Personal Commandments

The issue of Personal Commandments has been floating around recently, and I would like to comment for the sake of the faithful disciples of Messiah.  

There are many dangers in this world, and many deceptions that are prevalent and even almost convincing, but we must remember why we are here:  To overcome the world!  This is what the Saviour taught us, to overcome the world, as He has done.  We are to follow Him.  

From the beginning, when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, the promise was made to them, that a Saviour would be sent to show them the way back into the presence of the Tree of Life.  This Saviour is Yeshua, chosen and annointed by the Father to show us the way back into the presence of the Father.  It is Yeshua that we are to follow, if we would ever like to return to our Father in Heaven!  

Yeshua, Son of the Father, came to earth to Walk the path of the Father, to show us the way back into the presence of the Father, so all who will, may proceed into the presence of the Father.  This path which Yeshua walked is the Strait and Narrow Path of keeping All the commandments of the Father.  Yeshua proved that a mortal man could, and did, keep All the commandments of the Father.  The Father witnessed to all creation that Yeshua was truly walking the correct way, by granting unto Him the Spirit and power of God.  

Yeshua fulfilled the commandments of God, and asked us to follow Him, in which we would also walk that same path, in keeping all the commandments of the Father.  Just because the Messiah told us that He had fulfilled the commandments, does not mean that we do not have to keep the commandments.  The commandments had an end in the Saviour, meaning he fulfilled them, to the end they were created, which was to walk back into the presence of the Father.  And accordingly, as we follow this chosen Saviour, in keeping all the commandments, fulfilling the law the same as the Saviour did, the commandments will have an end in us, or in other words, produce the same results for us:  We will walk back into the presence of the Father!  This is the promise of the Saviour, the fulfillment of the Promise of the Father to Adam and Eve, for them and their descendants.  

The danger presented to us, by those who have arrested the scriptures, is that we no longer have to keep the commandments, that God will give us only those commandments that are just for us, and that we can ignore the remainder of the commandments.  This of course is false, and is totally refuted by scripture multiple times, by multiple prophets.  Yet, the fallacy prevails.  

The Father giving personal commandments, is when He asks a person to go and do a job for Him, such as when He has sent out a prophet, or disciple, to go and do a specific work.  Personal commandments are not that the Father is telling anyone that it is okay to break any of the commandments.  In fact, keeping the commandments is a prerequisite to being called, and having the power of God manifested through a person. 

The Father does not contradict Himself, for He is the same today, as yesterday, and will be tomorrow.  It is still Yeshua Messiah, the Son of the Living God, which we are to follow in Walking the Strait and Narrow Path, back into the presence of the Tree of Life.  

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
~ 1 John 2:3-6

So, to the faithful Disciples of Yeshua, do not be discouraged, nor fooled, for Father will not be upset at you keeping all of the commandments.  You can maintain your standards.  You can maintain your integrity.  You can keep your honour.  May God bless you to continue to live in virtue, love, light, and truth!  


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Passover

The Feast of the Passover is an amazing celebration, probably the most important so far in the History of the world.  This is because it is the fulfillment of the Promise of the Father to Adam and Eve:  We will provide a Saviour for them, a Messiah who will redeem them, by showing them the way back into the presence of the Tree of Life.

Yeshua is that Messiah which was prophesied by Father.  He came to redeem His people.  He came to show us how to walk back into the presence of the Father!  This is why we celebrate Passover, to celebrate the triumph of the Saviour over the world, and over death itself!

Growing up in the modern Christian World, many understand the festival of Easter to have taken the place of Passover.  Easter being a time we hold in memorial the Lord suffering in Gethsemane; Being arrested, judged, mocked, and scourged; Crucified; and of course, We celebrate His Triumphant Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven!  This is Passover!  The Love Father has for His children, to actually condescend, to come here to rescue His children, to bring them Home!

Do You Care About Me?

"I do not care how much you know, until I know how much you care."

Years ago, I heard a speech that changed my approach to life. In the speech, the gentleman said an interesting phrase: "I do not care how much you know, until I know how much you care." 

This phrase has stuck with me over the past 30 years, and has served me well throughout my personal life, and throughout my career as well. 

The best way to teach anything is by example, and the best way to spread peace and love, is by actually living it. 

Let each action, word, thought, and emotion be consistent with each other in truly caring about others, and actually be the change you want to see in the world!

"I do not care how much you know, until I know how much you care."

