Ephesians...Helping us Remember Who We Are and Whose We Are

Ephesians 1:3,4:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord the Messiah (Yashua) who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Yashua.  According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

The Messiah has blessed with every spiritual blessing (given by the Holy Spirit) in heavenly realms…heavenly places.  What did we have on earth that symbolized heavenly places?  The sanctuary’s holy and most holy places.  It involves the principle of “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Genesis 1 says that God made everything and it was good.  His original intent “good” was our beginning.  That pronouncement is what we need to keep our eyes on and our hearts remember who we are in God—what He created.

There is a story of an Indian tribe that has a practice when someone does something wrong, they surround that person and for a long time their comments to him/her are reminders of all their goodness.  This is really finding a way for the light to dispel the darkness.

Ephesians 1:3 does something similar for us.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord the Messiah.  The Messiah, through the Holy Spirit, has blessed us with all of Heaven’s spiritual blessings.

What God did at creation—pronouncing “good” over us, the Messiah has done through the Holy Spirit in giving us Heaven's spiritual blessings—the fruit of the Spirit as well as an understanding through the Beatitudes of how these blessings find application in our redeemed lives.  

In the Garden of Eden, we were made stewards (caretakers) of the garden.  Now, we are caretakers of a heavenly garden (our heart/God’s throne) that grows the fruit of the Spirit.  Not only can we have an appreciation of these fruit, we tend that garden as if we are cultivating Eden in our hearts.  These fruit are Heaven’s character and this privilege of stewardship of the fruit is a process of being changed by beholding…sanctification.

If you look at Ephesians 1:4, there is another gift from the garden that Messiah is giving us.  “According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

  

Again, His original intent “before the foundation of the world” was that we be holy (in agreement with God) and without blame before Him in love.  This is so amazing.  In Colossians, we are told that in Christ is the fullness of the Godhead and that we are complete in Him.  We are also told that in Christ, we have the mind of Christ.  Blame is not something that fits our original creation parameters.  It is not our stuff.  It is the devil's.  If you are living your life from this place of blame (self or others or God), remember that it is the lie of who you are.  Let this beautiful truth shine its light in that darkness.  

Let us each bask in the Sonlight that we are without blame before Him.   I heard a pastor say one time that God is faith sensitive not sin sensitive.  He has made a way for us to live in this beautiful light of God’s original intent for us.  Praise God.

  

Grace and Peace...God's Original Meaning

I keep being drawn into Ephesians.  In Ephesians 1:2 it says: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, His son.”  I have been trying something new in my Bible reading.  In the day of the Lord (and the disciples/apostles and early church) the Lord was known as Yashua (Joshua).  His name became Romanized and adopted by the West as time went by.  I have been reading it as He would have been known.  

And, as I have done with other words, I am using the ancient Hebrew pictograph meanings of words to enhance our understanding.  I find that this is delightful.  The three words that I want to focus on are grace, peace, and faith.  I am adding “faith” to the list because we will come to it later in Ephesians.  In the Western abstract English words we do not get the flavor of God’s intent.  I love it that it is so personal and it is ALL something that God does for us. 

Our first word is peace.  Notice that it is not something I DO.  It it something given to me to be whole and complete.  This is beautiful.   

“The noun שלומ (shalom), often translated as “peace,” comes from the verb שלמ (Sh.L.M). The verb shalam means to "restore" in the sense of replacing or providing what is needed in order to make someone or something whole and complete. The noun שלומ (shalom) is one who has, or has been provided, what is needed to be whole and complete.”

http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/27_peace.html

In Ephesians, we are told this grace and peace come from God and His Son.  Truly, this is the only source of grace and peace that is available to us because it is not something that is available through man’s ways.  It is not a works orientation.  It is about being in relationship with The Provider.  

The second word is grace.  I love the image of pitching a tent…God had them pitch another tent, the Sanctuary.  He said: Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them.  Then, all of Israel pitched tents that faced toward the Sanctuary.  In a sense, you and I are the tents (sanctuary/temple) that are pitched toward the Holy Trinity. 

“The Aramaic/Hebrew root word for grace, is channah (say "han-nah"), which in most ancient times always referred to pitching a tent (something they did on a daily basis; something everyone understood very clearly) ... and the otiot are:

chet (say "het"): A fence that surrounds and protects the sheep.

nun (say "noon"): A seed ... in this case, the Good Seed; Messiah Yahshua.

hey: A person with their arms raised, praising the Father.

Summation: We are saved by pitching our tent with the Father, His Son, and His Spirit. He surrounds and protects those that are His (chet) and who have become Good Seeds through Messiah Yahshua (nun), by their awe and worship of the Father (hey).

The third word today is faith.  Notice in the following description that it is, again, something that has been done for us and given to us.  We have been purchased by the blood.  The idea of being “yoked” with the Father puts a whole new meaning on “My yoke is easy…”  

“The Aramaic/Hebrew root word for faith, is aman (say "ah-mahn"), which is also the word that gives us amen (say "ah-mane") ... and the otiot are:

aleph (say "ah-lef"): Headship; being yoked to the Father.

mem: Water (the Word) and blood (Salvation).

nun (say "noon"): A seed ... in this case, the Good Seed; Messiah Yahshua.

Summation: Through being yoked to the Father (aleph), and through the blood which purchased us - along with our being washed and perpetually growing in His Word (mem), we become the Good Seeds, through the bloodline of Messiah Yahshua (nun).”  
 http://erfministries.com/blog_heb4.php

Grace and peace from God the Father and the Son.  I don’t know about you but I had often wondered how to go about the grace and peace thing.  I knew it was beyond me and had to be from God in some way, but these explanations of God’s original intent in the meanings really helps me receive God's extended grace and this definitely gives me  peace.  Praise God.

Best Laid Plans...then you are up a tree!

Two writing ago I mentioned redemption and Zacchaeus.  He was a Jew who was “employed” by the other side, Rome.  That did not make him popular with the Jews of whom he collected taxes.  He was rich.  Much of it came through fraud.  That, again, gave the Jews reason to hate him…he had used his position to further his own agenda…a selfish one.  Zacchaeus has much to say to us.

Then, one day, he heard that the extraordinary man called Yashua (the name by which the Jews knew the Lord) was coming down the road his direction.  He wanted a look, but being a short person (I can identify with that), he knew he would not be able to see Him.  His best laid plans which included power and prestige suddenly seemed less important to him.  His ego took a back seat to a longing deep inside him.  We have been talking about ego versus living in the light…here we have a wonderful visual aid.  Watching this story happen must have been really interesting.  

He wanted to see Messiah.  

This is the same longing that can put each of us up a tree.  Not content with seeing Yasuah from the ground perspective, he had to get a higher view…see more of what could be seen.  The symbolism here is amazing.  Have you ever been in a situation that gave you a distorted or partial view of our Lord?  We can hear that He is in town and passing our way when we hear a different take on what He is all about or even suddenly a scripture gives us a different picture or understanding of things.  We have grown up with the Bible stories, and that has given us one view (ground level) of the Lord.  Suddenly, we have the same longing as Zacchaeus to have a bigger view.  

The best laid plans have left us empty.  Suddenly…up a tree looks preferable.  It is good to know that the Lord knew that Zacchaeus was going to be in that tree.  It is good to know that His “coming” was not accidental but intentional…to eat dinner at the house of Zacchaeus that evening.  To give him a bread that was spiritual and emotional life for Zacchaeus.  It changed his past in that he made restitution to those from whom he had stolen.  It changed his present and his future.  

Sometimes, we think that we have the answers to how life should be.  At the end of the day, we may find ourselves preferring the view from the branches of the tree.  When the Lord had dinner with him, Zacchaeus' view continued to change.  His priorities changed.  He changed.  By beholding the Lord we change.  That is a beautiful promise.  Sometimes it means going out on a limb!

Comments on Crises

My friend, Kim, sent me this scripture via text:  Isaiah 33:6:  And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times…  Read the whole text.  It really spoke to me.

Psalm 111:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Have you ever noticed that when a crises develops that it takes the non-essentials off the table?  I read somewhere that a crises devastates your ego.  Some have defined ego as “edging God out,” and some have said it is living in the dark rather than the light.  Maybe they are different ways of saying the same thing.  I think living in the dark is just living in what light we think we have which is usually not light at all but some variation of darkness—a lie that has been dressed up to appear as light.

It seems that when the crises is over that it is easy to fall back in the ego state.  Did we really learn anything?  Did the light we gained during that time really overcome our darkness or were we  so fearful of our lack of control that we were just in survival mode?  

When I think about being sick and being in the hospital, I understand a little about the loss of ego. When it is you, and your world suddenly shrinks to a room and needles, IV lines, and heart monitor wiring, it is easy  to feel that your best laid plans have gone astray.  It certainly causes you to see that you are never really in “control.”  For humanity, the issue of control is really an illusion.    Victor Frankl, holocaust survivor, said you always have a choice in how you react.  Sometime that is all the light that you can bring to a dark situation. It is not insignificant.  

The texts above are full of guidance.  Wisdom and knowledge…they are different things.  I have wondered if wisdom is correct application of knowledge…that which you know.  The fear (trust, awe, reverence, respect) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  The devastated ego…the crises…will leave you exhausted, in a stupor, possibly with a sense of lack of control and even depression. This is a post-traumatic state that is very common in the crises.  This tiredness is confusing when you try to figure it out logically.  Things are OK now, why do I feel this way?  This can happen to all of us…patient and/or caregiver.  “Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times”  Isaiah 33:6.  This looks toward a power greater than self.  The promise of stability is not control.  It is our ability to stand or walk correctly physically, emotionally, and spiritually  no matter what.  Stability may be the opposite of loss of ego.  In this respect, the crises may be offering us a gift…trading control for stability.  

Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times...these words keep speaking to me of coming out of the crises having learned and retained the lessons of a devastated ego.  It seems that the thing we want most is a return to normalcy and that may be the last thing we need.  Normal does not necessarily mean healthy on any level.  A good understanding have they that do his commandments.  Understanding is linked to doing his commandments.  To me, this means that his cosmic principles teach us.  They are not a list of do's and don'ts.  In ancient Hebrew pictographs commandments meant something like travel markers...your sign posts along your journey.  I love that.  it is so much more personal that God understands we need some sign posts for finding our way.  How does this help us in the crises?  

The thought I had was that the crises is a part of the journey,  The children of Israel on their journey had the crises of the Egyptians closing in our them in pursuit.  Their guidance came in the form of a command to step into the water.  What?  Man's ways are not God's ways.  God made a way of escape where there was not one before...actually, it was there, just not seen for it was under water.  It is comforting to know that He does this.  Is my way out of the crises just not seen at the moment?  Is it under water?   Will it open up and be dry land for me to cross over?  Is this faith lesson the most important lesson we can learn when ego is devastated in the crises?  The sign posts have been put their by Another.  The commands come from this Other.  Perhaps the most devastating thing of all to the ego is obedience when we do not understand.  When everything in our mind is telling us that this is crazy.  

Thank you to all for scriptures that stretch my mind and thoughts that give me another way of looking at things.  I have some wonderful journey companions who themselves have been through the crises of a devastated ego.   The fact that we live through these times to extend encouragement to others on the journey is a beautiful miracle.  Thank you, dear friends, for what you mean to me on this part of the journey.