Showing posts with label ahava. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ahava. Show all posts

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Love. Ahava.


Why do we love?
Because He loves us.

Why do we care?
Because He cares for us.

Why do we reach out and touch the lost, the lonely, those without, and those just needing to hear a word of encouragement?

Because that is what our Savior does.

Ahava, the Hebrew word for love. And love is what it is all about.

Jesus Christ
Yeshua HaMashiach



P.O. Box 414  Pineville, North Carolina 28134  USA

www.loveforhispeople.blogspot.com
loveforhispeople@gmail.com



Sunday, August 27, 2017

Forgive, Forget, Move On - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Forgive, Forget, Move On

Now Think On This
Steve Martin


“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-15, NASU)


Have you ever noticed the “tools of the trade” that fishermen, who want to catch the bottom-feeding fish, use? One of them that I am aware of is the sinker, the little lead ball-shaped object. Once tightly fastened to the fishing line, not too far from the hook and bait, its purpose is to take the fishing bait to the bottom of the pond or lake. That is where the bottom-feeders are sucking up what garbage and other less-nutrient food particles end up once they have fallen to the bottom. Down to where it is dark and murky.

The enemy of our soul likes to hang around bottom-feeders. These are the ones who have been hurt, wounded and continue to walk around in bitterness. They too would rather live where it is dark and murky; where leaden lines bring down more bait to subsist on. Rather than forgive and forget, as we are commanded to do, they choose to hang onto the hardness of heart which has resulted, and stay as they are. Living in darkness, in the basement, means you don’t have to face the light. "No more chance to get hurt again by others" is your mindset.

But in fact, it is the light which will save you from the darkness. It is getting the infection out, the scab removed, the hurt and wounds healed that will give you the life you were meant to be free to participate in. The cross of Jesus sets us free from all this.

I have seen many people wounded in their walk with Christian brethren, both from leadership and other members of the church congregation. Rather than walk in forgiveness and forgetting what lies behind, they instead make the choice to not let go of the hurt and carry their wounds. What once was great fellowship and sharing a common bond in the Lord’s grace and mercy, it has instead become an infected sore, which never seems to go away. Another church, another day, another attempt at hiding it away doesn’t make it go away.

“Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.” (Colossians 3:13, Complete Jewish Bible)

The ones who resist the command to forgive will continue to grow in the hardness of heart, the darkness, that robs all of the freedom to walk in love. By not letting go, through the act of forgiveness, will keep you from the trust and forbearance we need in walking with one another. The new relationships you will endeavor to make will have the shadow of the previous ones preventing you from true fellowship.

We must learn to forgive each other continually, forgetting the past, and move on to fulfill the call and purpose we each have in the Body of Messiah. There are too many dying people out there whom we are sent to help, but will not be able to if we insist on protecting our space and not letting these things go.

“Above all these, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together perfectly; and let the shalom which comes from the Messiah be your heart’s decision-maker, for this is why you were called to be part of a single Body.

And be thankful - let the Word of the Messiah, in all its richness, live in you, as you teach and counsel each other in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude to God in your hearts. That is, everything you do or say, do in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:14-17, Complete Jewish Bible)
  
We don’t have the “luxury” of being bottom-feeders. We can't continue to let offenses, being offended, and petty arguments keep us from walking in the light.

We must bring everything to the His light, to forgive those who hurt us, and get on with the work we instead must be doing. There are bigger issues to deal with, so walking in forgiveness daily is a necessity.

I have been hurt. You have been hurt. Insisting on living in unforgiveness will only deepen the infection that Jesus Christ died for, to save you from.

We must repent from our sin of allowing unforgiveness to rule in our hearts. There must not be any place for it in your life, nor mine.

I am still learning how to live in forgiving others. Some days are better than others, but I have no choice but choose forgiveness, if I am to do that which He has saved me to do, and requiring of me to walk out.

I hope you are too.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).
 
Now think on this,


Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.


If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.


Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now through our website using the DONATE buttons on either side column of our blog.

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. (And all other social media platforms!)


Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 08.23.17 - #309 – “Forgive, Forget, Move On” – Sunday, 5:55 pm

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Who (Whose) Are You? - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Who (Whose) Are You?

Now Think On This
Steve Martin


“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works,
and that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:14, NKJV)


Struggling with self-image is quite common in all nations. We strive to live up to the perfected images blasted out through social media, television, magazines, radio and newspapers. If we aren’t the “perfect” specimen, then we have a problem. Or we “are a problem” and unacceptable. Right?

Aren’t you far too often made to believe that - daily, continually, until you actually believe it, and think it must be true? It doesn’t matter if you are 10, 17, 25, 48 or 63. Or even the golden age of 82 and beyond. We have all struggled with not being accepted, but rejected, for who we are. Or who we are made to believe we are not.

We all are so bombarded with what is the “norm”, that we lose all matter of reality, and Whose we really are.

