A Change in the Weather
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.” Acts 20:22 NIV
Not knowing – Today I leave for Manila. I’ll be in the Philippines area for the next two months. Then, after a return to the USA for some teaching commitments, Rosanne and I will leave for Italy for awhile. We have plans to be in South Africa in October and November, and, of course, Virginia Beach for several conferences. But things are changing for us.
For readers of Today’s Word, I’ll continue to write. There will be a new edition every day, as there has been for many years. I’m not sure about internet connections, but I will do my best. The discipline is so much a part of me that I probably won’t stop until I end.
For those of you who attend seminars or conferences, big changes are ahead. First, I will only be available in the USA for limited times during the next year. Already March and April are booked. So the next slots on the calendar will be after the Virginia Beach conference in June. That means some parts of July and August are open. Nothing is available from mid-September until December. If you thought about having some kind of gathering in 2018, you will need to make plans soon if your sessions are not already on my calendar.
That’s the logistics. Now the rest. 2018 looks like a year of not knowing for us. We are anticipating a move from Florida, but we don’t know where we are headed or when. “Not knowing” is always difficult. Those stages in life where we don’t know what is going to happen next are challenges to our desire to have some control. The truth, of course, is that we never really know what’s going to happen next. But that doesn’t make life easier. It’s emotionally distressing to feel rootless, especially if we didn’t grow up in tightly connected communities. Paul could tell the Ephesians that he didn’t know what was going to happen to him, but he did know that he belonged to the community of those who followed the Messiah no matter where he was. That was enough for him to embrace the uncertainty of his circumstances and continue. But many of us, including me, are not like Paul. We know that we share common beliefs but we still need to feel some of those golden threads that bind us to each other. Perhaps it’s the sense of security that is most important. It’s just too easy to forget that God is engineering our paths. It’s scary not to know what’s next.
Rosanne and I are struggling with all this. We know there is a big change ahead, but we both feel the tension. We’re unsettled. It’s more accurate to say that we hurt, but people don’t like to admit that, do they? Maybe being a follower of a Jewish Messiah in a world that often rejects him is the source of some of this hurt. Feeling homeless doesn’t have much to do with not having a mailing address. Maybe you feel the same way. Disconnected. If you do, would you please offer up a prayer? We both thank you.
Topical Index: not knowing, homeless, community, Acts 20:22
My family of four are in a season of feeling “disconnected.” SO much change to what was once our community. Praying and will be praying for you and Rosanne! Thank you for your faithfulness!
Thank you Skip for sharing your thoughts and feelings. My wife, kids and I will be praying for you and Rosanne.
I know that feeling of uncertainty, since I work by myself in El Salvador, where opportunities sometimes are scarce, and feeling that I won’t have enough to pay the rent, bills and food for next month is always scary… but HaShem is GOOD!
I have seen His Hand so many times, in so many ways to provide for my family…
For instance, at this moment I only have enough money to make it through until the end of next week… but tomorrow we will be gathering 5 families at our home for Shabbat dinner… Oh man!
I think that He wants to drive our lives at some edge, some of us in some ways, some of us in other ways… as to keep us trusting Him, needing Him to be with us… actually making us to be with Him… as if He doesn’t want us to loose His grip…
For the record, He always provides even though I do not always behave or comply with His request of obedience…
In times of change and uncertainty, I love this prayer from an old book called “A Diary of Private Prayer”. It has a prayer for each morning and evening. This is the prayer for the morning of the 29th. These are my prayers today for you (and me).
“O Father, I pray—
for faith to believe that you rule the world in truth, justice, and love;
for faith to believe that if I seek first your kingdom and righteousness, you will provide for my needs;
for faith not to be anxious about tomorrow, but to believe that the love you have given me in the past will continue into the future;
for faith to see your loving purposes unfold in all that is happening in our time;
for faith to be calm and brave in the face of any dangers I may meet with while doing my duty;
for faith to believe in the power of your love to melt my hard heart and totally remove my sin;
for faith to put my own trust in love rather than in force, when other people harden their hearts against me;
for faith to believe in the ultimate victory of your Holy Spirit over disease and death and all the powers of “darkness;
for faith to learn from any sufferings that you call me to endure;
for faith to leave in your hands the welfare of all my dear ones, especially ___ and ___.”
Excerpt From
A Diary of Private Prayer
John Baillie & Susanna Wright
Thanks Paul. I truly needed this prayer.
Thanks Paul for that prayer and Skip for today’s TW. I’m in a season of “not knowing” myself,both of these really spoke to me.
Thanks for the prayer. I will use it many times in the days to come.
I am feeling the same way …..I am praying for you & all of us ♡ praying for His abiding assurance He holds us close …..♡
He is a lamp unto our feet — and that is all the further we need to see. I will be lifting you and Rosanne up. Shalom
As we can see from the comments many of us are in a season of transition. I thank YHWH for all the past seasons of building up my faith and trust in Him to know that He loves me and will never leave me. Remember, we row facing backward. ?
Praying for you and Rosanne, as well as the Children Under the Bridge ministry. I appreciate your willingness to share your studies and teachings with us, Skip.
