Rabbi’s Reflections – Saturday, May 1, 2021
Shabbat Shalom,
Counting the Omer – Day 28
Here is the proper blessing to be said each day. This is how Jewish people fulfill the command to count.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹֽמֶר
Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid’shanu B’mitzvotav, Vitzivanu Al Sefirat Ha-Omer.
Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by his commandments and commanded us about counting the counting of the Omer. Today is four weeks and no days of the counting of the Omer.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sat1 May-202119th of Iyar, 5781 Parashat Emor
Le 24:1-23 Ez 44:15-31 Lk 12:35-48
You Are a Chosen Person.
You are chosen to be God’s child.
You are chosen to be the Lord Yeshua’s sister/brother.
You are chosen to be Yeshua’s friend.
You are chosen to be God’s home.
We recognize these truths taught by the Lord’s Apostles. As you reinforce them in your innermost thoughts remember to personalize them. For instance, as regards being chosen to be God’s child, it would read like this:
God chose me to be His child.
God chose Me to be His child.
God Chose me to be His child.
God chose me to be His child.
God chose me to be His Child.
Consider talking to yourself using this template. Put your name in the beginning and middle of each one. For instance, suppose your name was David. It would read like this:
David, God chose you, David, to be His child.
Most likely, apart from God, the voice you hear that you trust the most is your own. Use your inner voice to work on your heart. You talk to yourself anyway, why not be deliberate in speaking what is true, good, and edifying? Remember, the psalmist addressed his own soul. It was good enough to be included in the record of inspired meditation. It has been beneficial to believers throughout the generations. Here is an example:
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you murmuring within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, for the salvation of His presence. (Psalm 42:5 TLV)
Today, utilize these simple techniques to develop and personalize your awareness of your position in the Lord.
Who are you, in the Lord?
You are in the relational sphere of the life of Yeshua. You are in the Lord. He is your home environment. We touched on this in our 19th meditation. We briefly stressed that you are loved so much that God placed you in Yeshua. Through God’s work, you are in the Messiah. You are in the Lord. Let’s explore this a bit more. It will be good for you.
The following is a review of an elementary truth: You are an anointed person. This needs to be part of your inner-narrative.
Now it is God who establishes us with you in Messiah. He anointed us, 22 set His seal on us, and gave us the Ruach in our hearts as a pledge. (2 Corinthians 1:21–22 TLV)
Think of yourself that way. Talk to yourself about this. Direct your inner speech.
To continue, as someone the Messiah anointed, you are being taught by God. This is something the Lord has done to you because you are in the Messiah.
27 As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things—and it is true and not a lie—and just as it has taught you, abide in Him. (1 John 2:27 TLV)
Think of yourself that way. Recognize it. Meditate upon this and receive it with gratitude.
In fact, in Yeshua you are blessed to be included in the people who were promised the reception of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. You are blessed. You are chosen.
in order that through Messiah Yeshua the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so we might receive the promise of the Ruach through trusting faith. (Galatians 3:14 TLV)
Think along these lines:
I am blessed!
Father chose me to be a member of His people who receive His Ruach.
This is important, too. There is a succinct, well known, description of the anointing through which the Messiah Yeshua ministered.
You know how God anointed Yeshua of Natzeret with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and power—how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him. (Acts 10:38 TLV)
This is an aspect of the Ruach’s activity that is present in your life and in the life of every believer. Resurrected God Incarnate said, “But you will receive power when the Ruach ha-Kodesh has come upon you (Acts 1:8a TLV).”
He who said this is reliable. I encourage you to believe His word.
Talk to yourself about this. Direct your inner speech. Believe it. This will give God’s presence pleasure.
What do you have, in the Lord?
It is right to remember that you have been redeemed. The guilt of your trespasses has been removed. You have redemption because you’ve been redeemed.
In Him we have redemption through His blood—the removal of trespasses—in keeping with the richness of His grace 8that He lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7–8a TLV)
Having an inner-narrative that believes these identity-matters to be objectively true opens the door to experiencing their reality.
What are you, in the Lord?
These truths are wonderful. I trust you are familiar with the following verses. Multitudes of books and messages have emphasized them, but please, reconsider them. They are fundamental and should not be overlooked.
To begin, consider this: you are the product of the works of God’s hands. In Yeshua you were recreated. You are a new creation.
Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 TLV)
You are not made of inanimate marble. You have been marvelously formed to be the living, moving image of God. He designed you in the Messiah for a morally excellent, emotionally fulfilling, life-engaging, meaningful, life.
For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 TLV)
Where are you, in the Lord?
In the Messiah you have been brought near to God.
But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah (Ephesians 2:13 TLV)
You are with the Messiah who is enthroned in a holy, spiritual, dimension.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah. (Ephesians 1:3 TLV)
You are with the Messiah, positioned in Him in the heavenly realm in a place of great influence.
Therefore, if you have been raised up with Messiah, keep seeking the things above—where Messiah is, sitting at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1 TLV)
What happened to you?
In the Messiah your old person actually died. Who you were no longer exists and you have a future destiny which will leave every vestige of the old life behind.
Now if we have died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him. (Romans 6:8 TLV)
In fact, you were crucified with Yeshua. He loved you enough to die for you. He loves you enough to live in you. It is important that you think of yourself as being a person who is indwelled by Yeshua.
For through law I died to law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Messiah; 20and it is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by trusting in Ben-Elohim—who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:19b-20 TLV)
In Yeshua who you used to be was executed. Obviously, that is not the end of your story. Because you are in Yeshua you partake of His resurrection. You were raised up with Him. It is written that
(God) raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua (Ephesians 2:6 TLV)
Finally:
You honor God and His word when you believe these identity-matters. As you deliberately integrate, or reinforce, these holy realities your godly inner narrative will be strengthened and will give God’s presence pleasure. That is the focus of these meditations.
These truths are helpful for the purpose of developing communion with the Lord. Something that is often overlooked is this: the reason you died with the Messiah, were raised with the Messiah, and ascended to heaven in the Messiah, and are seated with the Messiah, is to have fellowship with God through the Messiah.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah, the One You sent. (John 17:3 TLV)
Embrace these truths. Meditate upon them. Apply them to yourself. Be grateful. As you do, you will give God’s presence pleasure.
Ask Him for help.
Abba, in the name of Yeshua, may the words of my mouth and my heart’s deepest thoughts give Your presence pleasure.