ESV uses the word Bless. “Blessed is the man. . .” The Hebrew word is generally translated fortunate.
“One who is fortunate,” has the traits* we read in the Psalm: Fears GOD; Delights in GOD’s commandments; Has mighty offspring; Is among a blessed generation; Is wealthy; Has an enduring righteousness; Light dawns in the darkness; Is gracious, merciful, and righteous; Deals generously and lends; Conducts affairs justly; Is never be moved; Will be remembered forever; Is not afraid of bad news; Has a firm heart; Trusts in LORD; Has a Steady heart; Has no fear; Triumphs over adversaries; Distributes freely in giving to the poor; Is exalted in honor.
Traits makes me thing of something we are born with, like blue eyes or blond hair. But as I thought about it, perhaps we ARE born with traits that enable us to fear GOD and at least somewhat fulfill the list. Or perhaps we inherit those traits when we come to Fear GOD.
A Gentile Believer, coming to know Jesus, is born again. Perhaps then those traits are inherited—granted.
Just a Thought.
Then maybe being blessed is just another word for: Saved and being Sanctified.
We are blessed by GOD’s freely-given salvation. A salvation not earned, not merited, but given by blood sacrifice.
We turn from our old lives, turn to GOD: repentance. We are delivered from ourselves, to start over for GOD: born again. We’re given new traits, and we start a life-long journey learning to use them for the esteem of GOD—that GOD may be held in esteem throughout this world.
I pray we can walk exhibiting all those traits, generously, in the strength and power of GOD Spirit.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon and though you all.
* Traits is the word used in a commentary on iTorah.com.
What does it mean to be blessed? Occasionally, I’ll hear someone say something like “Have a blessed day!” Or when asked casually ”How are you?” might respond “Blessed!” While it’s nice, it might just be a sort of automated response, without a lot of thought given to it, or an expectation of a response or a reaction.
I wonder what would happen if I looked closely into the person’s eyes and asked “What would be a blessed day for me?” I would not, though. It might not go well. It might inhibit the person from ever blessing another person, a person craving some Word to come into his or her life and soul.
I remember Cindy, whom I met while working on a wildfire. She shared with me that she was in a horrible situation, trapped, desperate. Yet she simply didn’t believe she was worth helping out of it. Cindy told me an older woman approached her one day and said “GOD loves you!” Nothing more. Nothing more needed. Cindy’s soul was pierced that day. It wasn’t long before our LORD rescued her, getting her into a Christian shelter. She gave her soul to Jesus.
No, it is a lovely thing for GOD’s True Believers to bless brethren and the Worldly with a Word. Just one is enough if Spirit pierces the armor of the soul.
But my question persists. What does it mean to be Blessed?
Stay Tuned! Lord willin’ I’ll be allowed a part two.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine . . . And give you His Word to pass on to a lost and quietly desperate generation.
The Apostles, in their letters, wrote both doctrine and practical instructions. Many instructions were to counter problems within a newly established group of believers.
These new believers were coming out of a hedonistic, idolatrous, pagan social structure and, while doing fairly well, needed some further encouragement in various matters, both spiritual and physical.
“The basic desire for each of us should be to please God. That’s the key to the Christian life,” wrote Pastor Chuck Smith in a sermon on this chapter (1 Thessalonians 4) of Paul’s epistle. This overarching principle provides a wonderful framework for all believers. It was taught to the believers directly by Apostle Paul in his first visit there. It was reemphasized in his letter to them. Pastor Smith said it’s “the key to the Christian life.” Not just a key. It is “the key.”
One could ask: “What exactly is the Christian life? What does it look like?” The way Apostle Paul puts it: we are to “. . .aspire to live quietly, and to mind” our “own affairs, and to work with” our “hands so that” we “may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” —1 Thessalonians 4:11.12.
Pastor Smith put it this way: “Now this means to live sort of a quiet life. You know, with some people everything is a crisis, and they live from one crisis to the next. But he says, ‘Study to be . . . just live a quiet life.’ And that really is a simple life, and we need to learn to just live a simple life, a quiet life.”
Jesus spoke about living an abundant life, for which He came to give those who would believe in Him. When I think of abundance, I think first off of having more than enough of something. Food comes to mind immediately. I like food, mostly. Brussel sprouts might be an exception, but with enough hot sauce . . .
