Following Hard After Yahweh

Having just watched this, my heart is deeply stirred with such a love and appreciation of Yah'shua, for His mercy and forgiveness towards me. Knowing that I, like the lady in the video, who as a child had her innocence and trust shattered, and later losing everything, I was confused, afraid, angry and lost in my sin......even still.........when I fell on my knees, humbled myself before my Creator, He came and delivered me, bringing life to a hardened, scarred and jaded heart.

It was such a reminder of the work that Yahweh has done in my life, which we all need to be reminded of from time to time, because the enemy is indeed like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and when we forget who we are in Yah'shua, and that we belong to Him, the enemy comes in with all kinds of lies to cause doubt, and make us ineffective. He uses people as well, to hurt us, to bring pain and sorrow to our lives. All you have to do is search the net and you will find plenty of lies about this ministry and about me personally. What can I do about it? Hide in fear? Not share the gospel because someone is making false accusations? And even if they were true, even still....do you hear me? ...'even still......if I have repented, I am forgiven. So what does this person end up with? What victory have they gained? None. I have lied, I have done terrible things in my lifetime, and I have fallen before the feet of my Redeemer, and He has forgiven me, and He loves and accepts me. Why then should I fear what man can do to me? I shouldn't, and I don't.

My heart's desire is to know Yah'shua. To lay my head upon His breast, to hear what His heart says, and if that makes me simple, so be it. I have no desire to engage in debate over scripture, all I want to know is, Do you love Yah'shua? Have you repented of your sins and given Him control and Lordship of your life? Does your heart burn for Him? To know Him? To hear His voice?

This dear lady in the video didn't take a course to learn the bible, or Hebrew, or learn all about Torah, no, she fell on her knees, she humbled herself, she surrendered her heart and life to Yah'shua. She didn't even know His "real" name. Isn't He amazing? All glory belongs to Him. He works and moves in ways that we sometimes think, hey wait, but they didn't do this or they didn't do that. He will give His glory to no other. And it certainly makes me glad that none of us are Yahweh.

A.W. Tozer wrote in the chapter Following Hard After God : "I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain."

"Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all."

"If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to `babes' and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond."

"When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the `and' lies our great woe. If we omit the `and', we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."

"The author of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do this. `Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto, look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself. So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself. This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God.' "

"Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology. `For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself.' Yet underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by `Himself' he means `God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree.' And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion `lapped and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And such a word is this word God or this word love.' "


So let us lay down our crowns, let us cease striving to save ourselves, let us lay aside our pride that says we are unique and more complicated, a special case, and let us lay down our pride that seeks knowledge rather than relationship with the Source and Creator of all that is.

I totally agree! Messianics in particular are so busy erecting the Torah edifice that is the (necessary) vessel of discipleship that they not infrequently forget that half, if not more, of our work, is preparing the ground of salvation/deliverance on which the edifice must sit. Salvation involves no work - just surrender which I will be talking about in my (late) sermon from last Sabbath. When messianics make blanket condemnations of 'Christians' because they have not come to Torah they are widely missing the mark when it comes to the essential foundations of the faith - will anyone deny that Yah'shua healed this and other women like her? We must vigorously oppose the mentality that demonises everything that has not come to the place of Torah-recognition and get back to fundamentals. Torah is for the saved who love Yahweh and want to submit even more but it is quite useless to those who have not yet first met, know and exalt in the Saviour. Let us thank Yahweh for ALL believers whom He uses to effect such miracles that deserve our commendation!

Avah said:

Following Hard After Yahweh

Having just watched this, my heart is deeply stirred with such a love and appreciation of Yah'shua, for His mercy and forgiveness towards me. Knowing that I, like the lady in the video, who as a child had her innocence and trust shattered, and later losing everything, I was confused, afraid, angry and lost in my sin......even still.........when I fell on my knees, humbled myself before my Creator, He came and delivered me, bringing life to a hardened, scarred and jaded heart.

It was such a reminder of the work that Yahweh has done in my life, which we all need to be reminded of from time to time, because the enemy is indeed like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and when we forget who we are in Yah'shua, and that we belong to Him, the enemy comes in with all kinds of lies to cause doubt, and make us ineffective. He uses people as well, to hurt us, to bring pain and sorrow to our lives. All you have to do is search the net and you will find plenty of lies about this ministry and about me personally. What can I do about it? Hide in fear? Not share the gospel because someone is making false accusations? And even if they were true, even still....do you hear me? ...'even still......if I have repented, I am forgiven. So what does this person end up with? What victory have they gained? None. I have lied, I have done terrible things in my lifetime, and I have fallen before the feet of my Redeemer, and He has forgiven me, and He loves and accepts me. Why then should I fear what man can do to me? I shouldn't, and I don't.

My heart's desire is to know Yah'shua. To lay my head upon His breast, to hear what His heart says, and if that makes me simple, so be it. I have no desire to engage in debate over scripture, all I want to know is, Do you love Yah'shua? Have you repented of your sins and given Him control and Lordship of your life? Does your heart burn for Him? To know Him? To hear His voice?

This dear lady in the video didn't take a course to learn the bible, or Hebrew, or learn all about Torah, no, she fell on her knees, she humbled herself, she surrendered her heart and life to Yah'shua. She didn't even know His "real" name. Isn't He amazing? All glory belongs to Him. He works and moves in ways that we sometimes think, hey wait, but they didn't do this or they didn't do that. He will give His glory to no other. And it certainly makes me glad that none of us are Yahweh.

A.W. Tozer wrote in the chapter Following Hard After God : "I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain."

"Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all."

"If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to `babes' and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond."

"When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the `and' lies our great woe. If we omit the `and', we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."

"The author of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do this. `Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto, look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself. So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself. This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God.' "

"Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology. `For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself.' Yet underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by `Himself' he means `God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree.' And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion `lapped and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And such a word is this word God or this word love.' "


So let us lay down our crowns, let us cease striving to save ourselves, let us lay aside our pride that says we are unique and more complicated, a special case, and let us lay down our pride that seeks knowledge rather than relationship with the Source and Creator of all that is.

As a footnote to this I have this question: How can Yahweh give His exclusive fullness-blessing on Messianics until they have learned and are doing what evangelicals have been doing for the last 500 years? He won't! Both movements have two halves to the Truth Equation - our job is to bring them together!