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The 'C' Word: Commitment (It's Costly!)

I learn so much about myself and about human behavior in general through the in-depth study of God’s Word.  I’m talking about taking a   

L O N G    H A R D    L O O K   at This Living Word, word by word oftentimes.

Commitment.  I’ve had a problem with it for as long as I can remember.

Like everything else, I never realized this about myself UNTIL I came face to face with me IN THE SCRIPTURE.  HE exposed me to myself…

This had always bothered me about me.  

HE EXPOSES in order to FREE.

Please don’t forget that.  Come into agreement with it as quickly as possible!

That’s how He rolls.

‘How can I stay with him?  I’m incapable of loving someone forever!  I get too bored and too tired of the same ol’ same ol’.  I don’t even keep ‘best’ friends around.’ 

Ugly, but these are thoughts that went through my head often before committing to my husband, Stacy, in marriage.   Come to find out, what I was mostly scared of was me.  I didn’t understand me – at all, not in the least!  So anything, anyone around me couldn’t stand a chance either.

Synonyms for commitment:  engagement, guarantee, pledge, promise, and responsibility, obligation, pact, accountability & agreement.  ‘Don’t ask me for none of that’, my ruthless flesh would say.  “I don’t owe anyone anything.’

Why do we have such a hard time COMMITTING?  Why are we so non-committal?  (I like that word btw…)

Commitment is like Covenant.  In fact, it’s the same thing.   To enter into a Covenant (b’rit) with someone means to be ‘in alliance’ with them.  Have you ever thought about it like that?

Jeff Benner of ancient-hebrew.org writes this about Covenant/Commitment:

“I believe that one of the reasons our culture has avoided words such as "covenant" is because it is a commitment. Our society today in general does not like commitments.

Everything that belongs to God is holy. This includes; His people, covenants and Torah. There is one enemy of God who detests all that is holy and will do everything in his power to make it unholy. Everything that God consecrates, Satan wants to desecrate. The Bible has many examples of Satan's desecration of God's people, covenants and Torah throughout the First and New Covenants. By the time Yeshua came, Satan had almost completely desecrated all that was made holy. Would it not also be part of Satan's plan to desecrate all that is holy in our time?”

Why yes, Jeff, it would.

Why am I talking like this?  Well, it’s because I perceive a great hindrance to The Light of the Messiah flowing through His own.  

God’s Children largely have a lack of COMMITMENT to His Word of Truth and because they do, they naturally have a lack of COMMITMENT to one another.  

I am my sister’s keeper and she is mine.  However, what if my sister doesn’t want to be ‘kept’.  That happens…a lot.  I deal and have dealt with a fair amount of this.

Commitment also has to do with devotion.  ‘Wholly devoted’, as is found multiple times in Scripture means not being half-hearted with your devotion.  You get the point…

Commit your way to Adonai;trust in Him, and He will act. ~ Psalm 37:5

 Commit your accomplishments to ADONAI and (HE) will securely and firmly establish your thoughtful intentions (plans). ~ Proverbs 16:3

Commit = Hebrew gâlal meaning ‘to roll away together’

Galal has the meaning of ‘round and rolling’.  When you think of something round, it rolls, right?  It moves, right?  However, if the object had edges, it would come to a halt rather quickly.  It would hesitate and remain stationary. 

So, which describes you?  Do you ‘roll with ADONAI’, progressing and moving forward with Him in the study of His Exposing Word?  How about with others (which is what His Word is about…your continually renewed relationship with ‘others’ by His Spirit)?

Or, are you living CONTRARY to your High Calling?  Are you edgy, hesitant and motionless when it comes to commitment to His Word and to His People? 

Man, can we find out so much about ourselves when only we COMMIT to His Word…and to one another.

The root of all godly commitment is GIVING.  GIVING of the REAL DISCOVERED, EXPOSED YOU and your time, treasures, talents, etc.  Basically, commitment is the giving of your ‘מְאֹדֶֽךָ me’odekha – that is, your ‘very’. 

Biblical discipleship is about falling in love with THE WORD and falling in love with ONE ANOTHER.  This - walking in The Spirit - does not happen without a commitment to both.  (see John 17)

To whom MUCH is given, MUCH is required.

Will you COMMIT yourself to His Word?  Do you understand COVENANTAL HOLINESS?

Will you COMMIT yourself to His People (that brother or sister?) - for better, for worse? Are you willing to enter into a Holy Alliance that brings FREEDOM from self-bondage and all that is common/profane in this world?

For the sake of All Things Holy, just Roll with it, Sister…

The Shepherdess Standing GUARD

Shepherdess.  Standing.  Guard.  

Each one of these words has incredible significance.  Consider each word carefully.

Every teacher should be worthy to imitate.  Every Disciple of the Messiah, found worthy to emulate. 

How do you SHOW someone to follow our Rabbi Yeshua?  By FOLLOWING Him yourself.  This is a demonstration.  This is walking in His Ruach.

