while now and that in the Bible Study group she attends, they are currently studying this. She then asked, how do I think we can make ourselves ready for our Heavenly Bridegroom? So let’s have a look at that.
In Bible times, during the Early Church, the Apostle Paul and others wrote on several occasions, warning these new Christians that they had been brought out of a lifestyle of slander, gossip, lying, drunkenness, immorality, gluttony, stealing, homosexuality, and idolatry. He warned them because there was evidence that they were still doing some of these things which did not belong in a Christian’s life. As we look at the Church (the whole Body of Christ) nowadays, we see millions of people who have been delivered from sin, who love their Lord, and seek to follow him. Yet when we look closer, we see there is also division, disunity, deception, immorality, a turning away from what God says in His Word and instead accepting the culture of the day and what society tells us.
We do not hear much preached about ‘sin,’ as it is often thought we should not make people feel uncomfortable. It is said we should not be ‘judgmental’ and must realize that Time and Culture have altered how people think, and as Christians, we should also ‘go with the flow.’ There are “Seeker-Sensitive” churches, where the Spirit of God has little or no opportunity to change people’s hearts because the Word of the Living God is not preached or is so watered-down that it has no effect on the hearers.
We see many Christian men (and women) come for prayer and counseling because they watch pornography. One man cried in despair, “I have been struggling with this for 20 years! At one time, I used to creep out at night to go to porn shows, but now 2 click on my phone, and it is all there, and no one knows!” Satan has made it so much easier to watch porn on our screens. It is not only poison for those who watch it, but also exploits the people (mostly women) who engage in the acts, as most of them are trafficked or forced to do this, bringing in billions of pounds for the producers. Jesus can set us free from this bondage! I have seen people drink alcohol or take drugs to prove that they no longer bind them! How foolish! Every time it spells disaster.
Many Christian couples live together before marriage. God has given us love, part of which is a sexual expression, but the Bible says it should be used within the safety and boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman. We need to watch what we see and hear. It is dangerous to watch hypnotism programs, occult, horror, or sex films, or to look at unsuitable or porn magazines; the spirit within us should recoil or feel uneasy if we do so. But in time, like the proverbial frog that is put into cold, then warm, then hot water, we will not notice it anymore if we continue to do this. It is then that we switch into the receptive mood, for we have opened an inward door in our mind and heart, breaking down our defense; we can be attacked or taken over by the spirits influencing those programs or reading matter; fear, depression, lust, and many other negative things can be the result.
Am I saying that we have lost our salvation if we do any of these things? No, not at all! God is calling to us to realize where we have gone wrong, repent and clean up our acts, and let him deliver us, making his Bride beautiful and ready for his coming. Today, I want to encourage you that his arms are opened wide with mercy and grace, not judgment. Satan wants to condemn us, but the Holy Spirit wants to convict us so that we will put our lives in order.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, you see all of us and how we need you. Forgive and break off of us every shortcoming and sin, cleanse us in the blood of Jesus, and infuse us with your strength and power to live for you. Help us to develop a closer relationship with you in prayer and the reading of your Word every day. Make us ready for the day when our Bridegroom calls! In the Name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.
Is Yahushua-Jesus, God?
John 15:23, Yahushua states, “He that hateth me hateth my Father also.”
Was this a declaration that he was equal to, or he is God?
John 10:30 – Yahushua makes a head-turning statement to the Jews; “The Father and I are one.”
Yet another proclamation, claiming to be God.
John 10:31-33 – The Jews respond to his claims; “Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Yahushua said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, but for blasphemy because you, are a mere man, claim to be God.”
The Jews had a huge problem with Messiah’s claim. They did not understand or check the scriptures, with hundreds of references, as to his appearance. Unfortunately, the same case with many non-believers worldwide. So I give you these few scriptures to discover and consider.
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John1:14 CJB, “The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh’khinah, the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (Sh’khinah in Hebrew means Divine Presence, the manifest glory of God’s presence with men – Luke 2:9).
Revelation 19:13 RSB, “and he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of Yahweh” (also see Isaiah 63:2).
If Messiah’s name is also the Word, read again, John1:1, “In the beginning was Yahushua, and Yahushua was with God, and Yahushua was God.”
Yahushua was 100% man and 100% God all at the same time!
Found the Missing Day
By Permission, Article in the South Dade News Leader (Florida) July 6, 1970
Did you know that the Space Program is busy proving that what has been called a “myth” in the Bible is true?
Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, Md., and a consultant in the Space Program, relates the following Development. I think the most amazing thing that God has done for us happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Greenbelt, Maryland.
