Grace

The first mention of "grace" in scripture is found in the story of Noah. The LORD had seen that  "...the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  (Gen. 6:5). So thoroughly evil were not only the actions of men, but even their thoughts, that the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth. This evil condition of man grieved God in His heart. It was through men that the whole earth was filled with violence (v. 6, 13). This is also the first mention of "violence" in scripture, which means to tear away the covering from someone in order to do them harm.
As the LORD began to plan the destruction of man, Noah "found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (v. 8). The word "grace" is from the root word chanan, meaning to show favor, to pity, to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior. However, included in the meaning is the fact that grace has a causation by an imploring or beseeching. From this meaning, we can understand that Noah, seeing the condition of man around him, beseeched and implored God for grace. Noah found that grace because he implored God for it. The word "found" in v. 8 above, is the word matsa: to find, to find out, to come, to meet. In the Passover Seder, the matsa is covered, and part is even hidden, and it is an object that is to be sought and found. The person who finds the hidden matsa, which to Christians represents Jesus' burial and resurrection, receives a reward.
Noah "found" grace because he was seeking it in God.
Because Noah found the grace hidden in the eyes of God, the LORD called Noah just (to have a just cause), righteous, and perfect, meaning complete, whole, unimpaired (v. 9). Because he beseeched God for grace and found it, Noah walked with God. To walk with God can mean many things according to the definition of the Hebrew word. "Walked" can mean "to be conversant, to follow, to be led, to be carried, to be brought, and also, very importantly, to vanish".
Why was Noah's imploring God for grace so precious in God's eyes? Because, when Noah cried out for grace, he was prophetically crying out for God's precious Son, Jesus:

"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
                                                                             Jn. 1:17
                                                                 And
"...God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began."                                                                  2 Tim. 1:8-9

God's hand of grace in answer to Noah's imploring, or seeking, was the construction of the ark. 2 Pet. 2:5 tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness to the people of his generation. His generation did not receive his preaching, nor the testament of God's grace represented by the ark and, except for Noah's own household consisting of eight people, all  other people were lost in the judgment flood of the LORD. According to Jesus, the others, though warned, did not understand, nor expect, the suddenness and scope of the utter destruction that took them all (Mt. 24:39). The ark was shouting, "Grace, Grace," but no one took heed.
The story of Noah is also important in our time. All indications are that these are the last days before we see the return of Jesus. Jesus said that right before His coming, the times, conditions and circumstances would be very much like Noah's days (Mt. 24:36-39). Like Noah's generation, the warnings and preaching would be disregarded by that generation until the moment of the Son of Man's sudden coming.
A powerful testimony to the spiritual stature of Noah, who beseeched and found the grace of God, is told in 1 Pet. 3:18-20:
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also, He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water."
In remembrance of Noah's cry for grace, even thousands of years later, the Holy Spirit led Christ after His death to preach to those who, through their own disobedience, were judged in the flood, and their souls condemned to prison. The Holy Spirit sent the personification of Grace to them, the same living and eternal Grace that Noah had beseeched of God. It is the same Grace who had put Himself into the violent hands of men. The same Grace that had laid down on the cross, and was lifted up. The same Grace that preached in Sheol, and was raised to life again, so this gift could come to each one of us from the Father.
The cry to God for grace is a powerful thing. He receives those cries, and as with Noah, He counts it unto us as justice, righteousness and perfection. As the above scripture teaches us, our cries for grace never die, but they live forever in the eyes, ears, and will of the Father. Considering the times in which we live, we would do well to remember the example of the just, righteous, and perfect Noah, who, because of his beseeching for His grace, walked with God.

Our Father answers our imploring cries for His grace.

