Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Still in? – Love For His People newsletter by Steve Martin, Love For His People ministry

Ahava Adventures in Israel Now Think On This

Still in? – Love For His People newsletter by Steve Martin, Love For His People ministry

November 5, 2019 Steve Martin 0 Comments Ahava Adventure, mission, newsletter, old age, YeshuaEdit

Nov. 5, 2019 Charlotte, North Carolina USA

Greetings to you, our friends of Love For His People ministry.

We are moving on in our Lord’s purposes, encouraged even as we pray harder for strength and needing to know even more of His timing in all things. And then to get it all done. Are you still doing it?
With each passing day, month, year, decade, we each have the choice to continue on or to quit. By His grace and mercy, I hope you are continuing on. It sure is a challenge sometimes!

What I wrote in my most recent Now Think On This message an hour ago, after hearing the word from the Lord on my way to work this morning, I hope you will read and find hope in. It was a word for me, and maybe for you too.

Click here: “All in…even in my frailty.”

As believers, who really care about our country, our children, and our grandchildren, I hope you aren’t one who dismisses activity in our national elections. Be informed. Get involved. And vote when the time comes. No longer can we sit by and let the evil forces take over and destroy what the Lord has given us – the freedom and means to do His will.

Being this is a “news” letter, here are some updates.

Even without asking, three guys have already said they wanted to come on our next fall 2020 “Ahava Adventure – Men Only” trip to Israel. Looks like I may have to get a bigger rental van if others do too! So let me know. And just maybe one of our women board members will have one for the ladies. Any interest?

With the year not quite yet gone, on the Gregorian calendar at least, we have already seen the doubling of the Love For His People ministry income over last year’s total. Please be a part of sharing what you have with the ones in Israel who need our ongoing monthly financial support.

You can easily give now: Donate to bless. For those who want specifics, I can give you the names and amounts for each. We are transparent. Our annual financial report is also always on our website. Annual Financial Report

Be blessed in your blessing. I hope you are seeking Him and finding Him. Jesus is the Way. The Only way. Keep sharing the love of the Lord, and see love breakthrough in ones you never thought it would, even among those near you.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve MartinFounder/President
Love For His People ministry

P.S. Being a numbers guy, it is always encouraging when 48% of you open (and read) these newsletters. The “normal open rate” for emails these days is much lower, so that speaks of the interest and the benefit you find in them. Thanks!

P.S.S. YouTube has proven that most of us like watching videos, so I recorded 65 short ones as we walked (literally over 51 miles!) around Israel. You can “Walk With Me” and see Netanya, Haifa, Tiberias, the Golan, Ein Gedi, where Jesus (Yeshua) was baptized, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem! So, click here, and come on, walk with me…

If you know us already you can skip this part. Otherwise, here we are! Love For His People – moving forward into our 10th year with you. For them.

Over 9 years ago on June 30, 2010, Steve Martin left the third ministry he had worked for in the past 24 years in order to providentially start a new ministry, co-founded by my good wife Laurie. The primary purpose is to bless our friends the Jews of Israel, and specifically the believers within the nation – those who have come to acknowledge that Yeshua is the Messiah, HaMashiach.

As non-Jews, Gentiles, goyim, Christian Zionists (whatever label we have!), we began the organization to stand strong for the Jewish state of Israel, Yisrael – the Land of Israel. In this world, with nations continually becoming more anti-Semitic daily, including our own USA, we have been called, as the prophetic word in 2004 was spoken over us, as a “scepter for Israel.”

Now Think On This
All in…even in my frailty. by Steve Martin

“Yes, I am well pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10, Complete Jewish Bible

A good friend and co-worker at a Charlotte, North Carolina ministry told me once, or maybe even twice or more, way back in 2005 just before he was about ready to retire, for his 2nd time at age 75, that “Getting old is a ____.”

Being still rather a young man at 51 years of age then, I didn’t completely understand what he was saying. And though a Christian, I can’t repeat what he said, but I have gained further understanding in these past 14 years since his comment. (You can fill in the blank if you have thought, or spoken, something of the same.)

My knees are hurting. My stomach is bulging and aches from time to time with acid reflex and whatever. And I won’t even give birth soon as my daughter recently did.

My sleep is fleeting too, as may be “Et tu, Brute?” is relatable to you? (A statement said even further back than 14 years.) The once 10 pm time for bed has moved up now to the 8:30 pm time. Nothing new about that. Everyone who knows me knows already. Though I do like the 3:30 am wakeup times the Lord gives me, I still am up a few times between the “lay me down to sleep” and the “Let’s get up and get going!” daily routine.

