Is This Faith?

I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.  Luke 11:8 NASB

Persistence – What does it mean to have faith?  For most of us, it means to believe certain things, to have a statement of faith, to confess certain doctrines as truth.  Sometimes it also means to act in certain ways, to go to church, to say certain prayers.  Yeshua told a parable about faith one time, but His little story paints a very different picture.

Brad Young explains the parable of the “Contemptible Friend” in his excellent book, The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation.  He notices that the Greek word translated “persistence” is anaideia.  “Probably the Hebrew word that best translates the Greek term anaideia is a form of the word chutzpah. . . In current English, perhaps ‘raw nerve’ would be a better definition.  ‘Chutzpah’ means ‘brazen tenacity’ or ‘bold perseverance.’  ‘Relentless diligence’ or even ‘impudence’ is very near the meaning. . . The conclusion is almost inescapable. . . Does Jesus define faith as determined nerve?”[1]

Young is right.  Our view of faith is anemic, cognitive, antiseptic verbal vomit.  Yeshua’s view of faith is dogged persistence and unrelenting determination.  His view of faith is Jacob at Jabbok, Elijah on Mount Carmel and Paul’s thrice-pled prayer.  Faith is never letting go no matter what.  It has far less to do with what I believe than it does with what I do.  In fact, I might even suggest that biblical faith is most effective when I am intellectually convinced that what I am about to do is impossible.  At the edge of the Sea of Reeds, faith is lifting up my hands.  At Jericho, it is walking in silence.  In front of Nebuchadnezzar’s oven, it is declaring my resolve.  In a Jewish village, it is willingly bearing the shame of pregnancy.  “This is impossible” – and that’s why I do it.

A friend comes to the door in the middle of the night.  You don’t care about his problem.  You turn your back on all social propriety and expectations.  But he just won’t quit!  Just like that judge, you finally give in because he won’t stop annoying you.  How many of us won’t give up annoying God until He delivers!  How many of us won’t let go until He blesses?  Too few warriors, too many wimps.  Cowering under theological bed sheets, we are afraid to require God to deliver.  Moses wasn’t.  “You can’t do this, Lord, or the world will think You are nothing but a tyrant.”  That takes real cojones.  Chutzpah.

There is no “Jesus meek and mild.”  Read the stories again.  The man of faith was as brazen as they get.  The Messianic secret?  You have to be kidding.  Everywhere you look He is shouting, “Don’t you see what God is doing here?”  Do we?  Is your theology preventing you from having faith?  Go ahead, translate that to Hebrew!

Topical Index: faith, perseverance, anaideia, chutzpah, Luke 11:8, Brad Young

 


[1] Brad Young, The Parables, p. 50.

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Kees Brakshoofden

“Too few warriors, too many wimps.” Ah, you’ve listened to Frank Seekins?
That really changed my view on what a man should be! In line with your TW: we should be warriors: fight for each other!

Ray Joseph Cormier

Onward Christian soldiers!

Brett

Skip, how do you really feel about this?? Lol I was totally smiling at the end of reading today’s word getting caught up in the emotion of your charge. I have spent many years fearing both failure and success so in some ways I’ve had a pretty bland existence. However, God is healing my broken mind and heart and I’m telling myself to “Go boldly forth into my day. Jesus will provide and fight for me. Trust his promises and obey his commands!” I tie that in with Deut 7:21-23 as a motivational picture from scripture.

Go ahead, translate that to Hebrew! Haha, love it! 🙂

carl roberts

~ Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see ~

~ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen ~

~ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ~

~ Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen ~

~ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see ~

~ Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see ~

~ and without faith, it is impossible to please Him.. ~

~ So we fix our eyes NOT on what is seen, BUT on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal ~

~ (For we walk by faith, NOT by sight:) ~

~ Therefore faith is from the hearing ear, and the hearing ear is from the word of God ~

~ How blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear! ~

~ I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for He will speak peace unto his people, and to His saints: but let them not turn again to folly ~

~ Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God ~

~ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. “My Father who gave them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch anything from my Father’s hand.” “I and My Father, We are One.” ~

~ Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is One ~

~ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed every day, and we are accounted as sheep for slaughter.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in (blood-covenant) union with the Messiah Jesus, our LORD ~

When did He stop loving us?

