Love God Greatly: You Are Forgiven - Week 4; Monday

I have taken somewhat of a hiatus/sabbatical due to no internet connectivity out on the farm. I happen to be at the laundromat today, so here we go!

Read: 2 Corinthians 5
SOAP: 2 Corinthians 5:17

S: Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

O&A: Before even beginning to read the whole chapter, I wanted to mention the difference between old and new. Somewhere in Scripture, we read about how you can't put new wine in an old wine skin (or bottle nowadays, lol), or else it will break, and ruin both the wine and the wineskin. Boy, what I see in this. (The reason being that the old skins can't accommodate the fermenting that takes place in the new wine.)  
Elohim/God can't put His Ruach Kodesh (Holy Spirit) into us when we are in a state of sin. That's a given as far as my understanding goes. When we are made new in Messiah, think of all of the changes, or fermenting (if you will allow me to take artistic writing liberties, lol), that takes place in our lives when we become a new creation! Our old lives, our old beings, aren't supposed to be able to take the changes that begin to occur the moment we accept Yeshua/Jesus as our Savior.

This also stands out to me, at verse 15, "He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again." We no longer live to please and serve ourselves, but to please Elohim, and to live as Yeshua did (as best we can), a life pleasing to the Father.

18-21 "But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Yeshua the Messiah, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that God was in Messiah reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Messiah, as though God were entreating by us. We beg you on behalf of Messiah, be reconciled to God. For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Wow-ee. We are ambassadors of reconciliation, representatives of Messiah. In my past life, and even as a newer believer, that would have felt like a burden, but now I view it as an honor, a privilege, a blessing. Except for those times He calls me to do something out of my comfort zone... I mean, if we're being real and honest here, I can say that, right? There was this one time, after we first moved to Texas, that my family and I were at H-E-B (Texas grocery store chain and favorite of all Texans, just putting that out there); there was a lady in line in front of us who had such a sadness in her eyes. I felt like God was telling me to say something to her, but I didn't know what. And I felt weird, like, "What if I say something, and she's like, 'What are you even talking about?'" Transparency here: I operated out of fear of rejection, and said nothing to her. I thought immediately after, "Abba, I disobeyed You!" and I looked for her in the parking lot, but never saw her again. I still prayed for her, and especially for the sadness I thought I was picking up on from her, but those are the times that I feel uncertain in being an ambassador for Yeshua. (Not as an excuse, but I'm an INFJ, apparently, and it's hard for me to carry on conversations with people I don't know... so telling someone, "God told me to say this to you" is so far out of my comfort zone, I can't even describe it.) So what if that was an opportunity to help this woman be reconciled to Messiah, I continue to pray for her, even to this day (this was over 3 years ago).

I learned something incredible this weekend about a particular verse in the Proverbs 31 woman blessing... Proverbs 31:18(b) says, "Her lamp doesn't go out by night."  
I had always taken this to mean she was working into the night, but as I was studying a book on the Customs of the Bible, it said that in Biblical times, there was always a light burning, even through the night, in the homes of the Hebrews. It signified that someone was home, and also that this home was able to keep a light burning all night (kind of a status of sorts); that they would rather go without a meal than not have a light burning all night. Just as in the temple, the menorah/7 branch candlestick was burning at all times. (Exodus 27:20 "

"You shall command the children of Yisra'el, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.") This then led my thinking (aka rabbit trail) to the parable of the 10 virgins, and how only 5 kept oil in their lamps, at the ready... Don't let me continue. I may not stop.

P: Abba, I don't have enough words in my vocabulary, nor breath in my body to declare how wonderful You are! You seek out the wandering, You redeem the lost and forsaken, and You give us hope by the blood of Your esteemed Son, our Messiah Yeshua. Abba, I ask in Your Son's name that You give us Your counsel, wisdom, and instruction each day to help us live according to Your calling and how to abide according to Your law/Torah/commandments. Help me to embrace the NEW me, created in love by You, and to cast off all former fears, tears, ways, etc. I want to abide more fully in Your presence, and yet, I am the one who holds me back. God forbid I be my old self ever again! She was a liar, a thief, a breaker of Your commandments, and I am ever so thankful to be created new by You. Help me to understand what that really means, and to not be bogged down by the weights of my former self. And more so, let me be a light to this world, an ambassador of reconciliation to You and to Messiah. Amein.