Can Sleep Teach Us To Pray?

I don't know about you, but prayer can be "work". Sometimes I feel that I'm in the "zone" and other times it seems that I am in my own small world. This got me to thinking about prayer and the nuances associated with it and I came upon an idea that I have never heard anyone speak or teach about, but that I doubt is entirely original. (someone once said, "there is nothing new under the sun") Anyway, what if prayer is like sleep? Think about it. What does the process sleep look like? Well, for most of us, we lay down, close our eyes, try to slow the mind down, and relax. Of course depending on the day and what is going on in life at the time, sleep may not come for a while. It can take several minutes, half and hour, or longer sometimes, but here is the point....it takes TIME! Time man! And this is where we miss it in prayer. We don't take adequate TIME to get into the "zone" and then we wonder why our prayer life is unfruitful. There is no magic formula to this, but just like sleep, there is a process and it takes time.



I would love to hear your thoughts on this idea. Try it. See if it works for you and report back here.

Shalom,

Brooks

How do we follow Yeshua/Jesus correctly?

How do we follow Yeshua correctly? Do we simply rely on the Spirit? Do we simply rely on our knowledge of the scriptures? Do we rely on what the man in the pulpit tells us? Tea leaves? Parents? Friends? Culture?

There are many voices coming to you and many voices can tell that they have the answer to this question. Many of these voices can be very convincing particularly if we deem the person speaking to be"smarter" than we are. A person may say that he is unlearned in the scriptures and not scholastically inclined so he relies more on the Spirit of G-d to lead him. This point of view does hold merit, after all, there are millions of people who have never had the opportunity to learn to read much less study the Word. How are they led between right and wrong? How will they be judged? There are wise men on both sides of an aisle that can argue convincingly till the cows come home and at the end of the day one says clockwise and the other counterclockwise. Which one is to be believed?

This brings me to the "windmill paradigm". Once upon a time, while deer hunting in Western Oklahoma, G-d taught me a lesson about perspective. I was seated near a windmill and as I looked toward the windmill is was facing me and turning clockwise. Suddenly the wind shifted directions and I was looking at the backside of the windmill and it was now turning counterclockwise. Hmmm, I thought. Isn't that interesting. Aren't counterclockwise and clockwise completely opposing views? Well, depending on your perspective they can be the exact same thing. If you were on one side and I on the other, we could argue from our respective positions about the windmill and both of us would be correct. Yet in direct opposition to each other. How can this be? Doesn't our culture teach us that if one person is correct about something, that, by definition, makes the other guy wrong. This my friend is Greek thinking at it's finest. Either/Or instead of Both/And. In my example both you and I would be correct based upon our perspectives. So......one could say that for me to understand you, I need to come to where you are and look at the windmill from you perspective and this would be true.

Back to the original question; How do we follow Yeshua correctly? My answer.........Both/And


What say you????

I'm open for suggestion....

If I could offer solid proof that Jesus is NOT the Messiah, would you want to hear about it?

Hopefully I have your attention with the above provocative question. Jesus, NOT the Messiah? Here is the purpose of my trying to provoke you. Too many people I fear, are more interested in their position, dogma, and doctrine than they are about the absolute Truth. We hate to be wrong! Period! And too often we hold to whatever we think is true, rather than continuing to consider evidence that may be presented to us. Pride is the root of it all and G-d knows that we all could stand a little more humility in our lives. So, where are you in this? How strongly do you hold to your paradigms and things that you hold dear? Are you open to new things? Can you easily humble yourself and consider new evidence that may be presented to you about whatever topic?

For the record. I believe that Yeshua of Nazareth is the Word of G-d become flesh and IS the Messiah! Again, the purpose of the above question was to simply get you to take a look inside. If there is something that you hold dear and you believe to be true, maybe it is and maybe it's not.

There are many positions that I once held on to, that today I don't believe to be true at all. For instance; Santa Claus. When I was a child I believed that this dude was a real guy and today I think him to be just a ploy of the enemy. Another example; I used to believe that the "original testament" was not really relevant for living particularly in regard to the 613 commandments and today I believe that G-d changes not, that Yeshua is the Torah/Tanakh/Original Testament made flesh and that the sum duty of man is to "fear G-d, and keep His commandments."

What are some things that you once held to be "true" and now don't?

In Search of Truth

Since I was a small boy G-d has been calling me to a closer walk with Him. From the tender age of 8 or 9 I recall a lump in my throat and a tug at my heart to follow this G-d that the preacher was preaching about. At a church camp the preacher would make a plea for people to respond to his message and for three consecutive nights I cried at this solicitation and without really knowing why. Someone close to me suggested G-d was calling me to a life of surrender to Him and His ways. I responded by walking forward and saying a prayer to receive this Savior. A nine year old doesn't know much about sin, at least back in those days, so nothing much really happened after this night. At 14 years old this process was repeated. Again at 15 and maybe 16 too. I was very prone to falling away from this surrendered way of life back into the more attractive life of sin throughout my life, but G-d was always there calling me back.

Even into my married life there have been many wonderings and failures and outright rebellion on my part and to the praise of HaShem our Heavenly Father never gave up on me. He tugs me still today as I continue on this journey of the pursuit of Truth. Hence the name of this article, "In Search of Truth". I thank G-d that He never leaves me and keeps wooing me closer still to Him and His ways. This journey has led my beloved wife Stephanie and I into what is today commonly called Messianic Judaism or the Hebrew Roots movement. Yeshua of Nazareth is our Messiah and we do our best to follow him in a Torah observant lifestyle.

Bob Mumford, a long-time pentecostal preacher, once said that after some fifty years of ministry the whole thing boiled down to two words; follow Me. Follow Me.....follow ME. FOLLOW Me. This exploded inside of me the night I heard it and still rings in my ears today. Stephanie and I began asking the question, "who are we following"? Man or Yeshua? G-d's ways or mans ways? Mostly we ended up answering that question with "man's ways". From Sunday observance, to the "Lord's supper", to eating swine, to christmas, easter, you name it....man's ways. This was a problem. Yeshua told his talmidim/disciples to "follow ME". We were being sucked into man's traditions that were contradictory with G-d's commandments. Now I will say that some of man's traditions are perfectly fine and acceptable; i.e. the wedding ring. But many are not!

Life is a journey with many twists and turns, ups and downs, and failures and successes. Hopefully as we go through life we will feel that wooing of G-d and continue to repent of our wicked ways, crucify  the evil inclination and pursue the Truth with all that we are. I am a mere babe in understanding HaShem but the journey is not over yet. I'm on a mission of Truth. This pursuit will involve learning the Hebrew language, the customs and historicity of our Messiah, travels to the Holy Land, engaging with others in lively debate of the Holy Scriptures, the fear of G-d, and the walking out of His commandments. In the end, may prayer is to hear those beloved words, "well done, good and faithful servant".

Definitions:

• G-d - this spelling is used as not to offend my Jewish family
• HaShem - The Name. Used in place of the Sacred Name of G-d. 
• Yeshua - the Hebrew name of the Jesus of the Bible