Donna Levin

Loved this message. One of the cries of my heart has been for the men, in particular, in the body of Messiah to awaken to their calling as warriors. I’m surrounded by too many spiritual male “wimps” who seem to be MIA or bystanders in the battlefield. I’ve also been crying out for us to be filled with Holy Chutzpah! LOL, you really nailed it for me.

Thomas Elsinger

Should we need an example of this kind of charging, vaulting faith, turn to 2 Samuel 22:30–“Yes, by You I can crush a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall!” David.

Dorothy

Pure and simple, faith is a gift.

It is found in the list of the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Cor.12. Vs. 9.

God gives to each one as necessary. (doesn’t He teach the little birds to make their nests?)
It is a mistake to envy somebody else’s great big gift of faith for the reason that they are probably going to have great big trials to go with it.

All those who believe Jesus is God have been given ‘saving faith’, (or enough faith to believe and trust) by God as the only means of salvation (Eph. 2:8-9).

This does not mean all believers are given the “spiritual gift of faith”.
Like all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is given for the “common good”, — the edifying of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:7).

The special “gift of faith” means the Spirit provides a believer/follower with extraordinary confidence in God’s promises, power, and presence so they can take heroic stands for the future of God’s work on this earth. It is exhibited by a strong and unshakeable confidence in God, His Word, and His promises.

Examples of people with the gift of faith are those listed in Hebrews chapter 11. Sometimes this chapter is called “the hall of faith.”
It describes those whose faith was super extraordinary, enabling them to do extraordinary, superhuman things.
Here we see Noah spending 120 years building a huge ship on dry land when rain had never been seen or heard of, in fact, was non-existent thru those long years of his constant work and faith.
Then there is good old Abraham, believing he would father a child when his natural ability to do so had ended.

Without the special anointing of faith as a gift from God, such things would have been impossible.
When we all get to heaven (or whatever you like to call it), when we go to dwell forever in the house of the Lord, we will see that we had nothing on our own.

EVERYTHING is a gift from God who created all things, and it was He at work in us that accomplished anything at all. Then we will cast our crowns at HIS feet! The crowns are His “crowning achievements” in us as we are His workmanship.

Now let us rest in Him.
John 6: 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom He has sent.

carl roberts

Amen! – “Pure and simple, faith is (also) a gift”

~ Examples of people with the gift of faith are those listed in Hebrews chapter 11. Sometimes this chapter is called “the hall of faith.” It describes those whose faith was super extraordinary, enabling them to do extraordinary, superhuman things ~

What about those “ordinary human things?”- there is also faith (much faith) required to be (what we would call) “ordinary!” Today, may seem an ordinary day, (maybe to some) but if we see (as some have discovered) life itself is a gift, even in the “ordinary” and small things (what is “small” to God- and what is “big?”), then life (even everyday life) becomes an adventure as we learn through our “daily trials and testings” to lean and depend upon Him and the unseen Hand for “our daily bread and breath..”- and then we have cause to rejoice when He does what He said He would do.
Friends, “Providence occurs!” What do the scriptures say? ~ This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. ~ (Isaiah 30.15) Lifetstyles of the rich and famous? – or lifestyles of the poor and insignificant? So much for celebrity and status! No. ~ for with the lowly is wisdom ~ (Proverbs 11.2)
God will do extraordinary things with and through those who are extra ordinary! It was the (everyday/ordinary shepherds the angels revealed themselves to. It was ordinary fisherman that were chosen by Yeshua HaMashiach to be His talmudim. It was (ordinary) servants who witnessed the water transformed into wine. Even our LORD Himself ~ had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. ~ (Isaiah 53.2) The Old Covenant tabernacle was not especially wondrous in its “outer appearance,” but was more and more lovely towards the center or holy of holies. Yes, ~ We do not lose heart.; though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day ~ (Inner) character assuredly does matter to Christ!

