Web Description: Did you know that your daily charge of faith and prayer and seeking God is the energy that makes the Body of Christ function? No one in the Body can say, “I’m not important. It doesn’t matter if I’m not supplying what little I have.” It does matter! And the power of oneness will only be released when each of us is manifesting what we are.

Show Notes: As we learned in the previous podcast, the Bible is filled with examples of God moving from a focus on an individual to a focus on a people. The prayer of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7 shows this process. As an individual anointed by God, Solomon prayed, and God responded to his prayer. It is significant that God’s response was not to tell Solomon what he must do; rather, God told Solomon what the congregation must do.

God was saying, “Just like I answered Solomon's prayer, I will answer the prayer of my people if they humble themselves and seek My face.” In a sense, Solomon’s importance as a singular individual ceased once he finished the Temple. Now God emphasized the importance of all the individuals of Israel. The effectiveness of the prayer depended on how each individual walked with God. The same is true today.

According to God's plan, you are important. Without you, it does not work. Yet it is easy for us to minimize our own worthiness and effectiveness. As Christians we need to get over that mentality. We must recognize the importance of what we bring individually through our faith. Stop saying, “What I have isn’t important, and so it won’t matter if I don’t give it.” Instead, get up daily and say, “I need to bring what I have because the Body of Christ will not function without it.”

Key Verses:

•       2 Chronicles 7:11–14. “If … My people … pray and seek My face, … then I will hear from heaven.”

•       Acts 4:24–33. “The congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul.”

•       1 Corinthians 12:12–16. “The body is not one member, but many.”

Quotes:

•       “The body functions only because the cells function. We exist only because of each cell in the body doing its part.”

•       “You can say, ‘Well, I don't do that much,’ or ‘I don't have that much.’ It doesn't matter what you have. Without you, the Body of Christ doesn't work.”

•       “We need to change an age. We need to see the land delivered. We need to see God come and answer and move. And it requires you.”

Takeaways:

1.    According to 2 Chronicles 7, God answered Solomon’s prayer when he fulfilled David’s heart by building the Temple. Then God said He would answer the prayers of His people. But that required that every individual walked with God and served God after the heart of David. That meant it was no longer just Solomon. Each individual was important to the purpose of God and what each individual did mattered.

2.    If we want the promises of 2 Chronicles 7, then we must realize that it is no longer what a singular leader does. We are all important as individuals in the Body of Christ. What we do matters, and it does not happen without us.

3.    Each cell in a body does not seem to do that much. But the body does not function if each cell is not supplying what it has. You cannot say, “I don’t have very much, so it doesn’t really matter what I do.” The energy you supply is important to the proper functioning of the Body of Christ.

Scripture Readings:

1 Corinthians chapter 12             Ephesians chapter 4

Web Description: In Christianity there is a strong emphasis on individual ministry. However, the Scriptures show God’s emphasis moving from one individual to many. Then the beginning of the Church showed us the many becoming one. With the Lord’s help, let us follow His leading from our own individuality to real body ministry to the oneness of Christ.

Show Notes: When God met Abraham, the entire focus was on Abraham as an individual fulfilling God’s plan. When his descendants multiplied and moved forward in the plan of God, the focus on an individual transitioned to a focus on the many. Likewise, when Yeshua (Jesus) was on the earth, the focus was on Him as an individual. But when His disciples were baptized in the Holy Spirit, the great anointing that was on Christ was transferred to them, and the plan of God began to happen through the many.

Abraham as an individual did not possess and fill the Promised Land. His descendants did. And Christ as an individual had to ascend to the Father so that the Holy Spirit could fill a people to become the many-membered Body of Christ. God has always transitioned from an individual to a people. Yet it is difficult for us to get out of focusing on the singular individual. Even within the Church today we tend to emphasize individual ministries rather than really getting into body ministry.

Our focus needs to be on body ministry because God wants to lead us into the next step, which is the transition from many individuals into oneness. Christ’s prayer to the Father was that we as His Body would be one. And we have to see that this is the conclusion that everything He did for us is leading to. The revelation of Christ to the world happens as we become one just as the Father and Christ are one. Let this be imparted to our spirits as we pray for His Kingdom today.

