B.E.S.T. Shabbat

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (Joh 10:10) Click here to listen to " Faith, Gratitude, and Provision " There is perhaps no issue that strikes at the heart of our faith, the inner conversation of our heart than provision. Provision goes beyond the money in our accounts or the home we live in, the job we work at or the family we are blessed to be a part of. In its purest form, provision is the outcome of the god we serve.   What is a god really?   Isn’t a “god” a perceived source of provision, of power? Since the beginning man has been in search of power. We see this played out in the Garden with the encounter with the serpent.   Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "From th...

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude , by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; (Hebrews 12:28) Click here to listen to " Gratitude and Unshakable Faith " We have been sharing about faith, the inner conversation of our heart that determines our lives. This conversation is often called thinking.   For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you. (Pro 23:7) In Hebrew, the word translated as “thinking” in our heart that determines our being, or our isness, how we define ourselves and our lives, is “sha-ar”.   The word picture definition is of opening a gate. The idea is that there are gates or boundaries to our hearts and our thoughts. These are in place by definitions. As we “define” reality we enclose it in those gates, those thoughts. This is where we get the concept of “opening our mind”.   Jim Richard...

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Php 4:6-7) Click here to listen to " Faith and Thanksgiving " Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at the inner conversation we have that orders our lives which is called faith.   We recognized that God speaks “light” and “order” to our chaos and disorder which is the ever-present background conversation. We saw that the “waters” of Genesis 1 are the same waters that became “living waters” when Yeshua who is the eternal Word made flesh, the conversation of God made flesh, spoke and was heard.   This is echoed in the cry of the ancient Hebrew prayer, the Sh’ma expressed in Deut 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (Deu 6:4) When we listen with our heart, we open our eyes to the ...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. (Eph 2:4-9) Click here to listen to " Faith and Grace " We have been sharing about the inner conversation that is transformed in Messiah. We recognized that there are 2 voices that speak to us in our inner man, the voice of God and the voice of Chaos. These voices speak into our stream of thoughts which the scriptures express through the reality of the waters. Genesis 1:2-3 describes this process: The earth was formle...

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything, worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Php 4:8-9) Click here to listen to " Aligning Our Inner Conversation " Last session we began to look at compassion as the key to aligning our inner conversation with the conversation of God and bringing forth light and order which is life to our world. We recognized that there is also a background conversation that is destructive to our lives that draws us to chaos and devastation, what the scripture calls tohu bevohu, formlessness and void, chaos. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Gen 1:2) Formlessn...