Luke 6:22-25
“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in Heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”
Paradoxes Are Proof
Beloved Family… this text contains more of those awesome paradoxes we always encounter when we consider Almighty God and His ways, as opposed to this fallen world and its ways. These paradoxes serve as proof and further explanation of what God reveals when He says: “My ways are not your ways, nor are My thoughts your thoughts…” (Isaiah 55:8)
When humans suffer great persecutions on account of their efforts to love, serve and obey God, He says that they are blessed! That makes no sense to a worldly, self-adoring mind. But it can be explained in part by the fact that the Word of God is like a two-edged sword that cuts and separates the human race into two separate groups. Each group contradicts and goes against the other. They are thus in constant conflict. So the Lord is telling the persecuted ones to rejoice. They are in the right group; and God will always be covering and blessing them, now and for all eternity. But there’s more: the two-edged sword of God’s Word cuts into the fallen flesh of those who are enemies of God… even while it cuts into the fallen flesh that remains in His Word’s disciples! The Word confronts and confounds and exposes the enemies of God… and it prunes, disciplines, corrects and realigns those that are being transformed from God’s enemies… into His beloved favored sons. So, as we are learning to submit to and obey God’s Word… the Word is pruning away from us whatever remains in us that is harmful, toxic and incompatible with the awesome Perfect Presence of our Lord and Master.
And, as for those that are still enemies of God, while they obsess over and strive after living in the heights of earthly luxury and ease, they have cause for dread. Because, as soon as that short season of personal gratification, in which they’ve been placing their faith and hope, comes to its inevitable end… they’ll be totally bereft, bankrupt and permanently out of position to receive God’s favor and blessing. So when enjoyment of the utmost in earthly pleasures and fame, praise and favor is all people can see and desire and pursue, they are being warned that the opposite awaits them in eternity.
But perhaps the greatest of all the paradoxes is this one that follows:
Luke 6:35-38
“But LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; FOR HE HIMSELF IS KIND TO UNGRATEFUL AND EVIL MEN. BE MERCIFUL, JUST AS YOUR FATHER IS MERCIFUL. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (Emphasis added.)
Outrageous Trust and Confidence
Dear ones… it will be beneficial if we ask Father to help us better understand the meaning of what He’s saying here. How could these things be possible? And how will they work? Why is it in our best interest to be wholehearted in blessing total strangers and people from whom we’ll derive no personal benefit? And why would anyone in his right mind even consider loving, forgiving and blessing strangers and bitter enemies?
Disciples who would do this… embody the same level of outrageous trust and confidence that Yeshua Himself always had in His Heavenly Father! His awesome trust level was what moved Him to willingly and wholeheartedly endure the agony He suffered in dying, to redeem the human race that wanted nothing to do with Him! But now… He commands His disciples to join Him at that supernatural level in the fellowship of His sufferings! So obviously, it will take the Holy Spirit of God to fill us with that supernatural perspective and ability. It can only be done if the Holy Spirit in us causes Yeshua to abide in us and do the same things He did when He walked the earth, through us! In other words, we can only join our risen Lord in the fellowship of His sufferings, if we’re already fully equipped spiritually to function with Him even now, in the Fellowship, Authority and Power of His glorious Resurrection!
Colossians 3:1-3
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God!”
So, let’s unpack this further by going back to the Beginning and reviewing once more, God’s basic Torah revelation as given at the beginning of Genesis:
Genesis 2:1-3
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work, which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work, which God had created and made.”
Everything Has Been Provided
God reveals that His Infinite Nature is Perfect; that is, at any moment or point you may wish to consider Him, He is always, eternally, completely Complete and All Sufficient! So, from the first instant He spoke His living creative Word, everything, past, present and future was already considered, factored in, included and done! When He first began to speak forth His creative Word… our future fall into Sin and Decay and Destruction and Death had already been considered and factored into what He was doing! So from the very beginning, He had already provided everything, including what we would ever need to fully recover from our fall into Sin and Death and achieve Full Final Restoration! Everything, from start to finish, has already been eternally included in God’s Perfect Original Act of Creation!
