The other day, at Daily Tehillem, it was Psalm 23. While I’ve read the psalm many times, and various comentaries, the last two verses struck me as wonderful prayer:
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
A prayer not only for me, but to be directed toward others, on the behalf of others. For in this prayer I see first the victory G-d blesses us Continue reading “Faith and Hope as Lifestyle”→
“Candles have come a long way since their initial use. Although no longer man’s (sic) major source of light, they continue to grow in popularity and use. Today, candles symbolize celebration, mark romance, soothe the senses, define ceremony, and accent home decors — casting a warm and lovely glow for all to enjoy.” — American Candle Society
For five thousand years, according to the candle society, candle have been in use. While wicked candles were developed in ancient Roman times using tallow and papyrus, Egyptians and Chinese had forms Continue reading “Candle”→
“Each word drew another line between me and the past.” —Jennifer Lee Worth
Jennifer Lee Worth Source: Wikipedia
Jennifer Lee served London’s East End as a nurse and midwife in the mid-1950s through to the mid-1970s. She married and left that life behind her, changing careers to become a piano teacher for the London College of Music. Many years later, now Jennifer Lee Worth, she wrote several book that told the story of those heroic women who served the people of that impoverished East London community. Jennifer Lee drew a line Continue reading “Border”→
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of R E A L I Z E should be some lofty platitude such as Realize your Potential, or Realize your Dreams. In my mind’s eye I should see one of those inspirational posters with an eagle soaring above snow-covered mountain peaks with some pithy words emblazoned on it. In my mind I should hear loving words such as, “Do you realize just how much you are loved.”
But I am Wednesday’s Child, and full of woe. The glass was always empty for me when Continue reading “Realize”→
This redwood is so named because of the enormous branches balanced on either side of the trunk, branching out approximately 100 feet above the ground, like a giant three-armed candelabra. The carved tunnel opening is quite wide, making it easier for larger vehicles to pass through.
There are trees and there are TREES. Despite the disparaging comment by President Reagan, “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” the mighty redwood is an amazing tree.
Yet my first thought when I saw this Daily Prompt was not a single tree, but a tree house. I fine them fascinating. I’ve thought about building one. It does take the right tree or combination of trees, however. I have a book that shows how to properly secure the beams so that the trees to which the houses are attached may continue to move with the wind, and continue to grow. While some tree houses are platforms built into the branch structure of one large tree, often houses are suspended from three of four trees that lack a large branch structure. Tall pines with branches only on the upper section of the trunk are good. It’s amazing how much weight four trees can support! Continue reading “Tree”→
Glory to God in the highest,
and on Earth peace among those
with whom he is pleased!
—Luke 2:14
Two-Thousand years ago, a multitude of Heavenly hosts broke out in praise of G-d at the announcement to shepherds that the long-awaited Messiah had been born. In Heaven, Glory to G-d. On Earth, peace to all people. Oops. To whom is the blessing of peace giving. During the Christmas season, we hear Glory to G-d and Peace on Earth. Misquoted.
“The point is that, even though God’s offer of peace goes out to all, only his chosen people — the people who receive Christ and trust him as Savior and Messiah and Lord, will experience the peace he brings.” —John Piper
If you don’t know Y’shuaJesus as your Lord and Savior, then sorry, no peace from Heaven. No inner peace. Period.
““Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword,” said Y’shuaJesus. (Matthew 10:34).
Metaphoric Sword. A knife that cuts the cake. A division. When Y’shuaJesus was born, He jeopardized peace on Earth.
“I believe in this passage Jesus is pointing to a reality that many of us are becoming familiar with: his teachings aren’t exactly popular. Following his teachings? Doing the things that Jesus did? Loving the way Jesus loved? Well, at a minimum that’s going to invite conflict into your closest relationships,” wrote Benjamin L. Corey in his blog.
“Jesus didn’t come to bring a period of tranquility where everyone holds hands in a circle—he came to bring upheaval to the ways of this world. He came to flip tables. He came to disrupt a faux version peace. He came to speak up for the oppressed, to loose their chains, to welcome the sojourner, and to make room for those the religious elite want excluded from God’s table,” Mr. Corey wrote.
Y’shuaJesus brought a sword, metaphorically, that causes division, and is contrasted by peace and tranquility of an individual’s soul with whom G-d is pleased. Our relationship with G-d our Creator, is made possible by our belief in Y’shuaJesus, in His deity, in His humanity, in His atonement for sin. We please the Prince of Peace . . .
“I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD. . .”
—Psalm 69:30.31.
“. . . what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
—Micah 6:8.
Here’s what the Sword of the Lord created through Apostle Paul:
“About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.” —Acts 19:23-27.
The tradesmen rioted. Neither Paul nor any Christian actually committed violence in Ephesus. The Sword of the Lord, as shown here, isn’t an instrument of violence. There is a violent reaction to the way Christians serve the Lord, however. In the case of Artemis, and his tradesmen, there was an immediate, and potentially irreversible economic affect to the preaching of the Lord’s Apostle to the Non-Jewish people.