I have a mental image of all the people who have been changed by encountering your faithful teaching of the Word. Can you just see us gathered together in one place, as if we were a “local church family?” (This is personal to me.)
For myself, my family, and several of my friends, I thank you.
Aharit. I hope I spelled that correctly. He has uniquely shaped both of your paths to where He’s taking you. Be encouraged. Shalom.
Skip, you have brought us to a permanent home away from home with your teachings. Long may it last. We wish you well wherever you and Roseanne end up and pray you find it soon. Wouldn’t it be something if it was in Israel with Rabbi Bob somehow? Bon voyage.
Praying for you and Rosanne I know how u feel.
Im returning to UK in three weeks suffering great disconnect and loss
…. future so uncertain am in a Job type situation. May Abba lift my anguished soul.
Please keep doing TW I have learned and thought about so many things from your writings. Be blessed
Christine
Skip and Roseanne: Isaiah 43:18-19!
In Good Company
~ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything! ~
Is He “worth it”?
and?
The “Best” is yet to come!!
I have been so enriched by your writings. Will be praying for you and your family. ❤️
WE are family (thank you, Gayle)! Tender rootlets spread out so far, yet held so close through this ministry. And thank you, Alfredo, for reminding us to walk each day trusting for Yah’s provision. And thank you, Paul, for a prayer we will pray daily for Skip and Rosanne and all of our TW brethren – I will print it out.
I am reminded as I type of the scene at the end of the film “Dances with Wolves” where Wind-in-His-Hair proclaims, “Sunkmanitu tanka ob waci, do you see that I am your friend? Can you see that you will always be my friend?” If you find Farewell Ending Scene (Director’s Cut) on youtube… the diary is returned, this is proclaimed, the community disbands as they are tracked by those who would destroy them… no one can take from them what they have forged together.
Row well!
Skip,
I know you know He’s been with you every step of the way.
May the days ahead be filled with His wonder, His grace and His love.
You and Roseanne are in my prayers.
I feel as if you wrote Today’s Word knowing me personally. Your TW strangely gives me a kind of strength and encouragement going forward. You are often in my prayers and this time is no exception. From Entiat. God be with you.
I know how people are looking for the truth which is real. I might dare to say revival, the Lord is positioning us where he leads us. Hold on tight The Winds of change ….are with us. Isaiah 43 :19 behold I am doing a new thing…. Can you not see it?
John and I are definitely praying for you both – for guidance and shalom in the not knowing! We’ll really miss having you so close by and the Shabbat dinners with everyone, but we’re excited to see where HaShem leads you and the adventures you’ll have. Thank you for continuing to write and teach – you are making such a difference in so many lives. Hugs to you both!
Yep, we’ve been in this place for quite awhile now and have faced it with serious health battles, too. Tonight, in fact, the plan we thought God had for us seems to be fizzling before our eyes. The truth, the hope, is this: God loves us and He KNOWS love.. HE IS LOVE. His (c)hesed will keep us. We trust in Yeshua’s faithfulness to His Father. I praise YHVH for one more day of breath.
May YHVH Bless you and Rosanne in your walk as you follow where He leads. May He give you His Peace and let the Beauty of His Face shine upon you. A prayer for all of His. With love, in His Merciful care.
I pray for Skip and his wife also. I also pray for everyone on this site. So many good comments and insights.Though questioning is a wonderful thing and we definitely were in need of that, let us continue forth knowing fully what is tried and true. If in our searching and questioning it begins leading too a life of ambiguity in our thinking we will have no discernment whatsoever. I love the simple words spoken by our precious savior in just two short words Fear not to be very powerful and it gives a great comfort to know that we can in the midst of uncertainty.
I think our Father is teaching us Ps. 91. We pray that throughout our home now everyday. Learning to dwell in the shelter of Elyon and abiding in His shadow.
Praying for you and Roseanne and the Body of Messiah as we are all just sojourners down here for today.
Skip (and Rosanne),
Better you than me. I can hardly even imagine, even having roots as you have had, yet traveling all over the world for extended periods of time, away from home, and living in different cultures, and now, on top of that, pulling up your “tent pegs” and “roots” also, with all the “not-knowing’s” of so many things ahead of you, especially being that you, though also very youthful in spirit, are even a bit more into your later years. So glad you have the strength of faith, the power of the Ruach Ha Kodesh, the love of Abba and the Messiah of Israel, and the support of your wife. More power to you and all esteem be unto YHWH, the Most High Elohim!
May we encourage you both, and any others, with these, His words, that came to me while interceding for you:
“THE WIND BLOWS WHERE IT WISHES…..BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW…..WHERE IT GOES…..SO IT IS WITH EVERYONE BORN OF THE SPIRIT.”
“IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE, BUT TAKE HEART! I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!”
“DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING…..THE SHALOM OF GOD, WHICH SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MIND IN MESSIAH YESHUA.”
“DO NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE…..CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD…..”
“FOR ALL WHO ARE LED BY THE RUACH ELOHIM, THESE ARE SONS OF GOD.”
“…..WAITING FOR THE CITY THAT HAS FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE ARCHITECT AND BUILDER IS GOD.”
