From sameach; blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival) exceeding (-ly), gladness, joy (-fulness), mirth, pleasure, rejoice delight (1), exceeding joy (1), extremely* (1), festival (1), gladness (34), happiness (1), joy (38), mirth (1), pleasure (6), rejoice (1), rejoiced (1), rejoicing (6).
At that moment …
He was filled with JOY – שִׂמְחָה
שִׂמְתָה שָׂשׂן
Transliteration: sim•cha, sa•son
Simcha, Joy, is one of the most used words in the Scriptures; it appears over 400 times, together with its synonym, sa•son. Interestingly, the English word ‘sassy’ came from sa•son.
Both words together form a beautiful expression that is said in every Jewish wedding, as weddings themselves and other events such as a child birth are called by the general name ‘sim•cha’.(The word is spelled both with and without an h at the end.)
This expression, used by the prophet, Jeremiah, says:
‘kol sa•son ve•kol sim•cha, kol cha•tan ve•kol ka•la’.
“The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride” Jeremiah 33:11
We can also see this as prophetic concerning Messiah returning for His Bride/Challah/.
From the references to joy, the first time it is mentioned in the Brit Chadashah/New Testament it is noted with the birth of Jesus, Yeshua:
“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy”
Matthew 2:10
We may be most familiar with joy being listed among the fruit of the spirit which are qualities noted in Galatians 5:22-23.
The second fruit of the Spirit is joy, ‘sim•cha.
Sim•cha is connected to the name of an important Jewish Holiday – Sim•chat To•rah – the Rejoicing of the Torah.
This holiday is celebrated on She•mi•ni A•tze•ret, which is the first day following the seventh day of Sukkot also called
Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles.
The holiday commemorates the completion of reading portions of the Torah during the year; there are 52; each portion is read each week of the year all over the world.
This custom is biblical because it was first done by Ezra the Scribe.
Luke 10:21-25
when we hold someone dear and love them in truth we want to know what makes them happy ….happiness is an emotion of the soul and often does not outlast the occasion or reason for its declared feeling. We are in a flesh body but we are spirit first and foremost; and we must learn to NOT be led by our feelings but by His Spirit of Holiness within us, guiding and leading our spirit not our flesh.
The scripture does not say Yeshua/Jesus was happy,
it says
He was filled with joy. Luke 10:21
The scripture says in
Nehemiah 8:10This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the lord is our strength.
Nehemiah 8:10, Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!
We may assume that our strength comes from the joy our Heavenly Father gives to us.
Have we ever thought to ask, where does that joy really come from?
The word joy that is used in Nehemiah is the word chadoth which is really the word for pleasure.
The pleasure of God is our strength.
But what does that mean?
Psalms 105 may give us an answer.
He called down famine on the land, broke off all their food supply, 17 but sent a man ahead of them — Yosef, who was sold as a slave. 18 They shackled his feet with chains, and they bound him in irons; 19 until the time when his word proved true, God’s utterance kept testing him. 20 The king sent and had him released, the ruler of peoples set him free; 21 he made him lord of his household, in charge of all he owned, 22 correcting his officers as he saw fit and teaching his counselors wisdom.
This Psalm vs. 16-22 holds a very interesting reference to Joseph. Most scholars agree that this reference means; that until the time came for Joseph to fulfill his purpose or mission in life, which was to become a prime minister of Egypt and thus bring his family into safety from a famine; he first had to go through various trials to be tested by Adonai. This testing/trial proves faithfulness and obedience, vs.19.
Joseph learned to be joyful in every situation because
thejoy of the Lord was his strength.
His pleasure is our strength …a verse in Philippians also helps us understand:
For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. Phil. 2:13. Amp. and again in Rev. 4:11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Here is confirmation of two things that believers in Messiah understand to be true; and that is,
we are all created for a specific purpose in life
and
that our Heavenly Father puts us through times of trial/testing or as it’s often referred to as spiritual boot camp.
This is for the purpose of developing our
obedience and faithfulness
and to bring us to the place where we fulfill the mission /calling He has placed on our lives.
These verses are important for us.
Why?
Because it gives us a scriptural basis, revealing that we are not put on this earth haphazardly, or by chance or mistake; rather that our Heavenly Father has placed us here at this specific time to fulfill a specific role.
It also gives us an understanding of the reason why we all go through trials in life; that it is to provide a training ground which helps prepare us to fulfill the role chosen for us in His plan.
Concerning
the joy of the Lord is your strength;
it’s not the joy you feel,
but the joy our Heavenly Father has in us
and reveals it to you through devar.
The Hebrew word
devar:
Strong’s Hebrew: 1697.
דָּבָר dabar/devar – speech, word.
Davar or dabar means word and it also means thing.
This fact reflects a deep facet of a Jewish world view.
Words are the creative energy of the world. God spoke, and through words brought the universe into being.
It directly correlates to Yeshua for it is the Hebrew equivalent to “Logos” found in John chapter 1.
In Hebrew John 1: 1 reads,
“Bereishit hayah hadavar. V’davar haya et haElohim, vElohim hayah hadavar.”
In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Yeshua is Hadavar Elohim, “The Word of God.”
The Fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy is called “Davarim” (Words) in Hebrew. It was written at the end of 40 years of the Children of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.
There is something interesting to be seen here.
The Hebrew word for “wilderness” is Midvar. Davar is the root word for Midvar. Notice that the last three consonants of Midvar are the same as the three consonants of Davar.
Davar is spoken by Moses (a type of Yeshua) at the end of the 40 years of testing in the wilderness. After Moses’ death, Yehoshua (Joshua, another type of Yeshua) leads the children of Israel to the Promised Land (yet another picture of Yeshua).
Yeshua at the end of the 40 days of testing in the Midvar (wilderness) is confronted by Satan. Three times Satan tries to tempt Yeshua. Yeshua responds only one way. He uses Hadavar Elohim (the Word of God).
Which book does Yeshua quote from all three times?
Davarim.
Interesting Note:
Davar HaChaim (The Living Word)
is in the Midvar using the Hadavar Elohim,
specifically the book of Davarim to defeat the adversary!!
We all know that as God, Jesus/Yeshua could have just simply performed a miracle and thrown Satan out of the desert, but He didn’t. So why did He
The Living Word
Davar HaChaim
use the Word of God to defeat the adversary?
because He is our example.
Jesus/Yeshua,
the Living Word/Davar HaChaim
had to show that Satan/adversary can be defeated by the
Hadavar Elohim/the Word of God
and in the power of His Spirit of Holiness/Ruach HaKodesh. Had Messiah done something to the adversary/devil that only God can do, He would not have been much of an example for us, as that option would not have be available to us.
The word/devar that is
spoken from the heart of God.
Devar represents a
word of power
and could also be
a word of prophecy or inspiration.
Devar – DBR – is spelled with a
Daleth
which is a doorway
to the
Beth (b and/or v)
or the heart
of the Resh or Spirit of God.
So Devar is:
a doorway to the heart of God.
It’s the heart of God that gives us strength!
When we enter His heart, we find it is
filled with JOY over us and our faithfulness
and when we see the JOY of the Lord…
that becomes our strength to overcome!
So Yeshua/Jesus was filled with strength also ..
this joy is a spiritual force that helps us in our halak/walk;
this too is to be our joy – our strength!
For Yeshua/Jesus too, the joy that filled Him, came by way of His Fathers’ Spirit of Holiness/Ruach HaKodesh; as He saw what JOY was in His Fathers’ Heart as His will and plan was being fulfilled.
