Steps to Yahweh Likeness: # 1

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Also, read Deuteronomy 8.

The foundation of a house is its strength. If the foundation is weak, the house will eventually fall. Read Matthew 7:24-27. The foundation is the basis for what everything else is built upon. This commandment that is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, is the foundation of the Kingdom of God. Matthew 22:37-40, “Yashua said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ Also, read Mark 12:29-34.

God commands us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.

Love God with all your heart. The Hebrew word for heart is “lebab” (Strong’s #H3834). “Lebab” means – inner man, mind, heart, soul, understanding

Love God with all your soul. The Hebrew word for soul is “nephesh” (Strong’s # H5315) “Nephesh” means-1) soul, self, life, creature, person, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.2) that which breathes, the breathing substance of being, the inner being of man.3) living being (with life in the blood)

Love God with all your strength. The Hebrew word for strength is “m@`od” (Strong’s # H3966). “M@`od” means- exceedingly, much, might, force, abundance.

God commands us to keep these words in our heart and to teach them diligently to our children.

Diligent- constant, careful, effort, perseverance, working hard and carefully, steady effort.

Like a printing press, God wants us to print His ways on the hearts and minds of our children. God said we shall talk of them:

1) when you sit in your house…

2) when you walk by the way…

3) when you lie down…

4) when you rise up…

5) and they should be bound all around you and all that you own

Notice that the words teach, talk, sit, walk, lie, and rise are all action words. God is commanding us, not asking us, to physically act upon His commands. Like a poker game, God wants us all in, holding nothing back. He wants us to have total love, obedience, faith and trust in everything he says and does. God doesn’t want us to hold back any chips. He wants us all in, or nothing at all.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (the world).” Matthew 6:24

The Lord our God is a jealous God. Read Joshua 24:1-28 and Exodus 34:14. God doesn’t want any other Gods to come before Him. What are other God’s that we put before Yahweh? They are family, careers, fame, riches, material possessions, video games, sports, lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. If you truly want to enter into God’s kingdom and want your children to love and obey God, then you must saturate your every day experiences with thoughts and actions built on the foundation of the kingdom of God. Leviticus 19:2 says “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”

1 John 2:3-4 "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

Absolute Truth

Russian Commander General Miltonovich Alighieri confirmed today that a cyperspace XB320 satellite has found what appears to be a stone tablet beneath the Arctic ice. Commander General Alighieri said a team of the world's greatest scientist are working round the clock to recover the tablet. Team leader, Dr. John Dante, said they believe the stone will reveal what man has been searching for since the beginning of time, which is" Absolute Truth."

Dr. Dante said that while attempting to penetrate the ice an unusual event took place. A arctic Dodo Bird walked up to the team of scientist and just gazed at them for hours. At the very second that the stone was in reach of the greatest minds in the world, the Dodo bird began to speak. Dr. Dante said they thought the cold was affecting their power to reason and to think clearly.

The Dodo bird continued to talk asking over and over the same question. "Can you tell us what you're doing?" Dr. Dante said the team gave into their delusions and answered the bird. "We are about to recover the stone tablet that contains what all mankind have been searching for since the beginning of time- Absolute Truth."

The Dodo bird looked toward the heavens and said, "They call me a Dodo?" As he turned and walked away, he said with a voice that all could hear, "Listen, O men of the earth. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are all corrupt, they have done abominable works. There is none who does good." Psalm 53:1.

Even a Dodo bird knows that the only "Absolute Truth" is God's word.

Grace, Hope and the Cesspool

Grace, O Grace, amazing is God's Grace. I walk blindfolded through a field of cesspools and my outer being is stained with excrement of my sin. It's inevitable that I will fall deeper into my pit of sewage. The stench fills my inner being- my mind, heart, and soul. Deep within my sewage I call out, but no one hears my cries. Thoughts of drowning in my surrounding waste now consumes me. "Deliver me!" I cry deep within my spirit. Uncontrollably, I weep; for I know I have no hope. "Praise be to my LORD and GOD!" He hears me. His mercy throws me a rope of Grace; His Grace that I must grab hold of. His Grace pulls me out of the pit of waste and puts me on solid ground. He removes my blindfold. Shows me the way to His home. Tells me if I would stay straight on His path, a path that He has laid out for me, a prize would be given to me for being faithful. He says His home is a land and kingdom without cesspools. He says that I must heed the warning not to wear the blindfold. He tells me that next to the path that leads to His home there are sewage pits. He insists that I be aware of salesmen that are also along the path promising wonderful and exciting things. He tells me they will allure me by asking me to sample their new and improved cesspool. Temptations of something new and exciting overwhelm me. His promise of a prize for faithfully following His path consumes my core, and my eyes are fixed upon His home. I am so saturated by His thoughts and ways that nothing else matters. Step by step, closer to the hope of the promised prize, I now notice the salesmen are mute and the echoes of a celebration are getting louder. The journey is long, very long. The path is filled to the brim with danger on both sides. "O praise be to Him that pulled me out of my sewage pit!" Yes, I'm here standing at the gates ready to enter into His home. He invites me to sit at His table. Yes His table. The room that once was filled with uncontrollable celebration is now quiet. He looks into my eyes and tells me that I've done well and have been faithful. He tells me that my promised prize is the gift of immortality and to rule and reign with Him in His kingdom forever. I'm speechless. I fall to my knees and begin to weep. I praise Him for His mercy, grace and goodness that He showered upon me. He lifts me up and gives me a hug that only a daddy could give. Once again, He looks into my eyes and tells me, "You are my son. let's celebrate!" Praise be our GOD and KING, forever and forever!

God doesn't want a casual believer. Galatians 6:7-9 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

By God's grace the children of Israel were freed from Egyptian slavery. All but two (Joshua and Caleb) died in the wilderness because they sinned against God. So, why do we think that because we are saved by grace we have a license to sin? Exodus 19:5-6 "We are to be a holy nation." Read Deuteronomy chapter 32- "It is your life and by this word you shall prolong your days." 1Peter 1:15-16 "..be holy, for I am holy."

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5

Called Out

"For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:24-26

Am I a Friend of God?

I am a friend of God. Really. Are you sure that you and God are friends?
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another." John 15:13-17. Yashua said, "You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you."

Yashua said that "If we abide in Him we are to bear much fruit. Anyone that doesn't abide in Him, will be cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."

Yashua commands us to love one another. Yashua didn't ask us for our opinion, or say, "Hey guy, would you maybe consider loving one another?" No. He commands us to be obedient to ALL His commandments and to walk in ALL His ways. If you're a friend of God, if you abide in Him, there's not an option. It's His way only!! Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:14 "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Yashua." To be a friend of God is to be in total agreement in ALL of His ways. There is NO option.

Posers and Pretenders

What does God say about posers and pretenders? Those that come to church and give all the outward appearance of walking in His ways inside the church, while outside the church they walk of the world. Seriously people, I feel what God is saying is, "Walk in My ways or don't." God doesn't want in-between people.

Revelation 3:15-16 says," I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

Listen to me- open your ears and hear what God is saying to us. If we are not hot for His ways then we make Him sick and we are vomit that He will spit out of His mouth. I think we need to daily check where we are with our walk.

Today I need to be honest with you LORD. If I am not hot for You, then fill me with your Spirit so I will be of You and not of the world. Am I a poser or pretender? Am I a lover of truth, obedient to ALL of Your commandments? Do I walk in all of Your ways.? Do people mistake me for Your Son Yashua? Am I vomit? These are questions that need to be answered.