“WE KEEP ASKING GOD THAT YOU MIGHT BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL IN ALL WISDOM AND SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING…..”
“.….GOD WILL FULFILL EVERY NEED OF YOURS ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY IN MESSIAH YESHUA.”
SHALOM, SHALOM, SHALOM!
.
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“THE WIND BLOWS WHERE IT WISHES and you hear its sound, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW where it comes from or WHERE IT GOES. SO IT IS WITH EVERYONE BORN OF THE SPIRIT.” [Joh 3:8]
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he migrated to the land of promise as if it were foreign, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob—fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was WAITING FOR THE CITY THAT HAS FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE ARCHITECT AND BUILDER IS GOD.” [Heb 11:8-10]
“So then, brothers and sisters, we do not owe anything to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Ruach you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. FOR ALL WHO ARE LED BY THE RUACH ELOHIM, THESE ARE SONS OF GOD. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall again into fear; rather, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Ruach Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, also heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Messiah—if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” [Rom 8:12-17]
“These things I have spoken to you in metaphors. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in metaphors, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day, you will ask in My name—and I’m not telling you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” His disciples say, ‘See, now You’re speaking plainly and not in metaphors. Now we know that You know everything and have no need to be asked anything. By this we believe that You came forth from God.’ Yeshua answered them, ‘Do you now believe? Look, the hour is coming—indeed has come—when you will be scattered, each to his own, and you will abandon Me. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have shalom. IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE, BUT TAKE HEART! I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD! [John 16:25-33]
“So I say to you, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE—what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothing? CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. Now if in this way God clothes the grass—which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow—will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the pagans eagerly pursue all these things; yet your Father in heaven knows that you need all these. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” [Mat 6:25-34]
“DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING–but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And THE SHALOM OF GOD, WHICH SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MIND IN MESSIAH YESHUA.” [Php 4:6-7]
“WE KEEP ASKING GOD THAT YOU MIGHT BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL IN ALL WISDOM AND SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING—to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. We pray that you may be strengthened with all the power that comes from His glorious might, for you to have all kinds of patience and steadfastness. With joy we give thanks to the Father, who qualified you to share in the inheritance of the kedoshim in the light.” [Col 1:10-12]
“My GOD WILL FULFILL EVERY NEED OF YOURS ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY IN MESSIAH YESHUA. To our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.” [Php 4:19-20]
ISN’T THIS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT FOR US ALL?
MY SOUL LONGS FOR THE COURT OF YHWH
“How lovely are Your tabernacles, Adonai-Tzva’ot!
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of Adonai. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young—near Your altars, Adonai-Tzva’ot—my King and my God!
Blessed are they who dwell in Your House—they are ever praising You. Selah
Blessed is one whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the pilgrim roads.
Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring. The early rain covers it with blessings.
They go from strength to strength—every one of them appears before God in Zion.
Adonai-Tzva’ot, hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah
O God, look at our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed.
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather stand at the threshold of the House of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For Adonai Elohim is a sun and a shield. Adonai gives grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Adonai-Tzva’ot, blessed is the one who trusts in You.”
[Ps 84:1-13]
Skip, I will be praying for you and Roseanne. This must be a difficult time to walk through. Please know that you have built a community here and we have all benefited from what you have shared/is sharing with Today’s Word. Is there something that we can do for you and Roseanne now, besides our prayers? Is there a need we can contribute to that would help at the moment?
Thanks for offering. We just need to see some of the chaos resolved, but we are doing OK. Thanks for the prayers, especially for Rosanne. They are most welcomed.
Skip and Roseanne shalom to you
It’s a season of ignition
Ignition is the key word for this shift in the Body of Messiah.
Take courage and be strong for Elohim is with you!
ig·ni·tion
iɡˈniSH(ə)n/Submit
noun
the action of setting something on fire or starting to burn.
“three minutes after ignition, the flames were still growing”
the process of starting the combustion of fuel in the cylinders of an internal combustion engine.
the mechanism for bringing about ignition in an internal combustion engine, typically activated by a key or switch.
plural noun: ignitions; noun: the ignition
“he put the key in the ignition”
Look below and be encouraged by this season of ignition study the process meaning ask your Father in heaven what that is for you?
Let us join in the arena of uncertainties with you all. My wife fell and broke her arm/shoulder last May and has been on Workers Comp and serious physical therapy since then. I just experienced a TIA stroke (A very “mild” one) in that I only experienced a slight lost of motor skills in my right hand which are mostly functioning close to 95% now. What will become of our respective jobs and associated incomes? Physical therapy rules out lives now. Everything has slowed dramatically and changed tremendously. Yet, we have the same Elohim, the same King, the same promises regarding life. Today is when we will live. Tomorrow will take care of itself encased in our Fathers hands. Blessings to you all. He is sufficient in all our challenges.
Michael, I am going to be praying for you both. Thank you for telling us. I read through old TW’s and your voice is one of the best. You have brightened my day many times. I want to thank you for being there, being faithful, and most of all, for being you.
May healing and transformation rest on you and your house. Please let us know how you are, because I am going to want to know. Thank you again for being a true brother. I have been missing you!
Laurita