HOLD FAST!

In 2 Kings, we read about the Syrian army besieging the city of Samaria. The Syrians simply camped outside the city, waiting for the Samaritans to starve. Conditions grew so desperate that women were offering their children to be boiled for food. It was sheer insanity (see 2 Kings 6:24-33).

Four lepers who were living by the city gates finally said to themselves, “Why are we sitting here until we die?... Now, therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die” (2 Kings 7:3–4, NKJV). There was such despair. They saw no way through this trial. They didn’t believe God’s word that he would save them, so they were ready to surrender themselves to their enemies.

When they arrived in the Syrian camp, everything was deathly still. They searched every tent, but everyone was gone. Scripture explains, “For Yehovah had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses; the noise of a great army…. Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact; their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives” (2 Kings 7:6–7).

When the lepers realized this, they went throughout the camp eating and drinking, and then they started hiding the great treasures Yehovah had provided.

“Then they said to one another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us…’ So they went and called the gatekeepers of the city…” (2 Kings 7:9-10). Yehovah had turned the whole terrible conditions around and had given resources to restore and refresh His people. It was an enormous victory, but it wasn’t meant to touch only a few people. These blessings were meant to be shared.

Those who are Yehovah’s people are promised glorious victory over the enemy, but His work on our behalf isn’t meant to stop with us.

Yehovah, your God, and Father wants you to know, “I am going to make you more than an overcomer. I’m working out an even greater purpose in you according to my plan. You are intended to bring my blessings to countless people who are under the shadow of despair and death. You will bring them the good news message to all peoples that I gave to my uniquely begotten son to give to you!”

Indeed, we have a great responsibility to share what Yehovah our God, and our Father has given us to share with others. It is a message of deliverance from the bondage to sin and the freedom that comes when a man/woman joins themselves to the Messiah Jesus, who became a sin-offering sacrifice enabling Yehovah to reconcile us and all humanity to Himself!

Conditions in this world are making life increasingly difficult and all the things that Jesus prophecied to take place are happing now in this end time.  Matthew 24:7-13: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom [this is happening now]: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places [this is taking place now and will increase much more. This pandemic - pestilence we are experiencing now is only the beginning, there will be more coming soon!]

Notice: All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Brothers and sisters in some parts of the world disciples of the Messiah Jesus are being afflicted, hated, and killed for believing in Jesus' name. False prophets [false preachers] are already deceiving many. Iniquity is already abounding all over the world - it is becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah. So the warning to believers to endure unto the end applies now, today - to endure is to strive to enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33: ... seek you first the kingdom of God)

Notice Matthew 24:14: ... this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Truly we have a grave responsibility to preach and publish the good news gospel that Yehovah has given to us through His son. We can be a light in the darkness that now is increasingly overshadowing this sick and dying world. Are we going to be prepared spiritually, physically, and mentally for what is coming just around the corner? Realizing that the only way we can hold fast to the end is by the enabling power of the indwelling presence of our God and Father Yehovah. HOLD FAST!

THE SPOILS OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Many Christians think that once they’re saved, their struggles are over, that life will be smooth sailing. Nothing could be further from the truth. God not only allows our battles, but he has a glorious purpose for them in our lives.

What are “spoils of warfare”? Spoils are plunder or goods taken in battle by the victors. David had a reverent attitude toward spoils taken in warfare. We see it in a decree he set forth toward the end of his life. He gathered the nation’s leaders together to set up a divine order for sustaining God’s house. What resources would they use for this holy work? “Some of the spoils won in battles they dedicated to maintain the house of Yehovah” (1 Chronicle 26:27, ESV).

After every military victory, David took back spoils of gold, silver, brass, timber, money too vast to count, and he stockpiled them with one purpose in mind: to use these spoils as resources for building the temple.

When scripture speaks of maintaining the temple, the original Hebrew means “to repair the house, to strengthen and consolidate what was built.” These resources were meant to create and maintain the temple’s splendor.

Where is God’s temple today? His Temple is made up of His people: you, me, and His called-out Assembly worldwide. According to Paul, our bodies are temples of the holy spirit (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). Like ancient Israel, Yehovah still maintains His temple through spoils gained in battle. That’s why our trials are meant to be more than just survival. Through every battle, God is laying aside resources and wealth for us. Those spoils are dedicated to building up and maintaining His body, the called-out Assembly of Jesus the Messiah.

Here is the principle God wants us to lay hold of: Yehovah is interested in much more than simply making us victors. We’re to emerge from battle with wagonloads of resources. This is what Paul refers to when he says, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

We find this principle of “supply through the battle” throughout God’s Word. God’s house remained vibrant and alive because His people have emerged from every conflict not just victorious but rich in resources.

By David Wilkerson (1931-2011) and edited by Bruce Lyon

OUR GOD AND FATHER IS LOOKING FOR DISCIPLES LIKE TIMOTHY

Paul wrote to Timothy: “For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

Two chapters later, Paul says “But understand this, that in the last days there will come perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1). In the last days, there will be perilous times coming on the face of the earth.

What does discipleship look like in times of turmoil and oppression? When Paul wrote to this young man in 2 Timothy, he was in prison and he was warning that perilous times were about to be unleashed not only around the world but in Ephesus.