"I Know Something About God's Grace"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgvfPk_eXPk


"Your Grace Finds Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amTCngr487o

Road

One of the great memories of my life is when I took my Dad, Big Ed, who was visiting from New York, on a little day trip into the mountains around Prescott, Arizona, where I was living.
Prescott is a beautiful town at a mile in elevation, that is surrounded by the Prescott National Forest, and a mountain range that was mined for gold many years ago. Arizona, in general, is one of the few places left in the continental U.S., where you can find adventures that cannot be found elsewhere.
As my Dad and I drove up the mountain road into the National Forest that day in his rented car, we began to see the marvelous sites. Crossing the road, following the path of the sun, would march an army of tarantulas. If you were there at the end of the afternoon, you would see them marching back again the way that they had come. You could see the entrances to the old gold mines carved into the side of the mountain, and what was left of the tracks that brought the miners in, and took the gold out of those mines. Some of the mine shafts were dug straight down. You could walk over to them, but you couldn't get too close, because the edges were unstable. Below was Lynx Creek, where people were still able to pan for gold, and they could be seen out there with their families, especially on weekends, sitting in the creek with their panning tins. The aroma of the pines and balsams was incredible, and the sky was a deep blue. You could hear a continual "woosh" sound of a wind that blew through the tops of those endless pine trees.
Eventually, we turned off the forest road onto a very narrow rutted road, like the one in the photo above. It was called the Old Walker Road. It was very narrow, and deeply rutted, and uneven. It clung to the side of the mountain, and sections of it had even fallen away. As we began onto this old road, I wasn't sure if my Dad wanted to continue. When I asked, he said, "Why not-the car's a rental." After quite a distance, the road would eventually widen, and circle around and down to Lynx Lake, and finally out onto a highway.
(The use of the word "lynx" is interesting. In the Native American understanding, the lynx animal is associated with the spiritual ability to know the truth, to see into the soul, to see the thoughts and intents of the heart, although they may be unspoken. It is connected to the Great Spirit because of these characteristics. The Hebrew word connected to the lynx means "white like the moon, light, to make white, become white, to be purified, cleansed, purged.")
Back to the story-So we continued our very slow progress along this old mountain road. It was so narrow, that if you met a car coming from the opposite direction, which was very unlikely, someone would have to back up until the road widened out at certain spots, and the other car could pass. This was not a road that you wanted to drive in reverse, so you prayed that you wouldn't meet another car.
As the road deteriorated, I had to get out of the car and take large stones from the sides of the road to "build up" the sections that were rutted too deeply to drive over, or had fallen completely away. Big Ed, behind the wheel, would inch forward, as I re-built the road in front of the car. I would have to kneel down on hands and knees to look under the car as it drove forward to make sure the bottom wouldn't scrape.
We eventually completed our trip over the Old Walker Road, got down to Lynx Lake and the place where the road widened, but it took us hours. After we finally came out onto the open highway, we stopped at a cowboy joint called The Reata Pass, where Big Ed could get a much needed beer.
When we got back to the house, my Mom asked us if everything was alright, because we had been gone for so long. My Dad told her that everything was fine, and he had had the best time ever.
Spiritually speaking, it would be a much easier, and smoother ride if we could always travel on wide open highways. However, sometimes our Father sends us onto the ancient roads. These roads are narrow, and uneven, broken down, and forgotten (Jer. 18:15). He sends us that way so we can re-build those ancient roads, building and leveling them with stones of His name and truth (Isa. 58:12, 61:4). You won't meet many people on these roads, and you may have to progress in inches, rather than miles. However, each stone that you lay to re-build the ancient road are stones that slay giants (1 Sam. 17:49-50), stones that spring forth with the spiritual water of life for those in the desert (Num. 20:8), stones that cry out in praises when humans are silent (Lk. 19:40), stones of revelation upon which Jesus builds and edifies His Church (Mt. 16:18), stones upon which are written new spiritual names (Rev. 2:17), and stones of the foundation of the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 3:10-11). Along the Way on your spiritual trip, you will see, hear, smell, and experience wonderful things-things you never would have experienced travelling on the easy, open highway.
Though the process and the progress seems painfully slow, the Father, Big Ed (Edward means "Blessed Protector"), is with you driving that car as you re-build the Way ahead of Him (Isa. 40:3-4, 62:10). Eventually, He will bring you out to the wider place, where the still waters lay. He will bring you out onto the paved road, and then onto the smooth highway, where you can find those places of refreshing after that tough journey, and then speed your way home.
That little adventure with my dad happened many years ago, and Big Ed passed away back in 2000, but I remember it very well. The journey we took that day was not easy at all, but it was "the best time ever."

