What I Believe -- The Fundamental Facets

What I Believe – The Fundamental Facets

Below are the things that I truly believe and live. I consider someone who also believes these things a True Believer, or a True Christian.

Many people say they are a “Christian”, but are they really? Sitting in a church once a week doesn’t make someone a Christian any more than sitting in a garage nightly makes him or her a car. Being “born into” Christianity by heritage (family or country) doesn’t make one a Christian either.

Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) told us in John 14:6, “I Am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

True, this statement is not politically correct, nor is it tolerant. However, it is Truth. Jesus is the only way to live in the presence of God in eternity. He is the only way to Heaven. He is the only way of salvation.

(*note: The below is based on an article from my father’s blog, found at http://dpweary.blogspot.com/2008/11/confessions-of-true-christian-1.html *)

1. I believe that there is only one God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity full of grace, mercy, truth and justice. He created the universe and all that is in it, and He still rules it all today.

2. I believe that the Bible is the perfect, infallible Word of God, and that it is precisely accurate in all that it teaches.

3. I believe that God manifested Himself on earth in the body of a human, a man named Yeshua Ben Joseph or Jesus of Nazareth. I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) was born of a virgin named Mary. I believe that He lived a sinless life on earth, died on a Roman stake (cross), rose from the dead on the third day, is alive forevermore, and is seated on a Throne in Heaven.

4. I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah (the Savior), that His death on the cross paid the penalty for the sins of mankind, and that His resurrection proved that He was God in the flesh (called The Son of God).

5. I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is present with me today, working in me, for me, and through me in the form of the Holy Spirit (the Ruach haKodesh).

6. I believe that when my physical body dies, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus the Messiah; Jesus Christ) as my Savior.

7. I believe that eternal salvation is possible only through grace – God’s unmerited favor – and not through works (what I do). I believe that no one can “earn” his/her salvation.

8. I believe in a real devil (satan) who personifies evil and who is alive and working in the world today.

9. I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) in his death and resurrection defeated satan and stripped him of his legal authority on earth. However, I acknowledge that individually we are continually restoring some of satan’s authority and rights through our sinful thoughts and deeds.

10. I believe that I have a personal responsibility to serve God, and to share my religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians.

I have made a personal commitment to love, honor, obey, and serve Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus the Messiah). This commitment and my faith in Jesus are very important in my life today. He is my all in all.

How Should Believers Live In These End Days?

How Should Believers Live In These End Days?

This topic keeps coming up in my life… with a medical practitioner, my cousin, my family. So, I thought I’d write out my thoughts about it.

I believe that the most simple of answers to this question was answered by Yeshua (Jesus) Himself, as we can read in The Word of God, in the book of Matthew, chapter 5, verses 44 – 48.

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” (NKJV)

*note: Tax collectors were some of the most hated of men in Yeshua’s day. They were usually Jews who worked for the Romans (that alone was considered traitorous), and they usually took more tax money than Rome needed, even from the most needy, keeping the extra themselves.

So the Lord would have us:
1. Love our enemies (or perhaps, those who view us as their enemies),
2. Bless those who curse us,
3. Do good to those who hate us,
4. Pray for those who use and persecute us.

Not so difficult to read, or write out – love, bless, do good, and pray – but these four “simple” verbs become very difficult in the face of hate and opposition. They become impossible outside of the power of the Ruach haKodesh (the Holy Spirit). It is God’s Spirit living within us that empowers us to act in such a godly way.

We find the second most-powerful answer to our question, at least in my mind, of “How then should we live?”, in The Word of God, the book of Psalms, chapter 15.

Adonai, who can rest in Your tent?
Who can live on Your holy mountain?
Those who live a blameless life,
Who behave uprightly,
Who speak truth from their hearts,
And keep their tongues from slander,
Who never do harm to others
Or seek to discredit neighbors;
Who look with scorn on the vile,
But honor those who fear Adonai;
Who hold to an oath, no matter the cost;
Who refuse usury when they lend money
And refuse a bribe to damage the innocent.
Those who do these things
Never will be moved. (Complete Jewish Bible translation)

*note: Adonai is a name of God, usually replacing God’s personal name called the Tetragrammaton using the four Hebrew letters Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh. Many religious Jews refuse to pronounce this name, and its actual pronunciation is actually unknown. We here in the USA would say “Jehovah” or “Yahweh”. This Tetragrammaton is usually translated as “Lord” in most versions of the Bible.

