Life and Godliness

God's power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowing the One who called us to his own glory and goodness. By these he has given us valuable and superlative great promises, so that through them you might come to share in God's nature and escape the corruption which evil desires have brought into the world. II Peter 1:3

To escape the world's corruption, I know I must remove myself at times. Remove myself from instances which I will become carried away from what I know YWHW wants for me. I know others may not understand my distance, my extremisms and my neglect. I don't always know what is best. I think God plants those thoughts in my mind. I am not listening to supernatural voices but that small conscience that the all mighty placed there almost 50 years ago. Oh yes, that was a long time ago and I didn't always listen to the voice.

I didn't always study from a translated version of the Bible which uses Hebrew names specifically for YWHW and Yeshua. I was one who accepted the KJV for the dedication inside its cover. That King James (or the people around him) wanted to give the English speaker a version of the all mightly's words for all the common man to know. I don't want to force someone to accept a very Hebrew view of the Bible as being the best translation. I strive only to understand my Master, Salvation and our Father in the most natural way.

I am tossed on every side. Who is right? What is wrong? Am I wrong? Did I understand it correctly? Did they translated it correctly? Do I know actually what Adonai wants from me? Did I truly obey his commands all of these years? Where does he want me to turn? What does he want me to accept in my future and from those around me? Doubt? Oh, yes doubt compasses me from every direction. I know others have doubts and grief from the way they receive information, love, criticisms and attention. I struggle at the smallest moment of strife when its bony finger it pointed at me. What does he want me to let go of and remember not forever?

For this very reason, try your hardest to furnish your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with perseverance, perseverance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. For if you have these qualities in abundance, they keep you from being barren and unfruitful in the knowledge our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. (And) Indeed, whoever lacks them is blind, so shortsighted that he forgets that his past sins have been washed away. Therefore, brothers, try even harder to make your being called and chosen a certainty. For if you keep doing this, you will never stumble. Thus you will be generously supplied with everything you need to enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah. II Peter 1 : 5-11.

I want to hear the Master and the Messiah, say of me in that Great Day, "see my daughter in whom I am well pleased."

Picture is from Wikipedia, on the Hebrew alphabet, beginning of Joshua 1.

Dry are my old Eyes

One of my favorite songs is from the late Keith Green, My Eyes are Dry. It reminds me of the trust and faith I must have in the power of the Spirit of love our Messiah has for each and everyone of his sheep.

"My eyes are dry, my faith is old, My heart is hard, my prayers are cold, And I know how I ought to be, Alive to You and dead to me" When I look into the eyes of a child of our Almighty like Sharbat Gula, I realize anything I have felt as a trouble is insignificant, or trivial. The National Geographic Magazine went back to find Sharbat to see if this refugee had survived the forced march across the mountains into Pakistan from Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. This woman as an orphan child with her grandmother traveled on foot to be released from an occupied country. I wonder about the women, children and families of Afghanistan who are in an American occupied country. I forget a lot about the suffering of others, the suffering of the Messiah and have self-pity during my days. Will I see my child again, will I be alone and will I ever loose this weight.

"Oh what can be done for an old heart like mine, Soften it up with oil and wine." The olive tree bears fruit that is washed, cleaned, beaten, grounded up and centrifuged a heated pulp to extract the largest and best droplets of oil. Oh, have I beaten, washed and cleaned my soul of impurities to help soften my heart. Grapes are harvested, crushed and pressed, fermented, clarified, and aged to be bottled once to provide a unique drink our Messiah used at the dedication of his remembrance supper. Oil and wine to soften my weary heart. We are purified when we obey the Truth, which enables us to grow in our spiritual habitation "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." 2 Corinthians 7:1.

Keith Green's lyrics from "My Eyes are Dry", National Geography photograph by Steve McCurry, 2008

Light or the Light?

Revelation 7:16 states, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore: neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. KJV

I am always amazed at the connections my students and I see daily as we work in science. We completed a study of the sun being one part of a whole system. If the sun goes out then the system will stop to exist as it has been known. When we believe God, Yeshua (the Messiah), and the Ruach-Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit), we have no fear of our universe's light not shining. We will not miss the sunlight, halos around the moon, rainbows, green flashes and moon dogs or energy from the sun.

"Day and night they serve him in his Temple: and the One who sits on the throne will put his Sh'Khinah(the glorious manifest presence of God) upon them. They will never again be hungry, they will never again be thirsty, the sun will not beat down on them, nor will any burning heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will shepherd them, will lead them to springs of living water: and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Isaiah 49:10, Revelation 7:15-17 (Jewish New Testment translation)

No more fear of the sun's distruction, the Earth not turning or wondering about the moonlight halo.

(Picture: Nainital Green Flash from setting sun taken from a mountain in India. Source: Amiteshomar, Wikipedia, 13 January, 2010.)