Our Father asks us to take the narrow way, the road less travelled (Mt. 7:13-14).

 

*Photo above-old forest road in the area of Prescott, Arizona.

"The Road Less Travelled"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk03EACfpAc

"If I Do Not Sing...the Rocks Will Cry Out"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3NOwpb70lY
 

About JW Player 6.12.4956...

 

 

   

Humbled

There are many instances in scripture when men ask God to look upon them, or upon their situation. For instance:
"Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine."                                                             Psalm 80:14
"Look upon me, and be merciful unto me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name."                                                           Psalm 119:132
"Look down from heaven and see from Your habitation, holy and glorious, where are Your zeal and Your strength, the yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?"                                                   Isa. 63:15
"My eyes flow and do not cease without interruption, till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees....I called on Your name, O LORD, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice: Do not hide Your ear from my sighing, from my cry for help. You drew near on the day I called on You, and said, "Do not fear."          Lam. 3:49-57
"Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my prosecutor (accuser) had written a book!        Job 31:35
The psalmist at one point even orders the LORD to come down:
"Bow down Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke."                                                     Psalm 144:5

Even as men throughout the ages have called upon the LORD to look, see, hear, move, and intervene on behalf of His people, the LORD has done so. He has spoken, seen, and yes, even come down, in answer to the cries and dire straits of His people. Everyday, our own voices join with the voices of the generations that have gone before, calling upon, and crying to the LORD, asking Him to look at our condition or circumstance. However, about this, I read a very interesting verse that caused me to stop, think, and marvel:
"The LORD is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, who dwells on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth? He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that He may seat him with princes- with the princes of His people."
                                                                        Psalm 113:4-8

We have an idea of the meaning of the term "humbles Himself", but to spell it out clearly, the Hebrew word shaphel means, "to become low, sink, be abased, to bring low, make low, to humiliate, to cast down from a high rank, to sit down in a low place".
In order for the LORD to see, hear, answer, move, lift, raise, and seat us, He must humble Himself first. He is so highly exalted, that to even see or hear us, He must humble His majesty. Yet, He loves to see and hear us, even though it costs Him to do so.
When I consider this, I am a little better able to understand the amazement of the psalmist who wrote:
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit  (give attention to) him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels (Elohim), and You have crowned him with glory and honor."     Psalm 8:3-5

How touching it is to me to know how He humbles His great Being in order to hear me, in order to see me, and the things that concern me. In a way, this humbling that God chooses for Himself is like a very tall man, who must sit, lean down, squat, or kneel in order to listen to, and speak to a small child. Only in this case, this is a Being of such huge spiritual stature, that He must make Himself spiritually smaller, or less, in order to receive our communications. It boggles the mind.
God Almighty humbles Himself to see, hear, and speak to us, and to look into the things of the earth. Through the blood of Jesus, we understand the privilege of being able to approach the Most High directly and boldly, and to enter into His very presence (Heb. 4:16, 10:19), even into the Most Holy Place. Jesus has reconciled us, and made us one with Himself and the Father. The Holy Spirit, which we have received through Christ, has made the way for that connection between our small spirit, and the infinite and immense Spirit who is our God: 
"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God."  Rom. 8:26-27

Now, I understand a little more about the hugeness of the spiritual disparity that exists between God and man that is bridged by the Holy Spirit in each believer. This disparity is so great that Paul, speaking to and about believers, writes that we don't even know what to pray. What really needs to be prayed between man and God cannot even be expressed within the limits of human language!  This scripture is saying to me that we need the Holy Spirit to pray according to His knowledge of the will of God, therefore our understanding of God's will must be sorely lacking. Thanks be to God who has foreseen this, and provided the spiritual connection to Him that we need in order to make up the gap in our understanding and language. The scripture above says that we need the intercession of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, because They do know and understand the entirety of the will of God as it applies to us individually, and as it applies at the same time, to the whole of creation, and eternity.
We daily bring our petitions directly to God, but we do not consider how He must humble Himself to hear them. It is an awesome thought. It is difficult to wrap my mind around this kind of spiritual stature.
Yet, He calls us, as a body together, to the same measure of the spiritual stature of the fullness of His Son, Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). Our purpose and ultimate destiny is to walk in the same spiritual stature of Christ, but it takes every brother and sister, every member of the faith out of every nation, kindred, tongue and tribe together, even every member from past and future generations, to grow as a unity into this great stature. Yet even this great stature of Christ is not comparable to the spiritual stature of God, for Jesus said, "...My Father is greater than I." (Jn. 14:28). 
It is beyond my imagination, but even this small glimpse into His immensity and power makes me wonder in my heart, "Is there anything too great for our God?", and the answer must be "No, nothing exists that could be as great as He is."
Thank You, Father, for humbling Yourself in order to hear and see the things concerning me.