21 At that moment he was filled with joy by the Ruach HaKodeshand said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank you because you concealed these things from the sophisticated and educated, yet revealed them to ordinary people. Yes, Father, I thank you that it pleased you to do this.
22 “My Father has handed over everything to me. Indeed, no one fully knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
He continued to speak
23 Then, turning to the talmidim, he said, privately, “How blessed are the eyes that see what you are seeing! 24 Indeed, I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you are seeing but did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing but did not hear them.”
Just before that moment He had told His talmidim/disciples in
verse 20, don’t be glad that the spirits submit to you be glad that your names have been recorded in heaven.
His Joy/Simchah/chedvah, was at the declaration of His Fathers will being literally fulfilled!
He and His disciples and anyone at that time who saw what was happening were seeing what the prophets had desired to see!
“Blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:16-17).
In other words, to experience something that marvelous, was that which many wise and holy people had longed to experience but couldn’t …this should make us aware that we are truly blessed, and should cause us to be very thankful.
In 1 Peter 1:10-12. he is encouraging us to express a more grateful attitude and respect for our salvation because the old testament prophets and the angels of heaven longed to see what we have now experienced through the gospel of Messiah.
This salvation referred to in vers. 5 & 9, reveals that 10 The prophets, who prophesied about this gift of deliverance that was meant for you, pondered and inquired diligently about it. 11 They were trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of the Messiah in them was referring in predicting the Messiah’s sufferings and the glorious things to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that their service when they spoke about these things was not for their own benefit, but for yours. And these same things have now been proclaimed to you by those who communicated the Good News to you through the Ruach HaKodesh sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things!
If this is true then the days we are living in should also fill us with that same JOY!!?…
again this JOY is not an emotion or a feeling from our soul based on a carnal based reaction to our physical body’s 5 senses. It is rather a definitive condition of our spirit based on truth and rooted in His devar/Word; both the written and Word made flesh in Messiah.
It was the fulfilling of His Fathers will that filled Yeshua/Jesus with Joy/simcha/chedvah.
As we see prophecy being fulfilled at an almost alarming pace, we too should be filled with His joy/simcha/chedvah;
as His and our Heavenly Fathers will is being literally fulfilled today!
The hour is at hand!
Matt 26:45 behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners
He also said in Luke 22:53
When the authorities come to take Jesus/Yeshua away, He tells them in verse 53
this is your hour — when darkness reigns.
It could be translated as
this the hour of the authority of darkness.
The physical darkness is a representation of something deeper that happens.
Then Jesus/Yeshua said to the chief priests, temple officers, and elders who had come for Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against an outlaw? 53
And we all face those because, there is a power in darkness. It’s the power of uncertainty, and anxiety and fear. However He tells us to fear not
WHY?
Because…
He has overcome the world and all things are in the Fathers hand. He is in control whatever our 5 physical senses try to tell us…
Knowing what His Word says regarding these things we experience in our flesh, will dispel ALL fears; and when we resist them in the name of Jesus/Yeshua; and keep ourselves under His protective, redeeming blood, by being obedient to what He has told us to do and be… then…. no weapon formed against us can prosper.
Yeshua/Jesus called the adversary, the prince of this world, who indeed did offer Him all the kingdoms of the world. Messiah did not choose the easy way but chose instead to complete His Fathers’ plan for His life
because this is why He came.
Likewise we must fulfill that for which we are here.
There are times that the darkness seems to be winning but it’s only for a designated hour!
The hour is at hand for us …as the end of the age presses in and
all things must be fulfilled Luke 24:44
That day and that hour Luke 21 36
We are called to set a watch in the night time.
This is both physical night and times/days of spiritual darkness. When Yeshua/Jesus said,
the hour has come…
darkness had its designated but short reign.
This manifested presence, although dark, was still the will of His Father however, it was restricted within the boundaries and restraints of our Fathers’ perfect plan of the ages.
Even the wicked in Prov. 16:4
Adonai made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of disaster.
and
Isaiah 45:7 I form light, I create darkness; I make well-being, I create woe; I, Adonai, do all these things.
Are we distracted by lifes’ events?
Are we pressured by conforming to the ever increasing dates for activities and celebrations on mens’ calendars?
Should we not be more concerned with our Heavenly Fathers’ timeline and calendar?
What is the word watch for?
It is to rise and pray..
WHY?
So that the hour does not come on us unaware
and
that we do not fall into temptation.
The time is short –
Final salvation, days of His glory, are nearer to us now, than when we first believed – It is continually advancing, flying forward upon the swiftest wings of time.
“And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” Romans 13:11.
Even so, the events that Yeshua/Jesus mentions in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 lead to the end of this worlds age; and because of this, we know that
the hour is at hand
and our final salvation is indeed
nearer to us than when we first believed.
Yeshua/Jesus went on to say,
No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. Mark 13:32-33.
The storm is gathering fast and He calls us to discern the events that are currently forming in the affairs of men. We are to be observant of their warning, that disaster and and holocaust are in the making and shaping up to be released.
Doom and gloom you say??
NO!
Rather it is prophetic declaration of the Words of our Lord and Savior; and it let’s us know He is soon returning!
It’s a season for every believer to rejoice and be joy filled
and for those looking for Him who are the redeemed bride,
they will say what
Is. 25:9 says…
this is the Lord for whom we have waited.
On that day they will say, “See! This is our God! We waited for him to save us. This is Adonai ; we put our hope in him. We are full of JOY so glad he saved us!”
We are a chosen generation…
chosen to see the culmination of the ages
Yeshua/Jesus said in Matthew 24:21
21 For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the beginning of the world until now, and there will be nothing like it again![b]22 Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited.
this will be a time like no other and never will be again…
James 5:7 7 So, brothers, be patient until the Lord returns. See how the farmer waits for the precious “fruit of the earth” — he is patient over it until it receives the fall and spring rains.[a]
He waits only for the precious fruit of the earth, until the times of the gentiles (the last 2000+years) be fulfilled Luke 21:24.
He waits for our Heavenly Fathers’ timing…
Matthew 24:36 No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
We must be ready, we must be in the company of the wise virgins. The call has already gone forth, so we must be listening more and more to Him than to what the world around us is saying.
Keep our focus on Him and things above.
We must learn to
be still before Him,
as chaotic disturbances scream for our attention.
Be obedient when He speaks and raise the standard of our personal discipline and dedication to a higher level….NOW…
He has called us to come up higher… Did we move yet?
Or are these just words that we give mental assent to, agreeing and acknowledging, but with no action or response!
Once His face was set like flint towards Yerushalayim/Jerusalem for the hour had come…
It’s time to set our faces towards His will for us!
Setting our face to go to Jerusalem means letting go of home, a sense of security, and a place in society. If we set our face to go to Jerusalem, then we have put ourselves on a path of change and transformation according to His Will plan and purpose for us.
Darkness and all its works have an allocated time for all prophecy to be fulfilled. Again remember…
The LORD has made everything for His purpose–even the wicked for the day of disaster. Proverbs 16:4
If there was no bad, we would not comprehend what good is. Our Heavenly Father has created a perfectly balanced universe, beyond our finite minds can understand. He is infinite.
The day of reckoning and judgment is in His hand. These things Yeshua/Jesus said must take place. Read Matt. 24:34 & Luke 1:20.
He will lift up His voice as the sound of a trumpet.