And now all of that Perfect All Sufficiency abides within Yeshua, Our Resurrected Messiah! And He is now interceding for us, as our Eternal High Priest, asking Father to release to us everything we’ll need in space and time, to finish our Exodus Journey to our own personal God-destined Perfection!
So now, all Father needs to do is send His Holy Spirit to be with us. Through His Spirit He will provide from Eternity, from the Fullness that is contained in His Living Word, all of the ‘Daily Bread’ we will need at each moment of our existence in this temporal world. As we pass through each moment of this time and space dimension, God’s Spirit is with us to reveal our risen Lord to us, in us, and through us. And our risen Lord can now be with us to be everything we will ever need Him to be!
Matthew 11:25-30
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
This is how He can remain connected to us and continue to apply all of that ‘Daily Bread’ to us, according to the time table of His eternal Plan. He will give us whatever we will need to fulfill the purpose, identity and destiny He has given to us… just as we need it… throughout our current daily situations and circumstances!
So do you see the ramifications of this? God, from His Eternal Perspective, is always intent on blessing and fully restoring His beautiful Creation, regardless of what we see, hear and experience while we’re passing through time and space! He will not stand for what the Serpent and his deluded powers of Darkness have done to any of us! He has already covered it all… and He is seeing to it that we will not be deprived or bereft of anything we will need as He works progressively to lead us into that Eternal Perfection He has waiting for us.
So can you agree with what God is intent on doing here? Do you agree that what Sin has done to Creation is a horrible outrage? Can you see what the fall has done to us all? Can you realize that none of us were ever intended by God to ail or be sick or suffer and die and experience decay? And can you see how wonderful it will be when the full Restoration of everything in Creation will finally be complete? Isn’t this what we all want?
God’s Full Restoration Is Ours
Well… Glory to God… that is exactly what God is in the process of doing! So, knowing that, why would we want to withhold or keep any portion of God’s Full Restoration from hitting any portion of His Creation, even if at present, much of that Creation is personally at odds with us? Why would we want to delay the inflow of the wonders of what God has done, to any and every part of Creation, for even one more second?
Revelation 21:1-2
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the Tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. (Emphasis added.)
God’s works of Creation and Redemption and our full Restoration are already completely and perfectly finished and present within God’s awesome Eternal Living Word! And the infinitely adequate, never-ending blessings contained in that finished Work have ready been paid for and freely given to us in Yeshua! Now God is waiting for us to receive them as we learn cooperate with His ongoing process of restoring His Creation.
Revelation 21:3-7
“And He who sits on the Throne said, “Behold, I am (already in the process of) making all things new!” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the one who thirsts from the Spring of the Water of Life without cost! He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son!” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Reflecting Infinite Abundance
We can begin to draw from our inheritance for ourselves… and also share it lavishly with the rest of our Father’s Creation… EVEN NOW! So God urges us to give to others, as much of the riches of His Perfect abiding Presence as His Plan requires for them. He wants us to know that the risen Lord we are here to proclaim and reveal is Infinitely Perfect, and that what He has earned for us all can never be exhausted! And, since God is transforming the human race back into His image and likeness, He expects us, even now, to reflect and embody His Full, Eternal Infinite Abundance. He wants the same wholehearted loving Spirit-imparted Generosity that Yeshua displayed to come out of us, without any limits, so that the world may know our risen Messiah, as He abides in us and applies His Father’s Grace, through us!
Beloved, when we finally realize the Truth of what Yeshua has already accomplished, we’ll also get in touch with the Reality of how fully endowed we already are, with Almighty God’s Abundant Grace. And we’ll see, like never before, how freely we can afford to give of what He endlessly keeps pouring into us – to all of the people and circumstances around us, that are also in desperate need of Father’s Loving Restoration. We who are now God’s adopted, regenerated sons, can easily afford to be this way… just like our Heavenly Father is… even toward those parts of Creation that still despise us and remain hostile to us at this present moment! Yes, because we are IN YESHUA, AND YESHUA IS IN US, there is no end to how much we can afford to give away… TOGETHER WITH HIM!
To understand God’s heart, and why He expects us to love and bless even our enemies, ponder the attitude and example of our risen Lord whose image and likeness we’re being trained to be and to embody and reveal and proclaim. Did He not wholeheartedly pour Himself out for us? And were we not His enemies that were working against Him at the time that He did it? So now that we’re His beloved disciples, isn’t it our job to be His mirror image? Are we not making a complete Exodus from our original radically independent self-life and enmity with God? Are we not now living members of the earthly Body of God’s Living Word? How could we not expect Him to be the same as always, as He lives, acts and obeys our Father in our name… from within our flesh?
Philippians 2:3-9
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the Name which is above every name!”
1 Peter 2:21-25
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”
Yes it’s true. We must stand and fight against and resist the demonic Evil One and his spiritual forces. But our Master poured Himself out to the last drop of His life’s blood… to free all of their human victims from all the traces of that evil that remain in us! And He did all of that while we were all still His Sin-loving enemies! So, to redeem and save us from our hopeless state of living death and eternal doom, He embodied His Father’s Perfect Nature, Character and Disposition; and He poured out for us everything He had! Thus His Perfect Sacrifice delivered us from all the guilt and condemnation we had coming to us, even though He knew at that time that we would all still be working against Him!
Matthew 6:3-15
“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts (sins), as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Reflecting Boundless Lovingkindness
And so, now that His Full Redemption has been applied to us disciples, we are completely free of the Serpent’s coils! He no longer has any hold or claim on us! And, now that our Master is free to share the Fullness of His Infinite Inheritance with each one of us… He commands us to follow and embody His Perfect Presence, as He continues to bless and sustain (from within us) all of His other still-unsaved enemies!
So, since we’re in the process of being fully restored and transformed into our Messiah’s image and likeness, and since we are already co-heirs of His everlasting Abundance and Fullness, how can we not mirror and reflect God’s boundless Lovingkindness and Generosity to those that do not yet know Him and who need Him so desperately?
Ephesians 1:3-14
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the Glory of His Grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have Redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the Riches of His Grace, which He lavished on us. In all Wisdom and Insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an ADMINISTRATION SUITABLE TO THE FULLNESS OF THE TIMES, that is, the Summing Up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth!
“In Him also we have obtained an Inheritance, having been predestined according to His Purpose who works ALL THINGS after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His Glory!
In Him, you also, after listening to the Message of Truth, the Gospel of Your Salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of Promise, who is given as a Pledge of our Inheritance, with a view to the Redemption (and Full Restoration) of God’s own Possession, to the praise of His Glory!” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
“For the love of Christ controls (compels) us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and HE DIED FOR ALL, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, BUT FOR HIM, who died and rose again on their behalf!” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
We Extend His Salvation To All
Dear ones… our Master must receive the Full Reward of His sufferings on Creation’s behalf! So how can any of us, who have been so wholeheartedly blessed by our beloved Messiah, have the gall to dare hinder or prevent the free flow of the Grace that God yearns to give to every creature He has made, even to those that do not yet know Him and are not yet part of His Covenant Family? Remember the agony our Master suffered at the hands of Roman soldiers. And remember that He gladly filled the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, and his whole family, with the Holy Spirit of His Father at the first opportunity! So how can we exclude anyone that Yeshua cherishes and died for and desires and yearns to make His own, regardless of what our experiences with them may have been or currently are? By what right do we stand in the way of what Almighty God has ordained for them to receive by way of His Mercy, Grace and Forgiveness?
Exodus 33:19
“The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your Glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My Goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you; and I WILL BE GRACIOUS TO WHOM I WILL BE GRACIOUS, AND WILL SHOW COMPASSION ON WHOM I WILL SHOW COMPASSION.”
