the L-rd is my shepherd.

"those who hope in me will not be disappointed...do I lack the strength to rescue you?"

-the L-RD, isaiah.

ruach.

"i was concentrating on the words of the prayers.  the words moved and danced in front of me.  i felt the words inside of me.  'from egypt you redeemed us, o L-RD our God,' i prayed, 'and from the house of slavery you ransomed us.'  the words were alive.  i felt them alive and moving inside me..."

-chaim potok, my name is asher lev.

living words.

"he (moses) was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on mount sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us..." -acts 7.

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living words.

words alive with the breath of God, the power of God, the wisdom and the promise of God.

words spoken long ago and carried for thousands of years, moving and creating and establishing and upholding until this very day.

words that do not return void.

words bound up in a holy book, every moment available to us.

LIVING WORDS.
LIVING WORDS.
LIVING WORDS.

the very words of GOD!

wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow!

praise the L-RD,
praise the L-RD,
praise the L-RD!

the revelation of Love.

God is love.

First of all, for the sake of clarity, this sentence is to be read with the emphasis on the word God, whereas we have fallen into the habit of emphasizing the word love. God is love; that is to say not a human attitude, a conviction or a deed, but God Himself is love. Only he who knows God knows what love is; it is not the other way around; it is not that we first of all by nature know what love is and therefore know also what God is. No one knows God unless God reveals Himself to him. And so no one knows what love is except in the self-revelation of God. Love, then, is the revelation of God. And the revelation of God is Jesus Christ. 'In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him' (1 John 4). God's revelation in Jesus Christ, God's revelation of His love, precedes all our love towards Him. Love has its origin not in us but in God. Love is not an attitude of men but an attitude of God. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins' (1 John 4). Only in Jesus Christ do we know what love is, namely, in his deed for us. 'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down his life for us' (1 John 3). And even there is given no general definition of love, in the sense, for example, of its being the laying down of one's life for the loves of others. What is here called love is not this general principle but the utterly unique event of the laying down of the life of Jesus Christ for us. Love is inseparably bound up with the name of Jesus as the revelation of God. The Christian Scriptures answers the question 'what is love?' quite unambiguously by pointing solely and entirely to Jesus Christ. He is the only definition of love. But again it would be a complete misunderstanding if we were to derive a general definition of love from our view of Jesus Christ and of His deed and suffering. Love is not was He does and what He suffers, but it is what He does and what He suffers. Love is always He Himself. Love is always God Himself.

Love is always the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

-dietrich bonhoeffer.

everything.

the incarnate Word is with us,
is still speaking, is present
always, yet leaves no sign
but everything that is.

-wendell berry.

שְׁלַח

by Your light,
do i see light.

send forth Your light and Your truth.

undeserved.

A truth so universal: God is One.
A thought so consoling: He is with us in distress.
A responsibility so overwhelming: His name can be desecrated.
A map of time: from creation to redemption.
Guideposts along the way: the Seventh Day.
An offering: contrition of the heart.
A utopia: would that all people were prophets.
The insight: man lives by his faithfulness; his home is in time and his substance in deeds.
A standard so bold: you shall be holy.
A commandment so daring: love thy neighbor as thyself.
A fact so sublime: human and divine pathos can be in accord.
And a gift so undeserved: the ability to repent.

-abraham joshua heschel.

words.

"my heart is astir with gracious words; i speak my poem to my King..."

the Word wraps itself and manifests itself amid human bone and sinew.

we are born into LIVING HOPE.

we shout. we sing. we dance and leap for joy.

the time has come.
the kingdom is near.
the whole earth is filled with the brightness of His glory.

Blessed are You, Oh Lord our God, who causes salvation to flourish.

pay attention.

"and we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

-2 peter 1.

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it seems we are living in a time of prophecy. of this i have no doubt. there are things stirring under the surface, and the Spirit of God is moving in new and different ways in our time. i feel it in my heart, my breath, my bones.

which is why the above passage grabbed me and shook me up a bit this morning. because there are a lot of people saying a lot of things in our time, and not all that is being uttered is truth.

some of what is being said is merely a skewed and manipulated version of God's message, and some of what is being said is the pure and fiery will of God spoken through people carried along by the Holy Spirit.

and often it can be very difficult to discern the difference between the two.

and in the midst of it all, my heart cries out for the pure and living voice of God.

i want to be able to discern what is true.

i want to have ears that hear.

which is why i feel such an urgency to KNOW THE WORD, to root the sayings of these prophets and kings and servants and missionaries, and above all else, this Mighty God, and to learn them well.

i want to be able to hear my Shepherd's voice when my Shepherd speaks, and to follow Him when and where He leads.

i want to be able to discern truth through the knowledge of the Word of God.

i want, as our Rabbi and Messiah prayed that night on gethsemane, to be SANCTIFIED through the truth.

and so each morning i will rise early, and each night i will go to bed late, pouring over and devouring this blessed Book.

because God is moving.

and God is speaking.

and I want to be able to discern which words are His.

farsighted.