Isaiah 58:1 and Heb. 12:9 Rev. 3:20.
Those with ears to hear will recognize the clear tone of His call.
As we prepare ourselves, being more with Him, allowing His Ruach/Spirit to fill us to a greater capacity; this will keep us from the influences and deceiving elements of the prince of this world, and all his wiles. We must become like our Lord and when the devil comes be able to say…
he finds nothing in me!
for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me.
John 14:30
Hold fast to the profession of your faith. Hebrews 10:23
to that which is good
But examine all things; hold fast to what is good. 1 Thess.5:21
and godly
Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Rev.3:11.
and
occupy till He comes. Luke 19:13.
1 Tim. 5:21; 2 Tim. 1:13. Titus 1:9; Heb 4:14, 10:31; Rev. 2:13; Ps. 11:6; Is. 62:1; Jer. 6:11; Acts 3:11; Rom. 14:4; 1Cor. 14:30.
Hold Fast in Hebrew is:
tamak:
to grasp, support, attain
Original Word: תָּמַךְ Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration:tamak Phonetic Spelling: (taw-mak’) Definition: to grasp, support, attain
NAS: to me, Let your heart hold fastmy words/dabar;
Let us holdfast the confession of our hope without wavering, for
He who promised is faithful….Hebrews 10:23
For the word of the LORD holds true, and we can trust everything he does, Psalm 33:4.
So that we may stand and be found worthy to escape all these things coming upon the earth and to stand before the son of man Luke 21:36,having finished our race. 2Tim. 4:7.
Watch for the signals, the signs of His coming. We will see the sky change and things appear in unfamiliar ways. The veil is torn and dimensions are merging. Read Matt 24:32 , Mark 13:28 and Luke 21:30 and Revelation among other prophets it will give clear details of the events unfolding before our eyes.
The time has come
the hour is upon us
summer is nigh..
lets not cry with those in Jeremiah 8:20
“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”
Not only are we to prepare ourselves, we are to warn others, help and encourage them.
Jude 1:23 says save others snatching them out of the fire.
Ephesians 5:14 So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
The alarm has sounded in the spirit – no time for apathy or pressing the snooze button... There has never been a time in all His Story that is more crucial than now ..
Stay alert and be ready –
the hour has come and soon and very soon
we are going to see the King –
the one who we have waited for.
Hold fast to that which you have.. Hold and do not let go… whatever we see ….whatever we are told.. do not waver in your faith and trust in Him leaning not to our own understanding. Do not be swayed by science, proof or so called facts and evidence presented by anyone or anything other than the Word of our Heavenly Father and His Messiah. His spirit/ruach leads us to all truth and our very salvation depends on our faith in Him and His promise; which are always yes and amen. He is the author and finisher of the faith within us, (Heb. 12:2); and He will bring all things to completion, Phil 1:6. Stand and having done all stand, Eph.6:13. He is right there with us….always.
What filled Yeshua/Jesus with JOY?
At that moment …
His joy was at the declaration of His Fathers’ will being literally fulfilled…
let’s be a moment of joy to both our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach..
Look up with that same joy family, our redemption draws ever closer.
Shalom shalom mishpachah/family
and cheverim/friends!
You are loved and appreciated and prayed for daily.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read the posts. If they have been a blessing and if you haven’t already, please sign up for free email notification, like, share and subscribe, it all helps to freely spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth and reaches others with His Truths.
Meanwhile let’s continue to stay alert and ready, be in prayer and in His Word for in an hour we think not He is coming… and…
it’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
NOT SURE?
YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus had just washed His disciples’ feet
16 Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
It was just before the Pesach/Passover Festival and Yeshua/Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.
These were some of the final instructions given to HIs Talmidim/Disciples. And as we are also His Talmidim these words are for us too.
He is reminding us that knowledge has to become reality by putting into practice what we have learned.
When we know these things and do them then we are blessed….
IF
conditional
we want to be blessed …but,
what is it that we have to do?
What are these things to which He was referring?
One word for blessed in Hebrew is
Baruch בָּרוּך
The word bless, is used to refer to any action, object, or person that is blessed. The term blessing, is an expression of gratitude and gratefulness to God. Whether it is a family member, a friend, a loved one, or a colleague, the Hebrew word for blessing/baruch is a positive statement of love/ahavah.
The concept of blessing and blessed are foundational in the Hebraic mindset and are directed first and foremost towards our Heavenly Father Himself not towards the individual or for their benefit.They understood the conditions that were required to be blessed by God as listed in Leviticus 26. Here the scriptures also lists the curses that follow when not keeping His commandments.
Yeshua /Jesus reminded His disciples and followers that they were to be mindful that, following being healed from sickness and receiving deliverance from unclean spirits; they were not to sin again – lest a worse thing come upon them. He also listed those He declared blessed in the Beatitudes; which on first inspection appears to be a strange list of those who He considers to be blessed/Baruch. We tend to think first by material and physical things, where Yeshua/Jesus and His Father primarily think spiritually, in higher thoughts and ways.
Rooted in the Hebrew prayers are the blessings towards the Father as in the opening words of most prayers …
Baruch atah adonai elohaynu melech ha’olam
Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe.
Blessing the Father is also the last line of another much used prayer known as the SHEMA.
Pronounced: shuh-MAH or SHMAH,
Alternate Spellings: Sh’ma, Shma,
Origin: Hebrew, the central prayer of Judaism, proclaiming God is one.
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד
She-ma yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad
Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One
בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד
Baruch shem kavod malchuto l’olam va-ed
Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.
Shema Yisrael שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל Hear, O Israel
are the first two words of a section of the Torah that is the centerpiece of the morning and evening prayer services.
Hear, O Israel: God is our Lord, God is one.
In its entirety, the Shema consists of three paragraphs: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, Deuteronomy 11:13–21 and Numbers 15:37–41.
As Abraham was told
We are blessed to be a blessing and that not for ourselves.
We should not always be looking for blessings and praying for ourselves to be blessed but rather to say with the Psalmist:
BLESS the Lord o my soul
and all that is within me
BLESS His Holy Name.
When we bless God we are thanking Him for all He has done for us and declaring our love for Him acknowledging Who He is in our lives, giving Him the 1st place He deserves and the agreement that He is the Blessed and the One Who imparts the blessings. Many immediately think of things, when we see or hear the word blessing for provision; and in our answered prayers to things we need or desire in the natural physical realm. Sometimes we even ascribe blessings of God to things we just simply made happen for ourselves. We sometimes have a skewed viewpoint on what His blessings actually are.
Often when we ask someone how they are, their reply is
‘I’m blessed.’
It makes us think, do we really know what being blessed means, other than a feel-good response or a positive confession to evade agreeing with our adversary?
Psalm 1:1 HEB:אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־ הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר ׀ NAS: How blessed is the man who KJV: Blessed [is] the man that walketh INT:blessed is the man who
HEB: לְדָוִ֗ד מַ֫שְׂכִּ֥יל אַשְׁרֵ֥י נְֽשׂוּי־ פֶּ֗שַׁע NAS: [A Psalm] of David. How blessed is he whose transgression KJV:Blessed [is he whose] transgression
Blessedis the man who trusts in Him. Psalm 34:8
Strong’s Hebrew: 1293. בְּרָכָה (berakah) — a blessing
Genesis 12:2.
HEB: שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃. NAS: great; And so you shall be a blessing;
KJV: great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
INT: your name shall be a blessing.