Once again, this is easy to read, but more difficult to live. According to Psalm 15, we are to:
1. Live blamelessly (give no one reason to slander, sue, or accuse us)
2. Behave uprightly (do what is right)
3. Speak truth from the heart
4. Never slander others
5. Never harm others
6. Scorn the vile (scorn means “contempt, disdain, disrespect, dislike”; basically, we are to hate what God hates)
7. Honor those who fear Adonai (to “fear God” means to hold Him in awesome respect)
8. Hold an oath (keep your word) no matter what
9. Lend money without expecting a profit (the Biblical practice of this was for those within the Jewish community, or the community of faith; a reasonable interest rate was permitted for loans to “outsiders”)
10. Refuse bribes that would hurt the innocent

There’s one more scripture I’d like to quote here in answer to our question, “How should we live?” We find it in The Word of God, in 2nd Corinthians 5:7
· We live by faith, not by sight. (NIV)
· For we walk by faith, not by sight. (NKJV)
· For we live by trust, not by what we see. (CJV)
· For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fever; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance. (Amp)

This can be difficult, especially for those of us who tend to be so “self-sufficient” or “self-reliant”. God wants us to rely on and trust in Him. He is our sole provider.

Remember, although we are presently walking on the earth, living here, this is not our true home. We each have a living, thriving spirit within us. This spirit is eternal and will never die. (Where your spirit lives in eternity depends on what you choose to do with the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah.) The moment we chose to accept Yeshua’s gift of salvation and dedicate our lives to God, God’s Spirit, the Ruach haKodesh (the Holy Spirit), came to reside (live) in our spirits, breathing His righteous Life within us. We then can live here on earth with the assurance that we will live in eternity in God’s presence. In Heaven.

This fleshly body that you can see, touch, and feel is not your “true self”. Your true self, your essence, is the spirit within the body. We are made in three parts: body, soul, and spirit. My daddy likes to compare our bodies to the space suits the astronauts use in space. It’s something that allows us to live in a certain environment. (Space suits for outer space; bodies for earth.) Our soul is that which encompasses our emotions. It’s our “heart”. But it’s our spirit that encompasses our true selves. (By the way, in Heaven we will still have all three parts, but we will have “new” bodies that are appropriate for our new environment of Heaven.)

So although we presently live on earth, there is a whole other realm in which our spirit lives… the spiritual realm. Yes, it’s very real and active. And yes, Believers and Followers of Yeshua haMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, are to live in this spiritual realm as well as on earth.

*note: Remember that in the spiritual realm, there is good (God and His servants) and there is evil (satan and his demons). The spiritual battle between good and evil will be constant until Yeshua comes down from His throne in Heaven to rule and reign as King over earth. Be careful not to allow any “open doors” for the evil spiritual realm to attack you.)

When the spiritual (Heavenly) realm collides with the earthly realm, this is when we see the “miraculous”. Something happens on earth that has no earthly explanation. A withered arm becomes perfect. Deaf ears hear. The medicine bottle never runs out. Shoes don’t wear out, even after years of daily use. An attacker lunges at you, only to hit some “invisible wall” and fall unconscious, never harming you. Although it looks like you have enough food in the pantry for only one last meal, the food stuffs never run out.

Yeshua taught us to pray,
“Our Father in Heaven,
May Your name be kept holy.
May Your Kingdom come,
May Your will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us the food we need today.
Forgive us for what we have done wrong,
As we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
And do not lead us into a hard testing,
But keep us safe from the evil one.
For kingship, power, and glory are yours forever.
Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13 (CJB) [bolded emphasis is mine]

When Heaven (God’s spiritual realm) collides with earth, we experience what Heaven experiences. In Heaven, there is no want, no need, no tears, no fear.
As a child of God, we are to come boldly into His Presence. Hebrews 4:16 says:
· Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. (NKJV)
· Therefore, let us confidently approach the throne from which God gives grace, so that we may receive mercy and grace in our time of need. (CJB)

He is our all. We come boldly, confidently into our all. He is our provider. We come boldly, confidently into our provision. He is our shalom (peace). We come boldly, confidently into our peace. He is our protector. We come boldly, confidently into our protection. He is our healer. We come boldly, confidently into our health.

As we live on this earth, knowing that we also live in God’s spiritual realm, having access to all He has for us there, then we can live in trust and faith. And as we live and walk in this trust and faith in Adonai, then we can love, bless, do good, pray, live blamelessly, behave uprightly, speak truth, never slander, hate what God hates, honor those who fear God, keep our word, lend other Believers money without interest, and refuse bribes.

Oh, there is one more scripture that tells us how we are to live. You can find it in Exodus 20. These are God’s Ten Commandments that He gave us thousands of years ago, and are still His laws today for us. To sufficiently address the Ten Commandments would require an entire article, so I simply mention them here for you to remember.
1. Trust God only.
2. Worship God only.
3. Use God’s name in ways that honor Him.
4. Rest on the Sabbath day and spend time with Him.
5. Respect and obey your parents.
6. Protect and respect human life.
7. Be true and faithful to your husband or wife.
8. Do not take what belongs to others.
9. Do not lie.
10. Be satisfied with what you have.


Saturday, November 22, 2008