Our Father humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens, and in the earth.

"Hear My Cry, O God"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CRTY1xb0NE

"God, I Look to You"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5IoWH9OiI

Spring

Springtime- after a long, cold winter, the sights and sounds of spring are a joyful thing to us. The quality of light changes, the birds start singing enthusiastically, and the rest of nature begins awakening from the darkness of the weeks past. However, in the spirit realm, the sights and sounds of this season are very different. Scripture says that spring is the time that kings go to war (2 Sam. 11:1), and our God, and His Son, are Kings.
Spring is not just the season for the renewal of nature, but it is the season of God's victorious warfare, and the fulfillment of His promises in Passover, Purim, and Resurrection.
Whenever we enter into this season, I remind myself to get very quiet, listen and watch, and go on high alert. This is the season when God fulfilled His greatest promises to mankind. This is the season when He shook kings and empires, displaced nations and, in general, turned the world upside down, in order to keep His prophetic word.
No human effort could have brought about these events.
What was the promise that God was keeping in the case of Passover? It was a quiet promise made to Abraham. He made some great promises to His friend, Abraham, but this promise was a quiet one:
"Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them 400 years. And also, the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions."
                                                                                   Gen. 15:13-14
This two verse prophetic promise was like an atomic bomb dropped right into the middle of scripture. Once activated, that bomb had a 400 year countdown fuse. When that last second of time ticked off, all heaven broke loose. Generations after the promise was given, the LORD would introduce Himself to Moses, and tell him that the time had come to keep His promise to Abraham:
"Therefore, say to the children of Israel: "I AM the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob..."                                  Ex. 6:6-8a
That announcement must have brought a great celebration to the children of Israel when they heard it, right? Well, no. When Moses delivered the word of deliverance to the people, it was not heeded because of "anguish of spirit, and cruel bondage." (v. 9)
Spiritually, Egypt is a place of double straits (narrow), a place of being under siege, entrenchment, enclosure, at the seeming mercy of an adversary, or enemy. It is a place of dire straits, where the individual has been beaten down into an almost hopeless condition. Such was the condition of the children of Israel, that they couldn't even begin to lift up their heads to receive the word of deliverance being brought to them by Moses. It also didn't help that after this word was delivered to them, conditions that couldn't have gotten any worse, actually did get worse.
In like manner, as also happened during a spring season, as the disciples of Jesus saw His tortured body on the cross, they weren't thinking "resurrection". It turned out though, that what looked like the death of all deaths, was really the birth of life forevermore. It was the moment of the destruction of death, hell, and the grave as the Father fulfilled His great promise to all of us:
"I will ransom them from the power (hand) of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues!
O Grave (Sheol), I will be your destruction!
Pity is hidden from My eyes."
                 and
"O Death where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?"
                                                             Hos. 13:14, 1 Cor. 15:55
The passion, the crucifixion, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was about fighting and winning a brutal war. It was a war for the souls of men, to liberate them from the strongholds of darkness, sin and death. We needed Jesus to win that victory for us, because we certainly couldn't win it for ourselves.
This time of year also sees the celebration of Purim, when a vicious enemy of the people of God was exposed and destroyed. The root meaning of "Purim" is to break, to crush, to bring to naught. Haman intended to see all the Jews, including Mordecai, the man he most hated, destroyed under the king's order. Unknown to Haman, the beautiful new queen, Esther, was a Jew, and she had the favor of the king. God exposed the evil plot, and the king judged Haman with the same judgment as Haman had prepared for those whom he had hated and plotted against.
Now is the season when we watch and wait. Now is the season when God's most awesome promises for us are fulfilled. Now is the season when the last seconds are ticking down on the prophetic timer of our God regarding His promises to us. If you are in a time of oppression, burden, and darkness, wait, watch and listen, because the season of God's greatest deliverance is about to begin.
Now is the season when we wait to hear Him shout, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, ye shall see them again, no more, forever."   Ex. 14:13
If you listen carefully, in addition to the spring sound of chirping birds, you will also hear the sounds of warfare.