The primary question posed was
Do you we want to be blessed/baruch?
The answer is obviously …yes
who wouldn’t want to be blessed?
And the next question would no doubt be simply..
How can we be blessed?
In the Word of God Jesus/Yeshua Himself tells us how.
John 13:17 if you know these things blessed are you if you do them
17 If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them
He had just washed their feet showing the servant heart and action.
Our question is twofold
and of course conditional.
The condition is.. IF
And the answer to the first part is
we are to know these things…
know what things?
The things that pertain to life and godliness..
2 Peter 1:3
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love.
Notice that the list of things that pertain unto life and godliness begins with faith and ends with love. These are all the things, blessings, that He gives to us.
He shows us the deep things of God.
Deep calls to deep. Ps. 42:7
All our directions and instructions for life, the life here and now, and the life to come; olam haba and olam hazeh.
The word life is always plural in Hebrew – chaim – literally lifes: life here without Yeshua/Jesus worldly and lost; then life here with Jesus/Yeshua saved, born again of His spirit from above and also eternal life in the Fathers’ presence – full redemption in a glorified state like the resurrected ascended Messiah.
Matthew 16:23 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.
What are we to gain by losing?
The opposite of all the world screams at us, and offers us by its ways of temptation and empty promises of riches, and an easy road in life.
This is not the narrow way.
We are to study to show ourselves approved unto God. We are to love His Word, His Torah, His scriptures. We should have our determined purpose as ..to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and we do that by reading His Word and spending quality time in His presence; without any electronic digital devices, including phones.. His spirit of holiness does not need to communicate through those. If we can’t take even one hour without them, we are both addicted and in bondage; and if we reacted defensively in thought or word to that statement …has it not proved the point? Every loving parent will take a toy from their child from time to time as part of process of discipline.
Would we interrupt Jesus/Yeshua while He was talking to answer a call? We do it all the time.. if we believe that His presence is in us for one, and two, is He not present in our midst when we gather together? Family, these devices are leading us into the system set up for the one against Christ, the beast is already building his platform… and we are helping it to learn, grow and control us with our own input into the system. We share everything with it and think it is secure… we should be sharing our everything with Jesus/Yeshua – not our I phones etc. The I being an obvious first letter of this device! We are cautioned not to be ignorant of the devices of our enemy.
The subtleties of the enemy go back to the garden …and these modern elements are becoming firmly established as part of our lives.. Slowly like the frog in water, we get used to them and quite resourceful at making relevant reasons and/or excuses for their necessity. We make statements like …My whole life is in my phone ….when it should be in Messiah Christ. Our life is hid with God in Christ not in some search engine with the same 2 first letters…nor in the cloud! That is definitely NOT the cloud which will accompany Messiah’s return!
We need to check our spiritual temperatures and where we are spending our time.
We should be determined to know His word and know more than others, so we have something worthwhile to ‘share’ or ‘re tweet’! The scripture says we will be accountable for every word we speak, so let’s be holy in all manner of communication …and lets do it face to face, not from some remote secure location. forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together.
But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. (NKJV) Matthew 12:36.
We are not to spend our days in the safe harbors of life, full of joy and tied securely to the dock where the water is calm and undisturbed.
If we truly believe in Jesus/Yeshua we ourselves must cut the ropes that keep us safe in that harbor. If we don’t God will like a good father, sever them and send us out to sea into unfamiliar waters where we will really learn to reach out for His help.
We must experience the great depths of our Heavenly Father and begin to know things for ourselves. We must begin to have greater spiritual discernment; and by putting everything in our lives afloat on Him and launching out onto the oceans of this life, into the swelling tide of His plan and purpose… only then will our spirit eyes and ears be fully opened.
The second part is
doing
when we know to do something and do it…then immediately we know more – more is added..
Mark 4:25, ESV: For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
Mark 4:25, KJV: For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
“For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whoever does not have, from him shall be taken away even that which he has” Matthew 13:12
If we have experienced that season of losing interest spiritually, we may find that it was where we neglected to do something we knew to do.
Maybe because we reasoned there was no immediate need, and now we have little to no discernment and when a time of crisis comes, we’ve become spiritually distracted instead of being spiritually controlled. This means we are not walking by the spirit but by the flesh.
This is disobedience and a door that only leads to apathy and loss of direction. Refusing to continue learning and knowing more, is a dangerous place to find ourselves. Thinking we know it all, is taking pride in ourselves. The more we know, the more we should realize that we know so very little – there is no end to an infinite God and His knowledge.
The most important part of
knowing and hearing is the doing
The shema is – hear and do –
it’s ALWAYS action.
If we will DO these things,
putting the word into practice in our lives and keeping the boundaries of our halak/walk within His precepts, then we will be following Him…
There is a counterfeit to true godly obedience, a subtle and sneaky option offered by a seducing spirit.
It is those suggestive options… just as he did with eve; in which we create our own ideas and opportunities to sacrifice ourselves, and our zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment.
It may be a good idea, and have great appeal, and even good fruit and notable results; however these counterfeits are good works apart from the spirit and will of the Father.
It’s a fact that it’s easier to sacrifice ourselves in time, talent and treasure; than to fulfill our spiritual sacrifice as detailed in Romans 12:1-2.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Great acts of self-sacrifice don’t impress the Father and Jesus/Yeshua says to those who present that to Him...
depart from me I never knew you. Matthew 7:23 .
So it’s very possible to be busy occupied with many things, as was Martha, and yet not be doing the Fathers’ will for us.
Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Luke 10:42
Martha was not wrong to want to serve the Lord, But Jesus prefers that she stop and listen to His Word.
We must be about His business, not ours; and it’s much better to do so by discerning His will in our life. Obedience is always better than what we deem as sacrificial. 1Sam. 15:22
And Samuel said, Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
We must guard our hearts
out of it issues of chaim/life..
everything we do flows from it.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fixed on the Lord. Prov. 24:3
By paying attention, so we don’t go in reverse, returning to what we once were; when our Father wants us to be something that we have never been… He chooses us and our path – we are to simply follow.
John 7:17 and if anyone wills to do His will he shall know.
(KJV 1900) 17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
Matt 5:9 Amplified Bible. 9 “Blessed [spiritually calm with life-joy in God’s favor]
Matt 5:6 6 “Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness]
Matt 5:4 4 “Blessed [forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace]
Blessed in Matthew 5:3-12 Amplified Bible.
3 “Blessed [spiritually prosperous, happy, to be admired]
are the poor in spirit [those devoid of spiritual arrogance, those who regard themselves as insignificant],
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [both now and forever].
Matt 5:9 9 Blessed (enjoying [a]enviable happiness, [b]spiritually prosperous—[c]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions).
Reading the words in red … THIS is what it means to be BLESSED according to His Word….
Two more descriptions of those who are
blessed/baruch
Ps 119 :1 Blessed – happy, fortunate, to be envied
KJV: [are] thy men, happy [are] these thy servants,
This is the word blessed as used in Psalm 34:8. The word blessed appears in other scriptures, however, the Strong’s number may be different depending on the way in which that word is used.
אַשְׁרֵ
Blessed is also translated as Happy,
and is more than close to the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel – Asher, which also means happy.
According to the Hebrew Text, the Tribe of Asher was one of the Tribes of Israel descended from Asher
Hebrew: אָשֵׁר ,
Modern: ʼAšer, Tiberian: ʼĀšēr, “happy one”
Asher is a Hebrew name meaning: happy and blessed, fortunate, and most blessed son.
