Refuge

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

Proverbs 18:10 RSV

Hebrew is a story language. Every letter has a message even before they come together to make words. The word for "tower" is migdal; (mem) waters, peoples, (gamel) bringing gifts -picture of the Spirit, (dalet) the door, (lamech) the shepherd. The strong tower pictures the place the Spirit brings the needy (the door pictures the needy who beg, Mt. 5:3) to the Shepherd of our souls. The name of YHVH is our strong tower, our refuge. Running to Him is where we find safety in the battle.

If your received a prayer poke from me today, September 28, then I am praying that you to know the safety of turning your face to Y'shua/Jesus. Run to him in the righteousness you have because of His blood and His word. When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee. Ps 56:3 He has brought you to the very place you find yourself today. It is no accident of circumstance that you face the issues of today. Run to him with them, in trust that He who loveed you enough to bleed out for your salvation. He has the answer and He is the answer. He does not get you through the battle "somehow" but rather, you come through with victory in Him. I am praying for you today that you know Him as your stronghold, that you remember his mercy, His grace. I pray that you do not fear that your righteousness is insufficient because Y'shua/Jesus Himself IS your righteousness. You can press forward today because He has prepared you for such a time as you face today. You might not feel it, but you can trust Him to know. Run to Him and be safe beloved!

For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Ps 27:1

…"The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." Ex 34:5-8

The Air I Breath

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.

The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 RSV

Receive- freely and deliberately accepted, bought by another.
Spiritual- pertaining to the nature of spirit (wind, breath)

We who believe have received the Breath of Elohiym, the Spirit of God. Messiah paid for the gift with his blood. With this gift we can begin to understand the gifts given to us by Elohiym/God. We can know how to live in the Grace of Faith.

The Wisdom of man is nothing more than his interpretation of his experience or his teachers. The world is filled with opinions. The world presents the same information to us. How we interpret the information is wildly different because of multiple factors. Each one does his best to understand how to respond to the circumstance and choices that come to us. Each person in the world wants to know how to live based on what they see, know, and experience. A toss of the dice, a guessing game at best, and at worst there is hate for those who choose a different way.

The grace of Elohiym/God has provided the way of truth. Truth is spiritually understood. The Word of God is truth. Before we choose to receive the Breath/Spirit of God, we might have looked at the Bible and tried to understand it as if it was philosophy rather than truth that is understood by the Spirit of God. God alone is able to open our understanding of His Word and how we should live with that Word as our foundation and light in this World. Even thought it has been translated into a language that we understand, we will not be able to make sense of Scripture unless we first receive the Gift of the Spirit which is from God.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, Ephesians 1:15-21 RSV

If you got a prayer poke from me; Friday the 25th

I prayed for you today from Deuteronomy 1:30-31
The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.' NKJ

I ask that the eyes of your heart be open and that you know what God is letting you see. Where ever you go, our LORD is one step ahead of you, you are never alone. In those moments today that your soul feels weary, ready to fall to the temptations that seems easier to play with then to resist, know that YHVH our God is fighting the unseen battle for your soul. He has fought for your heart when you were a slave of sin, he fights for you now in the wilderness. He delights in righteousness and knows how difficult that walk is. But in Y'shua who came to live a life that physical eyes could see, in the love and sympathetic heart of the Son of God, you will find the strength you desire to stand firm, living just this moment pleasing to Him, ready to take another step.

The LORD is taking you somewhere special, life is not pointless even in the dreary moments. He is leading you to a place of Joy, of rest. Press forward. And know that when the day is overwhelming, He carries you.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Smells like love

Freshly bathed babies, my husband right out of the shower, Crest toothpaste, Mennen aftershave and a wool suit, waffles. Each of these smells like love to me. Each is attached to a strong memory. The babies and the husband probably do not need explanation. The smell of waffles came from my mom's kitchen when I was a nasty, cranky teen who absolutely did not want anyone coming to my door singing "it's time to get up". The suit, toothpaste and aftershave were my dad coming to kiss me good-by in the early morning before he went to work (when I was still little enough to kiss).