Why do people follow Y’shuaJesus, then, if such a choice brings such interpersonal discord? Y’shuaJesus created a bit of a stir among his own followers. As a result many “turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’ ” —John 6:66-69
While we, as Believers, may—no, will—experience strife, trouble, trials, and intolerance, from many people, we have an assurance of Peace, we have inner peace, and we have assurance that we shall for ever live in the Lord’s Peace.
Will You not revive us again,
that Your people may rejoice in You?
—Psalm 85:6
When I think of a Holy Ghost Revival, I think of the tent meetings, or camp meetings, popular into the 1960s. I also think of The Reverend Billy Graham and how his humble beginnings in a tent turned into crusades that would affect nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries.
Initially, Rev. “Graham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles in 1949, for which he erected circus tents in a parking lot. He attracted national media coverage, especially in the conservative Hearst chain, although Hearst and Graham never met. The crusade event ran for eight weeks—five weeks longer than planned. Graham became a national figure with heavy coverage from the wire services and national magazines.” — Wikipedia
There is more to a Holy Ghost Revival than tent meetings. There’s the Welsh Revival.
“For nine months, between November 1904 and August 1905, God anointed and used a 26 year old coal miner, by the name of Evan Roberts, to release a powerful revival movement of the Holy Spirit which produced 100,000 converts and which profoundly affected the spiritual life of Wales and the world.” — Welsh Revival Library
There’s the Azuza Street Revival. It began when the Holy Spirit used William Seymour at the Apostolic Faith Mission, 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles.
“The first secular news reports of the revival appeared, on April 18, 1906 – on the very day of the San Fransisco earthquake. The Los Angeles Daily Times sent a reporter to an evening service on April 17, and he filed reports that were highly critical of the meetings as well as of the people who attended them. The introductory headlines to the article were ‘weird babel of tongues,’ ‘new sect of fanatics is breaking loose,’ ‘wild scene last night on Azusa Street,’ ‘gurgle of wordless talk by a sister,’ all carefully calculated to give the appearance of religious mania or madness. (See separate article) Nevertheless, Bartleman reported that this brought the crowds! Many of them were true seekers but there were also the ‘crooks and cranks,’ even hypnotists and spiritualists came to investigate!
“An article published in ‘Way of Faith,’ October 11, 1906 probably penned by Frank Bartleman gives a friendlier description: “The centre of this work is an old wooden Methodist church, marked for sale, partly burned out, recovered by a flat roof and made into two flats by a floor, It is unplastered, simply whitewashed on the rough boarding. Upstairs is a long room, furnished with chairs and three California redwood planks, laid end to end on backless chairs. This is the Pentecostal “upper room,” where sanctified souls seek Pentecostal fulness, and go out speaking in new tongues and calling for the old-time references to new wine.” There are smaller rooms where hands are laid on the sick and “they recover” as of old. Below is a room 40 x 60 feet, filled with odds and ends of chairs, benches, and backless seats, where the curious and the eager sit for hours listening to strange sounds and songs and exhortations from the skies, In the centre of the big room is a box on end, covered with cotton, which a junk man would value at about 15 cents. This is the pulpit from which is sounded forth what the leader, Brother Seymour, calls old-time repentance, old-time pardon, old-time sanctification, old-time power over devils and diseases, and the old-time ‘Baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire.’ ” — Revival Library
Revivals have been controversial, as pointed to in the article in the Revival Library concerning the Azuza Street Revival. It’s the fruit, or the outcome, of a revival that can be used to judge whether or not it truly is a Holy Ghost Revival. In Wales, for instance, “the movement kept the churches of Wales filled for many years to come, seats being placed in the aisles in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Swansea for twenty years or so, for example. Meanwhile, the Awakening swept the rest of Britain, Scandinavia, parts of Europe, North America, the mission fields of India and the Orient, Africa and Latin America.” (Orr, J. Edwin. The Flaming Tongue. Chicago: Moody, 1973.)
Toward the end of the Twentieth Century, another purported revival began in Toronto, Canada. It was dubbed the Toronto Blessing. It began in the Toronto Airport Vineyard Fellowship January 1994. It greatly influenced another purported revival in Lakeland, Florida, at the Ignited Church on April 2, 2008. The Lakeland Revival began as a five-day service that continued for six months. While both these are purported to be genuine outpourings of the Holy Ghost, both have been criticized for excessive, inappropriate worship. Many pastors from large churches attended these events, and returned to their own churches bringing with them these same excesses. Uncontrolled laughter, and brief periods of unconsciousness were reported at these meetings. While many Christian leaders cite Scripture in support of events at these gatherings, others are more critical. A number of the churches that initially seemed to benefit from, and were impacted by, the purported revivals, are also churches that today are embroiled in controversy over their support of non-Biblical doctrines.
When all is said and done, there is little difference between any of the Christian Revivals and the the revival/apostasy cycle we read about in the Book of Judges, when the people of Israel turned to G-d after He raised a judge to lead the people, then after some years, turned again away from G-d. Some people through various movements, various times of Holy Ghost Revival, grown closer to G-d through His Son, our Savior, our Messiah, Y’shua Jesus. And that’s the real point anyway. One person, reached and changed.