The meaning of Asher comes from the Hebrew word osher, which means happiness.
Asher is consistently pronounced “ah-shur.” There are no alternative spellings of this name.
In Old English and Germanic, Asher means:
one who lives near an ash tree or grove,
or ash maker.
For those unfamiliar with Hebrew, illuminating the language through the alef-bet helps. Here we will take a moment to recall that Hebrew is unlike any other language and because It’s the one language God chose to use to first communicate with His children we should not be ignorant of why He did so.
Hebrew letters have unusual dynamics.
Each letter has a name!
Where we in the English alphabet say A B C D G H
in Hebrew it is Aleph, Bet, Gimmel, Dallet, Hey, etc.
Each letter also has a numerical value and each number has a meaning. In the beginning, each letter was a pictograph and from the pictograph/pictures, we derive meaning and because of this construction, there are many layers of understanding for each letter when we take the time to study them the deeper meanings of His Word are revealed rather than just the surface ones.
Secondly: the dots around the word, are the vowel markings and were added to let us know which vowels are being used in the word. Hebrew vowels do not have letters like our English vowel letters:–a-e-i-o-u.
אַשְׁרֵ
Hebrew always reads from right to left.
The Hebrew word Asher/Blessed, uses the letters
A – alef, SH – shin and R – resh
It begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet– Aleph.
Aleph is the name of the letter and it has the numerical value of 1. The number 1 stands for God, Unity: as in bringing 2 things together to form 1 object; in this case, Father, Son, His Holy Spirit are 1.
It also stands for unique, one of a kind, like no other.
The original picture letter/pictograph looks like an Ox Head.
Aleph means: strength or power, leader, most important or first, the strength and power of a leader. When the letter Aleph is in a word, Our Heavenly Father is usually involved in the definition of it.
In the word asher – blessed,
we see that:
His strength and power are found.
Shin, pronounced Sheen is the 2nd letter in asher. Shin has a numerical value of 300 and that number stands for the victory of good over evil and Ruach HaKodesh/His Spirit od Holiness. Again reading right to left, the pictograph for Shin/sheen looks like the teeth of a pitchfork and also resembles bottom set of teeth, or flames of fire:
The meaning of Sheen/shin is:
to destroy or consume, the fire of God to destroy His enemies, something sharp.
In this letter, we see that in being blessed: something is being destroyed and victory of good over evil is the result.
The 3rd and final letter in asher/blessed isResh which has a numerical value of 200 and stands for: insufficiency or poverty.
The picture/pictograph of the letter Resh, is the outline of a human head:
The meaning of Resh is: Head, Chief, Beginning, Highest or Most Important person, Human reasoning vs. obedience.
This is significant in meaning for us because when we allow Resh-human reasoning to be in control as the most important source of our lives, then poverty of Spirit is the result.
We could conclude that ASHER/BLESSED means:
We are blessed because our Heavenly Father in Unity, Oneness, Father, Son, and His Spirit; is moving in strength and power to destroy our enemies and overcome our human reasoning and weaknesses.
The first mention of this Strong’s #835 word in scripture is inDeuteronomy 33:29.It speaks of the victory Israel has because they were saved by the LORD. Blessed translated as, and Happy, as it is in other verses of Scripture.
Happy (#835) art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the Shield of thy help, and Who is the Sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places..
In the English language translation the words:
Blessed are You, Lord
falls somewhat short from making clear to the reader of the deep meaning of this key word, blessing.
As some scholars note, Ba-ruch, translated blessed, comes from the infinitive application of the verb to bless, which is an action that can also be done by people towards other individuals. This does suggest that we have the power to give/transfer a blessing to others. If we follow that as a logical premise, does having the power to give, mean we also have the power to take away a blessing from others? This may be true when we bless other people, but completely impossible in relation to our Heavenly Father in the sense that, we cannot take away a blessing from Him, and if that is the case, do we lack the power to bless Him as well? We can praise the Lord but can we bless the Lord? We say this expression on a regular basis yet it seems it raises a question.
This question however, only exists in the English translation because of its lack in fully interpreting the Hebrew term:
ba-ruch/blessed.
In Hebrew there is no question at all because its’ meaning is not giving blessing to
when it is said in relation to God.
The word ba-ruch
is derived from the word be-rech,
which is a knee.
In Hebrew when we say ba-ruch in relation to our Heavenly Father, we’re really saying
I’m kneeling before You, Lord.
Understanding the Hebrew meaning of the very commonly used word bless or blessed
provides us with a very beautiful picture and serves to remind us
of exactly where we are positioned when talking to Him.
It is a constant reminder both to ourselves and toward Him
of the humility we should express
when we are speaking to the King of the universe.
For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Sometimes our boldness in coming before His throne of grace, is more like arrogance, demanding His attention to solve our problems?
Here perhaps, the Hebrew can teach us something about humility?
One other place where our English translation shows a lack in terms of reverence is in Job:
Then said his wife to him, Do you still retain your integrity?
Curse God, and die. Job 2:9.
Although this is what Job’s wife really meant to say to him, in Hebrew, these are not the words she said! Due to the uncompromising reverence toward the Creator of the heavens and the earth being intrinsically embedded within the Hebrew language, (which we do not fully comprehend as a concept), the words “curse” and “God” cannot be written and or dwell side by side!
The Hebrew text says: …bless God, and die.
The reader is expected to understand that the meaning of bless in this context as being exactly the opposite, but the Hebrew language cannot tolerate writing, seeing, speaking or reading the degrading word “curse” attached to the name of God! It seems we grafted in gentiles still have a long way to go….!!!?
Do you want to be blessed?
Then…
Obedience is the key!
If you KNOW these things, you are BLESSED [happy and favored by God] if you put them into practice [and faithfully DO them].
Wesley’s New Testament (1755)
Messiah always insisted that being a true talmidim/disciple, was not in intellectual knowledge of His teaching, (mental assent/head knowledge); but developed and matured out of a real relationship with Him, living and walking in joyful obedience with His will.
You are loved and appreciated and prayed for daily.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read the posts. If they have been ablessing and if you haven’t already, please sign up for free email notification, like, share and subscribe, it all helps to freely spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth and reaches others with His Truths.
Meanwhile let’s remember to stay alert and ready, be in prayer and in His Word for in an hour we think not He is coming… and…
it’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
NOT SURE?
YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.
for the continuing outpouring of His Spirit of Holiness,
(remembered along with giving of Torah/covenant at Shavuot/Pentecost).
This spiritual self examination often leads us to recognize the need for us to…
break up the fallow ground in our lives.
Hosea 10:12
“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy;
break up your fallow ground:
for it is time to
SEEK the LORD,
till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”
The ground of our hearts is that which may have become hardened by the challenging events and circumstances in which we find ourselves along the WAY.
Last post we looked at the word
SEEK
and what it means to a talmidim/disciple.
We are to yield ourselves to the softening of the ground of our hearts, so that the seeds of His righteousness and mercy have a properly prepared place
in which to grow and mature.
In both the old testament and the new there are those whose lives are an example for us…
For Ezra had
set his heart
to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.
Ezra &:10 & 2 Timothy 2:21 –
Therefore, if anyone purges himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
We too must decide, to
set our hearts
to study the Word Of God,
to humble ourselves
and to become
His properly prepared vessels.
Mark 4 gives the details of the different conditions of the ground into which seeds fall and the results from those with the unfavorable and unprepared conditions.