It is spring, and our Father makes war in the heavenlies to keep His promises to us.

*Artwork at the top of the page: "How Empires Are Undone", Scarlet Letter Bible

"Go Down, Moses"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_p_WRgVDNU

"You Have Won the Victory/The Anthem"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x6PEmTNCw8

"ites" - Part 1

"...To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt, to the great river, the River Euphrates- the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites." 
                                                                                Gen. 15:18-21
This is the covenant that God made with Abraham on the occasion when Abraham offered sacrifice. A smoking oven, and a burning torch moved between the pieces of the sacrifice to confirm the covenant promise to Abraham. In the above scripture, God names the peoples that will be removed from the land, to be replaced by Abraham's descendants.
I have heard it said that each one of the ten tribes named above, is an opponent to each corresponding commandment of the Ten Commandments. That is interesting, and it does say in Judges 3:1-2, that the LORD will test the untested among Israel with the remaining enemy tribes to see if Israel will prove to be obedient to the commandments of God. However, the purpose of this entry is to study and record the meanings of the tribal names of these peoples, in order to learn from them.
Kenites- The word is associated with those who are smiths, heating, bending and striking iron to mold for their own purpose. Its root is from the name "Cain", meaning possession, ownership, to acquire, to buy. Eve declared upon the birth of Cain, "I have gotten (kanah) a man from the LORD." (Gen. 4:1). It can also mean a spear, or a lance. It can mean a mourning song, or lament, a wail of mourning.
What does Kenite teach me? I don't want to try to bend the Lord's will to my own. The lance, the spear, struck into the vulnerable side of Jesus and into His heart, because man demanded to exert his own will over Him. Jesus would not bend to their will, but only to the will of His Father. I don't want to try to take possession or ownership over something that comes from God, and belongs to God. Perhaps if Eve had said that her son belonged to the LORD, rather than to herself, his fate would have been different. It's a possibility that we mourn and wail to the Lord over the loss of things that are of little importance, and no lasting value. Meanwhile, the prophets mourned and cried for the spiritual condition of their people. That's a big difference. Am I interceding and lamenting for the things on God's heart, or instead to try to bend God's will to my own? Often we mourn and wail because our own will has been thwarted. For my life, I want to know and accept as perfect, God's will for me:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."        Jer. 29:11
Kenizzite- This word refers to a grandson of Esau named Kenaz, which means "hunter".
Esau was also a hunter of game. He came home weary and hungry one day from his activities out in the field, and sold his inheritance away for a bowl of pottage, or lentils (Gen. 25:33-34). He chose a temporary solution to solve a temporary problem that cost him his whole future, and inheritance. He was accustomed to satisfying his own needs through hunting, and when he became weary and disappointed on an occasion of no success, he fell for the temptation put before him. Listen self: easy solutions can dangle themselves before you in a weak moment, but that solution can cost you everything.
Also, there are those on earth who hunt humans in one way or another, and they have falsely caused us to believe that life belongs to us, and we can do with it what we want. It has caused us to feel that life is cheap and disposable. We have become indifferent and unfeeling over human life. Life comes from God, and belongs to God. Life continues because of God's love and mercy.
Kadmonites- This literally means "easterner". The term easterner refers to something old, ancient, from a former time, former things, past things. It means to be in front, go before, to project one's self, to anticipate, to hasten, to get ahead in time, to disappoint, to make another a debtor.
In scripture, God tells us often that He is doing a new thing. He asks us if we perceive the new thing He is doing (Jer. 31:22, Isa. 43:19). Paul tells us to put the former things behind, and to be that new creation. So a Kadmonite clings to his or her glory days, doing the same thing as before, hoping to keep the glory of the past. However, the glory of God moves, and we are to move with it. A Kadmonite, accustomed to the position of coming first, can sometimes rush ahead also, anticipating God before God has moved. Rushing ahead in that premier position, causes disappointment when the timing proves to be in error. Disappointment in the soul can lead to further downfall through wrong choices. I need to move with the Lord, but wait for Him to move, also. Being first is the position reserved for Him.
Hittites- Hittites were known for their viciousness in warfare and conquering, and their name means fear, terror, to be shattered, broken, abolished, confounded, put to shame, to break down by confusion and fear, to beat down, to discourage, to cause dismay. They were descendants of Heth, a son of Canaan, a son of Ham. Ham, a son of Noah, opened his father to ridicule, and shame. He carried tales of his father's disgrace.
When we feel beaten down to the point of ridicule, and shame, when we begin to make choices from fear and terror, when we feel confused and confounded by that fear of shame and failure, we remember the many times that our Father tells us to fear not, nor be dismayed (Deut. 31:8, Josh. 1:9, 8:1, 10:25, 1 Chron. 28:20, 2 Chon. 20:17, Isa. 41:10-11, etc.). God's love is there to cast out all of that fear. I need to let Him love me.
"Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all those who were incensed against you, shall be ashamed and disgraced."   Isa. 41:10-11a
Perizzites- This word means "belonging to a village". It also means an open region, un-walled town or country. It means chieftain, warrior, leader, deciding judge. What is God teaching me with the Perizzites? I don't want to rely upon a false sense of security in numbers, and leaders. It's not about what everyone else is thinking and doing. That is not where my safety lies. Though I live amongst others, and have a government that takes on the job of protecting me, my protection comes from the LORD. He walls me about with His word, with His promises. I don't want to leave myself open to attack, being spiritually un-walled. The prophet Ezekiel warns of an enemy that comes to a people at rest, a people who dwell without walls, without bars, nor gates. The enemy comes to take a spoil, a prey (Ez. 38:11). We cannot rest our safety upon the word and promises of men, but only upon the Rock, the High Tower, the Fortress that is our God.