We each for sure have had a degrading parent, a demanding boss, a deliberate, insecure person in leadership who believes they know who we are and what we should be. They have asked the question so pointedly to us, either out loud or silently to themselves and others around us, “Why can’t you live up to the expectation and perfection that I demand of you?”

How wearing on our soul that becomes. Not receiving the encouragement needed, but instead getting the regular dose of that which discourages us, which makes us feel and believe we are less than what we should be. As a human being no less.


But who is to be our judge? And who sets the so-called life standards? Who decides who is worth living, even from conception, or who can continue to live on?

“If you can’t function “normal” anymore, you are gone.”

Who has the authority and right perspective, taking all matters of judgment into being, in deciding if your very being is worth the very ground you stand on?

Here is the answer! Here is the One Who alone can, and will, decide who you are, who you were created to be, who you can be if your trust and confidence rest in Him.

Take this truth from the very one Who created you. Believe the One who knows all, sees all and will establish you in all.

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God — you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration — what a creation!

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.

Your thoughts — how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them!

I couldn't even begin to count them — any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!” (Psalm 139:13-18, THE MESSAGE)


Often I purposefully quote the Lord’s Word to myself, which declares, “my times are in Your hands.” It is He who decides the what, when, how, and so what in my life.

As He states so forthright in Psalm 31.

“You, O Lord, I put my trust; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness.
2 Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily; be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me.

3 For You are my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name's sake, Lead me and guide me. 4 Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength. 5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

6 I have hated those who regard useless idols; but I trust in the Lord. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, for You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities,
8 And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place.

9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with grief, yes, my soul and my body! 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.

11 I am a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and am repulsive to my acquaintances; those who see me outside flee from me. 12 I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.

13 For I hear the slander of many; fear is on every side; while they take counsel together against me, they scheme to take away my life.

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, "You are my God."

15 My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. 16 Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me for Your mercies' sake. 17 Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You; let the wicked be ashamed; let them be silent in the grave.

18 Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

19 Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! 20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

21 Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city! 22 For I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before Your eyes"; nevertheless, You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to You.

23 Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person.

24 Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” (NKJV)

Yes, we have the One Who will preserve us, Who will strengthen our heart; Whom we can place our hope in and know that He Who is faithful will always be faithful.

Be assured today, that whatever, whoever comes against you, that your Creator stands with you, and will see you to the end.

Thank You, Jesus. We love You, Yeshua.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).
   




Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.
  




If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.



Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now through our website: Donate

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

We'd love to keep in touch with you. 

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) Please share Now Think On This with your friends. Steve Martin

Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 08.13.17 - #306 – “Who (Whose) Are You?” – Sunday 5:35 am

Friday, August 11, 2017

SHABBAT SHALOM ALL ISRAEL!


SHABBAT SHALOM ALL ISRAEL!

We send blessings upon ye heads - to all our Israeli friends and to all the good people around the world who stand with you daily with love and encouragement!

May you know even more today the love of Yeshua, as He continues to bring you back to the Land He promised to give to you, to your Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel!

Ahava and shalom,


Steve & Laurie Martin

Love For His People
Charlotte, North Carolina
The United States of America



We'd love to keep in touch with you. 

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Tu B'Av - Jewish traditional holiday - Day of Love

Tu B'Av

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tu B'Av
PikiWiki Israel 1112 hadera ילדות רוקדות.jpg
Dancing girls on Tu B'Av
Official nameHebrew: ט"ו באב
English: Fifteenth of Av
Observed byJews
TypeJewish religious and cultural
ObservancesTachanun and similar prayers are omitted from daily prayers
Date15th day of Av
2016 dateSunset, August 18 – Nightfall, August 19
2017 dateSunset, August 6 – Nightfall, August 7
2018 dateSunset, July 26 – Nightfall, July 27
2019 dateSunset, August 15 – Nightfall, August 16
Tu B'Av (Hebrew: ט"ו באב, the fifteenth of the month Av) is a minor Jewish holiday. In modern-day Israel, it is celebrated as a holiday of love (Hebrewחג האהבה‎‎, Hag HaAhava), similar to Valentine's Day.[1] It has been said to be a "great day for weddings".

Historical significance[edit]