Dorothy
Sherri Rogers

Hebrew for faith: emunah from aman = that which is firm, immovable. Greek faith perceives, believes knows something is firm such as – I have faith in YHVH because He never changes. Hebrew faith will engage in activity that firmly moves toward YHVH’s revealed will – Torah. The persistence/chutzpah is in staying the course, but not toward just anything. Does Abba really expect us to beg and whine like petulant children until we get our way? Is this the kind of man you want to be? Yeshua was meek, but He was not a wimp. He was compassionate, but not soft. He taught with love those who desired to hear and rebuked with passion those who mocked Torah. Men, look to THE example of a true warrior, Yeshua. That is where you will learn to be a man.

Ray Joseph Cormier

Preaching love your enemies and turn the other cheek, Jesus terrorized the priests, money changers and merchants in the Court of the Gentiles on the Temple Property when he turned violent.

No doubt the Chief Priests hated hearing him say this in Public;

And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the Temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

And he taught, saying to them, Is it not written, My House shall be called of ALL NATIONS the House of Prayer? but YOU HAVE MADE IT A DEN OF THIEVES.

And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
Mark 11:15-18

That was pushing the envelope to the very edge of the most extreme Chutzpah!!! He probably understood he would be arrested and crucified before doing it. I doubt it was a spontaneous impromptu action.

when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?
Luke 18:8

Ester

Hi Sherri-Amein!!!!!!!!!!! Well said.

Dawn McL

“Faith is never letting go no matter what. It has far less to do with what I believe than it does with what I do.”

This is SOOO Hebrew. Emphasis on the doing, the verb part.
In Greek, and by default our church system, so much focus is on what folks believe faith is and I have heard many arguments over this. I believe it has become a sacred doctrine to be debated and put in its own little box tucked in with those theological blankies!

Too many issues have been crammed into boxes and been made ineffective in real life.

I have just been talking about this verse with my friends. There were no real conclusions made because it got tied up in definition of faith-you can tell we all came from the standard belief system that is based on Greek ideas.
Faith really includes a bit of an attitude when you look at it in Hebrew. 🙂

I find a little bit more of those pesky cob webs have been cleared away!

Dorothy

“In Greek, and by default our church system . . .”

Know you not that the Holy Spirit choose to use Greek for the New Testament?
Your argument is with Him!

I finally looked up the history. You can search it, too.
By the time of the apostles, Greek was the dominant language of the world in which they lived.
The Jewish people had declined spirituality so much that their own language, Hebrew, was hardly used by the regular people. They spoke Aramaic. Except for the Jewish elite and scholars like the Pharisees and scribes, few Jews could either read or write Hebrew.

The apostles’ use of Greek helped to unify the church. (God choose both the men and the language)

Had the N.T. been written in Hebrew, the church would likely have been dominated by the Judaizers
to make the Gentile converts 2nd-class members. But with the Gentiles’ language the same as that of the apostles, it was that much harder to thwart the unity of the early church. Unity is what God wants among his people.

Following the crowd is dangerous. Fear to criticize what God in His wisdom chose to do and how He choose to speak.

This born-again Jew knows, and he sings it.
http://youtu.be/6Rp6wz-Q6XY

Dawn McL

Sometimes I don’t put things very plainly. Thoughts don’t always translate into words smoothly for me. 🙂
What I was getting at is this…the doing, the action behind so many things like faith is lost in the Greek translation. Skips post touches on the action of faith. He put it into words that resonate with me as well.
Skip does a great job in bringing us back to understand the Hebrew which is the original language of the entire (OT and NT) story.

We are all thoroughly Greek in our thinking unless we are actively attempting to change that.
Following the crowd? Hardly. Wouldn’t be here diligently (even if I choose not to comment) if I were following the crowd but then you are here too!
Shalom sister.