That’s as far as I got. It’s not from a scrap of paper; it’s from an unfinished post I’d saved to a flash drive a few years ago. Calmer times, those were. I hardly recall now, as things had not yet fallen apart; there was a “center” holding together this world. It was but a short time ago, yet like a dream those days fade into oblivion.
The other day I listened to a sermon by David Wilkerson given at Times Square Church a few years after America’s 911 wake up call. He spoke of more, and worse, disasters coming upon America. One of the things he reiterated is that our focus in times such as these should not be on physical preparations, for the answer is Spiritual.
Our quiet and abundant life isn’t necessarily in the physical world in which we live. It is in our right standing with our Father in Heaven through our Savior Jesus, Son of GOD and Son of Man. Proven through history, recorded to show us, GOD saves His People. Those who have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That Life is the life that will be calm and filled abundantly. We partake in it today, amid pending chaos in America, in a very unique Spiritual way, by the power of GOD’s Spirit dwelling within us in fullness.
John the Immerser called us to repentance; now the Living GOD calls us to a Baptism of His Spirit through which we may lead that quiet and abundant life despite storms that devastate, plagues that sicken, and conflicts that wound. . . or kill.
Here’s something I posted in 2013, which I thought about after reading Pastor Wild’s post. I share it again here:
“What the World Needs Now Is Love” is a 1965 popular song with lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach. First recorded and made popular by Jackie DeShannon, it was released on April 15, 1965, on the Imperial label after a release on sister label Liberty records the previous month was canceled. The song reached number 7 on the US charts in May of that year. (source: Wikipedea)
Twenty-eight years ago today, Jackie DeShannon released the song that cried out a prayer for love.
Lord, we don’t need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross
Enough to last ’til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some, oh, but just for every, every, everyone
While true for today as for the sixties, the call for love didn’t begin with Jakie DeShannon’s song. G-d commanded love, way back when:
“. . .you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” (Lev 19:18)
The Apostle Paul wrote quite a bit about love. Here are some sample quotes:
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10)
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
(Romans 13:8)
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Romans 13:9)
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10)
Isn’t it love that will counter lawlessness? Isn’t love that will bring peace and happiness? Perhaps. But before we can have love, before we can have peace, before we can have happiness, we must:
“. . .seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
(Matthew 6:33)
Perhaps that’s the problem. We want love, we want peace, we want happiness, but we don’t seek the Lord while He can be found.
Recently, a young man on his way home from work, picked up his two children from a day care/learning center as he had many times before. This man went home and dropped the two children off with his pregnant wife, and went out into the woods and killed himself.
Why? I tried to find news of it in the local paper. Nothing. I looked at the crime blotter for the county. Nothing. There are too many other “more important” events to report.
The Last Days. It’s on a lot of minds these days. Wars. Ebola. Islamic Terrorists. Rampant Crime. How could we not think that these are the Last Days. Yet, in all sincerity, as a human race we’ve had wars, famine, plague, and more than enough crime. The past looks pretty ugly. And yet, the mass of men, living lives of quiet desperation (thanks HD Thoreau) just kept on living. “Eat, Drink, Be Merry, for Tomorrow We May Die!” is the prevailing motto. This is the paradigm in which we, as Earth-dwellers live.
That’s what the Days of Noah were all about. Just going on despite the violence they perpetrated or experienced. That’s my sense of it all. We talk of the Last Days, but do we really believe it is here? Reading Genesis chapter six tells of G-d’s disappointment with the sin of the people. They’d become a real pain [ in King James English that was translated as G-d repenting of His creation] to Him. It’s Y’shuaJesus’s view of those times that opens things up for me.
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:36-39
Generally, people are simple unaware. Period. Sure, we occasionally get a Chicken Little running about yelling, “The sky is falling. The sky is falling.” And lots of things point to toward the Last Days. But we largely ignore the signs. We go on marrying, eating, living, dying. And maybe that’s okay, too. Maybe our lives are meant simply to be lived, that we just need to be good and do good, in the capacity that we find ourselves. Maybe that’s enough. But in the Days of Noah, the people were violent, sinful, because they’d lost their view of G-d. They’d forgotten G-d. The people of Israel, years later, did the same thing. A judge would arise, chosen by G-d to turn the hearts and minds of the people back to G-d–and to vanquish the enemy that had come against Israel. Than the judge would die and the people would again forget.
What I think. . . maybe. . . it’s okay to go on marrying, eating, and going to church weekly or whatever; but we need to turn our eyes toward the Heavens, we need to turn our eyes toward the Lord. The Lord must be the center. For if the Lord is the Center, then the Center will hold and our lives won’t fall apart.
Awake in the morning rejoicing G-d; go to bed at night thanking G-d for another mundane, ordinary day living for and through Him. And if at night we hear a voice calling our name. . . Listen Up! Look Up!
Santa Claus arrives, accompanied by his elves, on his sleigh pulled by reindeer at the climax of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on November 27, 2008. The intersection seen here is 57th and Broadway. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Thanksgiving had not yet come and stores were already playing Christmas music while displays were changed. Red ribbons and green garnish added to shelves along with tinsel and pine branches. And now that Thanksgiving is over, there is a flurry of activity and more music. SirusXM satellite radio will devote several channels exclusively to Christmas music. Regular stations will emphasize Christmas music. It won’t be long before all the restaurants will play Christmas music, some too loudly. And the advertisements all include the Christmas theme. From the posters in the windows to radio and television ads, we are inundated with the message that we must BUY, BUY, BUY if we are to have a jolly old Christmas.
Well-meaning Christians try there best to include something about Y’shuaJesus among their own decorations. So we find Nativity scenes with Santa Claus and raindeer and elves and other mythical creatures celebrating. Occasionally I see a sticker plastered on a car that proclaims, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” Well-meaning, but to me so misled, so utterly wrong. For these are the same Christians that teach their children about Santa Claus, and in a few months will teach them about the Easter Bunny. Then one day those kids will find out the truth, there’s neither a Santa nor is there a Bunny who lays eggs. Will they conclude then that there’s no Jesus either?
It’s all just plain wrong. And it makes me sad. It makes me feel badly. It’s all such perversion. It reminds me of people selling stuff the the Temple of the Lord our G-d in Jerusalem around two thousand years ago. And I’m reminded of what Y’shuaJesus did there.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
John 2:13-17 (NIV)
This Christmas season is suppose to commemorate the birth of the Messiah, yet it is not even the time of the year that Y’shuaJesus was born. Christmas is celebrated at the Winter Solstice, a very Pagan holiday. And it was the Roman Catholic Church, the only church at the time, that selected and promoted this Christmas thing. It all begins with a lie and becomes a commercial venture. If Christmas were a truly Christian Celebration, then why would non-Christians join in the celebration? Do non-Believers take communion with Believers? Do non-believers sing with Believers the worship songs to the Lord?
And besides, when we were instructed to remember Y’shuaJesus, we were to remember that He is the bread of our lives, and His blood was shed for us and for our salvation . . .
Y’shuaJesus is not a baby laying in a manger. Y’shuaJesus is LORD.
Second Coming Jesus 22 (Photo credit: Waiting For The Word)
And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white like wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it had been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. And in His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
(Revelation 1:12-18).
When we see Y’shuaJesus, we aren’t asking any questions–like one of the women in that CNN program about women returning from the dead. If we don’t fall at his feet like dead men and women, we at the least will sit mouths dropped in awe. For Y’shuaJesus, born in a cradle, is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and at His coming:
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
. . . I pull myself out of bed early to prepare the day. Make oatmeal for my wife, who just hopped into the shower. Let the dogs outside. Set out some things for my wife to make a salad for lunch. Cut up an apple, put it in a baggie for my wife to take with her on her drive to her office. Make sure my daughter is getting up. She is almost out of bed. Return the the kitchen. Make two turkey and cheese breakfast burritos and pour a glass of orange juice. That’s my daughter’s breakfast, which I take to her. Room Service. Knock on her brother’s door, ensure he’s getting out of bed.
Now, at last, coffee for me in the kitchen. Read Psalm 118.
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!
Psalm 118:24,25
Pray a praise for the Psalms. Pray for the family, immediate and extended. See my wife off. Clean up the counter, put away salad items. Daughter comes into the kitchen, ready to go. Son follows, wanting breakfast, which earlier he’d declined. He pours cereal into a bowl. It Will Be To Go, Right! I say.
All in the truck, we drive merrily toward their school, radio plays Country tunes today. Near the school, wait at a signal light for the left-turn arrow. An electrical company van in front of us is two car lengths behind the car in front of him. The arrow is green. The van doesn’t move. Honk! Not beep. HONK! Son says I over reacted. Says I drive like him, slow. Explain there’s a difference. Van needed to know it is time to drive, PERIOD. Son says again I over react, that I do it all the time. He is now getting under my skin. Feeling irritated. Annoyed.
Drop the kids at their high school. Drive toward home. Long stretch of two-lane road with 45 mph speed limit. Another van, mini-van, in front of me. Drives 35. No passing zone. Finally, I’m turning just ahead. Arg! He turns where I’m turning. We turn. Okay to pass now. Pass. Zoom past. Drive 48 now. Leave him in the dust. Don’t feel better. Worse, actually.
Home. Irritated. Annoyed. Lord?
Oatmealraisins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I prepare my oatmeal and think to myself, “Maybe, it’s all because I’m not doing what I should be doing. It’s a reaction to not serving the Lord the way I should.” I’ve thought before that perhaps I need to return to the truck driving ministry.
Yet. . .
Ashamed. I was ashamed at my reaction to the utility van that wouldn’t go fast enough at the green light. Ashamed and didn’t want to feel the shame at having my boy point it out. So I became annoyed. I tried to explain it all away. I carried that irritation onto another van driving too slow for my taste.
Inhumanity is a horrible thing. Being truly human is being truly perfect. Some how, having been around six decades now, I should know better. Should behave better. I should be perfectly human in all ways. Especially in driving. I’m a professional driver, after all. I have a commercial driver license. I can drive the big rigs. I’m good at it, too.
Ego wants me to think of myself as perfected. PRIDE! I sorta keep forgetting I’m a sinner saved by Grace. Humanity is perfection. Inhumanity is flesh.
But, all is not lost. There’s a song I recall that has a line that sums it up the hope, “He’s not finished with me yet.”
By G-d’s grace we are saved from the punishment we deserve for our sin. By G-d’s mercy we are blessed with good things, things we didn’t earn.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Photo credit: Chiot’s Run)
Children, we are. We stumble. We fall. He picks us up. He washes our face. He says it’ll be okay. Then He gives us an oatmeal cookie! Praise His Holy Name!
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon y’all throughout this beautiful week.
Brandy is our first dog. She’s a “sweetheart,” as most describe her, and is now nearly nine years old. We got her as a puppy from a group who rescues dogs. She’s a mixed breed: Golden Retriever and Shetland Sheepdog. At the same time we got Brandy, we got a kitten that is named Tabby. They’ve been raised together, but give each other plenty of room. Tabby hisses at Brandy once and a while, which scares Brandy. A year ago we picked up another rescued dog, Sina (pronounced SHE-NAH). Now Sina doesn’t give into Tabby at all, and from day one, Tabby gives Sina plenty of room. Hum. Guess Tabby got what was coming to her. Now, occasionally, Sina chases her around. Sina doesn’t hurt Tabby, just likes to sniff at her. Sina seems to understand Tabby is part of the household. Though they’re still not buddies, exactly.
Sina is a good hunter, and eats squirrels and rabbits she finds out back. She’ll see a rabbit on the other side of the fence, and has not problem heading over it to chase it. Brandy, on the other hand, chases squirrels and rabbits but doesn’t have a clue what to do with them. One day she chased one around the yard and it finally got stuck trying to get under the corral fence. Brandy just stood there looking at the poor thing until I came out to help it get away. Sina would have eaten it without a sidewards glance.
Brandy likes to talk tough, though. One day, barking up a storm after seeing something in the back, I let her out just to shut her up. She flew down the stairs then out through the garden to the fence that runs along a creek. It wasn’t two minutes and she was back at the door whining to get in. I opened the door and Brandy sulked in, tail between her legs, and went into hiding. I think she barked at a coyote hunting the creek.
This morning when I came into the kitchen, Brandy and Sina lay on a rug together. Tabby lay under a dining table about five feet away. They had a truce going, I suppose. What popped into my head was that there is a time coming when the lion lays with the lamb. To me it means there’s no longer conflict. And I’m just a little tired of conflict. It’s in all the soap opera-style television shows, especially the “reality” shows. And the traffic, whew! People cutting people off, and I’ve mentioned how frustrated and irritated I get, and how upset I am with myself when I participate myself. I should somehow be better than all that.
There’s the crime that seems so rampant in our “modern” society. It means we have built up our local sheriff to be a military operation ready for combat.
Israel Intifada 1986-87 photo by Wil Robinson
Which brings me to real combat, real conflict. The Earth is at war. World War III. It seems everyone is against someone. And being an American, if feels like every one is against the United States. Jealousy? I really think so. But it’s not just us. At one time there were 80 or so wars going on in different places around the globe. Most were not reported on in the world media: too small. For instance, While I was in Darjeeling a number of years ago the Gurkha “patriots” were fighting against India for their own place in the world. On the opposite border of India, in Kashmir, there were constant clashes with the Indian Army. And India and Pakistan have been at war seemingly forever. When lines were drawn by colonial powers, like the British, they lumped a lot of cats and dogs together, so to speak.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Romans 8:19-21
And so we groan, too, to be set free. And through Lord Y’shuaJesus, Messiah, we have been spiritually set free and in time shall be physically free from the conflict of this world. Until then we Praise the Name of Y’shuaJesus, and say “Maranatha! Come, Lord, Come!”
In the Lone Star state trouble is brewing. Again. It seems some cheerleaders are making signs with Bible quotes written on them like:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
Who indeed is against them? Well, it seems that there is a group that wants America free from religion. The group, Freedom From Religion Foundation complained to the school district that the Kountze High School cheerleaders violated America’s First Amendment to its Constitution. This amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
The School District responded to the complaint by banning the signs. So, the cheerleaders sued, arguing that the ban violates their free speech rights, which are also guaranteed in the First Amendment. The Judge has allowed the cheerleaders to continue until he decides the case. The decision is expected today.
What struck me as fascinating is that this anti-religion group stated: “If the majority of the cheerleaders were atheists, would a court support their ‘right’ to hold up a banner insulting Christianity or all believers?”
Wait just minute. There’s a name for this type of argument. It’s a typical argument used by too many these days. It’s saying that apples are the same as oranges. I mean, really, are the cheerleaders insulting non-believers? No. But here’s the rub. There are people who will condemn the right of Christians to speak freely, while they continue to speak their way in public and in schools. [Evolution is a theory. It is one of many theories. But the schools teach it like it was Truth.]
And the cheerleaders didn’t even use the Name of our Lord. Oh, they wrote G-d with a capital letter. That’s the same thing, isn’t it? They’d have been heralded in the media if they’d just said something like, “Who can be against us if our higher power is for us?” But too often Christians, if not outrightly banned, are harrassed and jeered for their faith.
We live among a people of unclean lips. We live in a generation that has no regard for Messiah Y’shuaJesus. They speak about the mother earth, celebrate holidays like the upcoming satanic halloween [I will not capitalize either word, and yes, they go together.]. And cheerleaders in Austin, Texas, are banned from signs that use the word G-d. What would have happened if they’d have said “JESUS” in a sign? Would they have been arrested for a hate crime? [Oh, that’s right, America has not yet adopted such facist methods of control.]
But you know where all this is going, right? It is headed for a time when the world says conflict will end if we just have a world government and a world religion. Confict will end when those Jesus freaks stop their rantings and get with the program. Even the big-box churches are starting to come around and incorporate Eastern-style thought into their teachings. Meditation. Inviting New Age speakers to be on the same platform as their so-called preachers. I mean, isn’t Buddha a brother and equal to Y’shuaJesus, as is Mohammad. All propets right?
Yup, freedom of speech only applies to non-Believers. They won’t use the Name of the Lord Y’shuaJesus. Well, actually, often they do, but it is in vain. Hum. Isn’t that “hate speech” in itself?
I rant. Sorry. Check out the full article at CNSNews.
Jonah’s Song 