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Teachings, meditations, insights With the deep riches of the Jewish roots of Jesus To give you strength and victory for every day of your life Jonathan's teaching for each day of your week Sent daily to your home, to start your day with power!
Friday, February 10, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
Performing The Zarak
In the sacrifices of the Bible, there was often a special act performed at the end of the offering called the Zarak. It was the sprinkling or the applying of the blood. The blood of the sacrifice had to be sprinkled or applied to the altar - sprinkled and applied to the Mercy Seat. Messiah is the fulfillment of all the sacrifices of the Bible. Thus it means that those who partake of His sacrifice must, in some way, perform the Zarak, the sprinkling of the blood. How do you perform the Zarak? You apply the blood of Messiah, the love of God poured out, the mercy and forgiveness of His atonement, onto every area of your life. You apply it to your home, to your workplace, to your marriage, to your children, to your emotions, to your sins, to your past, to your anger, to your unforgiveness, to your fears, to your lust, to your despair, to your longings, to your plans, to your dreams, to everything - to your conscience and to your heart. For the sacrifice of Messiah is a Zarak. And it's for you to perform on everything.
From Message #1194 - Footsteps On The Altar
Find areas in your life where the blood of Messiah, the love of God is lacking and apply it.
2/11 Isa. 62:11-12; 2/12 1 Sam. 12:22
Read -> 2 Cor. 13:14
Monday, February 13, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
Paper Like A Knife
A piece of paper is one of the weakest and most flimsy things in the world. But paper can be dangerous. You don't believe it? Have you ever been cut by a piece of paper? Have you ever had a paper cut? How can something so weak as a piece of paper cut you as if it were a knife? It's because the thin side of a paper focuses any force into the smallest of spaces. And when you focus on something, it increases the force. So a paper can actually become as strong as a knife. It's true of sheets of paper, and it's true for your life and walk with God. If you're all over the place, it's unlikely you'll accomplish great things or live a great life for God. But if you're focused, focused on Him, on His kingdom, on His purposes, then everything changes. Then the power you have gets multiplied. Paul was focused, and looked at what he did. So too, set out to become focused, single-minded, fixing your eyes on Messiah, and doing all things with one purpose. A focused life in God can cut through the greatest problems and even change the world.
From Message #1195 - Sharp
Get a sheet of paper (but don't cut yourself) and make a checklist of steps that you can take daily to become more focused and do what He has called you to do.
Read -> Prov. 4:25
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
Messiah, His Pouring Name
Today's Hebrew word is "Shemen," which means OIL. In the Song of Solomon, the bride says to the bridegroom, "Your name is like Pure Oil." It means that the bride is so much in love with the bridegroom that she finds his name to be as gentle, soothing and lovely on her lips as oil. The Bible says "you're the Bride and Yeshua, Jesus, is your Bridegroom." The name of your Beloved needs to be on your lips in the same way. His name, Christ, comes from Messiah or Mashiach, which also comes from the root word for oil. But there's something even deeper here. The word translated in English as Pure, literally means "Pouring." It says, "Your name is like Pouring oil." His name is to be always pouring forth. It doesn't say, "Your name is like oil that has already been poured out." To really know the name of the Lord, it needs to be pouring forth from your heart and from your lips - not yesterday, not tomorrow, but Now. Let the Name Above All Names pour out. That's when you'll know the power of the Name that is like pouring oil.
From Message #289 - Like Pure Oil
In your worship time today, speak out from your mouth and pour out from your heart, the Name that is above any other name. Let it flow like pouring oil.
Read -> S. of Songs 1:3
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
Finding His Henna
In the Song of Solomon, the bride says of the bridegroom, "My Beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi." Why the henna blossoms of En Gedi? Why not the henna blossoms of Galilee? Why not just henna blossoms? Why does it matter where they come from? En Gedi is in the barren, rocky, dry, hot and forbidding wilderness of Judea. There's virtually no life. But in the middle of this desert flow waters - the springs of En Gedi. And around the waters, blooms life and henna blossoms. That's why the love of the Bridegroom to the Bride and of God to you is like henna blossoms from En Gedi. You will find even in the driest places of your life that God's love still flows like waters in the desert with blooming flowers. You'll never know God's love as sweet as when you find it in a secret place and away from everything else. Get away today as David did. Get away from all the distractions, problems and temptations. Get refreshed by the pure love of God in the secret place.
From Message #1022 - My Beloved Is An Apple Tree
Seek today to find the henna blossoms of En Gedi -- in places where you've never seen God's blessings or presence. Go looking for His blessings and finding His presence.