Dorothy

Dawn, you do just fine 🙂
Yes, it is hard to insert things into text. I have trouble.
I got a bit motherly there with you, my mistake.
I did not mean “follow the crowd” as in the worldly crowd going to hell.
I mean make sure your beliefs are yours arrived at by Scripture study and not what is popular in your circle. If that makes sense. I probably better just stop. lol
I am here for a different reason than than you. Both reasons are fine. We all have different callings in life.

I do want to say only one thing more because I wished I had added it in my first note.
God loves all the people and all the languages, He created all those, too, and is able to communicate to us in any one at all.
I say this because I just hate prejudices against any person, group, language, color, education, place one lives, station in life, rich or poor, –you name it.

If God reunites us all in the Hebrew language later, that is just fine with me–whatever God wants to do will be fine. Just right now, I don’t like the eschewing of Greek as if it were dirty. And that is just me and I don’t expect anyone else to agree on this point.
Good to talk with you, and hear from you.

Michael C

“Know you not that the Holy Spirit choose to use Greek for the New Testament?”

New research afoot lends evidence showing strongly that it ain’t necessarily so. Greek translations of Hebrew and Aramaic originals seemed to have just won out over Hebrew/Aramaic originals kind of like VHS won out over Sony Betamax magnetic tape. Betamax lost out to VHS to the belief that Betamax succumbed to VHS in the marketing war. But there is growing evidence that the original Apostolic writings were written in Aramaic and Hebrew. The grammar, syntax and structure behind the Greek lends itself to Hebrew/Aramaic originals more than Greek originals.

With the strengthening and growing anti-semitism of the second century C.E. onward, it’s easy to grasp the desire by the political powers for a Greek foundation over a Hebrew/Aramaic one. The powers of that time wanted to severe connections between ‘new’ Christianity and ‘old’ Judaism. Promoting and establishing Greek texts was one good way to help that effort.

Talk about continual tension, this issue is going to be one of tension for a while until the dust settles. IF the dust settles! Creeds and traditional doctrines are difficult to change. It usually takes decades or centuries to go from tsunami to smooth waters.

Dorothy

Hi Michael C. —
good to see you again on the narrow mountain trail 🙂

Well, I am willing to consider what you say.
Here is a man I have long respected, and here is what he has to say:
http://www.levitt.com/essays/language

Who do you have to refer me to? I’ll take a look.

I look, see, ask the Lord, wait for proof, or not, if my mind changes it will be the Holy Spirit who does it. Not saying this in a confrontational manner, just saying…happy biking! and blogging!

Michael C

Hi Dorothy,
Haven’t been trailing much lately. It’s been raining here just enough to make me want to keep away from the mud. I miss riding though!

Don’t have time now, but I’ll see if I can whip up some sources tomorrow sometime. It’s info that is slowly emerging so you can find as many people on both sides of the issue it seems. It probably won’t be a sudden turn in your thinking. It wasn’t mine. But the more I glean, the more I’m driven away from the assumption that the Greek texts were the originals.

Michael C

Dorothy,
Here is a list of resources to start with:

Matthew Black, An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts, third edition, entirety.
D. Bivin and R. B. Blizzard, Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, entirety.
Dr. F. C. Burkitt, The Earliest Sources for the Life of Jesus, pp. 25, 29.
Prof. C. F. Burney, The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel, entirety.
Epiphanius, Panarion 29:9:4 on Matthew.
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, III 24:6 and 39:18; V8:2; VI 25:4.
Edward Gibbon, History of Christianity, two footnotes on p. 185.
Dr. Frederick C. Grant, Roman Hellenism and the New Testament, p. 14.
Dr. George Howard, The Tetragram and the New Testament in Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 96/1 (1977), 63-83. Also, Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, entirety.
Dr. George Lamsa, The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts, Introduction, pp. IX-XII.
Dr. Alfred F. Loisy, The Birth of the Christian Religion and the Origin of the New Testament, pp. 66, 68.
Dr. Isaac Rabinowitz, Ephphata…in Journal of Semitic Studies vol. XVI (1971), pp. 151-156.
Ernest Renan, The Life of Jesus, pp. 90, 92.
Hugh J. Schonfield, An Old Hebrew Text of St. Matthew’s Gospel, (1927) p. 7.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, p. 275.
R. B. Y. Scott, The Original Language of the Apocalypse, entirety.
Prof. Charles C. Torrey, Documents of the Primitive Church, entirety. Also, Our Translated Gospels, entirety.
Dr. James Scott Trimm, The Semitic Origin of the New Testament, entirety.
Max Woolcox, The Semitism of Acts (1965), entirety.
F. Zimmerman, The Aramaic Origin of the Four Gospels, entirety.

I have not read all these, only gleaned from a hand full of them. It rather easy to Google the topic and peruse a multitude of sources in this regard if you are inclined to.

Many sources, such as your link to Levitt, merely parrot the traditional commentary responses that have been ‘vetted’ and approved by the accepted governing powers. They are not often critical essays on the subject rather ‘research papers’ documenting currently accepted explanations regarding issues for whatever venue they are in, i.e. sermons, web sites, blogs, etc.

I agree with you. The jury is out deliberating. It’s an ongoing search and discovery. For so long it’s been–THIS WAY–that is, do not question it. Now, not so much. Until pastor’s begin to address these issues I don’t think the majority of church goers will understand their many implications or even care to. As I’ve discovered, a bulk of my friends in the church only want to hear what they want to hear and don’t understand the realities of many biblical issues. They feel more comfortable cavorting in genuine ignorance. They’ve misunderstood what it means to receive Yeshua as a child making it more a discipline in simplicity rather than life obedience and daily effort to search out the truths of Yeshua on their own adventures.

The mass is only now beginning to see and understand what the DSS have offered up to us regarding understanding better the world of the centuries before and after the time of Yeshua. The findings are expanding our understanding and breaking some hard and fast molds we’ve held on to fanatically for decades/centuries.

Michael C

Just pulled out a few more:
“Hebrew in the Church” by Pinchas E. Lapide
“Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation” by Janet M. Magiera
“Jesus’ Last Week” Jerusalm Studies in the Synoptic Gospels-Vol 1″ edited by R. Steven Notley, Marc Turnage and Brian Backer
“The Hebrew Gospel & the Development of the Synoptic Tradition” by James R. Edwards

also

Lois Tverberg’s books are good:
“Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus” and “Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus” co-authored with Ann Spangler.

Ester

Michael C,
It is a calling, and it is a narrow way, Christianity has been a broad way for too long, but, ABBA has taken many out of there, HalleluYAH, as He is restoring a pure language for us to better direct us to grasp what He has been trying to convey to us.
Like Paul, in Acts, he was zealous for his understanding and until YHWH delivers him from that mindset, he was so ignorant of all he was doing, persecuting Messiah-believers, who were his own brethren in a sense.
He had no notion he was persecuting Yahushua, Who said, “Paul, Paul, why do you persecute me?”
Until then…. until they realise they are in fact going against YHWH and His Word, it will be a continuous tension. LOL.
Blessings and shalom!

Ester

Hi Dawn,
I agree!

sharon

This message made me cry, not sure why, but I really liked it!

David Williams

We have a community group that meets at our home. Faith, as a word is bounced around and I am quite sure all those in attendance “believe” they are talking about the same thing. When I pause to reflect, faith, as a doctrine expressed this way and that, depending on all of our “seasoning” is quite different from “trust”, which is the cornerstone of the bible. Faith is trust. If you don’t trust in the Jeshua, you have no faith. God cries out, I AM here, I love you and I want you to live according to my Word. Come from Love and be your best. That’s all that is He requires from his creatures. All of the Bible might well be summarized as follows: I am God. You can trust Me. Live by my instructions that I have given you. Come from Love. Be the best you can be. Seek my Shalom all the days of your life.