These are the first five of the ten tribes that are to be dispossessed from the land. Please see the entry below for part 2, the conclusion on the tribes.

Our Father proves us, tries us, and strengthens us to possess the land.

"Whom Shall I Fear?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsCPWNwOJiQ

"Break Every Chain"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUPZbNozGZc

"Psalm 18- The LORD is My Rock"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80cDDk70vCs

"Love Has Come"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ8-kFJzDW4

"ites" - Part 2

The ten tribes to be dispossessed from the land in Gen. 15, are continued here from Part 1 (see entry above this one):

Rephaims- This one was a shocker to me. The word "Rephaim" translates as "Whom Jehovah Healed". This means to heal, to repair, casting down, throw down, hero, champion. These people were an extremely ancient tribe of giants.  By their name, I can only assume that these giants were originally meant to be heroes who healed and repaired. Perhaps because of the circumstances of their origin, their purpose became twisted into that of giants who challenged God's people, instead of bringing healing to them.
We are to be champions who are vessels of God's healing and restoration. This is such a noble, and wonderful call. Will I do God's healing work with my life? I hope so.
"And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations."   Isa. 61:4
"And you shall be called the "Restorer of the Breach", the "Restorer of Paths to Dwell in."
                                                                                                             Isa. 58:12b
Amorites- This means "a sayer". It means prominence, publicity, mountaineers, those who live on the heights. It means to think, to say, to will, to answer in one's heart, to promise, to intend, to bring to light. This tribe was the greatest and most powerful of the ten tribes. The name also means to boast, to act proudly, to avow, to lift one's self up, to boast of one's self.
Those who were given a prominent position, a position in the heights, proclaimed themselves, rather than the glory of God. They used their power to enforce their own will and words, rather than God's. I recognize how easy it is to cross from the privilege of speaking God's Word, into the snare of speaking my own word, from ascending the heights for God's glory, to ascending for my own glory instead, boasting of myself instead of proclaiming the greatness of God. Lucifer was judged in the following scripture for just this:
"For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High."          Isa. 14:13-14
Canaanites- This tribe also descended from Ham, the son of Noah, who disrespected his father's headship, and cast humiliation upon him. These were lowland dwellers, and they are associated with merchants, traders, and traffickers. The name also describes zealots. They were zealous, not for the things of God, but in money and trade. The meaning also includes to subject, humiliate, to be humbled, to be brought low, to surrender, to be depressed.  Nothing seems to bring us as low, as depressed to the point of defeat, as economic and financial trouble. However, to surrender to those feelings means to bow the knee to this tribe of Canaan. It's a powerless feeling when we find ourselves captured in this stronghold of traders. However, as Joseph was bought and sold, he found his way to freedom staying faithful to the will of God in all of his circumstances. This is a huge challenge, especially in these times as powers zealously buy, sell and trade, often at the expense of others. I want to maintain an attitude of thanksgiving in all circumstances, and not spend my life chasing after the things that have their end in a landfill. The world is running to the Canaanites to buy and sell, but God is calling us to cast them out of the land.
"The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, "Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches came to nothing!"  Rev. 18:14-17a
Girgashites- This tribe is different from the others because very little can be found to describe them. However, even that says much. Their name means to dwell on clay-like soil. Not much can be grown in clay. The soil is dense, and water runs off instead of penetrating, or percolating through. Seeds planted in clay will not grow to bear fruit. Even by Josephus' time, he said nothing was known of these people. I don't want to be so dense that the Lord cannot water me, and the seed of His Word cannot grow in me. I want my generations to thrive before the Lord, so we do not become a people no longer known in the earth. I want my life to be fruitful, with fruit that lasts. If I am clay at all, let it be clay that can be molded in the Potter's hands.
