From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent,

with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east.

There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the Lord.

Genesis 12:8

Where we live geographically is one thing,

where we live spiritually is a whole other aspect of our lives.

Beth El = House of God

Ai = the world.

Where we settle is directed by the Lord..

And hath made of one, all mankind, to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, determining appointed times, and the limits of their habitation. Acts 17:6

CSB translation says: and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He built an altar and called on the Name of the Lord. A place of worship. In the centre between the House of God/Bethel and Ai /the world.

We are in this world but not of it…

Where have you pitched your tent ?

A tent give the impression of not being permanent, of someone in transit. Itinerant or always on the move like the bedouin nomads. However, a tent is a place of protection from the elements and to rest. Today most people have a permanent address, a location that they always return to, a home. We are in this world but not of it because the world and its systems belong to the adversary and he is the god of this world.

Worship is giving to our Heavenly Father the best, the same best that He has given us. We need to be careful and mindful of what we do with the best that we have. Whenever we receive a blessing from our Heavenly Father, we are to offer it back to Him as a love gift. Allow Him to direct us what He would have us do with what He has placed in our life and hands.

Take time to be in His presence. Turn off distractions and focus our minds before Him, thinking deeply on His provision and love for us; and offer all blessings back to Him in a deliberate act of worship, instead of greedily grasping it to ourselves. Because if we selfishly hoard it, it will become just like the manna did in Ex 16:20. It will spoil and turn into spiritual dry rot, just as when it was gathered in excess and hoarded against Gods instructions. He supplies daily and will direct us when to keep, and when to share and release our blessings. We are channels, conduits through which blessings and provision can flow freely.

Matthew 10:8  freely you have received, freely give.

God will never allow us to keep a spiritual blessing entirely for ourselves. It must be returned to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others. We are all one body and not disconnected. When one part hurts the whole body hurts and vice versa.

Here in Gen. 12:8, Bethel is Hebrew for ‘the house of God’ – it is the symbol of fellowship and communion with Him, and where we should desire to spend time – at Gods house.

Ai is a symbol of the world, Abraham pitched his tent between the two. He had access to be able to witness to the world, but not live there, nor be a part of it, or become influenced by all that it offers. Lot pitched his tent towards sodom and we all know that did not end well!

Remember Lots wife

Luke 17:23

She became so connected to the world that

she looked back longingly

to what she was leaving behind.

The lasting value of our service and ministry to the public in the world is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private time of fellowship and oneness with Him. When we rush in and out of worship its is not pleasing to Him. Think how we feel when someone we are talking to takes a phone call, or is not paying attention to us. It is not only rude and disrespectful, but they are not listening to us and seems like they don’t care and are not interested at all.

There is always plenty of time to worship God we just simply choose to spend our time on things we prefer to do. Think nothing of watching tv or sports for an hour, or on social media etc etc. We spiritually need to have daily quiet time with our Heavenly Father. Jesus/Yeshua asked His Disciples in

Matthew 26:40

Could you not pray with me 1 hour? 

All relationships must have communication for decisions to be made and loving trust to be established, ottherwise, they break down and one doesn’t know what the other is doing and they end up going separate ways. This is why we must pitch our tents towards the Lord, where we will always have quiet time with Him, however noisy our times in the world may be.

There aren’t 3 levels to our spiritual lives: worship – waiting and work. Yet some of us jump from worship – to waiting – to work, when our Fathers Way is that the 3 should combine as one. Jesus/Yeshua’s life showed them blended perfectly in harmony. Follow Me, He said. It’s a discipline that MUST be developed, and it doesn’t happen in a day.

His ‘Follow Me’ command, came twice to them. Once in John 13:36/Matt. 4:19 and 3 years later in 21:19. Here the first time, Peter followed without hesitation. The call of Messiah had an irresistible pull on him and Peter didn’t need the Fathers’ Holy Spirit to help him go. Years later he denied Him and Peter’s heart broke; however, he received Holy Spirit and when Messiah said again, in John 21:9 Follow Me; there was no one but Jesus/Yeshua in front of him. The first Follow Me, was an external following and there was no mystery about it, but in John 21;18 Messiah is asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding.

This call for an internal sacrifice and yielding is to us also.

In 26:69-75 tells us that Peter denied Jesus/yeshua with curses and oaths between the 2 follow me‘s.

At this point he came to the end of himself and all his self sufficiency.

There was no part of him that he would ever rely on again. In this broken state, he was finally ready to receive all that the resurrected Messiah had for him.

Have we come to the end of ourselves yet?

Have we come to the realization that we cannot make it without HIm?

in John 20:22 He breathed on them and this was prior to the outpouring at Shavuot/Pentecost. No matter what changes our Heavenly Father has made in us, we are never to rely on them; we are to build only on one person, the Messiah Jesus/Yeshua and on His Spirit of Holiness which He gives. All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them and bring them to pass. However, when we come to the end of ourselves not just mentally but in every way, we are able to receive His Holy Spirit.

This is the picture of being completely filled, invaded, wholly permeated, and then there is only One who directs the course of our lives. Our Lord and Savior dwelling within, tabernacled in us. We have become His dwelling place and are  seemlessly connected and blended with Messiah.

We have become the tent of meeting,

we are the place of tabernacling;

so wherever we are, the bethel – house of Gods presence is where we are. 

Where we have pitched out tent is not a location between two places any longer, because He is in us, and we are in Him we are  not of this world.

How long will we halt between two opinions and choices?

Come out from among them and be ye separate…

saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;

and I will receive you. 2 Cor. 6:17

Where have you pitched your tent?

 

 

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Peace to friends and family.

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.

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.

Not sure ..you can be…

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.