They were checking the position of the Sun, Moon, and planets out in Space as to where they would be 100 and 1000 years from now. We have to know this so we don’t send up a satellite and have it bump into something later in its orbit. We have to lay out the orbit in terms of the life of the satellite and where it and the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down. They ran the computer measurements back and forth over the centuries, and it came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that something was wrong; either with the information fed into it or with the results as compared with the standards.
They called the Service Department to check it out and said, “It’s perfect.” The I.B.M. Head of Operations asked, “What’s wrong.” Well, we found there is a Day Missing in Space in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair; there was no answer!
Then a religious fellow on the team said; you know, one time I was in Sunday school, and they talked about the Sun standing still. They didn’t believe him, but they didn’t have any other answers, so they said, “show us.”
So he got a Bible and turned to the book of “Joshua” where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for anyone with common sense. There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, “Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand, there shall not a man of them stand before thee. (Joshua 10:12-14) Joshua was concerned because the enemy surrounded him; they would overpower them if darkness fell. So, Joshua asked the Lord to make the Sun stand still! That’s right! The Sun stood. Still, the Moon stayed and did not go down for about a day.
Then the Space Men said; there it is, the Missing Day. Well, they checked the computer going back into the time it was written and found it close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua’s day was 23 hours and 20 minutes, not a whole day. They read the Bible, and there it was about (approximately) a day.
These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes, you’ll be in trouble 1000 years from now. 40 minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times in orbits.
Well, this religious fellow also remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the Sun went backward. The Space Men told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Bible and read these words in II Kings 20:8-10. Hezekiah, on his deathbed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him he was not going to die. Hezekiah did not believe him and asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said, do you want the shadow on the Sun Dial to go forward 10 degrees? Hezekiah replied, the shadow always moves forward, “make it move backward”
10 degrees is exactly 40 minutes. 23 hours and 20 minutes in Joshua plus 40 minutes in II Kings, makes the missing 24 hours, which the Astronauts had to log in their log book as The Missing Day in the Universe.
Isn’t amazing how God reveals his truths through modern man?
My commentary on the above article.
The word Universe is a combination of two words meaning: Uni equals One, and Verse equals Words. It takes One Verse from the Bible to describe our universe. The very first verse of the Bible.
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the Earth.”
In Hebrew, the verse reads, “In the beginning Elohim, Aleph Taw, created…
Aleph Taw represents the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet!
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.
Our Messiah, Yahushua, proclaims,
Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith Yahweh which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
In the same breath, Messiah refers to himself as the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet, as the alphabet corresponds to the Hebrew. For both, the Father and Son share the creation narrative on how we got here. Only our Creator created the mechanism that controls our Universe!
The Creator’s mechanism is His Holy Word!,
Wisdom from a Student
A University professor at a well-known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. “Did God create everything that exists?” A student bravely replied, “Yes, he did!”
“God created everything?” The professor asked. “Yes sir, he certainly did,” the student replied. The professor answered, “If God created everything, then he created evil.” And since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we assume God is evil.” The student became quiet and did not answer the professor’s hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “May I ask a question, professor?” “Of course,” replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, “Professor does cold exist?” “What kind of question is this? Of course, it exists. Have you never been cold?” The other students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact, sir, cold does not exist. According to the law of physics, what we consider cold is, in reality, the absence of heat. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat, and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”
The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?” The professor responded, “Of course it does.” The student replied, “Once again, you are wrong, sir; darkness does not exist either. Darkness, in reality, is the absence of light. The light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally, the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?” Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily examples of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”
To this, the student replied, “Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when a man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there’s no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.” The professor sat down.
The young man’s name… Albert Einstein.
“The eye is the lamp of the body.’ So, if you have a ‘good eye’ {that is if you are generous}, your whole body will be full of light; but if you have an ‘evil eye’ {if you are stingy}, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Mattityahu (Matthew) 6:22-23 CJB
Everyone Can’t Be In the Front Row
While working for the United States Air Force, I received this bit of advice from Christopher Jackson, M SSgt, 81 SFS/SFTT.
Life is a theater – invite your audience carefully. Not everyone is healthy enough to have a front-row seat in our lives. Some people in your life need to be loved from a distance. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not–going–anywhere relationships or friendships. Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention. Which one lifts your spirit, and which one drags you down? Which one encourages you, and which one discourages you? Which relationships are on a path of uphill growth, and which ones are going downhill? Which friends really don’t understand, know or appreciate you? When you part the company of certain people, do you leave feeling better or worse than when you came?
The more that you seek love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control around you, the easier it will be for you to discern who ought to sit in the front row of your life and who should be moved to the balcony – or to the basement. You may not be able to change the people around you, but you can certainly change the people you are around.
Galatians 5:22-26…