Inasmuch As Ye Keep My Commandments

A man was talking about his shop, which has not been doing much business lately, and the conversation turned to being blessed for keeping the commandments of God. He did not think keeping commandments would help, since many other shops were also having difficulty since the pandemic began.

Why would a person want to have the same problem as others, when it is entirely possible to prosper and help others?

The Lord God of Heaven can do many miracles, including helping our businesses, even through the current pandemic.

Inasmuch as we shall keep the commandments, we shall prosper in the land;
But inasmuch as we will not keep the commandments, we shall be cut off from the presence of God.

The Voice Of The Lord

The strange thing for me is, sometimes people hear stories about me getting to the Lord, and then they want to ask questions, so that they can also get to the Lord. From time to time, people gather around to find out how I got to the Lord. I tell many amazing experiences, and how I did it, and the seekers are often amazed and motivated to also have those experiences, and they can, if they follow the process of how to get there. And this is where I usually lose them.  

For some strange reason, seekers can feel the Spirit of God when I tell of experiences, and they can even get an undeniable witness that it is true, they can even believe that I followed the method described in the scriptures to get to the Lord, but they get rather upset when I suggest that they can have the same experiences by following the same pattern. Then of course, for suggesting that they too need to follow the commandments, I get called all sorts of interesting names, fallen prophet, etc.

From time to time, I still do have experiences with the Lord, and I am still directed in doing the work I am asked to do. Even today, I have heard the voice of the Lord, and no matter what people say, I will not deny the method/pattern/process/programme/way/walk/road/gospel, or whatever way someone wants to describe it, of how to get to the Lord. Messiah taught us the programme, and it is Messiah's programme that works. Messiah's programme is the ONLY programme that will get to the Father!

It is an amazing experience to get to the Lord. And, I never know exactly what to say to seekers. In my best possible voice I say, the Lord's way works. Just humble yourselves to the Lord's way, and you will have the promises expressed in scripture; all those who humble themselves before the Lord's way, will receive not only the Lord, but the Father also. Those who fight against the Lord's way, will receive neither the Son, nor the Father, not in this life, nor in the next.

Taking Offence

 In the scriptures, the term "Offence" often refers to doing actual harm to someone, but in our culture today, people often take offence when no actual harm was done.  Offence is often taken just because a person has an emotional response to an outside stimuli, and can even be taken from their own imaginations of whatever they assume is happening.  This obviously places the person who takes offence when no harm was actually done, into the category of a controller, manipulator, etc.  Remember, this is when no damage was done.  Yet, a person who does damage to others, is an offender.  Even though it is up to the person who was harmed to forgive, the person who did the harm is also required to repent.  This reveals an interesting thought; To even take offence when the damage was intentionally caused, seems a poor choice, since we are trying to follow the example of the Saviour and forgive, which is not always an easy task.  Yet for our Lord's sake, we must try!  

My advice is simple; Do not take offence when the offence was not intentional.  Do not take offence when the offence was intentional.  Instead, try to solve the situation, so everyone can move forward.  

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Hoe Your Own Row

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."  

~ Matthew 7:3-5

I see this scripture as great advice, to be in a better position to help others!  

I grew up on a tobacco farm.  And one of the biggest jobs in the summer was to hoe the weeds out of the rows of tobacco.  This job had a strange aspect to it though.  As a person walked down the rows all day long looking at sand and tobacco plants with the odd weed, the mind started to play tricks.  The mind started to self-correct what it saw, into what it wanted to see.  In other words, the mind started to miss seeing the weeds from time to time.  Then upon looking back, the weeds were visible.  But, if a person never looked back at their own row, then they would never be able to see their own mistakes.  

I remember watching others hoe their rows, and pointing out when they missed a weed.  My uncle would have great patience with me, but from time to time, he would point out all the weeds I missed.  “Hoe your own row,” he would say.  The more I watched other people’s rows, the more weeds I missed in my own row.  The more I watched for mistakes in others, the more I could not see my own mistakes, the more my own row suffered, the slower I worked, and the slower my own skills improved.  

My uncle was very good at his job, and would take several rows to the end of the field, then work his way back down our rows, helping the work get done much more effectively, while still placing us in the situation to improve our skills.  He could see that the most effective way to help someone, was to watch his own rows first, then he was in a unique position to help others, without hindering their own development.  

This principle applies to many areas of life, and by looking at our own hearts and not trying to catch others in their mistakes, we can increase our own skill, and be in a much better position to effectively help others where we can.  

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