Paul’s prediction came true for Timothy; it wasn’t long after that that Emperor Domitian set up his capital in Ephesus, and he required that all who came to Ephesus burn incense to him. They had to put a little bit of ash on their arm and forehead afterward to say, “I just burned incense to King Domitian.” Then they would go into the marketplace where they bought food, clothes to keep warm, and coal for cooking meals for their children and families. Unless these people had sacrificed to Domitian and put the mark on their foreheads or hands, they couldn’t enter the market where all of these vital supplies for everyday living were sold. Is this a forecast of the mark of the Beast?

In the last days, there are going to be difficult, perilous times, and you have to hold fast: 2 Timothy 1:13: Hold fast the form of sound words, which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in the Messiah Jesus.

You have to strive to be holy, but it’s going to cost you. We must live our lives as dead to self and totally committed to obeying all the words that Yehovah gave to His anointed one Jesus to give to us!

Paul was asking Timothy to have a fearless spirit in the midst of a perilous time. He was telling him, “You are to be a different type of disciple.”

“As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it….  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14, 16-17).

Yehovah - God has promised to equip us to know how to go forward through His word. As we grow in exercising the indwelling power that God has put in us we can move forward with a spirit of power and righteousness [the righteousness of the Messiah Jesus in us], we will be ready to face the days of evil and oppression.

Notice: It is by the enabling indwelling power of Yehovah that we can walk through this sin-sick world on the path He wants us to walk on as we move towards entering into His Kingship and Kingdom!

Psalm 7:10: My defense is of Yehovah, who saves the upright in heart.

Psalm 31:2: Bow down your ear to me; deliver me speedily: be you my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me.

Psalm 59:9: Because of His strength will I wait upon you: for Yehovah is my defense.

Psalm 59:16: But I will sing of your power; yea, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning: for you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.

Psalm 59:17: Unto you, O my strength, will I sing: for Yehovah is my defense, and the God of my mercy.

Psalm 62:1-2: Truly my soul waits upon Yehovah: from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

Psalm 62:6:  He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense; I shall not be moved.

Psalm 89:18: For Yehovah is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

Psalm 94:22: ... Yehovah is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge.

DELIGHT

Yehovah’s great dream expressed often in the Scriptures is: “I will be your God, and you shall be my people.” God has always yearned for this loving relationship with man/woman and has ensured that in the end, it will be so. David is one who understood God’s desire and shared the same devotion in return. David’s passion for Yehovah, well documented in his writing, stands like a lighthouse for those who want a similar relationship with their God. He wrote, “You will make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16:11). David communicated his concern regarding the sin committed with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:11 - “Cast me not away from your presence; and take not your holy spirit from me.” Being in the presence of Yehovah meant everything to him; therefore more than most, he lived a God-full life. Consider David’s words from Psalm 119:

Ps 119:16   I shall delight in your statutes; I shall not forget your word.

Ps 119:24   Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors.

Ps 119:35   Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

Ps 119:47   I shall delight in your commandments, which I love.

Ps 119:70   Their heart is covered with fat, but I delight in your law.

Ps 119:77   …for your law is my delight.

Ps 119:174   I long for Your salvation, O YEHOVAH, and Your law is my delight.

One of my grandchildren is in the stage that grandpa is pretty desirable, so he wants me to hold him often, and he still enjoys sitting on my lap. It may seem that I favor this child more than others; however, I love all seven of our grandchildren equally. The child, not me, has determined the closeness of our relationship. He wants me to hold him, and he wants to sit on my lap.

I would love it if all the children did the same; sorrowfully, however, grandpa affection is a passing stage in child development. In like manner, Yehovah desires for all His children to sit on His lap, but He does not force us to want Him. Men like David enjoyed an intimate relationship with Yehovah because they wanted it enough that they took the time to allow Yehovah to hold them.

Adam and Eve hid from the presence of Yehovah after they sinned. Cain’s sinful consequence was expulsion from the presence of Yehovah. God told Moses that His presence would go with him. Moses told Yehovah, “If your presence goes not with me, carry us not up from here.” All those who enjoyed an intimate relationship with Yehovah wanted it more than they wanted anything else. Do you want to sit on God’s lap?

Written by Vince Finnigan founder of Living Hope: https://lhim.org/; edited by Bruce Lyon

WHAT IS THE CURSE OF THE LAW?

It is what happens when one cannot obey all that the Law of Moses requires. James says if you break one point of the law you have broken all of it. The law was given to show that man cannot do anything to gain salvation outside of looking to the lord Jesus the anointed one and obeying all the words that his God and Father Yehovah gave to him to give to us!

Galatians 2:16: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus the anointed one, even we have believed in Jesus the anointed one, that we might be justified by the faith of the anointed one, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Galatians 3:10: For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. No man has kept the works of the law perfectly except the lord Jesus the Messiah; all others have failed to do so.

Galatians 3:13: The Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:

Great mercy and wonderful grace!

Why was the law given?

Galatians 3:19: Wherefore then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed [God's anointed One] should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator [Moses].

Notice: Galatians 3:22-25: But the scripture has concluded all under sin that the promise by the faith of Jesus the Messiah might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should be revealed afterward. Wherefore; the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto the anointed one, that we might be justified [declared not guilty before God's throne] by faith. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

What are we to do now?

Galatians 5:1: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith the Messiah has made us free, and don't become entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

What amazing grace our God has provided for us in His beloved uniquely begotten son Jesus, His anointed one!