"And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites says the LORD. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the LORD, so shall your descendants and your name remain."          Isa. 66:21-22
Jebusites- These were descendants of Jebus, third son of Canaan, son of Ham. Their name means threshing floor. It means trodden down, tread down, reject, trample down. It means to kick out the foot reflexively like an infant, to loath, desecrate as a thing neglected and despised, to be polluted, to tread in a holy place polluting and profaning it, to trample to pieces. This stronghold loathes, rejects and profanes the people and things of God. This is a most serious condition. A person who loves the things of God, would never knowingly want to be a part of this stronghold. However, it is easy to be pulled into the trap of profaning people who belong to God, whom we don't understand, because they are not like us, their doctrine is not like ours, their practices are not like ours. We also can profane ourselves. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and, if I am a priest of the LORD, than I wear upon my head "Holy Unto The LORD", yet I know that I do not always treat with respect and reverence this body. Am I profaning something holy to the LORD? The answer has to be , "yes". My hope and prayer is that I honor all of those things that the atoning blood of Jesus, and the living Word of God has sanctified and made holy, including my own self.
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (spiritual worship). And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you my prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
                                                                                   Romans 12:1-2

As the spies of Israel were sent forth to report on the promised land, most came back fearful of the fierce tribes they saw inhabiting it. However, two came back to give a different report:
..."Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." 
                                                                                   Num. 13:30



Our Father has called us to take possession of the land.

"Overcome"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqXZD_z3eCc

"Redeemed"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGAYNKDyIU

Relationship

"And they heard the sound (voice, singing) of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool (ruach: breath, wind) of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to them, "Where are you?"     Gen. 3:8-9

When I found that I was supposed to write about "Relationship" in this entry, the Lord brought me to this scripture above from Genesis. I was surprised. I wrote the scripture on the opening of this post, and then I walked away for a few days. I was waiting to see how these scriptures would teach me about my relationship with our Father. Things began to unfold for me as I thought about this familiar story of man's fall.
As the LORD God walked in the garden, calling for Adam, it is understood by us that God already knew what had happened. We also discover, as we read through the account of the fall of man, that there is no repentance from Adam and his wife reflected in the scriptures. Not only did Adam refuse to repent, but at one point, Adam even directly blames God for his downfall because it was God who gave Adam his wife:
"Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate."           Gen. 3:12
Eve, in turn, blames the serpent.
I think, in any case, that there is no transforming repentance, unless it comes out of love. That kind of repentance cannot just come out of a head-knowledge of the Law. The kind of repentance that transforms, teaches, and heals, can only come from a heart that loves our Lord, our God. Along with their lack of repentance, I also do not detect, from this account in scripture, any caring or love from the man and woman towards God. This is very sad.
We can also assume, I think, that there is an attitude of resentment towards God by Adam and the woman even before this point, because the serpent is easily able to convince Eve to disregard God's instructions. He tells her that God just doesn't want them to be like Him, knowing good and evil  (Gen. 3:5). This is where their weakness lies, this is where they have left an opening-in their relationship with their Father. The serpent just takes advantage of this resentment towards God in Adam's and Eve's hearts. Similar resentment of God will have a destructive influence over their son, Cain's, choices, as well.