When my now 19 year old Sonshine Caleb was a wee lad in his blue and white teddy bear highchair, I taught him how to pray.  I'd touch the top of his head and bow it down.  I'd then take his little chubby hands in mine and begin to pray.  One day as we began to pray, I forgot to help him bow his head.  And so, he unclasped his hands, lifted one hand on top of his head and pushed it down and then folded his hands back together.  He was now ready for prayer!  

In his impressionable young and pure baby mind, pushing heads down in prayer was the way to begin any serious conversations with our God!

This example of imitation brings me to the question for the Shepherdess.  

Are you worthy to imitate in your guarding of His Word?

A Faithful, Effective Shepherdess WILL BE STAMPING OUT Biblical illiteracy.   

Why?  Because she understands her ROLE AS GUARDIAN over God’s Word.

God’s Word was meant to be GUARDED.  The WORD was given to Adam.  Ezer Kenegdo was given to Adam to GUARD WHAT WAS HOLY.  God's Eternal Life-Giving BREAD.

"I have food to eat that you do not know about." ~ Yeshua (John 4:32)

God’s Word is Holy.  God’s Word is Important.  And HOLY IMPORTANCE is intended to be GUARDED with your life…because it BRINGS LIFE.

Ezer Kenegdo was the Guardian responsible for protecting Adam’s Word from ADONAI ELOHEINU.  To guard is in a woman’s nature. 

In hearing and thinking about Psalm 119 as I went for a stroll yesterday morning, this was so impressed upon my spirit.  

Since we are guardians, we WILL be guarding something.  

I'm either standing guard over HIS WORD OR I'm standing guard over my own comfort.  

WHAT ARE YOU STANDING GUARD OVER, Shepherdess?

How can a youth purify/cleanse his way of life – by GUARDING THE WORD.
~ Psalm 119:9

Gather Your Women Together!

(your invitation would look something like this)

Home Fellowships are so rich with LIFE. 

Consider hostessing a group of women one morning or evening in your home.

Together, you'll learn about your 'prescription' as Ezer Kenegdo in a wild ride through Genesis 1-4!

Here is an option for you North Dallas Locals and a Teaching for Women that you won't forget!

Shalom!

Carmen

*Email me for details

Shiny Shackles, Oppressive Yokes and Heavy Burdens

ADONAI ELOHEINU (ADONAI, our God) never called us to ‘slave for Jesus’.   Not even one time did HE call us to serve Him - I mean ‘slave’ that way - and then attach His Holy Name to it.  What HE has called us to is ONENESS with His Ruach, to BE at-rest/at-one/at-peace with Himself.

 “My yoke is chrēstós (manageable, pleasant, useful, benevolent) and My load is light.  Only ONE THING is necessary and Miriam has chosen that good thing and it will not be taken from her.” (Matthew 11:30/Luke 10:42)

Who or what that is COMMON TO THIS PRESENT WORLD have you yoked yourself to that has hindered you from ‘serving Him in satisfaction and pleasure’ with the ‘beautiful, prosperous mind’ (Deuteronomy 28:47)?    REMEMBER that the Adversary wills for you to ‘do right things’, but without the POWER and JOY of the Ruach HaKodesh.  In other words, in your profession as a Follower of the Mashiach, the enemy prefers for you to just remain ‘common’.

The Adversary’s will (devious delight!) is for us to SETTLE FOR THE COMMON in our ‘christian’ life…it’s not actually LIFE at all.    That is, he desires to appeal to our ‘natural man’ so that we WASTE OUR LIVES by choosing to live a joyless existence as we toil.  He whispers...'Go ahead and DO RIGHT THINGS, but for hell’s sake, just don’t be JOYFUL while doing them!’ 

Ask the Ruach HaKodesh these questions! HE will give you the spirit of chokmah (wisdom) and revelation.    Mereas, circumcise your mind, your ears, and your lips…and when you’ve received His Word of Admonition, SHEMA.  

“Remember, I brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”

Only the Enemy of Image-bearers would devise such a scheme whereby you break your back, kill yourself, be robbed of ADONAI’s Simcha…all while ‘serving’ Him.  Trickery.

Thank You ABBA YHWH that you NEVER called us as Your called-out-ones to live a worn out, wearied existence!  That is, however, the Adversary’s will for us. 

Distractions in the life of Ezer Kenegdo are really nothing more than DETRACTORS to fullness in the Ruach HaKodesh, satisfaction in oneness with our Savior, a hindrance to the warming radiance of the Divine Light of God’s Ruach shining within. 

Don’t be fooled.  What you do ‘for Jesus’, HE may have never authorized you to do!  Consider the many yokes of slavery that hinder the Light within, and keep you from the JOY of the Ruach Eloyim Chayim (Spirit of the Living God).  Understand where you are ‘unequally yoked’ with the things of this present world. 

“Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls*.” ~ Matthew 11

Yeshua IS our SHABBAT.  Remove the yoke of slavery.  Enter into the Holy Spirit’s simcha (joy=satisfaction and pleasure). 

*Jeremiah 6:16-20

Dealing with Shame?

What really does admonish mean?   Is there a purpose and place for admonishment with the life of a disciple?  If so, why do we shy away from admonishing one another?  (Reference Romans 15:14, Col. 1:28, 3:16, 1 Thess. 5:14, 2 Thess. 3:15.)