Key Verses:

•       Genesis 22:17. “I will greatly multiply your seed … as the sand which is on the seashore.”

•       Leviticus 23:5–11. “You shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.”

•       John 12:24. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

•       Leviticus 23:15–17. “You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering.”

•       Acts 1:1–11. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses.”

•       Acts 1:14–15. “A gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together.”

•       Acts 2:1–4. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”

•       Acts 4:23–25. “They lifted their voices to God with one accord.”

•       Acts 4:31. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

•       Ephesians 4:13–16. “The head, even Christ, … causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

•       John 17:11–21. “They may all be one … so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Quotes:

•       “In the plan of God, we go from one—a focus on one individual or one ministry—and that transitions into many. Then the many must transition back into one.”

•       “All that has transpired in the story of God is coming to this conclusion: there must be a body of people. That body must be fitted and held together by that which every joint is supplying.”

•       “What's happening to the many? They are becoming one. And that is what the purpose all of this was about in the mind of Christ.”

Takeaways:

1.    We emphasize individual achievement and individual ministry. But it is important for us to see that God’s plan has always been to transition from one to many.

2.    The Feast of Weeks shows the transition from the singular first fruits of grain to the two loaves of bread made from many grains. Christ was the singular first fruits who pleased God and did His will completely. At Pentecost His followers received power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, signifying the transferring of anointing from Christ as a singular ministry to His many-membered Body.

3.    This transition resulted in a great congregation of people who were serving the Lord. Then there was another transition as this congregation was together in one place, in one accord, in one mind and heart. When they prayed together, the power of God was released by that oneness.

4.    The next step is that the many become one. The Body of Christ cannot continue on as a multitude of individuals. It must become one for the purpose of God to be finalized.

Web Description: The 2024 elections were an encouraging sign that Americans are concerned about the moral collapse in this country and want to do something about it. But more than a victory for our faith, it is a window of opportunity that we must not waste. Let us not let up in our faith and intercession for this country until we see it return to its Judeo-Christian roots.

Show Notes: This podcast looks at the results of the 2024 presidential election from a spiritual rather than a political standpoint. Our own political views are certainly important to us, and we all have the right to stand for whatever we want to stand for. However, this election showed more than a political choice. It showed the genuine concern people have for the wrong direction this country is moving and their desire to change that direction.

This election saw a great many people in this country standing up and saying, “We have had enough of rampant crime and destruction of our cities. We have had enough of the immorality being forced on our children in public schools. We have had enough of the antisemitism and anti-Israel policies.” It was an encouraging voice from this nation that we do not want to lose our Judeo-Christian values. It shows that our prayers have been effective up to this point.

It is like God is saying, “Okay, I'm listening. Here's an opportunity. What will you do with it?” And we cannot afford to waste this opportunity. If the intercession of the Body of Christ has brought this victory, then now is not the time to stop. We need an intensified level of intercession to shape what this victory will mean to our society in the coming days. We need more than political reforms. We need a change that reaches down to the very roots of this country. We need the depth of repentance that brings a nature change. Let us use this window of opportunity and pray like we never have until we see this nation become what God wants it to be.

Key Verses:

•       2 Kings 13:14–20. “The man of God was angry … ‘Now you shall strike Aram only three times.’”

•       2 Chronicles7:11–16. “My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.”

Quotes:

•       “God is in the business of judging immoral nations. And I feel like we have become that and are sliding very quickly into a worse state day by day.”

•       “Things are not going to change unless we change them through faith and prayer. And they're not going to change unless God is the force behind the change that happens.”

•       “Let’s get out of the caves. Let’s for sure have our own faith and prayer and intercession coming to another level. But let's open our mouths and do more than just vote privately in our houses.”

Takeaways:

1.    The 2024 presidential election was an announcement that Americans want a new direction for this country. The voice of the majority against the lawlessness, immorality, and antisemitism was an encouraging sign that this nation does not want to lose its Judeo-Christian values.

2.    In 2 Kings we read that Elisha directed Joash the king of Israel to shoot an arrow, meaning he would have victory over Aram. But when Joash beat the arrows only three times, Elisha told him he will win only three battles and not put an end to Aram.

