January 30, 2024

***As a note of interest, the audio message goes into more detail for this message than space allows in this posted devotional.***

“You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”  deut 4:40 nkjv   Consider for just a moment, that Moses’s words [commandments] to the Children of Israel are not unlike the expectations Yahweh has of the new follower [believer] of Yeshua… is not the “land of faith” very similar to the promised land of Moses’s words… Which by comparison, I think, are a type and shadow of the times of New Testament believers, who would face similar challenges to their faith, as were the Children of Israel tested in their journey… and if you remember, of those twenty years old and older, only two survived the trials of faith that allowed them passage into the Promised land. Concerning this example, Paul told the Corinthians:

“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”  1Cor 10:11-13 nkjv

This caused me to ask the question, “How can we be faithful to Yahweh?” I think, like was expected of the Children of Israel, we must respect, honor and obey HIS Word [Commandments]. What if we do not know His Word? Is it not incumbent upon us to consult His Word with sincere and honest hearts?

Suppose our “church” traditions and dogma has blurred the lines of truth? Are we in a false comfort zone… and do we find it difficult to extract ourselves from all the disagreeable friends and family who challenge our questioning the status quo? And further, what if we come to believe our lifestyle and indulgences would prevent us from clean and upright fellowship with Yeshua… “if you love me, Keep my commandments…” What then? Do we dare drag our filthy disrespcting attitude concerning our careless ways to Him expecting "grace" to allow us to keep wallowing in the cespool of sin? Walking with Yeshua is truly a new way of thinking and making decisions that have monumental consequences [with those we love and with a Holy God]. What is the price for following Yeshua? Consider these words of Moses as he warns the Children of Israel late in his time, prior to his death and their crossing Jordan into Canaan [Promised Land]:

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;”  deut 30:19 nkjv  notice this is not a suggestion… what then is it?

It revolves around the word “choose” [we must make many choices and they will define our eternal destiny]. You see, Yahweh [Torah] makes the rules… we can only make choices. Are you OK with this? It can’t be changed; Yeshua said, “heaven and earth will pass away by not my word…”   mat 24:35 nkjv, mat 5:18 nkjv

What if fear of consequences bewilder our thinking… Do we trust Yahweh to see us through… Is His Holy Spirit welcome in our thinking process? The Spirit of Truth has been provided to us for a need such as this. What if we want to do the right thing but fail? Paul the Apostle address this and much more in Romans Chapter 7. He closes the chapter with these words: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”  rom 7:24-25 nkjv

Then comes those powerful and faithful words… “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  rom 8:1-4 nkjv

I think Paul’s letter to the Romans is one of the greatest pieces of literature of all times… nothing explains life by faith, escape from the clutches of sin, and hope for eternal life better than it. I think reading it can heal one’s troubled soul, especially one who has been battered by the condemning blabber of the evil one who tries to keep that one from freedom provided by the blood of Yeshua… It’s not garlic that drives evil away… it’s the Blood of Yeshua.

Shalom, John