EZEKIEL 37:15-28
Here, Ezekiel the Prophet sees the joining of Judah and the children of Israel, and Yosef, with his son Efrain,” and they are joined together as ONE (Echad) “One in Unity” Once they were separated, Yosef and his sons in Egypt, and Israel, Judah, and his brothers, in Canaan, but NOW, together as ONE FAMILY.
Even though the children of Efraim were scattered amongst the nations, as in the prophecy of Jacob on his deathbed, they are still united with the other tribes, and descendants of those tribes. It may be true that political borders separate the Children of Israel, and even fast oceans, we are still ONE people, even united by our DNA,
We are also ONE (echad) in Messiah Yeshua's love. We are ONE when we accept Yeshua as LORD, Savior, and Redeemer. We are “Kehilah Echad” (One congregation united in Yeshua), even though there are thousands of “Kehilot” all over the world, our relationship in Yeshua makes us ONE.
MATT 18:1-19:30
Yeshua says that “unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. A child is “innocent” and has an eager mind to learn. When we are “born again,” we start anew, like “little children,” and slowly “grow into maturity.” Yes, we will stumble and fall, get into trouble, and get “spanked” by the Father, but HE will still love us as HIS CHILDREN.
Matt 18:8,9 often causes one to think twice. “If your hand or foot becomes a snare for you, cut it off and throw it away…If your eye is a snare for you, pluck it out and cast it away.”
Why did Yeshua use this terminology? Certainly, this is not literal. Of course not. If not literal, it has to be moral and spiritual. The end focus is heaven. It is the physical against the spiritual. One way we can look at this is that we do things with our hands and feet. Our hands perform actions, and our feet take us to different places. We must be careful that we don’t participate in actions that can hinder our spiritual growth. We must be careful not to go to certain places or events that are completely worldly and have nothing to do with our relationship with the Messiah.
How about what we see? We see with our eyes, and we must take care of what we watch. Does what we watch (on TV or on the Net) cause a stumbling block in our spiritual walk? Does it hinder our growth? If it does, better “cast” our eyes elsewhere.
Our future hope is Heaven, in Yeshua, we are secure, yet what we do here on earth as believers will have either a positive or negative effect in Heaven. A loss or gain of rewards. As we go into the new year of 2026, we must be careful of everything we see, hear, and do. Let us make "serving the LORD, and being a witness to HIM" our main priorities.
Let's start this new Gregorian year with requests and petitions to our Heavenly Father, and not promises.
"Heavenly Father, please grant us wisdom to understand Your Word better. Please grant us the patience to put up with difficult people. Please grant us more spiritual maturity and more opportunities to share your WORD. Please keep us in the center of your perfect will. Please help me, through the power of your spirit, to control my tongue and allow blessings and not foolish words to come forth from my mouth."
Petitions and not promises, I believe, would be a good start for 2026.
Shalom
Here, Ezekiel the Prophet sees the joining of Judah and the children of Israel, and Yosef, with his son Efrain,” and they are joined together as ONE (Echad) “One in Unity” Once they were separated, Yosef and his sons in Egypt, and Israel, Judah, and his brothers, in Canaan, but NOW, together as ONE FAMILY.
Even though the children of Efraim were scattered amongst the nations, as in the prophecy of Jacob on his deathbed, they are still united with the other tribes, and descendants of those tribes. It may be true that political borders separate the Children of Israel, and even fast oceans, we are still ONE people, even united by our DNA,
We are also ONE (echad) in Messiah Yeshua's love. We are ONE when we accept Yeshua as LORD, Savior, and Redeemer. We are “Kehilah Echad” (One congregation united in Yeshua), even though there are thousands of “Kehilot” all over the world, our relationship in Yeshua makes us ONE.
MATT 18:1-19:30
Yeshua says that “unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. A child is “innocent” and has an eager mind to learn. When we are “born again,” we start anew, like “little children,” and slowly “grow into maturity.” Yes, we will stumble and fall, get into trouble, and get “spanked” by the Father, but HE will still love us as HIS CHILDREN.
Matt 18:8,9 often causes one to think twice. “If your hand or foot becomes a snare for you, cut it off and throw it away…If your eye is a snare for you, pluck it out and cast it away.”
Why did Yeshua use this terminology? Certainly, this is not literal. Of course not. If not literal, it has to be moral and spiritual. The end focus is heaven. It is the physical against the spiritual. One way we can look at this is that we do things with our hands and feet. Our hands perform actions, and our feet take us to different places. We must be careful that we don’t participate in actions that can hinder our spiritual growth. We must be careful not to go to certain places or events that are completely worldly and have nothing to do with our relationship with the Messiah.
How about what we see? We see with our eyes, and we must take care of what we watch. Does what we watch (on TV or on the Net) cause a stumbling block in our spiritual walk? Does it hinder our growth? If it does, better “cast” our eyes elsewhere.
Our future hope is Heaven, in Yeshua, we are secure, yet what we do here on earth as believers will have either a positive or negative effect in Heaven. A loss or gain of rewards. As we go into the new year of 2026, we must be careful of everything we see, hear, and do. Let us make "serving the LORD, and being a witness to HIM" our main priorities.
Let's start this new Gregorian year with requests and petitions to our Heavenly Father, and not promises.
"Heavenly Father, please grant us wisdom to understand Your Word better. Please grant us the patience to put up with difficult people. Please grant us more spiritual maturity and more opportunities to share your WORD. Please keep us in the center of your perfect will. Please help me, through the power of your spirit, to control my tongue and allow blessings and not foolish words to come forth from my mouth."
Petitions and not promises, I believe, would be a good start for 2026.
Shalom