3.    We can look at this election with a sense of victory. But it really is a window of opportunity that we do not want to waste. We can be like Joash and accept a limited victory. Or we can keep beating our arrows by our intercession until we see the end of the wickedness that is destroying this county.

Growing In God Podcast

Web Description: Thanksgiving is a wonderful time set aside for giving thanks to the Lord. But the scriptural example of thanksgiving is not something that is done only on specific days. It is a continual practice of giving thanks and praise to the Lord every day. The pattern in our lives should not be thanking the Lord whenever we feel He has blessed us. We should have an attitude, a mindset, and an intentional emotion of gratitude for everything God is and does. Let this Thanksgiving be the beginning of a new lifestyle of overflowing gratitude before the Lord.

Show Notes: In the transition from the Tabernacle to the Temple, David commanded the Levites to thank and praise the Lord every morning and evening. This concept of giving continual thanks and praise to the Lord goes deeper than our concept of giving thanks. When someone gives us something, we say, “Thank you.” And so our definition of thanksgiving still has this idea of thanking God after He blesses us. A better word for the scriptural concept of continual thanks to God is gratitude.

The Scriptures show us that we can develop a mindset, an attitude, and especially an emotion of gratitude before the Lord. Even when we face difficulties and negative situations, we can still have this emotion of gratitude because it is not dependent on our circumstances. We do not have to deny what may be happening to us, but we can continually focus on the Lord and develop within ourselves the sense of wonder and gratitude for all that God is and all that He does. 

Therefore, let us celebrate Thanksgiving this year with gratitude. Let it be an expression of our continual thanks and praise to the Lord and not isolated to one specific gift or answer to prayer that He has given us. Let our gratitude become something that we develop within the depths of our being as part of our relationship with God, whereby we say daily, “Lord, we are not thankful for one or two things that You did for us. We are overflowing with gratitude for all things that You are to us and have provided for us.”

Key Verses:

•       1 Chronicles 23:30. “They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the LORD, and likewise at evening.”

•       Psalm 92:1–5. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.”

•       2 Peter 1:3. “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.”

•       Colossians 2:6–7. “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, … overflowing with gratitude.”

Quotes:

•       “We don't just want to say ‘thank you’ for something. We want to develop in our hearts an attitude of gratitude.”

•       “When we talk about gratitude, it's not just an action; it's an emotion that is being expressed from within the depth of our being.”

•       “There is an unending list and an unending focus of what we should be giving praise and thanks to the Lord for.”

Takeaways:

1.    David introduced a new responsibility and ministry for the Levites. They were to stand every morning and evening to thank and praise the Lord. It is also important for us to find a new expression in our giving of thanks and worship to the Lord.

2.    It is good to set aside one day at Thanksgiving to express our thanks to the Lord. But we need more than just a practice of thanking the Lord on one day and afterwards reverting to a life of ungratefulness. We need the Levitical pattern of thanking and praising the Lord continually.

3.    Giving thanks when we are blessed is still a limited emotion in response to our circumstances. We need to develop an intentional emotion of gratitude that is a continual expression of praise and thanks to the Lord.

Web Description: When we pray for Israel, what are we praying for? Are we praying for God to bless Israel in the future? No. God’s Word over Israel exists now, and we are praying for that Word to be fulfilled now. The fact that all the nations are focused on Israel today means that they are focused on God and on His ability to perform what He said. Therefore, the focus of our prayer is for God’s Word, His power, and His glory to be revealed in Israel to all the nations.

Show Notes: We need effective intercession in this time. And one of the greatest examples of effective intercession is the prayer of Moses. When God said, “I am going to kill these children of Israel and make a new nation out of you,” Moses answered, “Israel is Your nation now by Your Word.” Moses reminded God that His Word was already completed, and he changed God’s mind at that moment. It did not happen in the future through Moses or in a future Israel.

This is important for our prayer because we as Christians relate too much to the Word of God as being in the future. We are always waiting for it, hoping for it, or believing for it, instead of recognizing that if God spoke it, it already exists. When we pray for Israel today, we need to be like Moses and say, “All these Words that God will restore, forgive, cleanse, and prosper Israel exist now, and we are not putting them off into the future.”

Moses made the issue about God’s Word and His glory. If God did not fulfill His Word over Israel, the nations would not scoff at Israel. Instead, they would scoff at God and say that He could not do what He said He would do. Right now, the focus of all the nations is on Israel. And there is no issue except God being glorified until everyone will see and hear that God bared His mighty arm, manifested His power, and fulfilled His Word over His people. Lord, glorify Yourself before the nations now.

Key Verses:

•       Jeremiah 31:31–34. “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it.”

•       Genesis 1:3. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”

•       Isaiah 55:11. “My word … will not return to Me empty.”

•       1 Peter 1:19–20. “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times.”

•       Exodus 32:9–14. “So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”

•       Numbers 14:11–21. “But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared.”

•       Ezekiel 36:22–28. “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name.”

•       Romans 10:6–8. “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART.”

•       Ezekiel 38:21–23. “I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known.”

•       Deuteronomy 9:28–29. “The land from which You brought us may say, ‘Because the LORD was not able.’”

Quotes:

•       “As long as you're willing to put it into the future, God is willing for it to happen in the future.”

•       “What does Israel mean? Israel means you, the world, the nations will behold God moving in a people. And just as He is moving for Israel, He can move for you. And He will move for you.”

•       “Christians have been trying to get the gospel to the whole world for two thousand years now; and they're still working at it. But I'll tell you, it can happen in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, if you see God move on Israel.”

Takeaways:

1.    God created the world by saying, “Let there be.” And when we look at the prophecies over Israel, we are looking at the same power of God to create. As the Sabbath tells us, everything God created is finished. And all the prophecies over Israel are finished now; they are not waiting for the future.

2.    We should pray like Moses who refused to let God move the fulfillment to the future by destroying the Israelites and making a new nation out of Moses. We move the future into the present with our prayers.

3.    We should pray like Moses who told the Lord, “If you kill these people, the nations will hear of it and say, ‘You could not do what You promised by oath.’” The issue is not the events that are happening or the people involved. It is about what God has said and His glorification to the nations.

Web Description: Often after deliverances or breakthroughs or answers to prayer, we experience spiritual warfare that seems diametrically opposed to what we are believing for. But we need to see that God is doing something greater than what we assume. We must be careful that our prayers and speaking the Word of God are not limited by our own minds because God is able to do abundantly beyond our limited ability to imagine.

Show Notes: The Lord sent Moses to tell the children of Israel that the God of their fathers would deliver them from Egypt. But as the deliverance unfolded, the people became very upset with Moses because their lives got worse every time he spoke. It seemed that God was doing the opposite of what Moses said He would do. Moses himself had to hold in his mind what God told him at the beginning: “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders will be multiplied.”

God was looking for something beyond Egypt. He was going to deliver His people out of Egypt, but He was also going to multiply His signs and wonders and magnify Himself to pharaoh and the people of Egypt. After their deliverance at Passover, it seemed to Israel that God was trying to destroy them by Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea. But God was doing far more in His deliverance than the people understood. He was completely destroying Pharaoh’s army and bringing down the power of Egypt.

We need to hold this in our minds as we voice or re-speak the promises of God in the Scriptures. The spiritual warfare will come to make us feel like the exact opposite of what God promised is happening. So it is important that we set aside our expectations for a situation and reach into what God is wanting. What is the spiritual warfare really about? It is telling us that God’s deliverance will be greater than anything we can believe for or even imagine.

Key Verses:

•       Exodus 11:9–10. “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders will be multiplied.”

•       1 Corinthians 13:12. “Now I know in part.”

•       Isaiah 55:8–9. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.”

•       Exodus 12:42. “It is a night to be observed … by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.”

•       Exodus 14:10–13. “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD.”

•       Ephesians 3:20. “To Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.”

Quotes:

•       “Satan can't take anything from you. He can only try to talk you into letting go of what you've received.”

•       “It's always good to remember what God is looking for because we tend to get so consumed in what we're looking for.”

•       “It’s never about what the enemy is doing. It's always about what God is doing in fulfilling His purpose.”

•       “We can't even bring ourselves to imagine how great is the release that God is going to bring. How great is His Kingdom. How great and abundant are His promises and His deliverances and His answers to our prayer.”

Takeaways:

1.    After God promised to deliver Israel at Passover, the people became discouraged and angry because the judgments on Pharaoh made their lives worse. But God had told Moses that Pharaoh would not listen so that His wonders would be magnified.

2.    At Tabernacles we experience great victories and receive directions for new hope and promises from the Lord. Then after such times of great victory, we often find that we are plunged into spiritual warfare that makes it appear as though our deliverance failed.

3.    What is really happening may lie in the fact that this new spiritual battle is being brought by the Lord, who is in the process of giving us a greater victory and deliverance than what we had originally been promised or could even imagine.

Web Description: In the quantum realm all things exist as possibilities until we observe them. But it must be understood that we are observing what exists; we are not creating something new. In God all things are possible to the one who believes. But that only works when it is a belief in what God has created. The Sabbath means that God rested because He completed His creation. And we enter His rest when we stop trying to create our own thing and become instruments to manifest what He has created.

Show Notes: Quantum physics describes a realm where all possibilities exist. It is the act of observation that takes something out of the quantum realm of possibility and manifests it in the realm we relate to. This quantum principle applies to the Sabbath. God rested on the Sabbath because all His works were completed. That means everything already exists in the realm of possibility. Therefore, our faith is not to create something new. It is to become aware of what God has already created and thus manifest what He has made available.

When you enter God's rest, you are resting from your works, from your striving, and from your seeking to accomplish something. There is nothing for you to accomplish since God has already accomplished everything. If you are stressed as a believer, it is because you have not entered His rest. You are still trying to work too hard to accomplish all the things you feel are from God. If they are from God, then He has already created them, and you need to manifest what He has created, not work harder yourself. If our awareness can lock onto what He has created, finalized, and completed, then we will become the manifestation of His works.

The book of Hebrews warns us not to be like those who failed to enter His rest because of disobedience. What was their disobedience? Even after they had witnessed God’s signs and wonders, they still did not believe He was God. They did not believe He was capable; they did not believe He was going to follow through on His promise. What then is the obedience God is looking for? It is believing in who He is as God and that what He has created is finished and fully available to us. 

Key Verses:

•       Hebrews 4:9–11. “The one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

•       Genesis 1:27–31. “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”

•       Genesis 2:1–4. “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work.”

•       Hebrews 4:1–11. “Let us be diligent to enter that rest.”

•       Mark 9:23. “All things are possible to him who believes.”

•       Matthew 7:7. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

•       Psalm 95:6–11. “They tried Me, though they had seen My work.”

•       Psalm 78:10–33. “In their heart they put God to the test.”

•       Matthew 4:5–7. “YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.”

Quotes:

•       “Something that we're still looking for is this idea of entering into His rest. So you must see that there is an experience available to us that God is wanting us to have that has not been accomplished yet.”

•       “All things are possible to him who believes. If we pray, then we can pray and believe for these things to manifest. You knock and you keep on knocking. You ask and you keep on asking because they are there. You're not trying to invent them. You're not trying to recreate them. You are simply believing in what is.”

•       “We've seen His salvation in our own lives. We've read the Bible stories. We've witnessed at times, many of us with our own eyes, the moving of God in the earth—healings and wonders. We cannot doubt. We cannot come back and say, ‘Oh, now we just need You to do one more miracle for us.’”

Takeaways:

1.    Many Christians think that the Sabbath is strictly Jewish. But God sanctified the Sabbath day after He finished His creation, long before the commandment to observe the Sabbath. This means that the Sabbath was set apart for all mankind.

2.    People are still trying to understand the quantum realm. But simply, it is a creation of God. It is the mind of God. It is the realm where all things are possible. And the Sabbath rest means that we simply activate what is possible in the mind of God rather than striving in ourselves to accomplish something.

3.    The generation that God delivered from Egypt failed to enter His rest because of their unbelief. We do not want to follow their example. We had better know that He is God and that nothing is impossible for Him and that all He has created is available for us to possess.