Romans 9:14-16
“What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, BUT ON GOD WHO HAS MERCY!” (Emphasis added.)
Blessing Others Through Us
Beloved, I’m going to give you a ‘peek’ into how the Eternal Perfect Life-giving Goodness of God literally strains to come out of us so that it can reach into this fallen world to save and restore all who are going to be His. Our Messiah is waiting for His chosen ones to give Him even the tiniest point of entry… any opening whatsoever that will allow His Lovingkindness to burst forth, like rivers of Living Water, from within each one of us. He is here to bless the entire world… if only we become willing to allow Him entry into the world around us, by cooperating with what He is here to be and to do, through us. Here is one small example:
Earlier today I took my little dog Stuey for his daily walk. The four Golden Retrievers that were part of our family in the past, as well as little Stuey, have proven to be lovable instruments of grace in the hand of our Lord. Yes… Father, in His awesome ingenuity and wisdom, even includes our pets… as He carries out His tactical strategies for Reconciliation, Redemption, Salvation and eventual Full Restoration! So when people see us walking along, it appears to the natural eye, that there’s only one old man with gimpy knees, walking down the sidewalk with a tiny dog. But there’s much, much more to it than that! Do you remember Elisha’s servant? Before God gave him the ability to see the ‘Chariots of Fire’ all around Elisha (See 2 Kings 6), he would not have been able to see all of the Heavenly Glory that enfolds and accompanies Stuey and me. But after that young man was allowed to ‘see’… he would be able to see who is with us. He would see our risen Lord, and Father’s Holy Spirit, and an awesome gathering of God’s angels… continually surrounding Stuey and me on our walks… and everywhere else we go!
Stuey is a lovable and cute little dog. The moment people lay eyes on him, he’s an instant ‘attention grabber’. And he loves to interact with people, so when I take him for walks, he is like a big open ‘fishnet’ that captivates the attention and interest of whoever happens to be nearby. So people frequently stop to chat with me and comment on how cute and adorable he is. They ask me if he’s friendly and if it’s okay to pet him. And when I say yes, we make instant connections and establish a friendly rapport for whatever the Holy Spirit might want to do after that.
One of our favorite places to walk is a large, beautifully maintained business park complex. It covers many acres that contain many attractively landscaped buildings with winding tree-lined sidewalks. Various corporations lease those buildings for their employees, so thousands work in that area. And over the years, it became my habit (after I realized how ardently Father desires to reveal His Son to everyone) to intercede for anyone that may drive past me, or anyone that cuts in front of me in traffic, or people I pass in malls, grocery stores or anywhere else I may be… including that large office park we often visit.
When Stuey and I walk by all those office buildings, I pray for everyone that lives or works in them… and for all of their families and households. I proclaim, in Yeshua’s Name, that Father’s will shall most certainly be done to them… in them… and through anything that pertains to them. I proclaim the steady advance and takeover of Yeshua’s ever-increasing Government… I proclaim that the Rule of God’s Word is inevitably being established and continues to embed its roots ever deeper into all of those human hearts. And I ask the Holy Spirit to work from me, in Yeshua’s Name, to release all of the Peace, Safety and Well Being that He earned for them… so that the way may be prepared in the deserts of their hearts for His triumphant Last Days Entry and total Takeover.
As we walk past building after building, we often encounter workers who are also out walking… taking fresh air and sunshine, and exercise breaks. When many of them see Stuey, they stop to make a fuss over how cute he is. That starts conversations and personal associations. So, thanks to Stuey’s ‘fishnet capabilities,’ the Lord presents many opportunities for me to interact with people I’ve never seen before. Some of them tell me that they often look out from their office windows and see us walking by. So, my dogs and I have become a familiar sight to many of them.
One windy frigid day last December, Stuey and I were walking along the edge of one of the crowded parking lots when I spotted a business size envelope laying in a clump of snow-covered weeds. I picked it up and saw it was still sealed and not yet postmarked. So the owner, whose name was on the return address section, had inadvertently dropped it before she had a chance to mail it.