Read -> S. of Songs 1:14
Thursday, February 16, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
Pursuing God Present Tense
Proverbs 21:21 says - He who pursues righteousness and mercy, finds life. The word used for "pursue" is a Hebrew word that also means "to hunt." We are to hunt after righteousness and mercy, to pursue it with all our hearts; to even run after it. But notice something else - it doesn't say that the one who pursued righteousness is blessed... but the one who pursues it. In other words, we are never to stop pursuing God. The pursuit of God and His righteousness is something that must never become an action in the past tense. One of the greatest mistakes believers make is that they pursued God, but only in the past tense, not any more. They lost the zeal and passion to pursue God. But to have pursued Him in the past doesn't bring blessing. But in the present, it does. Make it your aim, your plan, your occupation, your joy to pursue God. And you will find and you will be blessed. For the one who continually pursues God and His righteousness, will continually be blessed with new life.
From Message #802 - The Divine Hunt
Make it your mission today to truly pursue God, to hunt, and chase after Him, after His presence, His righteousness and ways. Seek and you will find.
Read -> 1 Tim. 6:11
Friday, February 17, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
Preparing For Your Childhood
We spend the first part of our lives preparing for the second part. Most of childhood is about growing up, learning how to be an adult. But in God, adulthood is about preparing for childhood. The first time, you never have the chance to learn how to be a child. You're too busy spending your childhood learning how to be an adult. When you become an adult, what's there to learn? If you're born again, it's different. Messiah said, "Unless you are changed and become like a little child, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven." The only time we have to prepare for adulthood is childhood. The only time we have to prepare for our eternal childhood, is right now. The problem is we're so busy being adults we don't take the time to learn how to be a child. Drop your adult burdens. Life is too short and eternity is too long to live like an adult. Lighten up, lift up your eyes, and behold your Daddy. Learn to be a child of the Spirit, of Heaven, for the only time to prepare for your childhood, is right now.
From Message #429 - Heaven's Womb
In what ways can you act more childlike today? More innocent, more free, more amazed, more looking up? Be more like a child today.
2/18 Nahum 1:7; 2/19 Neh. 9:17
Read -> Matthew 19:14
Monday, February 20, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
The Unseen Clothes
In Exodus 28, the Lord speaks about the dress of the priests of Israel. The instructions not only cover the outer clothes, but the inner clothes. The priests had to wear holy undergarments. Even though no one would see them, even these undergarments, had to be holy. What does that tell us? The Bible says that you, who are born again are a member in God's holy priesthood. And as a priest of God, you must wear holy undergarments. The undergarments were the part of the priestly garments which no one saw. It was the most private part and the most secret. What does it tell you? As a priest of God, the Lord's holiness must be the same in your secret life as in your public life. As holy as you are in public, so you must be in secret, in the sanctuary or alone with no one seeing you. The holiness of God must permeate every facet of your life, even your secret life, and so much so that you have nothing to hide. Make that your aim. For just as holy as the priest's breastplate and crown was his holy underwear.
From Message #1202 - The Sacred Undergarments
Is every part of your life consistent with your faith? Is your secret life consistent with your public life? Focus on the part of your life no one sees but God, and bring every part into the light of God.
Read -> Jer. 23:24
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 Back to today's Sapphire
Yom Kippur Comes At The End
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is the most holy day of the Hebrew year. It is the day that the Jewish people find atonement, forgiveness, cleansing, reconciliation and peace with God. It falls near the very end of the sacred Biblical year. Why? The mystery is this: The Jewish people will find their atonement, their forgiveness, their cleansing, and their reconciliation and peace with God, at the end, at the end of the age, at the end of God's plan, in the latter days, the end times. This matches up with end-time prophecy given in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. The prophets of Israel foretold that the Jewish people would, in the last days, return to God, find their Messiah, their atonement, look upon Him who was pierced, and be reconciled. Those days are now, and the Jewish people are beginning to return to Messiah. It's your job to pray for that, pray for them, and for the peace of Jerusalem. For when Israel finds her atonement and her reconciliation, it will be blessings for the world.
From Message #1205 - Israel's Yom Kippur Finale
Take a few minutes during your morning to pray for the Jewish people to return to God, during your midday to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and during your evening to pray for the return of Messiah.
Read -> Rom. 11:25-27
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Fear Or Thanksgiving
Recent scientific tests revealed something totally consistent with the Bible. They studied fear and anxiety. What they found was that it's pretty impossible to be thankful and fearful at the same time. If you're giving thanks from your heart, you won't have anxiety or fear. Thanksgiving is an antidote to fear and anxiety. They don't go together. If you're living in fear and anxiety, you're not going to be living in thanksgiving. And if you're living in thanksgiving, you're going to have the power to overcome fear and anxiety. So the Word of God says, over and over again, "Do not fear." It also says, "Give thanks in all things." The two go together. If you live a problem-based life, you'll have anxiety. But if you live a blessing-based life, you'll have peace and joy. As it is written, perfect love casts out fear. So make it a daily habit and discipline, to spend time, not dwelling on any problem, but just on the blessings of God, and give thanks. For it's a lot better to live in blessing than in fear.
From Message #1209 - Fearless
In everything you do today be thankful. And whenever you're about to lose your peace, or get anxious, or upset, start thanking Him all the more.
Read -> Psalm 69:30