Only the good prepared ground bore fruit unto harvest.
There were those who also experienced
despair and hopelessness –
yaash/ yaw-ash’ יָאַשׁ
in their callings….
Jeremiah 18:12 HEB: וְאָמְר֖וּ נוֹאָ֑שׁ כִּֽי־ אַחֲרֵ֤י NAS: But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going KJV: And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk INT: will say hopeless for after
HEB: וְסַבּ֥וֹתִֽי אֲנִ֖י לְיַאֵ֣שׁ אֶת־ לִבִּ֑י NAS: Therefore I completely despaired of all KJV: my heart to despair of all the labour INT: about I despaired my heart of
Isaiah 57:10 HEB: לֹ֥א אָמַ֖רְתְּ נוֹאָ֑שׁ חַיַּ֤ת יָדֵךְ֙ NAS: [Yet] you did not say, It is hopeless.’ You found KJV: [yet] saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found INT: did not say hope renewed strength
which is typical of the Western mindset which follows that of Plato and Aristotle. However, it is not so typical in the Hebrew.
The passage from Isaiah uses the Hebrew term
śimḥâ
(in the NASB it is translated “gladness”).
The same root is also translated
rejoice
in this passage.
We find that the Hebrew term involves
the whole person,
not simply cognitive or emotional elements.
One scholar comments:
“The root ś-m-ḥ denotes
being glad or joyful with the whole disposition
as indicated by its association with the heart…
Ex. 4:14; Ps 19:8 [H 9]; 104:15; 105:3,
the soul….Ps. 86:4;
and with the lighting up of the eyes.Prov. 15:30.”
Since its context is located in everyday life, śimḥâ (joy) can be experienced with a cheerful word, with wine, with a wise son, in feasts, at weddings, in prosperity, in the company of friends, and in God’s Torah.
But the Lord and His salvation are cited most frequently as:
Hebrew often depicts inanimate objects with human emotion, e.g., the heavens rejoice, the hills shall sing and the trees of the field hills shall clap their hands. Is.55:12
These are also expressions of joy.
In Hebrew thought, joy is
the manifestation of divine purpose fulfilled,
and since everything in creation has purpose, whenever any part of the creation acts according to its design, that part expresses and experiences śimḥâ/joy.
This has an important meaning and also consequences for us. There are times when our emotions seem far from joyful, because the earth is filled with sorrow, struggles and guilt. At times it seems that evil, that which is out of harmony with the Father, is increasing and overwhelming that which is good. Without making this seem a less serious situation, śimḥâ/joy reminds us that, any part of creation which is fulfilling its’ designed purpose, is an expression of joy/śimḥâ.
When our lives feel as if they are disconnected from His divine order of things, the simple things evident all around us in our Fathers’ creation, should remind us that
joy/śimḥâ
is built into it. This is evident by the many and varied blossoms of the flowers and trees and the singing of the birds, who do not worry about how to provide for themselves!
Joy is not only a connective force, as Nehemiah states that His joy is our strength but it is also creative and has intentional consequences to life itself; and most of all, it has a divine origin and purpose.
8057 simchah
simchah: joy, gladness, mirth
Original Word: שִׂמְחָה Transliteration:simchah Phonetic Spelling:(sim-khaw’)
in
Deuteronomy 28:47 HEB: יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּשִׂמְחָ֖ה וּבְט֣וּב לֵבָ֑ב NAS: your God with joy and a glad KJV: thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness INT: the LORD your God joy glad heart
2304 chedvah in
Nehemiah 8:10 HEB: תֵּ֣עָצֵ֔בוּ כִּֽי־ חֶדְוַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה הִ֥יא NAS: Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD KJV: neither be ye sorry; for the joyof the LORD INT: do not be grieved for the joy of the LORD he
1 Chronicles 16:27 HEB: לְפָנָ֔יו עֹ֥ז וְחֶדְוָ֖ה בִּמְקֹמֽוֹ׃ NAS: Him, Strength and joyare in His place. KJV:strength and gladness[are] in his place. INT: are before Strength and joy his place
Rev. 1:17. John fell at His feet as dead.
Even though John knew His Messiah intimately, and this is the same John who spoke of himself as the disciple Yeshua/Jesus loved…
John 13:23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to.
…and one of the 3 closest to Him. Yet when He appeared to him in an unfamiliar way, the only thing he could do was to fall prostrate at His feet like a dead man.
Rev. 22:8-9 1:17-18 .I fell at his feet as though dead.
John recognizes the Lordship of Messiah/Christ as he falls prostrate before His feet.
John knew Him, yet was overwhelmed at the majesty manifested before him; the revealed glory produced the reverential fear and respect of the almightiness of the presence of the King of the universe. This will indeed cause both despair and delight in that before Him we are hopeless – nothing, compared to His Being and yet the joy of realizing that if we are ever to be raised up, it can and must only be, by the power of His Almighty hand.
John says He laid His hand upon me and lifted me up…
the touch of God restores us and redeems us.
This touch of His right hand of righteousness
is the Messiah Himself.
This touch is not in chastisement, correction, or withholding but as the touch of the right hand of the Father,
Jesus/Yeshua Himself.
His touch brings true shalom/peace and all its fullness.
Beyond our natural understanding and
Deuteronomy 33:27 reminds us that
The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ”Destroy them!’
The knowledge that underneath us are
the everlasting arms of
strength and comfort, protection and provision.
He says, fear not! and in all His ascended Glory, the tenderness of a father to His child is revealed to one who truly knows Him.
We should also remember Romans 7:18 (KJV 1900)
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Nothing good dwells in our flesh.
And we feel despair as Paul did and said,
Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Rom 7:24,25.
Then joy comes as we delight ourselves in the Lord and fall prostrate before Him. When He reveals Himself to us and the knowledge that to be raised up in His resurrection life it is by His hand alone, and not of ourselves. Understanding that our part is total submission to His will, plan and purpose for us, yielding our hearts in joyful surrender to our Savior, Lord and King.
He is not able to do anything for us until we recognize the limits of our humanity and allow Him to do the impossible.
Psalm 118:5. In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free. When hard pressed, I cried to the LORD; he brought me into a spacious place.
In our despair and distress like the psalmist we cry to the Lord and sometimes the heavens are as brass…
Deut. 28:23.
and it seems our prayers never rise above the ceiling. It can appear that we are encompassed about and that the enemy is everywhere, that we have no place to turn and don’t know where to go. When we are presented with difficult times we often feel trapped and emotionally and spiritually compromised as if we are suffocating, almost claustrophobic.
In this position is easy to lose sight of the goal waiting for us at the end of the race set before us because we become overwhelmed and focused on the struggle we are in; and the battle is all we see. The continual loop of confusion is the strategy of the enemy which lies to us; telling us we cant move forward that we are stuck and we stumble around and accomplish little to nothing.
This however is NOT the TRUTH and the WAY out of our trouble is always to keep our eyes on Jesus/Yeshua; the author and finisher of our faith. The WAY to overcome the enemies tactics is to focus on Him Who is the answer, not on the problem. If we feel we are losing sight of Him, we must regain it immediately and train ourselves to keep our spiritual wits about us; which will help us keep our bearing/direction sure and securely fixed on Him. In our distress we call on our Father by faith, not by g.p.s., or any other direction finder or means of guidance…
We must call out by faith not by sight and, not knowing how He will respond or appear, we must wait and be ready to listen and move when He answers. Not only will He always answer, but He brings relief and
despair turns to delight/ joy
and He sets us in an expansive place!