Why do we resist admonishment when it comes to us?  To do either is to MISS THE MARK entirely.
Admonishment is part of becoming healthy in body, mind and ruach!  It’s human nature to FLEE admonishment.  It’s common to resist what is good for us.  It’s all too common in our fellowships to LEAVE a group of disciples rather than to work out what’s been worked into us (that is, what’s common/worldly).  Accountability.  There is NO discipleship without it.  

There is no discipleship apart from THE UNBINDING we’re each called to ACCOMPLISH (asah) within our group.  Indeed, it’s part of ‘becoming one’ with ADONAI and one with each other (John 17/Psalm 133).  This UNBINDING is part of ‘growing in faith and increasing in love’.

ADONAI’s prescription for us – that narrow, difficult path to LIFE is this:

“Come together, then stay together” (Psalm 133).

Ephesians 4:3 ‘being QUICK to carefully tend and guard the YACHAD (unity) OF THE RUACH HA KODESH in the binding power of shalom’

Admonishment RECEIVED is a heart/mind/soul RELIEVED!

The adversary of your soul does not want you to KNOW that the purpose of admonition is to SET YOU FREE.  If you ‘feel’ (key word!) shame when someone who loves you is attempting to admonish you, that is YOU giving in to the adversary’s temptation emotionally to KEEP WHAT IS HIDDEN IN THE DARK.  “Run, Forest, run!  You don’t need to deal with that!",  he whispers…to which you quickly agree.

Bosh  בּוֹשׁ - SHAME (pr. boosh) to become dry and wither away from what was once lush and verdant – producing a stench (as in what the rotting of the wildlife produces that once received life from the water); shame is associated with UNEXPOSED SECRETS.

Bosh (shame) continues to unnecessarily exist within the parched heart of one who refuses LIVING WATER.   Don’t resist the Water that brings Life.

You understand that BEFORE Chavah and Adam introduced sin and chaos and darkness into their relationship with ADONAI,

‘they were both naked, Adam and his ishshah, and they were lo-bush (not ashamed) ~ Genesis 2:25

At this point, they were ONE with ADONAI…they were PURE, they were FULLY EXPOSED – everything about themselves...and they were NOT ASHAMED.  How do we get back to that point in the Garden of Delight and re-establish ONENESS with the Father...ONENESS with each other?

We do so with the help of a good shepherd who walks with us (Galatians 6:1).  We valiantly DRAG what’s currently hidden INTO THE LIGHT that it may be EXPOSED.  We deal with it accordingly with right judgment.

It’s the FATHER’s will (delight!) that each of us LIVE NAKED AND UNASHAMED.  That’s FREEDOM.

Shame is only shame when it remains hidden.  The Ruach wants TO SET YOU FREE FROM SHAME.  Why?  “Because shame is the devil’s game.”  Shame is a feeling…it’s a common/profane/unholy emotion.  That's all it is.

Bring your entire self into His LIGHT and you’ll KNOW what it means to BE FREE from both the SIN and the SHAME!

We know the condition of the church at Corinth.   Even Rabbi Sha’ul (Paul) had to tell the called-out-ones (ekklesia) he loved in Corinth the following:

1 Corinthians 4:14 - "I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children." 

Even Ya’akov (James, brother of Yeshua) reveals the PURPOSE of admonishment:

 16 Therefore, openly acknowledge your sins to one another, and pray for each other, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Eliyahu was only a human being like us; yet he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and no rain fell on the Land for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the Land produced its crops.19 My brothers, if one of you wanders from the truth, and someone causes him to return, 20 you should know that whoever turns a sinner from his wandering path will save him from death and cover many sins.

Gk. Nouthetes: from nous – the power of considering and judging soberly, calmly and impartially + tithemi – to set, fix and establish

(and it's Hebrew equivalent...)

Hb – Yasar – to discipline, correct, instruct, chastise, reprove

Remember ‘the accidental fool’ from last week's Mereas fellowship?

Musar!  That comes the root word ‘yasar’.  We cannot afford to be an unexposed fool.

In conclusion, yasar/musar/nouthetes is the means ADONAI uses to UNBIND the captive, unexposed soul that he may BE FREE to fulfill His purpose which is to be conformed us to the Image of our Mashiach Yeshua (Rom. 8:29).

The Hebrew word ‘commandment’ is mitzvah and it comes from the root word tsavah which means to GIVE AN ORDER.  ADONAI gives an order that HE may bring ORDER into our lives.  

Just as HE separated the Light from the darkness and brought Order out of chaos in Genesis 1, so HE continues that same work in us.  Have you heard about the ‘Gospel of Genesis’?

Beautiful, life-giving ADMONISHMENT from one who loves us and is filled with His Ruach (Galatians 6:1) guides her Merea back to the narrow path that LEADS TO LIFE!  

We are our Sisters’ Keepers.  Yes.  Stay close, don’t be foolish.  Live Naked and Unashamed.

Admonishment RECEIVED is a heart/mind/soul RELIEVED.