And where does the time go? Blink twice and a new year is about ready to land.As you and I get older, you too may be asking the Lord what I often do, “Why couldn’t I do what I am now able to do, but 40 years ago, when I really wanted and thought I could and should, do it?” Now I am physically a bit more worn out than then, so what happened? Did I miss the turn somewhere? Or the turn missed me?
And you?

Read the rest here: “All in…even in my frailty.”

Be Encouraged.

Book by Steve Martin

Be encouraged in your daily walk with God, for when it is all said and done, our God wins! God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and God the Holy Spirit – the Three in One – rule from their heavenly throne.

Together they are daily involved in the lives of men, women, and children in all the nations. The establishment of their kingdom here on earth is taking place. And one day Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach, will set up His earthly throne in Jerusalem, Israel, the place where He left from in 33 AD, promising to return to that same place.

Knowing the last chapter recorded in the end of the Book, the Word of God, the Bible, as revealed to John the Apostle, we know that from the beginning in Genesis, to that ending chapter in Revelation, the Lord has been preparing His people and bringing about His plans and purposes. Both believing Jews and Gentiles are seeing His work and getting involved.

These messages are to encourage you, included among them I trust, in your walk with the Living God of Israel.

Ahava and shalom,
Steve Martin

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Love For His People, Inc.P.O. Box 414Pineville, NC 28134 USA

loveforhispeople@gmail.com

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Tuesday, October 22, 2019

“Rejection. Again.” Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Now Think On This

“Rejection. Again.” Now Think On This by Steve Martin

October 22, 2019 Steve Martin 0 Comments #465, being rejected, Mark 15:34, Now Think On This, rejecting others, YeshuaEdit

“At three, he uttered a loud cry, “Elohi! Elohi! L’mah sh’vaktani?” (which means, “My God! My God! Why have you deserted me?”) Mark 15:34, Complete Jewish Bible

Early in the day it began with, “You can’t go. In fact, you are uninvited.” (As in, “You weren’t invited in the first place.”)

Why did those words I heard sting so much? After all, I knew I wasn’t a part of the group going because I wasn’t even a staff member anymore. Just a contractor. Two days a week.

But I wasn’t “included” anymore.

And yet even in knowing all that, I felt rejected. I was surprised at that inner personal response. But there it was. Rejection. Again.

Rejection is not new. Every person, every generation, every nation has experienced it. Whether it comes through a spoken word, a severe physical removal (I.e. abortion – for both mother and unborn child), a simple dismissal of worth by a parent, teacher, or boss…rejection comes in our life.

Jews, African Americans (or Ethiopian Jews in Israel), undereducated – or anyone different than the “ruling elite” in any country, state, city, or village, can be on the “not-as-good-as-us” crowd. Rejection can be found even in churches or synagogues, if one doesn’t abide by the traditional rules which had been added to the local congregational or a denominational law book, and not found Written Word of God. How many long-held traditions, ungodly at their root, bring hurt and separation among friends far too many times.

And it is very, very sad to say – in many, with far too many cases, the rejected one hangs onto the deep wound for a lifetime. Burning away in the soul. Withering the life of tree we are meant to have, as given by the Redeemer and Savior. These wounds continue emptying the soul of precious love and replacing it with bitterness and unforgiveness.

I once read of a prophetic word uttered forth after receiving a vision, describing the unseen result of that which one giving a word of rejection, spoken as sharp arrows shot recklessly and deliberately at another, cut like knife slits in the other person’s skin, and felt deep within by the recipient. Only the Lord’s healing could repair the damage done to the injured party.

Adam and Eve were the first historical humans to receive rejection. They were duly kicked out of the Garden of Eden (most likely located in what is now southern Iraq or thereabouts) for their sin, being administered that judgment by their Creator, the Almighty Righteous Judge Himself.

And then that same Judge began the eternal plan of salvation through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach.

Each of us has been rejected by first God, for sin we have committed, followed by the rejection we give towards each other.

But then the all-loving God already had a plan in place, the plan of redemption. Sadly enough, humans quickly rejected that free gift by rejecting Him, Jesus Himself, while at the same time passing that rejection onto each other in our daily interactions.

How tragically do we continue down the same road of hurting one another.

The abusive husband rejects the beaten wife, both physically or emotionally. And the children, conceived through the plan of the Eternal Father in desiring to give life to many in order to enjoy abundant life with Him, are cast out, either prior to birth, or in the childhood years, and even beyond into their teen and adulthood years.

How about the overworked and unpaid grade school and high school teachers (maybe some of the NFL, MLB, and NBA “stars” could supplement their wages with some of their sport-earned extreme wealth?), working diligently among undisciplined boys and girls, acting out their internal rejection? With students combative among themselves also, these pillars of our society, true role-models for our kids and grandkids, struggle to meet the demands and pressures upon them, without the proper control and order they desperately need in their classrooms. Rejection goes beyond what is seen from the outside in these honorable lives.