Ps. 118 :5 …
All the pressure of the walls that were keeping us in that prison of hopelessness are moved back and the confusion fades away and He gives us room to breathe.
He will NEVER leave us to struggle alone. He wants to show us the WAY out and when we feel there is no way… He makes one … However in these times of darkness and great distress we
MUST call on His Name
call on the name of the Lord…
and He will shine the light of His Glory into our situation.
Ps. 119:105.
the psalmist declares to the Lord,
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
The Word made flesh Messiah Jesus/Yeshua…
The victory and the rest /peace/shalom, comes as He miraculously expands the place before us, and we can know His hand touches us and raises us up to live in the power and strength of His resurrection..
and for what reason?
that we may know Him and walk in His Ways.
Phil 3:10
So it would seem the answer is yes…
there is joy in despair!
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim/friends and mishpachah/family!
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week,
you are greatly loved and prayed for daily.
REMEMBER..
Please don’t leave here without assurance of your salvation
Not sure ..you can be…
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer,
Savior, Lord, and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
For thus says YHWH to the house of Israel, “Seek Me [dir’shuni]that you may live”… …Seekgood and not evil [dir’shu tov w-al ra], that you may live; and thus may YHWH God of hosts be with you, just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate!
To truly live
we need to turn our eyes towards our Heavenly Father.
Amos 5:4
SEEK Me and live
Do we want to live?
Both here and now in the
olam ha-zeh
liter-ally “this world”
and in the future
olam Ha-ba
עוֹלָם הַבָּא.
literally,
“the coming world“
Do we desire to truly live?
then we must
SEEK Him
and when we do we will not only find Him
but all that He is and has and can impart to us
..peace, joy, love and the fullness of the abundant life
חי
chai = chet (ח) and yud (י)
(chaim/chayim – lifes) חיים
…the life He made available through His cross.
when we SEEK Him with our whole heart, we will find Him
and the life for which He paid the ultimate price.
Like all our Fathers promises, this is also conditional
and if we have not already done so….
It is time to SEEK the Lord.
For it is time to SEEK and SEARCH diligently for the Lord [and to long for His blessing]
Until He comes to rain righteousness and His gift of salvation on you. Hosea 10:12,13.
The scripture encourages us to SEEK the Lord while He may be found. This implies that there may be a time when He cannot be found!
“Seek (Darash) ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” Is. 55:6
And it behooves us to
SEEK Him today
because the Word says when you SEEK you will find.
We are to ask, SEEK and knock…
Luke 11:9-10 & Matthew 7:7-8
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; SEEK, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who SEEKs, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.”
Everything will be open… the Kingdom of our Father/YHWH is open to us, but we have to SEEK it.
We can’t just sit back and say, “I’ll want it when I get there”.
We have to want it now.
Seek the Father/YHWH and search for Him with all your heart:
Jeremiah 29:11-14a
“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares YHWH, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek Me [u-viqash’tem]
and find Me when you
search for Me [investigate Me: tid’r’shuni]
with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares YHWH…
There are two main Hebrew words for seeking or searching and they often are found in the same verse.
Baqash/Darash:
What does it mean to Seek the LORD?
Why is there more than one Hebrew word that can be used to describe this act of seeking?
The two Hebrew words for seek are found in the same verse in Psalm 105:4
“SEEK the LORD, and his strength: SEEK his face evermore.”
In the English translation the same word SEEK is used both times however in Hebrew
The first seek is the word Darash
and
the second seek is the Hebrew word Bakash.
What is the difference between the two words?
Strong’s Hebrew: 1245. בָּקַשׁ (baqash) — to seek
Search or consult, ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure,
A primitive root; to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer); by implication, to strive after — ask, beg,
This word has been used to describe seeking something that’s lost or missing, to seek one’s face, or to aim at, devote oneself to, and be seeking to find or take something.
Strong’s Hebrew: 1875. דָּרַשׁ (darash) — to resort to, seek
Definition. to resort to, seek, seek with care, inquire, require. (Qal) to resort to, frequent (a place), (tread a place) to consult, enquire of, seek 1a. of God
Greek/Hebrew Definitions. Strong’s #1875: darash (pronounced daw-rash’) a primitive root; properly, to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by implication, to seek
דָּרַשׁ ( dāraš ),
darash. דְּרַשׁ is the third element of the acronym פרד״ס pardes, which refers to the four approaches to biblical exegesis which we looked at in a previous post.
This is not the only place in scripture that this occurs because
the prophet Jeremiah also uses both of these two Hebrew words in the same verse. He writes:
“And ye shall SEEK me, and find me, when ye shall SEARCH for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
The first seek in this verse is Bakash and the second,which is translated here search, is Darash.
1245 baqash: to seek
Original Word: בָּקַשׁ Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: baqash Phonetic Spelling: (baw-kash’) Definition: to seek
1875 darash: to resort to, seek
Original Word: דָּרַשׁ Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: darash Phonetic Spelling: (daw-rash’) Definition: to resort to, seek
The theme is similar in both of the verses above and the reader is encouraged to SEEK and SEARCH for the Father, not as a one time event but as an ongoing and consistent Way of life seeking His face/presence and to receive His strength imparted into our lives. However the result has a condition Our Heavenly Father can only be found by us when we
SEARCH is with our whole heart.
It is a reminder of the caveat in
Revelation 3:16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
This verse is a warning that if we are not fully committed to following God, He will reject us.
One thing that is interesting in the Hebrew translation is that David puts the word Darash before Bakash in his verse and Jeremiah has them in the opposite order.
Does this mean there is a difference?
It begins with usual Hebrew meaning of
Darash which is: to SEEK with care
and with the word
Bakash
the seeking is that of a more prayerful request directed to the Father.
In Jeremiah his verse is inverted but really starts the same way:
seek or Darash YaHVeH/God first.
Then comes a seeking in the sense of Bakash.
Why is this important or significant?
In Darash we
SEEK with care
and in this scripture the one reading is directed to:
SEEK The Father Himself
and then with the word Bakash:
we are SEEKing the Father with a more prayerful request, specifically to Him.
We should ask ourselves…
What are we seeking?
Who are we seeking?
Why are we seeking?
Don’t follow the gentiles who SEEK after all these worldly things.
SEEK after Me – Follow Me.
Matt. 4:19
Matt. 6:33 Amp.
But first and most importantly SEEK (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.
This surely is a completely crazy statement??? yet who is saying it?
Why would Jesus/Yeshua tell us to do something beyond our ability to comprehend and complete?
SEEK first the kingdom of God… so then how do we live, make money, clothe and feed ourselves and our families?
For most the reality is that the great concern of our lives is not the Kingdom of God, but how we are going to take care of ourselves in order to live. In essence it’s the selfish first thoughts of self preservation. Jesus/Yeshua reverses the order purposely, by telling us to get the right relationship with our Heavenly FatherFIRST; and maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.
In6:25do not worry about your life,from His perspective it’s completely unreasonable for us to be anxious and worry how we will live.He didn’t say to totally ignore these things He taught that we must make our relationship with God the dominating focus of our life and to be cautiously carefree about everything else compared to that relationship.
What He was indicating is that we are not to make food, drink and things the controlling factors in our lives, but to be focused absolutely on our Heavenly Father.