As I examined that weather-beaten envelope, I felt the Lord begin to nudge me… prompting me to take it home and put it in a larger envelope and mail it, with a note of explanation, to the return address; So that’s what I did. In the note I explained that I often walk my dog ‘Stuey’ in that area, and that’s how we came across her envelope. Then I dropped it in a mailbox and forgot about it.
The Rest of the Story
Two months later, late last February, Stuey and I were walking past one of those office buildings when a young woman passed us on the sidewalk. When she saw Stuey, she stopped and knelt to pet him. Then she asked what his name was. And when I said ‘Stuey’… her eyes widened and she sprang to her feet and gave me a big hug, saying:
“Oh, you’re the one! You have no idea what you did. You saved my life! I had a money order for a large amount in that envelope. And I was beside myself because I was sure I had lost it for good. You have no idea how much what you did has meant to me! Thank you so very much!”
That was a wonderful moment. In His kindness, the Lord let me know what happened because I had responded to His nudge. I realized that Father had been blessing and protecting that young woman. And, because I responded to His nudge, He was able to include me in what He was doing for her, and thus He was able to save her from a bad situation.
But there’s even more to this! Earlier today (Thursday), when Stuey and I were at the office park, three ladies approached us on the sidewalk. When they got to us, they stopped to make over Stuey and bent down to pet him. And of course, one asked about his name. And when I said, ‘Stuey’, it was as if all three of them were suddenly charged with jolts of electricity. They sprang to their feet, just like the other lady had done, and said in unison: “Oh… you’re the one!”
They explained that the girl who had lost the envelope was their co-worker. She was so amazed and elated at the miracle that happened for her… that she told everyone that worked around her. So those three ladies informed me that everybody in their large office knew about it!
At that moment, the Lord gave me another nudge. Beloved… He reminded me that what that young woman had done was exactly what the Samaritan woman at the well and so many others mentioned in the Gospels did after Yeshua healed or blessed them in His inimitable way. And I can see that He’s here to do the same thing in our generation! But this time He intends to do it through His disciples! And as I watched those ladies respond to Yeshua’s Goodness, Father prompted me to give each of them a Follow Me Ministries business card. So that’s what I did.
And as I was giving them a card, I told them that whenever Stuey and I are at that office park, we pray for all of the people that work there… along with their families and households. I told them we ask Father to keep all of them safe and sound and that whenever they see us out there, to remember that God really loves and cherishes each one of them… and that Stuey and I are asking God to cover and protect them and provide everything God knows that they need… for themselves and their households and loved ones.
Their response was total amazement… and then it became bubbly joy and enthusiasm. One said: “That’s what we all should be doing for each other!” And then I began to get a sense that there must be many, many people all around us that are hiding something that is seldom noticed… beneath the surface of their habitual exterior appearance. Beneath their outer public facades, many conceal an abiding spiritual hunger… a habitual homesickness… for their Creator… They yearn to know Him and His ways. They ache to feel His reassuring healing touch… perhaps for the very first time, or perhaps they yearn to know Him at a much deeper level than they’ve ever experienced Him before.
We Are God’s Living Mirrors
That must be the way Cornelius and his family were feeling in Acts 10, just before the Holy Spirit gave him a vision of Peter and told him to send some of his men to find him and invite him to come and speak to them about Yeshua. And, as I was driving home from that encounter, thinking about all of this, I realized that everything I said to those ladies will eventually be relayed to the others that work around them, and to other people that they know in other areas. It will eventually spread to more and more people in all directions! And after more people that work around them hear about it… when they look out their windows and see us passing by, they’ll remember Father… and that we’re praying for them and asking Him to bless them and keep them safe…
And perhaps, now that some of our cards are in their midst… some may begin to look up our website… and maybe… well… only God knows what His Holy Spirit will continue to do through this beginning that has been made. But it is a good memorable beginning. It has established a firm ‘beachhead’… and now our Lord’s Invasion can continue to progress throughout that area, and beyond.