According to the Mishna, Tu B'Av was a joyous holiday in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the grape harvest. Yom Kippur marked the end of the grape harvest. On both dates, the unmarried girls of Jerusalem dressed in white garments, and went out to dance in the vineyards (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Ta'anit 30b-31a).[2] That same section in the Talmud states that there were no holy days as happy for the Jews as Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur.[3] The holiday celebrated the wood-offering brought in the Temple (see Nehemiah 13:31). Josephus refers to it as the Feast of Xylophory ("Wood-bearing").[4]
Various reasons for celebrating on Tu B'Av are cited by the Talmud and Talmudic commentators:[5][6]
  • While the Jews wandered in the desert for forty years, female orphans without brothers could only marry within their tribe, to prevent their father's inherited land in the Land of Israel from passing on to other tribes. On the fifteenth of Av of the fortieth year, this ban was lifted. (See Daughters of Zelophehad.)
  • That same year, the last of the generation of the sin of the spies, which had been forbidden to enter the Promised Land, found that they were not destined to die. For forty years, every Tisha B'av night, the Jews made graves for themselves in which they slept on Tisha B'Av; every year a proportion of them died. In the 40th year, the fifteen thousand who had remained from the first generation went to sleep in the graves and woke up the next day to their surprise. Thinking they made a mistake with the date, they did this until they reached Tu B'Av and saw a full moon. Only then did they know they were allowed to live.
  • The Tribe of Benjamin was allowed to intermarry with the other tribes after the incident of the Concubine of Gibeah (see Judges chapters 19–21).
  • Cutting of the wood for the main altar in the Temple was completed for the year.
  • King Hoshea of the northern kingdom removed the sentries on the road leading to Jerusalem, allowing the ten tribes to once again have access to the Temple.
  • The nights, traditionally the ideal time for Torah study, are lengthened again after the summer solstice, permitting more study.
  • The Roman occupiers permitted burial of the victims of the massacre at Bethar during the Bar Kochba rebellion. Miraculously, the bodies had not decomposed, despite exposure to the elements for over a year.

Modern times[edit]

Tu B'Av marks an informal "high" to counter the "low" of The Three Weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av. Tu B'Av does not have many established religious rituals associated with its celebration. However Tachanun is not said—either at mincha the day before or on the day itself—and a bride and groom traditionally do not fast if their wedding falls on Tu B'Av. [7]
In modern times, it has become a romantic Jewish holiday, often compared to Valentine's Day, and has been said to be a "great day for weddings, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows, or proposing". Also, "It is a day for romance, explored through singing, dancing, giving flowers, and studying." [8]

Friday, August 4, 2017

The Returning Remnant of Israel - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

The Returning Remnant of Israel
 Steve Martin

“A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.” (Isaiah 10:21, NASU)


Dear loved ones and those who love the good people of Israel,

This special Now Think On This writing shares the love the Lord has for His chosen ones, the Jews. All who call upon the Name of the Lord have been chosen, but because He is the Lord on High, God Almighty, He has clearly chosen the Jews to be His light to the nations, the ones who will show Himself strong on their behalf. (No Christian church Replacement Theology here!)

“So now Adonai says — he formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Ya‘akov back to him, to have Isra’el gathered to him, so that I will be honored in the sight of Adonai, my God having become my strength — he has said, “It is not enough that you are merely my servant to raise up the tribes of Ya‘akov and restore the offspring of Isra’el. I will also make you a light to the nations, so my salvation can spread to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:5-6, Complete Jewish Bible)

Though at times they have walked in blindness, He has promised to reveal Himself to them. Simply because He is the God of Love. As Christians, we have had the mercy of the Lord upon us, and have been grafted into the olive tree upon belief in Jesus (Yeshua). But that acceptance of His mercy towards us also hasn’t replaced His heart for the Jews. He is still drawing them after Himself, that they too might see and know of the Savior, Yeshua Himself. For He is HaMashiach, the Messiah.


“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins."

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” (Romans 11:25-32 NKJV)

The Lord is fulfilling His promise, to bring the Jews back to their Promised Land, the Land of Ysra’el, the land belonging to them. Abraham received the promise, and the Lord has not withdrawn it.

“The Lord appeared to Abram and said, " To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.” (Genesis 12:7-9, NASU)

The Living God of Israel has said He will bring them back, and He is, right before our eyes in these last days, the End of Days.

“Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

22 For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

23 For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord God of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, "O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. 

25 "For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction."

26 The Lord of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt.

27 So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.” (Isaiah 10:20-27, NASU)

We stand with the people of Israel, in prayer support, supplications and decrees of goodness over them. We declare in boldness that it is their God, HaShem, Who is doing this on their behalf. He is, and will continue to, reveal His ahava (love) and grace to them, as He draws them to Himself.

Until He returns in glory, may they see, on this day and every day, our hearts of love and desire for goodness and mercy be upon them. May they see and understand the love from their brothers and sisters, those of us who as true believers have called ourselves Christians, the love of Yeshua.

“To him, the one who loves us, who has freed us from our sins at the cost of his blood, who has caused us to be a kingdom, that is, cohanim for God, his Father — to him be the glory and the rulership forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see him, including those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the Land will mourn him.

Yes! Amen! “I am the ‘A’ and the ‘Z,’” says Adonai, God of heaven’s armies, the One who is, who was and who is coming.” (Revelation 1:5-8, Complete Jewish Bible)

Even so, Maranatha. Come Lord Yeshua and reveal Yourself to Your brethren.

Shabbat Shalom and ahava (love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.
  

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.


Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now through our website: Donate

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) Please share Now Think On This with your friends. Steve Martin


Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 08.04.17 - #304 – “Returning Remnant of Israel” – Friday 5:20 am