What is the Lord trying to teach me about my relationship with the Father from this? I looked again at the Father's attitude toward the man and wife.
First of all, when the Father comes to deal with this situation, He brings the Comforter with Him. The Holy Spirit is there in the presence of the cool breath, or wind, of the day. That speaks so much to me about the Father. Not only does He know what they have done, but He wants to comfort them in their fear of Him. He wants to minister and create into the condition of the man and wife. Within the tragedy of the downfall of man, the Father begins to prophesy. The first prophetic promise of the Messiah comes forth, as God issues judgment upon the serpent:
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."      Gen. 3:15
Yes, Adam and Eve must leave the garden, but they don't leave without hope. Redemption and atonement has just been introduced into the future of mankind, and that very redemption will come through the one whom all will blame for this transgression-the woman.
How else does He minister to, and comfort them?

"Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin and clothed them." 
                                                                                                 Gen. 3:21
The Father covers the man and woman with a sacrifice, even a shadow and type of the sacrifice that was made by God's Son. Though their own choices uncovered them, God would not leave them vulnerable, and uncovered. Rather than just supplying the man and wife with a covering, He even covers them with His own hands. Father "clothed them". Can we feel what is in the Father's heart towards the man and woman? It goes far beyond Creator and creature. He has a relationship with man. However, in this case, as in so many other cases with man, God's feelings of love and caring are not returned. He is worthy of our worship and praise, but He is also worthy, foremost, of our love.
What is my relationship supposed to be like with God? With Jesus? What are the expectations that They have? If I have a relationship of love with Them, then the Law, the Word, becomes written not upon tables of stone, but it becomes written upon my heart. I am not hiding from Him in shame and fear (Gen. 3:10), but I am turning towards Him for comfort, help, and love, even when others might judge that I don't deserve it. This love is how I "abide" in Him, and how His word abides in me according to Jesus (Jn. 14:21-23). Love is the glue and the generator that causes the abiding. The abiding develops out of love, rather than just obedience. Obedience is important, but the obedience that naturally flows from the love for His Father, is the obedience that humbled Christ, even to death on the cross. Because of this kind of love-obedience, the Father highly exalted Him, and gave Him a name above all other names. The name that Christ received as a result of His love-obedience to the Father, brought all creation into that same obedience (Phil. 2:5-11). There is a fruit that comes from our love for the Father. We are instructed to be of this same mind of Christ. Only love for our Father can produce this same mind. This is the mind from which Christ did all. This is the mind that changed all creation as noted in the above scripture. This is how Jesus described His love for His Father that produces His obedience:
"But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here."     Jn. 14:31
Father's relationship towards me is reflected by this truth:
"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love: but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears not has been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us."     1 John 4:16-19
"...And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever, and ever. Amen"         Rev. 1:5-6
The wonderful miracles for us mentioned above, came forth out of His love toward us. We acknowledge His love for us easily, but how much thought and exercise do we give regarding our love towards Him? I don't want to neglect that part of my relationship with Him.
There are many gods in the earth, but only the One true God ever desired a relationship with mankind that He created.
When I think on these things, it makes me want to speak to Him, sing to Him, pray with Him and for Him, cover Him, to look into His face, with love. I will make mistakes, and I may fall down in the days ahead, but I hope I will always remember to turn back to Him in hope, in comfort, and in love.

Our Father desires a relationship with us.

"I Love You, Lord"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw_uBn9zJfc

"As The Deer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M04P1lW4OA

"Unchained Melody"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrK5u5W8afc