So what I think the Lord is showing me is that if we abide with Him at all times… and keep our eyes focused on Yeshua, and willingly allow Him to Live in us and do Father’s bidding from within us… He will naturally and spontaneously and ingeniously, keep making Himself known to people that are around us. As long as we keep our eyes focused on His beloved Son, and interact with His Perfect abiding Presence, we will automatically be in position to serve as God’s living mirrors… for whoever may happen to be around us. And this is how He will get their attention and be able to pierce, penetrate and impregnate… more and more people… with His Eternal Life!
This is why I never feel compelled to plot and scheme to try to make things like this happen. I don’t believe God is at a loss for what to do next. He has already created and provided everything that will be necessary, from start to finish! So I’m learning to keep my eyes on Him and just keep following Him and receiving what He chooses to supply from His All Sufficient Treasury of Perfect Finished Works of Creation and Redemption.
Cooperating With Him
We don’t have to pounce on people or try to ram any preset agendas down their throats. We simply have to stay focused on Yeshua… keeping in mind that Father sends Him to us so that through us, the Holy Spirit can continue to reveal Him… and prove to them how much He wants to be with them and reach out beyond them so that He can bless all of the others! We can cooperate with His mission by reflecting His beloved Son, with accuracy and precision. As we reflect Yeshua, the Holy Spirit will let them know that God is near and that they’re precious to Him and that He’s always thinking of them and treasuring them and waiting to meet them at their points of need.
Since God has already prearranged and prepared everything; and since His work is already finished, He doesn’t need our help or advice. He needs our trust and obedient willingness to allow Him to do whatever He wishes, to whomever He wishes, whenever He wishes… through us! He already knows what He has provided to give to the people we meet. It is already waiting for them in Eternity, in God’s Heavenly Kingdom. It is part of the Treasury of Yeshua’s Perfect Finished Work of Creation and Redemption! So if we’re willing to serve as our Master’s points of entry, and bases of operation for His Holy Spirit, God will transmit what He wants to give to those people at that moment, and we can release it to them and for them. The Work is already done… but God requires the cooperation of His New Covenant Royal Priesthood… the Disciple Corps, of which we are a part. God will apply His Grace on Earth, as it is needed… right now… through us!
Deuteronomy 10:8-9
“At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and TO BLESS (the other people) IN HIS NAME until this day. Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers (from this earthly system); the Lord (Himself, in all of His Eternal Fullness) is his Inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke (promised) to him.) (Amplification and emphasis added.)
This is what I believe our Master was teaching and training His original first century disciples to learn and master. He trained them to become experts in this New Covenant ‘Martial Art’! He trained them to serve as His New Covenant Royal Priesthood. He taught them to keep their eyes focused on their risen Lord and to assist Him in His role of High Priest and Messiah for the entire human race. Our Master mediates continually, between God and the human race. And Father authorizes His Holy Spirit to transmit whatever He commissioned Yeshua to earn for us… transferring it from His Treasury of Grace in Eternity… into our time and space circumstances and needs here on Earth. That is why we have been deployed and stationed here! All of that is supposed to come through to the world… through our obedient faith!
I believe this is what Yeshua taught to Peter and the other New Covenant apostles, when the Holy Spirit began to make connections between them and the many Gentiles like Cornelius. Those Gentiles, as well as every other human on the face of the earth, habitually yearned for something real… for a Living God that could truly make a difference. And they were desperate to find a means by which they could connect with Him. That’s why there’s so much idolatry in this fallen world! And this is why Yeshua prepared His apostles to be ready to handle the awesome events that would begin to take place in Acts 10 and beyond.
Lavishly Sharing What We’ve Been Given
So what God began to do through that first generation of New Covenant disciples is exactly what the Holy Spirit will bring to a grand Conclusion and Total Consummation in our generation… in the midst of our ongoing daily circumstances and needs:
Matthew 14:14-21
“When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
“But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT!” They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” And He said, “BRING THEM (in their insufficient earthly state) HERE TO ME!”
“Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish (in their current insufficiency), AND LOOKING UP TOWARD HEAVEN, He blessed the food (as His Father’s Spirit transmitted into it, the supernatural abundance that God had prepared in Eternity so it could be added to what His people already had at that precise moment of need in time and space), and breaking the loaves HE GAVE THEM TO THE DISCIPLES, AND THE DISCIPLES GAVE THEM TO THE CROWDS, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.
“There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Yeshua demonstrated in living color, in Matthew 14, what He had previously taught His disciples about how they were to pray in Matthew 6. He told them to realize that Father already knew what they needed and had already provided it! So they were to pray with quiet, absolute, airtight outrageous confidence in their Heavenly Father. They were to pray with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6-7), knowing in advance that Almighty God had already covered every care, concern and need they would ever have in this world. He told them to pray with total confidence in God, and with full assurance that God had already endowed all of His people with full shares in His Infinite Inheritance, and that the Holy Spirit was ready at all times to transmit it to them from Eternity! So the disciples learned that they could be free to share whatever they had… lavishly… without any restraint… even on behalf of their enemies! They were commissioned to give God’s ever-available Lovingkindness without limit… to everyone they encountered. They were to give God’s Grace to others, just as freely and generously as God Himself was always giving it to them! And thus He trained them to serve as God’s very own image and likeness
Matthew 6:7-15
“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the (clueless unbelieving idolatrous) Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for YOUR FATHER KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU ASK HIM! Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come; Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven!
‘Give us this day our daily bread (that You have waiting for us in Eternity). And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.’] For if you forgive others for their transgressions (you will be acting as God’s image and likeness and), your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then (you are still part of the Sin problem, rather than being part of God’s Redemption Solution and) your Father will (see you contradicting and opposing His flow of Grace to your enemies, and by that very fact, you’ll prevent it from reaching you as well. Thus, He will also) not forgive your transgressions.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
Beloved Family… if God’s Grace is not meant for all of Creation, it isn’t meant for any part of it! So, prepare your hearts for the Mother of all Paradigm Shifts and Spiritual Awakenings that I believe will be hitting the world in the very near future. The wonderful News of God’s awesome Grace will then begin to be proclaimed and demonstrated as it really and truly is… like never before! God’s fully prepared Jewish and non-Jewish chosen disciples will begin to manifest this in all of its glorious Fullness at that time. Get ready for it!
Salvation in The Last Days Generation
There have been many waves of Salvation Grace that have swept across the globe in the past. But nothing the world has seen before will compare with what God has waiting for the Last Days Generation of His New Covenant Priesthood! It will come in like an overwhelming Flood. And it will flow through our individual hearts… to the degree that we allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse us of every trace of anger, grudges and still un-forgiven resentments.
Zechariah 14:8-11
“And in that day Living Waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. And the Lord will be King over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be The Only One, and His Name The Only One!”
We will see all kinds of people, including those we’d consider to be the least likely candidates, being transformed by God’s Grace. Many will suddenly cross our paths because, in one way or another, God will keep drawing them into our spheres of influence. And our indwelling Lord will reach out to them… through our crucified, yielded flesh! So get ready! Our Covenant Family is about to begin growing by leaps and bounds! And Father wants to prepare all of us who have been deployed and stationed all over the world, to serve as part of His ‘Welcoming Committee’ on their behalf!
Isaiah 40:1-5
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
“A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then the Glory of the Lord will be revealed, AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE IT TOGETHER; FOR THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HAS SPOKEN!” (Emphasis added.)
Beloved, for those of us who have been called by our Master, there is only one appropriate response to our Father’s call. It is the same response Abraham gave when God’s Living Word first called him. At that time, Abraham said: “Hineni!”
And in the Hebrew… that means… “Here I am!”