For there comes a day when all people of Earth will give account of themselves before the Judgement Seat of Y’shuaJesus, LORD and JUDGE and REDEEMER. After that, the revived will feast with Y’shua at a banquet that won’t end. Then the real party will begin.
“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts” – Psalm 145 v 4
Kaleidoscope. It’s just a tube with mirrors and pieces of colored glass. One looks in one end and light enters the other. The tube is rotated and the viewer “observes beautiful forms,” which is what kaleidoscope means.
Our lives are kaleidoscopes, and should we dare to examine them, we see lots of beautiful forms. As we begin to make sense and find meaning in the larger picture the forms create, the tube of our world turns and those beautiful forms become a confused mess once again, or so it seems. That’s life, as is so often said. C’est la vie. To maintain an equilibrium we need some stability. Let the world try to disorient us, ever changing and reordering the colored chips of glass rattling around in the kaleidoscope of our lives. We can cleave to a Rock, to the One Who is the Rock of our Salvation—Y’shua Ha Mashiach, Jesus The Messiah. For as Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
1 Corinthians 14:33
I like this word—Reach. There’s “Reach for the Stars,” “Reach Out and Touch Someone,” and “Reach your Goals.” All clichés, though good ones. I think often in sailing terms. A reach is a point of sail. Points of sail are the angles of the wind coming over the boat relative to the bow.
Points of Sail. Courtesy of School of Sailing Net
Close Reach. When the wind comes from just forward of the boat’s centerline this is a close reach. This point of sail is considered to make the best use of the wind, and be the fastest point of sail. Trimming the sails is critical for speed in this point of sail.
Reach. Wind coming across the centerline is a reach. Sail trim is still critical. In a ruff sea, with waves breaking, this would be a very dangerous point of sail, as a wave can knock a boat down.
Broad Reach. When the wind comes just aft, or behind, the centerline it is a broad reach. With this point of sail, trimming of the sail is much less critical.
Trimming the sails. No, this is not done with scissors. It’s not like trimming a turkey, either. It’s making small adjustments to all sails so that the boat most efficiently uses the wind, producing maximum speed.
Take a look at the diagram. When the wind is straight ahead, coming across the bow, there is no sailing possible. If my destination is directly ahead, and the wind comes from that direction, too, I can’t sail that way. That doesn’t mean I can’t get there, however. It means I will need to sail either to the right or to left by about 40 degrees or so. I will sail that way for a while, then sail in the other direction for a while. This will make a zig-zag course making slower progress to my destination, but still making getting there possible.
So what’s it all mean if you’re not a sailor? Take “Reach for your goal,” for instance. You’re looking straight at your goal, but their are obstacles in the way. “You can’t get there from here!” You’re not suppose to be discouraged. Just find a way through, or over, or around, the obstacles. Great. You set your sight on another intermediate goal, and head that way. If you loose sight of your overall goal, how do you know when to turn? How do you know the direction to take after you turn? You need guidance. You need help. You need to know where you are, and you need to know when you are at a point at which you may turn toward your goal.
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
—Psalm 121: 1,2.
As a child, much of our direction, our guidance, came from our parents, or other guardians in our lives. As adults, many people develop relationships with other people whom they can trust. But when we are alone, no family, no friends, from where will our help come? The Psalmist writes that we are to look to the LORD, the One Who made Heaven and Earth. And while adults most often have help in their friends if they are available, as the following commentary points out, “one should turn only to G-d for assistance.
“Psalm 121, which ranks among the more famous chapters of Tehillim, is recited in Sephardic communities each evening during the Arvit service, and is also customarily recited during any time of danger or potentially dangerous situation, including long trips. Indeed, the opening verses vividly capture the Jewish perspective on how to respond during times of trouble: “I raise my eyes to the mountains – from where shall my help come? My help is from God…” The message of this chapter is, simply enough, that one should turn only to God for assistance. Rather than look around “to the mountains” in search of help, one need only to lift his eyes to his Father in heaven and beseech Him for protection.
“This Psalm mentions a number of aspects of God’s protection that set it fundamentally apart from the protection that human beings can afford. For one thing, He is the “Maker of heaven and earth” (verse 2) and thus has unlimited power over the world, such that He is capable of rescuing a person from any predicament. Additionally, the Almighty “neither sleeps nor slumbers” (verse 4); human guards are only as effective as their limited supply of strength and stamina, while the “Guardian of Israel” offers endless protection. Similarly, God can protect “from now and forever” (verse 8), as opposed to human guardians whose physical strength gradually declines until they eventually pass on. God’s protection has no limits in time or substance, and it is thus His protection one should endeavor to invoke when facing danger or crisis.”
—Daily Tehillium
Let us reach out to the Lord Y’shuaJesus for assurance of our position, for the direction to head, for assistance in finding our true goal, the goal of our life.
Jonah’s Song 