There are some who are careless about what they eat and their bodies suffer physically from those choices. Some are careless about the way they dress and have no business looking the way they do, not being a good example of how a disciple of Messiah should present themselves. Many are careless with earthly and worldly matters and scripture says that our Father will hold individuals accountable for their behavior and how they obey or disobey His Word concerning such issues.
We are responsible before Him whether we choose to believe it or not.
The greatest concern of our lives is to place our relationship with our Heavenly Father first place and everything else second. It is undoubtedly the most difficult yet critical discipline of the life of a true disciple; yet we must choose to allow His spirit of Holiness to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Messiah in these verses.
Matthew 10:39. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.38 And he who does not take his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] is not worthy of Me. 39 Whoever finds his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], and whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity].
Those who seek to save themselves…
Luke 17:33
Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose `his life’ shall preserve it.
Religion does not answer the questions people have and consequently, they become dissatisfied and then they bend the scripture to fit their preferred way life, instead of the other way around. This leads to a life of compromise.
In todays’ drive through, fast food, microwave, instant, quick fix, that sadly, engenders impatience and self-satisfying fulfillment of carnal desires and cravings. This has given rise to a generation unwilling to wait for anything; it’s a now need, not a now faith. Faith needs patience to have its’ perfect work in us and quick and easy answers are not ingredients for walking in the footsteps of Messiah.
This means a life of SEEKing.
Yes, we will get answers and yet seemingly these answers create more questions; however, this is by our Fathers’ design, for it is to be line upon line and precept upon precept.
The life we now live in Messiah, is a life long process of SEEKING Him in order to know Him more deeply, because of Who He is. He is unfathomable to our finite mind and it will take more than a lifetime on this earth to fully know Him; if indeed that is even a possibility.
Heb. 11:6. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who SEEK Him.
Baqash– to seek, search, or consult. This word has been used to describe seeking something that’s lost or missing, to seek one’s face, or to aim at, devote oneself to, and be concerned about something. As previously noted is the word baqash used in Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
When we lose our keys or wallet/purse, we do not stop searching until we find it. That is precisely the kind of fervor God wants us to have when seeking/searching for Him. Scripture tells us to acknowledge God in all of our ways. That’s impossible to do without constantly asking for His input. e.g. “What do you want me to do?” “How do I deal with this situation?” “How can I serve today?”
Darash– to seek, inquire, consult, ask, or require. We can find an appearance of this word more than 160 times in the Old Testament. Often, it represents avenging offenses against the LORD or the shedding of blood. For example this is the term used in Ezekiel 33:6,“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.”
Frequently, it’s used to mean, inquire of God.
It can mean
privately seeking God in prayer, or
contacting a prophet who would speak to God for them.
However, darash can be used to describe: inquiring of a spirit that is not God. For instance, King Saul went to ‘inquire of’ the medium.
The Hebrew words for ‘seek’ (in reference of seeking God) mean ‘to go after, chase down, search for, ask, or consult.’
If you want want to seek God, make Him a priority and don’t stop chasing after Him even when you feel satisfied.
Darash is searching, but more in the way of investigating or inquiring about something:
Psalm 34:4
I sought [inquired of: darash’ti] YHWH, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
It’s a fine and subtle line of difference, but these two Hebrew words (seeking/searching/investigating) can be found about 389 times in the Scriptures.
As we saw with Jeremiah, the prophets used this word when telling others to SEEK the LORD.
Chaqar– to examine intimately.
Used in Job 13:9: “Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man?”
Qirah– an encountering.
Found in Exodus 19:17, “And Moses brought the people our of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.”
Shachar– be (up) early at any task; to search for (with painstaking). Isaiah 58:8 states,
“Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.”
The Greek words for SEEK:
anazeteo- to seek carefully and diligently. Used when searching for a human being, implies difficulty in the effort. Anazeteo is used to describe the kind of search Joseph and Mary endured when they lost Jesus (see Luke 2:43-44).
ekzeteo- 1. to seek the favor of God; Romans 3:11, “There is none who understands; there is none who seek after God.”
investigate; 1 Peter 1:10-11,“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”
crave; Hebrews 12:17,“For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”
demand (require). Luke 11:49-51, “Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah whop perished between the alter and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.”
epizeteo- to seek after or desire. You can find this word in Matthew 6:32, “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
zeteo- to seek for, to require or demand.
Found in Matthew 21:46, “But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.”
These terms for seek in the Greek language are similar to the definitions we found in the Hebrew.
lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”
-Psalms 34:10
We are called to SEEK out God for ourselves and investigate the Word that has been given to us… not to just rely on a message/sermon.
Psalm 119 incorporated both darash and baqash. It began by showing how the Psalmist had investigated God and His precepts repeatedly, and then ended by asking God to SEEK/look for him, because he felt lost, although he had never forgotten God’s commandments:
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who SEEK Him [investigate Him: yid’r’shuhu] with all their heart…
…With all my heart I have SOUGHT You [I have investigated You: d’rash’tika]; do not let me wander from Your commandments…
…And I will walk at liberty, for I SEEK [I investigate: darash’ti] Your precepts…
…I am Yours, save me; for I have SOUGHT [I have investigated: darash’ti] Your precepts…
Our flesh brain is limited and in the light of eternity, we are momentarily confined to the physical constraints of this existence; but when our final deliverance comes, then we shall be more like unto His glorious body and we will be like the One Whom we have been SEEKING!
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
Phil. 3:21.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1John 3:2.
We won’t need faith then…
we will know.
Seeking – focusing – looking after….
and though we have so many questions, He is not a complete mystery because He reveals Himself to us through His Word; and it’s through this process of seeking, that the refining process occurs and is worked in us. Then the set apart life we are called to begins to take effect; through it we grow in the most important aspect –
our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
He imparted His chaim/lives to us, and
the ability to fulfill our calling by His indwelling ruach/spirit.
The same life was breathed into His disciples then as now.
John 20:22
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit ruach haKodesh
In Gal 2:20 Paul said: The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
It’s only by His power/His Spirit in us.
Questions and more questions, yet the mysteries of His kingdom are revealed to those who seek Him for you shall find Him when you seek Him with all your heart. He wants us to seek Him more and more and then to seek Him again. It is true that all the answers are in Yeshua/Jesus. Jesus/Yeshua is the answer, now what is your question?
All answers are fulfilled in Him but only when we submit to the process He has designed…
seek, find and then seek again.
And the word of the Lord will be to them. precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little
Is 28:10
Line upon line, here a little …and we are not discouraged
Because our knowledge of Him and His ways increases; and as He draws us by His spirit/ruach, we want more and more of Him. Our desire for Him increases and so He becomes the focus of our life, not merely slotted into our busy schedule at a convenient time to us.
Relationship takes time and effort.
He gladly and willingly paid the price so shouldn’t we be also?
Let’s SEEK and live the abundant life, SEEK to know Him and the power of His resurrection that we may become fully partakers of His divine nature. SEEK the kingdom and His righteousness first…..
Today is the day of salvation by His grace and mercy, today we have another opportunity to SEEK … let’s not waste that precious gift to:
SEEK Him and live.
Are you a seeker?
What or Who are you seeking?
Now we know what the Hebrew meanings of the words are…
let;s seek Him and Live…
because those who seek to lose their lifes/chaim
will find their lives and Him too.
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim/friends and mishpachah/family!
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week,
you are greatly loved and prayed for daily.
Please don’t leave here without assurance of your salvation
Not sure ..you can be…
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer,
Savior, Lord, and soon returning King
and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
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