For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;2 Corinthians 2:15 NASU

Those who have come to repentance and salvation by faith through the grace of the Messiah smell like love to YHVH. A mother can breathe in the scent of her baby and feel warmth in her heart. I suspect YVHA reacts to us and our scent of Messiah in some similar way. When Paul wrote this word, he spoke of a scent that is an offering to the Emperor. We are privileged to bring an offering to our Lord, we are the offering. Washed in the blood of his only begotten son. But to the world, even to the religious of the world we smell like death. They are repulsed by the faith we stand on. We cannot live in shock because of the world's rejection. We live in the joy of God and trust the world to our all loving and conquering Abba.

If you received a Prayer Poke from me today (September 22, 2009) then today I prayed for you to walk in confidence before our LORD knowing that it is not your strength or endurance that pleases God but the scent of the Wind, the Spirit of God, given to you because of the blood of His Son, grace through faith it is not of yourself. Live in the strength of that today. Stop striving to live a moral ethical life, the kind of life directed by the world, but instead, I pray that you live in the grace of Messiah, with your words of praise, your scent of life carried on the wind of the Spirit to the throne of glory, walking in the footsteps of Y'shua.

While reading the Word this morning, looking for a passage that was teasing me, I looked up "pleased" in the concordance. I was somewhat shocked to see the difference between what pleases the Father and what pleases men. Just from the New Testament, YHVH is pleased by what he loves. He loves his Son and before the Son does anything, The Father announces that he is pleased with him (Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22)

Before Y'shua went to the cross, YHVH again told those who were with him that He was well pleased with the Son (Matthew 17:5)

Men are pleased with what they see, with getting what they think they want. Herod was pleased to the point of foolishness with his niece's dance (Matthew 14:16, Mark 6:22). Herod was again pleased when he finally got to meet Y'shua because he hoped to be entertained by Him (Luke 23:8)

It seems that God is pleased by faith. Faith is standing firm on the word of God, a trust that the Word is our only sure footing. Men are pleased with what others do for them, give to them. I think that is why we often think that we must "do" for God. But that is not how we please God. Living by faith is what pleases Him. Live today.

The Cross and I

By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you… 2 Corinthians 10:1a NIV

Samuel proclaimed that we speak to hearts, "not by might, nor by power, but by (the) Spirit" John said the same thing in his gospel (1:13) It seems that nothing good or lasting is accomplished by the harshness of "my way" I heard from one of my student's moms that her daughter was in tears over a report she worked hard on and I was harsh, thinking it was not all her own work. I pound out dozens of notes a day to students and I pounded this one out to this sweet girl with only what I want and what I thought I was seeing. I saw wrong. She has been on my mind all weekend, but only this morning did she move to my heart, as an offering to my LORD.

Long ago, as a babe in Messiah, I learned that when I am confronting (or confronted) someone, that I should take a moment to draw a capital "I" with my toe in the sand (the idea came from an African missionary, I am not often barefoot or in the sand, but you get my point). Then, before I speak, "cross" out the "I", make sure that the Spirit of God is able to speak through me. Amy Carmichael said much the same thing, "…let the gentleness and self forgetfulness of the Lord speak through me…" when tempted to be harsh, a follower of rules, when insisting on something that is hard, or that calls for creativity that a student just isn't feeling (wanting more to get out of that chair and into the sunshine with friends… they are children after all). When I am misunderstood, when there is unfairness, stubbornness, misunderstanding of any kind, I want to remember to "cross out the I" and let Y'shua speak (often it is actually me who needs ears to hear, not the soul standing before me).

Draw me near dear Lord, Let me remember to take up my cross and to let you live through me, even as I follow you.

If you were poked on facebook today (9-20)

Y'shua you are the firm place for my feet. Your way, your path is not the way I might choose (it is so steep, so narrow and hard when I look at it instead of you), but yours is the way of life, the way of love that pours out instead of just sucking in. YHVH I pray for my beloved friends that today they would be able to gush with love because they have been filled to the point where they must nearly burst with your love. Father life can scheme to pull us down, to cloud your glory with dark pain in our soul, wounds and words can turn my eyes to my little scars instead of to the wounded feet that walk the path before me; to excuse my shrinking back on the path with pity for my pain, exposing me to the scheme of the roaring lion. Let us encourage each other today, to point to the pierced hand that reaches to us, knowing we have the eyes of love and His helping, wounded hand reaching out to us. You are not so far away after all. May my dear friends press on today, in the strength of joy, and hope, and yes, in confident faith. Standing alone in the company of those who believe and gaze back with confidence at Him Who is soon returning. Hebrews 10:35-39