The overreaching boss, having to make the profitable bottom line, or bringing to work the daily sorrow from home, lashes out at their employees with unforgiving stress, in order to “shine” themselves in front of the top brass. Rejection occurs.

Each parent, whether graced with a spouse who helps as much as they can, or the single mom pressing through yet another weary day, seeking provision for those she now alone cares for, battle the societal issues of too much acceptance of evil, repeated onslaughts against the moral foundations, and the need to have her kids excel without the privileges of the upper class. Rejection received at one end passes through to the other.

All of us will receive rejection. All will experience the arrows shot at the very human heart that was created to receive love.

We do have a way to deal with the problem, beginning with the salvation plan offered by God the Father. Sending His Son Jesus to receive all this rejection upon Himself on the cruel cross, He has now become our sacrificial Lamb needed for the forgiveness of sin. Each of us must start with that before we can begin to truly forgive each other.

“Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought.

Even though it has only lately — at the end of the ages — become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.” 1 Peter 1:17-21, THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language

We have been given the grace and mercy first received for our self, in order to forgive our parents, our siblings, our teachers, our bosses, our co-workers – any and all who at times knew not what they did to you or I.

Receiving Christ’s forgiveness, and then practicing that same forgiveness given to us, is the only way to fight rejection. Not strong drink, sex outside of a faithful marriage, addictions of any and all sorts, including those idols we set up around us, will heal and restore us from rejection.

Next time you have an arrow shot at you – purposely or unknowingly – be quick to forgive. Otherwise, the wound will grow, fester, bring bitterness, and come out in rejecting and hurting those around you.

Our Lord has given us the gift of forgiveness to overcome any and all rejection. Practice it daily. I know I need too often myself.

Now think on this and see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Thank you for reading!

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This. The sign-up form is on our ministry website: https://loveforhispeople.com

You are welcome to help support the families in Israel that we do. Give now. Givelify.

Love For His People ministry

P.O. Box 414

Pineville, NC 28134

loveforhispeople@gmail.com

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Now Think On This #465 – in the year of our Lord 10.21.19 – “Rejection. Again.” – Monday, 8:10 pm

Monday, October 14, 2019

Keep Pressing On - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Keep Pressing On

by Steve Martin

“Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you've got, be resolute, and love without stopping.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, THE MESSAGE

As I began keeping a close watch on my iPhone 8 Health app, especially after the third day, I saw that the walking steps had been amassing in great numbers for each day. Noticing the foot mileage the four of us were accumulating, on this first annual Love For His People ministry men’s Ahava Adventure (ahava is love in Hebrew) to Israel this October 2019, I was astonished. Truly I was. Two miles. Four miles. Over 12 miles on one day by the end of the fantastic journey.

We had walked the Land of Israel a grand total of over 51 miles by the completion of the 8^th day we had been there. With three of us being over 64 years of age (one 74), and the other one a mere 41, I certainly was impressed with the strength the Lord had given us. In fact, on most of those days, the mileage didn’t seem that great. I mean, compared to sometimes walking a mile or two at home, in the early morning hour at the encouragement of my good wife Laurie, just that shorter distance seems way too far for me.

But our Lord had given us a purpose, and He gave us the will and strength to accomplish it.

As I read Paul’s encouragement to the Corinthians this morning, as part of my normal “chapters a day” Bible reading during my time strictly with our Lord Jesus (Yeshua), Paul was writing to the followers of the Messiah, giving instruction, provoking, challenging and uplifting them with the Scripture, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, NASU

Keep pressing on, in simple terms, is what we need to keep doing. Being alert, standing firm, acting like men (and women of God), being strong - while doing it all in love.

When we have a clear vision, a known purpose, a plan to accomplish, it does enable us to keep pressing on, even as the daily challenges faced often try to get us to stop, or even slow down.

Our enemy is always at work, trying to discourage us, distract us, wear us out until we just want to quit at times. But by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus, actively working in our spirit through His Holy Spirit, He causes us to be overcomers, and to keep pressing on for that goal-line set before us.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:9-10, NKJV

The four of us men had a purpose of course, which included spending as much time as we could to encourage and uplift the friends Love For His People ministry supports monthly in Israel. While the rented Hyundai SUV enabled us to travel the road mileage between the cities they lived in, the busy, hilly sidewalks and grassy parks of Jerusalem provided the foot trekking paths, getting us to the other appointed destinations as we met with our other Messianic Jewish friends.

After you get “recharged” by spending the time with the Lord each day – receiving His word, listening to His Holy Spirit, and acting upon the instructing life He freely gives us daily, be encouraged in your pressing on for the goals He has given you individually, and collectively with others, to complete.

You are on a mission for God. Don’t just let the Blues Brothers get all the credit.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV