God gave us Passover to help us stay and get back on the right path if we get off. You can see as you read through the Old Testament, Israel constantly got on the wrong path and went after other gods. We do the same thing, it just doesn’t take the same form. And we can get just as religious as the Pharisees we always pick on. Some even become legalistic in their freedom by attributing legalism to others who are just walking in holiness. Some even use freedom to disregard reverence completely.
I start this post in this way because I want one thing clear as we go forward, look at yourself as you read this post. Don’t look at your friend, or that person at the church you don’t like. (By the way, go ahead and forgive that person, it’s the only way freedom will stick).
Here’s the hard truth about getting free and staying free, we make it harder than it has to be. James 4:7-8 MEV “Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.”
Most of us when we face temptation, we tend not to go to God or resist the temptation, most of the time we yield to it fairly soon after it shows up. Temptation doesn’t come out of nowhere. James 1:14-15 MEV “But each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then, when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and when sin is finished, it brings forth death.” There is a process to temptation being acted on and becoming sin and that sin becoming long-term bondage. It all starts in the mind, which we addressed in the last post.
Each of the feasts are given to not only help us stay on track, but to continue moving forward and growing each year. Each month in the Hebrew has a specific purpose to it. God has each day, each week through Sabbath, each month through Rosh-Chodesh (the beginning of the month) and each year with its three feast times lined up for us to grow in Him and advance the Kingdom. These things are given to help us stay clear of the enemies traps.
James says, when we draw near to God that He draws near to us. Adam could have gone to God instead of hiding and there would have been a different outcome. The first step to freedom is running to God and not from Him. There is no formula or three-step program to bring any of us to that point. We have to choose to believe God’s love over the enemies fear.
As I was studying for this post the Holy Spirit took me off my course and said just give them James and tell them that you have made freedom too hard. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that it’s true. I think we try to come up with formulas and programs partly because we’ve bought the enemies lie that freedom can’t begin that easy. Notice I said begin, because changing the way we think and training ourselves to resist temptation does take work. Yet the work isn’t as hard as we make it out to be either. When we fully trust the love of God and yield to the help of the Holy Spirit, the enemy has no choice but to leave. Sure he may throw a fit and try to make his bondage seem big to us, but the truth is, he’s already defeated. We just have to enforce the victory.
Here is my encouragement to you; spend the next 21 days reading, studying and meditating on the book of James and the book of Ephesians. Learn who you are and your authority. Knowing those things is how you stay free. Resisting the enemy is easy, it starts with the choice of taking thoughts captive and it continues with speaking in line with the Word of God. These things are enforced by taking your authority over the enemy.
In the coming weeks we will look at who we are and our authority as well as the power of the Holy Spirit in us through receiving the baptism of the Spirit.
Recommend reading:
The Believers Authority: Kenneth E. Hagin
Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage: Curt Landry
A Time to Advance – Understanding the Hebrew Tribes and Months: Pierce & Heidler
All throughout Egypt you could smell the roasting of a lamb for each household. Normally the smell of food would have one sense with it, happiness. But this barbecue brought a somber feeling as the Hebrews then applied the blood of the lamb to the doorpost that the destroyer may pass over as the death of the firstborn is carried out.
Last week we looked at why we give during the feasts of the Lord. As I said in the last post, we are free to give or not give a first fruit offering. I teach and participate in first fruits because even though I can come to God at any time, three times a year He sets aside a specific time to come near to us as we give.
Excited does not begin to describe how I feel about this Passover season and my expectancy for this year! I don’t approach Passover and resurrection lightly. Each year we get to remember how God led the Hebrews out of Egypt and how Jesus ultimate sacrifice for us not only brought salvation to us, but complete wholeness; spirit, soul, and body.
In closing this three day Purim series I want to continue off of yesterday’s post on standing with Israel and the Jewish people. We looked at how walking in THE BLESSING is connected with standing with the Jews and how we can walk in higher levels of revelation when we embrace our Jewish roots. That is the first half of being aligned with the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. The second half is being willing to stand up to Anti-Semitism.
In celebration of the Feast of Purim, we are going to take three days and look at different aspects of the Book of Esther and what it held for the time it happened and what it means for Christians today. We will not be able to look at every verse and chapter, so I encourage you to take time and read and pray through the book of Esther this week.
As we continue in our faith series, we are going to look at the four soils for faith found in Mark chapter four. In Matthew’s account of the story in the Amplified Classic it says the same kind of seed. This teaching has nothing to do with the seed but the soil it is planned in. The Word of God has the ability to work the same for everybody, it’s what we do (or don’t do) with the Word that affects the outcome.
Faith is a topic most of us would say we have a pretty good grasp on. Faith as it concerns our religious beliefs, believing God for something or trusting him though a situation. Last summer the Lord spoke a theme for 2019, “The Spirit of Faith”.
It’s a couple days after Christmas and our attention is beginning to turn to 2019. Some of you are thinking about what resolutions you are going to make, (we’ll talk about that in a second) and some of you are trying to talk yourself into taking down the Christmas decorations.
It’s Friday night, Jews around the world are resting in the peace and stillness of the Sabbath and I’m sitting in a recliner, writing this post after several days of reflecting on my first Chanukah (or Hanukkah) and my journey of discovering the Jewish roots of Christianity in general.
Go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, these are probably some of the most familiar words to the Christian’s ears. We know these words under the banner of the great commission found in Matthew twenty eight. We know these words, we hear these words preached but what about the words of Acts 1:8?
I have been believing for physical healing for twenty one years. Actually that’s probably not accurate, I have had seasons of wavering and even giving up on healing in these twenty one years and that’s what this post is about. How do we keep our faith built up when answers seem slow in coming? While I’ll be specifically talking about physical healing, these principles can be applied to anything.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. These words in Hebrews chapter four have given all of us encouragement at one time or another. It is so wonderful knowing we can go to God at any time for anything.