Web Description: In this day it is essential that we know and believe the love God has for us, as we read in 1 John 4:16. Otherwise, we become overwhelmed by the increasing lawlessness in the world, and we find our love growing cold. The Kingdom is God’s love. And we can only minister His love to others when we know His love for us personally.

Show Notes: Yeshua (Jesus) said, “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” Already we see this happening with people as they react to the increasing lawlessness around them. The fact is that we are affected by the spirit realm. And as we watch all the negativity happening in the world, we have to take care that we are not drawn into the same spirit.

Yeshua directly tied the increase in lawlessness to people losing their love. Satan knows this and brings all the lawlessness and wickedness because they generate a force in direct opposition to what Christ is trying to impart to us, which is His mind that has the capacity to know the love of God. As His Son, Yeshua knew the love the Father had for Him, and He came to impart the knowledge of that love to us as individuals.

We need to come into the knowledge of the Father’s love for us because Christ is sending us into the world for the same purpose that He came. It is not to do signs and wonders. It is not to perform healings. It is not to speak living words. It is to impart the love of the Father into the lives of people. But you cannot impart what you do not have. The greatest preparation you can do right now to carry out the will of God in the earth is to become aware of His love for you personally.

Key Verses:

•       Matthew 24:12–14. “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”

•       1 John 4:7–13. “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

•       1 John 4:14–16. “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.”

•       Ephesians 3:16–19. “Know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”

•       1 Corinthians 2:16. “We have the mind of Christ.”

•       Romans 12:2. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

•       John 15:9–13. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”

•       John 17:24–26. “The love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Quotes:

•       “Everything that's going to happen in the bringing forth of the Kingdom between now and the manifestation of it in the earth is born out of love.”

•       “The spirits that are taking over this age right now have a purpose. And that is to block the knowledge of love. It is to remove love from the hearts of humanity.”

•       “If we can come to know this love that God has for us individually, we can be filled up to the fullness of Him, to the fullness of that love.”

Takeaways:

1.    When we see everything happening in the earth, our immediate tendency is to be caught up in the negative. But it is not for us to relate to what is going on from a negative perspective. It is simply a matter of shifting our focus and awareness to God’s presence.

2.    Yeshua had the awareness of God's love for Him personally, and He functioned out of the knowledge and the understanding of that love. And Christ came to bring the knowledge of that love to us as individuals.

3.    Why is satan bringing all this lawlessness and wickedness and this increase of evil? Because if he does that, then the love of people grows cold. The wickedness is in direct opposition to what Christ is trying to impart to us, which is His mind that has the capacity to know the love of God.

4.    As humans we struggle with knowing the love that God has for us. That is why we need this impartation of the mind of Christ that is beyond human knowledge or human ability to understand.

Web Description: Let us come to Christ and learn of Him. Let us take on His yoke. Let us change our whole approach to walking with Him. Instead of stressing and struggling and carrying a burden He has not put on us, let us enter His rest. His works are already finished. And it is not our job to do new works or to pray for new things. We are simply to be the expression of what He has already created.

Show Notes: After years of serving the Lord, do you feel weary? Do you feel a heaviness? Are you weighed down by all the burdens you carry? That means you need to try a different approach. Yeshua (Jesus) said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” It comes back to the fact that we need to enter His rest. We need to remember the Sabbath.

When you remember the Sabbath, what are you remembering? You are remembering that God has already completed everything He has promised. So if you are stressed out from serving the Lord, consider that your stress is from working so hard to bring the manifestation of His promises that you are doing your own works—not the works He has completed.

Yeshua said that He could do nothing of Himself. He only did the works of His Father. And He told us to learn of Him. When we do that, we will find rest for our souls. We need to come to Christ and learn of Him because He knew how to be in God’s rest. And we need to know how to do that. Let us change our approach. Instead of being those who are struggling and straining to do the will of God, let us be those who are bringing into this moment all that God has already provided.

Key Verses:

•       Matthew 11:27–30. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

•       Jeremiah 31:25. “For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes.”

•       Hebrews 4:1–3. “We who have believed enter that rest.”

•       Psalm 95:9–11. “Your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work.”

•       Matthew 4:5–7. “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”

•       Hebrews 4:9–10. “The one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works.”

•       John 5:19. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing.”