CAROL MATTICE

Are we allowed to get emails from each other on Skips posting ?

CAROL MATTICE

EMAIL ADDRESSES …IS what I meant to say.

CAROL MATTICE

I would like to hear from Dorothy and Carl . I have appreciated so much with what they have to say.
cross1974@sympatico.ca is my address to you both..

carl roberts

Thanks Carol, but (speaking for only me)- I’d prefer to keep it right here.. (as long as we’re civil toward one another and Skip or Patrick allow this to be!)- this is a wonderful place for us to share with each other.

The Tater Family

Some people never seem motivated to participate, but are
content to watch others …
They are called “Speck Taters.”
Some people never do anything to help, but are gifted at
finding fault with the way others do things…
They’re called “Common Taters.”
Some people are very bossy and like to tell everyone what
to do, but of courseÿ they do not wish to soil their hands.
You might call that type “Dick Tators.”
Some are always looking to cause problems and really
get under your skin…
They are called “Aggie Taters.”
There are those who are always saying they will, but
somehow, they never get around to it…
We call them “Hezzie Taters.”
Some people put on a front and act like someone else…
They’re called “Emma Taters.”
Then, there are those who walk what they talk.
They’re always prepared to stop what they’re doing
to lend a hand to others, and bring real sunshine into
the lives of others….
You can call them “Sweet Taters.”

CAROL MATTICE

Hi Carl..not a problem. I understand. Not sure where I fit in to all of the Tater Family; what a Tither.. smiles..

Dorothy

The right way to end the day, — some wisdom from the vegetables, LOL

Let my words, like vegetables, be tender and sweet, for tomorrow I may have to eat them.
– Author Unknown

Dawn McL

I love both of the veggie quips!! Made me chuckle at just the right time!!
Thanks Carl and Dorothy.

Lois Filipski

My friend Nick is a warrior for God at and hit is parents had that strong,

Lois Filipski

My friend Nick has the kind of strong faith you are talking about and I think his parents did too. I think this kind of faith is often in places that we wouldn’t expect it. Check out his story on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl58qufXfYk

December

Ahhh, Skip – yes and amen!!!

Alex Newby

This is the first time I have read a devotional which uses the term “cojones”, refreshing honestly.

Keep hitting the target Skip, and thank you.

Dawn McL

HI Michael C.
I hear you about raining a lot lately and not really wanting to slog thru the mud. It has been physically raining (yay) here and spiritually as well. There is a lot of mud to deal with here too and I am weary of going thru it and dragging it into the house.
We are caretaking aging parents as well and it just got pretty complicated here too.

Y-H is my strength and shield and He does lift me up when I seek him out. When looking at a long road, it is tempting to try to take it all on instead of taking one day at a time. Each morning is new and when I open my eyes, I have much faith that is how it will be (new).
I am encouraging both of us brother. 🙂

Shalom

Michael C

Thanks Dawn,

Yes, care-taking is a daily challenge, one day at a time (and one night at a time!)

It feels like bondage at times. It IS bondage at times! It’s kind of like the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” Ans.-One bite at a time. Care-taking is one event at a time, over and over and over and over again. Sigh.

I’m learning to live more quietly. Sort of. It’s tough. I’m not going to sugar coat it. I love Yeshua but I cuss every now and again. Usually when at my wits end dealing with the challenges of caring for a Type A, choleric personality making demands straight out of the Twilight Zone! Sigh (again!) I love him, but, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I want to slug him at times. Never would, but I sure FEEL like it at times! I used to have feelings of shame for feeling that way but discovered others in similar situations expressing the same harsh sensations. Now, it’s not shame, just exhaustion of doing those daily, unending unspeakable chores of bodily functions. My life is elimination management to put it politely. Makes me think of the management Yeshua does with our wasteful actions on a daily basis. I’ve a long way to go to emulate Him in that regard, but I’m progressing some, slowly.