"but in the end such tired words shall rest.
the truth will reroute the narrow things they've said.
the marionette strings will lower and untie.
and out of the ashes love will be realized.

because God knows we've been naive.
and a bit nearsighted, to say the least."

-sleeping at last.

-----

"But as the heavens are high above the earth,
so are My ways high above your ways
and My plans above your plans.

For as the rain or snow drops from heaven
and returns not there,
but soaks the earth
and makes it bring forth vegetation,
yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating,

So is the word that issues from My mouth:
it does not come back to me unfulfilled,
but performs what I purpose,
achieves what I sent it to do.

Yea, you shall leave in joy and be led home
secure."

-isaiah 56.

great spoil.

"my heart thrills at Your word.
I rejoice over Your promise
as one who obtains great spoil."

-psalm 119.

you shall.

"For as the rain or snow drops from heaven and returns not there, but soaks the earth and makes it bring forth vegetation, yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating, so is the word that issues from My mouth: it does not come back to Me unfulfilled, but performs what I purpose, achieves what I sent it to do. Yea, you shall leave in joy and be led home secure..."

-HaShem, isaiah 55.

heights.

"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the
vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the
pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights."

-habakkuk 3.

The very words of God.

(Gamla Synagogue - Torah Closet. Israel, 2009).

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"The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and teachings. Carefully observe them with all your heart and all your soul." Deut. 26.

"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Psalm 119.

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In Biblical times, a Torah scroll was a rare and sacred thing, and one of great value. Generally priced at an extremely high cost, a normal Biblical city would have only one, and sometimes not even that.

There was great ceremony and joy associated with the scroll. At the beginning of the gathering, the keeper of the synagogue would remove the scroll from the Torah closet, open it, and slowly make his way around the people, holding it out for all those present to touch. Each person would place their fingers on the precious scroll, dancing before God and praising Him because His words were still there.

The very words of God, before them.

I got to mimic this ceremony and celebration while standing in the ruins of the ancient city of Gamla, in one of the oldest synagogues left in Israel. To dance with joy amongst other believers in celebration of the words of God was a beautiful and life-changing experience, and one that I will never forget.

This same attitude was true in other religions as well. I was told by one teacher that in Biblical times, people of the world would pay extravagant amounts of money, wait days and weeks and months outside of temples, and do just about anything possible in order to be given a word from the gods. They pursued with great fervor any guidance they could receive from the powers above.

They understood that a word from a god was a valuable and precious thing, and they would go to incredible lengths to receive one.

Even one.

one. little. word.

OUR GOD GAVE US AN ENTIRE BOOK.

A book FILLED with His blessed words.

His guidance.

His love.

His story.

His law.

His desires.

His will.

A whole book.

A Book that was carefully constructed, passed down, and preserved, for our benefit.

Do we read it?

Do we know it?

Do we seek it out morning, noon, and night, pouring over it like precious silver and gold?

We have it! His Words are STILL HERE.

Dance for joy.

His words.

The very Words of GOD.

judgement is God's.

"You shall recognize no face in judgement. You shall hear out the small person like the great one. You shall have no terror of any man, for judgement is God's."

-deuteronomy 1.

מקרא - Mikra.

"Mikra, which is Hebrew for "read," can also be translated as "appeal." To approach a Biblical passage is to respond to its call, its interpretation, while exploring the depths of its multiple meanings, some of which are immediately understandable, and some enveloped in dazzling mysteries."

-elie wiesel.

היה - hayah.

hebrew word of the day: היה - HAYAH.

to live. enjoy life. live anew. recover. be well. make alive. quicken. preserve. refresh. rebuild.

as in,

"Your promise preserves my hayah." -psalm 119:50.

amen.

a raging fire.

Jeremiah has just been mocked, flogged, and imprisoned. He no longer desires to proclaim the message of impending judgement that God has given him to speak. He is tired and no doubt in SEVERE pain from his recent flogging. Yet this is the conclusion that Jeremiah eventually comes to:

"I thought, 'I will not mention Him,
No more will I speak in His Name' -

But His Word was like a raging fire in my heart,
shut up in my bones;

I could not hold it in,
I was helpless."

(jeremiah 20).

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oh Lord, may it rage in our hearts as well.

2011

goals...

to THROW OFF everything that hinders and run with PERSEVERANCE this race marked out for me (us), and be STRONG in the grace of Jesus.

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hebrews 12. 2 timothy 2.

older brother.

“I’ve been reminded lately of how easy it is to get caught up in circumstance and forget God’s presence.

Jacob: stole his brother’s birthright, on the run for his life, messed up, alone, sleeping outside with a rock for a pillow. THERE, in all that, in his sin, in his escape, in his solitude…there God shows up.

God reminds Jacob of His promise. Reminds Jacob that He will bring him back. Reminds Jacob that He will never leave him.

And in reverent awe, all is put into perspective and Jacob confesses: LORD, you are here. and I did not know.

God is near.

His promises are big.

In our sin we’ve not had to steal the birthright from our older brother – our older brother has handed it over, so that we could have what was promised.

the LAND.

RESTORATION with the Father.

…

God is NEAR.”

(a recent letter from my very wise friend anna. so good).

genesis 28.