Quotes:

•       “When you look at the world, it's languishing right now. We should be the ones who are imparting the refreshing of God's presence. But we can't impart what we don't have.”

•       “God gets angry when you test Him. Why? Because we should already know He's God. We should already absolutely know beyond a shadow of a doubt who He is and what He is capable of in our lives.”

•       “What do we remember on the Sabbath? We remember that everything we need, everything we're believing for is already done.”

Takeaways:

1.    We are not supposed to be weary, under a heavy burden, and stressed out in our walk with God. Yeshua is saying, “All you who feel this way, come to Me, and learn a new way. Learn a different approach. Learn of Me because My yoke is easy.”

2.    This is necessary for us because the longer we walk with God, the more our tendency is to say, “I believe. But can God really do what I believe?” We have seen enough in our years of walking with God that our faith in Him should be absolute. And we must not put God to the test like those who failed in the wilderness by challenging His ability.

3.    It is all about the Sabbath. The Sabbath was established because God finished His work. And we must come to the realization that everything God is going to bring is already done. We should not be praying for God to do things in the future. We should be manifesting His finished work.

Web Description: What is the Feast of Tabernacles about? It is about remembering God’s power to deliver, to protect, to provide, and to lead His people. As we celebrate Tabernacles this year, let us be grateful for everything God has done for us and worship Him, acknowledging His power to do all that He has promised for Israel and for us.

Show Notes: Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a time when Jewish families live and take their meals together in a sukkah or a booth, just as their ancestors did in the wilderness. It is a time to remember the miraculous works of God that delivered them from Egypt and sustained them in the wilderness. They are to teach this history to their children so that no generation will ever forget the miraculous provision of God's power. They know they must never forget that God is able to move today as He moved in the past.

As Christians we should not regard Tabernacles as just a Jewish holiday. We must be those who remember God’s power in our lives because we are in serious trouble when we forget. And so we should celebrate Sukkot this year with Israel and the Jewish people, not religiously but in a true heart of remembrance. We should be rehearsing the stories about the forty years in the wilderness and recognize that the power of God for Israel then is the same power He has now.

Today we need this provision of God moving in our midst. We must remember all that He has done. We must remember that we are sustained by His power alone and not by anything we do from ourselves. So let us study the Scriptures and teach our children the history of Israel and how God moves by His mighty power to take care of those He loves and covenants with. We keep these facts alive in our hearts and know that God can do the same thing in our lives today, right now.

Key Verses:

•       Leviticus 23:39. “Celebrate the feast of the LORD … with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day.”

•       Leviticus 23:43. “So that your generations may know.”

•       Deuteronomy 5:13–15. “The seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; … You shall remember.”

•       Deuteronomy 31:8–12. “At the end of every seven years … at the Feast of Booths, … you shall read this law.”

•       Deuteronomy 8:1–5. “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you.”

•       Deuteronomy 8:11–18. “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God.”

•       Psalm 78:4–18. “They forgot His deeds and His miracles that He had shown them.”

•       Psalm 78:35. “And they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer.”

Quotes:

•       “We're in a time when many things are happening around us. Many things are happening in Israel. And it's necessary that we don't forget that He is a God of miracles and that He provides for His people.”

•       “We will probably need again to experience this type of miraculous provision from God during our lifetime.”

•       “There's got to be a humility that comes in our hearts to remember all that God has done, all that He provided because we may find ourselves living in what seems like a new time of wilderness. And in that wilderness, we must remember He is able miraculously to provide for us.”

Takeaways:

1.    The purpose of Tabernacles is that we come before the Lord to remember His mighty works, to remember His power, and to remember His ability to sustain us, to carry us, to protect us, and to shepherd us.

2.    Let us not be like those who forget the works of God and therefore fail to keep His commandments. Let us not be like those who forget His deeds, who forget His miracles, and who forget all that He has spoken and sworn to Israel and to us.

3.    We live in an age when the world is headed for disaster. And the greatest source of it is that we have forgotten the miraculous deeds of the God of heaven, and we have not honored Him or worshipped Him or given Him the credit for all that He has done.

For Further Study:

Deuteronomy 8

Psalms 78

Nehemiah 9 and 10