Thanks for the empathetic thoughts.

Dorothy

Hi Michael C,
I saw the long list you went to the trouble to write out for me. My usual problem of ‘not sure where to place my reply’ beneath your list so that you’d see it. So I put it here, and you see it, mission accomplished, all is well.

Wow, well I’ll not be tackling all that!
One year I read about 50 books, plus my Bible all the way thru. Later I thought, what a waste, when I could have read my Bible thru several more times that year and less books with men’s words. So I decided not to repeat that mistake again. Once time is spent, it is gone.
(yes, I do realize you weren’t recommending I read them all.)

Now here is my actual heart’s reason for contacting you today.
I don’t know what you think of Charles Spurgeon, but this came to mind when I was reading of how your days are spent by necessity.
Maybe it will put fresh wind in your sails. Just offering — if you don’t go there or like him,– no loss for me and I don’t need to even know.
But in case you do not, I want to give you this one reminder only: “There is no place for chance, since God filleth all things.”

http://www.the-highway.com/timesinthyhand_Spurgeon.html

Michael C

Dorothy,

The book list was just works that seem to be pro-hebrew originals. Yeah, it’s a lot of reading, but I enjoy reading things that interest me, so I read, read, read.

I don’t buy into the idea that reading what man says isn’t helpful, so I read a lot of varied subjects. I’ve learned to do that a little more rather than just reading the church approved ‘vetted’ resources I previously constrained myself by. I’ve actually thrown away/given away close to a thousand books from over the last 30+ years that just didn’t keep any value to me any more. Ninety-five per cent of them were ‘religious’ books. Basically, they simply mimicked the same Christian themes. Variation on a theme, so to speak.

I’ve read several of Spurgeon’s sermons. They have some good stuff in them, but they take me to a flavor of sermon’s that hinder my understanding rather than help it mostly. Many of his works come at me via a well crafted sermon in the theater of entertainment of oratorical speeches. While well crafted, they tend to glaze my eyes over no matter how ‘indispensably classic’ they are. I have just been repelled by sermonized thematic alliterated speeches. They’ve just been overdone with me in my history. A majority of the sermons, I discovered later, were simply personalized versions of other peoples books, outlines or internet works done by pastors who had never really studied much on their own but simply struggled week to week to come up with the next weeks sermon. No meat, just variations on the same Southern Baptist themes. Say it a little louder this week, a little different next week, and never on any topic other than the approved flavor of message. Sad and weary after so many years.

Regarding handling my care taker situation, I am dealing with it day to day, I’m sure much like millions of others have through this world and though out the ages. It is what it is. I understand completely that Yeshua is in every detail, but frankly, it’s tough at times. I don’t always respond like all the religious book stories I’ve read. I’d be fraudulent, in my estimation, if I outwardly acted like that, yet still struggled so gravely inside with all the occurrences I experience. When I am angry, frustrated, bewildered, exhausted within those trying times, I just take it to Yeshua and hash it out with him. I have a lot of screaming, crying and anguished conversations with Him. And, you know what? He can handle it. I work through it ever how long it takes. In some instances it is the same issue over and over again. Sometimes I progress, other times I’m stumped. Sometimes it seems I understand something new and other times I remain exasperated and feel dejected. But, it doesn’t matter. I know He is always there. He is always with me and He is always concerned and active in my life.

I’ve learned to keep going as the years have gone by. I used to run away from junk in my life in the past. I do that a LOT less now because I have learned from Yeshua I don’t have to run. He’s with me no matter where I go or what I get myself into. I go THROUGH stuff with Him now a WHOLE LOT more. It’s not necessarily easier, but it is more peaceful in side despite the junk that is going on outside.

Good grief. Diarrhea of the mouth has set in again. I should go back and alliterate this and make it a good sermon! :-O

Sorry. My mind just took off. I need to go ride some to get my mind cleared out. I’ve been cooped
up too long these last couple of days! I believe I’m going a bit batty.